Hi, everyone!
Yes, my Teen Wolf Saga is back and revamped! I am so excited to give these stories a much needed upgrade and continue my characters' journeys. I really hope these receive the same love as the others because I think these are going to be better than ever.
I hope you all enjoy! And welcome back!
It's close to midnight
Something evil's lurkin' in the dark
Under the moonlight
You see a sight that almost stops your heart
You try to scream
But terror takes the sound before you make it
You start to freeze
As horror looks you right between the eyes
You're paralyzed
'Cause this is thriller
Thriller night
And no one's gonna save you
From the beast about to strike
You know it's thriller
Thriller night
You're fighting for your life
Inside a killer
Thriller tonight
It was about a quarter to midnight in the small town of Beacon Hills in Northern California. Everyone in the Henderson household was fast asleep as it was a school night for the two children, Natalie and Zach. It took Zach a bit longer to fall into slumber, being a hyperactive thirteen year old boy. But once his head hit the pillow, he was fast asleep like a baby. As for the oldest child, she had knocked out with a little more ease since she had spent most of her day at the batting cages, prepping for baseball season.
Natalie was snoring away in her super comfortable queen-sized bed when all of a sudden, the sound of twigs snapping traveled to her ears. Her eyes opened right away and she immediately became annoyed that whatever was causing the commotion outside interrupted her peaceful sleep. Sitting up in her bed, Natalie rubbed the drowsiness out of her chocolate brown doe-like eyes. She waited another minute to see if the noise would continue. Once she was met with complete silence, Natalie lowered herself back into her bed and closed her eyes once more, slowly drifting off…
Snap!
Oh, for fuck's sake.
Mumbling to herself angrily, Natalie ripped the blankets off her body and dragged herself to her window. She peeked out into the night, only to find nothing except for the tree in the front yard, leaves, twigs, and a few of her dog Rocky's toys. Nothing suspicious looking. As Natalie was about to turn away, she saw two shadows flash by and then disappear not even a second later.
"What the hell?"
She decided to take matters into her own hands and grabbed her beloved baseball bat, Tina, from the corner of her bedroom. Yes, she named her baseball bat. Who wants to know? Anyway, Natalie then slowly opened her door and tiptoed through the halls of her house, cringing whenever the wooden floors would creak. Because God knows she did not want to risk waking up Mama Bear and getting ripped apart for not being in bed. Metaphorically, of course. Natalie finally made it to the bottom of the stairs without a hitch. She was about to pat herself on the back for making it that far until she accidentally banged her knee on the coffee table in the living room.
"Ffff…"
She bit down on her bottom lip to prevent herself from swearing out loud. At this point, there better be something outside worth Natalie going through all this trouble over. Holding onto her throbbing knee, the redhead limped her way to the front door like a pirate.
The cool night breeze sent shivers down her spine when she opened the door and stepped outside. Her toned arms rose up the aluminum baseball bat, prepared to attack whoever or whatever was stalking her house and disturbing her sleep. Even though there was a strong chance that someone was trying to break into the house, Natalie wasn't afraid to face them. Thanks to countless hours of hitting the gym and baseball practice, she had the muscle, endurance, and courage to take anyone down if she had to.
Tightening her grip on her bat, Natalie crept towards the porch steps when two figures were suddenly hanging upside down from her roof. She let out a scream as soon as they came into sight, causing the intruders to scream as well and fall onto the grass in front of her. Natalie groaned in annoyance when she realized that the intruders were, in fact, her best friends, Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski.
"You stupid idiots!" Natalie yelled as the two boys got up and brushed the grass off their clothes, "What the hell were you trying to do, give me a goddamn heart attack?!"
Stiles flailed his arms. "I tried to call you but your phone was off so we had to go with plan B!" He took notice of Natalie's baseball bat and hit Scott's arm. "See, it makes sense that she has a bat."
Scott started to snicker when he looked Natalie up and down. "What?" she snapped.
"Oh, nothing," he chuckled as he nodded at her apparel, "You look great."
Looking down at herself, Natalie pouted when she remembered the attire she chose to wear to bed that night, which was a t-shirt three sizes too big. The embarrassing part about the shirt was that printed on the front was a mugshot of a raccoon wearing a Santa hat. It's sign read, "Dear Santa, I can explain…" God, Zach sucked at giving gifts. And let's not forget about Natalie's long red velvet hair being piled up high in a messy bun that was already coming loose due to her rolling around in bed.
She rolled her eyes and lowered her bat. "Well, I was sleeping like a normal human being before you two clowns showed up and started causing a ruckus. Why are you even here anyway?"
