╭-°—✞——✞—°-╮

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗜𝗫𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡

𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺

╰-°—✞——✞—°-╯

"I - I swerved and we crashed. When I came to, the car was wrecked and my husband was missing," Molly Mcnamara, a woman that ran out in front of the Impala when the three Winchesters were speeding through to track down the spirit they were hunting, explained. The trio exchanged a look with each other at the significance of the car crashing suddenly. "I went looking for him, but that's when the man from the road, he - he started chasing me."

"Did he look like he lost a fight with a lawn mower?" Dean blatantly asked, earning him a stern look from both Sam and Delaney.

Molly's eyes widened slightly, her face paling even more than it already was. "How did you know that?"

"Lucky guess."

"Molly, I think maybe you should come with us. We can take you back into town," Delaney offered softly.

"I can't," Molly denied, shaking her head. "I have to find David. He might have gone back to the car."

"We should get you somewhere safe first. Then Dean, Delaney and I can come back and look for your husband," Sam said.

"No!" Molly cried, her frantic eyes bouncing between the three siblings. "I'm not leaving here without him. "Would you just take me back to my car, please?"

Dean took Molly back to her car and the four made their way through the snow towards a dip on the side of the road that would lead to Molly and David's car. When they got to the dip into the woods from the road, there was nothing there except the usual dirt and trees. It didn't even look like a car had been there.

"I don't understand," Molly whispered, staring at the space where her car used to be. "I'm sure this is where it was. W-we hit that tree right there. This - this doesn't make any sense."

Delaney watched as Molly trekked her way down the slope towards the tree where her car had crashed into. She chewed on the inside of her lip as she turned to her brothers. "Guys, we need to get out of here. Greeley could show up at any second."

"What are you gonna tell her?" Dean whispered low enough for just his siblings to hear since Molly was still in hearing distance.

"The truth."

Dean raised his eyebrows at his baby sister. "Della, she's going to take off running in the other direction."

"I know it sounds crazy, but I crashed into tree," Molly called up to the siblings, pointing to the tree directly behind her. "I don't know who could have taken it. It was totaled. Please. You have to believe me."

Delaney shined her flashlight along the trees but she couldn't see anything that would give away what took the car. It barely even looked like a car was there in the first place. "Molly, listen, we do believe you. That's why we want to get you out of here."

"What about David? Something must have happened. I have to get to the cops."

"Cops - that's a great idea. In fact, we'll take you down to the station ourselves. So just come with us. It's the best way we can help you and your husband."

Molly was reluctant but followed after the siblings anyway and joined them in the Impala. The drive was quiet for a long moment before Molly spoke. "We're supposed to be in Lake Tahoe. It's our five-year anniversary."

"Hell of an anniversary," Dean commented.

Molly laughed softly. "Right before, we were having the dumbest fight. It was the only time we ever really argued - when we were stuck in the car."

Delaney chuckled and nudged the back of Dean's head. "Yeah, I know how that one goes." She smiled innocently at him when he narrowed his eyes at her through the rearview mirror.

"You know the last thing I said to him?" Molly asked, her face falling at the memory. "I called him a jerk. Oh, God. What if that's... what if that's the last thing I said to him?"

Delaney frowned and rubbed Molly's arm softly. She couldn't relate to Molly because she was lucky enough to have told Will she loved him before she never saw him again. If Molly never saw David again, it'll haunt her for the rest of her life. Delaney would be damned if she let this woman's husband die. "Molly, we are going to figure out what happened to your husband. I promise."

The radio suddenly switched on with static followed by House of the Rising Sun. All heads in the Impala turned to the radio with matching confused glances. 

"Did you - "

"No..."

Dean sighed and fiddled with the knobs on the radio. "Damn, I was afraid you'd say that, Sammy."

Molly leaned forward and her hands began to shake. "This song... it was playing when we crashed."

The frequency on the radio modulated rapidly before a voice from the radio said she's mine  over and over again. The voice sent a chill down Delaney's spine. Not a good sign.

