Love this, and love that it finally got posted!   There's a wonderful celtic feel to it, like reading Irish mythology, or listening to Joan Baez sing "The Silkie of Sule Skerry" <g> And wonderful to tie the anniversary of the boys' mother's death in, with Halloween (also a celtic holy day, and a time when the veil between the worlds thins) as the time point grounding the whole story.  And my goodness, how did you manage to get inside the head of an adolescent male so well!  Brilliantly done!

Author's Response: Thank you thank you thank you Gail!  You're a constant source of support, and I couldn't have gotten this done without you!

This is a "must read" story; I really think you've got John, perfectly.  (although I'd love to show him what the phrase "kick like a girl" actually means! <g>)  But I think the insights are dead on, and intuitively so right that I now can't see John any other way.

Interesingly, this is a portrait of abuse, but abuse in a way that most people, John included, don't recognize.  But all the more devastating for being words instead of blows.  And it explains both the boys, so well; Dean as the "hero child" always taking the brunt of John, and Sam as the classic "rebel", breaking away from, and denying the expectations of, the family, even very young.

Great story!