The Other Brother - 5

Adam ran.

Whenever he reached a turn he made sure to take a left so that he knew how to get back. But right now, he just needed to get away from the normal sized people.

After a while he stopped. He sat down and leaned against the inside of the wall. He took deep breaths but ended up coughing because of the dust. Adam couldn’t believe where he was right now. He was literally sitting in the wall of some motel in the middle of nowhere. Humans weren’t supposed to be sitting inside the walls like this. He felt like a rat. Hiding from the light, and from the giant beings who controlled the world.

A brushing sound echoed around Adam. Adam glanced around, but it was too dark for him to really see anything well.

“Sam?” Adam asked. “Is that you?”

The brushing sound came at him again, and this time Adam was able to figure out that it was coming from his right, which was not the direction that Sam would have been coming from if he had followed Adam.

Adam got up slowly, and started backing away in the direction he had come from. There was the sound again, and this time Adam saw something move in the shadows. Something that was about his size, but not the right shape. It was lower to the ground than a person would have been.

Adam turned and ran. He heard whatever it was scurrying behind him, chasing him. Adam hit a turn and almost ran into Sam.

“There you are.” Sam said.

“We’ve got to go!” Adam shouted. “There’s something chasing me.”

Sam looked around Adam and frowned. “Yup. Hang on. I’ll scare it off.”

Adam just watched, dumbfounded as Sam walked around him. Sam proceeded to pull a knife out of his pocket, and another thing out of his bag.

“Shield your eyes.” Sam called back. Adam barely shut his eyes in time, as Sam struck the match he was holding against the wall. The light flared, and through squinted eyelids, Adam saw that his pursuer was a mouse.

A mouse that was heading for the hills.

“Mice are scared of just about everything.” Sam said. He dropped the match and stomped it out with this boot. He also pocketed his knife again. “Sometimes people like us even tame them, and raise them kind of like sheep.”

“There’s more people like us?” Adam asked.

Sam nodded and sat down against the wall. He patted the space next to him.

“There’s actually a lot more of us than even I thought there was. And I’ve been living at this size for fourteen years.”

“Really?” Adam asked. He sat down next to Sam. “So, does that mean that there’s no way for us to be fixed?”

Sam sighed. “Not that we know of. To be honest though, even if there was, I probably wouldn’t bother.”

“What?” Adam asked in amazement. “You don’t want to be big again?”

“I was ten years old when I was cursed.” Sam explained. “When that happened, Dad and Dean accidentally left me behind. We didn’t know about the curse then, so they just thought I was dead. I was rescued by people who are naturally our size though. So in the end, I’ve spent more of my life at this size with people this size than I have as a human.”

“Don’t you miss being big?”

Sam shrugged. “I miss some things, but not as much as you might imagine. Especially now that I’m with Dean. I’m even a half-decent hunter, even at my size.”

Adam frowned. “What do you miss the most?”

Sam looked up as he thought. “I don’t know really. I mean sometimes I miss being able to be outside by myself without having to be on edge. Sometimes I miss just talking to people. Sometimes I miss being able to hug people. It kind of depends.”

Adam sighed. “Even if I did get back to normal size, it wouldn’t really matter. My Mom is still dead.”

Sam wrapped an arm around Adam’s shoulders. “You’re right. As much as I wish I could say some magic words to you to make you feel better, you’re right. I’m sorry.”

Adam couldn’t help it. Tears were starting to flow.

“I watched her die Sam. She was right in front of me, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.”

Sam nodded. “Right again, there wasn’t anything that you could do about it.”

“I felt so powerless, and now, I’m never going to see her again. I didn’t even get to say goodbye.” Adam sniffled. He hated crying. He hated how weak it made him feel. Like he was still a kid who needed to be comforted.

Sam didn’t say anything to mock him though. He just sat with his arm around his Adam’s shoulders. Just waiting.

“I can’t do anything now.” Adam muttered. “That mouse could have taken me out for crying out loud.”

“Well, there you’re wrong.” Sam said. “You might not be able to go lifting amazingly heavy things like remote controls or anything like that. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything.”

“Oh really?” Adam asked, he sounded harsher than he really meant to. “What can I possibly do?”

“Well, for one thing, you can take care of yourself.”

“Oh?” Adam asked. “And how can I do that? I have no idea how to survive at this size.”

“I know you don’t.” Sam said. “But just because you don’t know how to do something, doesn’t mean that you can’t do it. I can teach you how to survive at our size. I can show you how to get food. How to climb things. How to hide when a human sees you. You don’t have to depend on a human to keep you alive. You can do it yourself.”

Adam sighed. “John doesn’t think so.”

“Dad doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Plus, he’s upset. In his mind, he failed yet another of his sons. He’s not really thinking straight right now.”

“When I first woke up.” Adam started. “I tried to run away. I thought that he was a giant, and that I was a still normal sized. He grabbed me, and I’ve never felt so helpless in my life. Not even when Mom … well, you know.”

Sam nodded. “Dean did the same thing when we first met after I was cursed. And it’s happened to me a few times after that with people who only wanted to sell me. It’s horrible. That’s why the first and most important rule of being this size, is never let anyone who you don’t trust completely get their hands on you. It’s nearly impossible to get away from a human who’s got you in their grasp.”

“Nearly impossible?” Adam asked.

Sam smiled a bit. “Well, Dean and I have been working on some worst case scenario type things, but they’re total ‘Hail Maries.’”

“So you trust Dean then?”

“Completely.” Sam said. “Dean only grabbed me before because he didn’t realize what or who I was. Now that he knows people like us exist, he would never just grab anyone. Not only that, but I actually feel safe when I’m with Dean, which is extremely rare for people our size. Dean would do anything to protect me, and I’d do anything to protect him. That’s what brothers do.”

“Do you ever get scared of Dean?”

Sam frowned. “Not so much anymore.” He started. “When I first went with him, I definitely was. I suppose that in some ways I still am. But it’s more a respect for reality than anything else. It’s important for me to remember that Dean is still crazy big, and that if he or I make a mistake, I would be the one who gets hurt.”

“Then why do you stay with him?”

“Because I trust him. And I guess that when it comes down to it, I’m willing to get hurt if it means that I get to stay with him.”

Adam and Sam sat in silence for a bit after that. Eventually Sam got up though, and offered a hand to Adam. Adam took it, and again was slightly surprised when Sam physically pulled him up.

“You know you’d be huge if you were normal sized.” Adam said.

“I kind of figured. I’ve never actually met another little person bigger than me. My favorite part is pointing out to Dean that I’d probably be bigger than he is. For some reason he never seems to like that.”

Adam and Sam laughed as they started back toward the room with Dean and John in it.