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“Stop laughin’, Sammy, this isn’t funny!”
“Oh, it really, really is.” Sam looked over at his brother standing in the doorway of the cheap hotel room bathroom, pink tinged water dripping from every exposed inch of him and soaking the flimsy white towel tied around his waist.
Dean growled and stormed back into the bathroom, the sound of the shower kicking back on moments later obvious as the water made the old pipes rattle in the wall. Sam got as comfortable as he could get on the raggedy twin bed, smile tilting his lips as he listened to Dean cursing ladders, ghosts, full moons, and “fucking pink fucking paint!”
“I told you not to walk under that ladder!”
A change in the sound of the rattling pipes was quickly followed by a high pitched yelp from Dean as he then started cursing out “fucking cold ass water! How does a hotel not have an unlimited supply?!”
Sam just crossed his arms over his chest and settled back against the headboard, chuckling to himself. He had warned him.
~~Flashback~~
So they’d found mention of a supposed haunted mansion on the outskirts of this little town not too far off from where they’d just finished their last job, and conveniently enough it was headed back in the direction of home. The two of them had bickered about it for an entire day as they got their stuff packed up and restocked on supplies they’d been running low on.
“Honestly, Sammy, it’s October. It’s probably just some kids taking advantage of an old empty house to have parties and people seeing lights and shit in the windows while they’re there and gettin’ all spooked ‘cause it’s almost Halloween.”
“I don’t know, Dean, some of these accounts are a little...weird.”
“Weird how?”
“Well, this one girl said she and some friends had snuck in, thinking to use the place for a Halloween party, but said every time they moved from one room to another they’d hear something behind them and when they went back to look, half the furniture had been rearranged. And this neighbor said he went looking for his dog who’d gotten loose and found him cowering outside the open back door which was blocked by a wall of...throw pillows?”
“So, what? You think there’s a ghost wanting to play interior decorator?”
“Well, it could be a poltergeist, what with things getting moved around like that. Besides, if it’s just some kids then we’ll find out and everybody can relax. If it’s not then it’ll probably be an easy fix on our way back home.”
“Dude, come on, what ghosts have we ever dealt with that just played harmless jokes on people. It’s gotta be a person.”
“Yeah, but what if it’s not, Dean.”
“Fine, whatever.” Dean rolled his eyes and cranked the music volume up, mumbling, “Don’t know why we can’t just call those Ghostfacer dudes, let them deal with whatever crackpot is hiding in there.”
~~
It only took them a couple hours to get to the town and find a room. They didn’t even bother with a real cover story, just told people they were brothers heading home from a road trip and heard about a real haunted house and wanted to check it out. The locals were more than happy to tell them everything they knew about the place. It was honestly one of the easiest reconnaissance missions they’d had.
They were in their room loading up their bags with anything they thought they might need when Sam pulled out his phone to check the time. Hesitantly, staring down at his phone and refusing to look at his brother, he suggested, “Maybe we ought to wait ‘til tomorrow, go out during the day.”
“What? Seriously? C’mon, dude, I wanna go home. We both know this whole side trip is bull, let’s just get it over with.”
“But, Dean, it’s…”
“No, Sammy, let’s get this shit over with and go. We’ve been on the road for weeks.”
Looking at his phone one last time, Sam tucked it away and reluctantly finished packing his bag.
It was fully dark when they got to the house, well, mansion, because holy shit it was huge. Every house they’d passed on the way was decorated for Halloween, skeletons as lawn ornaments and fake spider webs on bushes and jack o’lanterns bracketing each driveway, so it was weird to pull up in front of the completely dark and plain looking building. The full moon hanging right above them meant they didn’t even really need their flashlights to explore.
They decided to case the outside of the building first, see if there were any obvious signs of disturbance or anything distinctly out of place that the locals may have overlooked in their fear. They’d made it halfway around the building when Sam called out, “Dean, wait!”
Dean paused, turning around to look at his brother. “What? Did you see something?”
Sam pointed above Dean’s head. “Ladder.” A long extension ladder was propped against the wall next to a second floor window and Dean had walked directly under it.
“Duuuuude, seriously? Since when are you superstitious?”
“When it’s a full moon on the night of Friday the thirteenth and we’re trying to track down a potential poltergeist.”
“What?! Oh you’ve gotta be kiddin’ me.”
Sam watched helplessly as Dean turned back around and walked out the other side of the ladder. He had a bad feeling about this.
