The Earth is large. Large enough that you think you can hide from anything. From Fate. From God. If only you found a place far enough away. So you run. To the edge of the Earth. Where all is safe again. Quiet, and warm. The solace of salt air. The peace of danger left behind. The luxury of grief. And maybe, for a moment, you believe you have escaped. You can run far, you can take your small precautions. But have you really gotten away? Can you ever escape? Or is it the truth that you did not have the strength or cunning to hide from destiny? That the world is not small, you are. And, fate can find you anywhere.
Some individuals, it is true, are more special. This is natural selection. It begins as a single individual born or hatched like every other member of their species. Anonymous. Seemingly ordinary. Except they're not. They carry inside them the genetic code that will take their species to the next evolutionary rung. It's destiny.
We all imagine ourselves the agents of our destiny, capable of determining our own fate. But have we truly any choice in when we rise? Or when we fall? Or does a force larger than ourselves bid us our direction? Is it evolution that takes us by the hand? Does science point our way? Or is it God who intervenes, keeping us safe? For all his bluster, it is the sad province of man that he cannot choose his triumph. He can only choose how he will stand when the call of destiny comes, hoping he will have the courage to answer.
Lydia Martin (18) and Matt Daehler (17)
Dallas, Texas
The school was just an ordinary high school. You had the clever people and the not so clever people, the sporty and the not so sporty, the good looking and the really quite unfortunate. The cheerleaders were the most popular of the girls and the football players the most popular of the boys. Everything you would expect in a school. Lydia Martin was a cheerleader, most sought after girl in the school, everything about her was seemingly normal. The only problem? She's far from it.
"Would you stop being such a wuss and do it already? Or am I going to have to do this myself?" Matt Daehler, one of the most unpopular boys in the school, (but a surprising friend of Lydia none the less) stood next to a camera stand, a worried expression on his face.
"Lydia, I really don't think we should be doing this." Lydia sighed and walked over to him, placing her hands on his shoulders. He already knew that she was bound to change his mind somehow, but he was just worried that it wouldn't work; worried that something terrible would happen.
"You trust me, don't you?" Matt reluctantly nodded and Lydia started to smile. "And you know that I wouldn't ask you to do anything if I wasn't one hundred percent sure of it first, right?"
"Well, yeah I know, it's just... What if it doesn't work? What if you're wrong?"
"Then you call an ambulance and we pray I don't die." Matt sighed, smiling a little. "So you'll do it then? Please Matt?" There were so many reasons why he should say no to her, so many things that could go wrong. But he just couldn't do it; he said yesterday that he'd help her so that's what he's going to do.
"Where do you want the camera?" Lydia gave him a quick hug before directing him to the place she wanted to have the camera. It was important they got the shot correct the very first time because this was not something that he was wanting to do again in a hurry and he suspected neither did Lydia, even if it did work as she expected.
The room they were currently standing was an abandoned warehouse somewhere in the middle of nowhere, stacks of equipment used for god knows what piled high around the room. Matt picked up one of the long metal poles off the floor; the pole was pointed at one end, making it incredibly sharp. He pressed his thumb to the tip of the pole, just to see how sharp it really was and winced when he drew blood.
"Well, its sharp enough, Lyd. It's definitely going to go through."
"That's great, Matt, but could you please hurry up? We need to be at school in half an hour and I don't want to be late." Matt brought the pole over to the camera stand so that he could set the camera into the place that they needed it.
"Are you sure you're sure about this? Because if you're wrong, I could get arrested." Lydia moved so that she was stood in line with the camera, ignoring his question, and gestured to him to press play on the camera. He did so and moved over to the side, making sure everything was right before going over the far end of the room, calling over to her. "It's ready!" Lydia gave him a thumbs up before starting.
"My name is Lydia Martin, and this is recorded test number one." Lydia turned so she was facing Matt and nodded, signalling that she was ready. Matt took a deep breath before running as fast as he could towards her, pushing with as much force as he could muster, and letting the pole lodge itself as far into Lydia's chest as it would go.
Lydia staggered back a few paces after the blow, crying out in pain. Matt ran back towards the camera and picked it up off the stand so that he could zoom into where the pole was rammed into her chest. He kept the camera on as she took hold of the pole with both hands and pulled, the pole slowly coming out with a sickening squelch. It was covered in blood as it clattered to the ground, rolling away from them but they both ignored it.
Matt's mouth hung open in shock as he watched the hole in her chest started to heal itself, leaving no sign that there had ever been one there. Lydia looked up at him, a small smile on her face as the wound fully healed.
