EXT. ROAD - NIGHT
A married couple, Molly and David, were driving along a generic two-lane blacktop at night. House of the Rising Sun by The Animals played on the radio.
Molly, who was driving, said, "We're lost."
David, reading the map, replied, "No. This is a short cut..."
"Babe, it's just we've been on this road over an hour, and we haven't seen a single car."
"Molly, I know how to read a frickin' map, okay?"
"We passed a gas station a while back. Let's just go ask someone."
"That was 40 minutes ago. We're not turning around."
"Come on. Isn't this argument a little archaic? Men can ask directions these days."
"No, we can't. It's against our genetic code. Look, I know exactly where we are."
"Oh, yeah? Where?"
"Highway 99, okay? It cuts right through..." They passed a sign that read '41'.
"Highway 99, huh?"
"Okay, so we, we're taking the scenic route."
"David. It's our anniversary, and we're spending it stuck in the car."
"I know. I'm sorry. Let me make it up to you, okay? Come here." He leaned over, kissing at her neck playfully.
"Stop. I'm mad at you."
"Oh, come on, Molly. Hey, you love me."
Molly smiled despite herself. "No, I don't. You're a jerk. David, I mean it." She pushed him off, taking her eyes off the road. A man appeared in the road before them.
"Molly!"
Screaming, she swerved to avoid the man and ran the car off the road.
LATER
The car had crashed into a tree. Molly woke up and looked around, disoriented as she called, "David? David?" She crawled out of the wreck. "David? David?" He was nowhere to be seen. "Da... David?!" She staggered through the woods, calling for him. "David?! David?" She came upon a cabin, with a candle burning in the window. "Hello? Is anyone here?" She entered. "Hello?" She passed a wall covered in tools, then saw the man from the road standing with his back to her. "It's you. You're okay. I'm so sorry." His stomach was impaled and bloody. "I didn't see you there. Are you... Are you hurt?" She reached out to touch him. "Sir?"
He turned towards her, blood dripping down his face. His mouth opened, spilling more blood, and his face turned dark and rotting. She glanced down and saw his stomach. She screamed.
EXT. WOODS - NIGHT
Molly ran through the woods away from the cabin. She staggered onto the road, where a car was approaching.
"Stop!" Molly cried, standing in the middle of the road, hands out.
"Holy-!" Dean began, stopping the Impala just in front of her.
"You've got to help me." She went to the passenger's side and pounded on the window, which Sam rolled down. "Please. Please!"
"All right, all right," Sam said. "Calm down, calm down. Tell us what happened."
EXT. ROAD - NIGHT
Sam, Lucie, Harriet, Cadence and Dean had parked the Impala by the road and the adults were standing around it.
"I-I swerved, a-and we crashed," Molly told them. "And when I came to, the car was wrecked and my husband was missing. I went looking for him, but that's when the man from the road, he... he started chasing me."
"Did he look like he lost a fight with a lawn mower?" Dean asked.
"How did you know that?"
"Lucky guess."
"Ma'am, what's your name?" Sam questioned.
"Molly," Molly replied. "Molly Mcnamara."
Sam exchanged a look with Dean. "I think maybe you should come with us. We'll take you back into town."
"I can't. I have to find David. He might have gone back to the car."
"We should get you somewhere safe first. Then Dean and I will come back. We'll look for your husband."
"No. I'm not leaving here without him. Would you just take me back to my car, please?"
"Of course. Come on."
EXT. WOODS - NIGHT
The Impala parked by the woods near the crash site. They got out, Molly leading them into the woods as she said, "It's right over there." They came upon the crash site, but the car was gone. "I don't understand. I'm sure this is where it was. W-We hit that tree right there. This... this doesn't make any sense." She went to investigate, out of earshot.
"Dean, we got to get out of here," Sam told his brother. "Greeley could show up at any second."
"What are you gonna tell her?"
"The truth?" Lucie said with a shrug.
"She's gonna take off running in the other direction."
"I know it sounds crazy, but I crashed into that tree," Molly said. "I don't know who could've taken it. It was totaled. Please. You have to believe me."
"Molly, listen, we do believe you," Sam reassured. "But that's why we want to get you out of here."
"What about David? Something must have happened. I have to get to the cops."
