It's Always Been You || Stiles Stilinski

Chapter 37 - Anchors

I hear her gasp out "What if who gets in? Stiles, just leave it. Please– Sti– Stiles, come back to bed with me..."

Why are my feet still walking to this door? Why the fuck am I not listening to a request like that from her?

My feet continue to take me away from my solace, my comfort, as she continues to plead through a shaky and more frantic voice while my hand reaches for the door knob "Stiles. Please– don't, Stiles. Don't! Don't go out there, please, don't. Please, Stiles– don't!"

Her voice carries away, just as quick as it came, as soon as I walk out the door– though I'm not in the hallway like I should be after walking through my bedroom door.

Instead I'm walking through the dark woods of the preserve, and I notice the tree trunk of the Nemeton once again before lights surrounding the outskirts of the trunk turn on. They're as bright and tall as the lights used on the lacrosse field.

I lift my arms up to shield my eyes from the wind and leaves that have begun to rustle around me and as soon as I get closer to the trunk base I know what's happening "It's a dream. This is just a dream. It's just a dream, get it out of your head, Stiles. You're dreaming. Alright? So, wake up, Stiles."

I set my hands on the side of my head, hitting it once to force myself awake as I continue to shout frantically "Wake up, Stiles. Wake up!"

My eyes slowly open, taking in the sunlight that is shining through my window before dad opens the door "Hey, time to get up, kiddo. Get your butt to school."

He turns to leave and I look down before looking over to the window as I let out a deep exhale at finally being awake.

I'm walking with Addy and Scott down the steps as we head to our first class and I fill them in on the nightmare from last night.

Addy's soft voice pulls my eyes to her as she asks "And you couldn't wake up?"

I feel a blush rising to my cheeks as I look to her, remembering the part of the dream before that one.

I shake my head at her, trying to clear the image of her in my bed as I clear my throat and face forward again "Nope, and it was beyond terrifying. Either of you ever hear of sleep paralysis?"

"Uh, no, do we want to?" Scott looks between us and I continue "Have you ever had a dream where you feel like you're about to wake up but you can't move or talk?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I've had that" they agree and I nod "It happens because during REM sleep your body is basically paralyzed. It's called muscle atonia. That way if you start dreaming about running, you don't actually start running in your bed"

"That makes sense" She agrees with a nod towards Scott before I lift my arms out to my sides to continue "But sometimes your mind can wake up before your body does. So for this split second, you're actually aware that your body is paralyzed"

"And that's the terrifying part" Scott implores and I nod "It turns your dream into a nightmare. You can feel like you're falling, like you're being strangled, or, in my case, like you're at the center of a grove of magical trees where human sacrifices took place" I state as we walk up to the door into the school, holding them open for Addy as she steps past and looks over to me "You think it means something?"

I nod moving my eyes between her and Scott "What if what we did that night– what if it's still affecting us?"

"Post-traumatic stress?" He chimes in and I nod slightly before adding "Or something"

We walk into class and we take our seats before I gain their attention again as I continue with my fear "But you want to know what scares me the most?– I'm not even sure this is real" is the last thing I say before I sit up in bed screaming myself awake.