Dean sat his younger brother down on the floor, making sure he was listening intently. "Okay Sammy. I got to go to school now."
Sammy pouted at him. "Don't leave Dean!"
"I have to Sammy. You know that. But next year you can come with me." He reassured the toddler. Sammy still looked sad.
"I'll be home soon, I promise." Sammy nodded, but looked down at the dirty, shaggy carpet. Dean caught sight of a fat tear rolling down his chubby cheeks.
"Hey," Dean lifted Sammy's chin so he was looking at him. "What are you afraid of Sammy? Dad won't hurt you. No one will hurt you. I'm always going to be here."
"But you're going to be in school."
"And you're going to keep this door locked, so no one can come in while I'm gone, right? Sammy, what do you do if someone knocks on the door?"
"Don't open it."
"What if Dad knocks?"
"Keep it shut and hide." The toddler repeated the well-versed lines. He knew what he was supposed to do.
"You'll be safe, little brother. I will always keep you safe." Dean told him. He gave the five year old a hug before he walked out, locking the door behind him.
He hid the key to the door in oven drawer, knowing his father rarely used it. There was nothing else in there with it, so Dean threw it towards the back of the drawer so the key would be out of sight even if his father did open the drawer.
John was still sleeping as Dean snuck out and raced his way to school. He had spent too long talking to Sammy and would be late if he did not hurry now.
Sammy desperately wished that Dean didn't have to go to school. He was so bored at home all day by himself. He couldn't wait to start Kindergarten next year, because then he'd get to go to school with his big brother instead of staying home locked in a room all day.
Ever since that time Dad got really mad at Sammy and hurt him while Dean was at school, Dean made sure that Sam stayed in his room with the door locked while the older boy was at school. Dean promised that if Sammy kept the door locked and stayed in the room all day, then Dad wouldn't hurt him.
Dad was scary. He got really angry really fast. He was always either drinking out of a brown paper bag (though Sammy wondered how he drank anything out of a paper bag because Sammy tried to do that with water and the water just leaked all over the floor, creating a big mess) or hunting. Sammy wasn't sure what Dad hunted, he just knew that whatever he did hunt was probably afraid of him because Dad always shot them with a gun and they would scream.
Sammy felt bad for the creatures that Dad hunted. When they screamed after being shot, they sounded like they were in pain, like Sammy was that time Dad broke his wrist.
Sammy was interrupted from his thoughts when the doorknob jiggled. Someone was trying to get in. The five year old inched himself as far away from the door as he could.
"Sam? Sam, you better open this door right now before I knock it down!" His father's threatening voice was heard from the other side of the door. Sammy was tempted to open the door for his father before the man got any angrier, but he remembered Dean's words.
"Don't open the door for ANYONE, Sammy. Keep it locked at all times." Sammy always took his brother's words to heart, because Dean knew everything in the whole wide world.
"SAM!" Sammy jumped slightly at his father's angry voice, but kept the door locked and curled up in a corner of the room.
"Hide!" Dean's instructions rung through his head and Sam dashed around the room to find a hiding spot. He decided to hide under the bed – his father at least would be too big to chase him there.
'He can't get me. The door is locked. He can't get me. Dean said so.' He reminded himself. Soon the pounding on the door stopped and Sammy let out a sigh of relief. Dean was always right.
Sammy had just crawled out of his hiding spot and started coloring on a plain sheet of white paper, when he heard Daddy back at the door.
"Oh Sammy!" Daddy called out, the sudden cheerfulness in his voice scaring Sammy even more than the anger had.
'He can't get in.' He reminded himself. 'The door is locked. He can't get in. Dean said so.' He ran over to the bed and began to scoot himself under.
Before Sammy was fully hidden, however, there was a clinking sound and the doorknob turned. The five year old froze in horror and fear as his Dad walked into the room, holding a key.
"Now why did you lock me out, Sammy?" It wasn't a question and Sam knew it. Even though Daddy didn't really sound very angry yet, Sam knew he was pissed.
…
Dean ran home from his elementary school. He knew Sam got bored when he was locked in that room without much of anything to do. Dean had used some money he had found on the street to buy his baby brother a coloring book and hope the kid wouldn't get too bored.
As soon as he set foot in the apartment they were staying at, Dean knew something was wrong. His dad was home, but he wasn't in the kitchen or the living room. Dean hoped to God that John was in his own bedroom and that he would find Sammy locked in his bedroom, happily coloring while he waited for Dean to get home.
No such luck. The door that was normally kept locked during the day was wide open and Dean sprinted in to find his baby brother on the floor, curled in a ball and sobbing. Dad was nowhere in sight.
"Sammy! Sammy, what happened?" Dean skidded to a halt in front of the younger boy and immediately began checking his brother for injuries. His back was bruised, though there didn't seem to be any spinal damage (Thank God) and he had bruises on his face.
"D-Dean!" Sammy hugged his brother tightly. "D-d-daddy was REALLY mad!"
"What was he mad about, Sammy? C'mon, buddy, tell me what happened."
"I-I was colorin', and D-Dad wanted to come in, but I wouldn't let him, cause you told me not to let him in, but he-he got a key, and uh, he-he opened the door, and he was really mad at me cause I had locked him out!" He dug his head into the older boy's shirt. "Dean, it was so scary!"
"It's okay, Sammy. Next time, I'll just take the key to school with me, okay? Now let's help your bruises." Sammy whimpered and gave him a soft "Okay," before following his older brother to the bathroom.