Forever and Always (Sciles)

108: Scott's Doubts

Scott POV

I smile to myself, happy to have found some time to just relax and read a book. I walk into the living room and gaze at the selection of books on the shelves, wondering what I should read. I've got a few hours to myself, since I'm not working today and the kids are at school. Stiles has gone out with Kara and Ben for a swim for a couple of hours and should be home soon. It's not often I have time to myself. I wouldn't want too much time alone just with myself, but I do appreciate the small amounts of quiet time by myself when they do come about.

I walk over to the book shelf and pull out one of the books and gaze over the blurb. I nod in satisfaction. This will do. I walk back over to the couch and flop down on it, trying to get comfortable. I open the book and settle down to read, but I freeze suddenly, my eyes widening in confusion and my heart skips a beat. The first page of the book is completely blank.

"What the hell?" I mutter as I sit up again, staring at the blank paper in confusion. I blink rapidly, and the page remains blank. I start flipping through more the pages, finding that a lot of them are blank.

"Is this some sort of joke?" I ask myself, wondering if Stiles bought this to try and freak me out. I stop flipping through the book and stare at a particular page that has one word on it: Scott.

"What?" I stare at the page in confusion. Why does it have my name here? Why is it the only word on the page? I don't understand what's going on. Is this some joke of Stiles'? I bravely decide that I should read on, to see if there are any more words in this otherwise blank book, wondering if it'll actually go back to the actual narrative. I flip the page and once again, it's all blank. Except for the two words spread out over the two pages: wake up.

"Wake up from what?" I frown, starting to feel a bit afraid. This is starting to feel like some weird personal message to me. I can almost hear Stiles' voice in my head saying these words. I continue flipping through the book in a hurry to get the whole message.

I flip over the page again. 'You have to wake up.'

I flip the page again. 'You are dying.'  My stomach feels like it drops into the floor.

"Dying? From what? What is this?" I ask in fear and confusion, my heart rate starting to speed up as I begin to panic and turn over the pages faster, reading all the small notes.

'Your life force and energy is being drained from you every second that you continue to sleep.'

"I'm not asleep!" I yell out loud, feeling desperate.

'Soon, there won't be anything left and you'll be dead.' I flip the page again.

'Do you hear me, Scott?' And again.

'If you don't wake up...' I gulp nervously as I shakily turn over onto the next page.

'You will die.' I keep flipping through the book to try and see if there's anything else, but unfortunately, there's nothing. I think that terrifies me more. The book just told me that I'm going to die, if I don't wake up. Wake up from what, though? I'm awake now! I don't understand. Was I hallucinating?

Suddenly, my body feels like it is covered in a weird sticky gooey liquid, just like in my nightmare long ago. I gasp as I stand up and try to brush it off, even though there is nothing there. It feels so real and I start to panic. What is happening to me? I then realize that I can't breathe and it feels like I'm swallowing water and it continues to fill my lungs. I make distressed noises, clasping at my throat helplessly, feeling terrified. I'm drowning in something that I can't see. I fall to the floor, my body shaking and I can't breathe. The words from that book keep ringing around in my head, faster and faster, like they're being chanted quietly by someone, their voice distorted.