TINTED ▷ Sam Winchester [1]

7 | AN ITCHING FEELING

After finding zip, and I literally mean zip, I lay down in a different room, one down the hall from Sam's, and hope that I might get a few minutes of sleep.

Most of the night I spend lying in bed staring at the ceiling. I would plug my headphones into my phone and blare Def Leppard, but then I might miss any strange or out of the ordinary noises. So far, I haven't heard any, though. And I don't think I will. The couple was probably just killed by a crazy Lizzie Borden fanatic. But how would they have gotten in if everything was locked?

Dean made a suggestion, maybe the killer was actually good at doing the job. This seemed ridiculous at the time but now it seems like the only logical conclusion. If Lizzie Borden was a ghost, she should have showed up here years ago, not days ago.

My phone vibrates on the small table beside the bed, the glow from the screen hitting all the way to the ceiling. I see it immediately and turn over to answer the call. The name on the screen reads 'Mitch' and shows a picture of my best friend with his family.

Why would he be calling me at one in the morning?

"Hello?" I answer, pressing the phone to my ear.

"Bailey?" I squint my eyes in the darkness when I hear a girl's voice instead of my best friend's. "Sorry, did I wake you up?" I let out a huff of breath in relief as I realize who it is.

"Becky, why are you calling me on your dad's phone right now?" I say, pinching the bridge of my nose and letting my head fall back against the pillow. I can't deal with these guys' problems right now, not in the middle of a case.

This is barely a case, the voice in the back of my head points out.

"What's going on?" I press after only getting silence from the teenager.

Becky sighs. "Dad and Hillary have been fighting a lot lately." This is not new information to me. "I know what you're gonna say, that they always fight. But it's really bad."

My heart sinks. Mitch and Hillary are what one might call the perfect couple, Hollywood movie material and everything, but of course they fight once in a while. It's only normal, especially in a marriage.

"I'm sure they'll be fine," I say tiredly. I rub my eyes again and glance over at the clock, which blinks one fifteen in neon green. "You shouldn't worry about it anymore, not tonight. Just try and sleep okay?"

I hear her sigh, and I feel a little guilty that I don't have better answers for her. "Okay," she says. "Good night, Bailey."

The phone clicks, signaling that Becky hung up. I shut my phone off and place it back on the table, closing my eyes once again in hopes of falling asleep.

I slip into a shallow slumber that only lasts for a short while before I'm awake again. When I open my eyes, it is still pitch dark in the room, the digital clock now reading four thirty. I roll over on my side, eyes heavy, until I hear the noise.

It has my heart in my throat. I leap out of bed as fast as my feet allow and rush out of the room. It was a woman, crying out in fear. I heard it, I swear I did.

I search all the rooms in this hallway, almost giving up until I stumble upon the room at the end of the hall, which I can see still has a light on. I step further inside, trying to remain calm as I take notice of the body lying on the ground. My eyes widen at the sight.

The woman is familiar. After some quick thinking, I remember her to be the desk clerk's harsh mother. She is lying on the wooden floor of this room now, eyes opened and lifeless. She is unmoving and her body is covered in blood. Her own blood. By the looks of it, I have to conclude that she was hacked up by an ax.