Maddison Winchester: Journal 1 {Supernatural}

6 Skin: Part 2

Dean pulled up next to the sidewalk, and we all got out. Rebecca handed Sam the keys, and we started walking up to the house. The front porch was wrapped with police tape.

"You're sure this is okay?" Rebecca asked Dean as we walked up to the door.

Dean nodded. "Yeah. I am an officer of the law."

"And what about her?" Rebecca asked, pointing to me. "It's kind of messy in there."

"I'll be fine," I said, "I want to be just like my big brother one day."

I turned to Dean, winked, and stuck my tongue out at him, and then hurried off to the house before he could tell me to wait in the car.

Sam had already made it into the house.

Dean laughed. "She's a rascal, that one."

When I reached the porch, I ducked under some tape and entered the house. I looked around the room, and my heart dropped. Everything was splattered and smeared with blood. I was astonished. Whatever happened to that poor girl was awful. Sam walked past me back to the door.

Dean put his hands on my shoulders and knelt in front of me. "It's pretty gruesome in here. Are you sure you don't want to wait in the car?"

"No, I'll be fine," I said, "I want to help. And plus, I should get used to this kind of stuff anyway."

Dean's expression became a little sad, but he nodded and left me to start looking around the room.

"Bec, you wanna wait outside?" Sam asked.

I turned around to see Rebecca still standing on the porch, just looking around the room.

"No." She shook her head and then ducked under the tape. "I wanna help."

Sam closed the door behind her. "Tell us what else the police said."

Rebecca's eyes filled with tears. "Well, there's no sign of a break-in. They say that Emily let her attacker in. The lawyers... they're already talking about plea bargains." She looked around the room at all the blood and started crying. "Oh, god..."

"Look, Bec, if Zach didn't do this, it means someone else did. Any idea who?" Sam asked with sympathetic eyes.

Rebecca shook her head, but then she seemed to remember something. "Um, there was something about a week before. Somebody broke in here and stole some clothes... Zach's clothes. The police... they don't think it's anything. I mean, we're not that far from downtown. Sometimes people get robbed."

Sam walked away from her, and Dean walked to the front door and opened it slightly. The neighbor's dog was barking outside at us.

Rebecca walked up behind Dean. "You know that used to be the sweetest dog."

"What happened?" Dean asked.

Rebecca shrugged. "He just changed."

"Do you remember when he changed?" Dean asked.

"I guess around the time of the murder," Rebecca said.

Dean turned to look at her and then walked off to find Sam. I followed Dean and saw Sam standing in front of the refrigerator staring at a picture of himself, Rebecca, and who I assumed to be Zach.

"So, the neighbor's dog went psycho right around the time Zach's girlfriend was killed," Dean said.

"Animals can have a sharp sense of the paranormal," Sam said, turning his attention to Dean.

Dean nodded. "Yeah, maybe Fido saw something."

"So, you think maybe this is our kind of problem?" Sam asked.

"No." Dean shook his head. "Probably not."

Dean definitely believed that this could be one of our cases, but I knew that he was also hoping it wasn't so that we could get back to finding Dad. I felt the same way, but there was no way that we could let an innocent man rot in jail for something he didn't do.

Dean cleared his throat. "But we should look at the security tape, ya know, just to make sure."

Sam nodded. "Yeah."

"Yeah," Dean said and turned toward Rebecca as she walked over. "So, the tape. The security footage... you think maybe your lawyers could get their hands on it? 'Cause I just don't have that kind of jurisdiction."

"I've already got it. I didn't wanna say something in front of the cop." Rebecca shrugged. "I stole it off the lawyer's desk. I just had to see it for myself."

Dean nodded. "All right." He then gestured for everyone to leave.

I looked around the room at the horror one last time, feeling sorry for Zach's girlfriend. Then I felt a hand on my back.

Sam was looking down at me. "You okay?" he asked.

I nodded, and he looked at me with concern in his eyes and then guided me out of the house.

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When we got back to Rebecca's, she set up the TV's security footage in the living room. We all sat and watched while Sam leaned against the arm of the couch.

"Here he comes," Rebecca said, pointing to the screen.

"22:04, that's just after ten," Dean said, "You said time of death was about 10:30."

"Our lawyers hired some kind of video expert," Rebecca said, "He says the tape's authentic. It wasn't tampered with."

"Hey, Bec, can we take those beers and water now?" Sam asked.

"Oh, sure," she said, getting up from the couch.

"Hey." Sam smirked at her. "Maybe some sandwiches, too?"

"What do you think this is, Hooters?" Rebecca laughed and left the room.

"I wish." Dean chuckled and then walked over to Sam. "What is it?"

"Check this out," Sam said as he rewound the tape.

One of the frames showed Zach staring directly into the camera, and Sam paused it. Zach's eyes were bright silver.

Dean shrugged. "Well, maybe it's just a camera flare."

"That's not like any camera flare I've ever seen," Sam said, "Ya know, a lot of cultures believe that a photograph can catch a glimpse of the soul."

Dean nodded. "Right."

"Remember that dog that was freakin' out?" Sam asked. "Maybe he saw this thing. Maybe this is some kind of dark double of Zach's, something that looks like him but isn't him."

"Like a Doppelgänger?" Dean asked.

Sam nodded. "Yeah. It'd sure explain how he was two places at once."

Rebecca returned and handed the boys their beers and me a glass of water. We all thanked her, and since it was getting late, Sam and Dean decided that it was probably time to change the subject for now. Sam and Rebecca caught up on some things, and I ended up falling asleep with my head on Dean's shoulder.

After a while, Dean woke me up, and the three of us left for our motel room.

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I was shaken awake. "Maddison."

I opened my eyes to see Sam smiling down at me with a cheese danish and a peach tea in his hands.

I sat up, rubbing my eyes, and spotted the clock. "It's five in the morning." I flopped back down. "What do you want?" I threw my blanket over my head, hoping he would leave me alone.

Sam laughed and pulled the blanket off. "Come on, we are going to Zach's house."

"Fine," I said as I got up and hurried into the bathroom to get ready for the day.

When I came out, Sam handed me my breakfast, and we all hurried to the Impala.

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