simarillion (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
simarillion) wrote2009-05-05 02:23 pm
simarillion) wrote2009-05-05 02:23 pm
Entry tags:
FIC: "Once upon a Time" (2/2)
Once upon a Time…
By Simarillion
Fandom: Supernatural
Pairing: none (Weechester)
Rating: R
Beta: Sulfuric Fusion
Word Count: 5,807 (13,648 total)
Warning: angst, gore, language, violence, canibalism, shapeshifting, fairy tales
Summary: A Halloween pageant at an elementary school is cursed and the kids are forced to start acting out fairy tales.
Disclaimer: None of the characters of the Supernatural show are mine. They all belong to The CW network and Eric Kripke. I make no money with any of this.
Author’s Note: I read the prompts ofspn_halloween and stumbled over this one. Honestly, I am such a fairy tale whore that I just couldn’t let this chance pass by.
So, there’s gonna be violence, gore and even some cannibalism, cause this is what the original fairytales were all about before the brothers Grimm got their hands on them and turned them into stories suitable for the bourgeoisie. I won’t get started on what Disney did after that.
[Part 1] [Part 2]
called Sam.
It is a house. Actually it’s more like a little cottage with the lights on inside. Sam stops in his tracks, to set Dean down, and then he turns to Stephanie.
“Wait here, I’ll check the house out.” He doesn’t wait for a reply, just stomps over to the front door.
At the entrance he halts his steps though, and knocks carefully on the wooden door. No-one answers his knock, and after a few minutes of waiting, Sam thinks it’s safe enough to go in and take a look around. The squeaking of the hinges doesn’t scare or surprise him, somehow he’d expected it.
The interior is very cheerful, with flowery curtains, sturdy but elegant furniture, and big rugs covering the wooden floor boards. The room Sam enters looks like some sort of living or dining room, with a large table in the center, covered with a linen table cloth, and a large vase with flowers right in the middle of it.
A flowery soft scent fills the room, and close to the furniture there is also the smell of beeswax. All in all the whole building feels nice and very welcoming. At the right end of the room is a door which leads to another room and on the other side a long curtain marks a doorway.
Sam takes another look around, peering through the door on the right, only to find a bedroom with a large four-poster bed. The bedding is of a pink and white paisley pattern and there are small bedside lamps on each bedside table on the right and the left of the bed.
Since no-one seems to lurk in the house, and Sam wants to get Dean and Stephanie out of the dark forest, he runs over to where he left them.
His brother is leaning against the girl’s legs, favoring his uninjured side. At the sight of Sam coming back to them, he rights himself and takes careful steps towards him. After the third step his legs give out and he topples to the ground with an undignified squeak.
“Dean? Sam?” Stephanie turns her head towards the direction of Dean’s cry.
“Everything’s alright, Stephanie. Dean just fell over.” Sam picks his fallen brother up and carries him over to the girl. He has to shuffle Dean around, always afraid that he’ll hurt him, before he can reach out to Stephanie, and take her hand. “Come on, the house is warm, and it will be much safer than out here.”
On his way back to the house, he keeps a careful eye on their surrounding. But they make it safe to the front door, and once they are inside, Sam closes it. There’s no lock, but he sets Dean down and shoves a small cupboard in front of it.
“There, that should do.” It’s not really a guarantee of safety but it’s better than nothing at all.
Sam turns around and finds Dean lying next to the bedroom door, his head tucked between his folded legs, eyes closed, and breathing calmly. In the light of the lamps Sam can finally see the full damage the attack of the wolf did. The scratches are very deep, and the fur around the gashes is matted with blood, but the bleeding itself has stopped.
A loud ‘oops’ is accompanied by the sound of something crashing to the floor.
“Sorry!” The contrite tone of voice has Sam grin amused, and he starts scanning the cupboards and shelves along the walls.
There are small porcelain figurines, as well as other knick knacks neatly set up in showcases, and the shelves are covered with books. Curious about what he might find Sam starts scanning the letters on the old leather spines.
Many of the volumes are about cooking, gardening and illnesses, but stuck in between all the other books, Sam finds something that captures his attention at once, ‘Classic Fairy Tales’ is engraved in a swirling golden script, into the dark red leather cover.
He takes the books out of the shelf, and walks over to the large table, where he sits down and opens the book. There’s no index or some kind of table of content, the stories start pretty much on the first page Sam opens.
The letters are hard to read, hand-written most likely, and the dark ink is fading to a reddish brown at some places. Sam has to concentrate real hard, but in the end he gets the hang of reading the text. The first letter is beautifully decorated with ornamental designs and drawings, and then the paragraphs precisely divided the page into separate sections.
A loud crash has Sam set the book down and go looking for Stephanie, who he is sure is the source of the disruption. He finds her in the bedroom, next to a smashed porcelain vase. Tears are running down her cheeks, and she hugs herself tightly.
“Stephanie?” Cautiously he takes a step closer to her.
“I’m sorry.” The words are soft and full of tears. “I …”
Sam feels slightly out of his depth here. What’s he supposed to do with an upset and crying girl? He could hug her, but then she would wipe her snot and tears into his clothes, and even though he feels sorry for her, that would be gross. So, hugging is out, but talking is not much better. What are you supposed to say in a situation like this one?
His dilemma ends when Dean wobbles past him and butts his head against the girl’s side. The touch makes her reach down, and once she does that, she plops down and cradles his brother to her chest.
Most of the time Sam hates how girls act around his older brother, but this one time he feels grateful for Dean’s effect on Stephanie. He watches for a couple of minutes how the act of petting Dean calms her down, and then he returns to the table and the book.
Just as Sam’s about go back to reading, a knocking sound on the front door has him jump to his feet. Anxiously he walks to the front door. It’s a difficult decision to make, what to do now. Sam doesn’t think that the wolf they escaped from can knock on doors, but what about the witch, nevermind all the other dangers that might lurk out there.
On the other hand if it’s someone in need for help, Sam has to let them in, with the wolf sneaking around in the forest; it’s too dangerous to stay outside.
“Who’s there?” His question is met with silence. “Is anybody outside?”
“Sam?” The question stuns him. The person on the other side of the door knows his name. “Sam, is that you?”
At first he doesn’t recognize the voice, but once he listens closely, he realizes who stumbled upon them. It’s Tim!
