The Life (Book One/Supernatural)

Tall Tales

Sam and Dean called for help for a case.

Dad and I went to the motel they told us about, knocking.

Sam opened the door. "Hey, Bobby."

Dad walked in. "Boys."

Dean stood, walking closer. "Hey, Ness."

"It's good to see you again so soon," Dad told them.

"Yeah, uh, thanks for coming," Sam told us. I walked in, hugging Sam. "Come on in."

Dean shook Dad's hand, returning the hug that I gave him. "Thank God you're here."

"So, um, what didn't you want to talk to me on the phone about?" Dad asked.

"It's this job we're working," Sam told us. "We—we weren't sure you'd believe us."

I scoffed. "Well, we can believe a lot."

"Yeah, no, no, it's just, we've never seen anything like it," Sam told us.

"Not even close," Dean agreed.

"And we thought we could use some fresh eyes," Sam told us.

"Well, why don't you begin at the beginning?" I asked with honest sarcasm, sitting down in a chair.

"Yeah, um, all right," Sam told us, gesturing to the bed. Dad picked up the empty takeout tray, peering at it, setting it aside, sitting down. Sam sat next to him. Dean sat on the bed next to my chair. "So, it all started when we caught wind of an obit. See, a professor took a nosedive from a fourth story window, only there's a campus legend that the building's haunted. So we pretexted as reports from the local paper."

~

Flashback - Sam's POV

Sam was sitting at a table with a stocky jock boy and an attractive girl, setting a voice recorder down on the table.

"Yeah, we both had the professor for Ethics and Morality," the jock told him.

"Yeah?" Sam asked. "So why do you think he did it?"

"Who knows?" the girl asked. "I mean, he was tenured, wife and kids. His book is, like, a really big deal. Then again..." She leaned in conspiratorially. "Who's to say it was suicide?"

The jock scoffed. "Jen, come on."

"Well, what else could it be?" Sam asked.

"Well, you know about Crawford Hall?" Jen asked.

"No, I don't, actually," Sam answered.

"It's a bunch of crap," the jock told him. "It's a total urban legend."

"Yeah, well, Heather's mom went to school here, and she knew the girl," Jen told them.

"Wait," Sam told them. "What girl?"

"Thirty years ago, this girl was having an affair with some professor," Jen told him. "He broke it off. She jumped out the window and killed herself."

"You know her name?" Sam asked.

"No," Jen answered. "But they say she jumped from room 669. Get it? You turn the nine upside down?" Sam nodded. The jock laughed. "So now she haunts the building. And anyone who sees her? They don't live to tell the tale."

"Well, if no one lives to tell the tale, then how does the tale get told?" the jock asked.

"Curtis, shut up," Jen told him in annoyance.