What's this? Could it be? A second chapter in less than a week? It's a miracle!
It helps that I've been itching to write the chapter for "Motel California" for a while now. This was a very personal chapter for me to write and I hope it leaves a high impression.
Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed, or reviewed this story!
Song inspiration for this chapter: "Hotel California" by The Eagles, "Little Toy Guns" by Carrie Underwood, "When I'm Gone" by 3 Doors Down, "Leave Out All the Rest" by Linkin Park, "When It Rains" by Paramore, "Angels on the Moon" by Thriving Ivory, "The Sound of Silence" by Disturbed (a cover of Simon and Garfunkel), "Revelation" by Dino Meneghin (the song originally used in the iconic scene), "Save You" by Matthew Perryman Jones, "Fix You" by Coldplay, and "Barton Hollow" by The Civil Wars.
I would highly suggest that if you don't listen to it the first time you read it, go back and listen to "Save You" while reading the scene on the bus. (Trust me, you'll know which scene I'm talking about when you get to it.)
Disclaimer: I own only the Decker/Keating clan (including Edgar) and the car known as Ron Burgundy. Everything else belongs to the respectful owners.
"DAD!"
The people that had gathered watched the heartbreaking scene unfold in front of them.
Virginia Decker, a well-liked woman in the community, was sobbing uncontrollably on a neighbor's shoulder. No one ever would have thought that this would happen to her.
What caught their attention the most though was the altercation taking place a few yards ahead of the pair. A young teenage girl was thrashing in the hold of several individuals keeping her at bay. Marlee violently kicked out at them as she attempted to surge forward.
"GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF OF ME! DAAAAAD!"
Her voice cracked in places as she screamed, choking on her emotions.
"NOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOO!"
Her throat had started to feel raw a moment ago as her hysterical wails seemed to shred it- yet she still persisted. Eventually, her shrieks turned into wordless sobs as she sunk down onto her knees, defeated and grieving.
All anyone could do was watch the family before them fall apart.
"Marlee? Marlee."
A prodding at her ankle thrusted her back into the present, causing the blonde's eyelids to flutter open. It took a moment for her sight to adjust. The sun had fully set and the passing world outside of the school bus was dark. Four sets of eyes were staring at her in curiosity and concern. Marlee was still stretched out on the seat, one of her earbuds dangling with faint music playing from it.
"You okay?" Allison's eyebrows furrowed. She had been trying to wake Marlee up for the past two minutes but the girl hadn't stirred whatsoever. Scott had noticed the huntress' unsuccessful attempts to wake their friend up, quickly followed by Stiles and Lydia.
"Yeah, I'm totally fine. Just exhausted from sitting all day." Marlee joked a bit, playing off their worries. There was no reason for the rest of them to have to bear the burden of her bullshit.
"Okay then. Coach said we're only a few miles out from the motel we're staying at for the night."
"If it's the Bates Motel, I'm out. I'm hitchhiking home."
Lydia rolled her eyes good-naturedly at that.
"Marlee, Psycho is a fictional film and it would be a lot more dangerous to hitchhike home than to stay a night in a killer motel."
"You wanna bet? When Norman Bates is trying to murder you in the shower, don't come crying to me."
And with that positive note, Marlee spent the rest of the drive loudly singing "Hotel California".
"Welcome to the Hotel California, such a lovely place (such a lovely place), such a lovely face…"
They slowed and came to a halt in front of a building with giant neon letters on the side. The place looked like it had seen its heyday in the sixties, maybe the seventies if it was lucky. The students made their way off of the bus, taking in the sight in front of them.
"I've seen worse." Scott attempted to make light of the situation.
"Where have you seen worse?" Stiles asked in disbelief.
The piercing sound of Coach's whistle cut off any answer Scott could have given.
"Listen up! The meet's been pushed till tomorrow. This is the closest motel with the most vacancies and least amount of good judgment when it comes to accepting a bunch of degenerates like yourselves. You'll be pairing up. Choose wisely."
Marlee gazed up at the glowing Glen Capri sign, a hollowness in her chest cavity. She wasn't a stranger to that feeling- or should she say 'lack of feeling'? The fact that it was surfacing now was like a warning. She wanted to grab the others, drag them onto the bus, and drive far away.
