Stiles and I met Lydia at the Sheriff station due to a new development.
" This is all kinds of hell." I said as this new revelation hit.
" It's not just that she could still be alive." Lydia said as we were all in the Sheriff's office.
" It's that she would've had to fake her death." She said as I rubbed my arm.
" Your grandmother, Lorraine Martin, faked her death?" Noah asked as Stiles nodded.
" Wouldn't be fucking surprised anymore with this town's history of no one permanently staying fucking dead." I say as I quipped.
" Oh, I'm guessing you got a story to back this up?" Noah asked her.
" She might be helping the Benefactor...Or is the Benefactor." Lydia explained to him.
" That sounds like a story worth hearing." Noah said as he looked to have interest. He went out for but a moment before returning.
" What's this about?" I asked as Noah shook his head.
" Parrish hasn't been in yet." He replied. I saw behind him something wrong.
" What the hell?" I asked as Noah looked behind me. He opened the door. I saw A soot-covered Parrish over another deputy.
" Hey! HEY!" Noah yelled out but a gunshot rang out. Lydia screamed out as the Sheriff went down. I scrambled to his side and saw his shoulder wounded. Parrish had knocked the Deputy out and then proceeded to stand up.
" Call for an ambulance." I said as Stiles quickly pulled his phone out. When Noah was taken to the hospital, Stiles and I went with them. We sat in the room after Noah was cleared for visitors.
" All right, Mr. Stilinski…" Dr. Vandenberg says as he is checking over Noah's medicine.
" Sheriff. Sheriff Stilinski." Stiles said correcting him.
" I've got you scheduled for surgery first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, it's going to take a little digging to get that slug out of your shoulder." He says as Noah is looking over the paperwork.
" Yeah, it's fine." Noah said as he laid back in the bed.
" One more- what's this part here? This line?" Noah asked as the Doctor looked at it.
" Patient Responsibility. Parts of the procedure and hospital stay not covered by insurance." He explained to him.
" Are those big parts? Expensive parts?" Noah asked him.
" That's between you and your insurance, unfortunately. You should start feeling the morphine in a minute. Try to get some rest, Mr-...Sheriff." Dr. Vandenberg said calmly to him before leaving.
" Hey, stop that. I was just curious about the terminology. We're not in any kind of dire straits." Noah said as he held the clipboard.
" I know about the bills, Dad. I know about the collectors calling about Eichen House. I know about the advance from the department, about the credit cards…" Stiles said as I sat next to him. I held his hand to comfort him. No one should deal with any of this.
" Stiles, are you going through my stuff?" Noah asked sounding aggravated.
" Yeah, I go through all your stuff! Especially when you keep things from me." Stiles said as I saw Noah getting annoyed.
" I keep things from you because you don't need to know everything." Noah told him, scolding him harshly.
" Yes, I do! I have to know everything. How the hell else am I supposed to take care of you?" Stiles asked with a scoff.
" You're not supposed to take care of me! I'm the dad- you're the son. You get it?" Noah said as he yelled. I flinched. Noah yelled that he was the father and Stiles was the son he was going to take care of.
" We're supposed to take care of each other." Stiles tells him as I see a relaxed face coming over the Sheriff.
" Hey, we're going to be all right." Noah said as I saw him starting to relax.
" How do you know, Dad?" Stiles asked him.
" I don't... But, the morphine's kicking in... I'm not all that worried about anything right now." Noah said as the drugs began to take effect.
" But I am…" Stiles said as I got up and gave him an embrace. He held tight to me as I rubbed his back.
" I'm going to keep both of you safe." I told him as I continued to rub his back. We were soon escorted out as visiting hours were over.
" We need to meet Lydia to figure this new code out." I told him as I waved my phone.
" It's better that we do." Stiles said as I nodded. I sent Lydia a text to meet us at Stiles'. As we got in the car, Stiles looked over to me.
" Are you sure you are ok?" He asked as I shook my head.
" I don't think I will be till this entire bullshit ends." I said truthfully to him.
" I've got your back." He told me as I smiled. I drove us back to his place where Lydia was waiting for us.
" Let's try and solve this thing." I said before we went inside. Lydia pulled up the undeciphered code and we began to work.
" Try "Maddy." It's got to be Maddy." Stiles said as Lydia looked at us.
" Doesn't "Maddy" feel a little obvious as a cipher key?" Lydia asked us. I shrugged.
" I guarantee it's "Maddy." Stiles says as Lydia tries it and nothing.
" It's gotta be something that means something to you or her." I said as I rubbed my eyes. Sleep hadn't been kind.
" Okay, your name. She left the code for you, right? So, it's got to be your name." Stiles stated as Lydia tried that. Nothing again.
