AUTHOR'S NOTE: My muse has been very distractible as of late so I haven't been writing much- health issues, dealing with anxiety and depression, etc. But then sometimes I get inspired- and this time I was inspired by Halloween. I hope you enjoy!
If this is your first time reading one of my fanfics, there is a multi-chapter story about Alyson Winchester called "The Adventures of Alyson Winchester" on my page, as well as a sequel and several short stories about Aly at different ages.
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"Wook at me, Daddy!" Alyson's voice is excited and happy. She holds out her arms and turns slowly.
"Well, look at you," John says, his mouth dry and his throat scratchy. He'd had too much to drink last night, and as a result he was tired and a little out of it.
"I's gonna be a pwincess but De gotted me some wings too, so I's a faiwy pwincess!" She grins up at him proudly.
"That was nice of him," John clears his throat- Alyson is looking like she expects something, and her face falls when he says that.
"Do you wike it?"
Oh. Right, he's supposed to compliment her. She does look cute- the dress looks vaguely like the Disney version of Cinderella, and Dean had explained that he'd been able to find a knock-off version of the costume, so he didn't have to pay an outrageous price. It's a shiny blue fabric with gold trim, and Alyson is wearing a little headband that looks like a tiara made with sparkly plastic beads. She's wearing white satin gloves and carrying a long thin wand with a silver star on the end of it. The wings are blue and pink and have glitter all over them. "Yes, I do, you look very pretty." John tells her.
She smiles again. "Fank you."
Dean comes into the living room, tucking something behind his back. "Get your shoes on so we can go, short stuff."
" 'Kay, De." Aly scampers over to the door and plops down on the floor so she can shove her feet into her tennis shoes.
John walks over to Dean. "You got everything?" He asks quietly, giving Dean a meaningful look.
"Yeah, got holy water in here, and my knife," Dean pats the chest of his denim jacket, "And my gun and ankle holster with silver bullets."
"Good," John says, noting that Dean's eyes brighten when he says that. "You make sure you keep your eyes peeled and watch everything."
"Yes sir," Dean says seriously.
John doesn't do Halloween. Now that he knows what is really out there in the world, and that October 31st is the day when the veil between the worlds is the thinnest, he feels that it's unsafe to celebrate and let your guard down. Plus, it's right before the day that is the biggest tragedy in his life, and he's already melancholy about that anniversary coming up.
He had tried to down-play Halloween for the boys, hoping they'd let it go, but schools make a big deal of it, so he still had to buy costumes and candy supplies for class parties. He'd end up grudgingly taking the boys out, carrying Alyson in his arms, with his gun tucked into his pants at his spine, before it got dark. That way there was still enough light to notice anything suspicious. And when they got back to their place, he put up extra warding that night, and stayed up, on the lookout.
Alyson is 4 now, and he'd forgotten how inquisitive that age was. Everything is whywhywhy with her, and she keep asking if you don't answer to her satisfaction. John almost regrets putting her in preschool- he's glad she's learning to spell and count, but she's also bringing home all kinds of questions that he doesn't want to answer, much less think about- where's her Mommy, why did her Mommy die, is she ever coming back, can they go and visit Mommy in heaven, why don't they live in a normal house all the time, why does Daddy go away so much, why does Daddy have a big bag of weapons and a book with scary pictures in it that's she's not supposed to even touch. (He'd spanked her after he caught her with his journal, drawing something on a blank page- 'I dwawed it jus' fuh you!' she'd said, but then when she'd started having nightmares he'd felt shitty about spanking her)
And the preschool celebrates every damn holiday out there- there's a big calendar on the wall of the classroom with all of the holidays marked off. The teacher had sent home a "schedule of learning" that detailed what the class would be working on each week and what they'd be studying and what supplies would be needed. They'd need craft supplies for art projects and holiday presents that they were making- he remembers vaguely, Mary going out shopping for stuff when the boys were young. She was a "room mother" for Sam's preschool one year, so she was responsible for planning all the parties, and a couple times had meetings of other moms at their house to plan things out.
