( ITCHY & SCRATCHY )

IMPALA
[ ☾]

      Elena is sitting in the car reading while Dean scratches on his left arm. Sam opens passenger door and climbs in. "Hey. Any luck at the county clerk's office?" Sam asks.

      "I'm not sure I'd call it luck. Frank's wife, Jessie, was a manic-depressive. She went off her meds back in '88 and vanished. They found her two weeks later, three towns over. Strung up in her motel room, suicide." Elena says.

      "Any chance Frank helped her along to the other side?" Sam asks.

      "No, Frank was working the swing shift when she disappeared. Airtight alibi." Dean says and starts the car. "Driving in the middle of town. How was Frank's pad?"

      "Clean. Searched it top to bottom. No EMF, no hex bags, no sulphur." Sam says.

      "So probably no ghosts, no witches, no demons." Dean says.

      "Pfh..."

      "3 down and 97 to go." Dean says.

      "Yeah." Sam sees the speed Dean is driving in. "Dude, you're going 20."

      "And?" Dean asks.

     "That's the speed limit." Sam sees.

      "What? Safety's a crime now?" Dean says and drives through intersection, past their hotel.

      "Dude, where are you going? That was our hotel." Elena says.

      "Elena, I'm not gonna make a left-hand turn into oncoming traffic. I'm not suicidal." Dean says and Sam gives him a confused look. "Did I just say that? That was kind of weird."

      The EMF goes off in the background. "Do you hear something?" Sam says and takes out the EMF meter, moves it from and to Dean where it makes a sound.

      "Am I haunted? Am I haunted?!" Dean asks.

HOTEL
[ ☼ ]

      Sam is on the phone talking to Bobby. Hears music from the Impala and walks towards it. See Dean lying on the front seat doing air drums to Eye of the Tiger. Sam looks at Elena and she just shrugs. "I tried to get him to stop." She says. Sam bangs on the roof of the car and scares Dean.

      "Dude. Look at this." Dean shows the scratches on his arm.

      "I just talked to Bobby." Sam says.

      "And?" Dean asks and smells the box of donuts and throws into car.

      Sam looks perplexed at Dean ignoring the donuts. "Um, well, you're not gonna like it." He says.

      "What?" Dean asks.

      "It's ghost sickness." Says Sam.

      "Ghost sickness?" Elena asks.

      "Yeah." Sam says.

      "God, no." Dean says.

      "Yeah." Says Sam.

      "I don't even know what that is." Dean says.

      "Okay." Sam says. "Some cultures believe that certain spirits can infect the living with a disease, which is why they stopped displaying bodies in houses and started taking them off to funeral homes."

      "Okay, get to the good stuff." Dean says.

      "Symptoms are you get anxious.." Sam says.

      "Yeah."

      "Then scared, then really scared, then your heart gives out. Sound familiar?" Sam asks.

      "Yeah, but Sam, we haven't seen a ghost in weeks." Elena says.

      "Well, I doubt you caught it from a ghost." Sam says. "Look, once a spirit infects that first person, Ghost sickness can spread like any sickness through a cough, a handshake, whatever. It's like the flu. Now, Frank O'Brien was the first to die, which means he was probably the first infected. Patient zero."

      "Our very own outbreak monkey." Dean says.

      "Right. Get this, Frank was in Maumee over the weekend. Softball tournament. Which is where he must have infected the other two victims." Sam says.

      "Were they gamecocks?" Dean asks.

      "Cornjerkers."

      "So, ghosts infected Frank. He passed it on to the other guys and I got it from his corpse?" Elena asks.

      "Right." Sam says.

      "So now what, I have 48 hours before I go insane and my heart stops?" Dean asks.

      "More like 24."

      "Super." Dean says.

      "Yeah."

      "Well, why me? Why not you?" Dean asks Sam. "I mean, you got hit with the spleen juice."