"Cops... that's a great idea," Dean agreed. "We'll take you down to the station ourselves. So just come with us. It's the best way we can help you and your husband."
"Okay." She came back up.
EXT. ROAD - NIGHT
They drove down the road, Molly in the backseat between Lennon and Simon.
"We're supposed to be in lake Tahoe," Molly commented.
"You and David?" Sam asked.
"It's our five-year anniversary."
"A hell of an anniversary," Dean stated.
"Right before, we were having the dumbest fight." She sighed. "It was the only time we ever really argued... when we were stuck in the car."
Sam laughed and replied, "Yeah. I know how that goes."
Lucie nodded. "More than a little." She glanced at her sleeping daughters and smiled. "The girls are still out."
"You know the last thing I said to him?" Molly said. "I called him a jerk. Oh, god. What if that's the last thing I said to him?"
Sam turned to face her. "Molly... We're gonna figure out what happened to your husband. I promise."
The radio started making odd noises, then played House of the Rising Sun. Dean frowned at it.
"Did you-?" Dean began.
"No," Sam replied.
"I was afraid you'd say that."
"Daddy?" Harriet called as she started waking. "Is it coming?"
"I think so," Dean replied. "Don't worry, I'll keep you and your sister safe."
"This song..." Molly trailed.
"What?"
"It was playing when we crashed."
The radio crackled again, and settled on another station. A creepy voice, Greeley's, could be heard. "She's mine. She's mine. She's mine."
"What is that?"
Greeley appeared in the middle of the road. Dean floored it straight at him as he said, "Hold on."
"What are you doing?" Dean drove straight into Greeley, who vanished in a puff of smoke. "What the... What the hell just happened?"
"Don't worry, Molly," Sam told her. "Everything's gonna be all right."
The Impala began to shudder and Dean said, "Spoke a little too soon, Sammy." The Impala coasted to a stop on the side of the road. Dean tried to start it again but the ignition sputtered. "I don't think he's gonna let her leave."
All four exited the car.
"This can't be happening," Molly said.
"Well... Trust me. It's happening," Dean told her as he opened the trunk and started pulling out weaponry.
Molly came around, saw the arsenal, and backed away slowly. "Well... Okay. Thanks for helping, but I think I got it covered from here."
Sam, going after her, said, "Wait. Molly, Molly, wait a minute."
"Just leave me alone."
"No no no. Please. You have to listen to me."
"Just stay away." She turned and started to leave.
"It wasn't a coincidence that we found you, all right?" Sam told Molly.
Molly stopped and turned back. "What are you talking about?"
"We weren't just cruising for chicks when we ran into you, sister," Dean told her. "We were already out here. Hunting."
"Hunting for what?"
"Ghosts."
Sam, exasperated, said, "D... d... don't... Sugarcoat it for her."
"You're nuts," Molly retorted.
"Really?" Dean shot back. "About as nuts as a vanishing guy with his guts spilling out. You know what you saw."
"We think his name is Jonah Greeley," Sam said. "He was a local farmer that died 15 years ago on this highway."
"Just... stop," Molly told him.
"One night a year, on the anniversary of his death, he haunts this road. That's why we're here, Molly. To try and stop him."
"Now, I suppose this... ghost made my car disappear, too."
"Crazier things have happened, huh?" Dean replied.
"You know what? I'm all filled up on crazy. I'm gonna get the cops myself."
"I don't mean to be harsh, but I don't think you're gonna get too far."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Means that plan A was trying to get you out of here. Obviously that didn't go over too well with, uh, Farmer Roadkill."
"Molly, we're telling the truth," Lucie said gently. "Greeley's not gonna let you leave this highway."
"You're s... you're serious about this, aren't you?"
"Deadly," Dean answered.
Sam spoke in a gentle voice. "Every year, Greeley finds someone to punish for what happened to him. Tonight that person is you."
"Why me?" Molly asked. "I didn't do anything."
"Doesn't matter. Some spirits only see what they want."
"So you're saying this... Greeley, he took my husband? Oh, god."
"Molly, look, we're gonna help, all right? But first, you gotta help us."
"Help you? How?"
Lucie looked at her daughters. "Hattie, Cady, stay in the car." She handed her elder daughter her phone. "If trouble comes, call Daddy or Uncle Sammy."
