❝ welcome to lost creek ! ❞

"You got any silver on you?" Deanna leaned her head back and increased the speed of the Impala.

A week had passed since Jessica Moore was found burnt in one of Stanford's apartments. News had spread, some said Sam Winchester himself burnt her and was committing arson, others said she committed suicide. No one knew anything. There were zero witnesses. The police had both talked to Sam and Deanna, however, they had a good alibi.

Sam was not okay. He'd not cry, not eat, not sleep. . . and Deanna noticed. She, being an insomniac could hear him whimper behind the covers as his nightmares got worse each day. She didn't say anything of course, how could she? She didn't know Jess, but she did know she was a sweet and fun girl. She felt bad for Sam, but what could she possibly say? That she was sorry? She wanted to comfort him, she just didn't know how. She did the thing she thought was right, make sure he ate and sleep well. . . and she added sleeping pills to his coffee.

"I'll be fine," she heard a chuckle, "how's the kid?"

Deanna sighed and glanced at Sam for a moment, "well he's eating, so I think that's a good process."

"Yeah the drugs must've been doing God's work," he said sarcastically.

"Don't start Dan," she rolled her eyes, "better than him not sleeping for days. They're just sleeping pills. He's been through enough."

"Well if you need anything, y'know who to call."

"Yeah," a small grin appeared on her face, "get going, will you? Try not to die."

"Have fun finding daddy."

Deanna scrunched her nose and flipped her phone, shaking her head in disbelief. She pulled the car into the near cafe as the sun slowly rose. She didn't want to leave Sam behind with the windows closed.

She frowned as he shrunk himself, forcing himself not to thrash around. She patted his shoulder as he gasped awake.

"You okay Sammy?" She asked worriedly.

He cleared his throat and yawned, "fine." He looked outside, "why are we stopping?"

"It's breakfast time!" Deanna smiled too cheerily.

"Yay," he mimicked. "Dude I'm not hungry."

Deanna scoffed, "well I am. We've been driving for hours and you didn't let me buy burgers."

"Because they start to smell Dee!"

Rolling her eyes she threw him his jacket from behind and got out of the Impala, knocking on the front door.

"Hello!" She yelled as she knocked, "yo is this open or what?"

"Deanna it's five in the morning," Sam sighed.

Deanna defended, "So what dude? I need food."

Rolling his eyes Sam looked down at the map in front of him, "I think we shouldn't have left so soon."

She turned around, "Sammy I get it, and. . ." she stuttered, "well, we dug Sam. And we literally found nothing. Now if we need to find Jess' killer we— "

" —We gotta find dad first."

"Dude check out this bear!"

Deanna stared in awe at the picture in front of her.

Sam rolled his eyes as she casually interrupted him for the fifth time. They currently stood at the Ranger Station, Colorado.

". . . and a dozen or more grizzlies in the area. It's no nature hike, that's for sure." Sam's voice trails as he stood next to her. They look at each other and back at the picture of the bear. They slightly tilt their heads, clearly drawn to the giant bear.

"You two aren't planning on going out near Blackwater Ridge by any chance?" The two of them turned to an older man, a park ranger staring at them.

"Oh, no sir," Sam answered, "we're environmental study majors from UC Boulder, just working on a paper."

"Bull! You're friends with that Haley girl, right?"

Deanna picked on. "Yes! Hayley, of course! How did you know? She's a close friend of mine Mr Wilkinson."

"Well lemme tell you exactly what we told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the twenty-fourth, so it's not really a missing person case, now is it?"

Deanna shook her head and pursed her lips. "Could you please give us a copy of her copy of the backcountry permit? It could maybe help her. . . to see her brother's return date."

Wilkinson nodded as they headed into his office.

Deanna buzzed onto the door as a brunette opened it. "You must by Haley Collins," she smiled, "I'm Deanna and this dude is Sam. We are rangers with the park service. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over. He wanted to ask questions about your brother, Tommy, right?"

"Yes," Haley hesitated. "Let me see some id?"

Deanna pulled out her fake id and flipped it open. Nodding, Hayley opened the door and let them into the dining room.

"So if Tommy's not due back for a while, how do you know something's wrong?" Sam asked.

"He checks in every day by cell," Hayley answered, "he emails, photos, stupid little videos— we haven't heard anything in over three days now."

"Well, maybe he can't get cell reception." Sam shrugged. Hayley shook her head, "he's got a satellite phone, too."

"Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check-in?"

"He wouldn't do that," said the younger kid sharply.

"Our parents are gone," Hayley sighed, "it's just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other."

"Can I see the pictures he sent you?" Sam requested. Hayley nodded, walked over to the table before grabbing the computer, and putting it down in front of Sam.

After she quickly entered the password, she clicked onto her mail, prompting a video of a man in the woods to play.

Hey Haley, day six, we're still out near Blackwater Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow.

Within the moment, Sam noticed a flicker of darkness from the outside of the tent. He wasn't sure of who or what the shadow was, or if it even was something, but he knew that nothing human could move that fast.

