Season of the Witch
Chapter Ten / Catatonic
"Wren, you're doodling again."
"I realise that."
"Don't you think you should stop?"
"I'd rather not."
Wren glanced up to see Isaac rolling his eyes, making her leg dart out, about to kick him under the table, before she hesitated. He flinched back when she just wanted to poke his face. Maybe she shouldn't kick him as she thought she didn't think he would react to that well. She settled for: "Don't roll your eyes at me!" He replied with an even more exaggerated eye roll. "Dick."
He just smiled slightly in reply. They were sitting in Wren's dining room, books spread across the table as they worked on homework. For about the third time, Wren's phone started to vibrate. She picked it up from where she had set it down on the table, saw Lydia displayed on the screen and rolled her eyes. She placed it back on the table face first. "You can answer it if you want." Isaac said, glancing from her to the phone.
"No." Wren replied. "I'm with you, I shouldn't."
"Yeah, but I doubt they'll stop calling until you answer." Isaac shrugged.
"And it's annoying the shit out of you?"
"Yeah." He said, shrinking slightly in his chair and glancing up at her like he was gauging her reaction. Wren just smiled and got off her chair, before going into the other room to call Lydia back.
"About time you answered." Lydia answered.
"Well excuse me for not answering your every beck and call, your highness."
"Your highness, I like that." Lydia replied. "Anyway, we're picking you up in ten minutes. Movie night."
"I can't, I'm studying with Isaac." Wren replied.
"Lahey, Delgado? Seriously? Would have thought you had better taste." Jackson replied, making Wren scowl.
"Shut up Jackson!" She snapped. "Do you have me on loudspeaker Lydia?"
"Well yeah." Lydia replied. "But come on, ditch Lahey and come have fun with us."
"No. Besides, I'm not going to be the third wheel again while you two suck face." She said. "What are you even watching?"
"Hoosiers."
"The Notebook."
"Oh my god Lydia, we are not watching the notebook again!" Jackson exclaimed. "Help me out here Delgado!"
"I'm sorry, do you honestly think I could get her to change her mind?" Wren asked, raising an eyebrow. When Lydia made a decision she stuck to it and there was no chance of her changing it.
"Look Hoosiers is not only the greatest basketball movie ever made, it's the greatest sports film ever made." Jackson told her.
"No."
"Try harder." Wren said in a sing-song voice.
"It's got Gene Hacker and Dennis Harper."
"No."
"Unless it has Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams in it, I doubt you can convince her to watch something else." Wren added.
"Lydia, I swear to god you're going to like it."
"No."
Wren laughed and added "As much as I love listening to Jackson failing to get his own way, I should really go."
"No, you're coming." Lydia said.
"Are you even listening to me? I'm not watching the notebook again!" Jackson exclaimed. There was a moment of silence before "Ugh fine!" Wren imitated the sound of a whip being cracked. "Shut up Delgado!" There was the sound of rustling before the door slammed shut behind him.
"So does he share a leash with Prada or do you have two separate ones?" Wren asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't think Prada's leash would fit around his neck." She replied.
"So you do have a separate leash for him!" Wren exclaimed.
"Seriously, ditch Lahey and the books and come watch The Notebook." Lydia replied, making Wren smirk when she ignored her last remark.
"For the fifth time? Hell no, that movie turns my brain to mush." She said.
"Oh come on, I'll even let you talk shit about it." Lydia told her.
"Ah, my favourite type of commentary." Wren let out a dramatic sigh. "But as tempting as that sounds, I'm going to say no."
"Killjoy."
"No, The Notebook kills joy." She said. "For me at least. I love Ryan Gosling as much as the next girl, but I just can't stand that movie." There was no reply, expect for the sound of music in the background. "Lydia, are you even listening to me?" Again, no reply, but this time she heard the sound of a camera. "Are you taking pictures?"
"I got this new conditioner and my hair looks amazing." She replied. "I'm sending you them now."
"Lydia, I-" She was cut off by the sound of a message arriving. Wren opened it and saw the pictures. "Nice. Anyway, I'm going. You and your boytoy have a-" Wren froze and trailed off as she heard the sound of glass shattering. "Lydia?"
Lydia let out a blood-curdling scream.
