Stories For My Friends To Read

3: Dead in The Water

-Part of an Unpublished book-
-Rough Draft-

There was a mostly empty plate in front of Dean, who was circling obituaries in a newspaper. Dean circled an obituary that read:

CARLTON, SOPHIE -The Carlton family is sad to announce the death of their beloved daughter in a tragic swimming accident. Sophie Carlton, 18, was having her [...] Lake Manitoc WI, an [...] suddenly [...]

"Can I get you anything else?" Wendy, their waitress, asked. Dean looks up and grinned around the pen he was chewing on. "Just the check please." Sam said, sitting down. "Okay." Wendy smiled before walking away. "You know, Sam, we are allowed to have fun once in a while." Dean told Sam, motioning to Wendy who was wearing booty shorts, "That's fun." Sam looked at his brother like he was crazy before Dean hands him a newspaper. "Here, take a look at this, I think I got one. Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin. Last week Sophie Carlton, eighteen, walks into the lake, doesn't walk out. Authorities dragged the water; nothing. Sophie Carlton is the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies were found either. They had a funeral two days ago." Dean explained. "A funeral?" Sam asked. "Yeah, it's weird, they buried an empty coffin. For, uh, closure or whatever." "Closure? What closure? People don't just disappear, Dean. Other people just stop looking for them." "Something you want to say to me?" "The trail for Dad. It's getting colder every day." "Exactly. So what are we supposed to do?" "I don't know. Something. Anything." "You know what? I'm sick of this attitude. You don't think I wanna find Dad as much as you do?" "Yeah, I know you do, it's just—" "I'm the one that's been with him every single day for the past two years, while you've been off to college going to pep rallies. We will find Dad, but until then, we're gonna kill everything bad between here and there. Okay?" Dean told Sam. Sam rolled his eyes, Dean getting distracted as Wendy walked by. "All right, Lake Manitoc. Hey!" Sam said. "Huh?" Dean asked, his attention returning to his brother. Sam questioned, "How far?"

Dean knocked on the door to the Carlton household. Will Carlton answered the door. "Will Carlton?" Dean asked. "Yeah, that's right." Will said. "I'm Agent Ford. This is Agent Hamill and Junior Agent Mason. We're with the US Wildlife Service." Dean lied, holding up fake IDs.

Bill Carlton sat on a bench on the dock. Will brought Sam, Dean, and Jackie around to see him. "She was about a hundred yards out. That's where she got dragged down." Will told them. "And you're sure she didn't just drown?" Dean asked. "Yeah. She was a varsity swimmer. She practically grew up in that lake. She was as safe out there as in her own bathtub." Will explained. "So no splashing? No signs of distress?" Sam questioned. "No, that's what I'm telling you." Will tried. "Did you see any shadows in the water? Maybe some dark shape breach the surface?" Jackie asked. "No. Again, she was really far out there." Will told them. "You ever see any strange tracks by the shoreline?" Dean asked. "No, never. Why? Why, what do you think's out there?" Will questioned. "We'll let you know as soon as we do." Dean told him before starting to head to the car. "What about your father?" Sam asked, causing Dean to stop and turn back to the group. Will looked at his father before returning his attention to the trio. "Look, if you don't mind, I mean...he didn't see anything and he's kind of been through a lot." Will told them. "We understand." Jackie gave him a reassuring smile before the three walked to the Impala.

"Now, I'm sorry, but why does the Wildlife Service care about an accidental drowning?" Sheriff Jake Devins asked. "You sure it's accidental? Will Carlton saw something grab his sister." Sam told him. "Like what?" The sheriff questioned, leading them to his office. "Here, sit, please. There are no indigenous carnivores in that lake." Sheriff told them, motioning to the two chairs in front of his desk, opposite to his. "There's nothing even big enough to pull down a person, unless it was the Loch Ness Monster." Sheriff explained as Sam and Dean sat down, Jackie still standing in her heels in the middle of the chairs, slightly behind. "Yeah. Right." Dean laughed, causing Sam to glance at him and Jackie to glare daggers. "Will Carlton was traumatized, and sometimes the mind plays tricks. Still—" Sheriff Jake explained, sitting down, "We dragged that entire lake. We even ran a sonar sweep, just to be sure, and there was nothing down there." "That's weird, though, I mean, that's, that's the third missing body this year." Jackie noted aloud. "I know. These are people from my town. These are people I care about." Sheriff Jake told them. "I know." Jackie acknowledged with a slight nod of her head. "Anyway..." Sheriff Jake sighed, "All this...it won't be a problem much longer." "What do you mean?" Dean asked. "Well, the dam, of course." Sheriff 'reminded' them. "Of course, the dam. It's, uh, it sprung a leak." Dean tried. "It's falling apart, and the feds won't give us the grant to repair it, so they've opened the spillway. In another six months, there won't be much of a lake. There won't be much of a town, either. But as Federal Wildlife, you already knew that." Sheriff told them. "Exactly." Dean said. A Young Woman, Andrea Bare, tapped on the door.