Harriet nodded and looked at her sleeping sister. "I'll keep Cady safe."
"I know you will, sweetie. We'll be back soon."
INT. CABIN - NIGHT
Molly led them back to the cabin where she saw Greeley. "This is it. This is where I saw him."
"Must have been his hunting cabin," Dean noted, seeing vicious tools hanging and a bloodstained table. "Huh. Seemed like a real sweet guy."
"No markers or headstones outside," Sam informed.
"You're looking for Greeley's grave?" Molly questioned.
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"So we can dig up the corpse and salt and burn it," Dean explained.
"Oh. Sure, naturally."
"It's a way to get rid of a spirit," Lucie clarified.
"And that'll save David?"
"Well, this is what'll help both of you, provided there's a corpse to be found."
"So how do we find it?"
"I'm not sure," Sam replied. "After Greeley died, his wife claimed the body. And that was the last anyone saw of her. So good guess she brought him back here. But they had a thousand acres. He could be buried anywhere on 'em."
"So this is really what you guys do? You're like Ghostbusters?"
"Yeah."
"Minus the jumpsuits," Dean said, then added briskly, "This is a fascinating conversation and all, but this highway is only haunted once a year, and we got till sun-up to wrap this thing up. What do you say we move it along, okay? Great."
They went outside and continued their search.
"What are we looking for?" Molly wondered.
"Greeley's house," Lucie answered. "Maybe he's buried there. Look for roads or paths or something. Stay close."
"Yeah. Okay." She heard a voice.
"Molly? Molly, help me. Molly?" a voice called.
"David? David? David!" She went in search of the voice. Greeley appeared and grabbed her. She screamed.
Dean pointed his shotgun at Greeley and said, "Whoops." He shot Greeley in the head and the latter dissipated.
Sam and Lucie ran up to them and asked, "Hey! Are you all right?"
"What has that son of a bitch done with my husband?" Molly demanded.
"Just take it easy, all right?" Sam told her. "You're gonna see David again. You will."
"Hey!" Dean called, indicating something ahead of them. "Follow the creepy brick road."
Lucie raised a brow. "You really wanted to say that."
Dean nodded. "How'd I do?"
"I love you and your silly little comments."
"Thanks."
Sam, gesturing Molly to follow Dean and Lucie as he took up the rear, said, "Go ahead."
"That thing shoots rock salt?" Molly asked.
"Yep."
"And plain salt keeps away spirits?"
"Simple remedies are always the best. In most cultures, salt's a symbol of purity, so it repels impure and unnatural things. Same reason you throw it over your shoulder."
They rounded the corner and saw a creepy house.
"You know, just once I'd like to round the corner and see a nice house," Dean said.
Sam and Molly entered the house; Dean and Lucie stayed outside to look around, then entered.
"Any headstones outside?" Sam questioned.
"Yeah, right," Dean replied. "Is it ever that easy?"
"I guess not."
"You two check upstairs," Lucie instructed. "See if you can find any notes or records telling us where he's buried. Dean and I'll just check down here."
Sam and Molly went upstairs. They found a room strewn with papers.
"Great," Sam muttered as he started going through the papers.
Molly found an old scrapbook by the window and opened it as she said, "Look at this." She took the scrapbook to the bed and sat down. Sam joined her. It's Greeley and his wife." Sam turned a few pages. "It's a love letter he wrote her. My god, it's beautiful. I don't understand how a guy like this can turn into that monster."
"Um... Spirits like Greeley are, uh... like wounded animals. Lost. In so much pain that... they lash out."
"Why? Why are they here?"
"Well, there's some part of them that... that's keeping them here. Like their remains or, um... unfinished business."
"Unfinished business?"
"Yeah. Uh, it could be revenge. Could be love. Or hate. Whatever it is, they just hold on too tight. Can't let go. So they're trapped. Caught in the same loops. Replaying the same tragedies over and over."
"You sound almost sorry for them."
"Well, they weren't evil people, you know? A lot of them were good. Just... Something happened to them. Something they couldn't control."
Dean said from the doorway, "Sammy's always getting a little J. Love Hewitt when it comes to things like this. Me, I don't like 'em. And I sure as hell ain't making apologies for 'em. I can't speak for Lucie. There's nothing downstairs. You find anything?"
