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chapter fifteen: nothing

"Lydia, I don't want to say 'Are you sure about this' but--" My dad asked.

"No, he's here." Lydia said. "I swear to God he's here."

We went in the front door and my dad went up to the desk. "I need access to all basement rooms in this facility." 

We started walking down to the basement when Lydia stopped in an open corridor. "It's here. It's right here."

My dad kicked the basement door open and we all ran down the stairs.

"Stiles?" Lydia called out but the basement was empty.

"Lydia?" I said.

"I don't get it. This has to be it."

"Then where is he, huh? Where is he? Where is he?" My dad lashed out at Lydia, making her wince. "I'm sorry." 

"I don't understand." She said as we all headed back upstairs.

My dad's phone started ringing and it was Scott's dad.

"I really don't have time for this McCall." My dad said, my dad dropped his phone.

"What? Dad?" I asked.

"They got him."

~

Lydia, Scott, Rafael, Melissa and I were all waiting outside his room when my dad came out. 

"He's sleeping now. And he's just fine. He doesn't remember much. It's a bit like a dream to him." My dad said looking at McCall. "Thank you."

"It was that repellent we sprayed in the coyote den to keep other animals out. I couldn't go near it without my eyes watering. It's just a good thing he mentioned it over the phone." Rafael said.

"No, it was more than that. Thank you." I said.

"It was a lucky connection."

"McCall, can you shut up please and accept my sincerest gratitude." My dad said.  

"Accepted." He said, shaking his head.

"All right, you three. You've got school in less than six hours. Go home. Go to sleep." Melissa said.

"Okay." Scott said, hugging his mom.

"I don't know what happened. I was so sure." Lydia said.

"Yeah, I wasn't much help either." Scott said.

"Doesn't matter, if he's okay." I said.

 Lydia started looking around frantically.

"Lydia, Do you hear something?" I asked.

"No. I didn't hear anything." She said, as we started walking out to go home.

"Brooke." My dad said, signalling me to come over.

"Just stay with me kiddo, I don't want to let you both out of my sight." He said, hugging me.

~

The next morning I woke up in the same chair I sat down in three hours ago.

"Melissa?" I asked, standing up.

"I need to talk to you guys."

My dad and I stood up as we waited for Melissa to gather her thoughts.

"It was the other day. I asked him some questions. Just symptoms and, um.." She trailed off.

"Yeah. It's okay." My dad sid, taking out his notepad. "I think I, uh I think I know what you're talking about. I've been writing these down for the past two weeks." He said, showing us a list. "I think we need to do some tests."

"Wait, you can't be serious.. You think Stiles has dimentia?" 

"Brooke, just take a breath, I'm sure it's nothing. These are just precautinary tests." My dad said.

"You're damn right its nothing." I said, turning to leave.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"School. No need for me here to watch him sleep becuase there is nothing wrong with him." I said. "Nothing."

I called Derek for a ride to school, knowing everyone else was already there, when I walked in I found Scott.

"Hey," I said and he looked at me dazed and sad. "So, you heard about the tests?"

"Brooke, I-" 

"Don't. Nothing's wrong okay." I said, walking to English.

~

Scott and I were riding to the hospital together so I was waiting for him at his locker with Lydia, who was jumpy.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'm just a little hyper-sensitive to loud sounds today."

"They're doing tests on Stiles all afternoon. I was going to go over at around 6:00 to visit. You want to come with us?" Scott asked.

"I should probably just go home." She said jumping again.

"You sure you're okay?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'll text you later." She said walking off.

Scott and I went to the hospital basically right away and waited with Stiles until they brought him in for tests.

"I'm not sure I know how to pronounce this. Or if it's not actually a misspelling." The doctor said to my dad and I.

"Just call him Stiles." I said, walking over to my brother.

"Okay. Stiles, just to warn you, you're going to hear a lot of noise during the MRI. It's due to pulses of electricity going through metal coils inside the machine. Uh, if you want we can get you earplugs or headphones." The doctor said.

"Oh, no, no, I don't need anything." He said.

"Hey, we're just on the other side of that window. Okay?" My dad said.

"Okay." He said, as Melissa and my dad left. "You know what they're looking for, right? It's called frontotemporal dementia. Areas of your brain start to shrink. It's what our mother had. It's the only form of dementia that can hit teenagers. And there's no cure." Stiles said. 

"Stiles, if you have it, we'll do something. I'll do something." Scott said.

The two of them hugged before Scott walked out.

"Hey buddy." I faked a smile.

"Come on, I know you bug. That's not your smile." He said. "Hey, I'm gonna be fine."

"I know you are." I said, wrapping my arms around him and not letting tears fall. "I love you." I whispered.

"I love you more."

I walked out and into the little window room with my dad and wiped my tears before standing next to him and watching Stiles get moved into the machine.

"Okay, Stiles. This will take about 45 minutes to an hour. Now remember, try not to move. Even just a little bit." The doctor said. "Stiles, you're going to hear that noise now. It's going to be a loud clanging. Kind of like a hammer hitting an anvil. "

Derek showed up and took Scott and I waited for the results with my Dad and Melissa. When the scans came up on the screen, the doctor didn't look great.

"See this? The tissue here and there." He pointed to them. "Both those spots are showing signs of atrophy."

"Atrophy." I repeated.

"I'm sorry." He apologized.

I began to cry and turned to my dad who held not only me but his own tears.

"I can't lose him dad." I cried.

"I know."

There was a weird noise and it was dark for about a second.

"What was that?" I asked.

"It sounded like a power surge." The doctor said.

My dad looked in the window and noticed the empty machine. "Where's my son?"