"I've seen worse" Scott said as we all stepped off the bus.
Stiles frowned at his best friend. "Where have you seen worse?"
Coach blew his whistle. "Listen up. The meet's been pushed till tomorrow. This is the closest motel with the most vacancies and least amount of good judgment when it comes to accepting a bunch of degenerates like yourselves. You'll be pairing up. Choose wisely" Coach held out some room keys in his hand.
"We'll just go in a three" Allison said to Lydia and I.
"And I'll have no sexual perversions perpetrated by you little deviants. Got that? Keep your dirty little hands to your dirty little selves!" Coach yelled out to everyone as I grabbed a room key.
"Lydia?" Allison asked, watching Lydia as she nervously eyes the motel.
"I don't like this place" Lydia said.
"I don't even think the people who own this place like this place" I laughed.
"It's just for a night" Allison shrugged.
Lydia turned around to look at us. "A lot can happen in one night"
~
"Excuse me?" Lydia called out as we stood by the front desk.
An old woman with a crooked smile appeared.
"The card on the dresser says we have a non-smoking room, but somehow all of our towels reek of nicotine" Lydia said.
"Sorry about that, sweetheart"
A number on the wall caught my eye. 198.
"What's that?" I asked. "That number?"
"It's a kind of inside thing for the motel. My husband insists on keeping it up" The woman replied with a creepy smile.
"What do you mean?" I questioned.
"It's a little bit morbid, to be honest.
You sure you want to know?"
"Tell us" Lydia said.
The woman sighed. "We're not gonna make the top of anyone's list when it comes to customer satisfaction"
"Obviously" I muttered.
"But we are number one in California when it comes to one disturbing little detail" she smirked. "Since opening, more than any other motel in California, we have the most guest suicides"
"198?" Lydia said, her voice hardly audible.
The woman, who literally looked like she'd just stepped off of a horror movie, laughed menacingly. "And counting"
Lydia and I both exchanged looks.
"Well, that's lovely. I think we're just gonna take the towels and go" I said, picking them up and grabbing Lydia's hand, leading us both away from the office.
I didn't want to spend another second with that woman.
"I told you there was something odd about this place" Lydia hissed as we headed to the room.
"I didn't doubt your judgment" I replied, twisting the key in the lock.
"Did you get the towels?" Allison asked.
"Yeah" Lydia said as she took them into the bathroom.
I sat down on one of the beds with a sigh.
"So you'll never guess what we found out" Lydia said as Allison emerged from the bathroom.
"What?" Allison asked, drying her wet hair with a towel.
"Suicides. This hotel keeps a record of the number of suicides they've had" Lydia informed.
"Suicides?" Allison frowned.
"Yep. 198 of them" I said.
"198?" She asked in disbelief.
"Yes, and we're talking 40 years. On average, that's 4.95 a year...which is actually expected. But who commemorates that with a framed number? Who does that?" Lydia said, looking disgusted.
"All suicides?" Allison asked again.
"Yes. Hanging, throat-cutting, pill-popping, both-barrels-of-a-shotgun- in-the-mouth suicides. I don't know about you, but me, I-" Lydia cut off.
"Did you hear that?"
Allison and I looked at each other.
"Hear what?" I asked.
Lydia stepped onto the bed and closer to a vent on the wall.
"Lydia?" Allison frowned.
"Oh, my God, oh, my God" Lydia repeated. "Oh, my God"
She gasped, stumbling backwards.
"What is it, Lydia? What happened?" I asked.
"Didn't you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Allison questioned.
"The two people in the other room. They shot each other" she started heading to the door.
"Lydia" I cautioned as she ran past rooms, eventually stopping at one to push open the door.
"Hello?" She called out, trying to flick on the light switch.
"Lydia, what are you doing?" Allison asked as she stepped inside.