"Test one complete. I'm still alive."
Matt was by far one of the least popular boys in their year at school, he was in the superheroes club for starters, something that people felt the need to laugh at him for at least twice a day. When Lydia had joined the school the previous year he'd been asked to show her around the school, help her make some new friends. He'd thought she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen, so naturally the popular crowd were the first ones to latch onto her, get he to join their 'inner circle'.
So during school he was just Matt the geek that no one talked to other than the rest of superhero club (Current status of three members), but outside of school Lydia was his best friend. He was glad that he had her to talk to, that he actually had a friend was something he would forever be glad about, but sometimes he wished that she would talk to him inside school as well. He understood why she didn't, not wanting to ruin her 'image', but sometimes he wished that she wouldn't think things like that really mattered.
The entire school day he'd been glad no one really talked to him because he was sire that if they did he'd get too excited and tell everyone about what had happened with Lydia, because if e was honest it was one of the coolest things he had ever seen. Lydia, however, was mostly scared. She was scared that if anyone found out about her... Gift, then they would label her as a freak of nature and she'd be bullied for it. He'd been trusted with the safety of the video they'd made, to make sure that under no circumstances anyone was to ever see it.
So that was how he found himself running down the hallway at the end of school, trying to get her attention as she pretend she couldn't hear a word he was saying.
"Lydia!" Matt ran as fast as he could to try and catch up with her, knocking into people in the process. "Sorry! I am so sorry!" He didn't slow down to make sure he hadn't hurt anyone, carrying on running to get to her before she left.
"Lydia, wait! Please!" He let out a sigh of relief and slowed down when she stopped, turning to face him.
"What is it Matt?" She was checking around herself to make sure that none of her friends were around to see them together. When he reached her he leaned back against the lockers, trying to catch his breath. Lydia folded her arms in annoyance when she was certain her friends weren't around, she lowered her voice when she spoke "Well?"
"Do you have to be so grumpy all the time?" He continued what he was saying when she raised an eyebrow at him, clearly not amused. "Not a time for jokes, I'm sorry. But Huston, we have a problem."
"Not a time for quotes either I'd imagine, what could be a bigger problem than what ever is happening to me?"
"It's a hell of a lot bigger than that, Lyd. Like a million times worse." Lydia rolled her eyes at him.
"Stop exaggerating and just tell me what's happened already!"
"I may have, sort of, most definitely lost the camera." Lydia eyes widened as a look of panic appeared on her face.
"You what?!"
"I lost the ca-" Matt winced and took a step back when Lydia slapped him on the arm.
"I heard you, you idiot! Where did you lose it?"
"If I knew do you not think I would be looking for it right now?" Lydia huffed out a breath and turned on her heel down the corridor, Matt following behind her. He genuinely had no idea who had his camera or where it could be. He'd put it in his locker as soon as they'd gotten to school to ensure that he didn't lose it, apparently he wasn't so careful at making sure no one was watching when he put in the combination as he thought he was. "Lydia, where are you going?"
"I'm going to find the camera, what do you think?"
"Well how are you going to do that? We don't know where it is?" They two of them opened the front doors of the school and headed through the car park to where Matt's bike was chained up.
"I don't know, Matt. But we need to find that video because if someone finds out then..."
"I know, I know. You'll be the town freak." When they reached the bike rack Matt took out his keys to unlock the chain that was keeping his bike secure, putting the chain in his bag and pulling the bike out of its hold.
"And no one likes a freak." Matt looked up at her with a small smile on his face.
"Yeah, I know." Lydia sighed as h started to walk over to the schools exit to leave.
"You're not a freak, Matt." He got on his bike and cycled back home, muttering to himself as he went.
"Tell that to everyone else."
Scott McCall (23)
Seattle, Washington
Scott loved working at the hospital, ever since he was little he would come to the hospital and wait in the staff room whilst his mum was on her shift and wish that he could go and help her. A strange wish for a young child to have, but his wish none the less. His mum, Melissa, worked as a nurse at the hospital and Scott thought that was the greatest thing in the world and had decided that when he grew up he wanted to be just like her.
Now, at the age of twenty-three, he was finally getting to do that. He's currently working as a trainee at his mums' hospital, helping out all the patients he can and he loves it. Loves being able to save people, loves looking after them but most of all he loves that his mum is proud of him. The hospital was always pretty busy so there was never a dull moment; one time a kid he even got to help a kid who'd gotten a Lego brick stuck in his ear, it was awesome.
