We had been calling around to different hunters in the area. Bobby and I split up from Sam and Dean so we could check in on them. Unfortunately, we ended up finding them in the same position as Olivia.
Bobby decided it was time to head back to his house, so he made a call to Dean, "We checked on Carl Bates and RC Adams. They've redecorated... in red." (...) "She's fine." (...) "I took care of her for three months. You think I suddenly forgot how to?" (...) "I don't know, but until we find out, you guys better get your asses to my place."
Back at Bobby's, we walked in and took our jackets off, but the temperature immediately dropped, and we could see our breath. Suddenly, we heard children laughing from another room, and we started walking toward the noise.
Bobby picked up the fireplace poker on the way by. "Stay close."
I nodded and picked up the iron fireplace shovel and followed closely behind.
As we continued walking, the lights started flickering, and the radio started playing. Then a small red ball bounced down the stairs toward Bobby, and he froze.
"Bobby?" I asked, putting my hand on his arm.
He turned to look at me, but then sheer terror crossed his face. I turned around to see two young twin girls standing behind me, staring up at Bobby. The girls put their hands on me and threw me against the wall. A sharp pain pulsed through the back of my head, and my vision went blurry. The last thing I saw was the girls grabbing Bobby.
When I opened my eyes, I couldn't move. I looked down and realized I was now tied to a chair. My wrists tied to the armrests and my ankles tied to the legs.
I looked up, my vision still a little blurry, to see a man hunched over, sitting in the corner of the room. "Hello?"
The man rose from the floor, and I realized who he was. "That's all you have to say to me? After what you did?" He stepped closer to me until the face that had been haunting me for so long, the face of the man I had killed, was right in front of me.
"Please, we can talk. Just let me go," I pleaded.
He laughed. "You want to talk? I never got that chance, why should you?"
I shook my head. "I'm sorry. I was just protecting myself."
"Oh, come on! You really believe that pathetic line your brothers fed you?" he asked.
Tears came to my eyes. "Iโ Iโ Iโ"
"Iโ Iโ Iโ" he mocked. "Shut up! You really think your life was worth more than mine?"
I shook my head. "No! Iโ"
"Do you even know my name?" he asked.
That question took me aback. I felt terrible for not knowing.
"Matthew Kushner. I had two daughters and a beautiful wife. Now they think I abandoned them." He glared at me. "That's your fault."
"I didn't take you from your family. That demon did," I said.
He nodded. "No, you're right. You just put the final nail in my coffin."
"I'm sorry! I was defending myself!" I screamed. "If I could take it back, I would."
"You're the reason I'm dead. You want me to just forgive you?" Matthew asked. "You knew how to get rid of that demon. I would still be alive if you didn't stab me first."
"I know..." I cried. "I think about that all the time."
"Unfortunately, so do I," he said, "I want you to experience what I did."
"What?" I asked, terrified.
He pulled out a knife. "You can't move... like I couldn't. You just have to sit there, not able to control anything that's happening to you. Feel the sharp metal of a blade enter your body." He suddenly stabbed the knife through my hand.
I screamed as pain radiated up my arm. "Please!"
"Maddison!" Dean yelled from the other room.
"Bobby!" Sam yelled.
Matthew covered my mouth, and I noticed a strange marking on his hand. "Stay quiet. You know you deserve this."
I screamed from under his hand. Sam, and Dean ran in a moment later and shot rock salt through him, causing him to dissipate.
Sam ran over and started untying me. "You okay?"
"Do I look okay? I have a knife sticking out of my hand!" I yelled.
"All right, all right. Just give me a second," Sam said.
I shook my head. "I'm sorry. It just really hurts."
"Sammy, go look for Bobby. I'll take care of her," Dean instructed.
Sam nodded and then ran outside.
I grabbed the knife with my good hand, but Dean ran over and pulled my hand off of it.
"Hey, hey. Hold on," Dean said.
"Are you kidding me?" I asked, frustrated.
"It's in the wood pretty deep. You aren't gonna be able to get it out with one pull. I can, so let me." He gave me a serious look. I nodded, and then he grabbed the knife. "Don't look."
"I need to. It makes me feel like it hurts less," I said.
Dean smirked. "All right on three."
I nodded and put my hand on his wrist, so I felt more in control.
"One... two..." He pulled it out and dropped the knife on the ground.
I screamed out in pain and pulled my hand to my chest, protectively. "You did it early!"
"The anticipation makes it hurt more." Dean smacked my leg. "Hold on a sec." He walked into the other room and came back with a small towel. He wrapped it gently around my hand, then he left the room again and came back with a can of salt. He sprinkled the salt in a circle around me. "I'm going to look for Bobby. Just stay here, and I'll be back for you. Okay? Please?"
