"No, Dad was in California when we last heard from him. We just thought...he comes to you for'munitions. 'Maybe you've seen him in the last few weeks. Just, call us if you hear anything," Sam says into the phone. Dean and Y/N are sitting off to the side, talking.
"Kay."
"Thanks."
"You bet." Sam puts the phone down and looks at Dean and Y/N.
"Caleb hasn't heard from him." Y/N asks.
"Nope. And neither has Jefferson or Pastor Jim. What about the journal? Anything leads in there?"
"No, same as last time I looked. Nothing I can make out...I love the guy, but I swear, he writes like friggin' Yoda."
"You know, maybe we should call Feds. File a missing person's."
"We've talked about this. Dad will be pissed if we put the Feds on his tail," Dean says.
"I don't care anymore." Y/N's phone then rings. She crosses the room. "After all that happened back in Kansas, I mean...he should've been there, Dean. You and Y/N said it yourselves. You try to call him and... nothing?"
"We know!" She rummages through her duffel. "Where the hell is my phone?"
"You know, he could be dead for all we know," Sam says.
"Don't say that! He's not dead! He's-he's..."
"He's what? He's hiding? He's busy?" Y/N finds her phone and flicks it open.
"Huh. I don't believe it." Y/N says quietly.
"What?" Sam asks.
"It's, uh...It's a text message. It's coordinates."
==
A while later, Dean is typing on the laptop.
"You think Dad was texting us?" Sam asks.
"He's given us coordinates before," Dean replies.
"The man can barely work a toaster, Dean."
"Sam, it's good news! It means he's okay, or alive at least."
"Well, was there a number on the caller ID?"
"Nah, it said 'unknown,'" Y/N says.
"Well, where do the coordinates point?" Sam asks.
"That's the interesting part. Rockford, Illinois."
"Ok, and that's interesting, how?"
"I checked the local Rockford paper. Take a look at this. This cop, Walter Kelly, comes home from his shift, shoots his wife, then puts the gun in his mouth, blows his brains out. And earlier that night, Kelly and his partner responded to a call at the Roosevelt Asylum."
"Okay, I'm not following. What has this to do with us?"
"Dad earmarked the same asylum in the journal. Let's see..." Y/N says grabbing the journal and skipping through the pages. "Here. Seven unconfirmed sightings, two deaths—till last week at least. I think this is where he wants us to go." Sam snorts.
"This is a job...Dad wants us to work a job."
"Well, maybe we'll meet up with him? Maybe he's there?"
"Maybe he's not? I mean, he could be sending us there, by ourselves, to hunt this thing."
"Who cares! If he wants us there, it's good enough for me." Dean says.
"This doesn't strike you as weird? The texting? The coordinates?" Sam asks.
"Sam! Dad's telling us to go somewhere; we're going." Sam gives Dean a bitchface and then looks at Y/N with his famous puppy dog eyes, but she shrugs.
==
"You're Daniel Gunderson. You're a cop, right?" Dean asks, walking over to a man who's sitting at a table.
"Yeah," Daniel replies.
"Huh. I'm, uh, Nigel Tufnel, The Chicago Tribune. Mind if I ask you a couple of questions about your partner?"
"Yeah, I do. I'm just tryin' to have a beer here."
"That's okay; I swear it won't take that long. I just want to get the story in your words."
"A week ago, my partner was sitting in that chair. Now he's dead. You gonna ambush me here?"
"Sorry. But I need to know what happened." Sam walks in, pushing Dean aside roughly.
"Hey buddy, why don't you leave the poor guy alone? The man's an officer! Why don't you show a little respect?" Y/N then comes over.
"Woah! What the hell, man? Don't push my brother. Nigel! Come on, we're getting out of here." Dean pauses, staring, then walks away, following Y/N.
"You didn't have to do that," Daniel says.
"Yeah, of course I did. That guy's a serious jerk. If it wasn't for his sister, there was no telling what I would have done. Let me buy you a beer, huh?" Sam looks at the barman. "Two?"
"Thanks."
==
Sam walks out of the bar and over to Dean and Y/N, who are sitting on the hood of the Impala.
"Shoved me kind of hard in there, buddy boy," Dean says.
"I had to sell it, didn't I? It's method acting."
"Huh?"
"Never mind."
"What'd you find out from Gunderson?" Y/N asks.
"So, Walter Kelly was a good cop. Head of his class, even-keeled, he had a bright future ahead of him."