Quickly he starts pushing the cupboard away from the door to let his friend in. “Wait a second, Tim, I’m going to open the door for you.” Once the furniture is moved far enough to open the front door, Sam pulls it open, expecting to meet Tim.
Instead he’s greeted by a little white kid. It looks up at him with brown eyes and takes a step closer to Sam.
“Tim?” At any other time, Sam would have thought himself to be insane, talking to the kid like it’s a person but after what has already happened tonight, and after watching his own brother transform into a fawn, he gives it the benefit of a doubt.
“Sam.” The white goatling trots up to him and cautiously peers behind Sam.
“Um, do come on in.” Sam’s sure that once all of this is over, he’s going to laugh about this. Talking to a kid, he can’t even say that stranger things have happened.
He casts a last look around before closing the front door again. The cupboard goes back in front of the entrance, and they are safely locked away again. With the threat of the wolf locked outside, Sam finally takes his first good look at his changed friend.
Tim, well there’s only one way to put it, he’s small. Not as small as Dean, but the difference in height isn’t all that great. The big brown eyes of Sam’s friend are full of fear, and the kid shakes hard just standing in the homely room, staring at Sam.
It is the sound of shuffling steps and the soft taps of hoofed feet that shakes the two boys out of their entranced state. Sam looks up to find Stephanie and Dean lounging in the bedroom doorway. The girl has stopped crying, the tears sticky on her face, and his brother favors his left side.
“Sam, is anybody here?” The girl takes another step into the room, her hands reaching out to find her way.
“A friend of mine is here.” At his words Tim cautiously approaches Stephanie and Dean.
His bravery fails him though when the girl stumbles and almost trips over in his direction. Sam takes Stephanie’s hand, and guides her to the nearest chair. Once the girl is seated he turns back to the new addition to their motley crew.
“What happened to you, Tim?”
“I lost sight of you at the pageant,” the kid starts to explain, “and then I tried to find my wait out of the crowd. There was a lot of shoving and shouting, and when I finally was able to get out of everyone’s way, it was so foggy and dark, I couldn’t tell up from down.”
Dean wobbles up to the table and lies down next to the seated girl.
“I couldn’t find you and no one answered when I called out. The first thing I heard then, was someone singing, and I thought that maybe someone was around, some grown-up who might be able to help me. I followed the voice for some time, but I never seemed to get any nearer. In the end I ended up at some place that looked like the clearing in a forest.
I don’t know exactly what happened, but one second I was standing there, looking around and trying to find the person who had been singing, and the next I was a dwarf and had white fur.”
With every word he says, Tim calms down more, and he comes closer to the table and everyone else in the room.
“I was scared and ran away. That’s when I found the others. There were six other kids and we decided to stick together, to find our way back to our parents. We made it over some field and arrived at the border to the forest. It happened there that suddenly a huge black wolf jumped out between the trees and attacked us. I only watched him eat Jason before I ran as fast as I could.
“I don’t think the others made it,” are Tim’s soft closing words.
Sam rubs his face and sits down next to Stephanie. He just has no idea what to do and where to go from here. Things are getting worse with every second, and he feels more than just out of his depth here.
“Well, I found Stephanie after I lost you in the crowd, and Dean I freed from a bread house, where a witch lives. We also got attacked by the wolf, I’m pretty sure it is the same one that attacked you and the other six kids, but we were able to escape.”
His friend takes the words in with a short, and tired, nod. He lies down close to Dean and Stephanie and Sam thinks that, actually, they all deserve a break to get some rest. He can feel how his eyes demand some rest, itching and burning.
“How about we take a rest, and then we think of a plan?” His question isn’t really answered in the traditional way, but he takes the answer to be ‘yes’ when the other three get to their feet and trudge to the bedroom.
Sam takes the large fairytale book with him and rolls up in the comfortable armchair, while Stephanie curls into bed, Dean and Tim already half asleep on the floor next to it. It takes him some time to find the place where he left off before, but then he continues reading the tale of Little Red Riding Hood. Next are stories like Hansel and Gretel, The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids, and Rapunzel.
Each and every one of the stories he reads, features a witch or a wolf, and in some of the stories the wolf is actually a werewolf or a shape-shifter. It’s exactly this moment when Sam realizes that the wolf is no-one else but the shifted form of the witch.
He’s also sure that the witch put a spell on his friend Tim. It’s like in the story about the two lovers, where the girl was transformed into a bird. Actually, it seems like everything that happened to them since the lights went out at the pageant, is a remake of the fairy tales of old.
The question is though – why are they suddenly caught in these tales, and how will they be able to get out again? Their dad would know what to do in this situation, but he’s on a hunt and so he and Dean are on their own.
Sam looks up from the book in his lap when he feels something brush against his foot. It’s Dean, who stares up at him questioningly.
“I think I know what happened. I don’t know why though.”
He climbs down from the armchair and sits down on the floor. Dean lies down next to him, leaning against Sam’s side. The frail body is warm, and the proximity of his older brother calms him down. For the first time since they left the witch’s house, he feels at ease.
The heavy tome is put in front of them, the thick pages showing beautifully painted pictures and curling script. Sam leaves to the current fairy tale they are acting out.
“Everything that happened so far is somehow connected to a fairy tale. I think that the witch who captured you and turned you into what you are now is a werewolf or shape shifter. The wolf who attacked us, and killed the other children, is her. I’m sure of that.”
Dean rubs his small head against Sam’s arm, and he pets his brother’s head. “I don’t know what to do to get us out of this, but I do know that we have to be prepared for her to show up, in wolf form or in human form, which I can’t say.”
“Are we going to die?” Stephanie’s voice is trembling with fear. She’s sitting on the bed, the little white kid that is Tim, wrapped in her arms.
“No, we’re not going to die. We’ll find a way to get rid of her.” Sam closes the book with a loud thud. “The most important thing is that we stay together, and we need something to defend us with, like weapons.”
The girl surprises him when she nods and gets down from the large four-poster bed. “Okay.”
She stands there; the white goatling next to her, torn cheeks and eyes, and waits for Sam to help her with the searching. Sam knows that Stephanie won’t be able to help much with the searching, and she won’t be able to fight much, what with being blind and all, but he is glad to see that she’s not crying or whining. They’ll all need to be ready to take on whatever comes looking for them, and from what he read, it’ll be nasty.
“Okay.” Sam gets up and grabs the fairy tale book. He takes her hand and guides her into the larger room with the table. “I’d say we get through all the cupboards and look for things that are sharp or pointy, knives or something similar.”
