Bless the Broken Road

40. The Kids Are Alright

EXT. SUBURBAN HOUSE - NIGHT

A young mother was standing outside her house with a mix of worry and impatience. A car pulled up into the driveway; a girl of about ten years stepped out, as did her father. The girl ran to her mother and hugged her.

"Hey, sweetie," the mom greeted. "Hey."

"Hey," the dad said.

"Thanks for driving her back here."

"It's not like I had a choice. She pitched a fit."

The mom said to the girl, who was hugging her tightly, "Hey, sweetie. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I missed you," the girl replied.

"Okay, but tonight's your dad's night."

"No. I don't like Dad's night. I don't want Dad to have a night anymore."

"Since when? You used to love going to your dad's house. And, you know, he loves you, and he misses you a lot."

"But I hate it there!"

"You don't hate it."

"Yes, I do! He's mean, and there are monsters there. I don't w-want to go back. Please don't let the monsters get me."

The mom hugged her daughter. "Okay, sweetie. Okay."

INT. MAN'S WORKROOM - NIGHT

The little girl's father was in his workroom; there were wood-carved object sitting about, as was one of those circular table saws. He prepared to leave, and as he was shutting off the lights by the door, the table saw turned itself on. Curious, he approached it, crouching down at table-height to shut it off. As he started to leave a second time, the saw turns on again. This time, when he leaned over the saw, a sudden whooshing seemed to rush over him, knocking him on his back and onto the table saw, killing him.

A wooden rocking horse on the table started rocking creakily.

INT. DINER - NIGHT

Sam and Zach were sitting at a table in a generic diner, working on their laptops and the younger of the two was talking on his phone. Dean was nowhere to be seen. Sam seemed a bit frantic.

"What do you mean you don't think it will work, Bobby?" Sam said. "It's a demon-dispelling ritual." Dean, who was outside, rapped on the front window and waved a packet of papers. "Well, maybe we got the translation wrong." The door jangled in the background. Look, we can't just let Dean fry in hell while we— " He paused to listen to Bobby; his screen showed another translation in process."...Well, there's got to be something that w—" He and Zach saw Dean approaching the table. "Oh, ah, yeah, no, ah, I I gotta go. Uh. Okay. Never mind." Sam hung up the phone quickly.

Dean entered, looking suspiciously at Sam and Zach.

"Hey. Who was that?" Dean asked.

Sam replied quickly, "Ah, I was just ordering pizza."

Dean looked around. "Dude, you do realize that you're in a restaurant?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I... just felt like pizza, you know?" Sam said, smiling tight-lipped and reeked of insincerity.

Zach scoffed as he looked at his brother in disbelief.

Dean sat. "O-kay, Weirdy Mcweirderton." He cleared his throat. "So, I think I got something."

"Yeah?" Sam and Zach asked.

"Cicero, Indiana. Falls on his own power saw."

"And?" Sam pressed. "What, that's it? One power saw?"