章 1: 1. WOLF MOON
"And I am done!", I said happily as I carefully placed my Harry Potter book collection on to the shelf.
"Does it feel weird being back?", I asked my mom after she came into my room, taking a seat on the bed.
"I guess... It has been ten years...".
When I was six years old, my parents and I moved to New Orleans, but after my dad died seven months ago, she struggled to cope in the city. She decided that the best way to deal with his death was to move to Beacon Hills, to feel closer to him. She was a nurse so getting a job at the Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital was an easy feat because they were always in need of staff. As for the house, my grandmother- my dad's mom, left it for us when she passed away six years back.
I dreaded this move the most- nobody wanted to be the new kid in their sophomore year. You may think it would be easier when you sorta knew half the people attending Beacon Hills High back from kindergarten days, but when you're at that age, claiming you were attacked by a hairy monster in the woods, it earns you a reputation that you can't escape from.
"Well, I'm going for a run, need to channel this anxiety into something.".
"Don't stay out too late! And be careful!".
Saying goodbye, I rushed out of the house, and in the direction of Beacon Hills Preserve. The air around me felt familiar. Even though it had been years, I could still remember bits and pieces of the place, especially the night of the attack...
It was my sixth birthday, and I wanted a picnic in the woods with a few friends. After the party was over, and everyone went home, I realized I left my favorite stuffed panda behind. Refusing to go to bed without Paddy, and throwing a huge tantrum, it forced my dad to make a trip back there, me tagging along with him.
I caught sight of Paddy's foot sticking out a bush and somehow lost my dad, falling into the capable hands of my overactive imagination. The darkness hindered my vision. As I made a grab for Paddy, I heard growling coming from behind me. Spinning around, I came face to face with a big hairy "monster", canines sticking out of its mouth, its blue eyes anticipating my next move. I screamed and tried to run away, it lunged at me. Unfortunately, one of its sharp claws raked across my arm while I attempted to escape, almost reaching the bone.
If it wasn't for my dad fighting off the monster, and rushing me off to the hospital, I wouldn't be alive. Just as I was losing consciousness, I swear I saw him throw a boulder at the creature without lifting a finger. When I questioned him about that night, he told me it was just a bear and that my imagination made me see things.
Obviously, I believed him, but it was hard to go back to normal after I came home from the hospital two weeks later. I was constantly afraid and could hardly sleep because of the nightmares. School didn't help either- the kids laughed at me when I told them I was attacked by a monster, and the teachers thought I was faking my anxiety attacks for attention. That's when my parents decided it was time to move. The only family we had in Beacon Hills was my grandma, but we hardly ever saw her.
When we got to New Orleans, adjusting to a new school with a giant ugly scar across my arm was hard. A lot of the kids pointed it out, saying it looked like I tried to do it to myself. They called me Lunatic Lorelai. Another contributing factor to the bullying was seeing the school's guidance counselor in hopes of dealing with the trauma and the nightmares. When that wasn't helping, my dad thought it would be a good idea to take up a physical hobby, so I chose kickboxing.
It proved its worth one afternoon in fourth grade. It was a few months into the school year when another new kid joined our class- Ricardo Calavera. Everyone thought he was weird because of his gigantic glasses and his thick Mexican accent. It was only appropriate for the school's freaks to stick together.
One of the older popular kids, Kyle, found it amusing playing monkey in the middle with Ricky's glasses. When Ricky confronted him, he shoved the poor guy so hard, he scraped both his elbows. Tired of his nonsense, I ended up jumping in, finally fighting back, breaking Kyle's nose in the process. That landed me a two-week suspension for using violence instead of getting a teacher involved- it was the only time my parents let me off the hook.
After the rest of the school heard about it, they stopped bothering me as much, and steered far away as possible. I didn't mind though, and neither did Ricky. He never questioned me about my giant scar either and waited until I felt ready to tell him.
I was so caught up in my flashback that I didn't realize I had run off the trail. It was already dark, and it started to drizzle. Muttering to myself how stupid I was for thinking it was a good idea to go out into the woods all by myself, I pulled out my phone, trying to get signal while retracing my steps.
I felt like I was six years old again, my heart beating rapidly, and I gasped for breath. My eyes searching for anything familiar, I almost expected a monster to jump out from behind a tree, but instead I was met with something worse. I didn't notice a pultruding root, and tripped over it, stumbling to the ground, right into a dead body, well half- she was missing from the waist down.
"What the f...".
Grateful for the body's production of adrenalin, I let out a silent scream and pushed myself off the soil, bolting away as fast as I could. Who would've thought the first person I'd meet at Beacon Hills would be a dead one?!?
Overwhelmed by what I had just experienced, I didn't pay attention to where I was going and crashed into someone, knocking us both down.
"Oh my god!!! I think you broke my chest bone!!!", a male voice choked out.