And with these words the search begins. Stephanie and Tim are making their way through the cupboards and shelves on the right side of the room, with Tim telling the girl what she’s holding, and helping her around the room. Sam and Dean are checking the cupboards and shelves on the other side.
In one drawer Sam finds a wicked looking blade. It looks unlike any knife he’s ever seen, and there is only a small heft, with the blade curving like a scythe. He likes the look of the weapon and keeps it. There are no other useful things in the other drawers though.
As he walks over to the kitchen doorway, Dean butts his head against Sam, directing Sam’s gaze at a crossbow leaning against the side of one cupboard. Okay, so they have a knife and a crossbow now. Turning to Stephanie and Tim, he finds the girl handling a large axe.
“I’ll check out the kitchen for anything useful.” His comment is met only with a nod from the girl and the kid, and Dean cautiously approaching the curtain to the other room.
With every step that his brother takes closer to the kitchen, Dean starts to flicker his ears more until he stops altogether and croons softly.
“Dean? Anything wrong?” The strange behavior of his brother makes Sam nervous, and he pockets the knife, getting a better hold on the crossbow. The weapon is heavy, and Sam has no idea how the thing works, but he feels better just holding it.
It is almost impossible to draw the sinew back, but once the ratchet is locked, Sam nocks an arrow in position. He’s not quite sure if he did it right, because he has to admit that his hands are shaking slightly.
Carefully, he passes his brother on his way to the curtain.
The first thing that greets him, upon walking into the kitchen, is blood. And there’s lots of it, everywhere. It’s strange that they hadn’t been able to smell the sickeningly sweet stench of the blood, considering the amount of it that covers almost every surface in the room.
After having processed that the kitchen of the house is painted in blood, Sam notices the bodies. At first it looks like someone bought meat at a butchers but it becomes all too clear, that the pieces of meat are not bought anywhere, but rather are human bodies had been torn to shreds. …children’s bodies, to be more precise.
Sam grabs hold of a kitchen counter as a wave of nausea hits him. The surface feels slick and a little bit sticky, and when he takes a look at his hand, his palm is stained red.
Dean presses his small body against Sam’s side and cries distressingly. It’s the sound of his brother’s cries that shakes Sam out of the trance that he’s in, and he takes a step further into the kitchen.
The floor is slippery but he refuses to give in and run from the room. With every step that he takes deeper into the mayhem, Sam discovers more limbs and body parts, until he comes across a head; the eyes of girl’s face wide open with fright, and glassy in death.
Although he shakes hard, Dean is always at Sam’s side. Together they scout the room out. At the other end, on the left side, they discover a door. It’s wide open, and leads out into the forest.
“I think…,” Sam doesn’t get any further than this, before there’s a snarling growl and two bright yellow pinpoints of light start shining in the darkness outside the kitchen door.
The growling grows louder with every inch the pinpricks of yellow advance, and soon the light from the kitchen illuminates the body of the huge wolf.
“Dean, warn the others.”
But Dean doesn’t move from his side. He tries to get in front of Sam, only to be pushed back by him. There’s no way that Sam will let his big brother get killed by some stupid wolf in a fairy tale forest. This decision made, he raises the cross bow and takes aim.
The weapon is heavy and his arms tremble from nerves and exertion. Sam waits for the wolf to get closer. There’s only one arrow he can shoot, for there will be no time to reload, and he can’t afford to miss. Should the arrow not work though, he can always throw the crossbow itself.
When the wolf takes his first step into the kitchen, Sam takes a step back. The predatory eyes of the large animal gleams even harder, and a red tongue is hidden by a row of pearly white teeth. Combined with the dark fur, it’s a creature out of every child’s worst nightmare.
“Dean, warn the others.” This time Sam shoves his brother into the direction of the curtain, to get his point across.
But if Dean is anything, he’s damn stubborn, always has been. Squealing angry, he returns to his place next to Sam, and together they face off their attacker.
The wolf sniffs the air and then with an angry snarl he leaps at them.
In his hurry to protect his brother, Sam misses the attacker with the arrow, but a frantic punch with the crossbow itself, knocks the predator on the head, throwing him against the kitchen counter.
This time, when Sam tells Dean to warn the others, he almost throws his older brother from the room, and slowly retreats from the kitchen, his back to the curtain. He keeps the crossbow in front of him. It can’t shoot anything anymore, but it’s better than nothing at all.
As he watches the large wolf get up to his feet, Sam feels the curtain to the large room brush against his back, and he takes a chance. Throwing the weapon against the wolf’s head, he turns and runs from the kitchen.
He finds Stephanie, Dean and Tim behind the large table. The girl holds her axe determinedly in front of her; if he didn’t know better, Sam would think her to be able to see. He joins them and together they wait for something to happen.
“I think it’s the same one that attacked us in the forest. We need to get away from here.” But where are they supposed to go? The front door is barricaded, there are no locks on the bedroom door, and even if they were able to get out of the house, their attacker would be able to follow them.
“Maybe we can lure her into the bedroom, and lock him… it inside, get some cupboard in front of the door.”
“Maybe.” Sam thinks that this might actually work. The big problem is how to get the wolf into the bedroom.
Feverishly he looks around. There is a large box that they might be able to move in front of the door, but what if the wolf really is a shape shifter? The barricaded door won’t stop him. The bedroom door opens into the bedroom.
“Maybe we need to think about something else.” And maybe they need to think about it fast, because the curtain moves and a large black canine face appears.
Tim presses against his feet, and when Sam looks down, he can see the kid shake with fear. All four of them scared to death.
Slowly the huge predator enters the room, and stares at them over the table. Its yellow eyes take everything in, and it feels like they are able to see into their very souls. It is the scariest thing that has ever happened to Sam.
Next to him, Stephanie takes a step forward and protects them with her own body. It’s a very brave thing to do, but the problem is that she can’t really defend them, even with the large axe, because there’s a higher possibility of her hurting them, than actually injuring the wolf.
“Stephanie, stay back.”
But she doesn’t agree. Stubbornly she shakes her head, and takes another step closer to the wolf, her grip on the handle of the axe tightening. “No.”
“Stephanie…”
It’s exactly this moment when the large animal jumps, landing on top of the table. In the light of the room, and because of the close proximity, the wolf looks scarier than ever. It also looks strangely out of place, in the middle of the lovely decorated room, next to the flowers and the porcelain figurines.