"What is that?"

Before any of the siblings could respond, Greeley appeared in the middle of the road. With his side looking gory and bloody and his appearance was that of an old farmer. Dean sped toward Greeley as Molly screamed at him, but much to Molly's surprise, the Impala went right through Greeley and he disappeared into smoke.

"What the hell just happened?" Molly panted, eyes wide.

"Don't worry, Molly, everything is gonna be fine," Sam assured her just as the engine on the Impala started to sputter.

Dean shot his brother a look. "Spoke too soon, Sammy." He pulled over to the side of the road and it stalled once Dean took his foot off the gas. No matter how many times he turned the key in the ignition, the engine didn't start up again.

"I don't think he's letting her leave..." Delaney noted, receiving a freaked out look from Molly. One she couldn't blame Molly for because she'd probably be just as freaked if she were in Molly's position. She stepped out of the car with her brothers and rounded it to the trunk where the guns were. Time to go guns blazing on this one.

"I can't believe this is happening," Molly scoffed as she stepped out of the Impala.

"Well... trust me, it's happening," Dean replied, lifting up the trunk to reveal the weaponry underneath and began to check the guns to make sure they were loaded.

Molly froze at the sight of all the weapons and slowly backed up from the siblings. "Well... thanks for the help, but I think I got it covered from here."

"Wait!" Delaney yelled, running after Molly and tugged on the woman's arm to spin her back around. "Molly, just wait a minute."

"Leave me alone," Molly begged, pulling her arm out of Delaney's grip.

"No, please, you have to listen to me," Delaney said as Molly turned to walk away again. "It wasn't a coincidence that we found you, alright?"

Molly stopped in her tracks and glanced over her shoulder. "What are you talking about?"

"We weren't just cruising for random chicks that run in front of moving vehicles. We were already out here. Hunting," Dean responded, slapping a hand to his side. 

"Hunting for what?"

Delaney opened her mouth to respond, but quickly shut it again since she didn't necessarily know what to respond with. She wasn't sure what animal that were legally allowed to hunt in the current season so she'd just look dumb if she said deer or some random animal.

"Ghosts."

"D - d- don't... sugarcoat it for her," Delaney sputtered as Dean turned on his heel and walked back to the trunk.

"You're crazy."

Dean turned back around to face Molly and raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh? About as nuts as a vanishing guy with his guts spilling out. You know what you saw."

Sam ran a hand over his face in exasperation. "We think his name is Jonah Greeley. He was a local farmer that died fifteen years ago on this highway."

"Just stop."

"One night a year, on the anniversary of his death, he haunts this road," Sam continued as if Molly never spoke. "That's why we're here, Moll. To try and stop him."

Molly crossed her arms and tilted her head. "Now, I suppose this ghost made my car disappear, too."

"Crazier things have happened, huh?" Dean chuckled, nudging his sister subtly.

"You know what? I'm all filled up on crazy. I'll go to the cops myself."

"I don't mean to be harsh, but I don' think you're gonna get too far," Dean warned before Molly could walk more than two steps away from them. "Plan A was to get you out of here. Obviously that didn't go over too well with, uh, Farmer Roadkill."

Delaney stepped closer to Molly again and offered a small smile when Molly hesitated but didn't move away from the young girl. "Molly, we're telling the truth. Greeley's not gonna let you leave this highway."

Molly eyed Delaney who didn't falter for a second. She hoped that the woman would just believe her so they could figure out a way to keep her alive and find David. "You're serious about this, aren't you?"

"Deadly," Dean deadpanned.

"Every year, Greeley finds someone to punish for what happened to them. This year it seems to be you," Sam informed.

Molly's eyes welled with tears as her arms wrapped around herself. "Why me? I didn't do anything."

"Doesn't matter. Sometimes spirits only see what they want," Delaney replied sadly.

Molly was quiet for a long moment before her eyes snapped back over to the Winchesters and her face paled even more that Delaney thought pretty soon the woman would be transparent. "So you're saying this Greeley, he took my husband?"

