Don't Get Too Close, You'll Get Lost In The Darkness:
The cool night air swept over my bare skin, making me shiver as I glanced around the seemingly empty forest and the wild wind made the trees surrounding me creak eerily. My legs were freezing as I looked down to see the same pyjama shorts I had worn to bed and my bare feet scrunched up in the dirt as I wrapped an arm around my stomach. Dread spread without my body as I frowned to myself and I jumped slightly when an owl hooted in the distance.
"What's going on? How'd I get here?" I asked myself in a whisper as I looked around the darkened forest with my forehead creased and I slowly started walking straight forward as I continued to glance around for something familiar. Black mist started to form around my ankles as I stopped in my tracks and my breaths became shallow as panic filled my body. I tried uselessly to kick the mist away from me but that only seemed to aggravate the foreign substance and I whimpered slightly as I started running away as fast as could get. I risked a glance over my shoulder as I ran and saw that the mist was starting to form three humanoid shapes, making me stop running in shock as I spun around to face them. I squinted in confusion as they slowly started to solidify into ninja-like beings holding katana swords and my breaths came out in sharp pants as I shook my head to myself in denial.
"No. No, no, no, no. This is over! You're gone!" I screamed angrily in fright at the three Oni that had materialised in front of me and they all turned in unison to face me at the sound of my voice as they raised their swords threateningly in my direction. "No! No! This is over! This is over… Please, let it be over."
"It'll never be over, Sophie." a familiar voice informed me pointedly in a quiet voice as I wrapped an arm around my stomach and I froze in shock with my jaw dropped slightly as I turned my head in the direction of the voice.
"Allison…" I whispered in awe as I stared with wide eyes at the pretty brunette standing to the side of the clearing and I stumbled forward a few steps towards her as a soft sob escaped my lips at the sight of her. Her normally warm dark brown eyes with dull, her lips downturned into a small frown and she was still wearing the purple shirt she was wearing when she died in Scott's arms.
"There'll always be something." Another familiar voice stated from behind me in a hard tone as I spun around in surprise and I let out a whimper at the sight of Aiden standing there as I covered my mouth with my hands. His familiar chocolate brown eyes stared back at me blankly as a small scowl spread over his lips and a patch of blood stained the front of his shirt where he had been stabbed by the Oni's sword.
"Aiden. Oh, my god!"
"Something will always be waiting in the shadows." Allison told me plainly as her soft footsteps approached me from behind and I looked over my shoulder at her with a frown on my lips as I watched her walked forward. "Something will always be coming for you."
"There's nowhere to hide." Aiden said in an emotionlessly voice as I looked back over at him with wide eyes and he took a sort of threatening step forward as I stood frozen in the same spot. "There's nowhere to where you'll be safe. You'll never be safe. They'll never be safe."
"What?" I asked breathlessly as I glanced between both of them in confusion with a frown on my lips and they both turned their heads in unison to look at something on the other side of the clearing as I followed their gaze. There in a line were all my friends, family members and passing acquaintances with blank expressions on their faces and my mom, Scott, Stiles, my dad, Lydia, Derek, Jackson, Isaac, Alan, Peter, Jordan, John, Chris, Kira, Ethan, Danny, Meredith, Kira's dad and mom, Cora and Malia all stared at me with absolutely no emotion in their eyes. "What's going on? What's happening?"
"The truth. The future. The inevitable." Aiden and Allison chorused simultaneously as an Oni appeared behind each of my loved ones and immediately impaled them through the chest with the sharp edge of their katana sword.
"NO!" I screamed loudly as I started running forward with the hope of saving each and every one of the injured. They all collapsed onto the ground as black blood dribbled down their chins and I pumped my legs as hard as I could with sobs wracking my entire body. I dropped to my knees next to Derek's prone body as my hands fluttered uselessly over the bleeding wound and tears streamed down my cheeks as I tried to summon my magic so that I could heal him. I didn't even notice that it had started to rain down heavily over me as I wiped water off my cheeks and lightning lit up the darkened night sky as thunder echoed around the forest.
"You can't save him." Aiden's whispered harshly in my ear as I shook my head rapidly in denial and I felt him move closer to me so that his lips brushed against the outer shell of my ear. "You can't save any of them, Sophie. Why are you even bothering to try?"
"I can save them." I muttered under my breath as I scrunched my nose up in distress and he let out an unmistakably derisive laugh as I flinched away from him.
"Like you saved me?"
"Or me?" Allison asked spitefully from the other side of the bodies as I looked up at her with wide eyes and she narrowed her eyes at me as I shook my head to myself because I knew that it wasn't true.
"I tried to save you. Both of you." I reminded them weakly as I bit my lower lip in between my teeth and Allison narrowed her eyes at me angrily as I focused on summoning my healing power to save them. "I tried everything in my power to save you. I tried. I promise I tried to save you!"
