The Winchester Three (S4): Lazarus Rising

Ch 12 Section 11

Present Day: Mr. McGregor's Living Room

As the Winchesters were led into Mr. McGregors house he motioned for them to sit, "So, you were friends with Dirk?"

"Yes, sir." Sam nodded, "In high school."

"I don't recall Dirk having many friends at Truman..."

"Mr. McGregor..." Angel looked to him sadly, "When did Dirk pass?"

"When he was 18."

"What happened to him?"

"Well, there was, first, drinking, then drugs, and then too many drugs. And then he just slipped through my fingers." He looked down, broken hearted, "It was my fault. I should have seen it coming, you know? Dirk, he, uh- he had his troubles."

Dean kept his voice soft, "What kind of troubles?"

"School was never easy for Dirk. We didn't have much money, and, well, you know, kids- they can be cruel. They picked on him."

"They picked on..." This shocked Sam, "Him?"

"They called him poor and dirty and stupid. They even had a nickname for him. Dirk the jerk." Guilt filled Sam as he went on, "And after what happened to his mother, he..."

"His mother?"

"Yeah, Jane, my wife. She died when Dirk was 13. Cancer. I was working three jobs, so it fell to Dirk to take care of her. And he was a great kid. He made sure Jane got her medicine. He helped her, cleaned up after her, but you know, you- you watch somebody die slow, waste away to nothing... it does things to a person. Horrible things."

"I didn't know about his mother..."

"He- he wouldn't talk about her, not even to me. Lot of anger in that boy."

Sam's eyes flashed to a framed picture of Dirk as a kid before looking back to Mr. McGregor, "I'm sorry."

He nodded sadly and Angel regarded him softly, "Sir, the three of us would really like to pay our respects. Would you mind telling us where Dirk is buried?"

"Oh, he wasn't. I had him cremated."

Deans eyes widened, "All of him?"

That question earned an odd look from the old man, "Well, I kept a lock of his hair..."

"Oh, that's- that's nice. Where do you keep that?"

"On my bus, in my Bible."

At the school bus...

A bus driver named Eddie drove the bus down the road as the school coach smiled at him, "Thanks for subbing tonight, Eddie."

Eddie, who was now being possessed by Dirks ghost, grinned evilly as he started speeding down the road, "My pleasure, Coach."

"Eddie, you want to ease up on the pedal, there?"

"I got it all under control."

The bus drove over a spike strip and the tires blew making the bus swerve to a stop.

One of the kids stood up after the bus reared to a stop, "What the hell was that?"

The coach turned to them, "Everyone okay?"

The driver opened the bus door and stepped out just as Sam walked up and cocked his gun, "Dirk!"

"Winchester." He growled, "What are you gonna do, shoot me?"

"Don't need too."

Dean and Angel snuck up behind him and quickly helped each other wrap a rope around his middle.

"That rope is soaked in salt water, Dirk. You're not going anywhere."

Dean and Angel quickly entered the bus. Angel started searching for the hair as Dean addressed the students and staff.

"Alright, everybody stay where you are. You'll be okay."

"Aren't you the P.E. Teacher?" The coach asked before his eyes landed on Angel, "And the new guidance counselor?"

"Not really." Dean shrugged, trying to explain, "We're like '21 Jump Street'." At his blank look he rolled his eyes, "The bus driver sells pot. Yeah."

Angel shook her head when nothing was in the bible, calling out to Sam, "It's not here!"

Sam turned back to the possessed bus driver, "Where is it?"

"No way you'll ever find it."

Sam pushed the shotgun up to Dirks chest, "Where is it?!"

"Sam Winchester. Still a bully. You, you jocks... you popular kids... you always thought you were better than everybody else. And to you, I was just Dirk the jerk, right? Now you evil sons of bitches are gonna get what's coming to you!"

"I'm not evil, Dirk. I'm not. And neither were you. Trust me. I've seen real evil. We were scared and miserable, and we took it out on each other. Us and everybody else. That's high school. But you suffer through that, and it gets better. I'm just sorry you didn't get a chance to see that... you or Barry."

"Nothing is gonna get better for me. Not ever."

Dirk broke out of the rope and Sam fired salt at him. The ghost Dirk flew back into the bus and entered a huge jock. He walked off the bus and attacked Sam from behind, beating him up.

Dean fired a salt shot at him but missed, "Angel! Find the hair!"

"I'm trying!" She yelled out as she went through all the other stuff in the cubby and around the driver's seat, "Check the bus driver!"

Dean ran over to Eddie, who was still lying on the ground bleeding, and started looking in his pockets for the lock of hair, "Hey, buddy, this isn't what it looks like."

Once he found it, he took out his lighter, and quickly set it on fire. Ghost Dirk screamed and flew out of the student, who then collapsed onto Sam.

Angel ran out of the bus just in time to see Sam struggle from beneath him before calling out, "Little help?"

Dean grimaced at the sight a little, "He's giving you the full cowgirl."