Part One | Prologue
The very first thing she does when she wakes up and sees she is in a forest is panic. She's looking here and there as she tries her best to find even a speck of light in the dark woods. A million thoughts were in her mind, and she felt her heart pound as they made things worse.
"Help!" She screams out, voice cracking halfway. She winces as she notices her mouth is dry like the Sahara Desert.
She shakes it off, though, and continues to scream. "Please! Somebody, help!" Her voice wavers again.
She does this for what felt like many hours to her. And then a light is blinding her. It's from a flashlight. She squints her eyes to avoid the brightness, and there are crunching sounds from the leaves being stepped on. She shakes from the cold, breathing out frost.
"What are you out here for?" A man in uniform asks, and she looks at his badge to only realize he's a sheriff.
How was she going to explain this to him?
"Umm...I-I don't know," She stammers, "I just woke up here not that long ago." Her face gets hot in embarrassment as the sheriff gets closer to her and gives her a cautious or suspicious (she couldn't tell which one) one-over.
"Are you on drugs? Have you been drinking?" He says, and she immediately shakes her head.
"N-no sir. I don't think I've ever done that. Or will." She mutters the last part to herself as the man points his flashlight somewhere else, looking around.
Now that there was at least a bit of light, the girl could see that there were a couple of trees where they were at. And lots and lots of fallen leaves and branches. How did she get here? Something big must of happened for her to not recall any of her memories.
"Look, miss," The Sheriff starts to say and she looks up at him with doe eyes, "Can you tell me your name?"
She frowns. "My name?" She enunciates slowly, and the Sheriff sighs.
"Yes. Do you know your name?"
Zaria...her name is Zaria...
Or, she just probably came up with it. But it was better than nothing.
"My name's Zaria-I think." She exclaims. The man nods to himself, and tugs his radio to his face.
"Code 920F. Found child-"
Zaria starts to zone out, looking around the area where his light beamed at. The area was clear and empty, but it gave her a slight chill that she wouldn't want to know why. Does she have a family waiting for her? Does anyone even know who she is here? What if she came from somewhere else faraway and just so happened to pass out here in the woods? She was desperate to figuring out what happened to her.
"Ma'am-" She looks back at the Sheriff to see a pained yet tired expression on his face. "No one has been reported to have a missing girl. So, for now, you're coming with me."
Her heart dropped in her stomach. "Am I going to an orphanage? Will I be going someplace bad?"
The man looks up, and shakes his head. "Not really. But...uh...it's something, really."
He looks down at her, and gives her a semi-encouraging smile mixed with a need for sleep. "Come on, you'll be okay for tonight."
After an hour of shopping and grabbing something to eat, Zaria and the Sheriff, whose name is Noah Stilinski, get to his house safe and sound. She quickly gets accustomed to him, which she guess is a good thing as she had to spend who knows how long with him and his son. He left out the mother, so Zaria had to assume she was just out of the picture.
The son is only two years older than Zaria, who's just fifteen years old. According to Mr. Stilinski, Stiles had a...quirky personality. She couldn't tell if this was a good or bad sign.
They get out of the sheriff car and Zaria balances her bags in her hand as Mr. Stilinski opens the door with his keys, pushing it open and stepping aside so Zaria could get in. She gasps quietly as she takes in the place...
And a couple kissing on the couch. She turns away with a loud and shocked gasp. Noah Stilinski becomes red in the face, and the couple on the couch stop hogging on each other's face to break away with fright. A girl with blonde hair and a boy with dark brown hair look up to see Mr. Stilinski is right in front of them. And there was a young girl with him.
"Hey...dad." Stiles drawls out, pointing a finger at him with a nervous smile. The blonde girl gets up from her spot on the couch and is packing her things. "Didn't see ya there. How was work?"
Zaria turns to see the older boy's eyes on her. She puts her head down and scratches her neck nervously.
"Good, Stiles. It was good." Noah gestures his hand toward the embarrassed fifteen year old. "This is Zaria."
Stiles nods, giving Zaria an awkward smile. "Hey. I'm uh...Stiles."
She mimics him. "Zaria."
There's awkward silence left hanging in the room.
Out of nowhere the Sheriff claps his hands together and says to Stiles, "Alright. Why don't you go ahead and take Malia home? Hmm?"
Stiles scrambles awkwardly off the couch, and Malia already has her backpack slung on her shoulder. Her face is slightly flushed, and Zaria couldn't tell if it was because of the steamy kiss or the fact that they got caught by not only Stiles' dad but a strange girl.
Zaria enters her new room with the wave of fatigue coming at her like a truck. She sighs and trudges slowly to the bathroom, turning the light and the shower on. Couple of minutes later and she turns the shower off and dries herself off. Wrapping the towel around her, she goes out and flicks the light off in the bathroom. She walks over to her bed, and pulls up a bag filled with undergarments and pajamas.
She takes one of her pajamas out; a pink sport shirt, long grey pants, and a white jacket to help her from the cold. She pulls the towel away and gets dressed in her sleep wear and undergarment.
She ties the bag and throws it to the side of the wall, putting her dirty clothes in a hamper. Pulling the covers off of her bed, she sits on it and pulls the blankets over her, shuffling around until she becomes comfortable and is in a deep slumber.