The Kids Aren't Alright

Dean

The moving trucks were loud outside of their house. Dean was worried they might disrupt Sam from his homework, but the kid had his headphones in. He put down the milk he was going to pour on his brother's favorite cereal and went over to take a peek out of the window. The house next to theirs had been empty since they had moved here 5 years ago. All Dean could see was the truck. As it was obstructing his view from any further observations, he turned with a sigh and went back to preparing Sam's cereal.

"Do you know who's moving in next door?" His 10-year-old brother asked, taking out his ear buds. He had obviously given up on his math homework, and was looking for something to distract himself with.

"No idea." Dean brought the cereal to where Sam was sitting at the table staring dejectedly at his work. "Do you need help?" he asked sitting down. He was never that good at math, but Sam couldn't have been doing anything too hard.

"You're terrible at-" Sam's words were cut off by the sound of knocking at the front door. Out of habit, Dean pushed Sam back and made his way to the door. He slowly lifted the latch lock, and inched the door open, just enough to get a look at who was there. When he noticed it was nothing but a boy, who couldn't have been older than 14 awkwardly standing there; he let his guard down a bit. After Dean had the door wide open, the boy looked up at him with wide, blue eyes.

"Oh, um, Hi." The boy mumbled, looking anywhere but at Dean. His cheeks flushed as he took a step back, "I, um, well my brothers and I just moved in next door, and um, well, I was just wondering, if, um, I could maybe use your bathroom, please?" He wrung his hands as he waited for Dean to reply. Before deciding whether or not he should let him into his home; Dean took a moment to inspect the boy stood in front of him. He was tall, but shorter than Dean's 6'1 stature. He had jet-black hair, which contrasted harshly against his pale skin and baby-blue eyes.

The boy cleared his throat, and Dean snapped out of his thoughts; realizing he had been staring at this stranger for more than what is normally considered socially acceptable. "Sorry, yeah, sure, come in." He replied letting him in the house; seeing that he was no threat towards Sam. He led the boy to the bathroom and went back to sit in the kitchen with Sam, and when the boy returned, he uttered a quiet thank you and was on his way towards the front door.

He was gone before Dean could even ask his name. His brother sat up in his seat, eyes bright, "Who was that?" Sam asked, his cereal now as insignificant as his math homework.
"I don't know" Dean replied, "but it doesn't matter, do your homework." Sam made sounds of protest, but he ended up doing it, as he always does. Once he was finished he went into the family room across the kitchen to watch TV. Dean went back to the window, hoping to just maybe catch a glimpse of that boy again, but turned back to his brother after just getting another sight of the moving truck.

Headlights illuminated the room through the window, indicating their father was home. "Sam, why don't you go and get ready for bed?" But as Dean looked towards where his brother had been watching TV, he found that he had already gone up the stairs. Dean hurried to the kitchen to make sure it was clean, when he felt the bang of the front door hitting the wall, and the slam as it was forcefully closed.

"Hey dad" Dean said softly, hoping his father was in a good mood, which so rarely was the case anymore. His father grumbled in return and made his way to the family room, and flipped on the television.

"Well, don't just stand around." His father growled out, "Go and get me a damn beer!" Dean turned and hurried into the kitchen. He went to the fridge and grabbed his father a beer, but by the time he got back, his father was already unconscious. Dean knew better than to disturb him, so he switched off the TV, put the beer down, and headed up to bed. With a quick check in on Sam, he went into his small room. A closet would be a more accurate description. Dean didn't care. Privacy carried a greater importance than comfort, in his mind. With his brother sound asleep in the room next door to his own and his father downstairs, Dean fell into a peaceful sleep.