" Everything was left for you Lyds. Ashes, code, it has to be you." I said as I sat next to her. She looked mentally worn out.
" But no one else is... which is why she made it hard." Lydia said as she leaned back in the chair.
" You... "No one else." No one else but you…" Stiles said as Lydia was confused.
" Our guesses- they're all about Lorraine, right? We keep trying to guess a word that has something to do with her. So, maybe we should be trying to guess one that's about you." He explained to her. I got what he was trying to say.
" Me? What about me?" She asked.
" Did you guys do anything special together? Anything that stuck to you? Anything at all?" I asked her. Her eyes brightened up.
" We read…" She spoke up. Alright, that works.
" Okay. What did you read?" Stiles asked her.
" The Little Mermaid." Lydia said as if the memory was so fresh and forward.
" You read that movie?" Stiles asked her.
" Hans Christian Andersen. A major misunderstood Danish writer back in the 1800s." I explained to him.
" Type it in. "Little Mermaid."" Stiles asked of her. And nothing. Error.
" We read it every night. I got so obsessed with it, for three months I wouldn't respond to anything but "Ariel." It drove my parents crazy, but…" Lydia said as
"...Grandma thought it was adorable." She said as she looked at the picture. She then typed out the word, " Ariel." She entered it and then the words deciphered. Ten names including Lorraine came up.
" You recognize any of these? Any of them?" I asked her. She shook her head.
" Just my grandmother." Lydia said as she stared at the screen.
" Lydia... We need to call Scott." Stiles said as I rubbed my arms. This was all getting crazier by the second.
" We need help from Parrish, he might be able to figure these names out." I said as I had Stiles print the page. After it was printed, we grabbed it and got our asses as quickly as we could to the sheriff's station.
" Parrish, we need your help." I said as I gave him the paper. He nodded and went to work.
" Well, it's not another Deadpool- more like an Already-Dead-pool." Parrish explained to us. I saw the poor look on Lydia.
" All of them? All dead?" Lydia asked him.
" Within the last ten years. All suicides, and all at the same place." Parrish said as he pointed to the name.
" Eichen House." I groaned at this.
" Lydia, Eichen House isn't a library. You need a warrant to get files from there." Stiles said as the strawberry blonde in front of us stood firm.
" My grandmother left me a list of ten suicides, including her own. There's got to be a reason why. Is there anyone there who's willing to help us?" Lydia asked us. I saw that look.
" Stiles, no." I said as he gave me a worried face.
" What choice do we have?" He asked as I sighed.
" Alright." I said as I leaned into his chest.
" There might be someone willing to take a bribe." Stiles told her. I watched the bright smile fade as we made our way to Eichen House to meet up with Brunski. I fucking hate this guy.
" A thousand." Brunski asked as he smirked that creepy fucking grin.
" A thousand dollars? To use one little key to open one little file room? Are you out of your mind?" Stiles asked as he had his arms crossed.
" When you get the keys, you make the price." Brunski said as he leaned forward.
" Right. You think we have that kind of money?" Stiles asked him begrudgingly.
" I know you don't- if you did, Daddy Sheriff would have paid the bill by now." He said before I slammed my hands on the desk. He was a little startled.
" That's why I'm talking to her." He said with a snide chuckle. I glared at him with this deep-seated hate before calming myself.
" You fucking snake-throat." I said as my cheeks flared with blood. I pulled my wallet out and slammed the one thousand I counted out.
" Follow me." He said with a grin. Fuck this prick! He leads us to a file room.
" Good?" He asked as I shrugged.
" Bye, creepy fuck." I said as Stiles waved him off.
" Yeah. We can help ourselves." Stiles said as he stuck by me. Brunski then left.
" Uh, Lydia, you got the list?" I asked her, and she nodded and gave it to me.
" Lydia, why did you write another name on here?" I asked her, she looked confused.
" I didn't write anything." She told me. I came up to her and showed her.
" Why would you write ours?" I asked her as she looked in fear.
" It was the tapes, wasn't it?" Brunski asked as the three of us panicked.
" Your turn, sweetheart." Brunski said with that killer tone!
" Oh, hell no!" I yelled out. He picked me up and slammed me to the ground. I tried to get up, but he kicked me in the ribs before I felt the pain in my head resurface as I felt the world go black. I came as the pain rolled through my body. I was tied up with loose rope.
" HELP US! Help us!" Lydia screamed out for help.
" Raven? You ok?" Stiles asked as I groaned.
" I guess. My head and ribs hurts." I said as Stiles turned his head to a frantic Lydia.
" Lydia, there's a lot of people screaming for help in a place like this. I don't think anyone's listening." Stiles said as I began to work the ropes on my wrists.