"Lydia?!" Wren exclaimed, trying to get her attention. "Lydia? Lydia answer me!" The phone went dead. She pulled it away from her ear and stared down at it, before deciding that she wasn't going to sit on her ass. She rushed back into Isaac to find him reading over something in the textbook.
"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked, looking concerned.
"I'm sorry, I have to go." She said, grabbing her hoodie and her car keys. "There's something wrong with Lydia. She screamed, and there was glass shattering and there's something wrong and I just- I have to see if she's okay." Maybe she was just paranoid and maybe it was nothing, but Wren had to be sure.
She couldn't lose anyone else.
"I'm so sorry." She repeated.
"No, no, it's okay." Isaac said, grabbing his stuff and putting it in his back. "I have to go anyway."
"No, I'll give you a ride." Wren said, as they left the house. He opened his mouth to reply, but Wren was back on her phone, this time calling the dispatch line.
"Beacon Hills Sheriff's Station, this is Marissa." The cop answered. Wren relaxed slightly. She was one of her dad's friends, so hopefully she would listen.
"Marissa, it's Wren." She said, as she climbed into the car.
She sighed. "Wren, you know you're not meant to call this line."
"I know, I know, but have you had any calls about Video 2C?" Wren asked, jumping into the car. She knew it was the place Lydia and Jackson always got DVD's at. "I was on the phone to my friend and she was there and glass smashed and she screamed-" She cut off her ramble, knowing that she sounded crazy.
"Okay, okay, breathe." Marissa assured her. "There have been cars dispatched to that location."
"Did they find out what happened? Is everyone okay?" She asked.
"I haven't gotten word yet." She said.
"Okay thanks!" Wren said, before hanging up. She was getting restless now, eager to go to see if Lydia was okay. She noticed Isaac glancing at her out of the corner of her eye as she started the car. His eyes went from her face to her knuckles clenched around the steering wheel, their colour now a pale white.
"She's going to be fine." He said in a soft voice to her.
"You don't know that." She replied, sounding small and keeping her eyes on the road, not wanting to meet Isaac's.
"It's Lydia Martin." He raised an eyebrow and smirked slightly. "I'm pretty sure she's too stubborn to let anything kill her." Wren let out a laugh, making him smile. They didn't talk for the rest of the way but instead lapsed into silence, as Wren was too anxious to focus on anything but driving. She soon pulled up in front of the video store, her heart pounding faster when she saw the ambulance and the police cars. Please let Lydia be okay, please let Lydia be okay. "I'll wait here." Isaac said to her. She nodded and hoped out of her seat, shutting the car door behind her.
She went over to the police tape and ducked underneath, only to be stopped by someone grabbing her arm. Her head snapped up, ready to tug her arm back, when she saw it was her father. "You're not supposed to be back here." He hissed, looking furious.
"I was talking to Lydia and I heard her scream." She said, trying to look past her father to find Lydia. "Is she okay? Is she hurt?"
"She's fine, Wren." Her dad told her. "But you really should have waited to find this out."
"I can't lose her too." She said in a small voice.
Logan sighed. "Fine, I'll let you go see her, but we are talking about this later."
"Thanks daddy!" She exclaimed, rushing past him. She got closer to the ambulance and sprinted towards it, seeing Jackson argue with the sheriff and Lydia curled up in the ambulance. "Oh my god, are you okay?" She asked, wrapping her arms around Lydia in a tight hug. She didn't reply but instead clung to her tightly.
"The hell are you doing here, Delgado?" Jackson snapped, looking antsy and upset.
"What does it look like?" She replied, narrowing her eyes at him over Lydia's head. She knew that he was lashing out because he was upset, but Wren really didn't have time for that.
She felt someone place their hand on her shoulder and turned her head to see the Sheriff. "Wren, you're not meant to be back here." He said in a low voice.
"I was on the phone to Lydia when I heard her scream and came right over to see if she was okay." She explained.
"Do you hear anything odd during the call?" He asked.
"Just Lydia was talking one minute and the next, I heard glass shatter and Lydia screaming." She replied.
"Okay, thank you." He said. "Now how did you get in?"
"My dad let me in." She said sheepishly, frowning as she watched the Sheriff look over his shoulder, with a frown on his face, at her dad who shrugged back at him.
"Right well, I'll deal with you later." He said, before turning to Jackson who was arguing with a paramedic about wanting to go home. Wren released Lydia from her hug, but Lydia clung to her hand. "I hear you, but the EMT says you hit your head pretty hard. They just want to make sure you don't have a concussion."