Sam grabs a book from the shelf next to him and clutches it tightly. His eyes never leave the black thing on the table as he slowly sneaks closer to the bedroom door.
He’s not quite sure why, but suddenly the wolf lunges from his perch, and lands right in front of Sam. At this short distance, the book is pretty useless as a weapon. That’s why he tosses it aside and grabs a chair, moving it between himself and his attacker.
“Sam!” Stephanie’s voice is shrill in his ear, but suddenly the handle of the axe is pressed into his hands, and he lets go of the chair.
“Stay behind me.” Sam makes sure that the others don’t get between him and the wolf, and then continues his stand off with the predator.
Tim squeaks in terror when the wolf smashes the chair and continues his advance towards them.
All the while, Sam steers them around the table to get away from the barricaded front door. It’s a long way from where they are standing to the kitchen curtain, but it is worth a try. They might be able to lock the wolf inside the house, if the kitchen door has a lock.
His tactic works for some time, but in the end the animal gets too impatient to go along with Sam’s plan. It leaps over the table and cuts their escape route off.
“Dean, stay here!” But Dean is already placing himself in front of the others, trying to block the wolf’s way towards Sam, Stephanie, and Tim.
Sam feels sick just watching his brother face off against the large thing.
The wolf snarls threateningly and crouches low, preparing to leap. And then everything happens in slow motion. The black form of the predator lunges forward, knocking Dean down. At the same time a loud shot can be heard and the wolf crashes down, the dark shape changing, until it’s not an animal anymore, but a hooded person.
Sam looks up from the pile of limbs and cloak to see his own father look back at him, a colt in his hand.
“Dad!” He starts towards his father, happy to finally be safe.
“Sam, stay where you are!” His dad’s voice is commanding, and has him stop where he is. “It’s not over yet.”
The words make him look back to the fallen person, and to his horror does he see the shape still moving. And that’s when it hits him. Dean’s still buried somewhere underneath their attacker.
“Dean!” Axe in hand Sam charges and attacks the huddled form.
He doesn’t hear his father calling out to him, but he gets brutally thrown aside by the cloaked thing, which has her hands around his brother’s neck, wringing it.
“Dean!”
Another shot and finally the witch, for Sam recognizes her as the old crone from the bread house, drops down, this time, not attempt of moving again.
Dean stays awfully still, and Sam thinks that his big brother might be dead, when he starts twitching. The limbs and the body of the fawn start changing their shape, and at the same time the fur, which had been covering Dean’s body, falls out.
Sam notices that the room around them changes as well. The furniture disappears; the shelves and cupboards are already gone. Slowly he can make out that they are in some kind of basement. Runes and symbols are covering the walls.
“Sam, take care of the other children, I’ll take care of Dean.” After a last look at his older brother’s trembling, and now very much naked, form, Sam turns to Stephanie and Tim.
The girl’s face is still torn, but Tim is back to himself. Just like Dean, he’s missing his clothes, but he’s otherwise unharmed. Sam shrugs off his jacket and hands it to his friend.
“Let’s get out of here.” He takes Stephanie’s hand and guides her to the door, which leads out of the dark basement.
Outside, on the street, people are running around, looking for children, calling for parents. Sam thinks about the dead children in the basement, and wonders if they were real. He hopes that they weren’t, because otherwise a couple of parents and siblings would be very sad tonight.
Just as they stop on the sidewalk, a woman comes running at them. She’s crying, and falls on her knees in front of Stephanie.
“Baby!”
“Mom!” The girl lets go of Sam’s hand and wraps her arms around her mother’s neck.
“What happened to you, Steph?” The woman’s framing her daughter’s head and takes a closer look at the torn face of the girl. “My poor baby, what happened to your beautiful face?”
More tears, and she picks Stephanie up, and carries her away. Tim’s at his side and he watches with Sam until the mother and daughter are out of their sight.
“I’ll go back home.” The boy glances at Sam but looks back into the direction Stephanie and her mother disappeared into.
“Okay.” Sam wants to go home as well.
“I’ll give the jacket back to you in school.”
“Okay.” He waves his friend goodbye, and turns back to the door of the basement. Hopefully his dad and his brother will be with him soon, and then they can go back to the motel. But most important of all is, that Dean’s alright.
It takes a couple of minutes until his father comes up the stairs, carrying Dean, wrapped up in his leather jacket. He just nods at Sam and walks down the sidewalk.
Sam hurries his step up, trying to catch up to his dad and brother. Once he’s reached them, he keeps up the pace his dad’s setting.
Not a word is said between them, and during their walk back to the motel room, Sam can, for the first time in quite some time, feel the burning of his bruised knees, and the pain in his hands. And there’s something digging into his thigh.
Curious about what it is, Sam digs into the pocket of his pants and pulls out the knife from the fairy tale house. It surprises him that the blade did not disappear, but as he once more has to run to keep up with his dad, Sam decides to keep it as a souvenir of the scariest Halloween ever.
The End.
By Simarillion
Fandom: Supernatural
Pairing: none (Weechester)
Rating: R
Beta: Sulfuric Fusion
Word Count: 5,807 (13,648 total)
Warning: angst, gore, language, violence, canibalism, shapeshifting, fairy tales
Summary: A Halloween pageant at an elementary school is cursed and the kids are forced to start acting out fairy tales.
Disclaimer: None of the characters of the Supernatural show are mine. They all belong to The CW network and Eric Kripke. I make no money with any of this.
Author’s Note: I read the prompts of
spn_halloween and stumbled over this one. Honestly, I am such a fairy tale whore that I just couldn’t let this chance pass by. So, there’s gonna be violence, gore and even some cannibalism, cause this is what the original fairytales were all about before the brothers Grimm got their hands on them and turned them into stories suitable for the bourgeoisie. I won’t get started on what Disney did after that.
[Part 1] [Part 2]
called Sam.
It is a house. Actually it’s more like a little cottage with the lights on inside. Sam stops in his tracks, to set Dean down, and then he turns to Stephanie.
“Wait here, I’ll check the house out.” He doesn’t wait for a reply, just stomps over to the front door.
At the entrance he halts his steps though, and knocks carefully on the wooden door. No-one answers his knock, and after a few minutes of waiting, Sam thinks it’s safe enough to go in and take a look around. The squeaking of the hinges doesn’t scare or surprise him, somehow he’d expected it.
