Chapter Two
Footsteps, my own, walk towards the doors of a building I have only been in once, Beacon Hills Police Department. My hands shake as I reach up to open the door. Whether they are shaking because of nerves or fear I haven't yet figured out, but they were shaking. The tremors moved throughout my entire body as I got closer and closer to the front desk and was greeted by a disgruntled officer.
"Can I help you miss?" Could he? Why did I come here again? Would I really be able to get all of the answers I needed here? "Miss?" He is looking at me with more focus now probably noticing the shaking of my hands and knees.
"Um, I hope so. I, uh, well, I knew Laura Hale when we were kids and I would like to pay my respects to the family. Unfortunately I could find their address anywhere. I was wondering if you had anything on record that you could share with me of their whereabouts."
"You knew the Hales huh? Well, Lady you are in luck. We have her younger brother, Derek, being questioned right now. I'm sure if you wait here you'll be able to pay your condolences before the day ends." He says pointing to a group of chairs closer to the doors. I glance towards them and nod my thanks with a small smile before sitting down closest to the door. The fresh air that wafted in helped to calm me slightly. This building brought back so many incomplete memories. The fire, most of all. I tried to will the horrible images away as I waited, staring at the clock on the other side of the room. After a half hour of waiting a door opened silencing the room. First an officer walked out looking frustrated. Then a younger man dressed mostly in black and a smug smile passed him making a beeline for the exit.
"Stay in town, Derek. I mean it!" The officer calls after him. Derek? This must be Laura's little brother. Perhaps he knew something about the boy with the blue eyes. I stand up finally steady, determination fueling my courage, and walk over to him. Just before I get close enough to say anything our eyes lock and it feels like a shock storms its way through my entire being. I gasp and double over almost in pain as my breath whooshes out of me much too quickly. The floor below me begins to swing and roll as I fall towards it. My hands fly out bracing for impact but the blow never comes and then I see nothing except ice blue eyes and a horrible fire surrounding everything I love.
The weird rhythmic tapping is the first thing I hear when I come to. I am laid out in a hospital bed but instead of the heart monitor I hear what I now know is the anxious tapping of a foot against the ground. I quickly sit up and hop out of the bed trying not to think about how much I hate this hospital. I am met with surprised, eerily familiar, ice blue eye. "We're in the hospital." He says as if he thinks that will calm me.
"I need to get out of here." The words sound panicked and frantic.
"Look, I'm not here to babysit you or anything. The cops made me bring you saying that you were a friend of Laura's and I owed it to you to make sure you were ok. Since you are obviously fine, I'm outta here." He says harshly.
"Wait, I… I did want to talk to you. Well anyone in Laura's family."
"What about?"
"Um…well..." I scratch at my arm nervously pulling up my sleeve with the movement. Almost too quickly for me to see Derek Hale grabs my wrist and is now closely examining my burn scar.
"Where did you get this?" The severity of his tone takes me aback.
"A … fire." I almost say it like a question. He glances at me and then suddenly he seems to lose interest and lets my arm fall back to my side.
"Look, I don't know what you were hoping to do by speaking to me but I have nothing to tell you. Except that you should just leave me and my family alone. For your own sake, we don't like strangers." He says and starts to brush past me. I sidestep in front of him feeling a bit angry.
"I'm not a stranger. I used to play with both Laura and you when we were kids. I was there the night of the fire, we both were." I say taking a shot in the dark with most of that sentence. Mostly I remembered the fire and the feelings of closeness I had when I thought about the people in my dreams. This brought him up short for a second and he opened his mouth like he was going to say something and, just as quickly closed it and brushed past me striding towards the door.
"Laura and I never had any childhood friends when we were kids, it was just us. Again, I'm warning you, don't seek me out. Whatever claim you think you have to Laura or me does not exist." His words are cold and complete crush me. I feel a part of me breaking off and disappearing as I look at his back getting smaller and smaller. But in the next second I hear something, something that changes everything about how my life was supposed to be, just two uttered words floating to me quietly but clearly. "Goodbye, Latia." He does remember, why would he lie? How did I hear that?