Like a Rose/Like a Breath/Like a Ghost... (Supernatural, gen, PG-13) 1/1
Starting August 1, 2006, any and all solicitations asking me to join a writing community/write a specific prompt for somebody will be deleted and marked as spam. I've probably seen your community, and the idea either doesn't interest me or I don't think I'll do it justice.
(Also in user info and in a sticky post)
Title: Like a Rose/Like a Breath/Like a Ghost...
Author: Spinny Roses
Fandom: Supernatural
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Triggers (suicide attempts)
Spoilers: Pilot
Disclaimer: Don't own. Title from "Waltz" by Amanda Rogers
Summary: "It's not a ghost."
Like a Rose/Like a Breath/Like a Ghost...
By Spinny Roses
Silver against her wrist, streaked with red. A bead of blood, rolling down her wrist. Hair plastered to her head, clothing soaked through, but no water nearby. Behind her eyes, she saw a river rushing up to meet her.
Footsteps, and two pairs of feet walking in on her sitting there, frozen.
"Cassandra!"
---
"So I've heard, if you go down to the river at night, you'll see a ghost!"
"No way!"
Girlish giggles. Sam would have normally ignored the teen girls behind him, and Dean would have given them a once-over before declaring them jailbait, but one of their stalkwords rang through the air.
"Ladies, did you just say a ghost?" Dean, smooth as always, spoke up.
One of the girls, if she was a natural blonde then Sam would eat his hoodie without sauce, gave Dean a saucy look. "Why do you want to know about that?" she asked, her fingers coyly twisting a lock of hair. "There are more interesting things to know about this area than a dried up corpse."
"Yeah, well," Dean said with a shrug, "my brother and I, we're interested in things like that. Taking a road trip, seeing all the weird shit of the land."
Sam pushed a long breath out of his nose, looking at Dean. "Um, yeah. What have you heard about this ghost?"
"Well, I've heard," the brunette replied, leaning over to show ample cleveage, "that it's a girl."
"I heard she was rejected, and threw herself off the bridge."
"I heard that if you see her, you die the next day," another blonde, this time natural. "She'll come and drown you."
"Ugh, Annie, you always have to be so down. Like, why don't you ever say happy things?" the other blonde complained. "You know, if you want, we can always talk about this later..."
Dean pulled himself up, flashing his "I'm a professonal bullshitter" smile.
"It's not a ghost."
All the girls rolled their eyes, and looked over at the table next to their booth. "Did we ask you, Kasey?" the blond named Annie snited. "No? Then run along. Don't you have some animals to kill or something?"
"I..." Kasey hesitated, eyes averted to one side. She was barely older than the rest of them, maybe two years, which would put her at eighteen. Unlike them, she had mousy brown hair growing out from under black dye. She was pale, really pale, but more "recovering goth" than "I am an evil creature of the night." She shifted her backpack as she stood, and fiddled with the cuffs of her long sleeves. "Wicca isn't..."
"Pfft. Don't you have somewhere to be?" she repeated, nastily. Kasey just turned her head away, fleeing. "Anyway..." Dean's smile went a little sick at the blonde ran her hand up his arm. "About later..."
The look Dean shot Sam was a distinct "save me."
"You know," Sam said, watching the relief cross his brother's face, "I forgot something out at the car. I'll be right back."
Nothing, bar nothing, was funnier than seeing Dean's flirting blow up in his face.
---
"So, this ghost lady? Isn't really anything big." Dean took another bite of the burger. "Man, Sammy, this is good stuff. Much better than the tasteless slob she tried to feed me."
"I noticed you were back earlier," Sam said, mock confused. "What, it didn't work out?"
"Funny, Sam. Funny. Of course I'm always interested in sticking my dick into an unknown bog of underaged jail." Dean rolled his eyes. "Anyway, this ghost? Apparently if you go to the bridge at night, you see her jump off it. That's about it. Just some suicidal ghost that doesn't realize she's already dead."
Sam furrowed his brow, still looking through the journal. "There's still something that's bothering me. That girl, Kasey, she said it wasn't a ghost."
"Yeah, I asked about her a little." Dean belched, then nodded approvingly. "Seven-point-three, wouldn't you say?"
