Hey everyone! If you've read my other stories, hopefully you'll read and enjoy this one too! If not, hello to you new reader and the same goes, I hope you enjoy!
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"Scott, I just…Scott, I can't…Ugh this all sounds so pathetic…" Stiles spoke quietly to himself as he paced on the front door step of the McCall house. This had always been his second home, a place to go when he needs somewhere to hang out and relax, a place to get away from the outside world; but right now…well, now it was the single cause of the anxiety brewing in the pit of his stomach.
Suddenly the door opened and Scott and Stiles nearly almost smacked faces when Stiles spun around to see who was coming out. "Oh hey man, sorry, didn't know you'd be out here," Scott apologized with the same lopsided smile that Stiles has seen for so many years now. They'd been like brothers since the day they meant when they were three, and that was exactly what was making Stiles so nervous now. "What are you doing here anyway?" Scott asked as he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, trying to think if he forgot any plans he made with his best friend.
"You're okay, right?! Is something wrong?!" Scott quickly asked after realizing they didn't have plans to hang out. He knew Stiles had been suffering a lot lately after the whole Nogistune incident, they all were in fact, but Stiles was definitely having the hardest time dealing with everything—understandably since it was him who was possessed.
Stiles quickly reassured his worried best friend. "Nah man, I'm fine. Well, I mean as fine as I can be at this point I guess," he said as an afterthought. None of them could say they were truly okay. Scott lost his first love. Lydia lost her best friend and the guy she'd been casually seeing. Isaac lost his new girlfriend. Kira's world was shifted upside down. Stiles' dad was constantly worried about him, never wanting to leave him alone for more than a half hour at a time. The physical toll these past few years took on them was almost nonexistent—after Stiles was hospitalized to get back to better health at least—but the emotional toll was excruciating and never-ending. They'd been through so much since being thrust into the supernatural world, but this past incident with the Nogistune seemed to push them even farther into the darkness and for Stiles, it was swallowing him alive.
Scott's face instantly brightened again when Stiles said he was okay. But then the confusion sunk in again when he realized he still didn't know why Stiles was even here. They had parted ways after school that day, and Scott was actually just leaving to go see Kira. Even though Scott and Kira had grown apart slightly as Scott dealt with his first love's death, eventually they began hanging out again. "So not to be rude, but why are you here then?" Scott repeated his question from earlier.
Stiles bounced on his feet slightly as he rubbed his sweaty palms together, staring at the concrete front step, desperately trying to think of what to say. He knew what he had to tell his best friend, he just couldn't seem to find the right words—if there were any right words—or even his voice at this point. "I, uh, I actually have to tell you something. It's pretty important actually…" Stiles muttered out, still clueless as to how to deliver the news to Scott. Stiles looked up at his friend's face, which was filled with concern by this point, and he knew he couldn't keep dragging it out. He would have to come clean now or never, and unfortunately never wasn't an option. "I'm leaving, Scott," Stiles simply stated, voice unwavering, though inside his emotions were like a volcano on the very brink of eruption.
Scott's face faltered, not being able to tell if his best friend was serious or not. He couldn't think of why Stiles would be joking about this, but at the same time, it was Stiles, so you could never really be sure. "What do you mean?" he finally asked, not knowing what else to say because he still couldn't even comprehend what Stiles had said in the first place.
"I'm, uh, my dad and I are leaving. We're moving. Tonight," Stiles answered, staring at his dirty old shoes because he couldn't bear to look Scott in the eyes. Even without werewolf hearing, Stiles could hear Scott's breathing start to pick up and become slightly erratic as the realization of what he said set in.
"What?! Why?! Stiles, you can live with us! You don't have to leave!" Scott pleaded with him, thinking it wasn't Stiles' choice to leave. As Scott kept rambling about talking to Mr. Stilinski about leaving Stiles here, Stiles took a deep breath and put his hand on his friend's shoulder. Instantly, Scott stopped talking and looked right at Stiles, which nearly cracked Stiles' resolve as he saw the panicky look in Scott's brown eyes. He knew what he had to do though. He had to stick this out.
"Scott, it's my choice…I want to leave…I was actually the one who asked my dad…" Stiles admitted to his friend, immediately seeing the heartbreak and confusion cloud the later's face.
"But…why?" Scott simply asked, not knowing how else to phrase the question or anything to add to it. If he was going to convince Stiles to stay, then he had to know why he wanted to leave in the first place.