The interior is very cheerful, with flowery curtains, sturdy but elegant furniture, and big rugs covering the wooden floor boards. The room Sam enters looks like some sort of living or dining room, with a large table in the center, covered with a linen table cloth, and a large vase with flowers right in the middle of it.
A flowery soft scent fills the room, and close to the furniture there is also the smell of beeswax. All in all the whole building feels nice and very welcoming. At the right end of the room is a door which leads to another room and on the other side a long curtain marks a doorway.
Sam takes another look around, peering through the door on the right, only to find a bedroom with a large four-poster bed. The bedding is of a pink and white paisley pattern and there are small bedside lamps on each bedside table on the right and the left of the bed.
Since no-one seems to lurk in the house, and Sam wants to get Dean and Stephanie out of the dark forest, he runs over to where he left them.
His brother is leaning against the girl’s legs, favoring his uninjured side. At the sight of Sam coming back to them, he rights himself and takes careful steps towards him. After the third step his legs give out and he topples to the ground with an undignified squeak.
“Dean? Sam?” Stephanie turns her head towards the direction of Dean’s cry.
“Everything’s alright, Stephanie. Dean just fell over.” Sam picks his fallen brother up and carries him over to the girl. He has to shuffle Dean around, always afraid that he’ll hurt him, before he can reach out to Stephanie, and take her hand. “Come on, the house is warm, and it will be much safer than out here.”
On his way back to the house, he keeps a careful eye on their surrounding. But they make it safe to the front door, and once they are inside, Sam closes it. There’s no lock, but he sets Dean down and shoves a small cupboard in front of it.
“There, that should do.” It’s not really a guarantee of safety but it’s better than nothing at all.
Sam turns around and finds Dean lying next to the bedroom door, his head tucked between his folded legs, eyes closed, and breathing calmly. In the light of the lamps Sam can finally see the full damage the attack of the wolf did. The scratches are very deep, and the fur around the gashes is matted with blood, but the bleeding itself has stopped.
A loud ‘oops’ is accompanied by the sound of something crashing to the floor.
“Sorry!” The contrite tone of voice has Sam grin amused, and he starts scanning the cupboards and shelves along the walls.
There are small porcelain figurines, as well as other knick knacks neatly set up in showcases, and the shelves are covered with books. Curious about what he might find Sam starts scanning the letters on the old leather spines.
Many of the volumes are about cooking, gardening and illnesses, but stuck in between all the other books, Sam finds something that captures his attention at once, ‘Classic Fairy Tales’ is engraved in a swirling golden script, into the dark red leather cover.
He takes the books out of the shelf, and walks over to the large table, where he sits down and opens the book. There’s no index or some kind of table of content, the stories start pretty much on the first page Sam opens.
The letters are hard to read, hand-written most likely, and the dark ink is fading to a reddish brown at some places. Sam has to concentrate real hard, but in the end he gets the hang of reading the text. The first letter is beautifully decorated with ornamental designs and drawings, and then the paragraphs precisely divided the page into separate sections.
Once upon a time there was a kind young girl who lived with her mother in a small village. Everybody liked her but most of all her grandmother, who always bestowed her beloved grandchild with presents. One time she didn’t know what to give the girl next, and so, when she found a beautiful piece of red velvet, she made her a hooded cape out of it. The young girl loved it so much, that from this time on she always wore the cape. From this time on she was known by everyone as Little Red Riding Hood.
One day when Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother got ill, the girl’s mother packed a large basket full of food and drinks, putting a cake and some wine in as well, and handed it to her daughter. “Little Red Riding Hood,” she said, “Please go and take these things to your grandmother, for she is ill and would be very happy to see you. But be aware on your way to her house, do not stray from the path, and don’t speak to any strangers.” Little Red Riding Hood promised to be careful and took the basket from her mother.
It was a beautiful day and the young girl merrily skipped along the path to her grandmother’s house. The house was at the other side of the forest, and the path took Little Red Riding Hood into the darker parts of it. As the trees got bigger and thicker, Little Red Riding Hood decided to take a short cut over a small clearing, where she’d be able to pick some flowers for her grandmother. The young girl stepped off the path and walked on through the thicket of trees and bushes, until she arrived at the small clearing.
There were many beautiful flowers, and happily she started to pick them, and arrange them into a nice bouquet. When she looked up, she was able to see her grandmother’s house in the distance, smoke rising from the chimney. Little Red Riding Hood continued to pick more flowers for some more time, when all of a sudden she could hear a voice behind her. “Good Day, Little Red Riding Hood.”
“Good Day, Wolf,” she answered kindly. “What a nice day to be out in the forest. Those are such nice flowers that you are picking. Where are you going?” The wolf said and walked right up to the young girl, and sat down in front of her. “Why, I am going to my grandmother’s house, for she is ill, and I bring her cake and wine, to give her strength.”
“Is it very far from here?” Little Red Riding Hood shook her head and cried, “No, she lives in this house, right up that hill. The one next to the three old oak trees, surely you know it.” The wolf wished the girl a nice day and wandered back into the forest. He thought about a way to get Little Red Riding Hood, for he very much would like to eat her.
Keeping an eye on the young girl on the clearing, he sneaked to the house of the grandmother. At the front door he knocked, and at the question of his identity, he answered with a disguised voice, “It’s me, grandmother, Little Red Riding Hood.” When the old woman invited him in, he entered the house and jumped the grandmother. After he had killed her, the wolf cooked her, and prepared some food for his guest.
It didn’t take long before a knock sounded on the door. Wearing the nightgown and the nightcap of the grandmother, wolf lay in bed and called the young girl in. He thanked Little Red Riding Hood for the nice gift basket and invited her to eat from the dishes he had prepared. Gratefully, because she had gotten quite hungry picking flowers, the girl ate from the stew on the table, complimenting the fake grandmother for her cooking skills.
Once Little Red Riding Hood had finished eating…
A loud crash has Sam set the book down and go looking for Stephanie, who he is sure is the source of the disruption. He finds her in the bedroom, next to a smashed porcelain vase. Tears are running down her cheeks, and she hugs herself tightly.
“Stephanie?” Cautiously he takes a step closer to her.