"Molly, we're gonna help," Delaney promised and rubbed Molly's arm comfortingly. "But first, you got to help us, okay?"

"Help you? How?"

-°—✞——✞—°-

Molly had lead the siblings to a cabin in the middle of the woods and it looked worse for wear, which made sense since no one had lived in it in fifteen years. The inside of the cabin was littered with various vicious tools that hung from the ceiling and a wooden table that had blood splattered across it. 

"This is it. This is where I saw him."

"Must be his hunting cabin," Dean noted and poked one of the hanging hooks in front of him. "Huh. Seemed like a real sweet guy."

Sam ducked inside the cabin and shined his light around the room the four stood in. "There's no markers or headstones outside."

"You're looking for Greeley's grave?" Molly questioned incredulously. "Why?"

"So we can dig up the corpse and salt and burn it," Dean explained.

Molly blinked in surprise and stammered. "Oh... s-sure. Naturally of course."

"It's a way to get rid of a spirit," Delaney clarified for Molly with a shrug. "This will help both you and David, provided there's a corpse to be found."

"So how do we find it?"

Sam let out a heavy breath as he continued to inspect the room. "Um, not sure. After Greeley died, his wife claimed the body and that was the last anyone saw of her. So good guess she brought him back here, but they had a thousand acres. He could be buried anywhere on 'em."

"This is really what you guys do. You're like Ghost Busters."

"Who you gonna call?" Delaney teased with a grin, but quickly dropped it when Dean shot her a look to knock it off.

"Look, this is a fascinating conversation and all, but this highway is only haunted once a year, and we got till sunup to wrap this thing up. What do you say we move it along, okay? Great."

The group walk back outside to continue their hunt outside and they split up with Delaney being with Dean and Sam and Molly walking together. Her and Dean shine their lights along the thicket of trees and shrubs, but find nothing that can help them figure out where Greeley's body could possibly be. This was definitely going to be a long night for the hunters.

Molly's screams could be heard from a short distance away and the two siblings rushed in the direction of the sound to see Greeley holding Molly to his chest with her back to his front. Delaney was quick to hold up her gun and shoot Greeley in the head, sending him into smoke.

Sam burst through a batch of trees to the side and frantically glanced around. "Are you guys alright?"

"What has that son of a bitch done to my husband?"

"Just take it easy, alright?" Sam panted, placing his hands on his hips to try and catch his breath. "You're gonna see David again. You will."

"Hey!" Dean called, earning all three of their attentions. His flashlight shone down a pathway up ahead. "Follow the creepy brick road."

Delaney exchanged glances with Sam before she tugged Molly after her and Dean with Sam taking up the rear. They rounded a corner of shrubs and grass to walk down an even longer path.

"So, that thing shoots rock salt?" Molly questioned, gesturing to the shotgun in the siblings' hands. "And plain salt keeps away spirits?"

Delaney shrugged and waved the gun around. "Simple remedies are always the best. In most cultures, salt is a symbol of purity, so it repels impure and unnatural things. Same reason you throw it over your shoulder."

They round a corner to see a creepy house that looked like a blast of wind could potentially knock it over. 

"You know, just once I'd like to round the corner and see a nice house," Dean remarked, staring up at the rundown building.

Delaney stepped into the house with Sam and Molly while Dean investigated outside. The inside was just as rundown and falling apart as the outside. It was as if no one had been in the house in a hundred years rather than fifteen. A small sneeze escaped Delaney when a cloud of dust blew up from the couch. She coughed and waved her hand around her face to clear the dust away just as Dean walked inside. 

"Any headstones?"

"Is it ever that easy?" Dean rolled his eyes and dropped his bag down onto the couch and Delaney quickly sidestepped away from the couch so she wouldn't have to suffer another cloud of dust in her nostrils.

"I guess not."

"Sammy, why don't you and Molly go check upstairs while Della and I check down here?" Dean suggested and the four split up.

