Chapter 3
Meeting Again
Throughout the entire day, Riley couldn't stop thinking about her encounter with Derek Hale. She hadn't seen him in six years.
She thought that he had gotten taller, and if at all possible, he had gotten cuter since the last time she saw him.
His eyes are so intense. It almost scared her how intense there were when he recognized her.
He shouldn't forget her considering that they grew up together when they were kids. Even with the three year ago difference, they were always close.
But after the fire…That was the last time she saw him.
Both of their lives changed that night.
He's life changed more since his whole family was killed in the fire.
The fire left scares on her body.
She was only thirteen when it happened.
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Thirteen year old Riley was dropped off at the Hale house by her mother.
She walked up the steps and rang the doorbell.
Derek's mother answered, "Hello dear, Derek's not home. I think he went out with friends to watch a movie."
"Oh," she looked disappointed, "He told me I could come over tonight."
"Maybe he forgot. You can wait on him. We were about to have dinner. Have you had anything yet?"
"No."
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One thing she will always remember about Derek's parents, they always had family and friends over. The house was always full of people. She liked it that way.
After school, Riley stood outside the rundown, fire burned house that used to be the Hale residents. She hadn't been back here since the fire. The place just held too many memories.
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Sometime during dinner, men arrived at the house. They had guns.
Everyone was forced to go down into the basement. It was the only place Derek's parents and uncle could keep everyone safe from the men with the guns.
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She walked around to the side of the house where, police told her, she somehow got out that night. Someone pushed her through the bared window to safety.
She couldn't remember any of it.
She was knocked out from the burning bookcase in the basement.
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"It's okay. Everyone is going to fine. They will leave once they realize they can't get in here," Peter said who was Derek's uncle.
Riley tried to keep the younger children calm.
Smoke started to fill the basement.
Someone had thrown in fire bombs through the bared windows.
After just a few moments, everyone was passed out because of the smoke or the fire burned them up.
Riley and Peter were running around trying to find a way out.
Riley didn't see that the bookcase was tipping over until it was too late.
It landed on her back.
Peter, who was half burned himself, pushed the bookcase off of Riley.
He found that she was still alive just unconscious.
The same couldn't be said about anyone else in the basement.
They were all dead at this point.
Peter was able to push Riley through a broken bared window but just barely.
The fire department arrived to put out the fire but it was too late.
A firefighter found Riley.
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Riley was bent over touching the bared window Derek's uncle pushed her through, saving her life.
"What are you doing here?"
She spun around to find Derek Hale standing a few feet away from her.
"I…I don't know. I felt the need to come back here," she said.
"Why?" he asked.
She looked at him for a moment. He looked back.
"I don't know…Seeing you after so many years. I felt like I had to."
He walked to her and grabbed her left arm gently. He looked down at her arm as if he knew that just under the layer of the sweat shirt; he would find her scares from the fire.
He looked into her eyes.
She looked up at him, since he was taller than her.
"You shouldn't have come," he said and then looked up at the full moon rising in the sky for that night.
"What are you doing back here?" she asked getting his attention again.
He leaned in a little more closely and took a sniff of her.
She looked at him like he was insane.
He let go of her arm, "It's none of your business. You should go home. This is private property."
Derek walked her back to her car and watched as she drove off.