" Well, I'm open to better ideas... Because, if you didn't notice, all of those suicides were murders." Lydia said as she looked about.
" That's why she left you the message...She knew you would figure this out. You are that smart Lyds." I say with a grin as I bite back the pain.
" Once you were able to predict your own. It would be easier." Brunski said as he came out. I fought my bindings even harder.
" But they weren't murders. I'm not some serial killer like Ted Bundy, going around cutting up college girls." He continued his rant.
" You are just a demon in human skin." I said giving him a harsh death glare.
" I don't think you understand my level of commitment to my work here, none of you do. There are people here who don't simply need treatment- they need release. I helped them. I helped Lorraine." He said trying to convince us.
" You killed her. You killed my grandmother." Lydia said as I saw her face was trying to stay calm.
" I helped her. And now, you can help me... Because there is something about it that's always bothered me." Brunski said as he held a tape recorder. He pressed the button and got close to Lydia. I struggled harder against the rope. I don't care how much it hurts!
" What are you...? Brunski, what are you doing?" Lorraine's voice loudly echoed in the room.
" Lydia, look at me. Don't listen." Stiles cried out.
" Don't let him do this to you!" I screamed at her. Stiles and I screamed more at Brunski to let her go.
" Let her go! Leave her alone!" I screamed at him as I struggled against the binds. I felt I was almost out.
" Hey, turn it off!" Stiles screamed before Brunski hit him.
" STOP!" Lydia screamed as I yelled out. I can feel the binds breaking!
" Then listen... Just listen. I need your help with this, Lydia." Brunski said as he got close to her. I had to struggle as I saw Lydia's tears falling.
" Please... don't hurt her…" Lorraine's voice pleaded on the tape.
" Don't hurt who?" Brunski's voice echoed from the tape.
" Ariel…" She begged. I saw this knowing look on Lydia's face as she looked at our capture.
" We get a lot of teenagers trying to break into our drug cabinets... Most of the time, they don't succeed... But you three look pretty clever to me…" Brunski said as I saw him going into the drug cabinet and pulling a syringe out. It was full of some type of drug. God! I pulled hard and felt the binds finally give up!
" I'll admit, Stiles... I don't have any unusual talents like Lydia. But somehow, I just knew we were gonna get a chance to do this again." Brunski said as I pulled the ropes off and I tried to attack Brunski, but he smirked at me. I clutched my crying ribs.
" You young lady." He said before quickly getting in my face.
" Need a lesson." He said sadistically before punching me in the face and slamming me into a pillar. I cried out as I fell to the ground. My head felt like it was on fire. He smiled before walking back towards them.
" Don't you fucking touch them or I swear to fucking God!" I yelled at him. I saw him with the needle.
" I'll kill you, I swear to god!" I yelled as I saw him try to go for Stiles then quickly stuck it in Lydia's neck.
" Drop it!" Jordan's voice was loud. I groaned as I got up.
" Take your thumb off that needle and slowly withdraw it from her neck." Parrish yelled at Brunski. I saw the sadistic smile on his face.
" Young deputy... You're just a kid. I bet you've never even fired a.." Brunski said calmly before I watched Parrish fire off a shot that made my blood run cold.
" Oh my god." I whispered under my breath as Brunski was choking on his blood. I struggled to get up as Parrish undid their bindings.
" He-He killed my grandmother. He was controlling Meredith." Lydia said as she was startled.
" He used her to create the Deadpool." Stiles said in a frantic tone as he looked over Lydia to make sure she was ok.
" And killed her when she tried to help us." Lydia said as Stiles came over to me. I strung back in horror as Brunski twitched.
" You... You think it was me?" Brunski asked as he weakly laughed. He was dying.
" That I was controlling her? Idiots…" He groaned as the blood pooled deep around his head.
" She was controlling me." He told us before he went limp and never moved again.
" Oh, God... It's not him. He's not the Benefactor." Lydia says as I see someone moving in the background.
" No...And... he wasn't on my list. But he was a bad person." Meredith said as she came into view.
" Raven! Rave!" Stiles called out as I groaned. He checked over my head which was freshly sporting blood that was coming from my head.
" I feel like I've taken one too many to the face or ribs." I said as he held me up. I cried out as the pain hit me harder.
" I've got you. We have to get her checked out, please." Stiles said as he got me in his arms. I groaned as my ribs were tender.
" I've got an ambulance on its way." Parrish called out as I saw Lydia staring at a alive Meredith. The ambulance came quickly and took Stiles and me away to the hospital. I was happy to be alive and not in the clutches of a serial killer. Stiles just held my hand as the sirens went off.