"What part of I'm fine are you having a problem grasping?" Jackson sneered, making Wren scowl. She knew he was upset but he needed to dial it down before he got slapped. "Okay, I want to go home!"
"Okay, I understand that-" He cut the Sheriff off.
"No, you don't understand, which kind of blows my mind since it should be a pretty basic concept to grasp for a minimum wage rent-a-cop like you!" He snarled at him, making her scowl. "Okay, now I want to go HOME!"
"Jackson I'm pretty sure you can get home faster if you stop acting like a brat!" She snapped at him, making him whip around to face her.
"Stay out of this!" He sneered at her.
"Or what?" She replied.
"Enough!" The Sheriff exclaimed.
"Is that a dead body!" Wren turned to see Stiles standing at the police car, obviously distracting the group before the argument went any further. The Sheriff told people to back up, making Wren turn and freeze to see body covered in a black tarp being rolled out on a stretcher. Lydia's grip on Wren's hand grew tighter. Wren sat down beside her and held her hand, rubbing her thump against it to comfort her.
The Sheriff took Lydia's statement, but only after Lydia hesitated before telling the sheriff it was a mountain lion. Something told Wren it wasn't a mountain lion. He quickly got the EMT's to check her over shortly afterwards. "I'll have someone call your parents to get someone to pick you up." He said.
"Wait no, her mom's out of town." Wren told him.
"What?" The Sheriff said.
"Her mom's on a business trip and doesn't get back until next week." She said. The sheriff sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I can take her home."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I don't want her to be by herself tonight." She told him. "If you call her mom now then I doubt she'll get back until tomorrow morning."
He sighed. "See what your dad says about it and make sure she gets home safe."
"Thanks Sheriff." She replied, giving him a relieved smile. She turned to Lydia, who was staring into the space. The act made Wren frown. "Lydia? I'm going to go tell my dad I'm taking you home, okay?" She nodded mutely and Wren left the ambulance, walking away to find her father. She found him shortly after and called out to him to grab his attention.
"What's wrong?" He asked, looking up from the clipboard one of the other deputies had handed him.
"Lydia's mom is away on a business trip and probably won't get back until tomorrow morning." She explained. "Can I take her home and stay over? Just to make sure she's okay."
Logan sighed, running a hand through his greying hair. "Wren, I know you're worried, but you have school in the morning. I don't think this is the best idea."
"Please dad." She said, before moving and motioning towards Lydia, who had wrapped her arms around herself and was staring at a spot on the ground. "Look at her, she's freaked out. I don't want her to be alone."
Logan bit his lip before answering. "Fine." Wren smiled at him. "But you have to go to school the next day. We have the parent teachers conference that night and remember you have to be there."
"Thank you dad." She said, before going back over to Lydia. Shortly afterwards, the Sheriff let the pair go home. Wren's eyebrows rose slightly in surprise when she brought Lydia over to her car. Isaac had moved to the backseat, allowing Lydia to sit in the front. She smiled appreciatively at him, before climbing into the car and turned to Lydia. "I'm going to drop Isaac home and then we can go home, okay?" She asked. Lydia nodded mutely in reply, a blank look on her face as she stared straight ahead.
Wren pursed her lips in worry but didn't make a reply. The EMT told her that this was normal because she was in shock, but she still worried. She instead started the car and drove in silence, occasionally glancing at Lydia out of the corner of her eye. Every so often, she would look in the rear view mirror and see Isaac watching her with a concerned expression. He would always look away by the time she looked back. They eventually reached Isaac's street and came to a stop when they got to his house. "Sorry about tonight." She said to him as he climbed out of the car.
"Hey, don't worry about it. I'll see you in school." He replied, shrugging it off before he glanced over at Lydia. "Uh, bye Lydia." He said quickly, before rushing off to his house. Lydia didn't reply, making Wren sigh quietly.
Without another word, Wren started the drive to Lydia's house. They were silence for the rest of the time. Wren occasionally glanced at her from the corner of her eye and each time she would see Lydia stare straight ahead, her eyes dead. Wren bit her lip, feeling worried over her best friend's state. They soon arrived at the strawberry blonde's house and went in, only to be greeted by the sound of the house phone ringing. "I'm going to answer that, okay?" Wren said. Lydia nodded and without another word, she left the room. Wren sighed and picked up the phone, seeing Lydia's mom's number. "Hello?"