Staggering away from the figure I bumped into, I apologized profusely as I felt another person grip my arm gently, helping me up. Thanking them, I was finally able to catch my breath and get a good look at the two people standing before me, frowning in confusion.
"Where you looking for...", the guy with crooked jaw was about to ask me something, but his pale friend with a buzzcut hit him in the shoulder.
"What my buddy Scott over here meant to ask was what you were you doing in the woods at this hour...".
There was something really suspicious about their behavior, and honestly, I didn't care. I just wanted to get as far away from that dead corpse as possible...
"Um, I was jogging and lost track of time... As well as my way back home, and I panicked...", I answered quickly.
I noticed their gaze falling to my right arm, where my giant scar was. Quickly pulling my sleeve down, I expected them to ask me about it, but instead they gave me a friendly smile and introduced themselves. The one with the buzzcut called himself Stiles.
"Lorelai... As much as I would love to stay and chat, but it's getting really cold, and my mom is probably stressing herself sick... Could you show me the way out?".
Scott opened his mouth but was cut off by the sound of barking dogs and shining flashlights. Stiles, not even waiting for either of us, made a break for it.
"Wait up! Stiles!", Scott called out before motioning for me to follow him.
We weren't too far behind when a loud woof caught Stiles off guard. Scott pushed me behind a tree before hiding himself.
"This little delinquent belongs to me!", I heard a man shout.
My mind, trying to wrap itself around the fact that I could possibly get arrested, it was finally quiet and both Scott and I emerged from our hiding places.
"Stiles' dad is the town's Sheriff, he'll be fine.", Scott said, grinning, "Come on, I'll help you get home.".
Even though I was well educated in the whole stranger danger scenario, there was something about Scott that made me feel like I could trust him. Unable to take the silence anymore, I asked him what they were doing in the woods.
"Stiles heard about a dead body on his dad's police radio, and he wanted to find it before they did...".
"Oh, um about that...".
I had almost forgotten about the corpse I crashed into.
"You saw it?!?".
We jumped at the sound of a bird flapping its wings as I nodded. He tilted his head to the side, recognition flashing across his face.
"You were the girl who was attacked by that bear years ago, weren't you?", he asked softly.
I mumbled a yes, thankful he didn't press any further. Instantly, my mind travelled to the possibility of whether or not that poor girl fell victim to the same animal as I did. We stopped and he took out his inhaler, gazing intently into the trees in front of us, my eyes following his direction. They swayed slightly and suddenly, a herd of deer sprinted towards us, their eyes filled with fear.
"Run!", Scott cried, amid the chaos.
Grabbing my arm, we tried to dart out of their way, but ended up falling. I landed headfirst onto a rock. I felt a warm liquid gushing down the side of my face that definitely didn't feel like rain. I was pretty sure I needed stitches. Groaning in pain, I pushed myself up into sitting position.
"Lorelai, are you okay?", I heard Scott ask, who fell a few feet away from me.
"I think so... You?".
He mumbled a yes, crawling towards me, inspecting my head injury.
"I don't wanna alarm you, but I think you need a hospital...".
My vision blurred, thanks to a possible concussion, I saw a silhouette of an animal slowly approaching us. A fox? Maybe a coyote? No, it looked too big to be either...
"Scott...", I whispered.
He noticed my expression of panic, turning his head slightly to catch a glimpse of the now growling animal. Without warning, it leaped towards us, and I pushed Scott out of the way. Unfortunately for me, I was too disorientated to move. The pain I felt as the animal sunk its fangs into my shoulder was excruciating, causing me to scream.
As my life flashed before my eyes, I heard Scott shouting on the other side, trying to lure the animal away from me.
"Hey! Over here!".
The animal gave me one last sniff as it considered its options of eating me first or rather going after the thrill of the chase. Deciding it would rather prefer fresh prey, the beast sprinted away in the direction of poor Scott.
Maybe it was the blood loss or possibility of my life slipping away, but I heard soft footprints, and someone crouch down beside me uttering the words, 'You're not supposed to be here...'. Then, everything went black.
∞∞∞∞
I woke up the next morning with a throbbing headache and in my bed, my fingers gripping the little pouch which contained lavender, chamomile and sage leaves that Ms. Amelia had given me before mom and I left New Orleans. She ran a homeopathic practice just opposite our apartment.
Ms. Amelia instructed that I place it underneath my pillow to help me sleep. I swung my feet to floor, my brain fuzzy as I tried to recollect what exactly happened last night when my gaze landed on my torn blood-stained clothing I was still wearing.
The memories hit me all at once and I raced to the bathroom, my stomach churning, throwing up everything I had eaten for the past two days. I caught a glance of myself in the mirror after I washed my face, staring at how pale my olive skin looked. However, my forest green eyes somehow seemed slightly brighter than usual.
My hand involuntarily flew to my head and then my shoulder as I remembered hitting my right temple on a rock... And then the animal sinking its teeth into my flesh. But where I thought I'd find open wounds, there was nothing...