"Well, we'll find your brother. We're heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing." Deanna assured Hayley, knowing how she must be feeling.

"Then maybe I'll see you there," said Hayley, "look, I can't sit around here anymore. So I hired a guy. I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm gonna find Tommy myself."

"Um, Hayley," Sam's brows furrowed as he looked back at her, "do you mind forwarding these to me?"

"Sure."

Entering the bar, Deanna smirked at the bartender, leaned against the bar and asked for two beers. She went back to the corner and sat opposite to brother. "So, what you got?"

"So, the Blackwater Ridge doesn't really get much traffic. Local campers, mostly. But, guess what," he looked up, "this past April, two hikers went missing and were not found." He flipped open John Winchester's dairy, "also, in 1982, eight different people all vanished in the same year."

Sam showed her the newspaper articles.

GRIZZLY BEAR ATTACKS!

UP TO EIGHT HIKERS VANISH IN THE LOST CREEK AREA

HIKERS DISAPPEARANCE BAFFLES AUTHORITIES'

Families continue to search and rescue efforts in spite of disappointing [...]

"In 1959 and again before that in 1936." Sam looked into his laptop, "every twenty-three years, just like clockwork. Okay. Watch this. Here's a clincher. I downloaded that guy Tommy's video to the laptop. Check this out."

Deanna sighed and leaned in. Sam clicked the space bar a few times and noticed a shadow cross the screen.

The waitress came in with the beer. "Oh thank you, sweetheart," flashing a smile, she looked back into the laptop.

"Do it again," she mumbled. Sam repeated the spaces and noticed three frames behind the tent.

"That's three frames. It's a fraction of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move."

"Something weird's going on here man." Deanna rubbed her temple. Her head ached.

"I got one more thing," Sam pulled out another newspaper clipping, "in 'fifty-nine one camper survived this supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid. Barely crawled out of the woods alive."

"You got a name?"

An old man who had survived an alleged attack similar to the one Sam and Deanna were researching, Mr Shaw, led them inside his house, a lit cigarette hanging out of his mouth. "Look, ranger, I don't know why you're asking me about this. It's a public record. I was a kid. My parents got mauled by a—"

"Grizzly?" Sam interrupted, "that's what attacked 'em?"

Taking a puff from his cigarette, Shawn nodded.

"The other people went missing that year," Deanna walked towards the old man, "that bear attacks too? What about all the people that went missing this year? Same thing? We knew what we were dealing with, we might be able to stop it."

"I seriously doubt that," Shawn sat on the couch and drank his glass of scotch, "you wouldn't believe me. Nobody ever did."

"Mr Shaw," Sam sat beside him and asked softly, "what did you see?"

"Nothing," Shaw dazed ahead, "it moved too fast to see. It hid too well. I heard it, though. A roar. Like...no man or animal I ever heard."

"It came at night?" Sam asked as Shaw nodded. "Got inside your tent?"

"It got inside our cabin. I was sleeping in front of the fireplace when it came in. It didn't smash a window or break the door. It unlocked it. Do you know of a bear that could do something like that? I didn't even wake up till I heard my parents screaming."

"It killed them?" Sam whispered.

"Dragged them off into the night." Shaw shook his head and sighed, "why it left me alive...been asking myself that ever since." He opened his collar to reveal three long claw scars.

"There's something evil in those woods. It was some sort of a demon."

By the time they finished with Mr Shaw, it was nearly midnight, the moon shining brightly overhead as the siblings walked towards the parked Impala. "Spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors. If they want inside, they just go through the walls."

"So it's probably something else, something corporeal." Sam nodded.

"The claws, the speed that it moves... could be a skinwalker, maybe a black dog. Whatever we're talking about, we're talking about a creature, and it's corporeal. Which means we can kill it."

They opened the trunk of the Impala and prop open the weapons box with a shotgun. Deanna starts to pack weapons into her duffel bag.

"We cannot let that Haley girl go out there." Sam leaned in.

"Oh yeah?" Deanna scoffs, "what are we going to tell her. Her brother's missing Sammy. She ain't just gonna sit this out. No, here's what I'm thinking, we go with her, protect her and keep our eyes peeled for our furry little predator friend. Alright?"

"Finding dad's not enough," Sam slammed the trunk in frustration, "now we gotta babysit too?"

Deanna took a second to seep in what he just said. She sighed and stared at him in disappointment. She knew Sam had changed ever since Jessica's death, but his kindness fading was the worst thing that could happen to the world, after the apocalypse though.

Deanna knew that Sam was just acting upon the recent events but after his continuous nagging and whining, she was just pissed.

"What?"

"Nothing," she threw the bag at Sam and walked away. 

────────── notes──────────

yes. i finally updated. many many manyyyy thanks to__silversprings and pieandthewinchesters for inspiring me to write <33

also, i took out time to write, so y'all better comment and vote or i'll kill deanna in s15  >.<

dan was introduced. he's honestly the love of my life. sammy boi being an angsty teenager is relatable as fuck ;P

also, please please read my message board regarding the updates, in case you have any queries, thanks :)

29. 04. 22