"Oh hello Wren, is Lydia alright?" Natalie Martin answered.
The girl glanced through the doorway into the other room. Lydia was sitting on the couch, a bottle of wine laying open on the coffee table and a large glass in her hand. "She's… not good. The EMT says she's in shock." She replied.
Natalie sighed. "Yes, the Sheriff told me when he called earlier. Has she said anything to you about what happened?"
"Not a word."
Natalie let out another sigh. "I'll see if I can find a way home tonight, but it looks like I won't be home until at least tomorrow morning. Would you mind staying Wren? I don't Lydia to be alone tonight."
"Hey, not at all. I was planning on staying anyway." She replied.
"Thank you so much dear. Are you sure your parents don't mind? I know you have school tomorrow." She asked.
"Yeah, I talked to my dad and he doesn't mind." She replied.
"If you're sure." Natalie said. "I'll see you in the morning and if Lydia is feeling better, you can both go to school."
"Okay." Wren said. "I'll let you know if anything happens. Good night Mrs Martin."
"Good night dear." Natalie replied, before she hung up. The girl hung up the phone with a sigh and kicked off her shoes, before tucking them into the corner. She then went into the living room and sat on the table before Lydia. A frown tugged at her lips when she saw Lydia was nearly done with her second glass of wine.
"Maybe you've had enough." Wren said, trying to take the glass out of Lydia's hand. The strawberry blonde let out an annoyed whine and rolled away so Wren couldn't grab the glass. "Or not, whatever." She said, throwing back her hands. A buzzing from her hoodie pocket grabs her attention and she pulls out her phone. A text from Scott was displayed on the screen. Is Lydia okay?
She's alright. Wren replied, before hitting send. She looked back up at her best friend. "Hey Lydia?" She said, grabbing the girl's attention. "What happened at the movie store?" She asked.
Lydia looked away. "You already heard me talk to the sheriff about it."
"Yeah, but if there's anything else you couldn't say to the sheriff, you know you could tell me right?" She said, thinking of when Lydia hesitated when giving her statement. Lydia looked up at her again, before glancing away again. "Lydia?"
Lydia sipped from her wine glass, not meeting Wren's eyes. "You're going to think I'm crazy." She murmured.
"Hey, you know you can tell me anything right?" Wren said, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees. ""Remember in middle school, I was convinced that Mr Connors was a vampire because he kept the curtains closed and we always saw him drink this red stuff and I told you?"
"I'm pretty sure it's because he was alcoholic." Lydia pointed out, raising an eyebrow.
Wren rolled her eyes. "That's not my point." She said. "But you believed me when I told you." She hesitated for a moment. "Or at least, you went along with it." That made Lydia smile slightly. "So whatever you think is crazy, you can tell me and I will believe you."
Lydia gulped and sat up a little straighter, like she was trying to pump herself up to tell Wren what she wanted to say. "It-It was…" She trailed off, her gaze being caught by something outside the window.
"Lydia?" Wren called and placed her hand on Lydia's arm, trying to grab her attention. "What did you see?"
Lydia's head snapped back to face her. "It-It was a mountain lion." She said, telling Wren what she had told the sheriff.
Wren frowned. "A mountain lion?" She repeated, her mind thinking that this was not her first answer.
"A mountain lion." Lydia repeated, before turning her eyes to the television. Wren let out a resigned sigh, realising that this was probably the best answer she was going to get tonight.
She whips around, her heart pounding and the silence deafening. It ruptures as the glass shatters. Blood red eyes stare at her. The monster opens its jaws and lets out a feral roar.
She screams.
WAKE UP.
Wren shot up, her mouth open in a silent scream. She looked around to see Lydia stirring on the bed, not moving despite Wren's iron grip on her wrist. Why was she clinging onto her?
She shrugged it off and scrambled off the bed, cringing at her tank top clinging to her sweaty back. She went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her and turned on the light. Her heart is still pounding. Where the hell did that dream come from? Why was it so similar to the one she had a few days ago? She tried to get it out of her mind but the red eyes stuck out in her mind. Her heart began to pound in fear again as she splashed water in her face, images in her mind beginning to flash.