"Five-point-zero at most. What about Kasey?"
"Man, you're a tough judge. Anyway, apparently she was into some heavy witchcraft shit. Really outspoken by it. Then she disappeared for a year and came back like that. Apparently she's also going to church too, converting back to Christianity."
"Huh." Sam shut the journal. "Well, there's nothing in here about this town. Maybe we should move on."
"Yeah."
"Though we should talk to Kasey. Just in case."
"Yea-What?" Dean looked over at him, confused. "Oh man, you're not kidding. Look, the ghost is harmless and she's not some big bad witch. Let's just go."
"I don't know, man," Sam said, looking down at the journal, "something doesn't seem right about this."
---
"Hi, welcome to oh." Kasey looked up at Sam, her fresh makeup sitting oddly on her face. "You were at the, um, diner. About the... girl."
"Yeah." Sam looked around the shop, noticing the two customers. It was an antique shop, family run, and not many people took time off of work to come by. "Hey, you said something then-"
"I say a lot of things, don't mean nothing," she said nervously. "Hey, be careful with that, I..." The sound of broken crockery filled the air, and her face shut down, looking like she was about to cry. "Excuse me," she said quietly to Sam, walking over to the customer.
---
"Nothing?"
"Nothing." Sam leaned up against the car as he filled the tank. "Maybe you're right. This just seems like local legend."
"Maybe. We should go check out the bridge any-Is that Kasey?"
Sam looked up, squinting at the car that just passed. "Dude, how could you tell?"
"I'm just that good."
Sam turned his head as he finished filling up, looking at his brother. "Looks like she's going to the bridge. Follow her?"
"Sammy, you read my mind."
---
The bridge had guardrails. No one should have gotten over them, not to jump into the river.
When they got there, they could see a figure standing on the guardrail. She had long, black hair, and she moved like she was crying, scared. Dean stopped the Impala suddenly, ripping himself out of the car. "Hey! Yo!"
She didn't look up.
"Hey!" Sam echoed, throwing himself out of the car as well, following hard on Dean's heels. "Hey, don't!"
They were halfway there when she took one step.
Forward.
And disappeared, leaving behind one Kasey, touching the guardrail.
They looked between the empty air, then back down to the crying Kasey. Finally, it was Dean that summed it up perfectly.
"Huh?"
Kasey looked up, wiping furiously at her eyes. "D-don't... don't..."
Sam stepped around Dean, moving to her. "Hey, Kasey. It's okay. Hey, come on, what is it?"
She looked up, her face blurred with the face of a younger Kasey, her hair long and black. "They won't let me die," she whimpered. "They keep finding me."
Long sleeved shirts. Sam reached out, unthinkingly.
"Don't! You keep finding me."
"The ghost," Sam whispered. "Dean."
Kasey looked over at the river, wiping more tears away. "It's not a ghost. I to-told you. It's a ghost if... I had died. But you won't let me die, not you, not Daddy, not even myself." She went to touch the rail. "Every time I try it jumps off for me. Everyone says it's okay, that it's only a little sadness and everyone gets depressed. But it's not okay!"
"Kasey..."
"I keep trying to do something right," she whispered, miserable. "And someone keeps making it wrong." She looked up at Sam, pleading. "Let me die this time."
"No!" Sam grabbed her, noticing how her arm was like ice. "You're freezing. Dean!"
Gravel crunched under Dean's boots as he ran back to the car, grabbing the blanket. "Got it," he yelled back, holding it up. "Get her away from there."
Younger Kasey looked up at him as he pulled her back from the edge. She stayed there, out of the present day Kasey. "They keep making fun of me," she hissed. "Daddy won't listen. I've tried making friends, but I wasn't pretty enough, I wasn't smart enough for them to cheat off of."
Kasey convulsed in his arms, cold, so cold.
"Someone told them I was into witchcraft. They called me a baby killer, animal murderer. I was a perfect little Christian girl. But if I was branded weird, I'd show them weird."
She started to choke, her clothes drenched.
"They weren't ever happy. They wouldn't let me be happy."
"Dean," Sam yelled, pulling Kasey further away.
"Coming, man!"
Younger Kasey looked at her older counterpart, then disappeared as Sam dragged her off the bridge. Dean wrapped the blanket around the girl, then looked up at the area where the apperition has stood. "Okay, I think I speak for all of us when I say what the fucking Hell?"
---
Kasey slowly sipped the coffee, making a face. "I was sixteen. Depressed. Daddy couldn't pay for the psychiatrist, and it got out that I was seeing one. Well, that was when... it all started."
"Melissa said... you were really into witchcraft," Dean said, gulping his own coffee.
"Melissa also was the one that spread the rumor," Kasey said sadly. "I started looking into Wicca and it... it was so cool. I couldn't see why it was such a bad thing, why Melissa would..." Her face started crumpling.
"Was that when you started to see a black haired version of you?" Sam asked, carefully.
"Huh? No, no. I... I didn't see her until I..." Kasey looked down at the mug. "They don't k-know." She put down the mug, her hands shaking so hard she nearly spilled some. "I actually jumped. S-someone pulled me out. E-ever since then, wh-when... she's shown up."
"When...?"
Kasey looked up at them. "She... always jumps for me."
Dean blinked, realization dawning. "You mean, whenever you..."
Kasey nodded, tilting her head down. "I just want to die. Is that such a bad thing?"
"Hey, Kasey, look, I'm pretty certain there are people that would actually miss you. Like, your dad or..." Dean shifted uncomfortably. "You know, people."
She laughed, bitterly. "Yeah, they would. And they won't be able to." Kasey took one last drink, then got up. "I need to get home."
"I'll drive you," Sam started when she shook her head.
"She won't let me die, remember?" Her voice was haunted, bitter. "My fucking guardian angel." Kasey looked at them, then away. "Stop by when there's really something happening."
---
Sam bought a newspaper on the way out of town.
"So what do you think, guardian spirit?" Dean asked casually as Sam read next to him.
"Maybe," he said, distracted. "Looks like there's something happening in Texas."
"In the summer? Man, why don't the monsters ever go north for the summer?"
Sam folded the newspaper carefully, hiding the article he just read, and shrugged. "Who knows?"
Cassandra "Kasey" Smith. Age eighteen. Killed by drunk driver. Her body was cold and waterlogged by the time they found her, despite the fact she was far from the river.
(Also in user info and in a sticky post)
Title: Like a Rose/Like a Breath/Like a Ghost...
Author: Spinny Roses
Fandom: Supernatural
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Triggers (suicide attempts)
Spoilers: Pilot
Disclaimer: Don't own. Title from "Waltz" by Amanda Rogers
Summary: "It's not a ghost."
Like a Rose/Like a Breath/Like a Ghost...
By Spinny Roses
Silver against her wrist, streaked with red. A bead of blood, rolling down her wrist. Hair plastered to her head, clothing soaked through, but no water nearby. Behind her eyes, she saw a river rushing up to meet her.
Footsteps, and two pairs of feet walking in on her sitting there, frozen.
"Cassandra!"
---
"So I've heard, if you go down to the river at night, you'll see a ghost!"
"No way!"
Girlish giggles. Sam would have normally ignored the teen girls behind him, and Dean would have given them a once-over before declaring them jailbait, but one of their stalkwords rang through the air.
"Ladies, did you just say a ghost?" Dean, smooth as always, spoke up.
One of the girls, if she was a natural blonde then Sam would eat his hoodie without sauce, gave Dean a saucy look. "Why do you want to know about that?" she asked, her fingers coyly twisting a lock of hair. "There are more interesting things to know about this area than a dried up corpse."
"Yeah, well," Dean said with a shrug, "my brother and I, we're interested in things like that. Taking a road trip, seeing all the weird shit of the land."
Sam pushed a long breath out of his nose, looking at Dean. "Um, yeah. What have you heard about this ghost?"
"Well, I've heard," the brunette replied, leaning over to show ample cleveage, "that it's a girl."
"I heard she was rejected, and threw herself off the bridge."
"I heard that if you see her, you die the next day," another blonde, this time natural. "She'll come and drown you."
"Ugh, Annie, you always have to be so down. Like, why don't you ever say happy things?" the other blonde complained. "You know, if you want, we can always talk about this later..."