      "Yeah, um, you see Bobby and I have a theory about that too. Turns out all three victims shared a certain, uh, personality type. Frank was a bully. The other two victims, one was a vice principal, the other was a bouncer." Sam says.

      "Okay. What does that mean?" Elena asks.

      "Basically, they were all dicks." Sam says.

      "So you're saying I'm a dick?" Dean asks

      "No, no, no. It's not just that. All three victims used fear as a weapon, and now this disease is just returning the favor." Sam says.

      "I don't scare people." Dean says.

      "Dean, all we do is scare people." Sam says.

      "Okay, well then, you're a dick too."

      "Apparently, I'm not." Sam says.

      "Whatever. How do we stop it?" Dean asks.

      "We gank the ghost that started all this. We do that, the disease should clear up."

      "You thinking Frank's wife?" Dean says.

      "Who knows why she killed herself, you know? Hey, what are you doing waiting out here, anyway?" Sam says.

      Dean looks up at the hotel. "Our room's on the fourth floor." He says as Sam looks and shakes head. "It's...it's high."

     "I'll see if I can move us down to the first." Sam says.

      "Thanks."

      "Sure." Sam says. Dean climbs into the Impala and looks at the donuts.

HOTEL ROOM
[ ☼ ]

      Dean sits at table with book in front of him. He stares at wall clock ticking loudly in the background. He goes back to reading and starts coughing when he sees disturbing images. He sees words that seem to be talking to him and starts to panic. Irritatingly looks back at the clock. The scene fades to black with sound of something breaking in the background.

      Sam and Elena come into room and sees the broken clock on floor. Dean is on the sofa drinking beer. "Everything all right?" Sam asks.

      "Oh, yeah. Just peachy. Find anything?" Dean asks.

      "Yeah, Jessie O'Brien's body was cremated, so I'm pretty sure she is not our ghost." Sam says.

      "Hey, quit picking at that. How you feeling?" Elena asks Dean.

      "Awesome. It's nice to have my head on the chopping block again. I almost forgot what that feels like." Dean says.

      "Yeah."

      "It's freaking delightful." Dean says sarcastically.

      "We'll keep looking." Sam says and Dean starts to cough. "You okay? Hey!"

      Dean starts to choke. "Dean." Elena says as he is gagging over the sink where he spits out a wood chip.

      "We've been completely ignoring the biggest clue we have, you." Sam says.

      "I don't want to be a clue." Dean says.

      "The abrasions, this, the disease, it's trying to tell us something."

     "Tell us what, wood chips?" Dean asks.

      "Exactly."

      Elena sighs. "Well you guys go. I'm gonna see if I can find something online." She says.

OUTSIDE THE LUMBER MILL
[ ☼ ]

      Dean looks at the mill apprehensively. "I'm not going in there." He says.

      "I need backup, and you're all I've got. You're going in, Dean." Sam says.

      Dean takes a drink of whiskey. "Let's do this. It is a little spooky, isn't it?" He says as Sam hands him a gun. "Oh, I'm not carrying that. It could go off. I'll man the flashlight."

      "You do that." Sam says.

      Inside, the EMF goes off in the background. "EMF's not gonna work with me around, is it?" Dean says.

      "You don't say. Come on." Sam says, but sees something. "Wait...'To Frank. Love, Jessie.' Frank O'Brien's ring."

      "What the hell was Frank doing here?" Dean asks.

      "No idea."

      They walk into a room full of lockers where they hear rustling. Sam opens a locker and Dean screams after being startled by a cat. "That was scary!" He yells. "Wait."

      Sam opens the locker and looks at an ID card. "Luther Garland." He says. Dean sees a drawing on table.

      "Hey, this is uh...this is Frank's wife." Dean says.

      "Plot thickens." Sam says.

      "Yeah, but into what?" Dean tears off the drawing and machines turn on. Looking around he sees something in the corner. Sam looks at Dean and sees him looking behind him, he turns around and sees the Same thing.