Throwing up for the second time, I flushed the toilet and heard banging on the bathroom door.
"Lor... Are you alright?", my mom asked, her voice full of concern.
"Yeah... Just nerves for the... First day...", I croaked.
I dashed into the shower, scrubbing every inch of my body including my hair, while processing the previous night's events. Did it really happen, or did I imagine the whole thing? If it wasn't real, where did the blood come from? Maybe Ms. Amelia put something extra in the little bag of herbs... But, how did I get home, and in my bed? And Scott... Did the animal get to him?
The questions plagued my mind as I put on my favorite dark blue plain T-shirt, black jeans, black cardigan and white sneakers. I was never the type to dress up, I aimed for comfort. Brushing my wet hair, I braided it to the side and grabbed my bag and phone before heading downstairs.
"Morning Sunshine... Woah, are you really going to school looking like that?", she asked, her eyebrows raised.
"Mom!".
"You could at least slap on a little make-up you know? To cover up those dark circles around those beautiful eyes.".
I slapped her hand away when she pinched my cheeks in attempts get some color in them. She handed me a slice of toast which triggered my nausea.
"Uh... I'm good. Too anxious to eat anything.".
My mom sighed and gave me a lunchbox containing a sandwich and an apple.
"I'll drop you off on the way to work.".
After getting into the car, she frowned, "What time did you get back yesterday? I must've passed out early...".
I shrugged, "I think after eight? I got lost...".
If I told her what had happened, or what I thought happened, she'd lock me in the basement. Yeah, grandma's house has a freaken basement.
We spent the rest of the ten-minute drive with her humming along to a song on the radio. I was too busy questioning my sanity to pay attention to what was playing.
"I'll be here around 3pm to fetch you, okay? I know you're perfectly happy being on your own, but will you at least try to make some friends?".
I grunted as I got out of the car.
"Have a good day sweetheart!", she said, handing me a file, "I had them send over your class schedule and locker information the other day on email...".
Giving her a forced smile, I watched her as she took off. My body trembled as I took a step forward towards hell. It hadn't even been a minute, and people were already staring. I caught a glimpse of two familiar faces standing at the entrance- I dubbed them the forest boys. I felt slightly relieved to know that Scott was okay.
"Hey, Lydia! You look- Like you're gonna ignore me... You're the cause of this, you know. Draggin' me down to your nerd depths. I'm a nerd by association. I've been Scarlet-nerded by you", I heard Stiles complain to Scott as redhead girl walked past them.
They both did a double take when they saw me.
"Oh my god, you're... Alive!", Scott sputtered.
"You too!!! I have only been in this town for twenty-four hours, and I've gotten to second base with a dead corpse, mauled by a wild beastlike animal, and... On the brink of a possible mental breakdown... What are the chances that the pollen in the trees is a hallucinogenic?".
"Zero to none.", Stiles answered as he grabbed the file that was in my hand, scanning the documents over muttering on about the classes we have together.
"I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think it was a wolf... It bit me too...", Scott said softly before scrunching his eyebrows.
"Your head...", he muttered as we entered class.
"For the hundredth time Scott, it can't be a wolf because there are no wolves in California. It's so unfair that the two of you saw the body and I didn't!", Stiles butted in before I could respond.
They led me to the back of the class, him taking a seat beside me, while Scott seated himself at the desk in front, leaving a space open between us. Stiles placed my class schedule back on my desk.
"As you all know, there indeed was a body found in the woods last night...", Mr. Curtis stated as he wrote Kafka's Metamorphosis on the board.
I shivered, remembering my encounter as the image of the dead girl entered my memory.
"And I am sure your eager little minds are coming up with various macabre scenarios as to what happened. But I am here to tell you that the police have a suspect in custody, which means you can give your undivided attention to the syllabus, which is on your desk outlining this semester.", our English teacher continued.
I took out my notebook and pen, twirling it around my fingers when I noticed how Scott was struggling to sit still. I wondered whether he struggled with ADHD or ADD, when the vice president walked in, a raven-haired girl following closely behind.
"Class, this is our new student, Allison Argent...", he paused, making eye contact with me.
"Ah, I see our other new student, Lorelai Ma... Mao...", he frowned at the piece of paper in his hands.
That's what I get for having an Irish surname.
"Maolán, sir... Like ow but an M in front of it and lin...", I mumbled.
"Sorry about that, Miss Maolán. Please do your best to make them feel welcome.".
Allison Argent smiled uncomfortably before taking a seat at the desk in front of me. As Mr. Curtis continued to drag on about Kafka, my concentration levels dampened. There was this subtle high pitch ringing in my head which gradually got louder by the minute.
Unable to take it anymore, I jumped up out of my seat.
"Miss Maolán, is there a problem?".
"Mr. Curtis, can I be excused, it's uh... woman thing...", I stammered, my body trembling.
