Fic: Nineteen Minutes (1/2)
Disclaimer: Not mine, and my apologies to Sarah Winchester, who I'm sure never hurt anyone.
Author's Note: beaker84 told me she wanted birthday fic about the Winchester Mystery House, and I asked her a lot of questions that probably made it seem like it was going to be a suspenseful, well-thought-out casefic with things like plot and story arc.
And then this happened.
Many thanks to nygirl7of9, who encouraged and spotted typos and was generally awesome.
And since it fits, I'm planning to use this for the deadline/time bomb square on my hc bingo card.
Summary: Sarah Winchester is a woman of her word. Sam has nineteen minutes.
Spoilers: Very vague spoilers up to about the middle of S7.
Nineteen Minutes
And, did I need that thou shouldst taunt
My dying hour at last,
By bidding this worn spirit pant
No more for what is past?
(Charlotte Brontë)
My name is Sarah Winchester.
Maybe you've heard of me.
They call me insane. I'm not, you know. I'm as sane as anybody. I'm as sane as you.
Was it my fault the ghosts hounded me? I didn't invent the gun. I didn't kill anyone. All I did was fall in love with the son of the man who sold the Winchester rifle.
William always told me the ghosts were after him. I never believed him. I'm sorry about that now. I wish I'd believe him.
I wish someone would believe me.
It's been nearly a hundred and thirty years, and still they don't let me rest.
Oh, yes, maybe I should have said this in the beginning. I'm a ghost, too. Don't be scared. I don't want to hurt anyone. All I want is to rest in peace, to be able to move on, to see Will again.
Oh, Sam. Sammy. Can I call you Sammy? No? Sam, then. I promise you don't have to be afraid of me. I'm not vengeful.
I need your brother's help, that's all.
I wish I could have had it some other way. I don't like hurting people. I'm sorry I had to do that to you, really I am. I didn't expect there would be so much blood. It was just a little marble bust, and I didn't even hit you very hard.
I forgot how fragile humans are.
But don't worry. You won't die. Not from blood loss.
I know you're running out of air, but you don't have to worry about that either. You'll be fine. Well, as long as your brother manages to find what I want in the next… half an hour? Oh, no, you only have nineteen minutes now.
I'm sorry. I hope you don't die. I don't want anybody to die.
Will you promise not to haunt me if you die?
Are you even listening to me?
You have to listen to me. I have to tell you everything. I don't want you to think I did this without a reason.
The ghosts haunted me for almost forty years while I was alive. You're young, you couldn't possibly know what it's like to have someone hound you so you can't eat, you can't sleep, you can't -
Oh, you do know? How?
Lucifer? Poor boy, I think you're hallucinating. It must be the lack of oxygen. Lucifer isn't real.
I'm real. I wish I weren't. I was a good person. I don't know why they didn't let me move on.
The house is full of ghosts. I expect you know that. I saw you and your brother, with the salt canisters and the flasks of holy water. I realized right away you were ghost hunters.
Did you come here for the others? Or did you come here for me?
You can tell the truth, I won't be cross. I do want to move on. But you and your brother were looking in all the wrong places. You would never have found it. You're not the first hunters to come here.
Nobody ever finds it.
That's my fault, I suppose.
I don't know where it is, either.
I asked Gordie to hide it. I don't suppose you've ever met Gordie. He must be very old by now, if he's even still alive.
He was a young man when I realized I didn't have much longer to live. I called him and gave it to him, and I told him to hide it somewhere in the House and I made him promise never to tell anyone where it was. I thought that would confine them here.
I should have had it destroyed, but I couldn't bear to. Will made me promise.
He said the gun could kill anything. That gun. He was working with some other man called Jeff. Or Joseph, maybe. I don't know. He was part of some strange occult group - I always thought he was a little insane. He and Will worked on that gun together. I don't know what they did to it, but they said it could kill anything.
Anything. And then Jeff, or Joseph, or maybe his name was Jeremy, said this would be even better than the Colt.
You look like you know what he meant.
I would ask you, but I don't think you should waste your oxygen. You have so little of it left.
You really mustn't haunt me if your brother can't find it in time. Promise me.
