fire on fire | void stiles [au] (DISCONTINUED)

EIGHT ━ A FLAME BLOWN OUT

chapter eight

EARLY MONDAY MORNING Avery Briar awoke to the loud clatter of shuffling feet and the echoing of the front door trudging open. She sat up from her spread out position on the couch, moving the blanket that was already half on the floor off her pajama-covered body. Her hair was up in a loose pony tail, now more messy and frizzy from the friction of rolling against the couch pillows.

"Avery! Honey, we missed you!" Katherine exclaimed the instant she stepped into the living room, leaving all of her luggage at the door for her husband to trip and stumble over.

"Hi, Mom." She let out, becoming entangled in a tight hug once she stood up, a sense of comfort that she didn't know she needed finally washing over her. The brunette closed her eyes, returning the gesture, and the urge to let a few tears fall even appeared. "I missed you too."

"Katherine, what the hell? Are you trying to make me fall and break a leg — oh Avery! You're home!"

"Yeah, I figured you wouldn't mind if I went in late today. So I could, you know, see you right when you got home," Their daughter explained after Katherine had finally let her go, feeling better for the first time since her and Teddy's date.

All weekend the brunette had sulked around her home, becoming a recluse. The idea of facing anyone didn't appeal to her, because she was in a nasty mess she didn't know how to get out of. Even her friends, who had called and texted her, she had been distant to. She declined when they offered to hang out, and even when they were updating her on their mission of finding Stiles, which hadn't succeeded much, it was hard for her to even reply back.

Overall, she felt terrible. It seemed as if nothing was going right. And the only person other than Void to blame, was herself.

After Avery had left him and gone back to a questioning Teddy, her night had only gotten worse. It was impossible to enjoy anything, and no matter what Teddy did or said to cheer her up, it didn't work. He knew something was wrong with her, but he couldn't do anything to get her to tell him what was the matter. So both of them ended the night sad, hurt, and more distant than they've ever been.

Her sudden mood change from Void's visit ruined the rest of her and Teddy's time together, the guilt piling up within her. Of course the girl was sorry that she kinda put a downer on the night and hurt the dirty blonde's feelings, but she couldn't stop going back to the moment before any of that. The moment where the supernatural creature said words she should have expected him to. She hated how disappointed she was; she hated how much she had started to care.

What was worse was that Avery didn't instantly go back to hating him. She was angry, frustrated, and very annoyed, but she didn't hate him. Did that make her even more of a terrible person? That she didn't know. She just knew she needed space to think over everything that had happened since the trickster had shown up at her door, so convincing and captivating.