Delaney didn't find much on her side of the house and neither did Dean so the two decided to go  upstairs to see if Sam or Molly found anything. They stopped in the doorway to see the two glancing over a photo book on the small bed in the room. "Nothing downstairs. You guys find anything?"

"Uh, just about every receipt and mail they ever had, but nothing about a grave so far," Sam replied.

Dean paused in front of a dresser across from the door and inspected it. "I think there's something behind this wall," he announced and tossed Delaney his flashlight before moving the dresser out of the way. Behind it was a small, hidden door and Dean poked it with his foot. "It's locked from the inside."

"How are you - "

Molly was cut off when Dean turned and kicked his foot back to open the door, but it didn't budge. Groaning, he kicked his foot back harder and the door swung open. The four crawled through the small opening and stand inside a small room, waving away multiple cobwebs.

Dean wrinkled his nose as he sniffed the air. "Ew, it smells like old lady in here."

Delaney walked further into the room and stumbled back into Dean when she nearly bumped into a hanging body. "Oh, God."

"That would explain why," Dean retorted, placing his hands on Delaney's shoulder to steady her and squeezed them assuringly that it was okay. "Now we know why nobody ever saw her again."

"She didn't want to live without him," Molly noted with a frown.

Sam flipped the chair underneath the body over and turned to his brother. "Dean, help me out here."

Dean balked, his hands falling from Delaney's shoulder as he shook his head. "Really, Sam?"

"What are you gonna do?" Molly asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"We can't leave her like this," Sam argued, gesturing to the skeleton still hanging above them.

"Why not?" Dean asked.

Delaney rolled her eyes and walked over to Sam to help him. "Sam's right. She deserves to be put to rest, Dean."

After Sam and Delaney removed Mrs. Greeley's body from the ceiling, they walked outside to bury her body in the back of the house. Dean had complained the whole time him and Sam dug the grave because she was already dead. Delaney told him to stop being a baby and finish digging so they place Mrs. Greeley in the grave and cover it.

"So, what happens to them if you put Mr. Greeley to rest also?" Molly asked once the boys finished digging up the grave.

"Lady, that's way above our pay grade," Dean replied, chuckling softly.

Molly crossed her arms and rose her eyebrows in surprise "Wait you hunt these things, but you don't know what happens to them?"

"They never return and that's really all that matters," Delaney replied bluntly.  "When they let go of whatever was keeping them here, they go someplace... better. At least, I hope they do. However, we don't really know. No one does."

Molly watched Dean cover Mrs. Greeley's body back over with the already dug dirt. "What happens when you burn their bones?"

Sam hesitated for a moment as he tried to think of how to properly get his words across correctly. "Um... our dad used to say that was like death for ghosts, you know? Truth is, we still don't know. Not for sure."

Delaney glanced to Dean out of the corner of her eye as Molly crouched down so she was closer to Mrs. Greeley's grave. "I guess that's why we all hold on to life so hard. Even the dead. We're all just scared of the unknown."

"The only thing I'm scared of is never seeing David again. I have to."

Delaney rolled her lips into her mouth as the guilt slammed into her. If only Molly knew the truth.

-°—✞——✞—°-

"Dean, we have to tell her about her husband," Delaney whispered to Dean. The three Winchesters sat in one room while Molly walked around the kitchen with the photobook in her hands, flipping through it aimlessly.

"We can't."

Delaney huffed and spun Dean's chair around so it faced her. "What? Come on, it's cruel letting her pine for him like this. I don't like keeping her in the dark like this."

"It's for her own good," Dean argued.

Delaney crossed her arms and glared at Dean. "Oh, what if it was me, Dean? Would you let me pine after Will like this even though you knew the truth about him?"

Dean sighed and stood to his feet. "Look, baby girl, you're sympathetic with the woman. I get it, okay, I do. You feel guilty and that's fine, but let's just stick to the plan. Let's get her out of here and then we can tell her."

"Tell me what?" Molly asked, slowly approaching the siblings from the kitchen. "What aren't you telling me? It's about David. You know what happened to him."

