Gather The Ashes || Stilinski || Book Three

Sixteen

Sierra chuckled, "I guess so. I'm sorry I woke you up though. You're probably exhausted."

Scott brushed it off, "Oh, don't worry about me, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Sierra couldn't help but ask, leading him to raise an eyebrow at her. "I don't want to pry, I swear, and I'm glad we had this talk, but..."

She didn't finish.

"But what?" Scott asked her, curious to what was going on inside her mind.

Sierra sighed, knowing she might as well just say it. "Earlier, when we brought you back...you seemed, I don't know, on edge, I guess."

"Well, I did die," Scott joked but his face fell once she didn't even crack a grin. "You could tell I was on edge?"

"Of course I could tell, Scott, you're my best friend," Sierra reiterated his point from before. "And you're right, you were dead for an hour so maybe I'm just overthinking, but when Liam came in...it's like you couldn't look him in the eye. You completely froze, Scott. That's not like you, not anymore at least."

"I did freeze," Scott agreed, moving his gaze to his carpet from the guilt eating at his insides. "And I couldn't look Liam in the eye."

Sierra's face softened. "Why? He hasn't done anything wrong, Scott."

"Believe me, it's not about what he's done," Scott shook his head, before lowering his voice in shame. "It's about what I did."

"I don't understand."

Scott let out a heavy breath and he glanced back up at Sierra to see her staring back in concern. "While I was...dead," Scott started to reveal, "I kept having these dreams. Nightmares, really, the more I think about them. Noshiko warned me about them before I went under too, though I really didn't believe her at first."

Instead of looking at him with pity, Sierra offered him a smile and a hand to hold for comfort. He accepted the gesture gratefully, and continued.

"It always started with me on the table in the morgue," he finally shared despite his fear to tell her everything he saw. "Then, I ended up at the high school. Liam..." His voice got caught in his throat and Scott coughed, forcing himself to go on. "Liam...Liam was there and every time, the Mute appeared out of nowhere and...and killed him. But the last time, the Mute told me it was my turn."

A tear ran down his cheek as the memory flashed in his brain. "The tomahawk was in my hand and..." He couldn't finish the sentence. Scott bowed his head, ashamed. "As much as I hate to say it, I felt powerful," he cried, covering his face with his free hand. "All the anger, all of the pain...just came to the surface and I couldn't control myself. I killed him, Sierra, I killed Liam."

"Hey, hey, hey," Sierra soothed, pulling him into her embrace. "Do not say that. You didn't kill him, Scott."

"But I did!" he argued, his voice cracking. "It's like I forgot everything we stood for and...and just exploded."

"You did not kill Liam," Sierra enunciated each word sharply so he understood. "Right now, he is at home. Liam is alive, safe and sound. Okay? It was just a dream, Scott. It wasn't real."

"But it felt like it was real," Scott whimpered and held onto her arm just like he did at the hospital. Sierra sighed quietly, but didn't let him go. Anyone could tell Scott was extremely disturbed by what he envisioned, and the guilt was killing him. But he needed to understand he didn't do anything wrong.

Sierra waited a few moments to speak, filling the time by running a calming hand through Scott's hair. "I know what you saw scared you," Sierra whispered, "but none of that happened, Scott. The Mute can't hurt you and he can't hurt Liam. You're okay, I promise, and you cannot let a nightmare make you feel this...this guilt. You can't let it have power over you."