"I've got a bad feeling about this place."
Each key was taken from Finstock, one by one, as he called after the first few pairs, "And I'll have no sexual perversions perpetrated by you little deviants. Got that? Keep your dirty little hands to your dirty little selves!"
The bus pulled away- Marlee desperately wishing that they were all on it and headed back to Beacon Hills- as everyone made their way towards their rooms. Lydia stayed rooted to the spot she had been in since her feet had touched the ground. Allison turned back towards the redhead, causing Marlee to stop and look at their frozen friend as well.
"Lydia?"
"I don't like this place." Her eyes scanned their surroundings.
So, she feels it too? That there's something off here?
"I don't think the people who own this place like this place." Allison chuckled. "It's just for a night."
"A lot can happen in one night."
Tired after all that had happened that day, the two best friends fell back onto the beds that they would be sleeping in that night.
"All right, so I have four." Stiles immediately got down to business.
"Four? You have four suspects?"
"Yeah. It was originally ten. Well, nine technically, I guess. I had Derek on there twice."
"So, who's number one? Harris?" Scott turned his head back to look up at the ceiling.
"Just because he's missing doesn't mean he's dead." Stiles reasoned.
"So, if he's not dead, our chemistry teacher is out secretly committing human sacrifices?"
"Yeah, I guess that just sounded way better in my head."
"Well, what if it's somebody else from school? Like, remember Matt? We didn't know that he was killing people."
Stiles sat up with a look of indignation on his face.
"Excuse me? I'm sorry- what? I- yes, we did. I called that from day one."
He got to his feet as Scott began to sit up.
"Yeah, but we never really seriously thought that it was Matt."
"I was serious. I was quite serious, actually. Deadly serious. No one listened to me!" Stiles exclaimed. "Okay, if we're going off of people we go to school with- what if it's Marlee?"
"It's not." Scott stated.
"Come on, she arrived in town around the same time as the Alpha pack and since it's not them killing people for some weird ritual, it could be her."
"It's not." He repeated, sternly. "Deaton already told me that he's almost certain that she's only human."
"Yeah, 'ALMOST'."
"So, who are the other three?" Scott asked, taking the focus off of their new friend.
"I can sleep on the floor." Marlee offered as the three girls entered the room that they would be sharing for the night.
"Ewww." Lydia wrinkled her nose. "Do you know what is currently and previously has been on this carpet? There have been studies about things in hotel rooms…"
"Seeing as you're basically a humanoid version of the internet, I'm sure that you do. I, on the other hand, would be completely content with not knowing." She answered, flopping down on one of the beds. "Just hand me a pillow and a blanket later and I'll be good to go."
"Do you also know what's on that comforter you're currently laying on?"
"Okay!" The disgusted girl sprung back up, ignoring the brunette silently laughing at their conversation off to the side. "I'm going to go use the little ladies' room. Don't even try to tell me facts about hotel bathrooms. I don't want to know! I'll put toilet paper down on the seat."
After doing her business, Marlee studied herself in the mirror. She hadn't changed all that much in the past two years, physicality-wise. She was a little bit taller and she wore a few different hairstyles but otherwise, there wasn't that much of a difference between that fateful day and now. If anything, the biggest contrast was her eyes. When Marlee would do her makeup in the mornings, her eyes would shine with a hint of hope and excitement for the new day. That light had been almost completely extinguished when she had gotten into the habit of trying to survive until she could go back to bed. The two weeks since she had met this group of people actually seemed to help, as she found herself smiling while getting ready lately.
Passing Lydia as she exited the bathroom, Marlee took up her previous spot and spent some time trying to work the busted-looking TV in their room. The television only produced a screen of black and white dots and lines moving around. After doing this for a number of minutes, she turned it off with a groan.
"Guys, I'm gonna hit the shower. I feel like I'm covered in grime from that rest stop earlier."
Lydia stood up, smoothing out her dress. "Speaking of which, I'm going to go get some new towels from the front desk. The ones we have smell like nicotine."
"Delightful."
Allison started to follow the other girl out the door, mentioning something about going to call her father and check in with him.