"Stiles was listening in on your dads' calls and heard that two joggers found a dead body in the woods," Scott explained, who looked just as annoyed as his other best friend did for being roped into this.
The redhead arched her eyebrow. "Seriously? You guys came all the way over here and woke me up in the middle of the night just to tell me that?" She threw her hand up in the air and turned to the door. "Alright, I'm going back to bed. Later-"
"Buh, buh, buh!" Stiles grabbed Natalie's bat before she could open the door. "You didn't let us finish. We were gonna say that the joggers only found half of the body."
Only half?
Now Natalie was intrigued. The girl lived for solving mysteries. Not to toot her own horn, but she could say with the utmost confidence that she was a beast when it came to figuring out who committed the crimes. That's why Scott and Stiles no longer watch crime shows with her since she always guessed who the culprits were within the first ten minutes of the episode.
Stiles nodded his head once he saw the way Natalie perked up. "Oh, yeah. So we decided that we're gonna go look for the other half right now."
"For the record, he made me go with him!" Scott defended, holding his hands up, "I had no say in this whatsoever!"
"Sure, whatever you say, Scott," Stiles said sassily. The curly haired team shoved him. "So what do you say, Nat? You in?"
She was in once only half of the body was found so there was no need to ask her twice. Shrugging her shoulders, Natalie smacked her bat against her hand. "Fuck it, let's do this."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Scott held the redhead back by placing his hand on her shoulder. "Before we go, you might wanna put on some shoes. And probably some pants."
"What? You guys don't wanna see my Iron Man panties?" Natalie smirked. She grabbed the hem of her shirt, ready to give the boys a show.
"No!" they both yelled collectively, holding their hands out and shaking their heads.
"For the love of all things good and holy, woman, put some pants on!" Stiles exclaimed.
"Okay," Natalie sang. She pointed her bat at them. "But I hope you boys remember this as the night you missed out on a woman flashing her bits at you. It may never happen again." She then turned and went back inside her house.
A small chuckle slipped out of Scott as soon as Natalie was out of earshot. Stiles snapped his head at his best friend and glared, already knowing that he was laughing at his expense.
"Shut up, Scott."
Once Natalie had come back to join her boys outside, having swapped out her pajamas with a hoodie, leggings, and sneakers, they hopped into Stiles's piece of junk of a blue jeep. The boy obviously claimed the driver's seat while Scott took the passenger's side after winning best two of three of 'rock, paper, scissors' with Natalie. She was subjected to the back, pouting from losing. Scott looked at the redhead, who still had her baseball bat with her.
"You really had to bring that with you?"
Natalie looked from the bat to Scott. "Yeah, why not?"
"Was it really necessary?" Scott asked.
The look Natalie had given him implied that she thought it was a stupid question. "We're searching for a dead body out in the middle of the woods. The killer still might be out there so I figured we needed a weapon for self defense. It was either the bat or your inhaler. And no offense, but I think the inhaler is slightly less effective. With this baby, I could knock the sucker's head off like that!" She swung her bat and hit Stiles's headrest.
"Okay, save that strength for when we actually do come into contact with someone dangerous!" Stiles scolded her.
The drive only lasted a short fifteen minutes before Stiles parked somewhere deep in the woods, passing a sign that forbad anyone to enter at that time. Not that the trio cared. They got out of the jeep once it was parked.
"We're seriously doing this?" Scott questioned, still hesitant on the whole idea.
"Oh, come on, Scotty!" Natalie said, wrapping her arms around her boys' shoulders, "Where's your sense of adventure?"
"Yeah," Stiles agreed, "Besides, you're the one always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town." He flipped the switch on his flashlight, giving the trio a better view of where they were heading.
"I was trying to get a good night's sleep before practice tomorrow," Scott told them.
"Right, 'cause sitting on the bench is such a grueling effort," Stiles retorted sarcastically. Natalie flicked him on the side of the head. "Ow!"
"No, because I'm playing this year. In fact, I'm making first line."
For Scott, it wasn't just a fantasy he hoped would come true. It was a goal he was determined to make happen. That boy had worked his ass off all of winter break- ever since last season, really- on improving his lacrosse skills alongside Stiles. Even Natalie had been helping him, giving both boys pointers on becoming better athletes. Scott was actually feeling confident for practice this time around and believed he could really make first line and finally make a name for himself at Beacon Hills High.