"McCall, can you come and assist me in here please?" Scott looked over at the man that had called him over, Doctor Harris, and nodded, walking over to where he was standing outside cubicle number fourteen. "Okay, McCall. In there is an Allison Argent. She came in after an accident whilst running, could you please take her to get her wrist x-rayed? I think she's just fractured it but we need to get it checked out in case it's broken, just to be on the safe side."
"Yeah, sure, I'll take her down there now." Scott went to open the curtain when Doctor Harris placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Scott raised an eyebrow when he turned to look at him. "Yes?"
"No dordelling this time, this is not an opportunity to spend some time with your mother. We're busy today, we need you back up here as soon as possible, you got that." Scott nodded and pulled away from him before opening the curtain to talk to Allison. He stopped for a moment to stare when he saw her, taken back by the beauty of the girl sat on the edge of the bed. When she started to laugh he looked around the room properly to see a man, probably her farther, stood in the corner of the room. He smiled at him and tried to stop himself from going red. Going over to the other side of the bed, he got the wheelchair that was there and pushed it over to where Allison was sat.
"Would you mind sitting in the chair please?" Allison frowned, looking confused at the wheelchair.
"Why? Where am I going?"
"Sorry, I should have mentioned that." Scott glanced over at the man in the corner of the room when he spoke up.
"Yes, you should have done. Isn't that the first thing you should have mentioned? What happened to Doctor Harris?" The man was quite tall; he had strong features and dark blond hair. He looked like the sort of man that would do well in a fight and Scott didn't like him all that much.
"Dad, can you please not do this here? Not now." Scott watched as Allison laid a hand on her fathers arm to stop him from saying anything else. He nodded and took a step so that he was closer to the bed. "I'm sorry, what were you saying." Scott turned his attention back to Allison before continuing.
"You urm... You need to go down and get your arm x-rayed, just to make sure it's not broken." She pushed herself off the bed with her good hand, her father putting a hand on her shoulder to stop her from going anywhere.
"Why does she need that?" He gestured to the wheelchair at his daughter's feet. "She can walk just fine; it's her wrist that's injured, not her feet." Allison looked up at her father and pushed his hand off her shoulder before sitting in the chair.
"Just leave it, Dad. It's fine." Scott turned the chair round and pushed it out of the cubicle, stopping to close the curtain again, stopping anyone from taking the room whilst they were gone.
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to wait by reception whilst I take your daughter down for an x-ray." The man folded his arms and moved to stand next to his daughter.
"Yeah, and why's that? Why can't I go with her?"
"Just hospital procedure, Sir. Only patients and staff are allowed down there." The man glared at Scott for a few seconds before bending down to kiss his daughters cheek. After getting up again he took a few reluctant steps back so that they could leave.
"I'll just wait for you over there then." Allison smiled and waved with her good hand as Scott pushed the wheelchair in the direction of the x-ray rooms. Scott was glad to be away from the man, he never liked having to deal with stubborn family members, especially not the ones that looked like they could very easily beat him up.
They went to the x-ray room in silence for a while; he didn't really know what to say to her. So he was thankful, when after a few minutes, Allison spoke up.
"I'm sorry about my Dad; he's a little bit..."
"Scary?" Allison laughed at him, for the second time that day, and shook her head, turning a bit in the chair to look up at him.
"I was going to say protective, but I guess scary works too." Scott smiled at her and stopped the wheelchair to open the door, pushing it enough that it would stay open on its own. He returned to the chair and pushed it through, pushing the door shut again with his foot before continuing towards the x-ray rooms.
"So, Doctor Harris told me it was a running accident?" Allison sighed and turned back around in the chair.
"Before you make any judgments, I'm a great runner."
"I'm sure you're a brilliant runner." Allison smiled; Scott turned the corner and pulled open the door to the x-ray department as she continued talking.
"Thank you. I guess it was my fault really; I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going. I didn't expect there to be many people walking around because it's quite early. This woman came out of the coffee shop just ahead of me and I ran into her, we fell, I busted my wrist and she got covered in coffee. I think she's in here too because she burnt her arm. Do you think I should go and apologise?" Scott couldn't help but laugh as he pushed her into the department, stopping at the reception to wait for someone to come over. "Hey, don't laugh, I'm in hospital!"
"Oh come on, you have to admit that it's a bit funny."
"Okay fine, maybe a little bit. But it still really hurt and I'm sure that poor woman hates me right now."