Red eyes. Glass shattering. A feral roar. RUNRUNRUN-
The lightbulb behind her shattered. Wren whipped around and shrieked in surprise, her hand placed across her chest in surprise.
What the hell?
"Wren?" Lydia called, after knocking on the bathroom door. "You okay?"
"Y-yeah." Wren replied, before quickly thinking of an excuse to tell Lydia, as she didn't want to freak her out after the night she had. "I'm fine, I-I just saw a spider." She blurted out.
There was a moment of silence before Lydia answered, not sounding convinced. "Alright." She replied, before walking away from the door. She let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair. God, she just wanted to go to sleep and not worry about why the lightbulb shattered. She walked over to it and looked up into the frame.
"Crap." She muttered, looking at the shattered bulb in the bathroom light. She let out a sigh and unscrewed it, wanting to clean up her mess quickly so she could get back to sleep. Well, if she actually gets back to sleep after that dream. After the one she had previously, Wren struggled to get back to sleep and had tossed and turned for hours.
She sighed and grabbed a brush from the bathroom closet, quickly cleaning up the glass and trying to not get any shards stuck in her bare feet, before dumping it into the small bin by the sink. Something stuck in her mind as she cleared up. The large red eyes. Something about them seemed familiar, something about the monster had seemed familiar. It was like Scott, but more horrifying. More monstrous.
But Scott eyes weren't the blood red like the monsters. His were a bright yellow. Derek's weren't like that as well. Stiles had told her that his were a bright shining blue. What did that mean? Why werewolves have different coloured eyes? Did it mean something? She hoped it wasn't anything bad. She put the brush back into the closet and left the bathroom, hoping that she left it into okay condition.
She went back into Lydia's bedroom and sighed. The pair had curled up in Lydia's bed and were watching a movie before they feel asleep, as Lydia didn't want to go to sleep just yet. She went over to the TV screen, which was now back at the DVD menu, and switched it off, before going back over to Lydia, who had fallen asleep again. The wine glass was still in her hand.
Wren picked up the wine glass and placed it back on Lydia's bedside table, before climbing into the bed beside her, lying awake for another hour.
The next morning, Wren was woken up by the sound of her phone beeping. She sat up with a groan and glanced to her side, frowning when she saw Lydia had moved it. It was apparent that she had managed to get out of the bed during the night, without alerting Wren, and had taken pills. She grabbed the orange bottle from the table and scowled at seeing the sight of the sleeping pill name.
She was just glad it wasn't something stronger.
Her phone beeped again and Wren turned, picking up and glancing at the time. "Oh shit!" She snapped, hoping out of bed when she saw that it was already twenty minutes into the school day. She hoped out of bed and grabbed her denim shorts off the floor, having slept in her shirt and a pair of pyjama shorts that she had left there from the last time she slept over.
After quickly cleaning herself up in the bathroom, Wren went back in to check on Lydia, who was still asleep. She guessed that there wasn't any chance of bringing Lydia to school that day, so she went down the stairs, only to find Natalie coming in the door. "Hello Wren, is Lydia alright?" She asked.
"Not really, but she managed to get sleeping pills during the night so she's pretty much dead to the world." Wren replied, tapping her feet impatiently.
Natalie seemed to have picked on it, as she exclaimed. "Oh yes, you have school! Thank you so much for staying with her Wren." She followed Wren out to the front door. Wren gave her a wave, before quickly climbing in her car and driving away.
Sorry for the massive wait for this chapter! I had my GCSE's but now they are over so I'm hopefully going to upload more over the summer, possibly even finishing season one by the end of the summer, but please don't hold me to that.
Thank you to Ava, Guest, fangirl0012345 and Lucy Greenhill for reviewing, FormofJane, Helena Light, HelloBob12345, Maddell, Mako27, Nymphadora Jackson, VampirePrincess11, angelangie07, avengeful, bunnie915, fangirl0012345, niamheternal and thekrice for favouriting, and AppoloniaAstria, Demure1975, Fandom-Forever-Friend-Whatever, .smile, Helena Light, Maddell, One-Of-A-Kind33, SarcasticEnigma, ThatFangirlGirl, The All Powerful Genie God, TheTinyMouse, VampirePrincess11, bunnie915, dear-darling-x-x, minsjt, niamheternal, noemi-fin and thekrice for following!