"Uh, just about every piece of mail or receipt they ever had. Looked through a couple, but nothing about a grave so far." Lucie investigated a wall. "What?"
"There's something behind here," Lucie answered, tossing her flashlight to Sam. "Here. Dean?" Dean moved a cabinet aside, revealing a small hidden door. Mae poked at it. "It's locked from the inside."
Dean turned around and threw a back kick at the door, which did nothing. He looked surprised, then Lucie braced herself and kicked harder while Dean kept her steady. The door fell inward and she fell back into Dean. They crawled through. Once in the room, they brushed away cobwebs to stand up. Dean pulled cobwebs from Lucie's hair and she gave him a light smile.
"It smells like old lady in here," Dean commented, finding a corpse hanging by the neck from the ceiling. "And that would explain why. Well, now we know why nobody ever saw her again."
"She didn't want to live without him," Molly said.
Sam picked up a chair as if to take down the corpse and said, "Dean, give me a hand."
"Really?" Dean asked.
"What are you gonna do?" Molly questioned.
"We can't leave her like this," Sam told his brother.
"Why not?" Dean wondered.
"She deserves to be put to rest, Dean."
Dean reluctantly agreed. Sam stood on the chair and began to cut through the rope as Dean steadied the corpse.
"Son of a..." Dean muttered.
Lucie stared up at Dean. "Be respectful."
He nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
EXT. HOUSE - NIGHT
Sam and Dean dug a grave for Mrs. Greeley.
"So... So, if you manage to put Greeley to rest, too... What happens to them?" Molly asked.
"Lady, that answer is way beyond our pay grade," Dean said.
"You hunt these things, but you don't know what happens to them?"
"Well, they never come back. That's all that matters."
Lucie, after seeing that Dean's answer hadn't satisfied Molly said, "After they let go of whatever's keeping them here, they... they just go. I hope someplace better, but we don't know. No one does."
"What happens when you burn their bones?"
"Umm... Well, my dad used to say that was like death for ghosts, you know?" Sam replied. "But... The truth is, we still don't know. Not for sure." He looked at Dean and Lucie. "Guess that's why we all hold on to life so hard. Even the dead. We're all just scared of the unknown."
"The only thing I'm scared of is losing David. I have to see him again." She paused for a long moment. "I have to."
INT. HOUSE - NIGHT
Molly was pacing in one room, looking through the photo album. Sam, Lucie and Dean were waiting in another room nearby.
Sam sighed. "I think we should tell her about her husband."
"We can't," Dean and Lucie told him.
"Dean, Lucie, it's cruel, letting her pine for him like this. I don't like keeping her in the dark."
"It's for her own good," Dean said as he got up. "Man, I know you feel guilty, all right? But let's just stick to the plan. Let's get her out of here. Then we'll tell her."
Molly approached and asked, "Tell me what? What aren't you telling me? It's about David. You know what happened to him."
"Molly-" Sam began.
"Sam, don't," Dean interrupted.
"Don't what? Don't tell me because I'll mess up your hunt?" Molly shot back. "You don't care about me or my husband."
"That's not true," Sam said.
"Really? Then whatever it is, tell me, please." Sam swallowed and Lucie bit her lip, wanting to say something.
They heard a radio turn on, static, then the song House of the Rising Sun began to play.
"He's coming," Molly warned.
"Stay with her," Dean told Sam and Lucie.
Dean went cautiously towards the sound. He uncovered the dusty radio that had powered itself on. He crouched down and found a broken, frayed power cord. He heard another noise and went towards the front door. It frosted over and the words 'SHE'S MINE' appeared in the frost.
In the other room, Molly was standing by the window, near Lucie. Sam stepped cautiously forward towards the next room. Suddenly, a figure crashed through the window behind Molly and grabbed her. Molly screamed as she was dragged outside. Dean came running back.
"He's got Molly!" Sam and Lucie cried.
They each leapt through the window and chased them through the woods. They lost sight of them, and return to the house.
"This guy is persistent," Dean said.
"We gotta find Molly," Sam told them.
"We gotta find Greeley's bones. And, uh, no pressure or anything, but we got less than two hours before sunrise."
Lucie, who was looking through the photo album, said, "Hey."
"What do you got?"
