Unhinged ☾ TEEN WOLF {4}

Bardo

The next day seemed even worse. I barely slept at all, and when I did, I dreamt Isaac had pushed me off a cliff. It was kind of refreshing from being torn apart by Derek. But I still couldn't believe this was where I was at.

"Did you tell Isaac or Derek?" Scott asked in a hushed voice peering over my shoulder.

"No." I shook my head. "It's pointless, I haven't even talked to Derek since he left."

"Well, if it's them who appear in your dreams, maybe it means something." Scott suggests.

"They're not the only ones." I admit.

"What?" Scott asks. "Who else."

"You should be asking who hasn't, it'd save time." I said tiredly, glancing over at Stiles, who was intensely focused on writing something in his notebook.

"Wait- so have I?" Scott asked.

"Yes." I answered.

"How many times?" He asked after a few moments.

"Do you really wanna know?" I asked, turning around in my seat. It was the nightmares with Scott and Stiles that haunted me the most. My two best friends, who I could never imagine hurting me.

"I guess not..." He said sinking back in his chair.

"Besides," I sighed. "They're just dreams. You and Stiles are having symptoms while you're awake. That's worse."

"Kara, you look like you haven't slept in days." Scott says worried. "You're definitely having a worse time."

"You're an Alpha with no self control." I reminded him. "Allison keeps hallucinating her dead aunt, and Stiles is straight up crazy." I motioned over to him. He was still completely ignoring us, scribbling frantically in his notebook.

"Montgomery! McCall! Save the chit chat for another class." Coach called over to us.

"Yes, Coach." Scott said.

"Sorry, Coach." I added.

"Stilinski!" Coach said, shifting his focus to him. "Are you paying attention back there?"

Stiles said nothing, as if he didn't hear Coach at all. He continued to write something frantically in his notebook, I couldn't even see what it was, his face was so close to the paper.

"Stilinski!" Coach said getting angier.

"WHEEEEEEEEHHHHHHH!" Coach blew his whistle as hard as he possibly could, and Stiles finally whipped his head up, looking up at Coach confused. "Stilinski!"

"Uh-huh?" Stiles asked.

"I asked you a question." Coach says irritated.

"Uh... sorry, Coach." Stiles says disoriented. "What was it?"

"Oh it was, 'Stilinski, are you paying attention back there?'." Coach tells him.

"Oh, well, I am now..." Stiles says awkwardly.

"Stilinski, stop reminding me why I drink.... Every night." Coach says, muttering the last part. "Does anyone else want to try the question on the board?"

Stiles turns to the two of us, who were looking at him extremely concerned. "I'm okay. I just fell asleep for a second." Stiles says brushing it aside.

"Dude... you weren't asleep." Scott tells him, his eyes flickering to Stiles' notebook.

He picks it up, and I can see now what he was writing. In several lines, fonts and sizes all over the page were the same two words. Over and over.

WAKE UP

☾

"Okay, so what happens to a person who has a near-death experience and comes out of it seeing things?" Scott asks.

All of us sat together at lunch outside, trying to figure out what was happening, and how to stop it. I sat beside Scott and Evan, with my head in my hands. I felt so tired from the lack of sleep. It was only a matter of time before I crashed, into another haunting nightmare of being murdered by my friends.

"And is unable to tell what's real or not?" Stiles adds.

"And is being haunted by demonic visions of dead relatives?" Allison chimes in.

"Let's not forget I've had dreams about everyone at this table murdering me." I said lifting my head.

"They're all locked up because they're insane." Isaac says.

"Ha. Can you at least try to be helpful, please?" Stiles says irritated.

"For half of my childhood, I was locked in a freezer. So, being helpful is kind of a new thing for me." Isaac says back.

"Hey, dude, are you still milking that?" Stiles scoffs. Scott rolls his eyes, before letting his head fall on the table.

"Yeah, maybe I am still milking that." Isaac retorts.

"Hi, sorry." A new voice comes from the other end of the table, making us look up. The new girl, Kira, was standing there. "I couldn't help overhearing what you guys were talking about... and I think I actually might know what you're talking about."

None of us say anything, but seem interested in what she has to say. "There's a tibetan word for it. It's called 'Bardo'. It literally means 'In-between state'. The state between life and death."

"And what do they call you?" Lydia asks.

"Kira." Evan says. The rest of us turn questioningly to him. "She's in our history class."

"So," Lydia moves on. "Are you talking Bardo in Tibetan Buddhism or Indian?"

"Either, I guess." She says sitting down next to Stiles. "But all the stuff you guys were just saying? All that happens in Bardo. There are different progressive states where you can have hallucinations. Some you see, some you just hear. And you can be visited by peaceful and wrathful deities."

"Wrathful deities?" Isaac asks. "And what are those?"

"Like demons." She says a little too cheerfully.

"Demons..." Stiles says, widening his eyes and looking to the rest of us. ".... Why not?"

"Hold on," Allison says. "If there are different progressive states, then what's the last one?"

"Death. You die." Kira says.