Turn the Page -Sequel to More Than a Feeling

Chapter 16

Sam had walked into a scene he could not comprehend.

He'd dragged himself into their motel room, his untreated wounds now seriously hurting, ready to give Dean a piece of his mind for leaving him at that clinic without making sure it was open. He'd tried to call, but his phone had died.

The scene he'd walked in on did not compute. Ruthie, white-faced and trembling, glued to the wall, cupping her bleeding left hand with her right. Dean stood over her, his phone in one hand and his silver knife in the other, watching the phone as if it were a rattlesnake.

Ruthie had hurled herself across the room at Sam. He'd only just managed to catch her before she half-collapsed, sobbing and shaking, clinging to him as though her life depended on it.

But in the single, confused moment when he'd first opened the door, when she was still backed up against the wall, he'd seen the sliver of scarlet standing out from her pale throat. He'd noticed the tinge of red on the sharp edge of Dean's knife.

"Dean, what the hell is going on?"

Sam's breath clouded, wisping in the air. A shiver interrupted Ruthie's crying.

A flickering, transparent figure appeared at the foot of Sam's bed, between him and Dean. Sam wrapped his arms tighter around Ruthie, sweeping his eyes over the kitchenette, trying to spot a salt shaker. Dean quickly lowered the phone and faced the figure.

It flickered twice more, then stabilized. He was an average-looking man, brown-haired, in jeans, a green jacket, and work boots. His expression held none of the bitter hatred Sam usually saw on the faces of vengeful spirits. This one looked sad. The ghost looked from Dean to Sam to Ruthie, who peeked at it from the safety of Sam's arms. Her weeping had stopped, replaced by convulsive sniffling.

"You can see me?" the ghost asked.

"We see you," Dean said.

"I'm new at this," it said. No one responded, and the ghost dropped his gaze to the floor, looking sheepish. "I came to tell you it was me. I sent the texts." He looked back up at Dean and hurried on. "But only because she tricked me."

Dean shot a glance at Ruthie. "Who tricked you?"

The spirit hesitated. "A woman. I guess she's a...a witch. I didn't know they were real." He looked down at himself. "'Course, I never believed in ghosts, either. And now look at me." He let out a sad sigh. "I don't know how long I've been here...been dead. Feels like forever, but I guess maybe it hasn't been more'n a day or two."

His white hands curled and uncurled at his sides. "I never felt myself hit the ground. One second I was falling, and the next, I was jerked into this weird place. Not in the world, but sort of beside it. All shadows and scared voices. But right away, she was there. Talking to me. Not her whole self, but her voice. Said she was there to help me. That it wasn't an accident, and she knew who clipped my rope."

He raised pale brown eyes to Dean, then Sam. "She showed me you. Both of you. I don't know how. But I saw you two, shootin' and stabbin' people and such. She said you were killers, that you killed me. And you were gonna kill Andrea next."

He rubbed his arm. "I can tell it sounds crazy now. But right then, I was so confused; I didn't know up from down. I mean, I had just died. I was scared and mad. And this woman, she seemed to know everything."

Sam glanced at Dean. He looked terrible, as though an awful realization were slowly dawning on him. His brother lowered his head. "Where did you fall from?" he asked the ghost.

"Cell tower. I was working up there. I guess that's why she wanted me." He gestured at the phone in Dean's hand. "I don't know how to explain it, but I can get inside them. I can travel in the signals." His gaze dropped to the floor again. "She told me what to write. The first one, to get you two separated. The next ones, to get you out to the cabin. When to send 'em, so you wouldn't get there at the same time. She said I was protecting Andrea." Then his jaw jutted out. "But it was all lies. I heard her just a little bit ago, in her phone. She called someone, whoever she was working with. They were both real angry. I guess you two messed up their plan pretty bad. She yelled a lot of stuff. Now I know she killed me herself, just so she could use me."