They each set off to do their planned tasks.
Cursing herself for leaving her spare change of clothing in Allison's car, Marlee stripped down and put her carefully folded clothes on the counter. While the thought of putting them back on after getting clean wasn't exactly pleasant, she really didn't have much of a choice. Stepping into the shower, Marlee purposely turned the knob all the way. She let out a hiss as the scalding water stung her skin but she got used to the temperature after a moment or two. Her skin became a bright red color, almost like a sunburn, and she welcomed the change. The radiating heat kept her in the here and now, not allowing her mind to wander to the past. Her memories were a forbidden territory. She didn't want to remember that day. She was already constantly reminded of it and would continue to be reminded every day for the rest of her miserable life.
Hearing the sound of movement close by, she began to speak as she stuck her head out from behind the curtain.
"Lydia, did you get the extra tow- Jesus Christ!"
Scott was standing in the middle of the bathroom, staring at her with an odd expression. It was like he wasn't really all there, his body was present but his mind was faraway.
"What the hell, Scott? You almost gave me a heart attack!"
"Sorry," he responded in a monotone, "I was just looking for you."
"Yeah, well, you found me- and I'm kind of naked here so if you could kindly leave, that would be great."
"You and I are friends though, right?"
"Um, not the kind of friends who see each other naked!"
He gave her a predatory look as he moved a bit closer. "We could be."
Reaching blindly behind her, Marlee was able to grab ahold of a mini shampoo bottle.
"Get the fuck out!"
She chucked the bottle at Scott's head, watching it bounce off with a 'thunk!' and roll across the floor. That seemed to bring him out of whatever trance he was in.
"Marlee?"
He looked equally sheepish and mortified, his cheeks flushed as he realized the situation he was currently in.
"You good now? No more creepy bedroom eyes or dirty suggestions?"
"I- I'm so sorry." He stammered before stumbling out of the bathroom, shutting the door after him.
Note to self: Always lock the bathroom door.
"'Most guest suicides'? That's what she said?" Marlee slowly processed this new, morbid piece of information.
"Yes." Lydia confirmed.
"One hundred and ninety-eight?" Allison asked, having returned from talking with her father only a few minutes before.
Feeling a pit growing in her stomach, Marlee silently prayed that they would just drop the conversation. She knew better than that though. She knew she wasn't that lucky.
"Yes- and we're talking forty years. On average, that's… 4.95 a year, which… is actually expected. But who commemorates that with a framed number? Who does that? Who?"
"All suicides?" Allison clarified.
"Yes." Lydia answered, shaking her head in disbelief. "'Hanging, throat-cutting, pill-popping, both barrels of a shotgun in the mouth' suicides."
Marlee's mind slipped deeper into the abyss with every word, all of the wounds on her heart being mercilessly ripped open as her friend spoke. She couldn't breathe- oh God, she couldn't breathe. It felt like her lungs were collapsing in on themselves. Fuck, she thought to herself, fuck, fuck, fuckity fuuuuuuuck! Don't you fucking dare! This is not the fucking time! Why-
Lydia continued saying, "I don't know about you but I…"
She trailed off as she turned her head a bit, as if someone had spoken to her.
"Did you hear that?"
Neither Allison nor Marlee had heard anything except Lydia's voice.
"Hear what?" The former inquired.
It was silent as Lydia turned her body farther towards the wall behind her and slowly stood up. Placing a foot on the bed, she pushed herself up and walked towards the air vent.
"Lydia?" The blonde girl had stopped panicking as her concern for her friend grew.
It was only seconds later that the hyperventilating started.
"Lydia?" Allison tried.
Whatever was being heard from the other side of the wall made Lydia Martin back away, throwing her hand over her mouth to muffle her gasp.
"What is it, Lydia? What happened?"
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
The next words spoken made Marlee's blood run cold.
"The two people in the other room. They shot each other."
Hopping off of the bed, she dashed out of the room. Allison and Marlee exchanged concerned looks before going off after their horrified companion.
"Lydia." Marlee tried to get the alarmed girl's attention, in hopes of coaxing her back to their own room.
