It's Only a Paper Moon

[jimmyhkim21]

Title: It's Only a Paper Moon, Part IV
Warning: R-rated for language and violence
Summary: Dean and Sam head to Washington to tackle a case where a ghost is blamed for multiple deaths. However, once they discover what the entity is, they realize they have no way of stopping the tortured soul from continuing its murderous rampage. Becoming more and more desperate as the body count rises, the Winchesters delve into forgotten family history to discover a murderous tragedy that has yet to see the end.


Once Joshua made up his mind, he was firm in his resolve. He led Dean and Sam to his mother’s townhouse, even helping them in the search for any clues about the Inoues. Dean immediately noticed how all the rooms were filled with memories, both happy and sad, but all very much loved, making him feel grubby since he was trashing the place.

“I’ve got nothing,” Sam said, coming out of the bedroom.

“Same here,” Dean concluded as he finished looking through the curio cabinets in the living room. “Joshua?”

“No luck, either,” Joshua answered as he came down the stairs. “I looked at the attic space, too.”

“Could she have given it away?” Sam asked. “Maybe hidden it?”

“If she did, the only place I could think of is back at the house.” Joshua paused for a moment. “I should call my sister. Joanie might know where the hell it is.”

“Do you think she’s around?”

“She closes her practice early on Tuesdays because she spends the afternoons with mom.”

“Let’s go talk to her before we lose daylight,” Dean said.

The three men stepped outside to be greeted by a red Subaru Forester pulling into the driveway. A woman who could only be Joshua’s sister stepped out of the car.

“Josh, hey.” She examined Dean and Sam. “Who are you buddies and what are you doing here?”

“I’m looking for something that’s been taken out of my house,” Joshua explained. “A box with mother of pearl inlay. Do you know where it is?”

Sam saw the woman pale considerably. “You know where it is, don’t you?”

“I have no idea what…”

“You stole it?” Joshua asked, genuine shock coloring his voice. “Why?”

“That’s none of your business, and it wasn’t yours to begin with,” Joanie snapped.

“Oh, really? And who decided that? You?” Joshua yelled, startling his sister. “Damn it, Joanie! I’ve been tearing through the house looking for it. Tell me where it is!”

“Why are you looking for it?! And who in hell are these men?!”

“They saved my life last night,” Joshua answered flatly.

“What happened?” Joanie asked, her anger completely overcome by worry.

“I just want the goddamn box, Joanie. Please.”

The sister looked down at her shoes and sighed. “It’s at the house. I buried it.”

“What?” Joshua looked completely poleaxed by the answer..

“Mom - she told me to bury it in the grove.”

“Oh, Jesus,” Dean hissed. “When?”

“About two months ago."

Joshua made a mental calculation then said, "That would be about two weeks before she had her stroke.”

“Right when the ghost started showing up,” Sam said.

“No wonder he’s so pissed,” Dean concluded.

“Who’s pissed?” Joanie asked.

“Look, we can talk later,” Joshua said. “Could we just go find the goddamn thing?”

“Okay, but we’re going to have a long talk after everything’s said and done,” Joanie demanded snappishly.

As soon as everyone was in the car, Dean hit the gas. They weren’t even out of the driveway before Sam heard Joshua explain to his sister what had been happening to him. At first Joanie was reluctant to take him seriously, but Joshua managed to convince her that something was terribly wrong at home.

Sam looked at his watch. It was nearing nine and the sun was setting. He knew they had to find the goddamn box before Catskill got revved up again.

Dean’s frown grew as the bridge loomed before him. “I’m starting to really hate that thing," he said then pulled down the visor as the last of the sunset blinded him. They were barely over the bridge when Sam roared:

“Stop the car!”

Dean’s response was immediate. He pulled over and looked at Sam who was scrambling out of the Impala. Dean’s gaze drifted back then spotted what grabbed his brother’s attention.

“Oh shit,” he said weakly before bolting out of his seat.

Both he and Sam sprinted towards the multi-car pileup on the new bridge. Dean spotted smoke and fire pouring out from at least two cars and ran faster.

They reached the wrecks and saw people crawling out of their cars. A girl was bravely getting back into an overturned minivan, pulling out a woman who must have been her mother because she was yelling "Stacie! Get away! Get away!" There were others helping the wounded, but because it was long after rush hour, there wasn’t much traffic. Dean dragged a man who made it halfway out of his Toyota but had collapsed. Sam was shepherding an entire family away from the flames so neither of them had a clue what was about to happen.

One of the suspension cables snapped without warning, and the only reason Dean and Sam survived was because they were crouched down. Two people weren’t so lucky. The tension in the cable turned it into a lethal weapon. It decapitated one man as it swung through a group of survivors. The torn end whipped around, acting like a club. It smashed into the skull of the girl who had freed her mother, killing her on impact.

The woman, now basically wearing her daughter's brain, screamed on top of her lungs. Dean grabbed her and yelled, “Get them off the bridge! Get off the goddamn bridge now!”

