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c h a p t e r s e v e n t e e n
"So you're done for the season?" Allison asks, as she, Carson and Lydia walk up to the school doors.
"Yes, apparently the swim team doesn't look very good when their best player drowns in the pool and three days later is branded as the psycho who jumped from a third story window. But whatever, I think my hair got shinier," Carson rolls her eyes, playing with the brown strands.
"You really don't remember anything?" Allison asks Lydia.
"They called it a "fugue state," which is basically a way of saying, "We have no idea why you can't remember running through the woods naked for two days," Lydia explains.
"But, personally, I don't care. I lost nine pounds," she shrugs.
"Nice. All I lost were my clothes and dignity. Stiles gave me polyester pajamas," Carson shivers.
"Wow, must have killed you," Allison mocks.
"Yes, I'm already forming a rash," she points to her arm.
"Are you ready for this?" she asks the girls.
"Please, it's not like my aunt's a serial killer," Lydia walks ahead, leaving Allison in shock.
"That's Lydia for yes," Carson pats her shoulder.
The two best friends walk in not knowing what to expect, met with a bunch of stares and whispers from people who were begging for their attention last month.
"That's the girl who died and came back to life like some zombie freak."
"Carson is a star swimmer, and she drowns? Embarrassing much?"
"I can't believe they're back. They probably did some satanic ritual and that's why they were in the hospital."
Noticing the girls getting ready to lose it, Allison suggests, "Maybe its the nine pounds. Or the hair."
At that, they both strut through the hallway, chins up and eyes wide.
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"Ah, Stilinski and McCall. Just who I wanted to see," Carson yanks at both the boys' collars with a surprising amount of ease.
"Hey Carson, how's your first day back going?" Scott asks, a hint of fear in his tone.
"Great, the stares and the whispers are like the soundtrack to my nightmare," she scoffs.
"Sorry for asking," Scott looks down.
"I wanna know what happened. I wanna know everything that you have been hiding. And so help me God," she leans close to their faces, "if you don't tell me, I will get angry. And you don't want to get me angry."
"We will. Just not right now," Stiles fearfully promises.
"Why not? Can you at least tell me that?" she sneers.
"Not... exactly," Scott sighs.
"I figured," she looks up, "Do you know what it's like for me right now? I have nightmares every night about some guy I never even met, I look over my shoulder every five seconds to make sure no one is after me, I can't even look at the pool in my backyard. You know I got kicked off the swim team? Yeah, I'm a joke, I've lost everything that makes me me, and I really need my best friends to tell me the truth for once in their sorry high school existence."
They both just stare at her in sympathy as she walks off, thoroughly annoyed.
"There's emotion coming off her in waves," Scott comments.
"Yeah, anger," Stiles looks over at her, flirting with some guy.
"No, it's more than that. It's like she's enraged, almost murderous," he frowns.
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"Jesus Lyds, I'm starving," she looks over at the girl driving.
"You just ate like an entire pizza," Lydia frowns, pointing to the pizza boxes in the back.
"I know! Maybe it's like God punishing me for not dying, he's making me fat!" she whines.
"Carson you aren't gonna get fat. Hopefully. What's going on?"
"I'm telling you, it's like I haven't eaten in weeks. Can you just drop me off, my mom and grandma are getting some food from the store," she groans.
"Alright, feel better," Lydia lets her out onto the dark driveway.
Walking into an empty kitchen, she grabs some ice cream from the freezer. Downing it in seconds, she jumps when she hears a noise.
"Hello?" she grabs a knife, "Hello?"
"Whoever's there, I'd really appreciate it if you'd left. I am currently not in the state to fight off a burglar," she yells.
As she walks towards the front door, a man jumps out of the closet, attacking her. She falls to the ground, hitting her head. Of course the knife slides much too far for her to reach.
"What the hell?"
"Hush, and I won't kill you," he threatens, an abnormally large knife in his hand.
Catching the reflection of the moonlight in the metal, her eyes start to change, and suddenly Carson was a lot less herself.
"Ah, I would, honestly. But I don't like following orders," she bangs her head into his, immediately jumping up.
He tries to grab her foot but she kicks him in the head, nearly knocking him out.
"You bitch!" he swipes her feet from under her. Her eyes fully change now, a set of fangs forming.
"I'm not the one getting their ass beat by a teenage girl," she smirks, leaning up to scratch him in the face. He pauses in pain, and she grabs an umbrella, banging him in the head.
She stares at his unconscious form for a moment before feeling that intense hunger again.
"I'm really sorry sir, but I'm just so hungry," she growls, biting his neck, feeling the blood run down her throat. It was like she was finally satisfied. She stops before he dies, grabbing the first aid kit, and waking him up.
"You don't want to tell anyone what happened, right?" she holds the sides of his head, putting some gauze and a bandage on his neck.
"No, I don't," he stares blankly at her eyes.
"Now get the hell out of my house," she smirks through the fangs, before blacking out.
She wakes up, horrified at the scene before her. Immediately, she calls Stiles.
"I think I did something bad. Really bad," she paces the kitchen, looking in the closet for cleaning supplies.
"What do you mean?"
"Just come to my house. Now," she hangs up, staring at the puddle of blood in her hallway.
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"Carson?" he looks in horror at the floor.
"I need your help. Grab a sponge. Hurry, Kyle might come home," she calls, scrubbing the floor.
