the chaos rising • stiles stilinski [1]

thirty-six • aftermath

as daylight broke the next day, i found myself sitting on my couch. i stared blankly at the ground in front of me. my mom made her way down the stairs, her eyes immediately landing on my own. her eyebrows furrowed together, worried, her eyes racking over my body.

"oh, honey," my mom said softly, realization falling over her face.

i choked out a sob, the tears spilling past my eyes faster than i could process. my mom rushed over, sitting down next to me and wrapping her arms tightly around me. i clung onto her, my fists grabbing at her shirt tightly.

"allison-" i choked out. "she's dead."

"i know."

i let out another sob, gasping for breath as i did so. i shook my head, leaning further into my mother's embrace.

"i didn't even get to say goodbye."

•••

later that night i laid in bed next to isaac, my head on his chest. he played with my hair mindlessly, a way of keeping me calm. i had done nothing but think about allison all day, how she was gone. how she would never be coming back.

i couldn't help but think it was my fault, that i caused it. there was so much i could've done, so much i should've done.

i let out a sigh, sitting up and turning to isaac. "it's getting late. are you staying the night?"

"cant tonight," he replied, sitting up. "i need to go talk to argent."

"about what?" i asked, my eyebrows furrowing.

"nothing in particular. he just said he had something to tell me." i nodded slowly, looking down at my hands.

"hey, you know how everybody has that thing, that person, who keeps you grounded?" i asked, turning towards him.

isaac nodded, his hand moving to rest on my cheek. his blue eyes met my own and i was met with that swarm of butterflies in my stomach.

"scott calls it an anchor," isaac replied.

i nodded. "right. you're my anchor, isaac," i spoke softly. "you have been there more times than i could count, ready to help me through my panic attacks. you've even prevented some from occurring," i told him, leaning into his hand.

a soft smile made its way onto hips, his thumb stroking my cheek gently. "you're my anchor, too."

my stomach churned and i let out a soft sigh. i leaned closer toward him, pressing my lips to his in a soft kiss. isaac pulled me closer, kissing me back. after a moment, we both pulled away. we both slowly stood from the bed, isaac pulling on his jacket. i grabbed his sweater from the chair, holding it towards him.

isaac shook his head. "keep it."

i nodded slowly, dropping my hand to my side. i placed the sweater on my bed, walking out of the room with him.

"you're leaving already?" liam asked, walking in from the kitchen.

over the last couple of weeks, isaac and liam had grown pretty close. often times they played video games together, or lacrosse out back. it warmed my heart. knowing that my little brother and boyfriend had gotten along so well. it was another reason as to why i had been keeping myself from breaking up with isaac. how would liam feel? he had never even met stiles, or scott, as far as i knew. the only two he had met were allison and isaac.

"yeah, got some stuff to do," isaac replied.

"you can't even play some lacrosse first?" liam asked, crossing his arms over his chest.