sam winchester. (au) (moosie) wrote in dunhavenic, @ 2018-05-29 05:19:00 |
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Entry tags: | !narrative, * jach, r: samantha colt |
WHO: Sam Winchester
WHERE: A hotel room in Nebraska.
WHEN: Christmas Eve, 1991.
WHAT: The year everything changed.
RATING: Low.
STATUS: narrative; complete.
Broken Bow, Nebraska 1991. It’s Christmas Eve and eight year old Sam Winchester sits in a dingy motel room with his older brother. He had cereal for dinner and the room is devoid of anything that might make it even remotely homey. The walls flicker with the light from the crappy television set and it sets a gloomy tone. Not exactly the kind of Christmas a kid dreams about, but it’s the Winchester way. Almost every Christmas that Sam can remember has been similar to this in one way or another. But Sam is still youthful and innocent. And despite his life on the road, he has no trouble imagining a better life for himself. And so he tries his best to makes things the way he wishes they could be. Christmas means presents, and so he painstakingly works on wrapping up a gift for his father. Uncle Bobby had helped him get it, and he was already excited to see John open it. Dad had to be back for Christmas. He’d promised. They’d all be together, and they’d have presents, and for a few minutes Sam could be a normal kid. It would be okay. But Sam isn’t a normal kid. And the Winchesters will never be a normal family. Curious about their father and all the questions Dean won’t answer for him, Sam goes after John’s journal and reads it in secret. His eyes widen as he sees page after page filled with blood, fangs, claws, and death. Monsters. Everywhere they’ve been and everywhere they’ll go. Upset and afraid, he confronts Dean. And that’s the moment that Sam’s big brother shatters the last shred of his innocence. He won’t ever get to be a normal kid. Even for a few minutes. Even on Christmas. Because there are monsters in the world, and it’s his dad’s job to find them. He cries himself to sleep that night. But later, he feels Dean shaking him awake and sees a tree brightening their temporary home. And best of all, there are presents beneath it. Forgetting his earlier heartbreak for the moment, Sam rushes to take it all in as Dean explains that Dad had stopped by to leave this for them. Sam can feel himself lightening under his earlier burden has he tears the Christmas wrapping from the box. It’s a Barbie doll. Dean is quick to make a joke, but Sam doesn’t miss the way his face falls. “You stole these, didn’t you?” Of course he did. And in that moment, eight-year-old Sam Winchester makes a choice. His father lied to him. His father left him alone on Christmas. His father had failed. But Dean hadn’t. Dean told him the truth, and had tried to give Sam a good Christmas. Even if it hadn’t worked out all that well. He jumped up from the floor and ran to get the Christmas present. Dean protested, of course. It was supposed to be for John, after all. But Sam determinedly pushed it into his brother’s hand. “I want you to have it.” Dean loved that amulet. He wore it every day. And in the years to come, whenever Sam saw it, he tried to remember what it meant. That even when his heart was broken, or he was scared and angry at all the ugliness and pain in the world, that he still had his big brother. |