Mr. Curtis didn't bother to fight me on it and nodded uncomfortably, his face slightly pink. I grabbed my stuff and ran out as fast as I could, heading into the nearest girls' bathroom. The air around me felt thick, the ringing sound blasting in my ears. I heaved over the sink, quickly opening the cold-water tap, splashing some water on my face.
Suddenly, I heard a soft whisper over the ringing.
"You have to help them...".
I looked around trying to figure out where the voice was coming from before gazing into the mirror. My heart literally jumped out of my chest when I saw the dead girl's face in place of my own. I stifled a scream, moving backwards away from the reflection as fast as I could, stumbling into a stall, tripping over my feet, my head missing the toilet by mere inches. I was so sure I was losing my mind.
Immediately dashing out of the bathroom, I kept telling myself to calm down. There was a perfectly normal explanation for these hallucinations. I skipped breakfast, maybe hunger was affecting my brain! I got to my locker, haplessly battling with the latch and I groaned in frustration.
"Hey... We're in the same English class, right? I'm Allison. Here.".
Allison gently wiggled the door before it finally opened.
"Ah, thank you. I'm Lorelai.", I said breathlessly, still riled up from the bathroom incident.
"No problem. Are you okay? You seem a bit stressed out...".
"Oh yeah, new girl nerves- they make you go a little crazy.".
A whole understatement in my opinion.
"I totally get it, I forgot a pen! A freaking pen! Who forgets something like that on their first day of school?!?", she laughed.
I started to relax a little when we were joined by the same redhaired girl that completely ignored Stiles earlier that morning.
"That jacket is absolutely killer. Where'd you get it?", she asked Allison before eying me up and down, and letting out a pitiful short hum.
"My mom was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco.", Allison answered her with uncertainty.
"And you are my new best friend.".
Allison looked to me for help, hoping I would get her out of this situation, but I was shoved out of the way by a guy who resembled a real-life Ken doll.
"Are you blind?!?", I shot, completely regretting it as he stared me down.
"Excuse me?".
Jackson flippen Whittemore. He was the entitled asshole type who purposely go out of their way to make someone's life a living hell. I already had a possible dementia case to worry about, and I wasn't in any position to add him to the bill.
I muttered a 'nothing' before giving Allison an apologetic smile and scurried off as fast as I could, keeping my head down the whole way. I ended up at the library, hoping to possibly find any explanations as to why I was seeing ghosts.
When I asked the librarian, where I could find books related to the paranormal, she stared at me as if I was mental and suggested I watch the Sixth Sense, before pointing the bookshelf at the back.
I practically sprinted there, and didn't see where I was going, bumping straight into a hard chest, and falling onto my butt for the second time that day.
"I am so sorry... I wasn't looking where I was... Going...".
I came face-to-face with a very handsome guy with blue eyes and a mop of curly light brown hair, his lip bruised, along with his knuckles, his hands gripping my shoulders gently. Noticing my wondering gaze, he pulled away, plonking himself on the ground next to me.
Judging by how quickly his body language changed, I recognized the tell signs as to why he suddenly put his guard up.
"Student by day, vigilante by night, huh?", I joked, hoping to break the tension.
He chuckled softly, relaxing a bit.
"Us vigilantes still need an education. I'm Isaac... You look like you've seen a ghost or something... Are you okay?".
"Nice to meet you, I'm Lorelai. And honestly, I'm not sure...".
We stayed silent for a few minutes before he asked where I moved from.
"New Orleans. My mom needed a change of scenery after some things went down back home.".
He nodded but didn't ask any further questions. I think it was mostly because he didn't want me to bring up his bruised face and knuckles. I expected him to leave, but he pulled out a book and began to read instead.
We stayed like that for rest of the free period, me finding a very uninformative book about exorcisms. He raised his eyebrows at my choice of reading material but didn't say a word. The bell rang, indicating that it was time to get to our next class. I gave him one last glance before saying goodbye and rushed off to Biology.
∞∞∞∞
I mostly kept to myself for the rest of the day, occasionally teaming up with Allison in some classes. My body felt a bit strange, a feeling extremely hard to describe. The only word that came to mind was airy, like I was floating half the time. I told myself I'd deal with the crazy once I was home.
"Ready?", Allison asked, slipping her arm into mine.
"To die of boredom? Sure.".
She laughed, trying to reassure me that watching the lacrosse tryouts won't be that bad. Actually getting a chance to talk, she told me about her family and how they were constantly moving from city to city. She was hoping that this would be the town they finally settled down in.
Once we reached the lacrosse field, we were met with the shrill shouting of the school's queen bee, Lydia Martin. Maybe it was the sound of her voice, but the subtle ringing filled my ears again and I told Allison that I'd join her in a minute.
She wore a concerned expression on her face, pointing out that I was looking a bit flushed, but I lied and said I was fine. Reluctantly, she gave my shoulder a squeeze and went to join Lydia.
