12 years later . . . .
In Beacon County, there is a small town called Beacon Hills. And in Beacon Hills, nothing ever happens.
Until one night.
"Gabbie, I'm leaving!" Ryan called up the stairway to his sister's house, fully dressed in his uniform. So many years later and now Ryan Reynolds was Division Chief of the Beacon Hills Sheriff's Station. The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs got his attention taken away from checking if he had everything before he headed out to work for the night.
Coming down the stairs was the now teenage Gabriella Reynolds. Her brown wavy hair was pulled into a ponytail on her head, her glasses on being that it was night time and she had taken out her contacts. Gabbie was dressed in her pajama pants littered with penguins and her dad's old police academy shirt he gave her a few years back.
"Tell me again why you have to work so late?" Gabbie asked when she got to the final step.
"Just some stuff, nothing to freak out about."
"You say not to freak out, and that just makes me want to worry and freak out."
Ryan rolled his eyes and puts his jacket on to protect him from the January weather. "Gabs, don't stress about it. Just a night shift; its not like I've never done one of those before." He looked over at his daughter and saw her roll her eyes, just like he had just did. Like father like daughter. Ryan then walked up to Gabbie and kissed her on the cheek before giving a pat on the head. "Love you little lady."
"Love you too old man." Gabbie says with a smile. Ryan smiles back, then walked out the door to his cruiser waiting in the drive.
Gabbie let out sigh when the front door shut, then headed upstairs back to her room and her cocoon of blankets waiting for her. Right before arriving at her room, she peaked in head into the room belonging to her Aunt Claire. The woman was sitting in bed with a book in her hand and a pile of them near her bedside table. The woman could read. Her brown hair was hanging loose over her shoulders and kept getting into her eyes, which she pushed away with her hand every time.
"Aunt Claire," Gabbie said, knocking on the bedroom door getting the woman's attention, "Dad left for work."
"Alright. Thanks for letting me know." Aunt Claire said, looking back down at her book to dog-ear the page and putting it aside. Gabbie nodded and left, retreating to her room down the hall.
Gabbie's room has changed since she was a little girl. Before it had been hot pink with flowers and cats everywhere; but that stage died pretty abruptly when puberty struck. Now it was a dark red color and some band posters here and there. Marianas Trench, All Time Low, Panic! At the Disco and others dressed her walls. On her small bed was a tiny kitten curled up on her pillow where she had left him. When Gabbie closed her door, the kitten opened its tiny eyes and looked at his owner before going back to sleep.
"Hey Branson." Gabbie whispered to the kitten. He didn't move from his position. Aside from the purring of Branson, Gabbie's room was quiet and still. The teenage girl looked around before sighing and getting her sneakers on. There's no way I can stay caged in here all night.
She grabbed her coat off her desk chair and started to zipper it up when she looked back at Branson. "Don't wait up bud." After pulling a knitted hat, Gabbie turned off her bedroom lights and headed to the window. Outside the window was a large tree that had been her escape hatch ever since she was 10. It wasn't unusual for Gabbie to go out on late night strolls when she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep.
Gabbie climbed out of her window to the nearest branch, and after closing the window enough to leave a way back in, Gabbie climbed down the tree to the soggy, leaf-covered ground below.
It had been a while since Gabbie had snuck out for one of her late night walks, since December had brought dusting a of snow and freezing weather. But on a night when she had to leave the house, she usually frequented the Beacon Hills preserve near her house. No one ever came out there since after the big Hale fire 10 years ago.
Gabbie was walking with her hands in her pockets; her breath coming out in puffs of steam which mixed with the slight drizzle coming down on her. Her feet crunched with the forest floor, cracking the silence around her. When all of be sudden, a loud scream caught her attention. Gabbie looked up the hill near her and watched as someone fell down the hill, bumping into rocks and tree stumps all the way down. They landed a few feet away with a thud.
"Um . . ." Gabbie started, slowing stepping to the mass of person near her, "Are you okay buddy?"
"Ugh, ow."
The person slowly crawled to the fallen tree, then used it to get back on their feet. Gabbie watched them, trying to figure out what to do. But when the moonlight caught on the person, Gabbie recognized the boy's moppy black hair. It was Scott McCall, a kid that goes to her school. He looked around, still not noticing Gabbie, before standing up and jumping over the tree.
"Scott?" Gabbie asked. Said boy turned to finally seeing the girl in front of him. But truthfully not recognizing her from anywhere.
"H-How do you know me?" He asked.
"We go to school together? At Beacon Hills High?" Gabbie tried. When he didn't respond, she rolled her eyes, "We've been in the same class since we were in kindergarten."
"I . . . I don't-" Scott cut himself off when the rumbling of a growl could be heard by the boy. Gabbie looked at him confused, before her eyes moved passed him and widened. Behind Scott was something made from nightmares wrapped in a fur coat. It was as big as a fully-grown bear, but the shaping of the legs weren't right for it to be that animal. Its glowing red eyes looked at the two teens with a ferocity only a wild animal could muster. And in no time at all, it took one leap for the animal to be in their comfort zone.
It jumped on Scott, taking him down and leaving Gabbie to watch. "Help me!" Scott screamed. Gabbie blinked, then as the creature started to pull Scott away, Gabbie jumped from her spot and grabbed Scott's hands. He gripped on her tightly and Gabbie started to pull. The one mistake she made was accidentally making eye contact with this beast. Its glowing blood red eyes stared into her soul for a second, then the beast dived down and bit Scott on his side.