“I’m sorry.” The words are soft and full of tears. “I …”
Sam feels slightly out of his depth here. What’s he supposed to do with an upset and crying girl? He could hug her, but then she would wipe her snot and tears into his clothes, and even though he feels sorry for her, that would be gross. So, hugging is out, but talking is not much better. What are you supposed to say in a situation like this one?
His dilemma ends when Dean wobbles past him and butts his head against the girl’s side. The touch makes her reach down, and once she does that, she plops down and cradles his brother to her chest.
Most of the time Sam hates how girls act around his older brother, but this one time he feels grateful for Dean’s effect on Stephanie. He watches for a couple of minutes how the act of petting Dean calms her down, and then he returns to the table and the book.
Just as Sam’s about go back to reading, a knocking sound on the front door has him jump to his feet. Anxiously he walks to the front door. It’s a difficult decision to make, what to do now. Sam doesn’t think that the wolf they escaped from can knock on doors, but what about the witch, nevermind all the other dangers that might lurk out there.
On the other hand if it’s someone in need for help, Sam has to let them in, with the wolf sneaking around in the forest; it’s too dangerous to stay outside.
“Who’s there?” His question is met with silence. “Is anybody outside?”
“Sam?” The question stuns him. The person on the other side of the door knows his name. “Sam, is that you?”
At first he doesn’t recognize the voice, but once he listens closely, he realizes who stumbled upon them. It’s Tim!
Quickly he starts pushing the cupboard away from the door to let his friend in. “Wait a second, Tim, I’m going to open the door for you.” Once the furniture is moved far enough to open the front door, Sam pulls it open, expecting to meet Tim.
Instead he’s greeted by a little white kid. It looks up at him with brown eyes and takes a step closer to Sam.
“Tim?” At any other time, Sam would have thought himself to be insane, talking to the kid like it’s a person but after what has already happened tonight, and after watching his own brother transform into a fawn, he gives it the benefit of a doubt.
“Sam.” The white goatling trots up to him and cautiously peers behind Sam.
“Um, do come on in.” Sam’s sure that once all of this is over, he’s going to laugh about this. Talking to a kid, he can’t even say that stranger things have happened.
He casts a last look around before closing the front door again. The cupboard goes back in front of the entrance, and they are safely locked away again. With the threat of the wolf locked outside, Sam finally takes his first good look at his changed friend.
Tim, well there’s only one way to put it, he’s small. Not as small as Dean, but the difference in height isn’t all that great. The big brown eyes of Sam’s friend are full of fear, and the kid shakes hard just standing in the homely room, staring at Sam.
It is the sound of shuffling steps and the soft taps of hoofed feet that shakes the two boys out of their entranced state. Sam looks up to find Stephanie and Dean lounging in the bedroom doorway. The girl has stopped crying, the tears sticky on her face, and his brother favors his left side.
“Sam, is anybody here?” The girl takes another step into the room, her hands reaching out to find her way.
“A friend of mine is here.” At his words Tim cautiously approaches Stephanie and Dean.
His bravery fails him though when the girl stumbles and almost trips over in his direction. Sam takes Stephanie’s hand, and guides her to the nearest chair. Once the girl is seated he turns back to the new addition to their motley crew.
“What happened to you, Tim?”
“I lost sight of you at the pageant,” the kid starts to explain, “and then I tried to find my wait out of the crowd. There was a lot of shoving and shouting, and when I finally was able to get out of everyone’s way, it was so foggy and dark, I couldn’t tell up from down.”
Dean wobbles up to the table and lies down next to the seated girl.
“I couldn’t find you and no one answered when I called out. The first thing I heard then, was someone singing, and I thought that maybe someone was around, some grown-up who might be able to help me. I followed the voice for some time, but I never seemed to get any nearer. In the end I ended up at some place that looked like the clearing in a forest.
I don’t know exactly what happened, but one second I was standing there, looking around and trying to find the person who had been singing, and the next I was a dwarf and had white fur.”
With every word he says, Tim calms down more, and he comes closer to the table and everyone else in the room.
“I was scared and ran away. That’s when I found the others. There were six other kids and we decided to stick together, to find our way back to our parents. We made it over some field and arrived at the border to the forest. It happened there that suddenly a huge black wolf jumped out between the trees and attacked us. I only watched him eat Jason before I ran as fast as I could.
“I don’t think the others made it,” are Tim’s soft closing words.
Sam rubs his face and sits down next to Stephanie. He just has no idea what to do and where to go from here. Things are getting worse with every second, and he feels more than just out of his depth here.
“Well, I found Stephanie after I lost you in the crowd, and Dean I freed from a bread house, where a witch lives. We also got attacked by the wolf, I’m pretty sure it is the same one that attacked you and the other six kids, but we were able to escape.”
His friend takes the words in with a short, and tired, nod. He lies down close to Dean and Stephanie and Sam thinks that, actually, they all deserve a break to get some rest. He can feel how his eyes demand some rest, itching and burning.
“How about we take a rest, and then we think of a plan?” His question isn’t really answered in the traditional way, but he takes the answer to be ‘yes’ when the other three get to their feet and trudge to the bedroom.
Sam takes the large fairytale book with him and rolls up in the comfortable armchair, while Stephanie curls into bed, Dean and Tim already half asleep on the floor next to it. It takes him some time to find the place where he left off before, but then he continues reading the tale of Little Red Riding Hood. Next are stories like Hansel and Gretel, The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids, and Rapunzel.
Each and every one of the stories he reads, features a witch or a wolf, and in some of the stories the wolf is actually a werewolf or a shape-shifter. It’s exactly this moment when Sam realizes that the wolf is no-one else but the shifted form of the witch.
He’s also sure that the witch put a spell on his friend Tim. It’s like in the story about the two lovers, where the girl was transformed into a bird. Actually, it seems like everything that happened to them since the lights went out at the pageant, is a remake of the fairy tales of old.
The question is though – why are they suddenly caught in these tales, and how will they be able to get out again? Their dad would know what to do in this situation, but he’s on a hunt and so he and Dean are on their own.
Sam looks up from the book in his lap when he feels something brush against his foot. It’s Dean, who stares up at him questioningly.
“I think I know what happened. I don’t know why though.”
He climbs down from the armchair and sits down on the floor. Dean lies down next to him, leaning against Sam’s side. The frail body is warm, and the proximity of his older brother calms him down. For the first time since they left the witch’s house, he feels at ease.
The heavy tome is put in front of them, the thick pages showing beautifully painted pictures and curling script. Sam leaves to the current fairy tale they are acting out.