Apprehension seized every part of her body. If there really were two people who had been shot in that room…. The graphic images that appeared behind her eyelids were absolutely frightening.
She was ignored as the door next to theirs was pushed open. The three young women crowded in the doorway.
"Hello?" Lydia called out, reaching out to turn the lights on. It didn't work as the constant clicking of the switch moving up and down failed to produce anything. She inched forward into the dark motel room.
"Lydia? What are you doing?" Allison whispered.
"Hello?"
A light was turned on and exposed that the room was being renovated, nobody but themselves to be found.
Oh, thank God.
"It had to be right here. It was a guy and a girl and- they sounded younger but- they were here."
"I believe you. After everything that we've been through, I believe you."
"As much as I wish that I didn't because I'm kind of hoping that you didn't overhear two people killing themselves… I believe you too."
Looking around, the strawberry-blonde slowly made her way towards the wood paneling. She examined it for a moment before pivoting and heading right for the door. Once again, the remaining two took off after their friend who marched back to their room with a purpose. Marlee watched as Lydia started to gather up their things.
"You know, there is something seriously wrong about this place. We need to leave."
"But they were suicides, not murders- and it's not like this place is haunted, right?" Allison tried to reason.
Is that supposed to make it any better? Because it really doesn't!
"Maybe it is. You know, I bet that couple made their suicide pact in that very room. Maybe that's why they're renovating. Maybe they've been scraping brain matter off of the wood paneling."
That was the type of image that Marlee had imagined a few minutes before yet it still made her cringe. She stayed silent, wishing that she would wake up and find herself still sleeping on the bus.
"Maybe we should found out."
The three girls locked up their room and made a journey down to the main desk, hoping to talk to that hag of a woman that Lydia had encountered earlier. (Marlee was surprised and a little disappointed as they passed a vending machine that had been smashed open and emptied. She really could have used something to eat.) The only thing that greeted them was a sign that said 'Be back at 6 am.'
"Well, there goes that." Lydia sighed.
"Didn't you say that the sign said 198?"
Eyes flashing to the sign, Marlee's spine stiffened as she saw the numbers '201' hanging on the framed board.
"It was 198. I swear to God, it was '198'."
"Okay, what does that mean? That there's been three more suicides?"
"Or three more are about to happen." Lydia realized.
"Are you fucking kidding me right now?"
"Okay, well, have we noticed anything that could be considered as them acting weird? Weirder than usual, I mean."
Stiles had rushed down to the girls' room and they had quickly explained the situation to him. The four of them had come to the conclusion that the next three possible suicides had to be Scott, Isaac, and Boyd. With everything that had been happening lately, it was safe to assume that they were right.
"Scott showed up in the middle of the bathroom while I was showering earlier. He seemed really distant, like he wasn't right in the head." Marlee offered.
"Did he say anything?" Stiles prompted.
"He said that he was looking for me and I told him to leave because obviously I was naked. Then he told me that we could be the type of friends that see each other like that."
"And…?" The hyperactive teen gestured for her to continue.
"I threw one of those little hotel shampoos at his head and he got all embarrassed and left."
"The last time I saw Scott like that was during the full moon." Allison added.
"Yeah, I know. He was definitely a little off with me too. But actually, it was Boyd who was really off. I watched him put his fist threw the vending machine."
"That's what happened? I thought some kid took a baseball bat to it or something!"
"See! It is the motel. Either we need to get out of here right now or…" Lydia opened the bedside table drawer and pulled out a standard hotel bible, "someone needs to learn how to do an exorcism asap before the werewolves go crazy and kill us."
"What are we supposed to do? Call the freaking Ghostbusters?" Marlee threw her arms forward, gesturing towards Lydia.
"Okay, just hold on, alright." Stiles intervened. "What if it's not just the motel? The number in the office went up by three, right?"
"You mean like three sacrifices?" Allison caught on to what he was implying.
"What if this time it's three werewolves?
"Scott, Isaac, and Boyd."
"Exactly! So, can we get the hell out of here now? Please?" Lydia insisted.
"Okay, so, is this thing following us or something? We're miles and miles away from Beacon Hills and the Darach is still trying to mess with and potentially kill us." Marlee sat down on one of the beds. "Is it somebody who came here with us? A runner on the cross country team?"