"Hello?" Lydia repeated. After receiving no answer, she switched on a desk lamp. The three of us looked around to see the room was being redecorated. "It had to be right here. It was a guy and a girl, and, I mean, they sounded younger, but they were here" She said, her hands shaking.
"I believe you" Allison said. "After everything we've been through, I believe you"
Lydia looked at me.
"I believe you too"
Lydia sighed and turned around to look at the wall. She then stepped closer, transfixed on something.
"Come on let's get out of here" Allison said, touching Lydia's arm.
Lydia turned back around, still looking in shock, and followed us out and back into the room.
"You know, there is something seriously wrong with this place" She said when we stepped back inside our room. Lydia then went over to the shelves and started grabbing her stuff. "We need to leave" She said.
"But they were suicides, not murders, and it's not like this place is haunted, right?" Allison argued.
"Maybe it is. You know, I bet that couple made their suicide pact in that very room" she said. "Maybe that's why they're renovating. Maybe they've been scraping brain matter off the wood paneling" Lydia exclaimed in a shrill voice.
I looked at the two girls. "Maybe we should find out"
A sudden dizziness overcame me and I stumbled against the wall.
"Hey, you okay?" I heard Allison ask.
Doubles of Lydia and Allison appeared in front of me.
"Shay? Shay are you okay?" Lydia asked, her voice echoing in my head.
"Shay?"
The echoing stopped and the seeing double of Allison and Lydia stopped.
I took a big gasp for breath.
"What just happened?" I asked as the girls helped me stand.
"You just kinda fell" Allison said, sounding confused.
I frowned. "I-uh. I think I'm gonna lie down"
"Do you want us to stay?" Lydia asked, looking concerned.
"No, no. It's okay. I'll be fine. Just go and solve this mystery, yeah" I offered a weak smile as I sat down on the bed.
"I don't think we should leave you" Allison said.
"Seriously, go. I'll be okay. I'd rather be on my own"
"Do you want us to send Isaac down?" Allison asked.
I shook my head. "No, honestly I'm fine. Just a little tired. I'll see you soon"
Lydia and Allison exchanged glances.
"We'll be back to check on you soon"
Lydia said before the two of them headed out of the room.
I sighed, laying down on the bed.
Something's very wrong here.
~
I could hear voices in my head, repeating my name over and over.
Where were they coming from?
I felt something cold and metallic pressed against my head.
Wait why is there a gun pressed to my head?
I moved my fingers slightly and they brushed over the trigger.
Am I trying to kill myself?
"Shay?"
I heard the voices say again.
Why couldn't I put a face to them?
"Why can't she hear us?" One voice said desperately.
"Lydia, scream"
"What?"
"Scream"
I could suddenly hear an ear splitting sound and I winced, feeling like someone was piercing a knife through my brain.
A lightbulb shattered above me and sparks of electricity flew.
And suddenly I could see the two worried girls in front of me.
My brain was working again.
"What the hell is going on!" I yelled, practically throwing the gun across the room. "How the fuck did I get a gun?" I exclaimed.
Lydia and Allison both sighed in relief and pulled me into a hug.
"What were you thinking!" Lydia proclaimed, tears rushing down her face.
"That's the thing" I said, pulling away with a frown. "I wasn't thinking. I didn't know what I was doing"
A loud pounding on the door startled the three of us and Allison went to open it.
"I heard you scream" Stiles said, completely out of breath. He looked around the room, eyes resting on the gun. "Wait, why is there a gu-" I cut him off.
"I tried to kill myself" I dead-panned.
"I don't understand" he said, looking extremely confused. "Why?"
"I don't know Stiles, but I want to figure it out"
He paused, churning thing over in his mind.
"I think there's something weird going on. I mean the number in the office did go up, didn't it" he said, turning towards the girls.
"Wait? It went up?"
Allison nodded. "When you were in the room we went back to the office. The number had gone up to 201"
"So do you reckon the number has something to do with us acting crazy?" I asked.
"Last time I saw Scott act like that was during the full moon" Allison said.