Stiles looked at his friend—the tears brimming in his eyes, the distressed look on his face, the slight shake of his hands as the panic set in. Stiles hated to see him like this, especially when he knew that he was the exact cause for it, but it had to be done. At first he considered just leaving, taking off without telling any of his friends, but in his heart, he knew he couldn't do that. It wasn't who he was. "I can't take it here anymore, Scott. I can't take walking the halls of school five days a week, seeing Allison and Aiden's memorials on their lockers. I can't take seeing Lydia's swollen eyes from crying herself to sleep the night before. I can't take witnessing Isaac becoming the same withdrawn loner again that he was before he became a werewolf. I can't take you, my best friend since I was three years old, suffer from depression and panic attacks after losing someone so important to him, knowing full well that I was the cause of it," Stiles admitted, not even noticing that tears began to stream down his pale cheeks as he talked. The worst part was, that was just the sheer beginning of the reasons he was leaving. He could've went on for hours to go through the list of all the reasons he had to get away from this town. The bad memories now outweighed the good and that was simple, single reason why he was leaving.
"Stiles…please…don't go…" Scott quietly pleaded, his own tears freely falling now. He hadn't even realized how badly his friend was dealing with all of this. He was too wrapped up in his own depression, too busy dealing with his own problems. But he couldn't lose his best friend now, not after everything they've been through together. He knew he couldn't have made it through these past couple years without Stiles, and he couldn't even imagine having to make it through the next however many years without him. "Please dude, I'm begging you, don't go…" Scott cried to his best friend.
It truly broke Stiles heart to hear his friend completely tearing apart from the inside, all because of him, yet again. "I'm sorry, Scott…I just…I have to go…" Stiles quietly responded, not knowing what else to say. He'd made up his mind and wasn't going to let himself or his guilt change his decision. It was for the best. For everyone. He would get to start fresh, get out of this cursed town, and his friends wouldn't have to see the reason for the pain they felt every morning, afternoon, and night. This move was going to create the space needed for everyone to heal. "I'm sorry…" Stiles said once again before he hugged his best friend tightly, though Scott's body pretty much remained limp from shock and anguish.
After a few seconds, Stiles let go of his best friend and began walking to his baby blue Jeep forcing himself to keep walking and not look back because if he did, he didn't know if he'd be able to leave.
Once he was steadily driving down the street, on the way to his next destination, Stiles finally let himself release the deep breath that he'd been holding in. He knew the hardest part was over. Now he just had to finish the job by dropping off the letters he wrote to the others. He knew he wouldn't be able to say goodbye to all of them, for reasons of time and emotional trauma, so he took the time over the past week to write them each a letter, explaining his reasoning and apologizing once again for all the pain he caused them. Maybe it wasn't fair to say goodbye in a letter, but it was all he could manage at this point.
"Hey kiddo, you almost ready?" Sheriff Stilinski asked his son as he stood in the doorway to Stiles' room, or former room now. He couldn't help but look around at the empty navy blue walls which had been covered in posters just a few hours ago. It was a sad sight as the realization hit him that they were actually moving out of the first and only house that he and his wife had bought together, but he knew this move was for the best. He couldn't bear to see Stiles suffer from living in this town any longer. Every night Stiles would still wake up from nightmares, some nights worse than others, but every night nonetheless. A fresh start would be just what he needed, what both of them needed. Even though the Sheriff didn't show it much since he felt he needed to be strong for Stiles, this whole supernatural world had really got the better of him. He hated the eerie chills that would run up his spine when he was on a strange call at work, or the way that every time his phone rang, he would have a moment of panic shoot through him, praying that it wouldn't be another call that his son was missing. Yeah, you could say that he definitely needed a new start in a safe place free of all supernatural entities—or at least to their knowledge—with his son.
"Yeah Dad, I'm just saying my last goodbye, I guess," Stiles replied to his father. It was definitely bittersweet. He wouldn't miss this town given all the horrible memories it held, but he would miss this house and the memories it held within it—memories of growing up, like the marks on his door frame that his mother made for every few inches he would grow; or the dent in his wall from the time Scott and him were tossing a lacrosse ball back and forth when Stiles saw a certain strawberry blonde ride by on her bicycle and was so distracted that he didn't realize Scott tossing the ball back to him. But he had to remember why he was doing this. He was doing this to better his life and all of those close to him. He would make new fond memories and so would they, that's just what he had to keep telling himself as he picked up the last bag off the floor and closed the door behind him as he left his room on Chestnut Street for the final time.
"All ready to go," Stiles declared to his dad who was already sitting in the driver's seat of his SUV when Stiles hopped into the passenger's seat. Stiles' had decided to sell his Jeep as the final purge to begin a fresh new start, and they agreed to go used car shopping when they arrived in the new town, so for now, Stiles and his dad were driving to that town together.
"Alright then, any more stops to make?" his dad asked him while backing out of the driveway, even though Stiles had already told him he'd taken care of everything he needed to. Stiles shook his head "no" as an answer but kept silent. They were on the road to their new life, literally and figuratively. In a few hours, they would be in their new town of Aldepine, California and on the road to a new life. Goodbye and farewell, Beacon Hills.