It
was the family’s first night. The night was dark. A breeze rustled the trees
that lined the far end on the 27th Street, and a full moon was up
and shining clean white light over the proceedings. It was getting cold with
every passing hour. The new family was preparing t sleep, when the lights in
their room started fluctuating. There was a sudden cold that gripped the trio.
The house shook for a moment.
“I’ll
check what’s wrong.” frowned Mr. Jake.
“Be
careful, honey.” Jake nodded once. The moment he left, all the disturbances
subsided. Suddenly, a misty orange light that was filtering through the
curtains from the street lamp outside the window, began to flicker.
“Come
on, dear. Let’s go see where your father is.” Jake’s wife took her daughter’s
hand as they started down the stairs….
The
entire world seemed to sink beneath her feet as her eyes met the lifeless form on
the floor. No stream of liquid flowed from the body. No signs of violence
tattooed the flesh. There was only the fearful geometry of the man’s head…
turned backward, twisted 180° in the wrong direction. It was Jake.
Far
in Illinois, Sam Winchester woke up with a start.
“Why
did you let me fall asleep?” Sam’s voice was hoarse.
“Because
I’m an awesome brother. What did you dream about?”
Sam
told Dean what he saw.
:That’s
weird,” said Sam while scanning his laptop, after two hours of research.
“What
you’ve got?” asked Dean as he sat on the bed.
“It’s
this old town in Illinois. Many families come to live here, but they leave
after few weeks.”
“And
that’s what’s got you worried, Sammy? Hah!” Cackled Dean.
“Yeah,
very funny. A few houses are renovated. Here’s-“
“How
many?”
“Not
mentioned. That’s not the point, Dean. Two months ago, a family came to live in
the town. A few members were killed. Same is what happened a year ago, and then
five years back. Here’s an old legend.” Dean made a face when he heard Sam
saying this.
“Look
Dean. Our job is to hunt evil. We need to look into this. The vision I saw, and
then after reading this, there’s definitely something supernatural going on
there. The man must’ve been dead by now. It’s our job-“
“So
what about the legend?” Dean cut him off.
“Early
in 80s, residents of the town said that there lived a maniac who was a….lover.”
Sam cleared his throat uneasily.
“I’m
listening.” Dean smiled earnestly.
“Fell
in love with a girl from the Radley’d place. People claimed he went out at
night when the moon was high and peeped in the windows of the place. They say
that any stealthy crimes committed in the town were his work. The girl died one
day, and the dude never showed himself in public. Uh, that’s about it.”
“Poor
fella.”
“They
called him the ‘Phantom’.”
“Why
that? Anyway, you think this phantom dude’s spirit’s got something to do with
this?”
“I
guess so.” replied Sam.
“Well
then, let’s hit the road, Haley Joel.”
A
tear rolled down Jake’s wife’s face. It felt as if everything had changed with
unnatural suddenness. She began to sob. She had no clue as to how many hours
had gone past sitting beside her husband’s corpse. She needed help. She grabbed
her daughter and took the keys that hung beside the door. She got the key
inside the hole and turned. The door remained locked. Awkward. She tried again.
Damn! Nothing. What was wrong? Did they receive the wrong key? Why wasn’t it
working? She started banging, when she heard a car stop, probably near her
house.
“Hey!
Hey! Stop. We’ve come to help. Stand back.” Someone yelled.
There
was a bang.
The
lock mechanism was now in tatters, the wood surrounding it entirely pulverized.
The door was now fallen ajar, as the lock had released. Two men stood in the
doorway-one in a leather jacket, and the other, sasquatch.
“Uh…
This is Dean and I’m Sam. We are investigators, we were passing through the
town, had some work to do. Think we could help you?”
Jake’s
wife started crying. The Winchesters tried to help her.
“We
need to talk.” Said Sam to his brother, after being told what happened in the
house. “I’m gonna check the house and see if I can find anything about the
dude.”
“What
will you do? Isn’t it obvious? His spirit hunts whoever moves in the area.”
“I
need to find where he’s buried. We gotta burn the bones, dean.”
Sam
Winchester had just covered some distance on foot when he noticed a house with
bare ground-unholy ground. Fantastic! This was his place. He opened the door
and searched the rooms. He found clues about who the Phantom really was. He
came across an album on the floor. He picked it up and saw the young lover
standing in front of the same house. There was a tree nearby. Sam rushed
outside. There was no tree. That was his place to dig.
“So,
what do you think? What is it?” asked Jake’s wife, back at the house.
“We’re
not sure. We think it’s an old man’s spirit.” Dean shrugged. The woman kept
nagging.
“You
think such things exist?” she gasped?
“Yeah-“
As soon as he said this, they heard a creaking far up ahead. Lights flickered.
Dean got his gun out. Suddenly Jake’s wife got pinned to the wall, so did her
daughter. Dean sensed something behind him. He turned around and shot the
spirit with rock salt bullets.
“Thank
God!” Jake’s wife gasped as she fell, from the wall.
“Yeah,
you can call me Dean.” He winked and smirked back.
“Watch
out!”
It
came again. A sizzling pair of prongs scratched the back of Dean’s head; a
searing pain shot through his body. He fell to his knees.
“Hurry
up, Sam!” He screamed.
Sam
saw the bones. That was it. He threw the matchstick, and the fire lit up. He ran
back towards the Radley place.
“Dean!”
He
moved towards his brother and helped him stand up. Curious eyes saw the
brothers.
“Listen,
we…we are hunters. We came across the mysterious killings and we thought we
might check in.”
“So…why
was it doing it?” she managed.
“It’s
like some unfinished job…business.” Sam shrugged, “Maybe you didn’t get
something you wanted. It may be for love, revenge. In this case, he lost his
loved one. His soul won’t rest, and so he takes revenge from whoever comes in
this place. It’s not his fault. Life wasn’t just fair with him.”
“Yeah,
Sammy says pansy stuff like that. I don’t have any sympathies for them.”
After
that the boys hit the road and Jake’s wife called 911.
