November 2, 1983

Dean woke up scared, and he didn't know why.

It was night time still. He was bolt upright in his bed, sweating and clutching his blankets in his fists. From the hallway, he could hear Sammy crying. Maybe that was what woke him up.

But that shouldn't make him afraid.

He tried to breathe real quiet, so he could listen for Mama's or Daddy's footsteps in the hallway as they headed to Sammy's room. He listened for a long time, but they didn't come. Sammy cried louder, and Dean wanted to cry, too. Something was wrong. Something bad was happening.

Sniffing back his tears, Dean forced himself to slide out of bed. He was almost five now. Five-year-olds should be brave. He crept to his bedroom door and peeked through the crack. Everything was dark except for the dim glow of the nightlight in the bathroom down the hall. The only thing weird was how hot it was, and that made him more uneasy.

Sammy still cried from inside his nursery, so Dean slipped from his room and went that way. He could try to make his brother feel better until Mama or Daddy came.

Just before he got to Sammy's door, a terrible noise came crashing from his parents' room. He could hear his mama scream from behind the door. He froze in terror, with no idea what he should do.

Behind him, Daddy thundered up the stairs, shouting over the roaring noise, "Mary! What was that? Mary!"

He ran past Dean and slammed into the door to their bedroom but couldn't seem to open it. He shoved hard and it budged a few inches, but Daddy jerked back like it had hurt him. He shouted some more, and pounded and shoved at the door. A red-orange glow leaked from the crack, and the hallway got even hotter.

Dean's eyes began to sting and he coughed hard at the burning in his throat. "Daddy?"

His dad turned toward him, but he almost didn't look like himself with the wild look on his face. Daddy was brave and strong, but he looked afraid, and that scared Dean most of all. He started to cry.

Daddy ran down the hall to him, grabbed him by the arm, and pulled him into Sammy's room. His brother was screaming as loud as he could now, as if he were as scared as Dean. Daddy snatched up Sammy and wrapped his blanket tight around him. He turned and shoved the baby into Dean's arms. Once he was sure Dean had a good grip, Daddy held his shoulders so tight it hurt.

He shouted, "Take your brother outside as fast as you can! Don't look back! Now, Dean! Go!"

Daddy gave him a push toward the hallway, and before he had a chance to think about what was happening, he ran. He carried Sammy down the stairs and to the front door. Upstairs, he could still hear Daddy screaming Mama's name, and more crashing and roaring noises that left him shaking so hard he had to take extra good care not to drop Sammy. When he reached the door, he realized he couldn't open it without putting his brother down, so he lowered Sammy carefully to the floor.

"It's okay, Sammy," he said, even as he coughed and cried. "It's okay!"

He was big enough to open the door without help, but when he pulled on it, the door wouldn't open. It was locked, and he couldn't reach the deadbolt.

Looking around wildly, Dean sought the closest thing he could climb. He grabbed the leg of the coffee table and pulled. He had to get Sammy outside, and the only way to do that was to move that table. But it was heavy, and he was barely able to shift it, no matter how hard he pulled. Frustration and fear started pushing in on him, making his stinging eyes blur and spill over with more terrified tears.

He wasn't going to be able to get Sammy out, and Daddy would be so mad.

"Dean!"

In a flurry of movement, Gabriel appeared next to Dean looking as wild-eyed as his daddy had upstairs.

"Gabriel!" Dean shrieked, and threw himself at the angel who wrapped him up tight. "I hafta get Sammy outside!"

But Gabriel was already reaching for his baby brother, scooping him up in his other arm. In an instant, they were out on the sidewalk in front of the house in the cold night air. Sirens were screaming as fire engines roared around the corner of their street. Dean looked back at his house and saw flames beginning to take over the roof. An angry orange glow came from the vents in the attic and also from the window at the end of the house. The window of Mama and Daddy's room.

Gabriel set him abruptly on his feet and passed Sammy to him. "Dean, stay here! You hear me? I have to go back."

"Gabriel," Dean whimpered, but the angel was gone, flitting over to bark a few short words to the arriving firefighters about a fallen ceiling before disappearing again to go save Mama and Daddy.

The street steadily became more chaotic, with noise and lights and water and people shouting and the roar of the fire that was so loud. Dean huddled into the bushes next to the sidewalk with his baby brother and stared intently at the front door, willing his parents to appear. When part of the roof collapsed with a great crashing sound and flames shot up into the night sky, Dean shook with fear and squeezed Sammy tight.

A sudden commotion near one of the fire trucks drew his attention away from the house.

"Goddammit, Gabriel, you son of a bitch, you let me go right NOW!" Daddy's voice carried over all the other noise on the street.

Gabriel had both hands bunched in Daddy's shirt and robe while Daddy fought to free himself. He shoved Daddy toward the paramedics and firefighters and yelled, "Don't let him back in there! It's going to come down!"

The angel disappeared again, leaving Daddy fighting against several men keeping him from running straight back inside. Dean waited, clutching onto Sammy's blanket for what felt like forever until Gabriel finally appeared again.

He was alone.

Paramedics rushed toward Gabriel as he staggered and collapsed on the grass. Dean stared on in confusion. Where was Mama? Why didn't he bring Mama? He stood with Sammy in his arms and moved hesitantly toward the unmoving angel.

"Gabriel?" he croaked, then coughed.

The next thing Dean knew, he was swarmed by more paramedics. Sammy was taken away from him, despite his cries of protest, and the people poked and prodded at him, asking him questions and making him breathe from a thing. Somewhere nearby, Daddy was still screaming, calling Gabriel bad words and sobbing out Mama's name.

Dean tried to be brave, but hearing his daddy cry like that was too much, and Dean cried, too.