It's Just a Trick of the Moonlight
Chapter Ten – Paralyzing Silence
(Aubrie's point of view)
"Brie?"
Looking up from where I was sitting on the back of the ambulance outside of the video rental store when I heard my name, I saw Stiles trying to get out of the passenger side of his dad's patrol car so fast he nearly tripped over his own feet and would have kissed the pavement.
Ignoring the instructions from the EMT who urged me to stay where I was, I rushed over to my best friend.
"Oh my god!" He flailed his arms, "Are-are you okay? Were you in there? Was someone killed? What happened?"
He fired one question after another at me in rapid succession.
I saw him look from where I'd parked my Aunt's car, to the store and then his gaze lingered where Lydia was sitting on the back of the other ambulance with Jackson standing next to her while he held her hand.
I opened my mouth, not sure where to start with answers.
At this point about the only thing I knew was that I was definitely not fine.
Nothing in the world feels safe anymore.
But no sound would come out.
Just like when I'd tried to scream in the store and couldn't force my vocal cords to make a single sound.
"Aubrie?"
His voice was softer.
He stepped forward and hugged me.
I could feel my eyes starting to burn again and I pinned them shut. Not even sure how I could have any more tears inside of me at this point.
God only knows how long I sat on the floor in that video store crying so hard I could barely catch my breath until finally Jackson pulled me to my feet and got both Lydia and me out of the store until the authorities showed up.
Everything since had happened in a blur.
A few different deputies tried to get a statement from me but I just couldn't bring myself to rehash what I'd gone through.
What the hell could I even say?
That several minutes ago I thought I was going to die in a horrific fashion.
That I have never felt so utterly helpless and terrified in my entire life and that I can't stop my hands from shaking.
If I told them the truth, that a gigantic alpha werewolf could have ripped me apart but for some reason left and let me live -they'd probably slap the straight jacket on me right there and ship me off Eichen House.
So I didn't say anything to anyone.
Stepping back from the hug, but keeping his hands on my arms Stiles leaned down, trying to catch my line of sight when I opened my eyes, "I heard on the radio possible 187."
California's dispatch code for a possible homicide.
"It was awful," I thickly swallowed as my throat tried to close off again.
I tried to tell him what happened. Stiles was one of the only people that I could be honest with about this.
I told him the alpha killed the store clerk and for whatever reason let me go.
I watched his honey-brown eyes and I breathed a sigh of relief.
Someone else knew now what I had just gone through -but then he seemed less concerned about me and more concerned about what I'd seen with the alpha.
What exactly did I see?
How big was it?
Was it walking on all fours or two legs?
-And several other questions that I couldn't have cared less about.
Somewhere deep down inside, I knew it was the curiosity and intrigue he had over learning so recently that werewolves were real.
Usually, I can handle Stiles well.
He is one of my best friends after all, but at the moment I couldn't remember a time when I'd ever felt more alone with him around.
How could he even ask me any of that what I so easily could have been killed a short time before?
I tilted my head to the side, staring at him and silently begging for him to try and understand how I feel like I'm literally coming apart at the seams.
Patched together with useless child's glue.
And maybe if they hadn't rolled the gurney out with the store clerk's body draped in a white sheet out of the store in that exact moment, just maybe he would have seen me.
"Whoa!" He yelled pointing around me to where they were loading the gurney in the back of the ambulance, "Is that a dead body?"
Really, Stiles?
That's what you care about right now?
I closed my eyes and rubbed my face, feeling the stiff chunks and smudges of my mascara sticking to the skin around my eyes from all the crying.
Guess I should have gone with waterproof today; too bad no one gave me a heads up that today I was going to be crying more than I did at my Grandma's funeral as a child.
Turning my back to my best friend and ignoring him when he proceeded to ask me who the body was, I walked over to the ambulance where Lydia and Jackson were now that the one I'd been camped out on contained a corpse.
I guess it's not really Stiles' fault.
He wasn't in the store.
He had no idea what I'd gone through.
No one did.
As I leaned against the cold metal of the vehicle, my eyes went to where Jackson kept asking the EMT trying to check him over why he couldn't just go home.
Scratch that; maybe one other person knows what I've gone through.
