Avery

"Wake up, Avery." Opening my eyes, I find myself lying on a cold gravelly surface, with darkness all around me. I slowly sit up and try to remember where I am. Suddenly a lamp post's yellowed light flickers on at my far left.

One by one, parking lot lights flicker on and grow closer to me. I'm in the hospital parking lot, that much is clear. I push myself to my feet and turn around to make my way back into the building, but find no sign of the hospital.

Everything is so cold and dark.

So familiar.

I turn back to the lamp posts as they continue flickering on down the line. I watch for a minute, just letting the wild flickers of light consume me.

As the light in front of me comes to life, it's different. There's no flicker, just a beam of light that is steady and constant. And under it stands a man.

He's tall, his hair is dark and spiked, and dark stubble frames his jaw perfectly. His eyes pierce through me; the blood red stares back at me with incredible intensity. I have a thought to turn and run, but my feet won't let me move. The sound of a heart monitor fades in and the heartbeat steadily speeds up.

The man is incredibly attractive, so much so that it's intimidating. Although it might just be his dark, angled features and those red glaring eyes that make me feel so uneasy. Probably the red glaring eyes.

As I watch him just stand there, a voice echoes through the parking lot as if it's coming from right beside me. "Wake up." I snap to where the voice is coming from, but nothing is there.

"Wake up, Avery." I hear again, the voice is a man's voice. His voice?

Just as I turn back to him, a low growl shatters through me and I see his glowing eyes right in front of me.

I wake with a loud gasp and my body snaps up fast enough to give me a whiplash. I look around my darkened room to find no sign of the lights, the man, or his red eyes.

And yet I can still feel them on me, watching me. I look over to my clock.

5:19 A.M.

"Now you might have some strange side effects; weird dreams, blackouts in your memory, sudden bursts of emotion, maybe even some mild hallucinations. The pain medicine I'm prescribing for you is really strong and it affects people differently, just try to only take some if you absolutely need it. If you're feeling not yourself or you're unsure of how your body is handling the medicine, come talk to me immediately." Doctor Pierce's voice echoes in my head as I try to rationalize my dream.

I sigh and push my feet over the side of my bed; in a little while I have to go to the high school track and meet up with Luke, my personal trainer. I reach over to the bottle of pain pills on my nightstand and pop one of the tablets in my mouth and swallow.

Luke's been training me since ninth grade and he's basically made me into the player I am today. I have to admit, I owe him a lot.

Supposedly, instead of his usual 'be uncomfortable' saying that he usually uses to urge me on, today's just going to be a 'let's see how fucked up you are' kinda thing.

I run a hand through my hair and try to calm my nerves. Of course he didn't say it like that, he said, "Let's take it slow and see how it goes." which is basically the same thing. I look down at the ugly scar on my leg and wonder how the hell I'm ever going to be the same.

I brush my fingertips over the puffy skin of the scar, I can't even feel my fingertips as they brush over the thick scar tissue. I shake my head and reach over to my nightstand where the thick black brace sits just waiting to be shackled around my leg.

I pull the thick black fabric around my leg and strap it on tightly. Forcing myself to stand, I make my way to my dresser and begin sifting through my workout clothes.

In the end I settle for a pair of black running shorts with purple trimming, black mid-calf Nike socks, and a charcoal grey fitted T-shirt. I grab a hairband and rake my fingers through my hair, I put my hair up in a high ponytail that is long enough to brush past my shoulder blades.

Maybe it's time for a hair cut or something…. I shake my head and catch sight of the folded paper on my dresser. It's the visitor's list I'd asked Melissa to get for me; I haven't looked at it yet, and I don't know what I'm waiting for.

Light has begun to come in through my window, but I realize that I hadn't even made a thought to turn the light on, which is….. Weird. Normally I can't see a damn thing in my room before the sun is up.

I step back and look at myself in the mirror; I might look the sporty kinda cute, if it weren't for the damned brace. It's amazing how much regret I can feel for something I don't even remember.

