5: "Disaster."

I was sure I heard someone whisper the word into my ear as I opened my eyes. It was the middle of the night, and although the Christmas lights kept some of the darkness away, it was still hard for my eyes to adjust as I rolled over to face who could be in my tent-room.

No one was there, but I caught a faint whiff of perfume. If I didn't know any better, I could've sworn the voice was Malia's.

"Hello?" I asked the shadows, waiting for someone to come out of them.

There was only silence around me, save for the rustling of the trees outside. I hadn't realized how loud outside noise could be when it was separated only by the thin sheet of a tent. I had been camping before as a kid, but noise didn't affect me like it did now. Derek's frequent, unannounced visits the last couple of days didn't help matters any, either.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. It took me a few seconds to realize I wasn't freezing to death like the night before. I glanced around and noticed a space heater hooked up in the far corner of the room. At first, I wondered if Derek did it so he wouldn't have to come back and warm me up with his fine-ass body again, but I reconsidered when I remembered I had mentioned something to Peter about the cold before I went to bed.

Despite a good heating source, I still felt motivated to get out of bed. I wandered into the house through the backdoor, heading straight into the kitchen for a midnight snack. As soon as I opened the fridge, I got the sense that someone was watching me.

I turned around just as Justin walked into the kitchen. He was hugging himself and his head was down like he had just heard some really bad news. I asked him quietly, "What are you doing out here, Justin?"

"Can't sleep," he mumbled.

He looked tired enough, so I assumed someone, namely Nick, was preventing him from getting sleep. I made a frustrated sigh and asked, "Did you tell the guys to stop messing with you?"

"It wasn't the guys!" Justin barked at me.

I had only heard Justin raise his voice a couple of times. Once, when Ethan tried to change the channel while Justin was watching his favorite show, and the second time was over a food choice. I gave him a hard look and asked, "Well, what's going on, then?"

"I wanna stay with you. I'm scared," Justin confessed.

Normally, I would've argued with him and told him to go back to bed, but the look on his face told me that he was legitimately upset about something. I sighed with frustration and said, "Fine. Go out to my tent and wait for me."

"Thank you, thank you, Stiles," Justin told me, rushing out the door as fast as he could.

I turned back to the fridge, but found nothing interesting. Curiosity got the best of me and I closed the fridge, relying on memory to get me through the darkness to Justin's room. I still got the sense that someone was watching me as I walked into his room, and when I turned on the light, I realized why.

"What are you doing in here?" I asked Derek.

He was sitting on the other side of Justin's bed, facing away from me. He turned his head to one side and answered morosely, "Can't sleep."

"Yeah, that seems to be a trend around here," I said sarcastically.

Derek slowly got up and turned to face me. I argued with him, "You're freaking out Justin. You shouldn't be in here and I want you to leave."

"This is my uncle's house!" Derek countered harshly.

"I don't care! You're freaking Justin out!" I shot back.

"I'm not the one scaring Justin," Derek stated, but I didn't believe him.

"I told you to leave, and if you don't, I'll make you leave," I warned him.

"Come here," Derek started for me.

I backed up before he could reach me. He chuckled dryly and said, "You know what? Fine, I'll leave."

"Whatever," I replied, turning to walk away.

"I can't do this, anymore," I heard Derek say.

Derek put his hand on the back of my neck. I felt a stinging sensation and then I suddenly felt overwhelmingly dizzy. I started to collapse when I felt Derek's other arm wrap around my waist to keep me steady. My mind was instantly flooded with a series of memories that played out to me like pictures on a movie screen. They showed me moving to this town. They showed me meeting Derek. They showed my friendship with Lydia. They showed Derek confessing to me that he was a werewolf...

The supernatural theme was prominent throughout the memories. Kate was a werewolf and I saw Derek fucking her. He told me who he really was and I wanted to be with him. Kate was trying to keep us apart because she wanted Derek for herself. Lydia was turned as collateral to get me to comply after Kate's attempts to kidnap me failed.

Scott. The neurotic werewolf who died for me.

So much time I spent with Derek. So many memories that had been lost to me. All of it coming back in one, full force, to the point where I told him I wanted my memories erased to save us all after Malia came back from the dead.

Malia. She was dangerous. I could see that, now. I saw how much she had damaged me. I even saw some of Derek's memories of when she first came back, and how hard he was trying to keep her away from me because of the threat that she posed to all of us. He also showed me something more: it was Malia who was scaring Justin at night. She wanted me, and she was bothering him to get to me. Derek was the only one keeping her from doing something drastic to Justin.

I saw how I acted after my memories were erased. Lydia's expressions made total sense, now. The humans I interacted with also had their memories replaced, but not the supernaturals. That's why Kate teased me so mercilessly. That's why I felt so disgusted by her.

