Then and Now

Then

Dean couldn't remember his parents, not clearly at least, but there were the small things that he did. His mother's gentle smile, the smell of her perfume and his fathers ruff chuckle.

He remembered being happy, he remembered being able to actually call somewhere home. But more than anything else, he remembered all too clearly the night that ended it all. It was something that would creep into his darkest nightmares, that would bring back the same spnie chilling, intense fear that had infested his mind the night of the attack.

Lawrence, Kansas
2002 
March 15th

Dean had often heard his mummy and daddy talking about how bad their neighbourhood was. His mummy always told daddy that she wanted to move. That she felt unsafe. Then his daddy would just laugh, a gruff, warm chuckle that always calmed Dean down, and told her that she was being silly.

So when Dean was lying in bed that night, unable to sleep as he kept looking at the closed window and feeling nervous, he tried to think of how his daddy would laugh and call him silly too. Silly mummy, silly Dean, both just imagining things.

Little Sammy wasn't being silly, he was fast asleep in his little kids bed with his soft hair sticking up everywhere. Dean wondered how Sammy was less silly than him, he was only 3 and their neighbour had a kid the same age that was always silly and pulling Dean's hair. Dean didn't like the kid next door, but he definitely loved Sammy. Maybe he was only being silly cause he saw mummy being silly. That would explain it.

Still, he couldn't help himself as he quietly slide out of under his covers and padded across the room. Passing little Sammy, he grabbed his small stool and the baseball bat that his dad gave him for his 5th birthday, even though he couldn't play on the school team until he was 7, which meant he still had to wait a whole year until he could, and climbed up to the window.

Carefully pulling the curtain open, Dean stood on his tippy toes and peered out across the dark backyard.

Nothing seemed to be different, he could see their rusted swing set almost hidden in shadows, and the moon lit up the garden shed that he mustn't go in. Deciding he was simply being silly, Dean went to climb down when the shed door opened. Dean froze, watching as a tall man stepped out and started walking towards their back door. That man didn't look like his daddy, and just looking at him made shivers go down the small boy's spine.

In that moment, a driving fear took control of Dean, making him frantic as he jumped down from the chair and scrambled towards the hall. He could barely reach the door handle as he bolted through it and made a beeline for mummy and daddy's room. But then he heard the back door click shut at the bottom of the stairs, followed by heavy footsteps that made him stop and quiver in fear.

It was his father's surprised, and cut off shout that made him turn tail and run back to where Sammy lay sleeping.

"Sammy, wake up," Dean shook his younger brother, fearful of the heavy steps downstairs.

Sam stirred, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"We gotta go to mummy Sam, com'n."

Dean knew his brother was both younger and smaller, therefore not able to understand things as easy, but he was older, and therefore he did understand that this was a very serious situation like the times how his mummy told him he had to be a big boy and look out for his little brother.

"What's wrong De?" Sam asked, blinking up at his brother.

Dean didn't want to make Sam scared too, because this felt like a very bad thing to do.

"Well, daddy's being silly, so now we're playing hide and seek, okay?"

Sam looked out the window at the night sky, his eyes doubtful. "After bedtime?"

Dean thought that maybe Sammy really was smarter than the mid next door.

"Yes, he really wanted to play, so how about we hide in the wardrobe, he'll never find us there," Dean tugs Sam's arm, hearing the creak of the bottom step, followed by the heavy sound of footsteps heading up towards them.

Sam tiredly followed him, and they slipped inside the wardrobe and quietly clicked the door shut.

Inside it was pitch black and Dean blindly crawled in behind the big box of storage, Sam with him.

Then they hid, Dean scarcely breathing as they hid in the darkness.

The footsteps pause at the entrance to their room, and through the crack in the door, he could see light seeping in as the intruder switched it on.

After several long moments during which Dean felt fear like non other course through his body, the footsteps turned and headed away.

For a moment, Dean relaxed in relief. Then their mother screamed.

////////////

A/N:

Hey y'all, so I am trying to get the next chapter of All This Time out but in the mean time here's the first chapter of the next fix I'll be working on 😁😁

Peace out, Wayward readers 🌈🖖🌈