Dean pulled himself up, flashing his "I'm a professonal bullshitter" smile.
"It's not a ghost."
All the girls rolled their eyes, and looked over at the table next to their booth. "Did we ask you, Kasey?" the blond named Annie snited. "No? Then run along. Don't you have some animals to kill or something?"
"I..." Kasey hesitated, eyes averted to one side. She was barely older than the rest of them, maybe two years, which would put her at eighteen. Unlike them, she had mousy brown hair growing out from under black dye. She was pale, really pale, but more "recovering goth" than "I am an evil creature of the night." She shifted her backpack as she stood, and fiddled with the cuffs of her long sleeves. "Wicca isn't..."
"Pfft. Don't you have somewhere to be?" she repeated, nastily. Kasey just turned her head away, fleeing. "Anyway..." Dean's smile went a little sick at the blonde ran her hand up his arm. "About later..."
The look Dean shot Sam was a distinct "save me."
"You know," Sam said, watching the relief cross his brother's face, "I forgot something out at the car. I'll be right back."
Nothing, bar nothing, was funnier than seeing Dean's flirting blow up in his face.
---
"So, this ghost lady? Isn't really anything big." Dean took another bite of the burger. "Man, Sammy, this is good stuff. Much better than the tasteless slob she tried to feed me."
"I noticed you were back earlier," Sam said, mock confused. "What, it didn't work out?"
"Funny, Sam. Funny. Of course I'm always interested in sticking my dick into an unknown bog of underaged jail." Dean rolled his eyes. "Anyway, this ghost? Apparently if you go to the bridge at night, you see her jump off it. That's about it. Just some suicidal ghost that doesn't realize she's already dead."
Sam furrowed his brow, still looking through the journal. "There's still something that's bothering me. That girl, Kasey, she said it wasn't a ghost."
"Yeah, I asked about her a little." Dean belched, then nodded approvingly. "Seven-point-three, wouldn't you say?"
"Five-point-zero at most. What about Kasey?"
"Man, you're a tough judge. Anyway, apparently she was into some heavy witchcraft shit. Really outspoken by it. Then she disappeared for a year and came back like that. Apparently she's also going to church too, converting back to Christianity."
"Huh." Sam shut the journal. "Well, there's nothing in here about this town. Maybe we should move on."
"Yeah."
"Though we should talk to Kasey. Just in case."
"Yea-What?" Dean looked over at him, confused. "Oh man, you're not kidding. Look, the ghost is harmless and she's not some big bad witch. Let's just go."
"I don't know, man," Sam said, looking down at the journal, "something doesn't seem right about this."
---
"Hi, welcome to oh." Kasey looked up at Sam, her fresh makeup sitting oddly on her face. "You were at the, um, diner. About the... girl."
"Yeah." Sam looked around the shop, noticing the two customers. It was an antique shop, family run, and not many people took time off of work to come by. "Hey, you said something then-"
"I say a lot of things, don't mean nothing," she said nervously. "Hey, be careful with that, I..." The sound of broken crockery filled the air, and her face shut down, looking like she was about to cry. "Excuse me," she said quietly to Sam, walking over to the customer.
---
"Nothing?"
"Nothing." Sam leaned up against the car as he filled the tank. "Maybe you're right. This just seems like local legend."
"Maybe. We should go check out the bridge any-Is that Kasey?"
Sam looked up, squinting at the car that just passed. "Dude, how could you tell?"
"I'm just that good."
Sam turned his head as he finished filling up, looking at his brother. "Looks like she's going to the bridge. Follow her?"
"Sammy, you read my mind."
---
The bridge had guardrails. No one should have gotten over them, not to jump into the river.
When they got there, they could see a figure standing on the guardrail. She had long, black hair, and she moved like she was crying, scared. Dean stopped the Impala suddenly, ripping himself out of the car. "Hey! Yo!"
She didn't look up.
"Hey!" Sam echoed, throwing himself out of the car as well, following hard on Dean's heels. "Hey, don't!"
They were halfway there when she took one step.
Forward.
And disappeared, leaving behind one Kasey, touching the guardrail.
They looked between the empty air, then back down to the crying Kasey. Finally, it was Dean that summed it up perfectly.