I push that thought away as I walk to my phone on my nightstand and snatch it from the charger. I pull the cord out of it and turn it on as I slowly open my door to make sure I don't make much noise. I walk down the stairs carefully, with each step my thigh feels like it's being stretched further and further.

When I reach the bottom I look at my phone's cracked screen and see that Tori texted me that she's on her way back to California.

My phone still works perfectly, despite the cracked screen, and that seems like a good sign for me, I think. It was in the crash with me, and it was busted just like me, yet it still works fine.

I called Tori last night when I got home from the hospital, she'd started crying hysterically on the other end saying how sorry she was that she wasn't there when I woke up and how she'd be on the next flight back as soon as possible.

She thought I was going to die, everyone thought I was going to die. She didn't think I'd wake up and the doctors would switch off the machines in the next few days. She didn't want to be around when it happened.

I figured it out when I heard the complete shock in her voice when she'd asked me three times if it was really, really me.

I've known Tori for as long as I can remember and when bad things happen, she doesn't like to be around to see the end result. Like the time she was caught cheating on a Spanish test in eighth grade and she camped out in a bush at the school for hours to avoid going home to face her parents.

Tori never has been very good at handling bad situations, she panics and usually runs off for a while. So I can't say that I'm surprised that she wasn't even in town when I woke up.

"I'm so sorry, Avery. I wish I'd…..I'm sorry," Tori's voice says in a sob, "I love you so much, but I can't be here when you….. So I'm going to New York." Her voice echoes through the bleak darkness in my head, "God, I'm gonna miss you." Her sobs fade back into the darkness.

I practically limp towards the mat in front of the door and slowly lower myself down towards my running shoes. I slip them on and reach up and use the door knob to pull myself back up. "This is ridiculous." I mumble to myself as I realize just how miserable 'training' is going to be today.

Derek

My legs carry me easily rough the forest, never missing a step. I'm faster now as alpha than I ever was before, and it's nice to be able to just run and be all the way across my territory before I know it.

I've been out patrolling now for about an hour or two; I couldn't sleep, or I didn't really want to sleep, really. I'm tired of those dreams and how I can never get her face out of my head afterwards.

So I've been spending my nights out in the forest, searching for signs of the other alpha resurfacing in Beacon.

But as I approach my house, I catch a familiar scent. I slow down as I take the final strides up the porch steps and swing my door open before stepping inside. I follow the scent into the living room to find the blonde laying on the old couch.

Erica lays with her head propped up on her arm, her dirty blonde hair is whisked back over her shoulders. Two spindly straps hold up a low cut red tank top that leaves the top of her black lace bra in plain sight. Tight, dark skinny jeans cling tightly to her thin legs as she pretends to be preoccupied looking at her nails.

"You sure know how to keep a girl waiting." She says with an impatient huff. She looks me up and down as I come to stand in front of her.

"What are you doing here in the first place?" I ask in an unamused tone. She quirks an eyebrow and a sly smile pulls at her red lips as she slowly draws herself off the couch towards me.

"Well, let's just say I've been sensing your frustration lately," she comes within an arm's length and I let my arms fall to my side as she begins circling around me.

I can't hold back a small chuckle as her words sink in, "And so of course you come here at," I take a second to glance over at the clock in the kitchen, "six in the morning?" I let out another short laugh and a light growl rumbles in Erica's throat at my humor.

"I've been here for a while now actually," her hands slowly begin trailing up my back and loop around my neck as her lips brush my ear, "just waiting for-"

My cell phone rings and I tear her arms from around my neck as I reach in my pocket, pull out my phone and make my way into the kitchen.

Incoming call: Boyd

I hit 'accept' and bring the phone up to my ear, "Derek?" Boyd asks on the other end.

"Yeah, go ahead," I look back to see Erica glaring back at me.