The air around me began to thicken again, and I closed my eyes, praying that it wasn't another ghost encounter. My eyes flew open a few seconds later as I heard someone shout. I somehow wandered into the designated area where the lacrosse players started their warmups and was about to get trampled.
An electric current flowed through my body, and suddenly, I was dodging and jumping my way through the oncoming players, stumbling right into the coach, who grabbed me by my shoulders to keep us both from toppling over.
"Jesus! Ever thought about playing lacrosse? I'm sure there aren't any rules about girls joining the team...", he trailed off, a flash of recognition on his face.
"You're Jesse's kid, aren't ya?", he asked softly.
It was the famous Bobby Finstock, my dad's best friend who was always at our house on weekends back when we used to live in Beacon Hills. Dad always spoke about him, and the stuff they'd get up to when they were younger even after the move.
"Um... Yeah, Lorelai... Nice to see you again Coach Finstock.".
"You keep those stories you heard to yourself, alright?", he muttered underneath his breath before turning his attention to Scott.
"Hey! McCall! You're on goal.".
"I know- scoring some shots will give the boys a confidence boost. It's a first day back thing.", Coach Finstock smiled smacking his shoulder. "Get 'em energized! Fired up!", he encouraged.
Stiles glanced at me in bewilderment. I shrugged my shoulders mouthing that we'll talk about it later before heading back to Allison and Lydia.
"Care to explain what the hell just happened out there?!?", Allison asked, surprised.
"I did kickboxing back home...?", I responded questionably.
I knew I was fast, but not Spiderman reflex fast. Allison turned to Lydia to ask her about Scott. My attention was frightfully pulled towards the sound of Coach Finstock's whistle which pierced through my ear drums. However, I wasn't the only one affected by it- Scott was clutching his ears as well.
Unfortunately for him, the real-life Ken doll saw this as an opportunity to fling the ball straight into his face. It hit his helmet, knocking him over.
Everyone laughed at him, but he got up, rolling his shoulders, readying himself for round two. The rest of the players were looking at him like he was a dead body in the middle of the desert, and they were the vultures.
Another player threw the ball at him, and he caught it, utterly surprised that he was able to. It was like he turned into a whole different person, and judging by the look on everyone's faces, I don't think anyone knew he was this good at lacrosse.
Realizing this wasn't the same guy I was strolling the woods with last night, I mean the dude needed an inhaler halfway through our trek, I said goodbye and rushed towards the forest boys. It seemed like I wasn't the only one affected by the bite...
∞∞∞∞
I called my mom telling her that I was getting a ride home with a friend. At first, she was hesitant, but when she found out that one of them was Scott McCall, she relaxed. Turns out she worked with his mom.
Even though they barely knew me, yesterday's events sealed the fact that we had to stick together. We were currently searching the woods for Scott's inhaler and... The dead body.
"I, I don't know what it was. It was like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball. And that's not the only weird thing. I, I can hear stuff I shouldn't be able to hear. Smell things.", Scott said as we trudged through a small river.
The water seeped through my sneakers, wetting my feet. I whined internally.
"Smell things? Like what?", Stiles questioned.
Scott mentioned the mint mojito gum in Stiles' pocket, and we stopped as he searched his jacket. Pulling out the stick, Stiles gazed at Scott curiously, and turned to me.
"The same thing happening to you?".
"Um... Faster reflexes yeah, but not the heightened hearing or smell... I sort of heard... Well, saw... A... Um...", my voice reached an octave high, and I struggled to get the words out.
"Lorelai, what did you see?", Scott questioned.
"A... Ghost. The dead girl.".
Their mouths dropped open. Looking around the woods, Stiles wore an expression of fear.
"So, all this started with the bite?", he asked Scott and I as we started walking again.
"What if it's like an infection? Like, our body's flooding with adrenaline before we go into shock or something?".
Scott sounded worried, and I was starting to get scared as well.
"Does one of the symptoms also include memory loss? Because I have no idea how I got home...", I chirped in, remembering that I hadn't figured out how I ended up back in my bed last night.
"You know what? I actually think I've heard of this, it's a specific kind of infection.".
A mischievous smile played on Stiles' lips before he continued his telling us about his theory.
"Yeah. Yeah, I think it's called lycanthropy.", he deadpanned.
"Shut up, Stiles.".
Scott unaware that Stiles was making fun of us, thought it was a serious disease. I rolled my eyes at them after Stiles began explaining what Lycanthropy was, falling slightly behind. A light breeze blew around us causing the hair on my arms to stand up, but it looked like I was the only one who noticed it.
"Okay, obviously I'm kidding. But, if you see me in shop class trying to melt all the silver I can find, it's 'cause Friday's a full moon.".
I caught the end of the Stiles' joke when Scott motioned for us to stop as he scanned our surroundings.
