Gut Instinct (Teen Wolf)

2:1 You Think They Were Murdered?

Warning: mentions of car crashes, nightmares, PTSD, mentions of dead bodies, swearing I think

He suddenly woke up with a gasp. Sweat was lining his forehead. He couldn't breathe.

"You okay?" Lydia asked. The girl was beside him in bed, her strawberry blonde hair was down in messy lines. She was rubbing his arm, trying to get him to relax. "Stiles?"

"Yeah," he panted. "I was just dreaming. It was weird. It was a dream within a dream."

"A nightmare?" Lydia asked, her green eyes filled with worry.

He nodded. "Yeah." He paused and looked away from the wall to look at Lydia. "Lydia what are you doing here?"

The girl furrowed her brows. "What?"

"What are you doing here?" he asked. The door to his bedroom opened, letting in light from the hallway. "Hang on," he told the girl.

"Stiles," Lydia asked. She gripped his bicep, trying to stop him from getting up. "Where are you going?"

"I'm just gonna close the door." He stood up from the bed, shaking off Lydia's hand.

"Just go back to sleep," Lydia begged.

"No, no, no, I should close it." He walked across the floor, his bare feet scratching against the carpet.

"Don't worry about it," Lydia prompted. She almost sounded panicked.

"What if someone comes in?" Stiles asked. He was almost to the door. His face was covered in sweat.

"Like who?" Stiles just ignored her and gripped the door handle. "Just come back to sleep, Stiles."

"No, no, what if they get in?" Stiles asked.

"What if who gets in?" Lydia was near frantic now. "Stiles just leave it. Please, come back to bed Stiles." He changed his grip on the doorknob and opened it slightly. There wasn't a hallway on the other side, just light.

"Stiles please!" Lydia yelled. "Stiles don't! Don't!"

But he wasn't listening. He just opened the door wider and walked into the light.

On the other side was the clearing where the Nemeton was. He slowly walked towards it, when the lights that lit up the lacrosse field lit up around the clearing. He stopped feet away from the Nemeton.

"It's just a dream," he told himself. "It's just a dream. Get it out of your head Stiles. You're dreaming alright? So wake up. Wake up. Wake up, Stiles. WAKE UP!"

Stiles opened his eyes to his bedroom flooded with light. He wasn't in the clearing. He was home.

The bedroom door opened and his dad poked his head in. "Hey, time to get up kiddo. Get your butt to school."

At school, Stiles told Scott about his dream as they walked down the stairs in the courtyard. "And you couldn't wake up?" Scott asked.

"Nope and it was beyond terrifying," Stiles said. "You ever hear of sleep paralysis?"

"Uh, no, do I want to?" Scott questioned. The two entered the building and walked down the hallway to their first class.

"You're kinda in a dream-like state," Stiles explained. "But the big thing is you can't move. Like at all. It happens because during REM sleep, your body is basically paralyzed. It's called muscle atonia. That way if you start dreaming about running you don't actually start running in your bed."

Scot nodded as they turned a corner. "Makes sense."

"But sometimes your mind can wake up before your body does," Stiles continued. "So for the split second you're actually aware your body is paralyzed."