"We've been keeping tabs on Avery like you asked."

"And?" I ask impatiently.

"She's at the high school track right now with some dude; looks like a trainer or something maybe a rehab guy…..? Just thought you should know in case." Boyd's voice sounds uneasy.

"How's she doing?" Boyd sighs on the other end.

"Not spectacular," Isaac's voice chimes in, "she looks like she's in a lot of pain with her leg. I guess you expected that?"

Boyd

Isaac and I kneel behind the bleachers as Avery and the instructor carry on, "-have to be patient Avery, this isn't going to get better overnight. It's something you're going to have to ease back into." The middle-aged man says as Avery grimaces and grips her brace. His hands come to rest on his hips as he looks down at her with a concerned stare.

I remember watching her play a couple times, she was damn fast before, but now… now she just looks miserable.

"Hold on," Isaac says quietly to Derek, "she's talking."

"I haven't even taken my brace off yet." she says in an exasperated tone. "What am I gonna do?" she asks desperately; she's sitting down on the track with her hands grabbing at her brace, as if that will make the pain lessen.

The man sighs and lets his hand fall from his hips, "The only thing you can do," he holds out a large hand to her, "rest, and then get up and try again." Avery looks at his hand with hesitation.

"I don't-" her voice cracks and she takes a deep breath to hold back tears, "I don't know if I can do this. It hurts so fucking much." she says in a quiet voice.

He squats in front of her, "This isn't like you Avery; is there something you need to talk about?" Her face reddens with every passing minute.

"I'm just- what if I can never play again?" She angrily wipes her tears away, "I just don't know what I'm gonna do if I can't play, that's all this has ever been about-"

"Don't talk like that." the man says suddenly, "It sounds like you've already let a little scar beat you." The man stares intently back at her as she sucks in a shaky breath, "You're letting your fear get to you, I've seen it happen with countless athletes; they tear an ACL, they break an ankle, they rip a muscle and they quit because they're scared of how much it's going to hurt to get back to where they were." He holds out his hand to her again as he stands and points to the track, "But you've never been afraid before and I'm not gonna let you start now. So get up and let's see you try again. Take it as slow as you need."

"Damn," Isaac whispers next to me as Avery nods her head and takes the man named Luke's hand, "got my heart pumping a bit," I look down at my hands to see my claws are out and I notice that so are Isaac's. We look at each other for a quick moment.

Isaac raises the phone back to his ear, "Derek, did you say pain can keep someone from changing?" I look back at the track to see Avery jogging with another pained look on her face.

I listen close enough to hear Derek on the other end; "Yeah, the easiest way to keep someone from changing is through physical pain, to an extent. "

"Well then I don't think we're gonna have to worry about her changing for a while then." Isaac says in a sigh.

"That bad?" Derek asks flatly.

"I just don't get it, why isn't her leg healing?" Isaac asks before I finally grab my phone back.

"It might heal if she changed…" Derek's voice is slow and frustrated.

"And since the pain is keeping her human," I begin as Isaac turns the phone so he can speak into it.

"and being human is keeping her from healing….?" He finishes.

"Right." is all Derek says in response. Luke suddenly reaches into his pocket and pulls out his cell phone. He quickly texts something on the phone and slides it back in his pocket.

"So what are we going to do with her?" I ask as I watch Avery slowly jog by.

"You're not going to do anything with her; just keep tabs on her and let me know when she's alone." And with that, the phone call ends.

I slide my phone back into my jacket's pocket, "Avery," Luke says as she jogs towards him, he holds up his hands and she comes to a stop in front of him, "how's it feeling now?"

She looks down at her leg and bites her lip, "Not great." He stands there for a moment just looking at her brace and pursing his lips.

"Your mom still runnin' that ballet studio in the basement?"

Avery rolls her eyes, "She'd never give it up." she says.