"What did Scott do?" I asked. Everyone ignored me.
"Yeah, I know. He was definitely a little off with me too, but actually, it was Boyd who was really off. I watched him put his fist through the vending machine" Stiles said.
"See, it is the motel. Either we need to get out of here right now, or someone needs to learn how to do an exorcism asap, before the werewolves go crazy and kill us" Lydia exclaimed, pulling a bible out of the draw for effect.
"Okay, just hold on, all right? What if it's not just the motel? The number in the office went up by three, right?" I said.
"You mean like three sacrifices?" Allison said.
"What if this time it's three werewolves?" I asked.
"Scott, Isaac, and Boyd" Allison whispered.
"Maybe we were meant to come here" Stiles said.
"Exactly! So can we get the hell out of here now? Please?" Lydia begged.
"Wait, hang on. Let me see this" Stiles said, opening the bible up to see a newspaper clipping.
"What is that?" I asked.
"28 year old man hangs himself at the infamous Glen Capri" he read out. He then shook the bible and a ton of clippings came out flying out.
"Oh, no. Look at these two. They both mention the room 217. These are probably all the suicides that happened in this room" Lydia said.
"So if every room has a Bible-" I started.
"There could be articles in all the rooms" Lyds finished.
"That's a beautiful thing. Most places leave a mint under the pillow. This one leaves a record of all the horrible deaths that occurred" Stiles said sarcastically.
"What if the room next door has the one about the couple?" Lydia asked.
Stiles glanced at us before rushing out of the door and trying the door handle to the other room.
"No, that was not locked before" Lydia said, her voice shaking.
"Forget it. We need to get Scott, Isaac, and Boyd out of here" I said.
I suddenly heard the sound of a handsaw being turned on in the other room.
I frowned. "I'm not the only one who heard that, am I?"
"It sounds like someone turned the handsaw on" Allison said.
Stiles rushed back over to us. "Handsaw?"
The four of us scrambled over to the door and I kicked the it open and we all piled inside.
When I looked over, I noticed Ethan bringing the handsaw to his stomach.
"Hey, no, Ethan, don't!" I yelled, launching myself over to him and wrestling the handsaw out of his hand.
He went to pick it back up again and I pushed him away just as Lydia unplugged it.
The four of us sighed in relief until Ethan's claws came out and he started digging them into his stomach.
"No!" Stiles and I yelled simultaneously as we rushed over. With the help of Allison, we managed to pull his arms apart.
"Aah!" Ethan yelled as he hit the heater. "What just happened?" He asked, standing up.
The five of us looked at eachother and then Ethan rushed out of the room.
"Hey! Ethan!" Stiles yelled as we ran after him.
"Didn't you just hear what I said? I have no idea what I was doing or how I got there" Ethan said as he rushed down the stairs.
"Okay, you could be a little bit more helpful, you know? We did just save your life" I said.
"And you probably shouldn't have" he snapped.
"What now?" Lydia asked as Ethan disappeared.
"I'll find Scott" Allison said. "You guys grab Isaac and Boyd. The best thing we can do is get them out of this place"
We nodded and Allison set off up the stairs. Lydia was about to follow but she paused and sighed.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked Stiles.
"Oh, no, I w-"
"Stiles" I snapped.
"All right. Lydia, I didn't want to say anything but this everything, what we're going through, we've kind of been through something like this before, a lot like this" he said.
"What do you mean? When?" She asked.
Stiles sighed. "Your birthday party, the night you poisoned everyone with wolfsbane"
Lydia scoffed and stormed off.
"Nice one, Stiles. If this is part of your ten year plan to get Lydia to fall in love with you then you might wanna rethink it" I snapped, running after my best friend.
"I didn't mean- wait how did you even know about that!" Stiles yelled after me.
Lydia stopped and I headed over to her.
"You okay?" I asked. She didn't reply.
