He had been asleep, exhausted from his long day at the shop, but he jolted awake. A scream was echoing down the stairs, high pitched, scared.
Mary!
Instantly, John vaulted out of the chair and pounded up the stairs, not caring about waking the boys.
But when he skidded to a halt in the hallway everything was quiet. There was no more scream, just the sounds of the old war movie rumbling up the steps and Sammy cooing and babbling in his nursery. John stepped quietly into the room and leaned over the crib. Sammy just laid there singing to himself.
He is such a happy baby.
John smiled, looking down at Sammy laying there and chattering nonsense to himself.
He tucked Sammy's blanket close around him and turned for the door, intending to check on the rest of his family when he felt it. A drop of something from the ceiling. As he looked up, the crackling of a fire became a roar in his ears. A fire that was consuming his wife. Sammy was no longer happy, screaming at the unknown sounds from above and the fear in his father's voice.
Ripping Sammy from the crib, John forced him into Dean's arm and shoved them down the stairs, out of the house. John stumbled back into the nursery. The sound was deafening. The fire roared and the house creaked and shuddered as the fire weakened the supports. He looked up to his wife, his life. There was nothing he could do; the fire had overtaken the whole room. He looked at her once last time, coughing on the smoke that filled the room.
He ran out of the house then, knowing his children needed him.
If they even made it out alive...
Gasping for breath, John grabbed his boys and ran from the fire raging behind them. The sounds of sirens filled the air as police and firemen came to help, their engines rumbling in the distance. He sat on the hood of his car with his sons, listening to the fire destroying his wife and their future. The street around them was choked with chaos, neighbors still in their pajamas were crowding together, whispering questions and speculations, water was being sprayed on the unceasing fire, thick smoke filling the air.
But John heard none of these things. Not anymore. He had just lost the love of his life, had failed in his duty to protect her. His life was empty now and all he could hear was her scream.