He could just picture it all…
He was running down the field with the ball in the net of his lacrosse stick, the whole stadium cheering him on. He flung the ball and shot it through the goal just as the final buzzer went off. He had just scored the winning goal! All of his teammates piled on top of him in excitement then threw him on their shoulders as they yelled in celebration. They passed by a group of girls who swooned at the new lacrosse star. The biggest smile was plastered on the boy's face and in that moment, he had become a celebrity at Beacon Hills High. Nothing was going to break his stride-
"Hey, that's the spirit!" Stiles said, snapping Scott out of his fantasy. There went his stride. "Everyone should have a dream, even if it's an unrealistic one." Another flick to the head. "Damn it, stop flicking me, woman!"
"Stop being such a butthead!" Natalie shot back. Stiles scoffed and walked ahead of the other two. Natalie clasped Scott's shoulder. "Well, I, for one, believe in you, Scotty. I know you're gonna kick some serious ass during practice tomorrow."
The curly haired boy smiled at his best friend's support. "Thank you, Natalie. So when are your baseball tryouts?"
"Next Wednesday," Natalie answered, "I'm so freakin' excited for this year! State championships, here we come, baby! Woo!" She pumped her fist up in the air.
Stiles cocked up his eyebrow. "You stole a couple of Adderall from my jeep, didn't you?"
"No!" Natalie shoved Stiles, "Excuse me that I actually have team spirit, unlike you, Debbie Downer!"
She poked Stiles's ribcage and Stiles was quick to react, capturing her in a headlock and making her drop her bat. Her red velvet hair was released from the headband as her best friend proceeded to give her a knuckle sandwich. Scott rolled his eyes as he watched the two roughhousing. You would think that they were two little kids play-fighting. Those two had an interesting dynamic, that's for sure.
"Okay, I call truce!" Natalie shrieked, slapping Stiles's arm, "Now let go of me unless you wanna get your ass kicked!"
Giving in, Stiles released the girl from his attack. She tied her hair back up with the rubber band she kept wrapped around her wrist. Moments like this was why she always came prepared.
"So Stiles, you know, just out of curiosity, which part of the body are we even looking for, anyway?" she asked after she picked up her bat and they started walking again.
Stiles was silent for a moment as he thought about Natalie's question when realization dawned on him. "Huh… I didn't even think about that." Natalie snorted.
"And, uh, what if the one who killed the body is still out here?" Scott asked as they started walking up a small hill.
"Also something I didn't think about."
Natalie rolled her eyes. She wasn't surprised that Stiles didn't really think this whole situation through. Why the hell did she even agree to go out in the forest with them? Either way, she was starting to regret her decision, and it didn't help that Stiles was leading the trio. "That sounds so promising."
"Yeah, no kidding," Scott agreed sarcastically, "It's comforting to know that you planned this up with your usual attention to details."
"I know!" the short-haired boy chuckled, finding the situation hilarious for some unknown reason.
"Dumbass," Natalie mumbled.
"Heard that!"
"Wasn't trying to hide it!" Natalie called out. Stiles shook his head as he continued to walk. The two didn't even notice Scott stopping by a tree.
Placing his hands on his knees, Scott was trying to slow down his breathing pattern, but his lungs were starting to hurt from his lack of oxygen. He took his inhaler from his pocket and shook it up a few times. "Hey guys, maybe the severe asthmatic should be the one who holds the flashlight." He brought the inhaler to his mouth and puffed some air into his lungs.
The trio continued to walk until the crime scene investigation came into view. It was all blocked off with caution tape, but they could still see everything. They couldn't help but smile a little when they saw what was going down. How could they not? They were fascinated that they were actually witnessing a crime scene! Not a lot of people at their school could say they've done the same.
Not wanting to be seen, they crouched behind a log but continued to watch. Shivers went down Natalie's spine when she saw a pair of dirty bare feet sticking out of the body bag lying on the ground. So gross yet so awesome.
"Man, this is like an episode of CSI but live!" Natalie said excitedly as she continued to watch the scene in front of her. She pointed to the body bag that was now being zipped up. "Is that the second half of the body?"
"No," Stiles answered, "They would have called off the search." He stood up from their hiding spot. "Come on!"
Stiles ran off with Natalie hot on his tail and Scott following behind her. Scott began to slow down when he started to lose his breath and it was hard for him to keep up with Stiles and Natalie.
"Stiles! Natalie! Wait up!"
But they didn't hear him. They just continued to run towards the crime scene. Natalie was fast but even she was struggling to match Stiles's pace. Since when the hell did this boy become part cheetah? Maybe she was the one who needed an inhaler.
