Bless the Broken Road

07. Home

"Right," Sam said. "No, no, of course not."

"She had a nightmare the other night."

Sari shook her head. "I wasn't dreaming. It came into my bedroom -- and it was on fire." The brothers shared a shocked look.

Sam, Dean and Zach walked back to the car.

"You two hear that?" Sam asked. "A figure on fire."

"And that woman, Jenny, that was the woman in your dreams?" Dean questioned.

"Yeah. And you two hear what she was talking about? Scratching, flickering lights, both signs of a malevolent spirit."

"Yeah, well, I'm just freaked out that your weirdo visions are comin' true, and I think Zach is too."

Sam's voice took on a panicked tone. "Well, forget about that for a minute. The thing in the house, do you think it's the thing that killed Mom and Jessica?"

"I don't know!"

"Well, I mean, has it come back or has it been here the whole time?"

Zach glanced at his younger brother. "Or maybe it's something else entirely, Sam, we don't know yet."

"Well, those people are in danger, Dean, Zach. We have to get 'em out of that house."

"And we will," Dean said.

"No, I mean now."

"And how are you gonna do that, huh? You got a story that she's gonna believe?"

"Then what are we supposed to do?"

They reached a gas station and Dean glanced at his brother. "We just gotta chill out, that's all. You know, if this was any other kind of job, what would we do?"

Sam sighed. "We'd try to figure out what we were dealin' with. We'd dig into the history of the house."

"Exactly, except this time, we already know what happened."

"Yeah, but how much do we know? I mean, how much do you actually remember?"

Dean met his eyes. "About that night, you mean?"

"Yeah."

"Not much. I remember the fire... the heat." He paused. "And then I carried you out the front door."

"You did?"

"What, you never knew that?"

Sam shook his head. "No."

"And, well, you know Dad's story as well as I do. Mom was... was on the ceiling. And whatever put her there was long gone by the time Dad found her."

"And he never had a theory about what did it?"

"If he did, he kept it to himself. God knows we asked him enough times."

Sam took a moment to think. "Okay. So, if we're gonna figure out what's goin' on now... we have to figure out what happened back then. And see if it's the same thing."

"Yeah. We'll talk to Dad's friends, neighbors, people who were there at the time."

Zach looked between his brothers. "Does this feel like just another job to you?"

Dean said nothing for a moment. "I'll be right back. I gotta go to the bathroom." He walked away and after turning a corner, stood next to the bathroom door and took out his cell phone. After making sure no one could see him, he dialed a number.

"This is John Winchester. If this is an emergency, call my son, Dean at 866-907-3235." The beep sounded.

"Dad? I know I've left you messages before. I don't even know if you'll get 'em." He cleared his throat. "But I'm with Sam and Zach. And we're in Lawrence. And there's somethin' in our old house. I don't know if it's the thing that killed Mom or not, but..." His voice broke and he paused, barely keeping himself together. "...I don't know what to do." He began to cry. "So whatever you're doin', if you could get here. Please. I need your help, Dad." He hung up sadly, tears in his eyes.