Run, Boy, Run

Chapter 2

I was playing with Coco and Dino, Sam jolted up,
Dean said" You okay?"
Sam said" Yeah, I'm fine."
" Another nightmare? Want to drive for a while?"
" In your whole life, you never once asked me that."
" Just thought you might want to. Never mind."
" Look, man, you're worried about me. I get it, and thank you, but I'm perfectly okay."
" Mm-hmm."
" All right. Where are we?"
" We are just outside of Grand Junction."
" You know what? Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon."
" Sam, we dug around there for a week. We came up with nothing. If you want to find the thing that killed Jessica..."
" Got to find dad first."
" Dad disappearing, and this thing showing up again after 20 years? It's no coincidence. Dad will have answers. He'll know what to do."
" It's weird, man. These coordinates he left us, this Blackwater Ridge..."
" What about it?"
" There's nothing there. It's just woods. Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?" I'm thirsty, I leaned up and saw a juice box on the floor. I huffed and tried to climb over the seat but couldn't, I reached for the juice. So close. Want juice. Really want juice.
" What're you doing, River?" I reached for the juice again, Dean looked at me, then down,
" Juice." Sam grabbed the juice and put the straw in for me, I made grabby hands.
" Here, here." I grabbed it and sat back down, giving Coco a sip, then taking it back." He just gave his teddy bear a sip of juice."
" That's River for you, he also had an imaginary friend named Rollie Pollie, so, that gives you the basis of what he is."
" Why did he name his imaginary friend Rollie Pollie?"
" Don't ask me, kid's weird."

We were at a Ranger Station,
Sam said" So Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote. It's cut off by these canyons here- Rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place..." Dean was holding me up so I could see the picture he was looking at.
Dean said" Dude, check out the size of this friggin' bear." My mouth was open, the bear was a giant, it could be a giant's puppy.
" And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area. It's no nature hike, that's for sure."
A ranger said" You boys aren't planning to go out near Blackwater Ridge, by any chance?"
" Oh, no, sir. We're Environmental-study majors from UC Boulder- just working on a paper."
Dean said" Recycle, man."
The ranger said" Bull. You're friends with that Hailey girl, right?"
" Yes. Yes, we are, Ranger... Wilkinson."
" Well, I will tell you exactly what I told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the 24th. So it's not exactly a missing persons now, is it? Tell that girl to quit worrying. I'm sure her brother's just fine."
" We will. Well, that Hailey girl's quite a pistol, huh?"
" That is putting it mildly."
" Actually, you know what would help is if I could show her a copy of that backcountry permit. You know, so she could see her brother's return date."

We walked out of the station, Dean was chuckling,
Sam said" What, are you cruising for a hookup or something?"
Dean said" What do you mean?"
" The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge. So what are we waiting for? Let's just go find dad. I mean, why even talk to this girl?"
" I don't know, maybe we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it."
" What?"
" Since when are you all shoot first, ask questions later, anyway?"
" Since now."
" Oh, really?" Dean opened my door and I got in, he closed it then got in himself.

We got to the girl's house,
Dean said" We'll be right back, River, stay put. Uh... here." He gave me a Hershey bar, I opened it and took a bite.
Sam said" I wanna know why you have to bribe him."
" He doesn't like staying alone. Let's go." They got out and walked away, I curled around Coco, then saw Rollie Pollie, I smiled. Rollie Pollie waved at me and made a silly face, I copied him, sticking out my tongue and crossing my eyes. I yawned,
Rollie Pollie said" Sleepy, River?" I nodded," Well, you should get some sleep, silly! The time will go by faster if you close your eyes and go to dream land!" I rubbed my eyes and laid down, closing my eyes," Sleep tight, little River."
——
It's morning,
Dean said" All right, bud, we're gonna go into the woods and come out as soon as possible." I shook my head fast," Buddy-" I shook my head, kicking my feet and moving my arms, fast." Stop, River! Stop!" I breathed heavily, then stared at him, I shook my head slowly." We're gonna come back, don't worry." I grabbed my notebook, I wrote NO!!," Come on, dude, just-" NO!," River-" NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!," Fine!" I huffed,
Sam said" Okay, what did you do to make him scared of being alone?"
" We used... him as bait once, it was a mistake, a terrible mistake, and I regretted the second I saw his tear-stained face."
" As- Dean!"
" I know! I know! He didn't like being alone from the start, but the monster was killing kids and it was bad, and dad done it... and it was a mistake."