"Are you sure about this?" Sam asks. Dean nods. "I'm pretty sure, man." Riley's eyes suddenly go wide. Dean presses the doorbell and Lucas opens the door. He grbas Dean. "Lucas? Lucus?" He runs back into the house and Sam and Dean follow. Riley sluggishly follows and when she arrives she finds Sam trying to pull Andrea out of the water.

      "Dad! I see him!" Riley shouts as she points over Andrea. Peter looks at her and Riley's eyes widen. He suddenly appears in front of her, Sam pulls Andrea out of the water, but Peter strikes his hand into Riley's chest. Riley gasps and she stops breathing. "Riley!" Riley's head arches as she looks at her father.

      Her shaking hands reach into her pocket and she pulls out her iron knife. With a swing swipe of it, it goes through Peter and he disappears. Riley falls to the ground and Dean grabs her. She gasps for air. "He's gone. He's gone." She assures them.

△

      "What can you tell me?" Sam asks Andrea. Riley stands staring out the window as the sun rises. She holds her obsidian necklace and moves it across the chain. On the back of it is a charved in anti-possession sigil. Dean gave it to her for her 10th birthday.

      "It doesn't make any sense." Andrea says shaking her head. "I'm going crazy." Riley squeezes her necklace tighter. If anyone is going crazy, it's her. "No, you're not. Tell me what happened- Everything."

      "I heard- I thought I heard... There was a voice." Riley's eyebrow perks a bit as she listens. "What did it say?" Sam asks. "It said- It said, 'come play with me'." Riley whips around and looks at Sam. Dean told him about everything. Including what the ghost had whispered to her. He gives her a long look.

      Maybe Riley really is 'prone to the supernatural'. But why? How?

      Dean rushes into the room with a photo album in his hands. He shows it to Andrea. "Do you recognize the kids in these pictures?" Riley walks over to look. She recognises Peter and Bill instantly. "What?" Andrea asks. "Um, no, I mean, except that's my dad right there."

      Andrea points at younger Jake. "He must have been about 12 in these pictures." Dean licks his lips. "Chris Bar's drowning. The connection wasn't Bill Carlton. It must have been the Sheriff." Andrea looks at Dean at the mention of her husband. "Bill and the Sheriff- They were both involved with Peter."

      "What about Chris?" Riley looks up suddenly, in a trace. She walks over to Lucas. Dean looks over at them as they stare out the window. "My dad? What does he have anything to do with this?" Riley's head luls to the side a bit. "Riley? Lucas? Riley, what is it?" Sam and Andrea look over at them.

      Lucas grabs Riley's hand and leads her outside. Dean shares a look with Sam. They both notice that Lucas seems conscious with his decisions. Riley does not. "C'mon."

      They all run out after Riley and Lucas. Lucas semi-drags Riley through the back yard to a mossy part of the dirt. He looks down at it while Riley's head drifts to the water. She shakes her head, snapping out of her trance-like state. "What...?" She asks, coming to her senses.

      "You and Lucas get back to the house and stay there, okay?" Andrea grabs Lucas and walks away. Sam and Dean look at Riley. "What was that about?" Dean asks. RIley frowns. "What was what?" Sam and Dean share a look. She doesn't remember.

△

      Sam and Dean return to the mossy area and begin digging. Riley stands close by, arms crossed over her chest. She's exhausted again. "He's still close." Riley comments. "I think he's making me feel like this. I could sleep for days..." Dean grunts as he strikes his shovel into the dirt.

     "Well, we've got work to do so don't go Briar on us." Riley smiles a bit. Sam's shovel strokes something hard. Sam and Dean toss their shovels aside and begin digging with their hands. Riley steps closer. Sam and Dean work together as they pull a red bike out of the dirt. Riley looks at it with wide eyes and Dean glances at her.

      "Peter's bike." Something pokes Riley from behind. "Who are you?" She whips around and is met with the barrel of a gun. She yelps and stumbles into her father's arms, nearly tripping over her own feet. "Put the gun down Jake." Sam says as he raises his hands a bit.