"What about home?"
"He and his wife had a few fights, like everybody, but he was mostly smooth sailing. They were even talking about having kids," Sam says.
"Alright, so either Kelly had some deep-seated crazy waiting to bust out, or something else did it to him."
"Right."
"What'd Gunderson tell you about the asylum?" Dean asks.
"A lot."
==
Arriving at the asylum, Sam, Y/N, and Dean jump over the tall chain linked fence at the asylum and enter.
"So apparently the cops chased the kids here.... into the south wing," Sam indicates, indicating a sign over one door.
"South wing, huh? Wait a second," Y/N flips through John's journal. "1972. Three kids broke into the south wing; only one survived. Way, he tells it, one of his friends went nuts and started lighting up the place."
"So, whatever's going on, the south wing is the heart of it."
"But if the kids are spelunking the asylum, why aren't there a tonne more deaths?" Dean says. Sam looks around, and he notices the broken chain.
"It looks like the doors are usually chained. Could've been chained up for years."
"Yeah, to keep people out...Or to keep something in," Y/N says. The three look at each other, then Sam slowly pushes the door open. They walk down a hallway.
"Let me know if you see any dead people, Haley Joel," Dean says.
"Dude, enough."
"I'm serious. You gotta be careful, all right? Ghosts are attracted to that whole ESP thing you got going on."
"I told you, it's not ESP! I just have strange vibes sometimes. Weird dreams."
"Yeah, whatever. Don't ask, don't tell."
"You get any reading on that thing or not?" Sam asks.
"Nope. Of course, it doesn't mean no one's home."
"Spirits can't appear during certain hours of the day."
"Yeah, the freaks come out at night."
"Yeah."
"Hey Sam, who do you think is the hotter psychic: Patricia Arquette, Jennifer Love Hewitt, or you?" Sam pushes Dean, who laughs, joined by Y/N.
==
"Man. Electro-shock. Lobotomies. They did some twisted stuff to these people. Kinda like my man Jack in Cuckoo's Nest," Dean makes crazy eyes and grins at Sam and Y/N. She elbows him, smiling, whereas Sam ignores him, and Dean's smile drops. They look around some more.
"So Whaddaya think? Ghosts possessing people?" Y/N asks.
"Maybe. Or maybe it's more like Amityville, or the Smurl haunting."
"Spirits are driving them insane. Kinda like my man Jack in The Shining," Dean says, grinning.
"Dean," Sam says, making Dean look at him. "When are we going to talk about it?"
"Talk about what?"
"About the fact that Dad's not here."
"Oh. I see. How 'bout...never."
"I'm being serious, man. He sent us here..."
"So am I, Sam. Look, he sent us here; he obviously wants us here. We'll pick up the search later," Dean says.
"It doesn't matter what he wants."
"See. That attitude? Right there? That is why we always get the extra cookie," Dean says, gesturing between himself and Y/N.
"Dad could be in trouble; we should be looking for him. We deserve some answers, Dean. I mean, this is our family we're talking about."
"We understand that, Sam, but he's given us an order," Y/N says.
"So, what? Do we have to always follow Dad's orders?"
"Of course we do," Sam says, giving Dean a frustrated face. Dean stares at him, then turns away, ending the conversation. Y/N gives Sam a sad look and also turns around. "'Sanford Ellicott'... You know what we have to do. We have to find out more about the south wing. See if something happened here," Dean and Y/N walk away, leaving the sign with Sam, who stares down at it with a bitchface.
==
Sam sits on a couch, flicking through a magazine. A man comes to the open door. The sign on the door reads, 'Dr. James Ellicott, Clinical Psychiatry'"
"Sam Winchester?"
"That's me."
"Come on in." The two move into another room.
"Thanks again for seeing me at the at the last minute. Dr... Ellicott. Ellicott, that name. Wasn't there a... a Dr. Sanford Ellicott? Yeah, he was a chief psychiatrist somewhere," Sam says, looking around the room.
"My father was chief of staff at the old Roosevelt Asylum. How did you know?"
"Ah. Well, I'm sort of a local history buff. Hey, wasn't there an incident or something? In the hospital, I guess. In the south wing, right?"
"We're on your dollar, Sam. We're here to talk about you."
"Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. Sure."
"So. How's things?" Ellicott asks.
"Ah, things are good, doctor."
"Good. Whatcha been doing?"
"Ahh, same old. I just been on a road trip with my brother and sister."