It took Stiles a while to realize that he had lost his two best friends behind him. He looked back for his friends when suddenly he came face to face with a K-9 that started to bark at him ferociously. It caught Stiles off guard and he stumbled backwards, falling on his rear. Police officers yanked the dogs back with their leashes before they could get out of control. Natalie had finally caught up to the area and she hid behind a tree so she wouldn't be seen.
"Stay right there!" Natalie heard a police officer yell at Stiles.
She heard someone clear their throat. When she turned her head, she saw Scott hiding behind a different tree a few feet from her. He gave her a look that asked what the hell was going on. All Natalie could do was shrug her shoulders and turn back to keep herself hidden.
"Hold on," she heard Stiles's father, Sheriff Noah Stilinski say, "This little delinquent belongs to me. Do you listen in on all of my phone calls?"
"No…" Stiles answered, "Not the boring ones."
Natalie could only imagine the look on Noah's face. She couldn't help but chuckle thinking about it. All of a sudden, one of the K-9s saw her and ran over to her. It barked at her, startling her and causing her to yelp and fall down on the dirt, dropping her bat in the process. Natalie tried to hush the German Shepard as much as she could, but it was no use.
"Stupid dog…" she said to herself as she got up, brushed the dirt off her legs, and picked up Tina.
Then it dawned on her- she was no longer hiding behind the tree.
Slowly, she lifted her head up to find not only Stiles and Noah staring at her, but also her father, Deputy Kurt Henderson. She had completely forgotten that her father was on duty tonight, which was not a smart move on her part to come out into the forest in the middle of the night.
"Dad! Hey…" Natalie smiled sheepishly, "How's it going?"
Kurt crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at his daughter. "Natalie. What did I tell you about sneaking off to check out crime scenes?"
Natalie sighed and rolled her eyes as she recited her father's order. "If it's Stiles's idea, never go through with it." Kurt nodded his head knowingly.
"Is that really a rule in your house?" Stiles asked in disbelief, "That actually kinda hurts." Everyone ignored his statement.
"So where's your other usual partner in crime?" Noah asked the two teenagers.
"Who, Scott?" Stiles said, "Scott's home. Said he wanted to get a good night's sleep for the first day of school." He threw his arm around Natalie's shoulders. "It's just me and Natalie… in the woods… alone."
When Sheriff Stilinski and Kurt raised their eyebrows simultaneously, Natalie pinched the bridge of her nose. "Stiles?"
"Hm?"
"Think about what you just said and look where your arm is."
It finally hit Stiles how suggestive the situation sounded when he looked at the arm that was draped around Natalie's shoulders. Chuckling nervously, he drew his arm back and rubbed the back of his neck. As if getting caught sneaking out into the woods at night wasn't bad enough.
Noah sighed and called out, "Scott! Are you out there?" Stiles and Natalie waited in suspense to see if their best friend would be caught just like they were, but all they were met with was silence. After waiting a few more moments for a response, Noah turned to his son. "Alright, young man, I'm taking you back to your car and we're going to discuss a little something called 'invasion of privacy'."
Natalie watched as Noah dragged Stiles away by the elbow. Her dad cleared his throat and she turned back to face him. "So… am I off the hook?"
Kurt glared at his oldest child for a moment before letting out a deep breath. "Yes, you're off the hook. But next time, I won't let you off so easy. Now have Stiles drop you off at home and get some sleep. You have school tomorrow and I don't want you complaining in the morning about how tired you are."
"Okay," Natalie replied, "Bye, Dad." She turned to follow the Stilinskis.
"Hey."
Natalie turned around and chuckled when her dad gave her a knowing look. She walked back over to her dad and they did their little secret handshake. They smiled as they hugged afterwards. Kurt couldn't stay mad at his kid despite all of the shenanigans she managed to get herself into. Natalie bid her dad one last goodbye before following after Stiles and Noah, completely forgetting about Scott, who was still standing behind the tree.
Once they had reached Stiles's jeep, Noah scolded his son for a few minutes and then walked back to the crime scene. The best friends climbed into the jeep and drove to Natalie's house. When Stiles looked over at Natalie, she was looking down at her hands that were folded on her lap and biting her bottom lip. She didn't have to say anything for Stiles to know what she was thinking- she was worried about Scott.
"You know he's gonna be alright, Nat," Stiles told her.
"I know," she agreed, "but I feel bad that we just left him there by himself while whatever or whoever the hell killed that girl is still out there. What if they attack him and rip his head off and then we'll get in trouble because we knew he was out there but we didn't say anything and-"
"Natalie!" She stopped her rambling when Stiles shouted and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Relax. It's all going to be okay. Scott's a big boy. He'll make his way back to his house safe and sound. You know, like a dog."
