𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆

『3.2』

      Riley lets her head hang over the edge of the bed as she eats the slice of pie she got from the diner next door. Dean takes the fork from her hand and takes a bite and moan in delight. Riley kicks him and hisses. "Don't touch my food." Dean widens his eyes. "Jeez."

      "So there's the three drowning victims this year." Sam says as he types into his laptop. "Ant before that... Yeah, six more, spread out over the past 35 years. Those bodies were never discovered either." Riley sits up in the bed and takes a big bite out of her pie. "If there is something out there, it's picking up it's pace."

      Riley snorts. "Monsters must have a 6th sense for us Winchesters." Dean tosses a shirt in Riley's face. She grabs it and throws it back harder. "So we got a lake monster on a binge?" Sam sighs and Dean opens his mouth. Riley catapults a piece of pie into his mouth.

      "This whole lake monster theory- It just bugs me." Riley takes the last bite of the pie crust. "Tell that to the Scottish." She says with her mouth full. "Why?" Dean says walking over to Sam. "Loch Ness, Lake Champlain- There are literally hundreds of eyewitness accounts, but here, almost nothing."

      Riley frowns. She could have sworn she saw something down by the lake, but it just didn't seem to fit. Unless it was Georgie without his freaky balloon.

      "Whatever it is out there, no one's living to talk about." Dean leans closer to the screen. "Wait, Bar, Christopher Bar-" He points at the name and Riley turns to look at it. "Where have I heard that name before?" Riley glances at her father. "Christopher Bar, the victim in May." Sam pulls up the article and Riley smirks at the fact that Sam actually made a work cited for all the victims.

      "Oh. Christopher Bar was Andrea's husband, Lucas's father." Dean leans back and Riley gives him a look. "Apparently, he took Lucas out swimming. Lucas was on a floating wooden platform when Chris drowned two hours before the kid got rescued." Dean closes his eyes and sighs.

      Riley looks at the photo of Lucas "Maybe we have an eyewitness afterall." Dean looks down. "No wonder that kid was so freaked out. Watching one of your parents die isn't something you just get over." Riley looks down and Sam and Dean glance at her. She knows how Lucas feels.

△

      "Can we join you?" Sam asks as the three of them walk up to Andrea. "I'm here with my son." Andrea comments with a smile. Dean and Riley look over at Lucas. "You mind if we say hi?" Dean puts a hand on Riley's healed shoulder and guides her over to Lucas who is drawing on a bench.

      "How's it going?" Dean asks as he bends down to Lucas. He doesn't answer as he continues to draw. "Ah," Dean says as he spots the green soldiers next to Lucas. "Oh, I used to love these things." Dean imitates gunfire and explosions. He looks at Riley. "Riley was more into Barbies."

      Riley cringes and kicks Dean. They agreed to never speak of her Barbie phase again.

      "So crayons is more your thing? That's cool. Chicks dig artists." Dean looks at Lucas's drawings. "Hey, these are pretty good," He looks at Riley. "Looks like you've met your match Bug." Riley smiles softly at Lucas then spots the red bike and frowns. She grabs it and studies it.

      Riley doesn't use color for her art, but she likes to imagine what her art would look like if she did. The bike she drew had a red vibe. It couldn't be a coincidence that Lucas drew the same thing as her, right?

      "You mind if I sit here and draw with you for a while? Riley could use some pointers." Riley rolls her eyes, but crouches next to her father. "I'm not so bad myself." Riley snorts and sits on the grass.

      "You know, I'm thinking you can hear me." Lucas glances at Riley and meets her eyes for a fraction of a second. He looks back down and takes a new piece of paper, drawing something new, setting his rocket ship aside. "You just don't want to talk." Riley glances at Dean as he draws.

      "I don't know exactly what happened to your dad, but I know it was something real bad." Dean glances at Riley and their eyes meet. Riley picks up the conversation. "We think we know how you feel. When we were younger, we both saw something." Riley looks down for a moment. "I still can't describe it." She mumbles.

      "Anyway," Dean starts again. "Well, maybe you don't think anyone will listen to you or, uh... Or believe you." Riley looks at the ground. She got lucky with her family. They knew what was out there and believed her. Her mother's death still can't be explained, but they believe what she saw. Lucas doesn't have anyone to believe him.

      "I want you to know I will. You don't even have to say anything. You could draw me a picture about what you saw that day with your dad on the lake." Riley and Dean watch for any sort of reaction, but one doesn't come. "Okay, no problem." Dean lifts his picture towards Lucas. "This is for you."

      He hands the picture to him. "This is my family." Riley looks at Dean's stick figures with hair and smirks. Not so bad himself, huh? "That's my dad." Dea says pointing to the stick person on the end. "That's my mom." Dean frowns a bit. "That's my geek brother, and that's this knuckle head right here." Dean ruffles Riley's hair making her laugh.

      "And there I am." Dean pauses. "All right, so I'm a sucky artist. Riley takes after her mom." Riley smiles remembering the days she would draw with her mother, laughing and smiling, just feeling happy. "I'll see you around Lucas."

       Dean stands to walk away, but Lucas grabs Riley's hand. She looks at him and he wordlessly hands her a picture. She looks at it, then smiles at him and walks away. Riley looks at the drawing. It's of two girls holding hands, one of them bigger than the other. Both are blonde, and both have a pair of wings and halos over their head.

      Riley creases her brows at the photo and looks back at Lucas. She purses her lips, then folds up the picture and stuffs it into her pocket. She goes to stand next to Dean.

      "What are the doctors saying?" Sam asks. Riley assumes they are talking about Lucas. "That it's a kind of post-traumatic stress." Sam shakes his head and glances over at Lucas. "That can't be easy for either of you." Andrea nods. "We moved in with my dad. He helps a lot." Andrea looks over at her son and Riley does the same. What could that drawing have meant?

      "It's just... When I think about what Lucas went through, what he saw..." Dean glances at Riley. "Kids are strong. You'd be surprised what they can deal with." Riley sighs and glances between Sam and Dean. All three of them have dealt with hardships no one should be forced to go through.

      "You know, he used to have such a life. He was hard to keep up with, to tell you the truth." Dean smiles and puts a hand around Riley. He knows what that's like. Riley is a real spitfire. "Now he just sits there, drawing those pictures, playing with those army men. I just wish-"

      Lucas walks over with a picture in his hands. "Hey, Sweetie." Lucas doesn't look up from the ground as he hands Dean a picture. Andrea looks at Dean in shock. Dean looks at Lucas. "Thanks." Riley looks at the photo then smiles at Lucas.

      "Thanks, Lucas." Lucas turns on his heels and walks away. Riley grabs the drawing. "I wish I could draw that fast." She mutters. 

- author's notes -

what could Lucas's drawing mean?

We won't find out until a bit later in Forcim (If you read it)

Forcim takes place in season 4 of supernatural, but After I finish it I will complete this book and go onto seasons 2 and 3