“Everything that happened so far is somehow connected to a fairy tale. I think that the witch who captured you and turned you into what you are now is a werewolf or shape shifter. The wolf who attacked us, and killed the other children, is her. I’m sure of that.”
Dean rubs his small head against Sam’s arm, and he pets his brother’s head. “I don’t know what to do to get us out of this, but I do know that we have to be prepared for her to show up, in wolf form or in human form, which I can’t say.”
“Are we going to die?” Stephanie’s voice is trembling with fear. She’s sitting on the bed, the little white kid that is Tim, wrapped in her arms.
“No, we’re not going to die. We’ll find a way to get rid of her.” Sam closes the book with a loud thud. “The most important thing is that we stay together, and we need something to defend us with, like weapons.”
The girl surprises him when she nods and gets down from the large four-poster bed. “Okay.”
She stands there; the white goatling next to her, torn cheeks and eyes, and waits for Sam to help her with the searching. Sam knows that Stephanie won’t be able to help much with the searching, and she won’t be able to fight much, what with being blind and all, but he is glad to see that she’s not crying or whining. They’ll all need to be ready to take on whatever comes looking for them, and from what he read, it’ll be nasty.
“Okay.” Sam gets up and grabs the fairy tale book. He takes her hand and guides her into the larger room with the table. “I’d say we get through all the cupboards and look for things that are sharp or pointy, knives or something similar.”
And with these words the search begins. Stephanie and Tim are making their way through the cupboards and shelves on the right side of the room, with Tim telling the girl what she’s holding, and helping her around the room. Sam and Dean are checking the cupboards and shelves on the other side.
In one drawer Sam finds a wicked looking blade. It looks unlike any knife he’s ever seen, and there is only a small heft, with the blade curving like a scythe. He likes the look of the weapon and keeps it. There are no other useful things in the other drawers though.
As he walks over to the kitchen doorway, Dean butts his head against Sam, directing Sam’s gaze at a crossbow leaning against the side of one cupboard. Okay, so they have a knife and a crossbow now. Turning to Stephanie and Tim, he finds the girl handling a large axe.
“I’ll check out the kitchen for anything useful.” His comment is met only with a nod from the girl and the kid, and Dean cautiously approaching the curtain to the other room.
With every step that his brother takes closer to the kitchen, Dean starts to flicker his ears more until he stops altogether and croons softly.
“Dean? Anything wrong?” The strange behavior of his brother makes Sam nervous, and he pockets the knife, getting a better hold on the crossbow. The weapon is heavy, and Sam has no idea how the thing works, but he feels better just holding it.
It is almost impossible to draw the sinew back, but once the ratchet is locked, Sam nocks an arrow in position. He’s not quite sure if he did it right, because he has to admit that his hands are shaking slightly.
Carefully, he passes his brother on his way to the curtain.
The first thing that greets him, upon walking into the kitchen, is blood. And there’s lots of it, everywhere. It’s strange that they hadn’t been able to smell the sickeningly sweet stench of the blood, considering the amount of it that covers almost every surface in the room.
After having processed that the kitchen of the house is painted in blood, Sam notices the bodies. At first it looks like someone bought meat at a butchers but it becomes all too clear, that the pieces of meat are not bought anywhere, but rather are human bodies had been torn to shreds. …children’s bodies, to be more precise.
Sam grabs hold of a kitchen counter as a wave of nausea hits him. The surface feels slick and a little bit sticky, and when he takes a look at his hand, his palm is stained red.
Dean presses his small body against Sam’s side and cries distressingly. It’s the sound of his brother’s cries that shakes Sam out of the trance that he’s in, and he takes a step further into the kitchen.
The floor is slippery but he refuses to give in and run from the room. With every step that he takes deeper into the mayhem, Sam discovers more limbs and body parts, until he comes across a head; the eyes of girl’s face wide open with fright, and glassy in death.
Although he shakes hard, Dean is always at Sam’s side. Together they scout the room out. At the other end, on the left side, they discover a door. It’s wide open, and leads out into the forest.
“I think…,” Sam doesn’t get any further than this, before there’s a snarling growl and two bright yellow pinpoints of light start shining in the darkness outside the kitchen door.
The growling grows louder with every inch the pinpricks of yellow advance, and soon the light from the kitchen illuminates the body of the huge wolf.
“Dean, warn the others.”
But Dean doesn’t move from his side. He tries to get in front of Sam, only to be pushed back by him. There’s no way that Sam will let his big brother get killed by some stupid wolf in a fairy tale forest. This decision made, he raises the cross bow and takes aim.
The weapon is heavy and his arms tremble from nerves and exertion. Sam waits for the wolf to get closer. There’s only one arrow he can shoot, for there will be no time to reload, and he can’t afford to miss. Should the arrow not work though, he can always throw the crossbow itself.
When the wolf takes his first step into the kitchen, Sam takes a step back. The predatory eyes of the large animal gleams even harder, and a red tongue is hidden by a row of pearly white teeth. Combined with the dark fur, it’s a creature out of every child’s worst nightmare.
“Dean, warn the others.” This time Sam shoves his brother into the direction of the curtain, to get his point across.
But if Dean is anything, he’s damn stubborn, always has been. Squealing angry, he returns to his place next to Sam, and together they face off their attacker.
The wolf sniffs the air and then with an angry snarl he leaps at them.
In his hurry to protect his brother, Sam misses the attacker with the arrow, but a frantic punch with the crossbow itself, knocks the predator on the head, throwing him against the kitchen counter.
This time, when Sam tells Dean to warn the others, he almost throws his older brother from the room, and slowly retreats from the kitchen, his back to the curtain. He keeps the crossbow in front of him. It can’t shoot anything anymore, but it’s better than nothing at all.
As he watches the large wolf get up to his feet, Sam feels the curtain to the large room brush against his back, and he takes a chance. Throwing the weapon against the wolf’s head, he turns and runs from the kitchen.
He finds Stephanie, Dean and Tim behind the large table. The girl holds her axe determinedly in front of her; if he didn’t know better, Sam would think her to be able to see. He joins them and together they wait for something to happen.
“I think it’s the same one that attacked us in the forest. We need to get away from here.” But where are they supposed to go? The front door is barricaded, there are no locks on the bedroom door, and even if they were able to get out of the house, their attacker would be able to follow them.