"You don't seem like am easy person to hate to me." Allison smiled at him and turned to the woman that had just come over to talk to them. Scott told the nurse that he'd brought her down to get her arm x-rayed and asked them to page Doctor Harris when they had the results so he could get Scott to come and collect them. The nurse nodded and took Allison's documents from Scott to get them checked over.
"Well, good luck with your x-ray. I have to be getting back." Allison looked back up at him as he spoke, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear.
"Thank you, ermm..."
"Scott. My names Scott."
"Well thank you Scott, will you be coming back to get me after the x-ray?"
"I can if you'd like me too."
"Yeah, I'd like that."
Erica Reyes, Isaac Lahey and Vernon Boyd (19)
Phoenix, Arizona
"Happy Birthday, Erica!" Erica dropped her hands from her eyes and gasped in shock when she saw the garden. The boys had decorated it with red and blue balloons; there were lights hanging from the trees; a banner saying 'Happy 19th Birthday' hanging between two trees and a fire glowing in the middle of the garden. She turned around to her friends and pulled them both in for a hug.
"Thank you, guys. This is amazing!" She pulled away from the two of them excitedly and went over to the fire, the three of them sitting down on the log that was on the floor beside it. Isaac put an arm around her and pulled her in for a hug again.
"We're glad you like it, took us a while to convince mum to let us do it." Erica looked up at him and frowned.
"How come?"
"She wasn't convinced that we wouldn't burn the garden down with the fire." Erica laughed and shook her head, her mum loved her garden almost as much as she loved her and Isaac, and that was a lot.
Erica used the have a small family, just her and her mum, but when Isaac's family died in a car crash her mum had stepped up and adopted him. That had been ten years ago and the two of them had been best friends ever since, they may not be biological brother and sister but he was family none the less. They met Boyd when they moved to high school, now he spent more time at their home than he did his own. Boyd and Isaac were as much her family as her mum was and she wouldn't have it any other way.
They spent the rest of the night out in the garden, roasting marshmallows on the fire and talking about anything that came to mind. Boyd's new position on the football team, Erica getting into the acting class she wanted too and Isaac finally getting the courage to talk to the girl that he had a massive crush on. A perfectly normal day between the three of them, nothing out of the ordinary.
At around half eleven, Erica's mum came out to talk to them.
"Hey Sweetie." Erica smiled when her mum lent down and kissed her on the head. "Happy Birthday."
"Thanks mum, for letting them do this, it's amazing."
"You're right, it does look pretty cool. I brought the camera out, thought I could get a group picture?" Erica got up off the log, pulled Isaac up then turned to Boyd holding out her hands. Boyd didn't make any move to get up, just frowning from his seat.
"Come on, just one picture? For me?" Boyd sighed and took hold of her hands to help pull himself up. Erica smiled and hugged him before going over to where her mum was directing Isaac to stand under the banner. She put her arms around the two of them and they all smiled for the picture. Then one picture turned into two and then three because apparently 'the lighting wasn't right'.
"Mum, I think we've got enough now."
"Just one more?" Erica smiled and went over to her mum and pushed her gently in the direction of the house, taking the camera off her. "Okay, okay. I'm going." She looked over her shoulder to call over to them as she walked back to the house. "You three have fun and don't make too much noise or you'll wake up the neighbours!"
"We won't, night mum."
"Night sweetie." Erica waved at her mum as she shut the door, turning back to her friends as she shut the door. Boyd was making his way over to look at the pictures when he tripped on the log, falling backwards towards Isaac. Isaac quickly put his hands out in front of him, ready to catch him as he fell; Erica dropped the camera in shock when instead of falling into Isaac's arms as they'd expected Boyd continued to fall, passing straight through Isaac's body and landing in a heap on the floor.
Isaac span round as fast as he could, both hands patting his chest to try and figure out what the hell has just happened. Boyd was laying on the floor doing the same thing, Erica crouched down next to him to make sure that he was okay. She knew logically that there was nothing that was okay about what happened but she was trying to block it out of her mind and just make sure that he wasn't injured. She stood up when she seen that he was fine, she tried to take his hand to pull him up but when she did his hand passed straight through hers, leaving her hand tingling like she had pins and needles.
Boyd huffed and got up from the floor himself, staring at his hands in disbelief. Erica started to back up towards the tree; she needed to use it to keep upright because at the rate things were going she felt like her legs were going to give way from shock any minute. When she reached the tree she put a hand against it to steady herself, as soon as she touched it she knew something was wrong because the area around her hand was really warm, she frowned and put her other hand against the tree and, sure enough, it was hot there as well. Just as she was about to ask Isaac to come and have a look, tendrils of fire started to poor out of hands and surround the tree.