      Riley's hand goes behind her back where her gun is hidden. Dean notices this and shakes his head at her. "How did you know that was there?" Jake demands as he glances at the bike. "What happened- You and Bill killed Peter," Jake lowers his gun ever so slightly at Dean's words. "Drowned him in the lake, and then buried the bike?" Dean shakes his head, shoving Riley behind him.

      "You can't bury the truth, Jake." Riley keeps her hand on her gun, just in case. "Nothing stays buried." Riley's head rises. She looks over at the lake and takes a step away from Dean. Her hand slips off her gun and it falls to the ground. "You and Bill killed Peter Sweeney 35 years ago and now you've got one seriously pissed-off spirit." Andrea runs over. "It's gonna take Andrea, Lucas, everyone you love." Sam tells Jake.

      Andrea glances at Jake. "It's gonna drown them and it's gonna drag their bodies god knows where so you can feel the same pain Peter's mom felt. And then after that, it's gonna take you, and it's not gonna stop until it does."

      Jake gives Sam a long look. "How do you know that?" Sam doesn't even blink. "Because that's exactly what it did to Bill Carlton." Jake scoffs. "Listen to yourselves, both of you. You're insane." Dean shakes his head. "I don't really give a rat's ass what you think of us, but if we're gonna bring down this spirit, we need to find the remains and salt them, and burn them into dust."

       "Tell me you buried him somewhere. Tell me you didn't just let him go in the lake."

      "Come play with me."

      Riley starts walking, completely unnoticed. Lucas walks alongside her towards the lake.

      "No, don't listen to them. They are liars. They're liars and they are dangerous." Andrea shakes her head at her father. "Something tried to drown me. Chris died in that lake. Dad, look at me!" Jake slowly looks to his daughter. "Tell me you- You didn't kill anyone." Jake looks away, but doesn't answer.

      "Oh, my god." Andrea says in realization. Jake keeps his eyes down. "Billy and I were at the lake. Peter was the smallest one. We always bullied him, but this time..." He shakes his head. "It got rough. We were holding his head under the water. We didn't mean to, but we held him under too long, and he drowned."

      Jake looks at Sam and Dean. "We let the body go, and it sank." Sam and Dean share a look. "Oh, Andrea." Jake says as he looks at her. "We were kids. We were so scared. It was a mistake, but Andrea, to say that I have anything to do with these drownings, with Chris, because of some ghost- It's not rational."

       Dean sighs. "All right, listen to me, all of you. We need to get you away from this lake as far as we can right now." Andrea looks to the lake and gasps. "Lucas!" Sam and Dean whip around to see Riley and Lucas at the dock. Lucas reaches for the water. "RILEY!!" Dean shouts.

      "RILEY!!" Lucas is pulled into the water and Riley looks up. She snaps out of her trance, but it's too late. Peter grabs her ankle and pulls her into the water. "RILEY!!!" Dean races onto the dock and doesn't think for a minute as he dives in after Riley and Lucas.

      Sam jumps in too.

      Riley looks down as she and Lucas are pulled deeper into the water. She pulls her knife out and slices at Peter, but misses every time. She feels weak. She can hardly move and her lack of oxygen is making her disoriented. She tries to kick, punch, scream, but it does nothing.

      Riley stops moving. This is it. Lucas's drawing was right. She's going to die. She doesn't want to. She hasn't lived her life to the fullest yet. She hasn't found John. She hasn't told her father and uncle how much she loves them. She never found love. It's not fair. This isn't-

      The hold on Riley's ankle ceases. She lazily looks down and finds Peter gone. Lucas is nowhere in sight. She's alone. She's alone and that's how she's going to die.

      Suddenly, arms wrap around Riley and she starts rising in the water. The person holding her breaches the water and Riley gasps for air. "Bring her here!" She hears a voice shout. Sam. It's Sammy.

      The arms holding her lift her arm and she opens her eyes. It's Dean. It's her father. He saved her. "Dad..." She whispers as Sam hauls her onto the dock. She spots Lucas with his mother. He's okay. They're all okay.

- author's notes -

poor Riley. always on the wrong end of the supernatural's shit