"No, I, I could have sworn this was it. I saw the body, the deer came running. I dropped my inhaler...", he said while inspecting the ground.
"Maybe the killer moved the body?", Stiles suggested.
"He's right. I mean, what Scott said. This place feels familiar...".
Scott went on about how expensive inhalers were when we were suddenly joined by a mysterious stranger who stood a few meters away from us. Even the way he dressed oozed mysteriousness- a black leather jacket, and jeans, a scowling expression on his pale face.
"Stiles! You see him too, right?", I whispered, smacking him in the chest
The stranger's presence startled him, and he tapped Scott's shoulder who immediately jolted up.
"God, he's hot.".
The stranger brought his attention to me, and my eyes grew wide when I realized that I had blurted it out loud. He heard.
"What are you doing here?", his deep voice rumbled as he came towards us.
The three of us started to panic, not sure how this was going to play out. I could hear the subtle ringing in my head again.
"This is private property.", he stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Uh, sorry, man, we didn't know.", Stiles said quickly.
"Yeah, we were just looking for something, but... Uh, forget it.", Scott jumped in.
Knowing well that I'd embarrass myself if I opened my mouth any further, I kept quiet throughout the whole conversation. The stranger didn't say anything else- instead, he tossed Scott's inhaler at him before giving me a once-over and walking away.
"You have to help them...".
I turned around, thinking I'd see the dead girl's ghost behind me, but there was nothing there.
"Lorelai?", Scott asked softly.
"I heard her again...".
"The dead girl?", Stiles whispered, looking around.
I nodded, twisting the end of my braid with my fingers.
"Um... All right, come on, I gotta get to work.", Scott said, turning around.
Stiles stopped him before telling us that the hot mysterious stranger's name is Derek Hale and that his family burned to death in a fire a few years ago. We stared in the direction he came from wondering why he'd come back after all this time. Something about Stiles' story left me troubled, like there was a connection, but I couldn't quite place why or to whom.
"Oh, and Lorelai? You need to reassess your choice in men.", Stiles scolded, jolting me out of my thoughts.
"We heard ya.".
I covered my face with my hands trying to cover up my embarrassment while they snickered at me.
∞∞∞∞
"I hope you're okay with cheeseburgers!", my mom called from downstairs.
I had been locked up in my room for the past three hours in hopes of figuring out what the hell was going on. I even considered admitting myself in hospital for an MRI. Maybe I was showing signs of schizophrenia. I dragged myself to the dining room to find my mom already seated, tucking into the food.
"Rough day at the office?".
She nodded, her mouth full of burger.
"Tell me! How was your first day? Is Melissa's son cute?".
"Uh, it was fine... He is, but in a puppy dog sort of way.", I said quickly, leaving out my ghost hallucinations.
She laughed at my answer, saying how happy she was that I made some friends. After dinner, she turned in for the night, exhausted from her first day of work. When she spoke about it, she had a genuine smile on her face, which was the first time since dad died.
After a quick shower, I got into bed, breathing in the scent from the little bag of herbs before placing it under my pillow. Ms. Amelia was a bit of a strange woman. She always told me how special I was, but not in the normal sense. Of course, I thought she was pointing out my obvious awkward nature, but now I couldn't help wondering whether she was on to something.
"This is for protection... From the things we can't see with the physical eye. And to help you sleep.", she said, her French accent thick and serious.
With my brain still convinced I was going mad, I eventually drifted off, into a very vivid dream...
I heard howl in the distance as I ran through the dark woods. My feet bare, I sprinted faster towards a girl screaming for help, but by the time I got there, she was already dead. Something behind me growled and I spun around coming face-to-face with the beast from last night, its eyes glowing bright red.
"You can't save them all!", the beast's distorted voice roared.
Emerging from the trees, were two other beasts, just smaller. One had yellow eyes, and the other blue- similar to the one that attacked me when I was six...
"YOU CAN'T SAVE THEM ALL!!!".
I jolted awake to the sound of my mom banging my door down, shouting that I was going to be late. Gasping for breath, I squeezed my tense shoulders as my body trembled in fear, the truth hitting me hard- the animal we encountered in the woods the night before, and when I was six, was not an animal. It was something else, something unnatural...
∞∞∞∞
"Lacrosse practice, you promised you'd go with me!".
Allison caught me after the last bell rang while I was shoving some textbooks into my locker. I decided to deal with my current situation the way I deal with everything else- utter denial. And for some odd reason, I hadn't seen the forest boys or Isaac all day either.
"I can't, I forgot I had an extra credit assignment for English.", I lied as I zipped up my bag.
Honestly, I was exhausted from my lack of sleep thanks to my revealing nightmare. She didn't even bother with my excuse and dragged me in the direction of the lacrosse field.
"Come on! It'll be fun! Show some school spirit! Besides, Jackson Whittemore has some competition this year.", she said excitedly.
"Who?".