"I think we're done for today but if you wanna go home and do a little bit of ballet. It wouldn't be a bad idea; ballet is good for stretching muscles and that might help build the strength back up in your leg. We'll pick back up on Wednesday. Alright?" The man asks as he turns and walks to the gate.

"Right," Avery whispers to herself as she turns to face the lacrosse field in the center of the track. She looks down at the track as she slowly makes her way towards the gate and from there to the parking lot.

"Should we follow her?" Isaac asks absently.

"Derek told us to keep an eye on her, so yeah." All of a sudden Avery stops dead in her tracks and whips around toward the bleachers.

Avery

I listen closely for a long minute, and I can swear I hear a light pounding… like… like a heart. I look back to the gate to check that Luke is gone and I catch a glimpse of his car pulling out of the lot. I turn back to the bleachers and take a few cautious steps to the back of the metal structure.

All of a sudden, the pounding is gone, and I'm surrounded by nothing but silence. I step behind the bleachers and find nothing there. The rising sun shines down brightly, sending a warmth across my back.

"Nothing," I say to myself as I tuck a stray hair behind my ear, "of course it's nothing." I reassure myself as I walk back to the track. My leg didn't hurt as much halfway through the second jog, I wanted to go faster but the brace isn't exactly easy to move in.

I grab my mom's keys and my water bottle from beside the gate and walk back to my mom's car in the parking lot. I doubt she'll be happy about me taking her car, but I had to get here somehow and walking is definitely out of the question.

I unlock her car and lower myself into the driver's seat. I miss my car. Sure, my mom's impala is nicer but it's not the same as my old junker. It makes me sad when I think of it twisted and destroyed around some tree.

I push the thought from my mind as I start the engine. The car comes to life with a hum. It's nothing like the roar of that Camaro's from the hospital; that thing shook the ground when he revved the engine.

I put the car in reverse and back out of the space, my mind still focused on the mystery man in the parking lot that somehow also found his way into my dreams. My mom didn't even react when he sped by. And his eyes…. His eyes were fucking glowing I mean… what the fuck is that?

"Now you might have some strange side effects; weird dreams, blackouts in your memory, sudden bursts of emotion, maybe even some mild hallucinations."

I suddenly hit the brakes at the parking lot exit. "So it was just my imagination…?" I stare at the black road in front of me. No cars go by; the way is clear to pull out. And yet I sit, staring at the asphalt. "God what's happening to me…..?" I whisper to myself.

After a long minute I shake my head and turn the radio on to drain out my thoughts. Danni California by Red Hot Chili Peppers comes on and I turn it up until I can't hear myself think anymore. Because if I start thinking I'll end up wondering about the party and the accident and Jake…. God what the hell happened to him anyway?

Where is he? Did he even visit me in the hospital?

I know the answer is sitting folded up on my dresser, but….do I even want to know? I shake my head, of course I want to know. I have to know…. Right….?

I reach over and turn the music even louder. A few minutes later I pull into the driveway and turn the car off. I grab my water bottle, keys and phone before dragging myself up the stairs and through the front door.

I close the door slowly so it doesn't make a noise. Usually my mom sleeps till at least 10 unless she has a private instructing session or something she has to get done in the morning. I try to climb the stairs quietly so she won't hear me.

I've always resented ballet in a way; sometimes I feel like it's the reason my mom is so unsupportive of lacrosse, that and the fact that my dad was the one who encouraged me to play when I was 10 In some way she probably resents lacrosse like I do ballet.

But if ballet will help my leg get stronger, then that's what I'll do. I walk into my room and find my ballet shoes before making my way down to the basement.

The light shines through the wall of windows on the far side of the room. I slip off my tennis shoes and socks and lace my slippers up. I normally only practice in tights, a leotard and a cover skirt but I don't feel like taking off the brace to slip the tights on today. I just want to get to work.

I walk toward the balance bar that stands by the huge wall mirror and grip the wooden beam tightly in my hand as I slowly bring my bad leg up and extend it across the bar. My thigh feels like it's tearing but I force myself to stretch it out further.