"Huh. Strange analogy there, Stilinski."
"Just once, would it kill you to appreciate my wit?"
Shrugging her shoulders, Natalie said, "Maybe not. But why take the chance?"
The rest of the car ride was filled with silence, but not the awkward kind. Their friendship had reached to that point where nothing needed to be said and they could just be comfortable in each other's company. Before they knew it, they were in front of Natalie's house. Stiles parked the jeep beside the curb and turned to Natalie.
"I'm picking you up in the morning, right?" Stiles asked Natalie.
She nodded her head. "Yeah. And we gotta drop Zach off at school, too."
"Sounds like a plan."
Natalie opened the car door and stepped out of the jeep with her bat in her hand. When was at Stiles's side of the jeep, she bumped her fist with his. "I'll see you tomorrow, Stiles. And if you hear from Scott, let me know right away."
"I will," he promised her, "Don't worry."
Accepting that, Natalie waved goodbye to her best friend then walked to her house. As she was about to turn the doorknob, she heard Stiles call her name. Natalie turned around to see that Stiles had gotten out of his jeep and was now opening up his arms with a small but noticeable smirk on his face. Shaking her head and chuckling, Natalie headed back over to the waiting boy.
When Natalie finally met up with Stiles, he wrapped her up in the biggest hug he could give her. She smiled to herself as she encircled his lanky waist with her arms. The two stayed in that position for some minutes, just enjoying each other's warm embrace. Their bodies swayed together, as if they were dancing to an inaudible song.
The crave for Natalie's warmth grew stronger for Stiles when the redhead pulled out of the hug. She looked up at him with sparkling brown eyes and smiled.
"Good night, Stiles."
"Good night, Natalie."
With that, she walked back to her house.
A sigh was released from Stiles's mouth as he watched his best friend step inside her house and shut the door behind her. Even though he knew he should be getting home now, he couldn't bring himself to leave. Instead, he leaned against the jeep and kept his gaze on Natalie's house. There was just too much on the boy's mind for him to drive at the moment.
These feelings for the redhead have been stuck with Stiles for as long as the he could remember. Noah and Kurt had been best friends themselves throughout their high school days and that continued into adulthood. The two have been through everything together, from graduating the police academy, being each other's best man at their respective weddings, and now raising their kids side-by-side. Naturally, Stiles and Natalie followed their father's footsteps and became best friends themselves.
As the two grew older, their bond grew stronger, even when Scott came into the picture in kindergarten. They were the Three Musketeers, the Three Stooges… well, you get the picture. It wasn't long before Stiles ended up developing a crush on the only girl in their trio, which bloomed when Natalie beat up the school bully that was picking on some scrawny and nerdy kid with ease. She had established herself as a badass from such an early age that it was a no-brained for Stiles to adore her.
Over time, Stiles's infatuation with Natalie had grown into something much deeper. He didn't realize how hard he had fallen for her until his mother Claudia passed away when they were ten years old. Stiles and his father were understandably devastated over the loss and the boy turned to his best friends, mostly Natalie. Yes, Scott was there for Stiles when he was at his lowest, but Natalie was able to provide that emotional comfort and loving affection that Scott couldn't. When Natalie let Stiles cry on her shoulder and express his grief from losing his mother, that was when he knew that the girl was his rock. He knew he could count on her for anything and he hoped she knew that was reciprocated.
There's no doubt that Stiles was unconditionally hooked to the redhead. But the one thing he would drive himself crazy about the most was how Natalie felt about him. Did she return those feelings for him? Or did she only see him as the best friend that he had been for the past sixteen years, or worse, like a brother? Either way, Stiles was extremely frightened to take the risk of telling Natalie how he really felt and possibly losing her. Then again, harboring these feelings ate at him constantly and he couldn't decide if that was worse than telling her and getting rejected.
"Maybe one day, Stiles," he promised himself, "Maybe you'll have the balls to tell her the truth."
Stiles opened the car door and sat down. After his door was shut and the keys were in the ignition, he finally drove home. It was now one thirty in the morning and he definitely needed as much sleep he could get before the first day of school.
Let's just pray that poor Scott wouldn't get himself eaten alive by the end of the night.
And there you have it! I really hope you're all excited for this as much as I am. So if you can, PLEASE review, favorite, follow, all that fun stuff! And be on the lookout for Isaac's story Scars and Derek's story No One Else, both coming soon!
Thank you to those who've stuck around. I'll be sure to update soon! Xoxo, Maddie