"Molly - "

"Della, don't," Dean warned, cutting her off mid-sentence.

"Don't what?" Molly challenged, stepping further into the room. "Don't tell me because it'll mess up your hunt? You don't care about me or my husband."

Delaney shook her head desperately. "No, no, thats not true."

"Really? Then whatever it is, tell me. Please."

Delaney opened her mouth to say something - anything really - but the radio somewhere in the house suddenly kicked on, the frequency modulating like it had in the car earlier. House of the Rising Sun began to play again.

"He's coming," Molly gasped, stepping back behind the siblings.

"Stay with her," Dean ordered his siblings before rushing out of the room to the source of the music.

Sam and Delaney stood in the middle of the room while Molly stood shaking near the window. The music continued to play from wherever the radio was in the house and the two youngest Winchesters continued to bounce their flashlights around the room to see if they could see Greeley anywhere. A crashing sound caused the two to jump and turn to see Greeley grab Molly from behind and drag her out the window.

"Dee, he's got Molly!" Delaney yelled and jumped out the window with Sam to chase after Greeley. 

The three siblings chased Greeley around the woods to find the duo but eventually, they lost sight of them and had to circle back to the house. 

"We have to find Molly."

"We have to find Greeley's bones," Dean corrected Delaney as he glanced around the house again. "No pressure, but uh, there's only two more hours until sunrise."

Sam stared down at the photo of Greeley and his wife and titled his head. "Huh... February 6th, 1992."

Dean and Delaney glanced over Sam's shoulder to look at the photo also. "That was two weeks before the accident, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it looks like the hunting cabin, but I swear there was a tree right where they are standing," Sam explained, pointing to the spot Greeley and his wife stood.

"Why didn't I think of it?" Delaney gasped, slapping a hand to her forehead.

"What?"

"It's an old country custom, Dean. Planting a tree as a grave marker," Delaney explained and gestured to where Greeley and his wife stood. "That tree is where Greeley's body is."

Dean stared at Delaney incredulously and shook his head. "I swear you're a walking encyclopedia of weirdness."

Delaney backed away towards the front door with her brothers quickly following after her. "Yeah, tell me something I don't know already."

-°—✞——✞—°-

Delaney stood outside the hunting cabin with her brothers, shovels in hand and she jumped when Molly let out a loud cry from inside. "Dean, go get Molly. Sammy and I will get rid of Greeley."

Dean nodded and was gone before Delaney could even blink. Sam and Delaney got to work digging around the tree in front of the cabin. They hit something hard and look down to see that it's bones. Seems they found it in time because Dean already yelled for them to hurry up and he sounded like he struggled inside with Greeley. 

Sam emptied a box of salt into the open grave, directly onto the bones. Delaney opened the container of gasoline and poured it all along the grave before she lit a match and dropped it inside. The bones inside the grave immediately caught fire and burned. A flash of flames from inside proved that Sam and Delaney were successful and the two dropped to the ground, high-fiving as they leant against each other. A serious nap was needed after this.

-°—✞——✞—°-

After much begging from Molly, the Winchesters took Molly to see David who was, in fact, alive and well. Dean pulled up in front of a beautiful suburban house. The lights inside were on and they could see into the window to the living room which is connected to a kitchen. David is stood in the kitchen in his bathrobe, looking over the newspaper from that day.

"I don't understand," Molly said, eyeing the house that clearly was not her and David's house.

"You will," Delaney mumbled and stepped out of the car with her brothers and Molly, leading her up to the front walkway.

David moved from the counter to the center island behind him to pour himself a cup of coffee. He is not how Molly remembered him, he looked older than the last time she had seen him. 

"That's not... it can't be," Molly whispered and stumbled back when she saw David kiss a beautiful brown haired woman in a bathrobe when she approached him. The two looked like they were extremely happy and in love. "What's going on? Who is that?"

Delaney cleared her throat and rocked back on her heels, the guilt nearly knocking her over. "That's David's wife. I'm sorry, Molly. Fifteen years ago, you and your husband hit Jonah Greeley with your car. David survived."