Outside the windows, birds chirp happily and I try to focus on their little songs as I lower my right leg and shift all my weight on it as I repeat the motion with my left leg. I can feel the muscles in my leg shake with effort.

I muffle a frustrated grunt as my leg nearly collapses. I'm so sick of not being able to run or jog or even walk comfortably. Now I can't even stretch my leg right? I'm tired of the pain every time I so much as lift my leg.

Why is this happening? Because I snuck out for one fucking night?

A crunch in my hands grabs my attention. I look down to see my hands clamped around the wooden support beam which is now splintering under my grasp. My vision is red, and I can smell the metallic scent of blood as it slowly drips from my palms onto the polished floor below me. Looking into the mirror, the red slowly fades from my vision.

Cold, angry gold eyes stare back at me. Two huge teeth prick the inside of my bottom lip, and I feel completely detached from myself. I inwardly scream as I force my eyes shut.

When I open them, a dark figure in the mirror behind me catches my attention. It's the man - the same man with the camaro as in the parking lot and my dream… His eyes are the same eerie red as before; he stands with his hands in his leather jacket just as in my dream, a confident open-footed stance.

I spin around to speak only to find him gone, with no sign of where he could've gone. Looking back to the mirror to see my normal dark blue eyes staring back, with no hint of the golden hostility there was before, I sink down to my knees and clutch the bar just to keep from crashing onto the floor.

I turn and lean my back against the mirror and stare blankly at the spot where he stood. I feel the tears slowly drain down my face as I just stare at where he'd been. Closing my eyes, a familiar sensation returns to me.

Darkness. There's only darkness and cold and….. "God, I'm gonna miss you." Tori's voice calls through the darkness. I scream at myself to speak, to open my mouth, to let her know I'm here, I'm alive, I'm alive.

To let her know not to go; not to leave me here in the darkness by myself. But she can't hear me scream, I listen as the sound of her footsteps fade away. Something inside me breaks as I hear the sound of a door being closed.

I open my eyes and find I really am surrounded with darkness. My arms encircle my legs keeping them close to my chest just as before, only there's no mirror to lean on behind me, no polished floor under me, and no light around me.

I look around in disbelief as a cool night breeze blows through my ponytail. In the distance I can hear the chirping of the crickets and the swaying of the trees. I squeeze my eyes shut tight, praying it's just a hallucination.

Derek

"So, she's just been sitting here, alone in the dark?" I ask in a confused voice. Avery sits on the track, staring blankly at the other side of the field holding her legs tight against her chest. I can see her clearly, but whether or not she can see anything is a mystery.

I learned with Erica and Boyd that sometimes the abilities don't work in the beginning, or at least haven't "settled in yet", as Isaac put it.

It always seemed like an excuse to me for them not being able to control themselves.

"Yeah, we did what you said, we kept an eye on her and about three hours ago she just walked out of her house and came here. She's been like this ever since." Isaac says in a whisper. I'm crouched at the edge of the forest with a clear view of the stadium, Isaac and Boyd are crouched to my right, and Erica sits at my left.

"She's just been staring at nothing?" Erica asks in a snort, "Sounds like we've got a psycho on our hands." she says with a smug hum. I hold back a growl as I squint to get a better look at Avery.

"Ohhh, we've got a psycho alright," Isaac says as he leans forward to look Erica in the eyes, "but it ain't her."

"Enough." I say just as Erica opens her mouth to retaliate. "Something's wrong."

"It happened to all of us." Erica says in a mumble.

"Hate to say it, but she's got a point." Isaac agrees.

"This is… different." I say as I stare at Avery's motionless form. "Boyd, go turn the lights on, Isaac, Erica, you two go home." Boyd quickly jumps up and sprints off toward the electrical shed. Isaac makes his way deeper into the woods and after a couple long minutes, Erica does the same.