Sam comes out the the living room, dressed in a long-sleeved shirt with a fancy vest on, with a ring on a chain around his neck. He's carrying a wooden pipe and a small sword made of cardboard.
"What are you?" John cocks his eyebrow at Sam.
"Duh, I'm Bilbo. A hobbit, Dad," Sam says peevishly when John looks confused.
"A hobbit," John repeats.
"All right, nerd-o, let's go," Dean says, and Sam glares at him.
John walks over to Alyson and leans down. "Alyson. Look at me. You listen to your brother, and do exactly what he says, got it? No arguing."
Another side effect of preschool was attitude- Alyson felt "like a big girl" and insisted she could do more things on her own now, but she also had picked up a certain amount of sass from her classmates, and would argue sometimes. John was able to shut her down quickly, but she still pushed against Dean.
"Okay," she almost huffs, and he catches her chin in his hand. "Listen to me, I'm serious. I hear that you didn't listen to Dean, or that you mouthed off, and you'll be getting a spanking, understand?"
She looks upset now, and her chin trembles. He feels crappy that he has to be that stern with her but he doesn't want Alyson arguing with Dean if he says they have to leave quickly.
"Yes Daddy," she whispers.
He lets go of her chin and pats her head. "Good girl. Have fun."
Once the kids have left and the door is closed, he walks over to the cabinet and gets out the bottle of Jack Daniels. The level of amber liquid in it is getting low, but he'd only have a couple shots tonight. Enough to keep the memories and nightmares at bay, but not so much that he couldn't stay vigilant.
The neighborhood they are living in has a few kids in it, and Dean had asked around at school. The good neighborhoods for candy were a couple blocks towards the town, so they walk. It was just after dinner, and it was still light outside. There weren't a lot of kids out yet, mostly toddlers and families with young kids and babies in strollers. The majority of the older kids would come out trick or treating after it got dark.
Alyson hops excitedly as she walks next to Sam, holding his hand. An orange plastic pumpkin container is clutched in her other hand. They walk up their first sidewalk, and Sam rings the doorbell. It's their neighbor, Mrs. Watson. She has a large metal mixing bowl in the crook of her arm, filled with all kinds of candy.
"Oh, my, what do we have here?" she asks delightedly.
Alyson becomes shy suddenly, looking down at her feet.
"Tell her what you are, Aly," Sam shakes her hand.
Alyson glances up, sees that they're all looking at her, and then buries her face in Sam's leg.
"She's a fairy princess," Sam explains.
"Oh, I see. Well, my, you look lovely! You can pick two pieces of candy!"
"Aly, what do you say?" Sam prompts, "Remember?" He had gone over how you were supposed to say trick or treat and hold up your pumpkin.
Aly lets go of Sam and holds her pumpkin up. "Uh- ha-happy haww-"
"No, trick or treat, remember?" Sam reminds her.
"Oh. Uh- t-twick—uh- tweat!"
"Very good, here, you can pick out two," Mrs. Watson leans down and lets Alyson pick out two small candy bars. Sam picks something out and puts it into his pillowcase.
"Say thank you," Sam says
"Fank you!" Alyson chirps, turning to walk down the steps.
She flies into Dean's legs, throwing her arms around him. "I did it, De, I gotted candy!" she crows proudly. "Can I has it?"
"Good job, kiddo. Uh, no, not right now."
Alyson lets go of him and peers into the pumpkin. "But I want some!" she pouts.
"No, we have to go through your candy first."
"Why?"
"To make sure it's safe."
"Why it not be safe?" she frowns.
"Just- Dad said we can't have any until we get home." Dean explains hurriedly, grateful for once that their father was the type of person who had clear- cut rules. Dean had gotten away with saying "Because Dad said so" with both Sam and Alyson more than once, and they knew not to question it further. Their father took being questioned as a sign of insubordination and it usually was not tolerated.
"Aly, gimme your hand," Sam reaches for her.