She let out a yelp as she backed away from the tree, watching the fire spread up the tree, the banner catching light and falling to ash on the ground. When the flames finally settled all of the leaves hand burnt off and the bark of the tree was a pitch black, two hand prints had been burnt into the side of the tree right where her hands were.
"What the hell just happened?" Isaac walked over to her to make sure she was okay but she quickly backed away from him. "No, don't touch me; I don't want to hurt you."
"Erica, you need to calm down." Erica lifted a hand up, using the sleeve of her jacket to rub at her eyes when she felt tears fall down her face. Isaac had stopped near the burnt tree, staring at the black hand prints left on the trunk.
"How the hell am I meant to calm down Isaac? I just set fire to a tree by touching it and Boyd just passed right through you! How can I be calm about any of that?!"
"I don't know! I'm still trying to figure it out myself." Isaac moved away from the tree over to where Boyd was sitting. "Maybe Boyd passing through us was just a fluke; I bet you I can grab his arm now."
Isaac reached out and grabbed hold of Boyd arm but pulled back as soon as he'd touched him, Boyd screaming in pain and grabbing hold of his arm, moving away from him.
Isaac looked down at his hands in panic, not understanding what he'd just done. There were no marks on his hands, nothing to suggest he'd done it but Boyd's arm was living proof. A large red mark was covering his skin, a mark the exact size and shape of Isaac's hand. He glanced over at Erica to see that she was starting to cry even more.
"Now do you understand why I can't be calm?" Isaac nodded and sat down on the ground, he looked terrified of what he'd done to Boyd. Erica watched as a tear fell down Isaac's face, he went to wipe it away but stopped before his hand could touch his face, too scared of what might happen if he touched it.
Stiles Stilinski (20)
Los Angeles, California
Stiles woke up with a splitting headache, not for the first time this week. He'd barely been getting any sleep because of them and they were starting to really piss him off. He was having a hard enough time at University without being sleep deprived. He'd had nearly finished his second year of studying Criminology and if he was honest with himself, he wasn't enjoying it as much as he'd once hoped.
His father was the Sheriff of the police force in their town and he'd always be bringing home the case files for the crimes that had been going on. Stiles would always try to get a look at the files, try to help his dad in anyway that he could, he was actually pretty good at it, helping to piece things together that his dad just couldn't see. The problem was, now that he was learning it all, now that he was working his way to becoming an officer himself he found that he didn't want it, that he didn't want to follow in his dads footsteps anymore. He wanted to do something different with his life.
He didn't know what had brought on his sudden change of heart but he knew his dad would not be happy if he found out, he'd spent a lot of money to get him to where he was and he wasn't about to flush it down the drain. Not yet anyway.
It was five am, way to early to be awake but he couldn't get back to sleep because of the pain in his head so he got up, got dressed and decided to go for a walk; use the fresh air to try and clear his mind. Since the university was relatively small, students could stay on the campus throughout their entire course if they wanted to instead of having to move out, which was useful as he was rarely late for any of his lessons. Most people chose not to but since he was a bit short on money he couldn't afford to rent anywhere with his friends, so he stayed.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets as he walked towards the coffee shop that was just off campus, open 24/7, for reasons he didn't really understand but was grateful for none the less. There weren't really many people in when he got there, big surprise there, but he did recognise some people from the year above him over in the corner. He went and sat down on one of the stools by the counter and waited for someone to come out from the back room to ask him what he wanted. A couple minutes later someone came out to serve him, he smiled when he noticed who it was.
"Hi Heather." She smiled back and lent over the counter to give him a hug.
"Morning Stiles! Bit early for you isn't it?" She pulled away from him as he nodded.
"I felt the need for change; see what it felt like to be up early. I really don't see why people do it, I'm exhausted." Heather laughed as she busied herself with making his usual. The two of them had met last year and were close friends, he'd probably say that she was his best friend actually. They both took the same course so he saw her nearly every day, she'd moved to a flat off campus though so he didn't see her as much as he used to. That was why she was working at the Coffee Shop, trying to get the money to pay the rent. Heather placed the mug of coffee in front of him and frowned when she noticed how tired he looked.
"Are you having trouble sleeping?" Stiles nodded and took a sip of his coffee, wincing and putting it down when it burnt his tongue. "How come?"
"I've just been getting these really bad head aches, I'm sure it's nothing."
"Well you look like shit" Stiles scoffed and looked up at her.
"Thanks, really helping."