"Huh?"
Kasey looked up, wiping furiously at her eyes. "D-don't... don't..."
Sam stepped around Dean, moving to her. "Hey, Kasey. It's okay. Hey, come on, what is it?"
She looked up, her face blurred with the face of a younger Kasey, her hair long and black. "They won't let me die," she whimpered. "They keep finding me."
Long sleeved shirts. Sam reached out, unthinkingly.
"Don't! You keep finding me."
"The ghost," Sam whispered. "Dean."
Kasey looked over at the river, wiping more tears away. "It's not a ghost. I to-told you. It's a ghost if... I had died. But you won't let me die, not you, not Daddy, not even myself." She went to touch the rail. "Every time I try it jumps off for me. Everyone says it's okay, that it's only a little sadness and everyone gets depressed. But it's not okay!"
"Kasey..."
"I keep trying to do something right," she whispered, miserable. "And someone keeps making it wrong." She looked up at Sam, pleading. "Let me die this time."
"No!" Sam grabbed her, noticing how her arm was like ice. "You're freezing. Dean!"
Gravel crunched under Dean's boots as he ran back to the car, grabbing the blanket. "Got it," he yelled back, holding it up. "Get her away from there."
Younger Kasey looked up at him as he pulled her back from the edge. She stayed there, out of the present day Kasey. "They keep making fun of me," she hissed. "Daddy won't listen. I've tried making friends, but I wasn't pretty enough, I wasn't smart enough for them to cheat off of."
Kasey convulsed in his arms, cold, so cold.
"Someone told them I was into witchcraft. They called me a baby killer, animal murderer. I was a perfect little Christian girl. But if I was branded weird, I'd show them weird."
She started to choke, her clothes drenched.
"They weren't ever happy. They wouldn't let me be happy."
"Dean," Sam yelled, pulling Kasey further away.
"Coming, man!"
Younger Kasey looked at her older counterpart, then disappeared as Sam dragged her off the bridge. Dean wrapped the blanket around the girl, then looked up at the area where the apperition has stood. "Okay, I think I speak for all of us when I say what the fucking Hell?"
---
Kasey slowly sipped the coffee, making a face. "I was sixteen. Depressed. Daddy couldn't pay for the psychiatrist, and it got out that I was seeing one. Well, that was when... it all started."
"Melissa said... you were really into witchcraft," Dean said, gulping his own coffee.
"Melissa also was the one that spread the rumor," Kasey said sadly. "I started looking into Wicca and it... it was so cool. I couldn't see why it was such a bad thing, why Melissa would..." Her face started crumpling.
"Was that when you started to see a black haired version of you?" Sam asked, carefully.
"Huh? No, no. I... I didn't see her until I..." Kasey looked down at the mug. "They don't k-know." She put down the mug, her hands shaking so hard she nearly spilled some. "I actually jumped. S-someone pulled me out. E-ever since then, wh-when... she's shown up."
"When...?"
Kasey looked up at them. "She... always jumps for me."
Dean blinked, realization dawning. "You mean, whenever you..."
Kasey nodded, tilting her head down. "I just want to die. Is that such a bad thing?"
"Hey, Kasey, look, I'm pretty certain there are people that would actually miss you. Like, your dad or..." Dean shifted uncomfortably. "You know, people."
She laughed, bitterly. "Yeah, they would. And they won't be able to." Kasey took one last drink, then got up. "I need to get home."
"I'll drive you," Sam started when she shook her head.
"She won't let me die, remember?" Her voice was haunted, bitter. "My fucking guardian angel." Kasey looked at them, then away. "Stop by when there's really something happening."
---
Sam bought a newspaper on the way out of town.
"So what do you think, guardian spirit?" Dean asked casually as Sam read next to him.
"Maybe," he said, distracted. "Looks like there's something happening in Texas."
"In the summer? Man, why don't the monsters ever go north for the summer?"
Sam folded the newspaper carefully, hiding the article he just read, and shrugged. "Who knows?"
Cassandra "Kasey" Smith. Age eighteen. Killed by drunk driver. Her body was cold and waterlogged by the time they found her, despite the fact she was far from the river.