The Fire Within

Chapter 3

"This house can't take much more of your teenage supernatural tendencies. You're breaking the house. One day I bet I'll wake up to find myself lying in a pile of rubble that used to be the house." The Sheriff says as he sits down on the sofa and turns on the TV.

Stiles timidly walks into the room behind his dad. "Sorry, Dad. I won't let it happen again." Stiles apologizes guiltily, but both of them know it will happen again. The Sheriff chuckles and shakes his head. "It's okay, Stiles." He tells his son as he turns to face him.

Stiles' dad suddenly looks suspicious. "Is that ash? Why do your clothes have holes in them? And why do you smell like a barbecue?" He questions while doing a double check at his son's ash covered body.

Stiles' eyes widen in fear. "Barbecue? Are you hungry, Dad? Because, you know, I could always make you a healthy dinner. Not involving a barbecue. Or fire." He blurts out without thinking. The Sheriff gives his son a funny look.

"No, I got something on the way home from work." He says as he stands up and walks over to a nervous looking Stiles.

"L-look Dad, I'll tell you what happened but first let me get this ash off, it's a bit itchy and annoying" Stiles asks hopefully.

His dad takes a look at him one more time before he lets out a sigh and motions for Stiles to go upstairs.

Stiles thanks him and runs upstairs and trips in the last one, thankfully he catches himself before he crashes to the ground. Hey, supernatural or not, Stiles can be clumsy. He quickly gathers up his things for the bathroom and rushes to it. Not caring about the temperature of the water, he quickly jumps in the shower. Stiles almost groans in pleasure as water starts to drip on his face, getting all the ash off his face and body.

Five minutes passed and Stiles finally managed to get the last bit of ash off him. He jumps out of the shower and wraps a towel around his waist. Ah, it feels good not to have ash covering almost your entire being. His happy mood changed quickly as he remembered why he was showering so fast. His dad is still waiting for him downstairs.

Stiles sighs as he changes into some fresh clothes and walks back downstairs where he finds his dad in the exact same position as he left.

"What aren't you telling me, Mieczysław?" His dad asks in a suspicious voice. Stiles knew he was doomed. Whenever his dad used his real name, that meant that he was in trouble and that his dad has gone full detective mode on him.

"I may or may not have burned a part of the backyard..." Stiles says quickly, hoping his dad won't understand, but of course he does, it's his dad for god's sake. Sheriff Stilinski's eyes widen in horror.

"You what?!" Yup, Stiles was royally screwed. He just wants the earth to suddenly open up and swallow him whole. But nature isn't his best buddy at the moment, so that's not happening.

"I didn't mean to, it was an accident! I kind of lost focus and then there was an explosion. I tried to put it out, which I eventually did, but I did get ash all over me and yes, my clothes got burned, but everything was okay. I was cleaning up when Malia came to the door and-" Stiles tries explains in a hurry, but his dad cuts him off.

"Malia was here?" The Sheriff asks as he folds his arms and looks at his son angrily. Stiles cowers away slightly, hating his dad's bad moods. "Stiles, how could you be so careless? Did she see you? Did she any of this?" Stiles' dad groans in dismay.

"Dad, it's not my fault, okay? No, she didn't see me practicing! I opened the front door and she saw me like I was before. That's all, I promise! She just looked at me like I was a freak, which maybe I am!" Stiles shouts at his dad, tears springing to his eyes. The Sheriff's expression softens for a moment as he sees how upset Stiles is becoming.