"I think it might be time to tell you the truth," he sighs, looking at the red puddle in disgust. "But I'm not cleaning up blood."
"Fine, it's almost gone anyway," she rolls her eyes, scrubbing more vigorously.
"What happened? Carson the stain is gone--" he stops her from scrubbing, "What happened?"
"I don't know," she cries.
"Come on, you need a shower," he guides her upstairs. "Just tell me what happened."
"I don't know? I was just-just so hungry," she cries.
"Okay, tell me what you remember," he leads her to sit on the edge of the tub.
"There was a noise in my house, and I went to check. And then a man attacked me and I just blacked out from there. The last thing I remember was being angry and looking at the reflection on his knife," she explains.
"Reflection of what?"
"The moon."
"Stiles, what's wrong with me? What did I do?" she cries more.
"I don't know, but we're gonna figure it out," he starts the water.
"Just take a shower. Call me if you need anything," he walks out of the room, calling Scott.
"Scott! You need to get here ASAP! Carson just called me, all panicked and covered in blood. Someone else's blood," he exclaims. "And she's talking about the moon and being hungry-"
"I'm on my way, just don't set her off," he yells, running over.
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Carson gets out of the shower, wrapping a towel around herself and walking into her room.
"Uh, I forgot clothes," she looks around.
"I made hot chocolate. Scott's on his-" he holds up the mug before Scott bursts through the door.
"What happened?"
"Okay, I heard a noise, some guy attacked me, and it was like I wasn't myself anymore, like I was something else," she starts to explain.
"All I remember was being so damn hungry all night, and then it just disappeared and next thing I know, here I am, scrubbing up blood," she shrugs.
"I know it sounds crazy-"
"It doesn't. I promise you it doesn't," Scott comforts.
"What we've been hiding from you is that Scott is a werewolf, and so is our friend Derek, and now so is Isaac," Stiles explains, and Carson gives him an incredulous look.
"Are you serious? You're making fun of me right now? I genuinely thought you'd tell me the truth," she gets up, wrapping the towel tighter around herself.
"Carson," Scott says, making her turn around. She's met with glowing yellow eyes and fangs. She screams, of course. Well she would have, if Stiles didn't cover her mouth with his hand.
"What the hell!" she stares in fear.
"Werewolf," Stiles points to the boy.
They end up in the living room, telling her everything down to the night of the Winter Formal, the hunters, and Derek's pack.
"So that's why Tyler had those glowing eyes? And why he tried to kill me? Because of the Alpha?" she questions.
"Yes, we think so. And may I just say, I had a bad feeling about that guy from the moment you started dating," Stiles butts in, earning a glare.
"Sorry, not the time," he deflates.
"And you turned from a bite? From some guy named Peter, who's Derek's uncle?"
"Yes."
"And he had Tyler kill me because?"
"We don't know. But we know whatever happened, changed you," Stiles responds.
"But I'm not a werewolf. I wasn't bit," she shakes her head.
"No, but you did die and come back to life, which doesn't happen for normal people. Which means you're something, and tonight just proves that," Scott replies.
"Okay so why was I so hungry? And why was I drawn to the moon? And why did I black out? And why was there blood on my marble floors?" she whines.
"We don't know, but we're gonna find out," Stiles looks over.
"Look, I'm tired, I'm gonna head to bed. You guys should go," she goes upstairs.
"There's no way I'm leaving you here alone," Stiles follows her.
"Fine, you can have some of my brother's old PJs, they're in the next room," she rolls her eyes going in the drawer to find some clothes for herself.
"Bye Carson," Scott touches her shoulder before going home. "Call me for anything."
"I will," she smiles.
"Carson, I swear, even if it takes forever, I am gonna find out what you are," he promises.
"I know, Stiles. I could see it in your eyes," she smiles sadly.
"I could also see the fear. You're afraid of me, and not just the fear from when I yell at you, or when Tyler got up in your face. You're genuinely afraid," she turns away, laying a blanket and a pillow on the couch.
She hardly slept though. She was too busy being haunted by the images of the man she nearly murdered.
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"Carson? You awake?" Ruby walks in with a bag before spotting Stiles on the couch, snoring.
Drew walks in with Gina behind him asking, "Gina, why is there a teenage boy drooling on my thousand dollar couch?"
"Hush, he's probably here so Carson doesn't feel alone. She needs a friend," she responds.
"The friend can't be a girl?"
"You're ridiculous," Ruby laughs, putting away the groceries as he goes to his room.
Making sure he closed the door, Ruby turns to Gina, "We need to tell her."
"Why? She has no signs that she turned," Gina makes some tea.
"No signs? Was the dying for 20 minutes and waking up not a good enough sign?" she whisper-shouts.
"She doesn't need to be thrown into this world yet, mom," she groans.
"I sell wolfsbane to the Argents, remember? So they can leave your son alone? She's already in this world, Peter killed her for a reason."
"Okay, but you and I both know that there are very specific conditions to become what we are. She needs enough supernatural energy surrounding her, she had to die through betrayal, the likelihood of this is extraordinarily low," Gina retorts.
"Has Carson ever been anything less than extraordinary?" Ruby says as the door opens, revealing Carson's brother Kyle.
"Hey mom," he walks in, eyes a glowing yellow.
"Kyle we talked about this. No wolfiness in my living room," Gina hugs him.
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author's note: fight scenes are hard to write, and you guys should comment, they're the funniest part of the story😭