Scott screamed, Gabbie pulled, and all of the sudden the beast wasn't holding onto the boy anymore. The lack of force on it's end made Gabbie and Scott tumble a few feet. It took no time at all for the two teens to get back on their feet and start running. Nothing was on Gabbie other than to get the hell out of the woods. They ran and ran until coming on the break on the trees, Scott still moving while Gabbie stopped. When Scott turned, bright headlights came into view. Gabbie looked at the car and then to Scott who was standing in the middle of the road. She lunged forward and pulled on his hood, getting him mostly out of the way when the car swerved.
It was silent after that. The car had kept moving down the road, and had left the two teens in the rain trying to catch their breaths and figure out what the hell just happened. Scott turned to Gabbie who was leaning on her knees panting, a thought crossing his mind.
"You saved my life."
Gabbie looked up from the ground to see Scott watching her. She looked back down to her mid covered shoes and ruined pajama bottoms before standing up to full height and looking back at Scott. "Don't worry about it."
"Don - Don't worry about it?"
"Truthfully, I want to forget that this night ever happened. So please, don't worry about it." Gabbie said, looking around to figure out where she was. Once realizing that she was only a mile or two from her house, she sighed and started walking.
"Wait!" Scott said, getting Gabbie to stop. "So, we're just going to leave like this?"
Without turning around, Gabbie said, "See you at school, Scott." And continued walking down the road. As she kept walking, her mind finally seemed to have caught up with her body and all of what had just happened seeped into the forefront of her mind. A howl pierced through the night and into Gabbie's skin like a knife.
What the hell just happened?
The next morning, Gabbie woke up with barely any sleep under her belt and nightmares playing on repeat anytime she closed her eyes. When she finally got back home last night, she had to climb up the tree to get back into her room. The only lucky thing about this whole adventure was that no one knew that she was gone. So Gabbie changed into a pair of dry and clean pajamas, and tried to get some sleep. Before anyone could get up, Gabbie threw a basket of clothes in the washer, including the ruined ones from the night before, and then took a quick shower before having to get dressed and ready for school.
Clothing and trends have never really been a big thing for Gabbie, so on her first day of sophomore year, she dressed in a pair of denim skinny jeans, a white button up blouse with birds her aunt got for her last birthday, and a pair or black rose printed converse. And this was only because it was "a special day". After the first day its most likely gonna go back to her "nerd outfits", at least that's what Lydia Martin (one of the most popular girls at school) called it every once in a while last year.
Gabbie had just enough time to grab a small bag of grapes from the fridge before picking up her backpack and running out to meet the bus. Once she avoided eye contact with the entire bus population, the bus stopped at the school to unload them all to boring classes and piles of homework.
The day went by slowly, more slowly than a normal day because Gabbie just wanted the day to be done. Classes passed by with a blur of syllabuses and introductions. Apparently there is a new girl named Allison in her grade so there's that. By the time lunch came around, Gabbie was ready for a long nap. She sat at her usual table by the vending machines, her tray of school lunch not looking very appetizing. Lunch was never Gabbie's favorite time of day. She loved when she got to eat food sure, but sitting by herself everyday was not. On the other side of the cafeteria, Scott and his friend Stiles had just gotten out of the lunch line and were moving to an open table when Scott looked over to see Gabbie all be herself. Stiles, being the perceptive person he is, noticed Scott not moving and followed his eyes to the girl in the corner.
"What's up?" Stiles asked his best friend.
"That's the girl from the woods last night. The one I was telling you about." Scott said under his breath, still not looking away from Gabbie. Stiles eyes widened and nudged Scott.
"Her?" Stiles asked, which Scott nodded. "That's Gabbie Reynolds, our dad's work together."
"Really?" Scott asked.
"Yeah." Before anything else could happen, Scott was walking towards her table. Stiles moved his feet to catch up, suddenly confused with the change of direction. "A-Ah dude, what are you doing?"
"Getting some answers."
The placement of trays on the table got Gabbie to look up from her tray to the two taking a seat across from her. Scott looked at her like he was ready to interrogate, while his buddy just looked confused. "Um . . ."
"Did you here it?"
Gabbie squinted her eyes at the mopey haired kid, trying to figure out what he was going on about, "Huh?"
"Last night in the woods, did you hear the howling?" Scott asked, rephrasing his question.
"I thought I told you I wanted to forget last night?"
"The dark circles under your eyes say that you failed doing that." Stiles spoke up. Gabbie turned her head to look at him, sending a small glare his way.
"Stiles."
"Gabbie."
"Can't you both just go away? We all know that this looks unnatural."
"What does?" Stiles asked, looking around them to see what was so unnatural.
"Me talking with people." Gabbie explained. She turned back to Scott and bluntly said, "Yes, I heard the howling when I was walking away. Happy now?"
"I told you man." Scott said, turning to Stiles and hitting him in the arm.
"There's no way you two could have heard howling. There is no wolf population in California."
Gabbie sighed and picked up her tray as she got to her feet, "Okay. I'm done here. Have fun with . . . whatever it is you two do."
"Wait!" Scott asked. This time though, Gabbie didn't stop to see what he wanted. She left both boys confused about their current situation and her.