"It doesn't matter now." They both stated in unison with matching sadistic smirks twisted on their lips and I looked up at them in confusion as I searing hot pain erupted from my sternum. I let out a shocked gasp as I glanced down at the bloodied end of the katana sword protruding from my chest and I whimpered in anguish as I started to taste something metallic in my mouth. I made a muffled gargling sound with blood dribbling down my chin as slouched forward and collapsed onto my side next to Derek as I struggled to keep my eyes open. I looked up at Aiden and Allison pleadingly as they stared down at me with blank expressions on their faces and I felt my eyelids getting heavier as I started to fade into darkness with only one question on my mind: why?
When I woke I sat upright in bed panting as I whimpered quietly as brought my knees up to my chest and I carefully trailed my fingers over my sternum as I searched for the wound created by the katana sword. I hurriedly climbed out of bed as I raced over to the full length mirror with a panicked frown on my lips and I sighed in relief when there wasn't any sign of blood on my skin as I looked over my reflection critically.
"Oh, thank god." I whispered to myself as I leaned one hand on the edge of the mirror and I closed my eyes in relief but the look on Aiden's face was etched into my mind. I had to open them again instantly because I couldn't bear to see that much contempt directed at me from him and it physically made me sick to think that he hated me or that he thought the worst of me.
"Sophie?" I heard Scott ask in concern from behind me in the doorway to my bedroom and I lifted my head to look at him in the reflection as I forced back the tears that started to collect in my eyes. "Hey, what's going on?"
"Nothing. I'm fine."
"Come on, Soph. Just tell me."
"It was just a nightmare. It's nothing." I assured him dismissively as I waved a hand in the air and wiped the tears from my cheek with the other hand. Scott sighed heavily as he started walking towards me with a concerned frown etched on his lips and I tilted my head to the side as I avoided his warm dark brown eyes when he stopped behind me.
"I want to help you, Sophie. You've been doing so much better lately." He said softly as he placed his hands on my shoulders with a compassionate glint in his eyes and I bit my lower lip in between my teeth as I pulled myself out of his grasp.
"I was in a forest, alone in the dark. Everything was so cold out there. I – I don't know what happened, but there was this black mist following me. I couldn't get rid of it. I kicked it, I ran from it, but it wouldn't leave me alone. It turned into the Oni. Three of them." I admitted softly in a distressed voice as I covered my face with both my hands and I wandered over to the end of my bed as I held back my tears. "Allison was there. And Aiden. They were saying these things, telling me things. I don't – I don't even know how it happened, but suddenly everyone I know was getting stabbed with the Oni swords. There was so much blood and I couldn't do anything to help them. I tried! I swear to god, I tried to help them! Aiden was saying how I couldn't do anything, how I couldn't help them. Aiden and Allison blame me. They think I'm the reason they're dead."
"Well, you kind of are, aren't you?"
"What?" I asked breathlessly as I spun around to face my brother with an incredulous expression and he stared back at me with an emotionless mask plastered on his face as he tilted his head to the side. "How could you say that to me?"
"Because it's true. You had the chance to save Allison and you failed. You had the chance to save Aiden and you failed. They both died because you couldn't control your own powers." Scott pointed out in a hard voice as he narrowed his dull dark brown eyes at me and I stumbled back in shock as though he had slapped me in the face.
"I tried, Scott! I would've given anything to save them. I loved Allison, and I loved Aiden. I didn't want them to die!" I exclaimed desperately as I clasped my hands together in front of my chest and pressed my lips together to stop myself from crying as he stared at me blankly.
"They died because of you."
"No!"
"Their blood is on your hands." Scott told me in a deadly calm voice as he stared at me as though I was the threat and something dripped onto my cheek as I glanced down at my hands to see them coated in scarlet red blood. Drops of red fell from the ceiling like raindrops as I looked around wildly in alarm and I whimpered in fright as I wrapped my arms around my stomach like that would keep me from falling apart.
"Please…. No, that isn't true."
"They died because of you. Allison died because of you. Aiden died because of you." he repeated heatedly as he stalked towards me with a predatory glint in his eyes and I backed up quickly with a terrified gasp as he continued to advance on me.
"Scott, you're scaring me. Stop!" I cried with tears streaming down my cheeks as I leaned against the wall and my brother's normally dark brown eyes changed to the scarlet red of an Alpha as his werewolf visage came into view. "Stop! Please, stop!"
"THEY'RE DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!" he roared in a garbled threatening voice as he snarled dangerously and I screamed in terror as he lunged at me with a mouth full of sharp teeth.
"NO!" I shouted in horror as I sat upright in my bed with my breaths shallow and I scrambled backwards as I glanced around wildly in case someone or something was lying in await. My legs kicked away the sheet that was wrapped around me as I tried to control of short pants escaping me and I sobbed uncontrollably as I brought my knees up to my chest in an attempt to make myself as small as possible. I took a moment to be thankful that Scott had stayed the night at Stiles and my mom was working late at the hospital before realisation washed over me. I was alone. I was completely and utterly alone.