~~
They’d finished scouting around the outside of the building without finding anything suspicious so decided to try going in through the kitchen door which had been blocked by the pillows before. They managed to do a complete sweep of the bottom floor with nothing strange happening either in the rooms they entered or left.
Dean grumbled as they stood in front of the large sweeping staircase that led up to the second floor. “I’m tellin’ you, this is a waste of time. It was obviously somebody local playing tricks on their neighbors.”
“Really, Dean? Who can rearrange a room full of furniture in the time it takes to leave a room and come back?”
“Somebody that set up a pulley system or somethin’? I don’t know, man. I’m just sayin’, this doesn’t sound like our normal kind of spirit we deal with.”
“Come on, let’s just go check upstairs and, if you’re right, then we’ll be done in no time and can actually get a decent night’s sleep so we can leave first thing in the morning.”
They cautiously made their way up the stairs and picked a hall to start down. They’d just entered the first room when the door slammed shut behind them and they were plunged into complete darkness, even their flashlights weren’t working.
“Sam!”
“Dean!”
“Shit, can you find the door?”
“I think so? Hold on. Still think there’s not a ghost?”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I...ow! Shit, what the…”
Sam startled at the large crash from where his brother’s voice was coming from. “Dean! You okay?”
“Fine, yeah, just get some light in here!”
Sam stumbled forward, hands in front of him, finally finding the wall and, soon enough, the door knob. Yanking the door open, he gave a relieved sigh as moonlight flooded into the room and their flashlights kicked back on. Scanning the light around the room towards where he’d heard Dean, he had to choke back a laugh. Dean had apparently stumbled into some kind of clothes rack that had collapsed and taken him with it, unfortunately dumping all of the old fashioned lady’s lingerie it had been carrying on top of him.
Seeing what had fallen on him, Dean started tossing the pieces off him, nose wrinkling at a girdle before tossing it far away. “Dude, seriously?”
“I don’t know, Dean. You might look good in pink.” Sam chuckled while he quickly checked the rest of the room, Dean’s cursing following behind him.
The rest of the hall proceeded much the same, thankfully without the full blackouts though. Every room they went in checked out fine, but Dean would stumble into something or get hung up on something, ripping his jacket or his jeans or pulling his shoelaces undone. Sam was torn between being concerned and finding it absolutely hilarious because Dean was reaching the point of total meltdown.
They finished with the first wing and made it back to the central staircase, Dean’s clothes ripped in various places and cobwebs tangled in his hair while Sam still looked immaculate.
“Sammy, I swear…”
Sam choked back another laugh, as well as an “I told you so.” “I’m sure the last hall will go much smoother. What are the odds of all that happening again?”
Dean just glared at him and stalked down the hall, throwing open the first door he came to only to scramble back quickly as several bats flew out the door incredibly close to his head. Dean gave an unintelligible scream, tugging at his hair. “That’s it! Whatever’s here, come out and face me!”
Sam stared at his brother in shock, it had been a long time since he’d seen Dean completely lose it. To his further surprise, a ghostly figure of a teenage boy with a smirk on his face appeared a little further down the hall.
After the ghost appeared, things progressed quickly and they were finally able to exorcise the spirit, though poor Dean did wind up acquiring a few more bruises in the process. As they trudged out the kitchen door, they realized it was still night, though the moon had moved enough that they had to use their flashlights to navigate back around to the driveway.
They were almost around the back when Sam once more called out, “Dean, wait!”
Dean turned around to find out what Sam was yelling about and bumped the ladder he’d once again walked under. He watched as the ladder tipped over, bumping a can of paint that had apparently been sitting on the windowsill next to where it had been propped.
Sam watched in horrified fascination as the paintcan fell off the windowsill, the contents emptying out in a giant wave that completely covered Dean as the can bounced harmlessly across the yard.
As Dean swiped bright pink paint off his face, glaring at his little brother, he pointed a finger at him, paint dripping off his sleeve, “Not. One. Word.”
Sam finally gave into the urge he’d been fighting all night and laughed and laughed and laughed.
~~End Flashback~~
Listening to Dean curse the shitty water pressure in the shower, the cold water, the paint, the ghost, the town, and apparently anything else he could think of, Sam dug out his phone and hit speed dial, chuckling occasionally at one of Dean’s more creative epithets. “Hey Bobby, know any cure to walking under a ladder?”