"Aubrie, hey, how you holding up?" Sheriff Stilinksi asked me as he walked over and laid a comforting hand on my shoulder.
There was such a paternal look of worry on his face that I nearly burst back into tears.
If I don't manage to get a handle on myself, I'm going to dehydrate before the sun comes up.
"I want to go home."
My bottom lip started to tremble.
"I know," He nodded, "And we're going to get you there as soon as we can, but my deputies said you wouldn't give them any kind of statement. Can you tell me what happened in there?"
Pulling in a deep breath I opened my mouth to say animal attack.
To stick to the cover story that's been flying around Beacon Hills these past few weeks.
Probably sentence some poor mountain lion to death for something it had nothing to do with.
"I want to go home!"
The words came out as involuntary as the change in my pitch.
Apparently, my yelling drew Jackson's attention from the paramedic he'd been berating, and the next thing I knew he was at my side to face down Stiles' dad.
"Why the hell can't I just go home?" Jackson demanded to know.
Looking from me over to Jackson, the Sheriff said, "Look, 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."
With a completely stunned look on his face, Jackson said, "I'm fine. What part of I'm completely fine aren't you grasping, okay? I just…want to go home."
"And I understand that-" The Sheriff tried to say in a soothing voice I'm sure would usually work on people in the situations.
But he was wrong.
More wrong than he could he know.
He didn't understand.
"You don't understand." My voice came back to me and repeating my new mantra I said, "I want to go home."
Jackson threw his arm out sideways in my direction, giving the Sheriff an expression like he was incapable of understanding simple English.
I love Stiles' dad.
I've spent so much time around him at Stiles' house that he's practically my own family and as much as I wanted to be able to appreciate his trying to be understanding of what we've just gone through, I couldn't.
Any ounce of patience I'd had leaped out the window with the alpha.
"Aubrie-"
He started to say and I could tell by the tone of his voice he was going to let me down again and tell me that none of us could leave yet.
Apparently picking up on the same thing I was, Jackson got up in his face, "No, you don't understand, which kind of blows my mind since it should a basic concept to grasp for a minimum wage rent a cop like you. OKAY, NOW I WANT TO GO HOME!"
He was screaming by the end of what he was trying to say and as much as I wanted to defend Stiles' dad for just doing his job, I couldn't.
I couldn't go home, I couldn't tell the truth about what happened, I couldn't relay to a single soul how I was feeling.
So instead I did the only thing I'd been able to do all night and began to cry again.
Tossing his arms in the air, Jackson gave me an annoyed look and rolled his eyes before walking away.
Yes, Jackson, I'm aware of how annoying this is.
Don't you freaking think I'd stop bursting out into tears if I could?
The Sheriff cleared his throat, "Come on."
He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and led me over to the ambulance where he had me sit down.
"As I said, we're going to get you out of here as soon as possible, okay?" He reminded me.
Wiping my face and trying to get rid of the moisture I nodded.
What other choice did I have?
When I looked back up, I saw Stiles lingering nearby.
He seemed nervous and unsure of what he should do or say.
I'm pretty sure in all of the years we've known each other he's never seen me break down like this.
"Now, the paramedics need to check you over too." Stiles' dad informed me.
"I'm fine."
I sniffled trying to pull myself back together.
"You've got some cuts and bruises," The Sheriff softly said, "You look like you might have hit your head too."
He continued to visually inspect for obvious signs of injury.
"What is that?" He asked leaning in some, "Is that a bruise?"
At first, I didn't know what he was talking about, but then I realized he looking at my neck.
"No," I shook my head not even thinking about the words coming out of my mouth, "That's from last night."
Realizing what happened, I slapped my hand over the mark on the side of my neck and stared at him wide-eyed.
Oh my god.
He's seen the hickey.
Seeing as how I was nearly mauled to death, I'd stopped making it a priority to hide it with my hair.
"Oh?" He started to ask, then his eyes widened with the realization and he awkwardly rubbed a hand over the back of his head and tried to look anywhere except for my direction, "Oh!... uh…I…"
I saw Stiles staring at me with his mouth hanging open and an expression falling somewhere between horror and disgust with the realization it was from Derek.
Looking to the other side, I saw Lydia and Jackson both side-eyeing me.