"Scott McCall.".
A huge smile was etched across her face.
"Oh my god, you like him! Like, like him!", I teased.
Allison blushed hard and she giggled.
"He's taking me to Lydia's party tomorrow night! Speaking of...", she trailed on, but I cut her off.
"Noooooooooo. No way.".
As we reached the field, Allison spotted Lydia and joined her, pulling me along. Lydia didn't even notice I was there. We heard the sound of Coach Finstock's whistle, signaling the start of the drills and my phone buzzed. It was a message from Stiles asking me to meet him by the bench. Quickly excusing myself, I ran down to see him, catching the guy in full blown panic.
"Took you long enough!", he complained whilst grabbing my arm and running towards Scott.
"Scott! Scott, wait up.", Stiles screeched.
"Stiles, I'm playing the first elimination, man. Can it wait? Hey, Lorelai.".
Scott put on his gloves, brushing off his friend. If Stiles was this riled up, it must've been important.
"Just hold on, okay? I overheard my dad on the phone. The fiber analysis came back from the lab in L.A. They found animal hairs on the body from the woods!".
Scott completely uninterested in Stiles' discovery ran off without waiting to hear the rest.
"Wait, no! Scott! You're not gonna believe what the animal was!".
I tugged on the guy's arm.
"Stiles?".
"It was a wolf...", he sighed defeatedly.
A shiver went down my spine as soon as the words left his mouth. I walked with him back to the bench, sitting beside him. Completely tuning out Coach Finstock's elaborate speech about making the cut, I turned to Stiles, but he too fixated on Scott.
"Lorelai... Can I see your bite mark?", he asked a few minutes later.
I scratched the back of my neck before answering, "Yeah, about that...".
I kept my eyes on the players, noticing how Scott managed to get the ball from Jackson, cleanly dodging the other players as he moved. The most impressing part was him somersaulting in mid-air over another player and scoring a goal. It was clear that he had never done anything like that before.
"It disappeared when I woke up the next morning... And that's not the only thing.", I said softly, rolling up my sleeve and revealing the scar.
"They told me it was a bear... But after these past two days, I can say with confidence that it was something else...".
After the lacrosse tryouts, Stiles scurried off not even saying goodbye. I went back to speak to Allison. She wasn't upset about me ditching her at all, her attention was on Scott the whole time. My mom was already waiting outside school to pick me up.
She had to work the nightshift and handed me dinner before she drove back to the hospital. Stiles called me a little while after she left, his usual frantic voice booming through the speaker.
"Werewolves!".
"Come again?"
"You! Scott! The animal hairs! Wolf! Lycanthropy!", he sputtered.
"Dude, you can't be serious...".
Even though my logic was screaming against Stiles' hypothesis, a small part of me believed that there was a possibility he was right. His wheezing sounds brought me back to our conversation.
"Okay. Okay. Say I buy this Lycanthropy story of yours... Scott and I don't have the same symptoms. What diagnosis does it give you for hallucinations, high pitched ringing and hearing voices?".
He let out a hum, and I heard the sound of him typing on his keyboard.
"Oh...".
"Stiles? Why does that sound like a bad 'OH'?".
He stayed silent for a few seconds before answering, "Lorelai... There's a chance that your body is rejecting the bite... Which leads to death...".
"Oh.".
"I'm sure there's some...".
"It's fine, Stiles. Listen, I call you tomorrow. Looks like I got a funeral to plan. Ha. Ha.".
Before he could say anything else, I ended the call and collapsed onto the couch. I can't believe my gravestone was going to read 'Death by Werewolf Bite'. And for the first time in seven months, I cried myself to sleep.
∞∞∞∞
"I'm coming! I'm coming! Jeez!".
For the second time that week, I woke up to someone banging down the door. Dragging myself out of my bed, almost missing a step on my down, I flung the front door open.
"Jeez, you look terrible, are you okay?".
Stiles let himself in, going straight to the kitchen.
"Come on in, Stiles. Help yourself.", I grumbled, following him.
Taking two mugs out of the dishrack, he poured us a cup of coffee and sat down on a barstool at the counter.
"What are you doing here?".
I completely ignored the two of them at school earlier that day, and it looked like he wasn't impressed.
"I came to help you figure out how to escape possible death, and I need your help with Scott... Tonight's the full moon which means he's probably going to murder someone...".
Thanking him sarcastically, I signaled for him to continue while I sipped my coffee.
"I tried talking him out of going to the party, but he wouldn't listen and now he's taking Allison and she speeds up his heartbeat like crazy... I have no idea what we're gonna do...", Stiles rambled.
"I can't believe I'm saying this... But we have to go to that party.", I groaned.
"Any chance you have silver arrows stashed away somewhere?", Stiles asked.
I shot him an 'are you being serious' expression.
"Just checking...".
