12. Pretend Therapists
I feel like I'm changed on the inside too as I step out of the Impala. My brothers look like different people in their button-up shirts, knit sweaters, and ties. I opted for a flattering sweater dress, and I couldn't resist switching my appearance up a bit with a pair of fake glasses.
"Good," Dean mutters. "The Bert and Ernie pretext. Awesome."
"Dude, you didn't have to come," Sam reminds him. "We didn't hold a gun to your head."
"You know, this whole imaginary friend thing was dumb then, and it's dumb now."
"Yeah, you've made that pretty clear."
"You didn't think to tell us he was real?"
"Well, Dean, I didn't think he was. You saw the lore book too. I mean, maybe when I was nine years old I thought he was real, but I grew up. Or grew out of it. Whatever. I left it."
"And what did you need Drop Dead Fred for in the first place?"
"I was kind of a lonely kid, Dean."
"You weren't lonely. You had me and Jo!"
I push the glasses up my nose. Not necessarily true, Dean. I'm not sure what Dean remembers from our younger days, but I know for a fact we weren't around Sam much when Dad thought we were old enough to hunt. We left Sam alone much of the time, even when I insisted that I stayed behind to watch out for our little brother.
The three of us walk up to the door, I ring the bell. A distraught Ms. Berman answers.
"Can I help you?" she asks us.
"Ms. Berman, I'm Doctor Strummer," says Sam. "These are my associates."
"Doctor MacGowan," says Dean.
"Doctor Channing," I say smoothly. "We're trauma counselors with child services. We're here to follow up on a police report filed yesterday?"
"Oh, that was...Come in." She leaves the door open for us to walk inside the house. "My daughter Maddie, she's the one who called. Uh, she has an active imagination. She made up this unicorn man, Sparkle. But, um, she thinks he's dead. In her room."
"So, Sparkle is a unicorn and also a man?" asks Dean.
"Yeah."
"So, a manicorn."
"I...I guess?"
I nudge Dean hard in the ribs. "May we...?" I begin to ask.
"Yes, please. Thank you."
The four of us enter the room to find Maddie. She looks warily at us. Sam and I look at each other before he's the one to approach the little girl.
"Hey, Maddie," he says softly. "My partners and I would like to ask you about last night. About Sparkle? Your mom says you don't want to go back into your room? How come?"
"All the blood," she says quietly.
It's then that Ms. Berman leads us into Maddie's room. I see no tampering of the room whatsoever. No blood like Maddie claims to see. But she had to have seen something real. She looks so traumatized.
"This has been her room since she was a baby," Ms. Berman explained. "She's loved this room. And then, last night..."
"Do you mind if we take a look around?" I ask.
"I'll be right back." Ms. Berman leaves us in Maddie's room.
"All right, what's the problem?" asks Dean, voicing the question on my head.
On cue, Sully pops in. "I told you it was horrible."
"You mind enlightening us?" I ask the Zanna.
"Oh." Sully takes careful steps around the room to the three of us. He raises his hands towards our foreheads. "If I show you all what we can see, you can't tell a soul."
"Yeah, cause chicks dig the whole imaginary friend thing," Dean sasses. "Fine."
"Holy..." I whisper. Instead of a regular room, I see a severed horn and blood everywhere. This blood glitters too. Sparkle's body is lying on a bean bag. "Wow, no wonder the kid was traumatized."
"Oh yeah. That kid is gonna need all the shrinks," says Dean.
"Wait a second," says Sam. "So his...blood is glittery?"
"Even when he's dead, Sparkle can't stop shining," Sully whimpers. "Who would do this?"
"It was a blade," Dean notes.
"Sully, can Zanna see other Zanna?" I ask curiously.
"Of course," he says. "But it's not what you're thinking. A Zanna could never do this."
"Nothing to see, right?" asks Ms. Berman as she comes back into the room. "I was always under the impression that it was a parent's job to let a child be a child as long as possible."
"Oh, this is bad," Sully whispers.
"Maybe we let her get too carried away. I don't know. I mean..." Ms. Berman picks up a bloody teddy bear. "An imaginary friend named Sparkle. What's cuter than that?"
I quickly stop myself from gagging as Ms. Berman puts a bloody, glittering hand against her face, smearing the liquid.
"I'm sorry," she says. "I'm being as dramatic as my daughter now."
"Um, it's on her face," Sully says, horrified. "Sam, it's on her face!"
"Just tell me..."
"She's got Sparkle on her face!"
"...how do we get our girl back?"
"Somebody's gotta say something," Sully urges. "Someone's gotta say something."
"You know what," I finally say, "is there a spare bedroom?" Ms. Berman nods. "Great. Maybe Maddie can sleep there, that should help."
"Not her face," Sully whimpers.
"And a hot shower," says Dean. "That does wonders."
"Real deep scrub," Sam adds. "Purify."
"For Maddie?" asks Ms. Berman, who's now starting to get confused.
"The whole family," says Dean. "Yeah, just get the whole gang in there...You know, the family who showers together...Kay."
"Pull up! Pull up!" Sully hisses.
"You know what, why don't you start there?" I say hurriedly. "You can contact our office for more guidance if you like."
"Okay?"
I pull my brothers out of the Berman house before they say anything else stupid. On the way back to Baby, I whack them both upside their heads. "Train wrecks much, you guys?" I snap. "Dear God."
* * *
We don't get much of a break in our Zanna murder case, because we're at yet another house. Like before, we all get out of the Impala.
"Nicky didn't check in with the home office last night," Sully says. "This can't be happening."
"You gazoos can talk to each other?" asks Dean.
"Us Zanna share a telepathic link. She wouldn't be in there." The last sentence is for us when my brothers and I start for the front door. We follow Sully into the backyard.
There's a body in the pool. Well...it's not a human body. It looks like The Little Mermaid, horror edition.
"A frickin' mermaid?" asks Dean.
"It's a bloodbath," says Sully.
"All right, just let it out."
"No, no. I gotta stay strong for Sam."
Speaking of my little brother, he and I circle around the pool to look at Nicky's body.
"Looks like more stabbing," I say. "Okay, Sully, is there anybody that would want to hurt, uh, Nicky?"
"No. Uh..."
"What?"
"Oh well, I mean, her boyfriend's a little clingy. But he's one of my best friends. Guys, Weems would never hurt Nicky. I mean, he loved her too much."
"Well, too much ain't good," says Dean. "So let's go talk to the mermaid's boyfriend. Because apparently, imaginary friends have boyfriends now."
"Wait! Wait! We can't just leave her here. It's disturbing for the kid."
"All right, what do you wanna do? Find a giant toilet and flush it?" Sully, Sam, and I all glare at Dean. "You're right. I was...What would you like us to do?"
"I think I saw some shovels back there."
"'Find a giant toilet and flush it?'" I mimic Dean. "Aren't you Mr. Sensitive?"
"Am I the only one—?"
"Yes."
"But I didn't even finish—"
"Doesn't matter."