"Scott and I were actually talking about that earlier. We were discussing that guy we told you about- the one that was controlling Jackson, remember?"
"Yeah, that Matt kid. So, it could hypothetically be someone in one of these rooms."
"Possibly…"
"Who cares?!" Lydia shouted before Stiles could continue. "Whether it's someone we know or not, there is definitely something happening here! Let's just grab them and go!"
Something in Lydia's hands seemed to have caught Stiles' eye as he went to reach for the Bible.
"Wait, hang on. Let me see this."
He opened the book up and pulled a slip of paper out from in between the pages.
"What is that?"
They all huddled together to look at a newspaper clipping.
"'28 Year-Old Man Hangs Self at the Infamous Glen Capri…'" Stiles read aloud.
After placing it down on the bed in front of them, he glanced at the other pages and went about shaking the book above the bed. Multiple clippings floated down onto the comforter. The four teenagers started to spread the articles out so they could read each one when Lydia noticed a key detail.
"Oh, no, no, no- look at these two. They both mention the room '217.' These are probably all of the suicides that happened in this room."
"If every room has a bible…" Allison mused.
"There could be articles in all the rooms." Lydia finished.
"Holy shit…" Marlee brought a hand up to cover her gaping mouth. Why would anyone do something like this? How sick and twisted did you have to be to leave these here with pride?
Stiles nodded before sarcastically commenting, "That's a beautiful thing. Most places leave a mint under the pillow. This one leaves a record of all the horrible deaths that occurred."
"What if the room next door has the one about the couple?"
"Great. We're going to need some rock salt and a few shovels." Marlee deadpanned.
They all looked at the door before Stiles took off. To their surprise, he was stuck jiggling the locked door handle, frantically.
"What? No, that was not locked before." Lydia started to panic again.
"Forget it. We need to get Scott, Isaac, and Boyd out of here."
Just as Stiles and Allison started to walk away, the sound of what Marlee knew to be a handsaw started from the other side of the door. Her dad had used one at work on numerous occasions.
"I'm not the only one who heard that, am I?" Lydia clarified.
"It sounds like someone turned on the handsaw."
"Someone definitely did turn on the handsaw." Marlee corrected.
"Handsaw?" Stiles repeated.
"Back up!"
At Marlee's order, the other three stood back as she positioned herself.
Those years of experiences with stubborn lockers are about to come in handy.
Picking up her leg, she kicked out sideways and slammed her foot just slightly to the side of the handle. The flimsy lock, the only kind that a piece of shit motel like this would have, was easily taken care of. Stiles rushed to swing the door open. The other two girls passed Marlee and followed him in.
Ethan stood on the other side of the room, slowly bringing the spinning blade of the handsaw towards his stomach.
"Hey, no! Ethan, don't!"
Stiles charged forward to grab the tool away from the wolf. The twin obviously wasn't going to give it up without a fight as the two men struggled for control.
Marlee's heart jumped up into her throat as Ethan threw the saw onto the floor and her friend began to fall face-first towards it. Lydia yanked the extension cord out of the wall and the blade spun to a stop with Stiles' face mere centimeters away. The alpha flicked each of his hands out by his sides, letting his claws extend. He brought them to the center of his torso, fully ready to tear himself apart. Allison and Stiles moved to grab ahold of his arms and bring them away from his person. As he fought against them, Ethan fell forward and attempted to brace himself on a space heater. He immediately let out a shout of pain as he rolled away and looked at his burnt hand. The absent look in his eyes had faded and he stood up, bewildered.
"What just happened?"
No one knew what to say and he didn't wait for an answer. Ethan bolted for the door.
"Hey, Ethan!" Stiles called after him.
"Ethan!" Marlee placed a hand on his bicep as he walked past her. He easily shook her off, continuing his escape as he began to button up his shirt.
"How did you get in there?" The sheriff's son interrogated
"I don't know!"
"Well, what were you doing there?"
"Didn't you hear what I just said?" He told the group as they followed him down the stairs. "I don't know how I got there or what I was doing."
"Okay, you could be a little bit more helpful, you know? We did just save your life." Stiles responded with his usual amount of sass.
"And you probably shouldn't have."
Stiles narrowed his eyes in irritation as the werewolf ran off into the night.
Probably to go spoon with Danny. Marlee thought to herself.
"What now?" Lydia asked the question that they were all thinking.
"We'll go find Scott." Allison gestured to the determined-looking girl, who was standing a few steps higher than her, and herself. "You guys grab Isaac and Boyd. The best thing we can do is get them out of this place."
The blonde booked it up the stairs, her friend on her tail, and went to check Scott and Stiles' room. There was no sign of the beta anywhere. The two stood in front of the door and Marlee looked at the brunette. "You go that way," she pointed behind Allison, "I'll go this way." With a jerk of her thumb over her shoulder, she walked a few steps backwards before twisting herself around to walk the right way. She frantically searched every place that she could of, trying to call Scott's cellphone repeatedly as she went. Everyone staying there for the night should have considered themselves pretty damn lucky, seeing as she wasn't pounding on their doors, demanding to know if they had seen or heard from him.
"Come on… pick up, pick up, pick up…" She muttered as she waited to see if he would answer this time. Once again, she only got his voicemail.
"Hey, this is Scott. I can't answer the phone right now. Leave a message and I'll get back to you."
Instead of hanging up and dialing again, she waited for the beep.
"Scott, it's Marlee. Listen, something's up with this place and we need to get out of here right now. Okay? Call me back as soon as you get this."
A few minutes later, her phone started to ring. Bringing it up to look at the screen, Marlee almost growled in annoyance when she saw the name 'Allison' and not her nickname for the teen wolf.
"Yeah?" She tried her best not to snap into the phone.
"I can't find him anywhere."
"Same here." Marlee ran a hand through her hair in frustration. "Let's meet up in front of their room again."
When the two reunited, they made their way towards the stairs, only to run into Lydia and Stiles. Those two explained how they had used the flares from the bus to help the betas snap out of whatever the hell was going on with them. Isaac and Boyd were composing themselves emotionally back in their room and would meet up with the rest of them soon.
"We couldn't find Scott anywhere." Allison reported as they descended.
"I tried calling him and I kept getting his voicemail."
"It's happening to him too, isn't it?" Stiles asked.
"It has to be. Didn't you say there was another flare on the bus?"
"Yeah, I'll get it."
Everything went south as soon as they turned towards the parking lot.
The sound of something sizzling brought their attention to a person dimly lit by a ruby glow from the motel sign. Marlee could feel her body tensing up, paralyzed with fear. Her eyes began to water as she gazed at the resigned figure soaked in gasoline, holding the last flare in their hand.
Oh God, not again… not to him… please…
"Scott." Allison was the first to shake the initial shock.
The four friends walked around the puddle of fuel to stand in front of him.
"Scott." She repeated, waiting for him to say something.
They could see now that the gas can laying on the ground was completely empty, he had used all of it.
"There's no hope."
"What do you mean, Scott? There's always hope."
"Not for me. Not for Derek."
They stood watching, feeling completely helpless. It would only take one good spark hitting the ground…
"Derek wasn't your fault." Allison tried to make him understand what they had all been telling him for days. "You know Derek wasn't your fault."
"Every time I try to fight back, it just gets worse. People keep getting hurt. People keep getting killed."
"Scott…" Marlee took a step forward, her voice cracking as her tears started to spill over.
"Marlee… I'm sorry we dragged you into this." He sounded so broken, it made everything inside of her ache.
"Scott, you- you didn't drag me into anything. I wouldn't be standing here right now if I didn't want to be. I chose this. I want to be here with you."
"Scott, listen to me, okay?" Stiles moved to stand beside her. "This isn't you, all right? This is someone inside your head telling you to do this. Okay?"
"What if it isn't? What if it is just me? What if doing this is actually the best thing that I could do for everyone else?"
Marlee held back a sob as the tears began to fall faster. This couldn't be happening.
He doesn't deserve this. None of them deserve this.
She had never felt more completely fucking useless than she did at that moment. She wanted to be able to do something. She needed him to be okay.