And there it went.
Blood heating to a rolling boil and glowing under my skin.
I have to look radioactive at this point, I'm sure of it.
"Oh my god." I breathed, covering my face with my hands and wishing I could just disappear from sight.
You'd have thought Stiles' dad would have just walked away or pretend nothing happened, but he didn't.
He must have felt bad for embarrassing me because he stuck around to try and apologize, "Brie, I'm a, I'm sorry… I didn't think-"
How is it that Scott's mom and Stiles' dad manage to embarrasses me worse than my own aunt and uncle?
"Please stop talking."
My voice was muffled against my hands but he must have understood me.
"Yep… yep." He cleared his throat again, "Not saying anything else."
What I wouldn't give to have Hermione's handy-dandy time turner necklace right now…
(Derek's point of view)
With a sigh, I tucked my cellphone back into my pocket and glanced around the street before jogging over to Aubrie's house and getting in through a side window they'd left open.
I saw her Aunt leave over an hour ago and I'd been waiting for Brie to come out of the house, thinking I could catch her on her way to school.
On more neutral ground than showing up in her room again -especially after the kiss on the porch that never should have happened.
I'd been determined to keep my distance from her since that night.
I still can't figure out exactly what it is that keeps drawing me to her, but I cannot get her out of my mind.
She wasn't answering her calls or even the few texts I'd sent her this morning.
Which maybe shouldn't have surprised me but it's a stark contrast to how excited she'd been the day I put my number in her phone.
I'm also not sure what part of 'call me if you see those red eyes again' she didn't understand.
I followed the sirens to the video store last night.
This would have been far less complicated if she'd just taken Scott's calls last night after the alpha attacked her and a classmate.
But Brie didn't answer his calls either and when I told him to go by her house and find out what she saw, he refused.
He said if she wanted to be left alone that he was going to give her time.
What Scott doesn't realize is that we don't have time. So whether Aubrie feels like talking about what she saw or not, she's going to tell me.
As I headed up the stairs to her room, I reminded myself that I need to keep her at arm's length.
Just find out what she saw the night before, anything that might get me closer to finding out who the alpha is and what it wants.
I could hear her heart beating as I neared her room.
The familiar scent of daisies, cream, and honey that loomed in the air around her reached my nose and despite just seconds before being determined to not get close to her -I thought about the night on her front porch.
Her body caged between mine and the brick house.
The warmth her pouring off her.
The taste of her mouth.
Everything so faultless. Drawing me in.
I blocked the thoughts out.
Going down this route wasn't going to help either of us.
The closer she got me to, the more danger her life would be in, and considering she was nearly killed the night before, she was in enough peril as it was.
She's human and that's what I reminded myself as I turned the doorknob and opened the door to her room.
I wasn't sure of what I was expecting when I walked in, but she stopped me in my tracks.
There she was sitting at her computer desk, facing the door of her room with her arms crossed over her chest.
Phone laying out on the desk in plain view to add insult to injury that she had most certainly seen my calls and texts and was blatantly ignoring them.
Her usually expressive face that gave everything she was feeling away was unemotional.
When she titled her head to the side and raised her brows, I realized she'd been waiting on me.
That she knew I was coming there to talk to her.
Without a word to me, she stood up, grabbed her purse and messenger bag for school, slung them both on her shoulder before picking up her phone and a thin 3-ring binder.
"Here." She marched up to me and held out the binder.
Still a little stunned, I didn't take the binder from her quick enough and she slapped it against my chest.
…Hard enough it actually hurt.
"That's everything I remember from last night."
She explained once I had a hold on the binder and she could let go.
With that, she brushed past me and left her room.
I glanced over my shoulder, watching her go for a fleeting few seconds before looking back to the binder in my hands.
I opened it up, flipping and skimming through the pages that included a wealth of information.
All neatly typed up; single-spaced.
Like a project she'd put together for a class.
From the time that she'd gotten to the video store, to Jackson berating her for not knowing where the movie The Notebook was at on the shelf, a detailed description of the alpha lurking around the store terrorizing them and then just leaving, and ending on the final page with the Sheriff noticing the hickey on her neck.
That part I already knew and in truth felt guilty about.
