Teen Ghost

Chapter 1 - Your Dreamworld Is Just About To End

***DEREK***

"You hear something?" I ask nobody in particular as Melissa McCall hugs me, sobbing into my shoulder.

Nobody in particular answers either. Maybe because the only other person is Melissa, who's never been anything but human. I always sense things on a different level, beyond human perception, but this is different. This is weird. Spectral. Sub- or even superconscious.

Melissa looks up at me. "Derek? What are you hearing? Is someone coming to attack-?"

"No." I look around, but I don't hear anyone coming close to this room. We got the morgue all to ourselves. Me, Melissa, and Scott's body. And whatever is the source of that noise, such a faint cry of agony. I can't even tell what it is exactly, but I'm still instinctively sure that someone is hurting. Well, after all, we're in the hospital, so that makes me sick with a case of Captain Obvious Disease. Reduce that to its initials and I could eat that for dinner with some fries. Or as Skylar and Hunter would insist on calling them, "chips."

Ugh. What the hell? When did I turn into Stiles? Is this how I grieve the loss of a loved one now?

Maybe I'm just distracting myself from noticing what's really all around me.

Like Scott.

Or, hell, that cry that just won't stop. It goes down to a faint thrum every so often, then starts right back up again.

In spite of myself, I let go of Melissa and walk around the room, pressing my ears to the wall. Or, more accurately, to the rows of metal drawers on the wall, where who knows how many corpses are stored? It's a small town, Beacon Hills, but of course our supernatural presence - and near-constant state of supernatural warfare - means this place is often too close to capacity for comfort.

Now it's Melissa's turn to ask me, "You hear something?"

"I think so. Hold on, shh..." The sound keeps getting stronger as I pass by Scott. And even as I go beyond him, eliminating my initial theory that he was the source of that sound. Like, his spirit trapped in his body or something, screaming to be set free. But if I'm not hearing him as I pass him by, then no, I guess not.

So what could that sound be?

I feel stupid saying this, but I almost want to dig the wax out of my ears so I can listen to it even more sharply. Yes, we werewolves do that too. No, I can't remember the last time I did. The nuggets of calcified ear wax that come away on my fingernails tell me that that last time was way too long ago, though.

Whatever the sound is, it's not much clearer in cleaner ears, I'm sorry to say. Instead, all I'm getting is what sounds like the howl of an actual wolf.

I press my ear to the cold metal, though, and get something clearer. Is it my name? It sure as hell sounds like a long, drawn-out "DEEEEEEEEEEEREEEEEEEEEEEEK..."

Looking in the direction of that sound, I blink as fast as I can, imagining that I can see into some parallel, more paranormal dimension. And as I blink, I think I get to see who's making that sound.

It looks like Scott, standing up and waving his hands at me.

For a second, I eyeball Melissa, debating whether or not I should tell her. In the end, however, I don't. Because as ill-prepared as I am to process what the hell I'm seeing, no doubt she's in even worse shape. Plus she'd probably get mad at me for giving her false hope or something. Maybe even slap me upside the head.