I need you to be okay.
"It all started that night- the night I got bitten. Do you remember the way it was before that? You and me… we were- we were nothing. We weren't popular. We weren't good at lacrosse. We weren't important. We were no one."
Marlee could see a trail of a tear going down Stiles' cheek out of the corner of her eye. She reached over to give his hand a squeeze.
"Maybe I should just be no one again. No one at all."
"Scott, just listen to me, okay?" Stiles moved towards Scott. "You're not 'no one'. Okay? You're someone. Scott, you're my best friend. Okay? And I need you…. Scott, you're my brother."
Stiles looked down at the ground in between them.
"All right? So…" Stiles stepped into the puddle of gasoline. "So, if you're gonna do this…" He wrapped his hand around the flare alongside Scott's. "Then I think you're just gonna have to take me with you then."
Holding her breath, Marlee waited to see which direction this was going to go.
Please…
Stiles gently pried Scott's fingers off of the flare and threw it a couple of feet outside of the puddle. Scott started to breathe heavily, starting to come back to his senses.
She saw it at the same time Lydia did. The two of them watched as the flare started to roll towards the boys.
"No!' Lydia shrieked as she ran forward to knock them out of the way.
Marlee dove just as the flare rolled into the fuel. She could feel the burst of heat as she shielded herself from the flames.
No one else could tell that she was no longer crying in despair… the tears streaming down her face were ones of utter relief.
The bus was quiet for a couple of hours, the only sound to be heard was Stiles' inconsistent snoring. Marlee hadn't been able to sleep since the seven of them had hunkered down. One by one, the others had nodded off. At least, she thought they had all fallen asleep. As she adjusted her position so she was leaning against the window with her legs stretched across the seat, Marlee noticed Scott. He had his temple resting on the window behind her, gazing out with his arms crossed.
"Hey," she whispered, "can't sleep?"
"No," he sighed, turning his head to look at her.
"Me neither."
Marlee scanned the bus to see if anyone else was awake, before confirming that they were all down for the count. She carefully got up and moved to sit next to Scott. The two of them positioned their bodies so they were facing each other more or less; both of them had the side of their heads leaning against the seat. Brown eyes met blue as the pair stayed silent for a minute.
"You know you scared the absolute shit out of me earlier." Marlee whispered to Scott.
"I scared myself." He replied.
Marlee subconsciously took one of his hands into her own, rubbing circles with her thumb on the back of it.
"What you said back there… do you really feel that way?"
"Sometimes. Not all of it though. There are times when I think that everything is my fault- that I could have prevented something from happening or I could have tried harder." Even in a whisper, the anguish was still audible.
"Scott," Marlee could feel her heart breaking just a little bit, "you can't control everything that happens in life. Sometimes things just happen and there's no reason to it. It sucks but that's how these things seem to work out."
She could tell he was searching her eyes for something she wasn't quite sure he would find.
"Marlee, what happened to your dad?" Scott asked after a moment.
She tensed, multiple red flags going up in her brain, telling her to pull back and chastising her for letting her guard down. Marlee managed to push away the feeling and simply just looked at the boy in front of her. Silhouetted against the moonlight, Scott was patiently waiting to see if she would answer his question or not. Earlier, everyone had waited outside of the bus while Stiles escorted his best friend back to their room so he could take a shower and change. He was no longer doused in gasoline but Marlee could still picture the Scott from just a few hours ago. Looking at him now, she knew she had to give him an answer.
"He was an alcoholic," she stopped rubbing circles on Scott's hand, causing him to take her hand in both of his', so he could play with her fingers, "and he was depressed. My parents loved each other but my dad's problems put a lot of stress on our lives. He eventually convinced himself that my mom didn't love him anymore and that she was going to leave. He thought she would take me with her. So, a month and a half before I was supposed to start high school, my mom and I were out having a girls' day. They had a big fight the day before; he told her exactly what he thought she was going to do. The two of us just wanted to take our minds off of it and enjoy ourselves. We went shopping and we saw some chick flick. Then we were driving back to the house…" Marlee had to stop to wipe a tear away from her face, "We saw our neighbors gathered in front of our long driveway. They were watching the firefighters trying to put it out- my house was on fire."