Avery

A burst of light makes me jump up, and I look to see a stadium light on the far end of the field, allowing me to make out that I'm at the school's lacrosse field, sitting on the track facing the center of the field.

Flashes of the ballet studio cross my mind; the crunching of the wooden bar, the blood dripping on the floor, and the man in the mirror. I look down at my hands and see no wounds, but my palms are stained with dried blood. I notice I'm not wearing my ballet slippers, instead my sneakers are on, and my brace is firmly in place.

"What the….?" I look around me as another field light comes to life, illuminating another part of the field. "How did…?"

"Now you might have some strange side effects; weird dreams, blackouts in your memory, sudden bursts of emotion, maybe even some hallucinations."

Did I forget I came here? I had a.. a memory blackout?

The light over the center of the field flips on, shining bright light clearly over the red BH in the center of the field.

this is just like my dream, except at the school…. So it's a dream. It has to be a dream.

As the final light turns on, a shadow catches my eye. As the shadow draws closer I can see more details; leather jacket, jeans, grey t-shirt, black hair…. But no red eyes. Of course it's the same man, the same imaginary man.

He walks calmly towards me until he's maybe ten feet away on the field. I lean forward and rest my chin on my knee as I stare at him. In a few minutes, he'll let out the same growl and I'll wake up, but I want to remember every detail about him; the way his stubble lines his jaw, how the leather jacket hugs his shoulders perfectly, even his confident stance.

He seems taken back as I relax and look him over, "What're you doing here Avery?" I look back at him in confusion.

That voice…

I need to hear him say something, I need to keep him talking, something tells me I know him… "Waiting." Is all I can manage to say, his eyebrows furrow.

"Waiting for what?" Something inside my head screams at me, something just below the surface…

I raise my head and mirror his perplexed expression. I should've woken up by now. He's never… talked to me. Not in the dream or in the ballet studio. "Waiting to wake up." I say as I lean back and push myself uneasily off the ground and up on my feet. To my surprise, my leg doesn't hurt, but I guess pain doesn't really happen in dreams. And this is a dream.

It has to be.

I take a small, stumbling step since my legs feel numb, and close my eyes as I try to place where I know him from, "Can you just," I bite my lip for a quick second, "can you just say something?" When he doesn't respond I open my eyes to see him looking me up and down again.

"C'mon, just say something." He looks towards the parking lot for a moment.

"You shouldn't be out here, not in your state"

"Wake up, Avery. Wake up!"

Jumping back, my eyes go wide. "You were there; you were in the hospital, I- I heard you." His jaw tenses, but he makes no move to deny it, "You were, weren't you? I remember your voice." I close my eyes as I hear his words echo in my head.

I open them slowly and look at the ground between us. "All my friends, my family, they were… they were all begging me to wake up, get better, and I could hear them, I was screaming at them that I was there, but I couldn't..." tears slowly crowd my eyes. I'm so tired of the tears.

Slowly, full realization sets in and I take a couple steps forward, "You're…" I reach a hand out towards his chest, "you're real." I say in a relieved voice as my hand makes contact with something real, warm, and very much alive.

"I'm not crazy." I say with a smile as I look up to see him staring down at me with an unreadable expression.

Erica

"C'mon, Erica, Derek told us to go." Isaac tugs at my arm. I dig my heels in and he gives in, coming to stand by my side. I watch as Avery reaches out and places her hand on Derek's chest.

I barely hold in a snarl. At my side, Isaac whistles slowly. "You hear that?" he asks in surprise.

"No, what?" I can't take my eyes off of her hand on his chest long enough to look at Isaac.

"His heartbeat picked up." I tear my gaze away from the two and look at Isaac with wide eyes.

"It did not." Isaac grins widely and I turn my attention back to the two of them in time to see her take her hand away, "it did not." Isaac chuckles and takes off running back through the woods.

"Isaac!" I yell after him as I run to catch him, "Liar!"