The Boy and the Passage

by LeanaVine

Sam Winchester just moved into a run down apartment building with his father, who always stays cooped up in his office. His older brother, Dean, doesn't come to visit near enough, and the boy from next door is annoying. Sam just wishes that life was different. (AU, based on Coraline. Warning of violence and minor character death. Includes Man/Man. Sabriel, Sam/Gabriel.)

1. Prologue

A/N: It's really weird how short all the chapters are for this series. Maybe as things get a little more interesting, the chapters will get a little longer. I kinda like it though, because it's less stressful only having to write a third of what I usually do.

As always, I do not share any views expressed by any characters in this story. And I own nothing in this story.

Okay, please read, review, and enjoy!

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Sam Winchester was sixteen when he and his father moved into Dewey Meadows Apartments. It was a very old building, and not very large. There were only maybe ten apartments, and of them all, just two other rooms were inhabited. The complex was owned by a mysterious old man who never left his home, just within sight of the crumbling building. Sam had been told by his father, John, that the landlord supposedly had a son or grandson around his age, so Sam wouldn't be completely alone.

While John Winchester loved his sons, he never showed it, especially to Sam. Ever since Sam had been born, John had stayed cooped up in his office, getting impossibly drunk and studying mythology of all kinds. John was once a professor at a prestigious university, but after his wife, Mary, died giving birth to Sam, John gave up on people. He stayed locked away, only coming out to eat.

Sam hadn't had a home-cooked meal since his older brother, Dean, had moved out. Dean was twenty now, and had been living on his own for a year. He worked two jobs and lived in horrible conditions just to be away from their father, who had changed too drastically after their mother passed. Dean wanted Sam to come and live with him, but he was hardly making enough money to keep his own head above water. He'd promised that as soon as Sam turned eighteen and started working, he could come to live with Dean.

John had long since stopped assisting Sam with the boxes, and was now in his new office, already reading. Sam struggled slightly as he carried in the last of their things, just leaving the boxes anywhere in the apartment. He'd take a break before he started sorting through everything.