I nodded. "Trust me. I'm not leaving."
Dean nodded and then turned.
"Dean?" I asked.
He turned.
"Be careful," I said.
"You too." Then he turned and left the room.
I put my head back, closed my eyes, and held my hand close to me. I just sat there for a while waiting, until I started getting a chill. I opened my eyes, and I could see my breath again. I lowered my head and saw Matthew standing in front of me.
"Aw, you're not looking so good." He smiled.
"Look, scream and yell at me all you want. I'll listen and take it, but you aren't getting past that salt line," I said.
"Oh, really?" Matthew smiled, and then a fan that sat on a small table in the corner of the room turned on.
"That thing is too small, it's not going to do anything. Please, can we just talk? Iโ I know you don't want to hear me say sorry anymore, but I am. I'm so sorry about what happened. I wish you could be with your family. I'm sorry I took that away from you," I said.
"No! Just shut up!" he yelled, and the fan started picking up speed.
"Matthew, please. I'm still here. I can find your family. Explain what happened," I pleaded.
"Like anyone is going to believe that story!" he yelled, and the fan started spinning faster, causing it to spark.
I looked down, and to my fear, the salt was actually starting to blow away. "I'll convince them. Tell me something that only you would know."
"No!" His voice became angrier. "Because of you. I will never be able to see my little girls grow up!"
"Please, I'm sure they would rather know what happened than think that you just left them," I said.
As the fan continued to spin and spark, it started to smoke, and Matthew stepped right in front of me. "Looks like your precious salt can't protect you anymore." He put his hands on my shoulders and sent me flying back onto the floor, the chair breaking underneath me.
I tried to recover my breath quickly and rolled over to stand up. Before I could, he grabbed my leg and dragged me back, leaving a small bloody trail in front of me from my hand.
He spun me over and put a hand around my neck and started to squeeze. "Ya know, that demon made me do a lot of horrible things."
I grabbed his hand, trying to push him off of me. I couldn't breathe, and my vision was starting to go fuzzy.
Matthew grabbed my bad hand and pinned it down, removing the cloth. "The worst part about it was that I learned a lot about myself." He shoved his thumb into my hand. "I actually enjoyed some of it."
I screamed out in muffled agony, and he smiled.
"When you got away from us. A part of me was disappointed." He let go of my hand and put his hand on my chest. "But then I remembered the chase was one of the best parts." He dug his fingers into my chest.
I let out another strained scream, and he dug deeper.
I knew if I couldn't get out of this, I would end up with my chest ripped open like Olivia and the other hunters, but there was nothing I could do. I felt completely helpless until Matthew was blown away by rock salt. I looked up and saw Sam standing there. I laid my head back and relaxed.
"Oh, god, Maddison." Sam ran over and knelt next to me. He grabbed the towel that had once been wrapped around my hand and put it on my chest. "Here. Hold this there."
I pressed the towel to my chest, and then Sam scooped me up.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Back in Bobby's office, Sam had wrapped my hand up with a splash of whiskey and some fabric from Bobby's first aid kit. I was sitting on the couch with Dean, and I had a cloth pressed to my chest. Bobby was sitting behind his desk, and Sam was pacing.
While Sam and Dean were out, Sam had seen Henriksen at a gas station. He was getting knocked around pretty good by him until Dean ran in and stopped it. Plus, while Dean went upstairs to look for Bobby, he ran into the girl that Meg had possessed. After they got back and Sam found Bobby outside in his junkyard, he explained that he had met those little girls on a hunt a while ago.
"So, they're all people we know?" Sam asked.
"Not just know. People we couldn't save." Dean thought for a second. "Hey, I saw something on Meg. Did she have a tattoo when she was alive?"
Sam shook his head. "I don't think so."
"It was like aโ a mark on her hand... almost like a brand," Dean said.
Sam nodded. "I saw a mark, too, on Henriksen."
"What did it look like?" Bobby asked.
"Can I have a pen and paper?" I asked.
Sam turned to Bobby's desk, grabbed what I asked for, and handed them to me.
I quickly sketched out the mark I saw on Matthew's hand and then held it up to show them when I was finished.
"That's it," Dean said, and Sam nodded.
"I may have seen this before," Bobby said, and then the radio turned on and cut to static. "We got to move."
"Whoa," Sam said.
Bobby stood up and handed Sam a few books. "Follow me."
"Okay, where are we going?" Sam asked.
"Someplace safe, you idjit," Bobby said.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *