Down the Rabbit Hole

Adrift Part 1

As Dean got up and started his day with Lisa and Ben, Lacey was lying out on the Lanai sunning herself. The phone call from Sam had intrigued her but she was wary about going back and seeing Dean again. He had a whole other life now that she knew nothing about. As the heat got too much for her she made her way back inside and into the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of lemonade. She sat down at the table next to Dorothy and Blanche.
"So are you going to tell us what's going on? You've been quiet since you took that phone call last night." Blanche asked her.
"Hmmm? Oh yeah, I'm fine. But I might have to go away for a while." She admitted as she sipped at her drink.
"Who was on the phone?" Dorothy asked.
"You remember those guys I told you about? The ones that found me? Well it was one of them, Sam. He needs my help with finding his brother Dean. So I said I would go and help him out."
"Well, if that's what you want to do." Dorothy nodded in understanding.
"I do... and I don't." Lacey admitted. They waited for an explanation. "The last time I saw Dean... it wasn't exactly fun. He and I were involved, then this whole thing happened....we thought Sam was dead. So I told Dean to go and ever since then he's been living with this woman and her kid." Lacey took a deep breath. Blanche and Dorothy shared a look.
"And now his brother wants you to go back and see him again."
"Exactly. Not just a walk in the park."
"Would you like us to come with you?" Dorothy offered.
"As much as I would love to see Sophia go ten rounds with Dean, I don't know how long this is going to take, you guys have lives to live, jobs to go to, I think I should do this myself."
"Well you know where we are if you need us." Blanche said, squeezing Lacey's hand before getting up from the table.

After a long day at the construction site Dean was having a well-deserved beer at the local bar. He was sat at a table opposite one of his neighbours, Sid.
"And thank god this was before Facebook, right?" The guys was saying. "Because it'd be me and that goat all over the internet. Don't get me wrong, right? No complaints. But if you'd have said to me "hey, you, fifteen years from now? Suburbia."
"Oh yeah." Dean agreed, taking a sip of his beer.
"Right?"
"Believe me I know."
"So, you've travelled around a lot huh?"
"Mmmhhmm. Yeah, my whole life, pretty much."
"And?" Sid looked at him questioningly.
"I don't know."
"Come on. You, what you moved in, what about a year ago?"
"Yeah, thereabouts."
"So I've been buying you beer for a year. And I think that means you owe me a couple of gory details."
"Oh no. There's not much to tell, you know? It's uh... I lived on the road...Took uh, crap jobs that nobody else wanted."
"Like?" Sid pushed.
"Like.... Pest control."
"Really? Pest Control." Sid looked at him, surprised.
"Yeah. You get to work with a partner. You get to help people. You have no idea what's in some people's walls. It could eat 'em alive."
"Yeesh."
"'Course that was then. And now...."
"You're practically respectable." Sid joked.
"Yeah. Wow. I guess so. That's kind of scary, actually." Their waitress came up and handed them the bill.
"Thanks, guys." She put her hand on Deans shoulder before heading back to the bar.
"Thank you. I think she likes you." Sid commented. Dean held up the bill with the girls name and number on it.
"You think?"
"What is it with you? Like every time!" Sid exclaimed.
"It's like chicks specifically dig unavailable guys." Dean noted as he ripped up the receipt. "Who knew."

A short while later Dean left the bar and headed for his truck. Just as he reached it he heard a woman screaming somewhere in the distance. He grabbed a flashlight and a gun from inside his truck before heading over to an abandoned building across the street. He walked through the building but found no one, the only sign that someone had been there were some claw marks on the walls and some blood.

Back at the house Dean was checking the police reports and on call with the local Sheriff's department.
"And no one's called about a missing person? No this would have been today. So no reports of anything around Vineland and Oak, near that hotel renovation? Uh, call it a hunch. I've been a cop for a long time. Okay, yeah." He spotted Lisa waiting for him in the doorway. "No, I'll call you tomorrow. You too man, bye."
"Hey. Who was that?"
"Sid. I'm just setting up a poker game."
"It's 11:30." Lisa told him, looking puzzled.
"Is it really? Well, that explains why he was asleep when I called. I'll be right up."
"Okay."