"I didn't say anything..." Stiles frowned; he'd definitely heard her speak.
"But you just said I looked like shit, I just heard you say it." Heather moved around the counter so the she could sit on the stool next to him.
"Well I definitely think it; I wasn't going to say it out loud."
"But I heard-"
"Stiles, you look shattered, you look like you'll fall asleep any minute. You're probably just not thinking strait." Stiles closed his eyes and rested his forehead on his hands.
"Yeah, you're probably right."
"Of course I'm right, I'm always right." Stiles smiled at her and picked up his coffee, taking another drink of it and nearly chocking on it at what he heard next.
"I wonder if she'd have sex with me if I asked." He quickly swallowed his drink to stop himself from spitting it all over the place and looked round the room to see who'd said it. He figured it must have been someone pretty close as the voice was quite loud. It was a male voice but the only other guys in the room were too far away for it to have been them. He turned back to face Heather when she placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You okay?" Stiles nodded, looking over her shoulder to see if it was anyone on the other side of the room but there was no one there.
"Yeah, I just thought I heard something, it was probably just..."
"Help me, please someone help me!" Stiles frowned and looked around the room again, this voice was a girls, but again none of the girls in the room were close enough for it to be them. "Please! Please help me!" Stiles closed his eyes and pressed the heels of his hands against his temple. He could have swore the voice was coming from inside his head, the pleas for help getting louder and more panicked every time he heard them, but they were a bit fuzzy as if they were having trouble getting to him. He barely even noticed Heather shaking him to get him to look at her.
"Stiles? Stiles what's wrong? Stiles!" Stiles got up from his stool, ignoring Heather, and walked out of the coffee shop, hoping the breeze would help sooth his head but as soon as he stepped outside the pleas just got louder, as if he was getting closer to the source of the voice. He didn't want to believe that he really was hearing voices in his head because that was ridiculous, just things that happened in films, not real life. It was insane but he had the feeling that if he tried to find the girl that was screaming in his head for help then he'd be able to get it to stop. That was how it worked in films right? The hero saved the girl and all his problems were solved.
Letting out a large breath of air Stiles focused on the voice, trying to figure out where it was coming from.
"Please! Please some help me! Please!" It felt like the voice was coming from the right, if someone were to ask him how he knew he wouldn't have been able to tell them but it just felt right so that was the direction he headed. He knew he was right when the voice got clearer and clearer the further he ran in that direction and soon he was stood outside of an abandoned warehouse just on the outskirts of town. He heard a loud bang coming from the building and then the scream of a girl, this time it wasn't in his head. He felt glad that the voice had momentarily stopped for all of two seconds until he released that someone was in danger in there and he was the only one there to help them.
"Oh my god, what is my life?" Stiles muttered to himself before running into the building, following the sounds that were being made towards the back of the building. "Hello?" He tried calling out to whoever was in there but he got no response. "Are you okay?" Still no response. He continued through the building until he reached a pile of rubble from what was obviously a fallen wall, there was still dust filling the air from when it had fallen so he was having trouble seeing anything ahead of him. He tried to talk to the person again. "Are you okay? Are you in there?"
"Oh thank god! Please, help me! I'm stuck!" Stiles let out a sigh of relief when the girl responded, trying not to be freaked out that her voice was exactly the same as the one in his head as he tried to find a way around the brick wall. He saw a small opening to his left and went over to it; it wasn't quite large enough for him to fit through. There was a wooden plank on the right of the gap so he pushed it up to make the gap larger but abruptly stopped when it caused the girl to scream in panic as the bricks that were leaning against it started to fall over the other side of the broken wall.
"Sorry! I'm sorry! I'm just trying to get through to help you." Stiles was starting to panic, he had no idea what he was doing and from the noises the girl kept making she sounded like she was in immense pain. "How did you get over there in the first place?"
"There's a door down the end of the room your in, you can-" The girl's voice was blocked out by the wooden pole Stiles had been moving fell to the floor, sending more bricks falling to the ground. Stiles was really starting to see the urgency of the situation, the wooden plank seemed to be one the only thing that was stopping the metal beams that kept the roof up from collapsing in on themselves, and now that it had fallen they were starting to creak.
"Okay, okay find the door." Stiles quickly walked the length of the room looking for the door, when he found if he grinned, pushing it open and running over to where he could now see a girl laying on the floor, the fallen brick covering her lower half completely. She was struggling to get out from under them, blood trickling down her head from a large gash on her forehead. She looked over at him when he came closer, the look of panic on her face made him even more worried about the situation. He knelt down next to her to see how he could get her out without the bricks falling down on both of them.
