Dark
The chewy scent of Cinnapple wax is thick in Sam's nostrils as Dean lights yet another candle, battle-worn brow furrowed into an expression of big brotherly overprotection.
Scribbling a recap of the day's events in his leather-bound Apocalog, Sam notes the addition of another flame and mutters, "It's just a power outage, man."
"You know what comes out in the dark," Dean hisses, compulsively reaching to pull a half-melted pillar of Spring Breeze from the ephemeral shadows that claw at his fingertips in spite of their retreat.
Sam has been awake for just as many blackouts - all the fault of inexplicable storms, chaotic wars, or reckless and panicked car crashes into electrical mains - as Dean has, but it doesn't keep the thought from occurring to him,
Dean's afraid of the dark. His hand works of its own accord to jot the statement, his brain more consciously occupied with the chill of the winter-cold wall - justified in late spring only by the presence of Hell on Earth - against his back.
Dean is still shuffling about, shivering and situating candles to better illuminate menacing corners, and Sam spends a moment watching his movements, their robotic redundancy; he realizes he's seen them all before.
He looks back at his writing, frowns upon scanning the newest entry, and edits the last sentence to read, Dean's afraid of what's in the dark.
Dean grabs the nearest source of light and slides down the wall at Sam's side, shoulder settling against shoulder without need for explanation. A blade of sleeting wind slices the house they're squatting in, causing two stories' worth of siding to moan as it bleeds freezing rain. At the haunting noise, Dean shudders against Sam but masks the involuntary action with a gruff, "Whatcha got so far?" He holds the candle closer to the journal.
Sam finishes scratching the words, I am, too, onto the page - ballpoint ink running out on the "a" - before summarizing the day's happenings for his brother in hushed tones, eyes straining to make the candlelight absorb the dark.
A/N: I blame Mother Nature's misunderstanding of what constitutes "spring" weather and the ensuing power outage.