She read the caption on a photograph. "'February 6, 1992.'"
"That was like two weeks before the accident, wasn't it?"
"Yeah. I mean, it looks like the hunting cabin, but... I swear there's a tree there right where they're standing." They each looked up. "I should've thought of it."
"What?"
"It's an old country custom, Dean."
"Planting a tree as a grave marker," Sam added.
"You two are like walking encyclopedias of weirdness," Dean said.
Sam and Lucie replied somewhat bitterly, "Yeah. I know."
They left.
INT. HUNTING CABIN - NIGHT
Molly was hanging from the ceiling by her wrists and asked, "Where's David? What did you do to him?"
"You shouldn't worry about him anymore," Greeley told her.
"Oh, my god."
"You should worry about yourself."
"I didn't do anything to you."
"Oh?"
Molly groaned as he ran a filthy hand over her face. "I know... I know about your wife. Hurting me won't bring her back."
"My wife is gone. All I got left's... hurting you." He slid a finger across her collarbone, slicing flesh and Molly screamed.
"P-Please. Just let me go."
"Go? You're not gonna leave. You're never... gonna leave." He dragged a finger across her belly, gouging deep. She screamed in pain.
Sam, Lucie and Dean approached the cabin from the outside, carrying shovels.
"Go get Molly," Sam and Lucie told Dean.
As Dean headed inside, Sam and Lucie began to dig around the tree. Inside, Greeley was approaching Molly menacingly when his head exploded in a shotgun burst, revealing Dean behind him.
Molly gasped and said, "Oh, thank god."
Dean smiled. "Yeah, call me Dean." Greeley appeared behind Dean, who turned to face him. Greeley gestured and Dean cried out, a cut appearing on his cheek. "This guy's really pissing me off."
Greeley gestured again and Dean flew back, slamming against the wall.
---
Outside, Sam and Lucie dug feverishly. They hit something hard and looked down; it was bones. From inside, Dean yelled, "Hurry up, Sam! Hurry up, Luce!"
---
Inside, Dean was still struggling against the wall. Greeley reached out and a knife flew into his hand.
---
Lucie emptied a box of salt into the open grave.
---
Greeley approached Dean with the knife. Greeley and Dean struggled and Dean's arm was cut in the process.
---
Sam emptied a container of gasoline into the grave, lit a match, and dropped it in.
---
Greeley froze and reared back in pain, screaming, "No, no."
---
The corpse in the grave caught fire and burned.
---
Greeley burst into flame, was consumed, and disappeared. The knife fell to the floor.
---
Dean, Sam, Lucie and Molly approached the Impala.
Dean patted the car lovingly and said, "Oh, baby, it's been a long night." He dropped his bag in the back, Lucie cleaned and bandaged his wound, then climbed into the driver's seat. Sam opened the back door for Molly while Lucie opened the other door. Harriet had since fallen asleep once again.
"All right," Sam said. "Let's get you out of here."
"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what happened to my husband," Molly argued.
"Molly..."
"All this time... I've been looking for him, and you knew that... You knew that Greeley killed him, didn't you? He's dead."
Lucie shook her head. "No, Molly. David's alive."
"What? You're sure?"
"I'm sure. We'll take you to him. Come on."
Smiling in relief, she got in the car.
EXT. DAVID'S HOUSE - NIGHT
They pulled up in front of a nice suburban home. The lights were on inside.
"He's in that house, right there," Sam said.
Molly frowned. "I don't understand."
"You will."
They got out. She approached the window, and saw David inside. He was older, wearing a bathrobe, and pouring a cup of coffee.
"That's... not... It can't be," Molly said. Sam, Lucie and Dean were watching Molly. They looked at each other. David looked up and a woman in a bathrobe came up to him, kissing him on the lips. "What's happening?" She turned back to Sam, Mae and Dean. "Who is that?"
"That's David's wife," Sam answered and Molly turned around to look at the house again, then back to Sam, Lucie and Dean. "I'm sorry, Molly. 15 years ago, you and your husband hit Jonah Greeley with your car. David survived."
"What are you saying?"
"We're saying there isn't just one spirit haunting Highway 41. There are two. Jonah Greeley and you," Dean told her.
Lucie continued. "For the past 15 years, one night a year you've been appearing on that highway."