"You're going to be fine; I'm going to get you out of here. I'm Stiles, what's your name?"
"Cora, my names Cora. Please get me out of here!" Stiles picked up one of the bricks experimentally and was glad when nothing else fell, he continued moving the bricks off her stomach until she could sit up properly. The two of them looked up at the beams when they creaked again, knocking a few bricks behind Stiles, just missing them. "Pull me out." Stiles looked at her then, the panic in her voice scaring him.
"What?"
"Please just pull me out, it might work. I can't feel my legs, please!" Stiles nodded and moved so that he was stood behind her, he crouched down and wrapped his arms around her waist, ready to pull her out.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" She looked over her shoulder at him, tears now falling down her face.
"Just do it! Please!" Stiles took a deep breath before he stood, pulling her as hard as he could. The two of them fell in a pile on the floor as she was freed from the rubble; Stiles quickly got up and pulled her further away from the rubble as it started to fall, the beams creaking dangerously above them. Realising that pulling her was taking to long he hooked his arm under her legs and pulled her up so that he was carrying her, her arms wrapped around his neck and her head buried in his neck.
"Please get me out of here." Stiles moved as fast as he could back the way he had come, making it out of the building just in time for one of the beams to fall with a loud bang, making the outside walls of the room they'd just been in cave in on themselves. As soon as he knew that they were out of danger he sat down again the wall of the building next to them, Cora situated on his lap, still crying. He looked down at her legs and cringed at the sight; her left ankle was definitely broken, it was twisted in a weird angle that shouldn't really have been possible. She also had numerous cuts and bruises all over her body, the cut on her head had stopped bleeding, the blood now drying against her scalp. Stiles moved slightly so that he could get his phone out of his pocket, dialling the number for an ambulance.
He sat holding her until one finally arrived.
Kate Argent (29) and Derek Hale (24)
Beacon Hills, California
"Derek, these paintings are amazing! I think they're my favourites." Kate spun round to face him wrapping her arms around his neck and planting a quick kiss on his lips. She smiled when he put his arms around her and pulled her in closer.
"You really think so? Do you think they'll like them?"
"Derek, they're your parents, they'd love them even if they were crap. Stop worrying about it."
"It's just important to me that they like them." Kate smiled up at him and ran her fingers through his hair.
"I know it is, you've been working on these for weeks. But I promise you, they'll love them." She kissed him again before turning so she had her back pressed against his chest, his arms still securely wrapped around her waist.
The paintings were truly brilliant; there were three of them, one long canvas and two smaller square ones to go on either side. They depicted his family. His mother and father, one on each of the square canvases; and Derek, his two sisters, Laura and Cora on the longer canvas. The paintings were an anniversary present for his parents, thirty years together. This was the first time Kate had seen the paintings, he hadn't wanted her to see them until they were ready but she was glad for the wait. She wasn't lying when she said they were her favourites.
Derek had started to get into painting in high school, finding that art lessons were one of the only things in school where he really understood everything the teacher was telling him. Most of his artwork had a theme; they tended to be focused on animals, mainly wolves. He'd recently started work on drawing comic books about people with super powers, the most recent edition about a boy with the ability to stop time named Jackson, and his friend Danny who could teleport.
Kate took the time to look around the studio at all the other paintings in the room, her gaze falling on two in the corner of the room.
"When did you paint those ones? I don't remember seeing them yesterday." Derek followed her gaze and frowned at what he saw.
"I don't even remember doing those." Kate pulled away from his grip and went over to get a better look at them, Derek following her over. One was of a man who looked to be in his late teens, possibly early twenties, moles dotted over his skin; stood next to an older man dressed in police uniform, possibly his father by the looks of him. The two of them seemed to be arguing over something. In the second painting a boy, who seemed to be in high school, was stood with a camera filming a girl of the same age, with what looked to be a metal pole stuck in her chest.
"Derek, these are really good. Are you sure you don't remember painting them?" Derek stood next to her, still frowning.
"I don't know, I really don't remember doing them at all. Must have done them a while ago, I guess."
"Son, that second one is quite disturbing, what on earth made you paint that?" Both Derek and Kate turned round at the sound of Mr Hales voice to see Derek's parents stood by the door; Derek smiled and went over to greet them. Kate studied the paintings a little longer before reluctantly following Derek over to his parents.