"Lydia, I'm sorry, okay? Look, I didn't mean that you're trying to kill people, okay? I just I just meant that maybe maybe you're somehow involved in getting people to kill themselves, you know? Which now that I say that out loud, it just sounds really terrible, so I'm just going to stop talking" Stiles rambled.
"Yeah, you probably should" I said, shooting him a glare.
"Do you hear that?" Lydia asked.
"What?" Stiles said.
"Lydia, what do you hear?" I questioned.
"A baby crying" she answered, kneeling on the floor. "I hear-I hear water running" she said. "Oh, my God"
Stiles and I exchanged a look.
"She's drowning the baby!" Lydia yelled. "Someone's drowning!"
~
The three of us burst into a room and I saw Boyd in the bath with the the safe from the office on top of him.
"He blocked it. He blocked the drain with something. I can't get to it" Stiles said, trying to pull out the plug.
"What do we do?" Lydia asked.
"Here, help me" I said, trying to lift the safe off of him. Stiles and Lydia joined me but we couldn't pull it off.
"This doesn't make sense. I should be able to lift three times the amount of this" I said, still trying to pull it off of Boyd.
"Is he dead? How long can a werewolf stay underwater?" Lydia asked me.
"You think I know that?" I exclaimed.
"Ow!" Stiles yelled, falling against the heater.
The heater.
"Wait a sec, the heater. Ethan came out of it when he touched the heater. I came out of it when the electricity sparks from the light hit me" I explained.
"What?" Lydia asked.
"It's heat. Heat, electricity, fire. Heat does it, all right? We need something. We need fire" I said.
"He's underwater" Lydia pointed out.
"Yeah, I'm aware of that!" I yelled.
"Wait, wait. The bus. On the bus, they'll have emergency road flares.
They have their own oxidisers. They can burn underwater" Lydia informed.
"Are you serious?" Stiles asked.
"Yes, go!" Lydia yelled.
Stiles left the room as the two of us continued to try and pull the safe off of Boyd.
"Why can't you lift it? What happened to your strength?" Lydia asked.
I shook my head. "I don't know. I don't understand it either. Maybe it's something to do with the motel"
Lydia suddenly stood up and rushed over to the bed.
"What are you doing?" I asked, still trying to pull the safe.
I heard her gasp and I turned around just as Stiles grabbed Lydia's arm.
"I got them! What do I do?" He asked, showing the two flares in his hand. "How do I do this?"
"The cap, it's like a match" I said, still desperately trying to lift the safe up.
"The cap's a match" Lydia confirmed. He started to try and light it. "Stiles!" She yelled.
"Yeah, I'm trying" The flare suddenly lit up. "Ooh"
I grabbed it out of Stiles' hand and threw it in the water.
Boyd immediately sat up, throwing the safe off of him and across the room.
If he still has his strength then why don't I?
I pushed Lydia and Stiles back as I we watched Boyd transform into a werewolf and then back to a human.
"Boyd?" Stiles asked, still out of breath.
He looked at us confused for a moment before dashing out of the room.
"Boyd!" Lydia called after him.
I turned to face Stiles and Lydia, about to ask what we do now, when I remembered someone. "Hey, where's Isaac?" I asked.
Just as I said it, I heard shivering.
"He's uh, he's under the bed" Lydia said. Stiles looked at her weirdly. "What?"
I rolled my eyes and grabbed the remaining flare off of Stiles.
"I'll help him. You go and find Scott" I
said, trying to light the flare.
Lydia grabbed Stiles' hand and lead him out of the room.
I swear to god if they don't get together soon.
I bent down and saw Isaac cowering under the bed.
"Hey, what are you doing down here" I smiled. "Look, you're probably gonna forget everything I say because you're totally out of it right now but I'm sorry. I'm not mad at you for beating the shit out of Ethan or trying to make me feel better about Derek, even though you weren't exactly helping. You know, I'm so scared Isaac. I don't know what to do without Derek. Cora and I aren't speaking and I don't trust Peter at all. But I know that I have you. And I love you. I don't ever want to lose you, Isaac. I love you so much" I wiped away the tears that were rolling down my cheeks and pushed the flare under the bed, quickly scrambling up.
