𝐌𝐈𝐃𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐎𝐒 ➢ ɪꜱᴀᴀᴄ ʟᴀʜᴇʏ

Ch. 17 - FRAYED

"Nothing?" Allison asked and Lydia nodded, "Nothing." She said as she pulled out her lipstick. Lydia looked into the mirror as she absentmindedly re-applied her lipstick, until she noticed Allison and Nabina looking at her with raised eyebrows. 

"What?" She asked and Nabina looked at Allison, "Hey, Allison. Is it just me or do you smell that?" She asked and Allison smiled and hummed. "Smell what?" She asked, "It smells kinda like bullshit." Nabina said and Allison nodded. "I definitely smell it too." She said and Lydia rolled her eyes at the two of them. 

A little while later Lydia's phone started ringing making her pull it out to see Stiles calling her. "Hey, Stiles! Yeah, we're just about to walk into a movie! Uh, you know, the popcorn, and-" She said awkwardly until he cut her off. 

"I know you guys are right behind us. Put me on speaker." He said, making her purse her lips and nod, "Okay..." She said before putting him on speaker. "Okay, look, Scott's still hurt." Stiles said, making the girls glance at each other, "What do you mean, 'still?' He's not healing?" Allison asked. 

"No, he's not healing. I think he's actually getting worse. The blood's turning, like, a black color..." He said and Lydia furrowed her brows, "What's wrong with him?" She asked."What's wrong with him? I don't... Do I have a Ph.D. in lycanthropy? How am I supposed to know that?" He said sarcastically, making Nabina roll her eyes. 

"We need to get him off the bus." Allison said and Nabina raised her eyebrows, "And take him where, a hospital?" She asked and Allison nodded. "If he's dying, yeah. Stiles, there's a rest area about a mile up. Tell the coach to pull over." Allison said and Stiles sighed, "Yeah, I've been trying..." 

"Well, reason with him." Allison said and Nabina could imagine the look on Stiles' face, "Reason? Have you met this guy?" He asked incredulously. "Just try something." Allison said before Stiles hung up. 

⊚

Stiles and Allison hurriedly carry Scott into the rest stop men's room while Lydia shuts and locks the door behind them. Scott slumped down against the stained tile wall and Allison kneeled down in front of him, lifting up his shirt to reveal his wound. 

"Oh, my God..." 

"Why didn't you tell us?" Allison asked and Scott gave her a weak smile, "Sorry..." He said weakly. "Okay, just give us a second, okay?" Allison says before pulling Nabina, Stiles and Lydia aside to whisper. "This shouldn't be happening- I've seen him heal from worse than this." She said and Stiles nodded. 

"Okay, what do we do, then? Do we just call an ambulance?" Stiles asked and Allison sighed worriedly. "What if it's too late? What if they can't help?" She said, "We gotta do something." Stiles said before turning to Nabina. "You got magic, can you heal him?" He asked and she shook her head, "I haven't learned that magic yet. It's a hard one to learn." She said and Lydia raised her eyebrows. 

"You know, it could be psychological." Lydia making them all look at her confused, "What do you mean? Like, psychosomatic?" Stiles asked. "Somatoformic." Lydia said and Stiles squinted slightly, "Som-" He tried to say making her roll her eyes. 

"A physical illness from a psychogenic cause?" Lydia said and Allison and Stiles still looked incredibly confused making Nabina sigh, "She's saying it's all in his head." Nabina said and Lydia nodded in agreement. "Because of Derek. He's not letting himself heal 'cause Derek died." Stiles said, making Nabina suck in a deep breath while Allison nodded, "So, what do we do?" 

Lydia opened her purse and pulled out a travel sewing kit, "Stitch him up." She said and Allison and Stiles raised their eyebrows. "I'm serious! Maybe all he needs to do is just believe it's healing." Lydia said and they glanced back at Scott. Breathing, becoming more and more labored, he holds his hand tighter over his shirt, blood seeping between his fingers.