Sam grabbed two people who were injured, hoisting one onto his shoulder while dragging the other with his now-free hands. The rest were able to clear off the bridge without help.

The mother clung to Dean, sobbing and trembling so badly Dean could feel it down to his heels. He embraced her tightly and whispered, “It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Sam looked at them with pity then spotted Joshua’s sister standing in front of the Impala. She’d witnessed the two deaths and was visibly trying to not vomit. There would be no need to convince her any further of what was happening. She would cooperate, now.

They waited until the medics arrived then quietly slipped away. Sam knew they were losing valuable time, and from the level of violence he’d witnessed Catskill was far from done. And it wasn’t even ten yet.

“Convinced now?” Dean asked hoarsely.

Joshua’s sister flinched before giving a perceptible nod. “I … I can’t believe that’s granddad. He didn’t have a mean bone in his body.”

“The problem is that ghost isn’t your grandfather,” Sam explained. “It’s the worst part of him – like an echo that grows louder and louder, and it’s been left behind for a reason.”

“Do you know what’s in that box?” Dean asked.

“No, I swear I don’t. Mom told me that whatever was in it would destroy us. And she didn’t mean financially. She was scared, really scared about what was in that box.”

“How did she get it?” Sam looked at her.

“She never said, just that she wished she’d never seen its contents.”

“Okay, then whatever it is we dig it up, look through it and see what Catskill wants us to do.”

“Then will the killings stop?” Joshua asked.

“I hope so because I’m running fast out of ideas,” Dean admitted. “C’mon, sun’s down and the party’s just getting started.”

"Dean, the survivors..." Sam cautioned his brother.

Dean's lips narrowed as his eyes widened. Jesus, even if they got out of that wreck, they've got time bombs attached to their hips if we don't stop Catskill.

If Dean sped a little faster than his passengers liked, nobody complained.

Because of the full moon the grove was easy to find. “Can you point out where it’s buried?” Sam asked Joanie after placing her and her brother on the outskirts to keep them safe.

Joanie pointed to the biggest tree and said, “Right there. I didn’t dig far. Maybe a foot, no more than two.”

Dean passed a shovel to Sam and they marched to the tree. They had to circle only once to find a soft spot.

“What are we going to do when we find it?” Dean asked.

“Burn it," Sam responded immediately.

“But that’s not what he wanted,” Dean said. “He wanted the truth to come out.”

“Dude, I don’t know about you but right now the truth is the last thing Catskill wants. He wants revenge.”

“Yahtzee!” Dean cried out and crouched down and pulled out the box from the hole. It was surprisingly heavy in his hands. He cautiously lifted the lid and looked. “Papers. Okay, let’s get this where we can get a better look.”

“Better hurry,” Sam said.

“Why?”

Sam pointed over Dean’s shoulder. Catskill’s ghost flickered into existence then immediately solidified.

“Shit!” Dean turned to Joanie and Joshua and shouted, “Run!”

The siblings needed no further encouragement. They bolted straight for the car with Sam and Dean following close behind, blasting off their shotguns the moment Catskill appeared.

“Get them in!” Dean shouted at Sam as the Impala came into view.

Sam shoved the two into the backseat even as he got off successive shots at Catskill. After emptying out his shotgun, Dean scrambled into the car and gunned the gas.

“Do you believe me now?” Joshua asked his sister.

The terrified woman gave a slight nod. Sam opened the box and pulled out a stack of photos. Dean took a glance then took a longer one.

“Okay, so definitely batting for the home team, then,” Dean said.

Sam looked at the photos of Thomas Inoue sleeping in bed, barely dressed if at all. The scene was beautiful if also erotic, and the photographer’s emotion was plain to see: the tenderness and care born out of both love and familiarity.

“It’s one thing to know he was in love with this kid, but to see it and know that he’d lost it the way he did: it must have been agony for Catskill," Sam said as he flipped through the aged photographs.

Dean, ever practical, asked, “What else?”

Sam took out a thick envelope and unfolded a letter spanning eleven pages. He quickly read through them. “Oh shit.”

“Oh shit as in we still have no fucking idea or as in…”

“Oh shit, we know what’s wrong but we’re still screwed.”

Dean spotted a diner and pulled over. “Okay, so hit me."

---

May, 1945

Nobody could ever accuse Montgomery Catskill of being a lazy bum. As soon as he had free time, the diligent friend would make his way to the grove to prune the trees or do something else that was necessary in order to keep the Sakura trees healthy and vibrant.

Montgomery studied his hands as they trembled violently. He had been pruning for only twenty minutes before the shakes made it impossible for him to hold the shears above his head. He didn’t know why, but as the day went on his grasp became less steady. Montgomery thought it was partially due to the fever that had crippled him as a child, but he wasn’t sure since his father never talked about what the 'fever' was.

Gritting his teeth, Montgomery grabbed the shears once more and tried to prune the lowest branches. Even though it was end of May, the Sakura trees were still in full bloom due to late spring which didn’t arrive until end of April.