I heard Isaac grunt and I laughed a little as I helped him out.
"What happened?" He asked, looking around.
"Uh the motel's kinda making the werewolves go crazy. We figured out that heat snaps us out of it, hence the flare"
"Are you okay?" He asked me.
"Yeah, yeah I am" I smiled.
"Why are you crying?"
"Me? Crying? I'm not crying. I'm fine" I laughed.
Isaac smiled. "I love you too"
"What?"
"You told me you loved me, before you snapped me out of it. You said you were sorry and you didn't want to lose me" he said.
"You heard that?"
Isaac nodded. "And I never want to lose you too. I love you, Shay"
I pressed my lips to his and he pushed me backwards onto the bed.
He mumbled something incoherent before starting to leave a trail of kisses up my neck.
"Isaac" I mumbled. "Isaac" He looked up at me. "Sorry to be a mood killer but there's still one more werewolf to save" I said with a giggle.
"Who?"
"Scott" I said, sitting up.
"Oh"
"I'm sorry" I smiled, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. "You coming?"
"I'm gonna check if Boyd's okay first"
"Yeah, sure" I said, turning to leave. "Isaac?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you"
He smiled. "I love you too"
~
I noticed Stiles, Allison and Lydia crowding around Scott who was holding a flare in his hand. By the looks of it, he was also covered in gasoline.
Ah, that's not good.
"There's no hope" I heard Scott say.
"What do you mean, Scott? There's always hope" Allison said, sounding like she was about to cry
"Not for me. Not for Derek"
"Derek wasn't your fault. You know Derek wasn't your fault" I said firmly as I walked over to them.
"Every time I try to fight back, it just gets worse. People keep getting hurt.
People keep getting killed"
"Scott, listen to me, okay? This isn't you, all right? This is someone inside your head telling you to do this. Okay? Now-" Stiles stepped forwards.
"What if it isn't? What if it is just me? What if doing this is actually the best thing that I could do for everyone else?" Scott said.
"Scott-" I started, my voice cracking.
"It all started that night, the night I got bitten. You remember the way it was before that? You and me, we were-we were nothing. We weren't popular. We weren't good at lacrosse. We weren't important. We were no one. Maybe I should just be no one again. No one at all" Scott said to Stiles.
I felt hot tears welling up in my eyes and I had to choke back a sob.
"Scott, just listen to me, okay? You're not no one. Okay? You're someone, you're- Scott, you're my best friend.
Okay? And I need you. Scott, you're my brother. All right, so-" Stiles stepped into the gasoline. "So if you're gonna do this, then I think you're just gonna have to take me with you. All right?" Stiles started to pull the flare from Scott's shaking hands.
I put my hand over my mouth as I desperately tried not to cry.
Stiles then chucked the flare behind him and I watched as it rolled to the side.
Scott panted, staring at his best friend.
I sighed in relief and grabbed both Allison's and Lydia's hands supportively.
But then the flare rolled back again.
I opened my mouth to yell but no sound came out.
As I threw myself towards the boys, I heard Lydia scream "No!"
The two of us crashed into the boys, knocking us all to the ground.
The flare rolled into the gasoline and there was a loud explosion.
I sighed in relief, still lay on the ground.
"Are you- are you okay?" I asked, standing up and helping Scott up too.
"Are you?" He asked.
I shook my head, pulling him into a tight hug as the tears poured from my eyes.
"I couldn't lose you too" I whispered.
"I'm not going anywhere" he promised.
We pulled away from the hug and Stiles wrapped his arms around his best friend.
Lydia turned to Allison and I.
"I don't know about you but there's no way I'm staying a night in that motel"
~
The sound of many footsteps could be heard and the bus doors opened.