Molly stepped closer and Delaney flinched at the pain in her expression. "What are you saying?"

"We're saying that there isn't just one spirit haunting Highway Forty-One. There are two. Jonah Greeley and you," Sam explained. "For the past fifteen years, one night a year you have been appearing on that highway."

Molly shook her head defiantly. "No, that's not possible. It was our anniversary - February 22nd..."

"1992," Dean finished for Molly and frowned, stuffing his hands in the pocket as the sky opened up above them and poured down on the four. It was as if the universe knew how depressing and upsetting the moment was. "Molly, it's 2007."

"Oh, God."

Before they had ran into Molly the previous night, the Winchesters had already known about her. They had done their research about the highway and found the article stating there were two fatalities due to the crash - Jonah Greeley and Molly McNamara. They went to visit David to ask him where she was buried, but they found out she was cremated so there were no bones to burn. Something else was keeping here on that highway. Turns out that every year Molly is the one to be chased each year. The only person, actually.

"And Greeley?" Molly asked once the Winchesters explained the events of the past day to her.

"Each year he punishes somebody for his death - chasing them. Torturing them. Each year that somebody is you," Delaney explained somberly. "You probably don't remember any of it because you couldn't see the truth."

"So that's why he won't let me off the highway. I killed us both," Molly realized, her eyes bouncing between the three siblings who all nodded their head. "Why didn't you tell me when you first saw me? Why wait until now?"

"You wouldn't have believed us," Dean responded.

Molly gave Dean a deadpan expression. "And you needed me for bait."

"Well, we needed you," Delaney corrected. "You helped us out a lot."

"David..." Molly gasped and glanced behind her to the house.

"Molly, we brought you here so you can move on," Sam explained as Molly stood to her feet from the step she had dropped onto as the Winchesters gave her the truth about everything from the past day.

"I have to tell him - "

Delaney scoffed and placed her hands on her hips. "That you love him? You're sorry? He already knows that. Look, if you want to go in there then we won't stop you."

"However, you will scar him for life," Dean added.

"David's already said his goodbyes, Molly. Now it's your turn," Sam told Molly, ignoring Dean's comment. "This is your unfinished business."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Let go of David. Of everything," Delaney answered, earning a whimper from Molly that nearly shattered her heart in a million pieces. "You do that... we think you'll move on."

Molly sniffled and wiped under her eyes. "But you don't know where."

"No, but Molly you don't belong here. Haven't you suffered long enough? It's time to go."

Molly nodded sadly and stepped slowly away from the house. She turned her face upwards as the first light of dawn crept over the rooftops and down onto the siblings and Molly. Bathed in light, she became part of the light and vanished from sight.

"I guess she wasn't so bad... for a ghost," Dean commented. "You think she's really going to a better place?"

"I hope so," Delaney replied softly.

"Guess we won't know until we take the plunge ourselves, huh?" Dean said, patting his sister on the back.

"Hope is kind of the whole point, Dee."

Dean rolled his eyes and playfully pushed Delaney's head. "Alright, Haley Joel. Let's hit the road."

Sam squeezed her hand reassuringly, knowing fully well that Delaney was sensitive to the topic because she put Will in Molly's shoes. Will didn't get to say bye to her like Molly didn't get to say bye to David. Delaney and David at least got to say goodbye - even though Delaney did it a bit after while she sat in the ambulance after Will burst into flames - and got at least some type of closure. 

Delaney just wanted to get in the Impala and sleep for the next year. These hunts really drained you, especially when you had to pull an all nighter to do it. She was just glad Molly was now at peace and a part of her hoped Will was also.

AUTHORS NOTE

Hi hey hello

Our girl Delaney is back and I am so happy. I missed my girl while I was away from writing for a bit and I cannot wait to do these last SIX CHAPTERS before we move onto Season/Book 3!! We are getting down to the wire now and all Hell is gonna break loose soon (heh see what i did there)