“Maybe we can lure her into the bedroom, and lock him… it inside, get some cupboard in front of the door.”
“Maybe.” Sam thinks that this might actually work. The big problem is how to get the wolf into the bedroom.
Feverishly he looks around. There is a large box that they might be able to move in front of the door, but what if the wolf really is a shape shifter? The barricaded door won’t stop him. The bedroom door opens into the bedroom.
“Maybe we need to think about something else.” And maybe they need to think about it fast, because the curtain moves and a large black canine face appears.
Tim presses against his feet, and when Sam looks down, he can see the kid shake with fear. All four of them scared to death.
Slowly the huge predator enters the room, and stares at them over the table. Its yellow eyes take everything in, and it feels like they are able to see into their very souls. It is the scariest thing that has ever happened to Sam.
Next to him, Stephanie takes a step forward and protects them with her own body. It’s a very brave thing to do, but the problem is that she can’t really defend them, even with the large axe, because there’s a higher possibility of her hurting them, than actually injuring the wolf.
“Stephanie, stay back.”
But she doesn’t agree. Stubbornly she shakes her head, and takes another step closer to the wolf, her grip on the handle of the axe tightening. “No.”
“Stephanie…”
It’s exactly this moment when the large animal jumps, landing on top of the table. In the light of the room, and because of the close proximity, the wolf looks scarier than ever. It also looks strangely out of place, in the middle of the lovely decorated room, next to the flowers and the porcelain figurines.
Sam grabs a book from the shelf next to him and clutches it tightly. His eyes never leave the black thing on the table as he slowly sneaks closer to the bedroom door.
He’s not quite sure why, but suddenly the wolf lunges from his perch, and lands right in front of Sam. At this short distance, the book is pretty useless as a weapon. That’s why he tosses it aside and grabs a chair, moving it between himself and his attacker.
“Sam!” Stephanie’s voice is shrill in his ear, but suddenly the handle of the axe is pressed into his hands, and he lets go of the chair.
“Stay behind me.” Sam makes sure that the others don’t get between him and the wolf, and then continues his stand off with the predator.
Tim squeaks in terror when the wolf smashes the chair and continues his advance towards them.
All the while, Sam steers them around the table to get away from the barricaded front door. It’s a long way from where they are standing to the kitchen curtain, but it is worth a try. They might be able to lock the wolf inside the house, if the kitchen door has a lock.
His tactic works for some time, but in the end the animal gets too impatient to go along with Sam’s plan. It leaps over the table and cuts their escape route off.
“Dean, stay here!” But Dean is already placing himself in front of the others, trying to block the wolf’s way towards Sam, Stephanie, and Tim.
Sam feels sick just watching his brother face off against the large thing.
The wolf snarls threateningly and crouches low, preparing to leap. And then everything happens in slow motion. The black form of the predator lunges forward, knocking Dean down. At the same time a loud shot can be heard and the wolf crashes down, the dark shape changing, until it’s not an animal anymore, but a hooded person.
Sam looks up from the pile of limbs and cloak to see his own father look back at him, a colt in his hand.
“Dad!” He starts towards his father, happy to finally be safe.
“Sam, stay where you are!” His dad’s voice is commanding, and has him stop where he is. “It’s not over yet.”
The words make him look back to the fallen person, and to his horror does he see the shape still moving. And that’s when it hits him. Dean’s still buried somewhere underneath their attacker.
“Dean!” Axe in hand Sam charges and attacks the huddled form.
He doesn’t hear his father calling out to him, but he gets brutally thrown aside by the cloaked thing, which has her hands around his brother’s neck, wringing it.
“Dean!”
Another shot and finally the witch, for Sam recognizes her as the old crone from the bread house, drops down, this time, not attempt of moving again.
Dean stays awfully still, and Sam thinks that his big brother might be dead, when he starts twitching. The limbs and the body of the fawn start changing their shape, and at the same time the fur, which had been covering Dean’s body, falls out.
Sam notices that the room around them changes as well. The furniture disappears; the shelves and cupboards are already gone. Slowly he can make out that they are in some kind of basement. Runes and symbols are covering the walls.
“Sam, take care of the other children, I’ll take care of Dean.” After a last look at his older brother’s trembling, and now very much naked, form, Sam turns to Stephanie and Tim.
The girl’s face is still torn, but Tim is back to himself. Just like Dean, he’s missing his clothes, but he’s otherwise unharmed. Sam shrugs off his jacket and hands it to his friend.
“Let’s get out of here.” He takes Stephanie’s hand and guides her to the door, which leads out of the dark basement.
Outside, on the street, people are running around, looking for children, calling for parents. Sam thinks about the dead children in the basement, and wonders if they were real. He hopes that they weren’t, because otherwise a couple of parents and siblings would be very sad tonight.
Just as they stop on the sidewalk, a woman comes running at them. She’s crying, and falls on her knees in front of Stephanie.
“Baby!”
“Mom!” The girl lets go of Sam’s hand and wraps her arms around her mother’s neck.
“What happened to you, Steph?” The woman’s framing her daughter’s head and takes a closer look at the torn face of the girl. “My poor baby, what happened to your beautiful face?”
More tears, and she picks Stephanie up, and carries her away. Tim’s at his side and he watches with Sam until the mother and daughter are out of their sight.
“I’ll go back home.” The boy glances at Sam but looks back into the direction Stephanie and her mother disappeared into.
“Okay.” Sam wants to go home as well.
“I’ll give the jacket back to you in school.”
“Okay.” He waves his friend goodbye, and turns back to the door of the basement. Hopefully his dad and his brother will be with him soon, and then they can go back to the motel. But most important of all is, that Dean’s alright.
It takes a couple of minutes until his father comes up the stairs, carrying Dean, wrapped up in his leather jacket. He just nods at Sam and walks down the sidewalk.
Sam hurries his step up, trying to catch up to his dad and brother. Once he’s reached them, he keeps up the pace his dad’s setting.
Not a word is said between them, and during their walk back to the motel room, Sam can, for the first time in quite some time, feel the burning of his bruised knees, and the pain in his hands. And there’s something digging into his thigh.
Curious about what it is, Sam digs into the pocket of his pants and pulls out the knife from the fairy tale house. It surprises him that the blade did not disappear, but as he once more has to run to keep up with his dad, Sam decides to keep it as a souvenir of the scariest Halloween ever.
The End.