"Mr and Mrs Hale, it's lovely to see you." Now this Kate was lying about, she disliked the Hales almost as much as they disliked her. Mrs Hale looked her up and down, smiling slightly in acknowledgement before turning her attention back to her son. Kate wasn't particularly well liked by Derek's family; they thought she was too old for him. She'd understood it when they'd first started dating, Derek was only seventeen at the time and she was twenty two, a five year age difference that she even questioned a little back then. But after seven years together she had hoped they would understand that they loved each other and would be a bit nicer to her. Unfortunately she had no such luck and Derek never even seemed to notice that they didn't get along, either that or he just chose to ignore it.
"Laura said you had something you wanted to show us?" Derek nodded and went over to the three paintings to answer his mother's question.
"I made you these, for your anniversary." Derek scratched the back of his head nervously as his parents came to look at the paintings. Kate took hold of his other hand and squeezed it gently. "I thought you might like them."
"Oh Derek, these are lovely. Are they from-..?"
"The pictures we took with Cora before she went to University, yeah." Mrs Hale smiled fondly at the memory.
"Ah, yes. I remember. Speaking of your sister, she's back next for the summer holidays so you best come round to see her, I bet she's missed you terribly."
"Yeah, of course. We'll definitely come over." Mr Hale glanced over at Kate for a second before his eyes fell back on Derek.
"I think maybe just you should come, Derek, we don't want to crowd him with people as soon as he gets back. No offence, Katherine."
"None taken, Sir." Derek looked down at Kate to see if she was okay with it and she nodded, having already expected not to be invited to come. Not really wanting to spend more time with the Hales than was absolutely necessary, Kate excused herself.
"I'll leave you three to talk." Derek kissed her on the forehead and told her he'd be up in a little bit before turning back to tall to his parents.
Kate made her way upstairs to hers and Derek's bedroom whilst he continued talking to his parents. She sat down on the edge of the bed and rested her forehead in her hands, a headache starting to form. She'd been getting headaches all week and they were getting worse every time she got one which was starting to worry her a bit. She'd been to the doctors and they thought it was just down to stress, but what she was stressing about she didn't know.
By the time Derek's parents had left, her headache had finally subsided. She wished that Derek's parents would like her; she didn't understand what she'd done wrong to make them continue to dislike her, but she was determined to find out. She sort of hated them for it, she'd never been anything but kind to the entire family and they wouldn't even acknowledge her if Derek wasn't in the room.
When Derek climbed into the bed behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist she smiled, opening her eyes to look at the two of them in the mirror, what she wasn't expecting to see was not one, but two of her in the mirror. The second reflection was stood at the end of the bed, grinning at her, a lighter in her hand. She closed her eyes tight, hoping she was just imagining things because when she opened her eyes again the reflection was gone. Blaming it on the medication she'd taken she moved back so she was pressed against Derek's back and tried to get some sleep.
Kate woke up with her head resting on Derek's chest, his fingers running through her hair. The familiar heat was enough to make her want to curl up into his side and just go to sleep again, but by the light coming through the window she figured it was getting to be around ten o'clock already. She smiled when his hand stopped to rest on her cheek, glancing up so that she could see him.
"Morning." She said, causing Derek to smile back at her and lean in to kiss her on the forehead.
"Morning. You feeling any better?" Kate sat up in the bed, confused.
"I'm fine, why do you ask?"
"You got up at about two, said you weren't feeling very well." Derek pushed himself up so that he was also sitting, pressing a hand gently to her forehead. "Do you not remember that?"
"No, I don't remember anything. How long was I gone?" Derek dropped his hand down to take hold of both of hers.
"I don't know, you told me to go back to sleep, I don't remember hearing you come back to bed. You're probably just not awake enough to remember it all yet." Kate sighed and rubbed at her eyes, glancing over at the mirror near the bed. She froze when she was able to confirm her suspicions from last night, there were again two reflections in the mirror, the other reflection was currently running it's hands down Derek's bare chest.
"Stop it."
"I didn't do anything." Kate shook her head and looked back at him.
"No, not you, her." Kate looked back into the mirror, the other reflection still pressed up against Derek's side, kissing up his neck. Kate watched the mirror as Derek followed her gaze to look at it, trying to see what it was that she was seeing.
"Kate it's just you, there's no one else there." The reflection winked at her before completely disappearing leaving her confused and a little bit scared. "Maybe you should try and get some more sleep; you're probably just imagining things.
"Yeah." Kate ran her hands through her hair and let out a sigh, smiling at him and kissing his cheek. "Yeah you're right, it's probably nothing."
Please let me know what your thoughts about this were, all comments would be greatly appreciated!
- Jess