"Was that fun?" There's a long pause.
"Loads. Umm. You know, we...ahh...we...met...a lot of...interesting people. I did a lot of... interesting things... ahhh. You know? What was it exactly that happened in the south wing? I forget..."
"Look, if you're a local history buff, you know all about the Roosevelt riot."
"The riot. Well, no. I know. I'm just curious."
"Sam. Let's cut the bull, shall we? You're avoiding the subject."
"What subject?" Sam asks.
"You. Now I'll make you a deal. I'll tell you all about the Roosevelt riot if you tell me something honest about yourself. Like, uh, this brother and sister you're road-tripping with. How do you feel about them?" Sam looks a little freaked out.
==
Outside Dean is leaning against the glass window next to the door, and Y/N is next to him, both looking bored. Sam walks past; the twins catch up and match his pace.
"Dude! You were in there forever. What the hell were you talking about?" Y/N asks.
"Just the hospital, you know."
"And...?"
"And the south wing? It's where they housed the really hard cases. The psychotics, the criminally insane."
"Sounds crazy," Dean says.
"Yeah. And one night in '64, they rioted. Attacked staff. Attacked each other."
"So, the patients took over the asylum?" Dean asks.
"Apparently."
"Any deaths?"
"Some patients, some staff. I guess it was pretty gory. Some of the bodies were never even recovered, including our chief of staff, Ellicott," Sam says.
"Whaddaya mean, never recovered?" Y/N asks, looking confused.
"Cops scoured every inch of the place, but I guess the patients must've stuffed the bodies somewhere hidden."
"That's grim."
"Yeah. So, they transferred all the remaining patients and closed the hospital down."
"So, to sum it up, we've got a bunch of violent deaths and a bunch of unrecovered bodies."
"And a bunch of angry spirits."
"Good times. Let's check out the hospital tonight."
==
Back at the entrance of the asylum Sam pushed the door, with Dean and Y/N beside him. Sam is holding a video camera; Y/N's got a flashlight; and Dean has an EMF metre.
"Getting readings?" Sam asks.
"Yeah, big time."
"This place is orbing like crazy."
"Probably multiple spirits out and about."
"And if these uncovered bodies are causing the haunting..."
"We gotta find 'em and burn 'em. Just be careful, though. The only thing that makes me more nervous than a pissed-off spirit... is the pissed-off spirit of a psycho killer." They keep walking. The three keep looking and move into separate rooms. After a minute, Sam sees an old woman through the video lens.
"Dean?! Y/N?!" Sam shouts. The twins run into the room, Dean rummaging in his bag at the same time. "Shotgun!"
"Sam, get down!" Dean shouts. Sam throws himself on the ground. Dean shoots the woman, and she disintegrates. They look around, gasping.
"That was weird," Sam says.
"Yeah. You're telling us," Dean says. Dean starts moving out of the room, followed by Y/N, then Sam.
"No, Dean, I mean, it was weird that she didn't attack me."
"I looked pretty aggro from where I was standing."
"She didn't hurt me. She didn't even try! So, if she didn't want to hurt me, then what did she want?" A noise comes from a room they are passing. Dean immediately raises his shotgun, Y/N flicks on the torch and shines it into the room, and Sam stands between the two. They approach a metal bed covered in a ragged sheet on its side. They see the top of a blond head behind it. They brace themselves. Sam reaches out and tips the bed over to see a girl crouched facing the corner. She spins around, terrified and gasping.
"It's alright; we're not going to hurt you. It's okay. What's your name?"
"Katherine. Kat."
"Okay. I'm Dean; this is Sam and Y/N."
"What are you doing here!?" Sam asks.
"Um. My boyfriend, Gavin."
"Is he here?" Y/N asks.
"Somewhere. He thought it would be fun, try and see some ghosts. I thought it was all just...you know. Pretend. I've seen things. I heard Gavin scream and..."
"Alright. Kat? Come on. Sam's going to get you out of here, and then we're gonna find your boyfriend."
"No! No. I'm not going to leave without Gavin. I'm coming with you."
"It's no joke around here, okay. It's dangerous," Dean says.
"That's why I gotta find him." Dean, Y/N, and Sam look at each other. Sam shrugs.
"Alright, I guess we're going to split up then. Let's go," Dean says.
===
【Ａｓｐｅｎ】
Original Post: 09/08/2019
Last Edited: 11/05/2024