I told him to come pick me up in two hours so I could get ready. I grabbed the only dress I owned, a black loose fitting long-sleeved one that stopped just above the knee with stockings and my black sneakers, I didn't own any heels for obvious reasons- I hated them.
I washed my hair, used an actual hairdryer and decided to straighten my dark brown frizzy nest. If this was going to be my last night, might as well go out with good hair.
When I told my mom I was going to a party, she sounded so proud on the phone. After ending the conversation with an 'I love you', I felt myself tear up, but quickly swallowed the lump in my throat when I heard Stiles hoot outside.
"You doing okay?", he asked after five minutes of driving in silence.
"For someone who could possibly die tonight, I'm feeling fantastic!", I exclaimed with fake enthusiasm.
He didn't say anything until we reached Lydia's house. We struggled to find a spot to park as the place was already packed. Stiles somehow found a way to squish his rusty old jeep close by and I hopped out, clutching my phone tightly. I could feel the anxiety building as we walked to the front door.
Agreeing to split up, Stiles and I went our separate ways. I pushed passed fellow drunk classmates and caught a glimpse of Allison standing on the other side of the house. I started walking towards her when someone grabbed my arm.
"I finally figured out why I recognized you! You... Clean up very nicely... For someone who's mentally unstable...", Jackson slurred, pulling me closer to him.
I immediately broke out of his hold, shoving him hard.
"Touch me again and I swear your nose won't be the only thing I break...", I threatened, our eyes trailing down to his... Well, let's just say he'd probably need to pee through a tube after I was done with him.
He took a step back and gulped, genuinely surprised at my retaliation. I pushed past him and moved to where I last saw Allison, but she was no longer there.
As I retraced my steps, I suddenly felt extremely dizzy and bumped into someone, almost falling backwards. When I looked up to see whose hands were on my waist, I almost had a heart attack.
"Hot forest guy...", I muttered, staring deep into his hazel eyes before shaking my head.
"Lorelai! We gotta go! I just saw him leave!", I heard Stiles shout from across the room.
Immediately, his hands fell away as I turned in Stiles' direction and when I looked back, Derek was gone. Trying to get my heartrate back to normal, I ran after Stiles who was waiting inside his Jeep with the engine running. He took off without whilst I was still buckling my seatbelt.
"Damn it! Stiles! Are you trying to kill me?".
He shot me a look when I realized the words that came out of my mouth. We were passing the preserve when I started to hear the high pitch ringing inside my head again.
"Wait! Stop the car!!!", I yelled as I hit his arm in urgency.
Wide eyed and annoyed at my violence, Stiles pulled up on the side of the road, the breaks screeching as the jeep came to a halt.
"What the hell!?!".
"I can't explain it, but... I think... I think there's something in the preserve! Check if Scott's at home and meet me back here!".
I got out before he could stop me and sprinted into the woods. The volume of the ringing increased the deeper I ran, my legs already knowing where it was supposed to go.
I heard some shouting in the distance and I looked around, trying to find the source. However, someone grabbed me from the back, their hand covering my mouth.
My survival instincts kicked in, and with my right arm free, I elbowed them hard in the ribs, turning around to inflict more damage, but they caught my fist, pulling me closer to them. My body relaxed as soon as I recognized my attacker.
"Shut up or they'll kill us both, including Scott!", Derek whispered harshly.
I nodded quickly as he released his hold on me, but the sound of yelling and someone crying in pain echoed through the trees instantly caused me to almost bolt in its direction. Derek gripped my arm tightly again to stop me.
"There are three ruthless hunters out there ready to shoot on sight. Just stay here.", Derek warned before racing off.
My head pounded as the ringing blasted through my head, and I dropped to my knees.
"You have to help them...", the ghost girl's voice echoed through the trees.
So, this is it, I guess. This is how I'm going to die...
"Lorelai! Are you okay?".
I opened my eyes to see Scott in front of me, his irises a golden yellow. That's when the ringing stopped. I swung my arms around his neck, holding him tight and he returned the hug.
"Stiles said that I was rejecting the bite... We thought I was gonna die...", I choked as I broke our embrace.
I didn't stop the tears from falling this time.
"Who were they?", Scott asked Derek as I sniffled in the background.
"Hunters. The kind that have been hunting us for centuries.", he answered apathetically.
Scott shouted out in frustration, "Us? You mean you! You did this to me!".
"Is it really so bad, Scott? That you can see better? Hear more clearly? Move faster than any human could ever hope? You've been given something that most people would kill for. The Bite is a gift.".
"I don't want it.".
"You will. And you're gonna need me if you want to learn how to control it. So, you and me, Scott? We're brothers now...".
I wiped my face with the sleeve of my dress, clearing my throat. It was time to step up and find out what was happening to me.
"I gather I'm not a werewolf then?", I croaked.
If I'm being honest, I was very happy Derek didn't refer to me being his sister. He cocked his head to the side thoughtfully.
"No. You're something older, something powerful.".
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