Now feeling his arms tremble with the effort he’d already put in, Montgomery finally gave up trying. He would just have to get up earlier tomorrow to finish the job. The frustrated man turned to pack away his tools when he spotted a figure in uniform approach him.

“Tommy…” he whispered. “Oh my God, Tommy!”

The thin soldier stopped altogether and dropped the oversized green duffle to the ground. Montgomery rushed to him, shouting ‘Tommy’ on top of his lungs.

The two men embraced each other, Montgomery crying and blubbering while Tommy held on, strong and accepting.

After crying for what felt like hours Montgomery finally got himself under control. “When did you come home?” he asked while wiping his face.

“I was laid up in a hospital in Paris since January,” Tommy explained. “I got released a month ago. It took forever for the paperwork to get through. I’m not sure they’re even processed. The European offices aren’t really cooperating with each other or with the States for that matter.”

“If you want to you could stay with me” Monty offered eagerly. “But if you want to stay at your house, you can: I kept it just the way you left it.”

“About that…” Tommy took a deep breath. “I need some time to step back and think about all this. About what happened here and in Italy.”

“I completely understand,” Monty agreed. “We should take a long holiday and go to Hawaii like we planned before. I think sand and surf would do us so much good. Though I can’t participate in the surf part.”

“I don’t mean us. I meant just me," Tommy whispered.

Monty stiffened and pulled back. “What? You want to go on a vacation alone?”

“The war … everything changed, Monty. Everything.”

Monty grimaced and took a shuddering breath. “I understand. Mrs. Patkin’s son, Daniel, came back different. He went away for a while – to come back, I guess. Or at least that’s what she said.”

“I don’t know when I’ll be back, Monty,” Tommy said, his voice stony but his eyes wet. “I don’t know if I’ll be back.

“I want you to sell my place, and give me half of the proceeds. You can keep the rest.”

“What?” Monty's eyes widened as a rush of sound deafened him.

“I can’t come back here, Monty. This isn’t my home. Not anymore. I thought it was, but … no, it isn’t. What happened here? I can’t forgive that. Maybe not ever.”

Monty nodded slowly. “I can understand that. It’ll take me three months, four at most, before I can join you. If I’m going to sell my business I’ve got to do it right. So…”

“Monty, I don’t want you to join me. I want you to stay here. I came by … I came by to tell you good-bye, Monty.”

Monty burst out laughing and leaned into a tree. “I don't believe you! You don't mean that!”

“It’s over, Monty. I’m done with this town. With everything. With you.”

Monty tried to stand up but stumbled. Tommy grabbed him and gently guided him to his feet.

“Is there someone else?” Monty asked. “Did you meet someone while you were over there?”

Tommy nodded. “Yes, I did. He’s Japanese American like me and grew up in Hawaii. He has a farm there. We were in the same…”

Monty raised his hand, the one still holding the shears and swung it like an axe. Tommy’s head snapped back, blood jettisoning from his head. He crumbled to the ground, eyes closed, mouth slightly opened, giving him a look of innocent surprise.

Monty stared at the man who earned his heart then broke it. “This is your home. This … you’re staying here with me. Forever you said. And forever it’s going to be.”

He limped to his truck and took out a coil of rope. It was sturdy enough for what he had in mind. He wrapped it around Tommy’s thin frame. Monty then dumped the body into the truck’s bed and drove. Sun was already down, making it hard for him to navigate. But, after years of navigating through the dusty back roads, Monty was able to pull up to the public dock where his father’s boat was moored.

He guided the skiff to the middle of the dark, cold waters until he was sure he was at the deepest point. Then he turned off the Evenrude engine, listening as it died without protest. Even with his hands badly shaking, Monty was able to make a knot around his ankle, making sure the other end was still anchored around his dead lover.

Monty looked out at the darkening waters and said, “Who’s going to save me now?”

He pushed the body off the boat and closed his eyes. It wasn’t long before the rope’s drag yanked him out of the boat and into the freezing waves. The impact knocked the air out of his lungs but Monty didn’t fight. Not even as he was being dragged downwards. Suddenly, there was slack. Monty shuddered and opened his eyes. All he saw was darkness, and the cold assailed him so much that he struggled. Then, he slowly rose.

He surfaced and began screaming, not for help but out of anguish. He tried to dive back but his legs wouldn’t cooperate. A cascade of lights blinded him and a voice shouted out:

“Holy Jesus! There’s a guy there! Get him out!”

Strong hands grasp Monty and though he struggled mightily, the cold had sapped all his strength.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, we got you,” the stranger said.

“Christ on a stick, it’s Dr. Catskill,” another voice whispered. “He must’ve fallen in.”

“What in blue hell is he doing out here at the dead of night?”

“Don’t know, but we better get him to land before he freezes to death! Radio Mac and tell him we’ve got a live one coming!”

Monty looked at the black waters and began sobbing wordlessly.


Part III * Part V