Scott gazed at her with a soft expression, waiting.
"They said he had called 911 and told them he was going to hurt himself. Before anyone could even get out to the house, it was already up in flames. The autopsy showed that he had alcohol in his system. He killed himself," quiet sobs were escaping her at this point, "my dad killed himself."
Scott moved forward and held Marlee while she tried to stop crying, not wanting to wake up the others. He brought her closer to him, moving her body so her back was against his chest and she was between his legs as they stretched across the seat. She leaned her head against his shoulder while he kept his arms wrapped around her.
"I'm so sorry, Marlee." he whispered.
"When I saw you standing there, covered in gasoline and holding that flare… that nearly killed me. I- I thought I was going to have to watch someone else I care about go up in flames."
"I didn't mean to do that to you," he turned his head to bury his face in her hair, "I didn't know."
"I know you didn't mean to. You didn't know about it because I didn't want you to. I usually don't let anyone close enough to me for them to know."
Neither of them said a word for a moment.
"Thank you for telling me."
"Just don't ever do something like that again. Promise?"
"I promise."
With that, the two eventually dozed off, Marlee leaning against Scott and his arms still holding her against him.
"I don't wanna know. I really don't wanna know."
The sound of Coach Finstock's voice was the first thing that Marlee was aware of as she woke up. The second being the bright sunlight coming in through the bus windows, causing her to squint her eyes and whimper. Finally, there were a warm pair of arms wrapped around her, holding her against an equally warm backrest. She looked behind her to see she was still leaning back against Scott's chest as he squinted his eyes, adjusting to the light like Marlee's had just done.
"But in case you missed the announcement, the meet's cancelled so we're going home." Coach gestured for the other students to board the bus. "Pack it in. Pack it in!"
Scott noticed Marlee looking back at him and he gave her a content smile, fully awake enough to realize they had spent the entire night in this position. Her eyes widened comically and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, causing her to untangle herself from his hold and clamber into the seat behind Allison and Lydia. She missed the way Stiles grinned at his best friend and punched him playfully on the shoulder, along with the amused looks the two girls in front of her were sharing. Ethan sitting down next to Scott put a bit of a damper on the pleasant atmosphere as they all looked at him for the first time since he had fled.
"I don't know what happened last night but I'm pretty sure you saved my life."
"Actually, I saved your life," Stiles cut in, "but not that it matters that much. It's just- it's minor detail."
"So, I'm gonna give you something." Ethan turned his focus back on Scott. "We're pretty sure Derek's still alive."
That caught everyone's attention pretty quickly.
"But he killed one of ours. That means one of two things can happen. Either he joins our pack…"
"And kills his own." Scott added.
"Or Kali goes after him, and we kill him. That's the way it works."
Ethan stood up to go sit further back with Danny- of course, Stiles couldn't help but add something in there.
"You know, your little code of ethics there is sort of barbaric, just F.Y.I."
Stiles filled the seat that the alpha twin had just vacated. As Coach started to follow after him, Lydia asked to borrow the whistle for a second. The four of them watched curiously as Lydia carefully blew into it and showed them the purple powder in her hand.
"Wolfsbane." She elaborated.
"So, every time Coach blew the whistle on the bus- Scott, Isaac, Boyd…"
"And Ethan." The redhead tacked on.
"We all inhaled it."
"You were all poisoned by it." Allison corrected his statement.
"So, that's how the Darach got in their heads. That's how he did it." Stiles concluded.
Marlee gestured as if she were shooing it away. "Get that shit out of here!"
No one needed to tell Stiles twice. He scrambled to open the window next to Scott and tossed the whistle out, even as Finstock started to yell at him.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey! Stilinski!"
It was too late for Coach to do anything about it. The bus was already pulling away.
Blocking out everything else around her, Marlee stared out at the scorched-looking piece of blacktop. If she could, she would burn the Glen Capri to the ground. So many lives had been lost there and who knew how many more were to come? It filled her with a silent rage. But as uneasy as she felt when she thought about the damnable place they were leaving in the dust…
She couldn't help but thank whoever was responsible for getting her and her friends out of there alive.
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