      "Hey!" Sam turns around and sees Dean running out the mill. Sam shoots the apparition and goes after Dean who is hiding behind the Impala taking another drink. "Guess we got the right place."

SHERIFF'S STATION
[ ☼ ]

      Deputy Linus hands a folder to Sam. "This is the Garland file." He says and sees Dean swaying. "Is he...drunk?"

      "No. Deputy, according to this, Luther Garland's cause of death was physical trauma. What does that mean?" Sam says.

      "The guy died 20 years ago, before my time. Sorry." Linus says.

      "Then can we talk to the Sheriff?"

      "Um, he's out sick today." Deputy Linus says.

      "Well, if you see him, will you have him call us? We're staying at the Bluebird. Mind if I take this?" Sam asks.

      "Know what? You're awesome." Dean says as they leave.

      "Thanks. Um, y-you too, I guess."

      Sheriff Britton speaks over the intercom. "Who was that?" He says.

      "It's uh, those FBI guys." Linus says.

      "What did they want?"

      "A file, Luther Garland's. Sheriff?"

      Inside Sheriff Britton's office. "They know. They know. They know what you did, and they're gonna make you pay." He says to no one.

PEACEFUL PINES
ASSISTED LIVING
[ ☾]

      Sam, Elena and Dean are walking inside. Dean is startled by a resident that they bump into in the hallway. "This isn't gonna work. Come on, these badges are fake. What if we get busted? We could go to jail." He says.

      "Dean, shh! Calm down. Deep breath, okay?" Sam says as Dean takes a deep breath. "There. You feel better?" Dean shakes his head no.

      "Just come on. Don't scratch." Elena says.

      They reach another resident. "Mr. Garland. Hi uh, I'm Agent Tyler. This is Agent Perry and Fuller, FBI. We'd like to ask you a few questions about your brother Luther." Sam says.

      "Let me see some I.D." Mr. Garland says.

      "Certainly." Sam says.

      "Those are real, obviously. I mean, who would pretend to be an FBI agent, huh? That's just nutty." Dean says and Elena nudges him while faking a smile.

      "What do you want to know?"

      "Uh, well...according to this, your brother Luther died of physical trauma." Elena says. and Garland snorts.

      "You don't agree." Sam says.

      "No, I don't."

      "Well, then, what would you call it?" Asks Sam.

      "Don't matter what an old man thinks." Garland says.

      "Mr. Garland. We're just trying to get the truth on your brother. Please." Elena says.

      "Everybody was scared of Luther. They called him a monster." Garland says. "He was too big, too mean-looking. Just too different. Didn't matter he was the kindest man I ever knew. Didn't matter he'd never hurt no one. A lot of people failed Luther. I was one of them. I was a widower with three young 'uns. And I told myself there was nothing I could do."

      "Mr. Garland, um...do you recognize this woman?" Sam asks and shows him a picture.

      "It's Jessie O'Brien. Her man, Frank, killed Luther."

      "How do you know that?" Elena asks.

      "Everybody knows. They just don't talk about it." Garland says. "Jessie was a receptionist at the mill. She was always real nice to Luther, and he had a crush on her. But Frank didn't like it. And when Jessie went missing, Frank was sure that Luther had done something to her. Turns out the old gal killed herself, but Frank didn't know that."

      Elena looks distraught. "What did Frank do."

      "They found Luther with a chain wrapped around his neck. He was dragged up and down the stretch outside that plant till he was past dead."

      "And O'Brien was never arrested?" Dean asks.

      "I screamed to every cop in town. They didn't want to look into Frank. He was a pillar of the community. My brother was just the town freak." Says Garland.

      "You must have hated Frank O'Brien." Sam says.

      "I did for a long time, but life's too short for hate, son. And frank wasn't thinking straight. His wife had vanished, he was terrified. A damn shame he had to put Luther through the Same, but...that's fear. It spreads and spreads."