"But I wanna wun!" She turns away from Sam.
"No, you have to hold my hand, remember?" Sam asks. "Aly!" He calls as she begins to hurry down the sidewalk ahead of them.
"Alyson!" Dean barks out, "Get back here!" He's surprised at how much he sounds like his Dad at that moment.
She stops and turns, walking slowly back to them. Dean is standing still, pointing at the ground right in front of him. She goes and stands there, looking down at the ground with a guilty look on her face.
"What are the rules?" Dean asks. As they had begun walking, he had told her how it was going to be.
"Uh—uhh- hol' hans, an' don't, don't wun ahead. Wissen to you an' do what you says. No fwowin' a fit when it time ta go home."
"Right." Dean is surprised that she remembered it all. "You need to stay with Sam and hold his hand, all right?"
She nods, her finger in her mouth.
"What's that?" he doesn't want to be a hard-ass like their dad, but he wants her to be safe, tonight especially.
"Yes De," she says softly.
"Good. Okay, let's go."
Since the majority of kids that are out are younger, there are a lot of animal costumes and cartoon characters that were popular with the preschool crowd. Sometimes the parents catch Dean's eye and nod, and he nods back. Alyson points out everything she sees, laughing happily at all the different costumes.
Alyson's pumpkin slowly fills up with candy, and she becomes very comfortable with asking, shouting "Twick-a- Tweat!" as the door opens. There was a mild flap when a little boy about her age and she were walking up the sidewalk at the same time, and the boy muscled his way past her and pushed her. The boy's parents had scolded him and let Alyson go first to get some candy.
And then Alyson sees a kid with a lollipop in his mouth. "I want one," she whines. Dean tells her no, and she continues to whine.
She shoves her hand into her pumpkin, pulling out a handful of candy. "I wanna eat somefin'!" she stomps her foot.
"I said no," Dean says sternly, "Give me that."
She pulls the pumpkin away from him. "Noooo!"
"I'll carry it for now," Dean's voice is firm.
"No, I wanna cawwyyyyyy!" she whines, tears coming to her eyes, "I wanna candyyyyyyy!"
"Alyson, NO," Dean is getting annoyed now, and he tries to pull the container out of her hands. "If you don't stop, I'm gonna-"
She jerks it away from him, and he grabs her arm and swats her bottom. "Oww!" she howls, tears spilling out of her eyes. She lets go of the pumpkin and puts her hand back to cover her rear.
The pumpkin tumbles to the ground and candy spills everywhere. Sam crouches down to scoop it back into the pumpkin.
Alyson turns, her fist rubbing her eye, and then trips and falls. There is a large tree in the yard, and the roots have grown up out of the ground and pushed the sidewalk up in a couple of places.
She goes down with a scream, and Dean rushes over to her. Her cries change to howls of pain as he lifts her up.
"You okay?" he asks with concern. She holds her hands up- the palms are scraped and red. Then he notices the skirt has a huge rip in it, and there is blood on her knee.
"My dweeeeeesssss!" she wails, "It wipped-ed!"
"All right, maybe we can fix it," Dean says comfortingly, "Let me look at your knee."
Alyson just then notices her knee. She lets out a shriek and begins to cry harder. It's a small scrape, but it's bleeding pretty heavily.
"C'mon, kiddo, let's get you home."
"Don't wanna goooo!"
"You're bleeding, and I don't have any band-aids."
"I wanna staaaaay!" she howls.
He picks her up. "I think we've had enough fun for one night. Let's go home and fix up your knee, and you can have a couple pieces of candy."
"Wanna get more!" she sobs.
"What kind of candy do you want to eat?" Sam asks, to distract her. "I think I'm gonna eat a Snickers bar and a Milky Way."
It works, and Aly begins to talk about candy as they walk back to their neighborhood. Dean holds her carefully, making sure that the fabric of the dress doesn't get bled on.
In all the hub-bub, they don't notice the dark shape that is following them, slipping from shadow to shadow in each yard.