I'd been on the roof of the store shortly after the attack with Scott.
Judging by the reaction Stiles had to it, she must have told him I'm the one who put it there.
Scott had just seemed confused and suffering from second-hand embarrassment for her.
Pulling a deep breath, I looked around the room, seeing her bed had clearly not been slept in -I realized she must have spent the entire night typing up what happened.
Printed it off. Punched holes in the paper and put it in a binder to hand over.
I left her room and went back down the stairs and out of the front door this time.
I saw Aubrie had reached the end of the driveway and I quickly caught up with her.
"Where are you going?"
I asked her.
"To school." She answered.
My brows lowered as I look around.
She lived just down the street from the Beacon Hills Persevere.
She wasn't anywhere near the school.
Not to mention she'd have to walk by a lot of wooded areas.
Was she trying to get herself killed?
If I couldn't feel the fear from her, I'd have thought she wasn't grasping the severity of everything that was going on.
But I could smell the fear.
Feel the uneasiness emanating off of her.
No, it was more than that… panic was more like it.
She was just as panic-stricken as she'd been the night before when I saw her outside of the video store after the attack - minus the uncontrollable sobbing.
"You realize the alpha is still out there-"
I started to point out what should have been the first and foremost thought in her mind.
"No… really?"
Complete and utter sarcasm both in her voice and painted on her face.
I opened my mouth to speak again, but she didn't give me a chance to get a word out.
Dramatically and as loudly as humanly possible she yelled, "I had no idea, Derek!"
I bit the side of my tongue and tried not to snap at her.
Something that became a little easier when I got a little too caught up in noticing how the sunlight reflected in her deep brown eyes.
Fractures of light scattered like glitter.
I turned my head to the side, breaking the eye contact and shaking my head.
I'm starting to see why Scott refused this task and said if she wanted to be left alone he was going to give her time.
I had a sneaking suspicion she wouldn't have been near this volatile with him though.
She's pissed at me.
More than likely for taking off the way that I did after I'd kissed her.
Something that never should have happened in the first place and can't happen again.
Looking back I probably could have handled the situation a little better but too late now and we've got much more pressing matters at the moment.
Like what her classmate who was in the store saw.
If he starts talking about a wolf-like creature that walked on two legs, things could go south fast.
Both for myself and for Scott; which would make finding the alpha even more difficult and that was already proving a near-impossible task.
"What did Jackson see?"
I asked her.
Already knowing it would probably only further anger her.
"What?"
Her face scrunched up.
Beautifully puzzled.
"At the video store," I reminded her of what we were just discussing. It seemed like I wasn't the only one who had trouble focusing when we were around each other, "I need to know how much he saw."
"How would I know? Why don't you go ask him?"
She didn't miss a beat.
Internally I sighed but did my best to hide my irritation with her reluctance to help.
She had reason to be upset with me, I'll give her that.
But we're dealing with an extremely dangerous situation here and I can't wrap my head around how she and her friends seem unable to grasp how dire this is.
Scott is more concerned about being able to play lacrosse and date, Allison Argent, than he is about helping me find the alpha.
If I could do this on my own without any of them I would, but Scott is the beta, he has a direct connection to the one who bit him.
Scott seems to be a package deal with both Stiles and Aubrie.
Not to mention if I wind up at risk of dying again, Aubrie is the only one out of them that cares enough to try and help.
Even if she was doing her best to try and hide that she had any positive feelings toward me.
Currently, she was shooting daggers at me with the way she was staring me down.
Letting out a sigh, I reached into my pocket for my car keys, "Come on."
All of my determination to make her talk to me and get all the information out of her that I could, faded away with the early morning breeze.
She looked around, hesitant before she asked, "Where are we going?"
"I'm driving you to school."
Someone had to try and keep her safe between her wanting to walk around roads so close to the woods and sitting on her front porch in the middle of the night.
A/N - First off I'd like to thank emmettluver2010, belladu57, xJenzaFreakx, Bookkepperlove, lydo99 and TheQueenofGoodbyes for being kind enough to review since last update!
I'm so glad to see there is still interest in Brie's story and I'll do my best to keep the updates coming as long as that's the case.
^_^
You can find me on tumblr at: twofacedharveydent
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