No, don't fall asleep. You mustn't sleep. I don't want to be alone here. The others might come. They frighten me. They won't come if you're awake. You're a ghost hunter.
So much blood. How is it still bleeding? I really didn't hit you that hard.
Poor Sam. You look scared. I told you not to be scared of me.
No. Eyes open.
Sixteen minutes.
You have sixteen minutes of air left.
I do know that exactly. Not because of the seal on the door. I think the room has at least another two hours of air for you. I know it's getting thin, but you won't actually die for two hours.
At least.
Old man Andrews lasted a full day. You've only been here fourteen hours. But he was smaller than you. Maybe he needed less air.
Poor Mr. Andrews. I don't know how he got stuck in here. It must have been one of the others. I had to pay his widow twenty thousand dollars to keep quiet about it.
People are so mercenary.
But the thing is, Sam, I told your brother your oxygen would run out at midnight. And I'm a woman of my word. So I'll just have to stop your air myself. If your brother doesn't have it for me by midnight.
I don't like strangling people. So uncivilized. But I promised.
It's important for you to know this. I don't want you to think I'm unreasonable.
No hunter has ever been able to find it, and the only way to make the others go is to burn it. Do you understand, Sam?
You and your brother would have kept it, once you realized what it could do.
Sam? Are you even listening to me? You have to listen to me. This is important. You and your brother would have kept it. I couldn't risk that.
I must have peace.
They have to go.
So I had to take you, you see. It was the only way to guarantee your brother's cooperation.
Will was a businessman. I learnt things from him. You're my leverage.
Fourteen minutes.
Poor Sam. It looks like your brother won't be in time.
Or maybe he's decided not to destroy the rifle. I thought he cared about you more than that, but there was the girl. Clare? She's a hunter as well. She's been flirting with your brother. Shameless hussy.
I would never have dreamed of wearing a shirt like that and then bending over so a man could see my -
Well.
She wants the rifle.
We might both lose, Sam. I'm sorry.
He must have found it by now. I suppose the hussy persuaded him to let her have it.
Fourt -
No. Thirteen minutes.
Do you like my pocket watch, Sam? It was Will's. After Mr. Andrews died I had it put here, so if anyone else got stuck in this closet they'd know how much time they had left.
It's never run down since the day I put it here.
I used to check it every morning.
I've never put anyone in this closet to die, though. Not when I was alive.
Not after I died.
No, really. That's true.
I… I promise.
I know you're here, but I didn't put you here to die. I put you here to wait. If you do die here, it's just coincidence. And the hussy's fault.
You're still bleeding. Can you stop it? I promised. You have to stay alive another…
Twelve minutes.
I told your brother your air would run out.
I suppose he cares more about the hussy's bosom than about…
Oh, Sam, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you.
I've been watching you all day. You. Your brother. The hussy. The hussy doesn't like you. She wanted your brother's attention, but he was worried about you. You could sense me, couldn't you? You've been sensing me since you came in.
Or maybe you've been sensing the others.
Did you see any of them?
Little Bucky? The lady in green? The man with the striped waistcoat?
I've been seeing them for over a hundred years, Sam. They don't let me rest. It isn't fair! I didn't kill them! I didn't make the gun! All I did was love Will.
Oh, Sam, I wish I'd never met him.
I loved Will, and I promised to keep the gun safe, and for his sake I did.
If I'd known…
I could go check on your brother and the hussy, maybe remind him he's supposed to be saving you. But then I'd have to leave you alone. I don't want you to be alone.
It's dark. You might be scared.
Stay awake, Sam.
I wish I could keep you alive. Do you know, this is the first time in at least twenty years I haven't had little Bucky dogging my heels? He's staying away from you.
If I could keep you alive, keep you here…
You can't open this door from the inside. We learnt that the hard way. Poor Mr. Andrews.
I could keep you here. I could sit here with you, always. I'd never have to see little Bucky.
But I promised.
You should think of happy things, Sam. You're going to die soon. Enjoy the time you have left. Why don't you think of happy things for a couple of minutes, while I go check on your brother?
Don't worry. I won't hurt him.
Think of happy things.
Part II