| CHAPTER TEN, Shipwrecked |

Life seems to be full of fleeting moments. Despair. Fear. Love. They each seem to come in and out of life for only but a moment. At least, that's how mine works. Worst of all, that last one, that one seems to be the shortest. It's been a few days since Ms. Blake disappeared. Same as Deucalion. But I suppose the real marker, for me, is since Scott kissed me.

Something's happening. It's like a storm has taken over. He's changed. His mood is…well it varies. One minute he can be fine but the next, the next there's this darkness in his eyes. Those beautiful browns are black and his smile is long forgotten. It doesn't happen all the time, but it happens often enough. Melissa's noticed it, too. She says he hasn't been like this since his dad left, but this time he's only getting worse day by day. I haven't shared everything I've seen with her. I don't want to scare her; I don't want to make her afraid of her own son. But I think she knows anyways:

I lay awake every night, listening to Scott's heart. It's unsteady and the rhythm that used to exist has changed. It's more erratic. And that makes his nightly breathing just the same. I hear him toss and turn and shift. The first night I tried to comfort him, but when I walked in the room he was sitting up straight, looking at where I stood in the doorway. He had this…glare. I've never seen that look on him before. But this…this scared the hell out of me.

I went into his room the next morning after I heard him downstairs. I thought something external was going on. Maybe his room had been laced with wolfsbane or something. But there was nothing. Well…there was nothing foreign. In his bed, there was claw-shaped holes. I recalled him last night, sitting the way he was. He was gripping onto his bed pretty tightly.

It seems, too, that the kiss has been forgotten. He seems to ignore me more and when we actually do hang out, he seems absent minded. I asked him the other night if he regretted kissing me. He shook his head and smiled; it was a forced smile, though. My lips bunched and I got up to leave. He grabbed my hand and, looking back, the magic that seemed to calm him before…it wasn't there. I squeezed his and continued back up to my room; we haven't talked about it since.

— Ʌ | Ʌ | Ʌ —

I never thought I'd be looking forward to going back to school. I guess it's the normalcy of it that I'm craving. These last few days have been weird at home. And not just Scott. Scott's dad's come around a couple times, trying to rekindle something with the McCall's; it's agonizingly embarrassing to watch really.

When I emerged from my room, ready to head out, I heard stirring in Scott's room. I went to knock when the door opened. "Hey," I began.

"Oh, hey." He clearly didn't seem thrilled to see me.

"Um, are you, are you going to school?"

"Yeahh," he breathed out.

"'Kay, me, too."

"Good."

"Can I ask you a question?" I said, intent on clearing the air before we returned.

"Okay," he said with a nod, but his eyes…well they read differently.

"Are you angry at me?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"No."

"What does that, what does that mean?"

"I guess I'm not really sure how I'm feeling?"

"Do you hate me?"

"No, of course not."

"Do you wanna' hit me?"

"No."

"I think you should hit me," I said, needing him to react some way other than this standoff.

"I don't wanna' hit you," he exclaimed and all I could think was, "Do you wanna' kiss me?"

"Are you sure?"

"Why would I wanna' hit you? You didn't do anything did you?"

"No, no, I mean um…what do you, what do you mean?"

And there it was…that darker grin. "I mean like…you didn't kiss her or anything—"

"What?" I said, clearly confused now.

"—right?"

"Kiss who?"

"Did you want to?" he asked, still smirking, intent on getting me to admit…something.

"Scott what're you—" but before I could finish he pushed, and I collided with the wall parallel to his bedroom door. I slumped and tried to gather up all of what just happened.

"Hey," Melissa began, who just rounded the corner. I winced and looked up at Scott. "You two supernatural teenaged boys, don't test my entirely unsupernatural level of patience." I looked over at her and she motioned for me to get up off the floor.

"Feel better?" I asked and Scott walked out of his room and patted me on the head before walked down the stairs, that devilish grin still plastered in place. I got up to retrieve my things and when I got outside, helmet in hand, Scott was already down the street. "What in the…crap…" I sighed.

— Ʌ | Ʌ | Ʌ —

"Thanks, Melissa," I said, getting out of her car.

"You're welcome, Isaac," she said, looking at me. We rode over here with her doing most—all of the talking about what was going on with Scott. "When you see him, tell him to make sure he gives you a ride home or else I'll smack him upside his pretty little werewolf head." I smiled and nodded, heading off up towards the school.

I got towards the central courtyard when I saw Scott walking backwards, hurriedly…no…panicly. But then, there was Stiles. "Hey, hey…you alright?" he said, holding Scott out at arms' length. Scott nodded but Stiles knew better…as did we all. "Well you don't look alright, Scott."

"I'm okay."

"No you're not. It's happening to you, too." I listened closer now, the enlightenment that Stiles was acting strangely, too, was wrought with mixed emotions: relief, confusion, puzzlement. "You're seeing things, aren't you?"

"How'd you know?"

"Because it's happening to all three of you," Lydia said as she and Allison walked up. And then it dawned on me…his estranged behavior…'seeing things'…'kiss her'…he meant Allison. He thinks…he thinks Allison and I have something.

They walked towards one of the side entrances and I followed, preferring to stay the silent observer rather than cause any more contention. Maybe…maybe if they discussed this between the four of them I could figure out how to approach this…him.

"Well, well, look who's no longer the crazy one," I heard Lydia say.

"We're not crazy," Allison replied.

"Hallucinating, sleep paralysis, yeah you guys are fine."

"Well, we did die and come back to life," Scott argued. "It's gotta' have side-effects, right?"

"Keep an eye on each other," Stiles said after the bell rang, "okay? And Lydia, stop enjoying this so much."

— Ʌ | Ʌ | Ʌ —

Art class brought a little more insight: Lydia and Allison were across the room in our circle. "Not the steadiest hand for a superb marksman," Lydia said to Allison's left.

"It's been happening for the past few weeks…since that night," Allison replied. I watched and heard a clang, seeing her bruch drop into her paint. And then she just sat there. Thirty seconds went by when Lydia stood up and tore off her paper.

"Start over."

— Ʌ | Ʌ | Ʌ —

During last period I texted Lydia. As the two observers of our friends losing their minds, and seeming as she is a genius, I figured maybe we can come up with something. So I asked to meet her after school and she told me about a trip into the woods with Allison but that we could meet up at 3 when they were done. Well it was now 3:30 and 20 minutes ago I decided to find them.

"Lydia!" I heard Allison crying. But it wasn't a call…it was as if she was panicking. But then I saw Lydia: the strawberry red-head was standing not a dozen yards away. But Allison, she looked horrified. Her bow was drawn and an arrow was loaded. I rushed, using all the speed and strength I had and siriiiiing. I caught it, somehow, but only just before it killed our friend. I watched as Allison panicked realizing what had just happened. What she had almost just done.

"I…I saw Kate…I thought it was Kate and she was…" and Allison's words became jumbled and inaudible through the speed with which she was talking and the weeping that accompanied it. Lydia, despite her near-death experience, ran over to Allison as the brunette crumbled to the ground. I walked over and placed my hand on her shoulder, trying to show her that two of her friends are here now and that there's nothing to worry about.

I wish Scott would've seen me in the same light later that evening.


Author's Note: And it's back, I'm back, and the all is right with the world. Well, not really, not with ours and, given last night's episode, certainly not with theirs. Regardless, I'm having fun with this and I hope this pleases everyone. Just a side note, it seems as though the producers have pushed their sense of proper timeline out the window so I am, too, cuz' I know this is supposed to be a few 'weeks' later but I'm making it only about a week or even a few days later. Enjoy guys and again, comments and love are always great!