And that's why Derek couldn't repress his love for me.

"Stiles? Stiles, wake up," Justin said, gently shaking me.

I opened my eyes and realized I was back in my tent. I had no idea where Derek was, but he had certainly made his point.

"It's Saturday. Can we go to the arcade?" Justin asked hopefully.

I sat up and tried to make sense of it all. I knew that they were real memories, yet they were detached from me, somehow, like a vivid dream.

"Stiles? Can we go to the arcade?" Justin asked again.

"Uh...yeah, just give me a minute," I tried to gather my thoughts.

Justin hopped out of bed and took off. I followed him to breakfast and got dressed. I was still in a daze as we walked to the arcade. I felt detached from myself, like I was looking through the eyes of someone else.

"Stiles? Stiles! Wanna play the basketball hoop game?" Justin pointed at the setup through the window.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," I mumbled, following him inside.

I handed him money for tokens and waited at the hoops game until Justin came back. I glanced around and caught sight of Derek at a table on the far side of the room.

I wanted desperately to go over and talk to him, but he was sitting with Kate, and if the memories served me right, she was the last person who needed to know I got my past back online.

Justin rushed around the corner with handfuls of tokens to start playing. He mentioned as he slipped the first coins into the hoops game, "Nick and Husky are here. They're playing on the other side and they didn't see me."

"Shit," I groaned, getting a chuckle from Justin.

We played hoops for a while. I was better than Justin at it, but I pretended to suck so he wouldn't feel bad. We weren't getting many tickets for our not-so-mad skills, and I knew Justin would have to cash in his winnings for shitty prizes, like a pencil sharpener or a rubber band ball.

We were on our last tokens when I looked up and saw Mason coming our way with his hands full of tickets. Justin's eyes almost bugged out of his head when he saw Mason and yelled, "Oh my God! You have like, a million tickets!"

Mason shrugged and said, "This is the result of a lot of practice. I spend too much time in arcades."

I introduced them, "Justin, this is Mason. Mason, this is Justin. He and I live together at the halfway house."

Mason smiled at Justin and asked, "Want my tickets? I already have two of all the prizes they give out."

Justin shrieked with glee. I looked around to make sure Nick and Husky weren't nearby to steal Justin's winnings, then I asked Mason, "Are you sure you wanna give up your tickets?"

"It's no big deal," Mason shrugged, handing them to Justin.

Justin took off like a shot for the clerk at the ticket counter. I rushed after him, yelling, "Wait!"

I was tackled by someone from behind. They knocked me to the floor and sat on me so I couldn't get up, and I knew it had to be Husky from his sheer size. Nick came around the corner just as Justin was about to hand his tickets over and Nick shoved Justin aside, telling the clerk at the counter, "These are my tickets and they were stolen by these two kids!"

He pointed harshly at Justin and I and sneered at us. The dopey looking clerk at the counter shrugged his pointed shoulders and stated in an awkwardly changing voice, "Sorry, man, but that kid brought them up, first."

He nodded at Justin, who was just trying to recover from being shoved. Nick slapped his hands on the counter and yelled, "But they aren't his tickets!"

"Why don't you get the hell off him," Derek said from beside me.

Husky immediately rolled off of me. I didn't realize how crushing his weight had been until I gasped for air once he released me. Derek took me by the arm and lifted me to my feet. I mumbled a thank you, but didn't dare look at him for fear I would give myself away.

Mason came up on my other side and told the clerk at the counter, "Those are the kid's tickets, Gus. I saw him win them."

"I second that," Derek added, earning a hard glare from Nick.

"You're all a bunch of liars! Sick, filthy liars!" Nick yelled.

We all just stared at him until he left with Husky. Mason looked at me and asked, "Are those guys friends of yours?"

I snorted and replied, "If they were friends, you should meet my enemies."

I meant it to be a joke, but I heard Kate hiss from behind me, "What's that supposed to mean?"

I didn't even turn around to face her. I rolled my eyes and went over to help Justin figure out his tickets. Kate tried to start in on me again, "Do you think you can just ignore me, Stiles?"

I opened my mouth to counter her with something ridiculous, but Derek replied first, "We're leaving, Kate."

"What? Why!" she argued.

"Go," Derek ordered her.

She huffed and stormed out the door. Mason snorted laughter and Derek glared at him, asking gruffly, "Is there a problem?"

"No, no problem," Mason put up his hands in defeat.

"Good," Derek stated before he walked out as well.

Mason waited until Derek was gone before he looked at me and asked, "Dude, what's with him?"

I thought about telling him the truth, "Oh, don't worry about him, he's just a super aggressive werewolf who's obsessed with me and he probably wants to claw your guts out for flirting with me."

Instead, I shrugged and told Mason, "Beats me."