A/N: This chapter's a little shorter, but I hope you still like it!
If You Dare Challenge - #273 (Piece of cake)
Are You Crazy Enough To Do It Challenge - #604 (sake)
Fanfiction Writing Month: October [1053]
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Dean and Sam started at school on Monday. Because Dean was twelve and Sam was seven, they went to different schools, which obviously bothered Dean. So on the first day, when Sonny received a call saying that Dean had not appeared at school that morning, he knew exactly where he had gone. Sonny found him hiding outside of the elementary school, watching his brother from the bushes. "Dean?"
The older Winchester jumped, startled. "S-si-sir? I—" He shivered, and then the usual soldier-esque disposition cascaded over Dean. "I apologize, sir," he stated, standing. "I am ready for any punishment you—"
"Dean, Dean, it's alright. I just was...wondering why you weren't at school today." He kneeled beside the boy. Are you worried about Sam?"
Dean didn't respond; he merely straightened his back as Sonny spoke.
"Listen, Dean, the teachers at his school will take good care of Sam. Haven't you split up before? For school?" Nothing. "Dean?"
Dean flinched, shook his head, and began signing anxiously, his fingers trembling. WANT SAMMY ME. WANT SAMMY ME. NO PUNISH PLEASE. NO HURT…
"Dean, you're going to have to talk out loud, son. I can't understand—"
WANT SAMMY ME! PLEASE…
"Dean, talk to me. I don't–"
Dean whimpered and finally shut down completely.
Sonny allowed Dean to sit in on Sam's class on the first day to make him more comfortable being separated from his brother. After a similar reaction occurred on Tuesday, Sonny came to the school and met with the vice principal to discuss a solution.
Mrs. Green, as it turned out, had already found one by the time he arrived. A woman named Kathy Gavinski (who Sonny had actually known since they were children) had heard of the Winchester situation and met Sonny at the elementary school to talk about it. "I'm a reading specialist," she explained. "I meet with most kids in the beginning of the school year to figure out how well their reading and comprehension skills are. I tested Sam on Monday, Sonny, and he's...incredible. He can easily read in the 800th percentile."
Sonny knew Sam was smart, but to this degree… He responded simply: "Wow."
"We haven't had time to test him in his other subjects, but just by spending time with him, it's obvious to me that he is an extremely intelligent and perceptive boy." She sighed. "However, when I observed him during class, he's also isolated himself from the other children and rarely speaks up. And because I know that Dean has...trouble adjusting to a school without Sam, I think it would be best, at least for the rest of the school year, for us to move Sam to the middle school. He is definitely at the correct academic level for it, and if the two of them need each other as much as you say, then I think this would be best. I'm worried about Sam further isolating himself, for his own sake, but it is May; school is almost over. Once the next school year starts, we can discuss another option for the boys." She shrugged slightly. "What do you think?"
Sonny smiled. "I think we have our solution."
That night, at the dinner table, Dean and Sam learned over their new situation. Cas smiled. "I'm glad everything worked out," he said.
Dean stared at his plate and took a small bite of his green beans, staying silent. Sam grabbed Dean's hand. "Thank you, sir," Sam said.
Sonny smiled. "It's not a problem, boys. And you don't have to call me 'sir.'"
Again, the Winchesters said nothing in response.
The next morning, Sam and Dean sat on the school bus together. Dean sat on the outside of the seat with a protective arm around Sam. Sam was signing furiously, so frantic that Dean could barely understand him. He told his older brother about the nightmare that he had had that night, the one that had left him in a sobbing, pitiful state, soaked in sweat and terrified beneath the sheets. He had dreamt of a monster they had both been abducted by a year ago; it still had a frightening grip on Sam's mental state.
It was a ghost, a violent father who had died during his own birthday party at the hands of his young son. He had taken them into his basement and tied them to chairs, giving them rotted pieces of birthday cake and strapping small party hats onto their heads. When they didn't do as he said, he got angry, pulling them away from the table and beating them until they submitted to his will. Sam, only six at the time, had to watch his school friend, Max, kidnapped, beaten, and then murdered by the ghost, and was forced to sit next to his friend's cold, mutilated corpse afterwards.
By the time John rescued the boys four days later, Sam and Dean were bloody, starving, and scared to death, startled by even the smallest of sounds. Sam wouldn't sit down in a chair or eat anything at all at first. He just laid in bed with an empty look, completely silent and rocking back and forth until John finally agreed to take them to see a doctor. However, this rarely meant the hospital. Their father instead called a hunter friend of his who had formerly been a doctor and asked him to look at them. Dr. Willis, a tall, thick man with blonde hair and a toothy smile, reminded Sam so much of the ghost that he hyperventilated until he passed out. Willis was so worried about Sam's mental state after the trauma that he actually tried to ask John to keep them out of the hunting life. He didn't think Sam would ever recover, and… so far, he hadn't. Since then, Sam couldn't make friends. He hated birthday parties, party hats, and, most of all, cake or anything like it.
Now, Sam burrowed further into his arms, trying to feel safe again, and Dean hugged him tightly. He wished… He wished John weren't a hunter. Then Sam wouldn't have grown up in this violent, malevolent world with only Dean to watch out for him. It was too late for Dean; John had already made him into a killer like him. Dean would never be able to wipe the blood from his hands.
A/N: Next chapter will be coming soon! Can't wait!