"No, that's not possible. It was our anniversary... February 22nd-" Molly was cut off.
"1992," Sam and Lucie finished.
"Yes."
"Molly, it's 2007," Dean told her.
"Oh, god."
FLASHBACK - SAM, LUCIE, HARRIET, CADENCE AND DEAN'S POV, THE PREVIOUS NIGHT - INT. IMPALA - NIGHT
"All right," Dean said. "Tell me about Highway 41."
"12 accidents over 15 years," Sam replied. "Five of them fatal, all of them happening on the same night."
"So what are we looking at... Interstate dead zone? Phantom hitchhiker? What?"
"Not quite," Mae said. "Year after year, witnesses said the same thing made them crash. A woman appearing in the middle of the road, being chased by a man covered in blood."
"Two spooks?"
INT. LIBRARY - NIGHT
Sam, Lucie and Dean found old newspaper articles referring to Molly and Jonah's deaths.
INT. DAVID'S HOUSE - NIGHT
"Now, where is Molly buried?" Dean questioned.
"She... she wasn't buried anywhere," David replied. "She was cremated."
EXT. DAVID'S HOUSE - NIGHT
"So much for burning her bones," Dean muttered.
"Yeah, but then what's keeping her here?" Sam and Lucie wondered.
---
Molly saw the events of the crash and the aftermath in flashes: David calling "Molly!" and Molly screaming as they crashed.
Sam, in the present, said, "Some spirits only see what they want."
EXT. WOODS - NIGHT
"David?! David?" Molly called, running out onto the road, stopping the Impala. "Stop! Stop!" The Impala braked.
Dean yelled, "Holy-"
"You have to help me!"
"Dean, I don't think she knows she's dead," Sam and Lucie said.
"Please!" She banged on Sam's car window. "Open up! Please!"
"Okay, okay! All right, all right. Just calm down. Tell us what happened."
EXT. ROAD - NIGHT
"What are you gonna tell her?" Dean asked.
"The truth?" Lucie replied.
"She's gonna take off running in the other direction."
INT. GREELEY'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Sam said to Molly, "Some spirits hold on too tight. Can't let go."
PRESENT
"And Greeley?" Molly asked.
"Each year he punishes somebody for his death... ah, chasing them," Mae answered. "Torturing them. And each year, that somebody is you."
"But I don't remember any of it."
"Because you couldn't see the truth, Molly," Sam said.
"So that's why he won't let me off the highway. Because... I killed him. I killed us both."
EXT. DAVID'S HOUSE - NEAR DAWN
Molly, sitting on the steps, asked, "Why didn't you tell me when you first saw me? Why wait until now?"
"You wouldn't have believed us," Dean replied.
Molly told Dean accusingly, "And you needed me for bait."
"Well, we needed you," Sam reasoned.
"David."
"Molly, we brought you here so you could move on," Lucie told her.
"I have to tell him-"
"Tell him what? That you love him? That you're sorry? Molly, he already knows. Look, if you want to go in there, we're not gonna stop you."
"Yeah, but you are gonna freak him right out," Dean added. "For life."
"David's already said his goodbyes, Molly," Sam said. "Now it's your turn. This is your unfinished business."
"What am I supposed to do?" Molly wondered.
"Just... let go. Of David. Of everything. You do that... we think you'll move on."
Molly began crying. "But you don't know where."
"No. But Molly, you don't belong here. Haven't you suffered long enough? It's time. It's time to go."
Molly nodded sadly, then stepped slowly away from the house. She turned her face upwards as the first light of dawn crept over the rooftops. Bathed in light, she became part of the light and vanished. Lucie blinked repeatedly, trying to stop the tears. Dean glanced at her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"I guess she wasn't so bad... for a ghost," Dean said. "You think she's really going to a better place?"
"I hope so," Sam and Lucie replied.
"I guess we'll never know. Not until we take the plunge ourselves, huh? You all right, honey?" Lucie nodded and wiped her eye with a soft sniffle.
"Doesn't really matter, Dean," Sam told him. "Hope's kind of the whole point."
"All right, Haley Joel." He smacked Sam in the shoulder and squeezed Lucie's shoulder gently before releasing it. "Let's hit the road."
They crossed the road and got back in the Impala as a light rain began to fall.