"I don't want to know. I really don't want to know" Coach said, shaking his head at us.
I yawned and stretched out, accidentally hitting Isaac in the process.
"But in case you missed the announcement, the meet's cancelled, so we're heading home" Everybody behind coach cheered. "Pack it in. Pack it in!"
I sat up, trying to brush through my messy hair when I noticed Ethan sit next to Scott.
"I don't know what happened last night, but I'm pretty sure you saved my life" I heard Ethan say to Scott.
"Actually, I saved your life" I yelled out to the two boys, who turned around to look at me for a second. "But not that it matters that much. It's just minor detail" I rolled my eyes.
"Well I'm gonna give you something" Ethan said. Scott and I shared a look.
"We're pretty sure Derek's still alive"
"H-he's alive?" I asked, hope filling the empty void inside of me.
Ethan nodded as I stood up and headed over to him.
"But he killed one of ours. That means one of two things can happen. Either he joins our pack" Ethan started.
"And kills his own" Scott mumbled.
"Or Kali goes after him, and we kill him. That's the way it works" He explained.
"You know, your little code of ethics there is sort of barbaric, just FYI" Stiles interrupted as Ethan stood up and went to sit by Danny.
"Hey, Ethan, I wanted to-" Coach started.
"Coach, can I see your whistle for a second?" Lydia asked.
"Hey, Eth-" Lydia took the whistle from around Coach's neck. "I'm gonna need that back"
"Ethan-" I heard Coach say.
She blew the whistle into her hand and a purple powder came out.
"Wolfsbane" She said.
"So every time the coach blew the whistle on the bus, Shay, Scott, Isaac, Boyd" Stiles started.
"And Ethan-" Lydia interrupted.
"We all inhaled it" I finished, realisation setting in.
"You were all poisoned by it" Allison said.
"So that's how the Darach got in their heads. That's how he did it" Stiles said.
He then glanced at the whistle and took it out of Lydia's hand. Scott bent down as Stiles frantically tried undo the window and eventually, he chucked the whistle out.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey! Stilinski!" Coach yelled.
I laughed and headed back to my seat with Isaac.
And for some reason, a warm feeling erupted inside me.
I looked over at Scott, someone who I didn't realise I cared so much about until recent events.
And then Stiles, as much as I hate him sometimes, he's always the one to make us laugh.
Lydia is, well, Lydia. Someone who I can trust and turn to whenever I need.
And then there's Allison. We've had our ups and downs but I couldn't wish for a more badass friend.
"What are you thinking about?" Isaac asked me with a chuckle.
Isaac.
Someone who walked into my life unexpectedly. Someone who I wanted nothing to do with at first.
And now look at us.
I'm surrounded by people who I love, trust and care for. People who if it came down to it, I would choose their life over mine. My friends, my boyfriend; they mean a lot to me.
And I still have the hope that Derek might still be alive to hang on to.
But even if he isn't, even if I have lost my brother, I know I'll get through it. Because I have amazing people surrounding me.
"Hello? Earth to Shay?" Isaac waved a hand in front of my face.
I turned to look at him with a genuine smile.
"Just about how lucky I am"
~
A/N
Aw I seriously love this chapter so much the feels are so strong.
I'm sorry it took me absolutely ages to update but I've been so busy this week and I've hardly had any time to write. I literally got home from school today and sat for about three hours straight trying to finish this.
I hope you liked this chapter because I worked extra hard as I wanted to do the episode justice because it's one of my faves.
It seems as though I'm updating like every 5 or 6 days now so that's probably how it's going to go from now on as I am incredibly busy with school.
I hope you can understand that as I do try my best to update but these chapters do take forever to write.
And I'm sorry like I literally always include a long Author's Note at the end of every chapter. It's just if I haven't updated for almost a week I feel like I should tell you guys the reasons why and if I don't I always feel really bad about it ha.
But wow thumbs up to you if you always read these 💚
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter my lovelies xx