002. sleeping soul.
MONTHS HAD PASSED since the death of dear Corinna Hoffman, and still the town mourned for the girl that once represented the kindness and love Beacon Hills' was said to present. People visited her grave daily, leaving flowers at the carved stone as their way of showing their remembrance. Even people that hadn't ever spoken to her, left lilies at the spot that now acted as the marking of where Cori's rotting corpse had been left to rest.
The stone with her name written on it rested neatly beside the other lost Hoffman, the girl's younger sister, Amara. She had passed away four months prior, due to an illness that overtook her body and ripped away her soul from the world. Taken far too soon, just like her older sister now.
The group of teenagers that felt responsible for the girl's death also visited often, occasionally leaving flowers at the grave, but mostly just staring in silence as guilt swarmed their dark rooted minds. Their friend—their dear Cori, taken by the hands of Jennifer Blake, the darach that had arrived to town earlier in the year, portraying the roll as the innocent English teacher.
Corinna's body lay still, her beautiful chocolate eyes hidden from the world as her eyelids remained closed. The world continued to move without her, and the people went forward with their lives, leaving the memories of the blonde girl buried beside her in her grave.
But maybe—just maybe, the world didn't have to live without Corinna Hoffman just yet. Because as her eyelids shot open, revealing the dark irises many had fallen weak at the knees to, the universe decided the girl's story wasn't over just yet. For their angel hadn't quite finished her task, thus granting her a second chance; at life, and at death.
The blonde girl, dazed and confused, gasped as her chest heaved, her lungs filling with air for the first time since the incident. Being met with the sight of wood staring back at her not two inches from her face, the girl began to panic, instantly bringing her hands up to the wood and beginning to bang on it, calling for help. But Corinna Hoffman was six feet under, how would anyone hear her? They wouldn't.
Thus leading to the girl having to escape all on her own. She punched, clawed, and kicked desperately at the lid encasing her, her knuckles and fingernails quickly turning red as the skin turned raw and began to peel. Until finally, a small hole was created and piles of dirt began to seep through, covering her body. Corinna coughed as it filled her lungs, but pushed through and continued to punch and punch.
Once the hole became wider and she could climb out, she did so, ignoring the dirt clinging to her skin and seeping into the cuts on her hands. It stung, but pain didn't seem to faze the Hoffman girl as the light of life shun brighter on her than it ever had before.
Corinna was nearly to the top when she punched her hand up, her red and brown stained hand revealing itself to the world. She could feel the cold air on her skin again, how she missed the feeling. Cori climbed higher and higher until finally, she was freed, and welcomed back to the world of the living.
She stood still, her back facing the gravestone that would give her all her answers, until she suddenly felt dizzy, nausea quickly overcoming her, leading her to bend over, spilling the contents onto the grass before her. Corinna wiped her mouth, now leaving dirt and blood on her face.
The cemetery was quiet, the night air whipping around her, causing her body to become even colder than it already was. She was confused. Had someone buried her alive and left her to die? She thought, still unbeknownst to the carved stone gradually aging behind her.
Desperate for answers, Corinna finally got them as she heard a voice ringing in her head.
"I'm so sorry Corinna, I should've told you the truth."
She didn't recognize the voice, yet somehow, she knew exactly who it belonged to, and where to find them.
Corinna followed the masculine voice as it continued to repeat the phrase to her, his voice ringing like a symphony through her ears, until finally, she arrived at a large house with a powder blue jeep parked in front of it. The house was seemingly quiet, only a light coming from a room upstairs ensuring her someone was home. The blonde walked cautiously up to the door, and hesitantly knocked thrice.
The door remained closed for several moments, though Corinna could hear voices speaking from inside. When she didn't receive an answer, she knocked again. And this time, the door quickly swung open, revealing a pale boy dressed in khakis and a flannel, a strange graphic shirt underneath it as his brown floppy hair rested on his forehead. His whiskey eyes widened at the sight of the girl, and whether it be because she was covered in blood and dirt, her hair tousled and her skin sickly pale, or just because it was Corinna Hoffman, the supposed-to-be-dead-girl, she wasn't sure—mainly because she was still unbeknownst to her fallen fate.
His jaw fell agape, but no words were spoken as he continued to stare at her, making her feel extremely uncomfortable. "I—I'm sorry, I'm not sure why I came. I just—I heard your voice so I followed it." She informed anxiously, turning to walk away but halting as he finally spoke.
"Cor—Corinna? Corinna Hoffman?" He asked, his voice an octave higher as the shock finally caught up with him.
Corinna turned around again, her arms anxiously crossing over her chest, "Um, yeah, that's me. I know, I look disgusting—it's a long story."
The boy stepped out from the doorway, closer to her, gently placing his hands onto her shoulders, assuring himself this wasn't a figment of his imagination—he could touch her, she was real. She stood stiffly, unsure what was happening as his eyes brimmed with tears. "How are you—how are you here right now?"
Her brows knitted together in confusion, the anxiety and million questions staining her mind like the blood on her skin, only furthering her confusion. "Um . . . I don't know. I walked here," she answered flatly.
"No—I mean . . . how are you alive?"
"Wait—" she paused, shaking her head and stepping back, causing his arms to fall back down to his side. "Did you do this to me? I can't believe it! You tried to fucking bury me alive, and now you're acting as if you're saddened by the fact I didn't actually die! What the fuck is wrong with you!?" She shouted, her voice raising, causing him to become more aware of their surroundings.
As if her words had sobered the grief and shock swarming his heart, the boy's face quickly morphed into one of panic. "Okay, look, um, I don't know what's going on, but please come inside before someone sees you. There's a lot I need to explain, and a lot you need to answer," He informed before grasping her tainted wrist and dragging her inside, slamming the door shut behind them.
Due to the loud voices and slamming of doors, a confused voice came from upstairs. "Stiles? Who's here?" They asked from the top of the stairs, followed by footsteps as they descended the stairs and appeared at the bottom. Immediately, his crooked jaw dropped as he spotted the girl standing at the entryway, her dress torn and stained, her skin pale and wounded, and her once beautiful blonde hair matted. She truly did look like she had just crawled out of a grave. "Corinna?" He asked, and as the girl spun to see him, immediately, she recognized his face as the one belonging to the boy who used to date one of her best friends.
"Scott?" Corinna replied, happy to see a familiar face in all the chaos that has become her life. "You know this guy? He just tried to bury me alive apparently!"
Scott's eyes widened and averted to focus on Stiles who gaped once more and instantly shook his head. "I did not! I couldn't have, since you've been dead for fucking four months!" The room fell silent at his words, Corinna taking a step back as everything began to piece together.
"Wh—what?"
Scott McCall stepped forward now, bringing his arm up to her dirt covered one, and giving it a comforting squeeze. "Cori . . . you were murdered four months ago." He said quietly, unsure how to explain to the girl. A lot had happened in the four months where Corinna Hoffman was rid from the world.
Her eyes brimmed with tears, though she made sure not to let them fall, her walls quickly rebuilding themselves and stacking up as she stepped back, until her back slammed against the wall. "No I didn't! You're lying!" She screamed, her chest beginning to heave the more she continued to panic.
Stiles quickly rushed over, bringing the girl into his arms and sliding down the wall with her as she fell to her knees. She sobbed into his chest, the feeling of coldness returning to her body, causing Stiles to shiver as he maintained skin-to-skin contact with her.
Corinna sobbed a while longer until finally, the tears stopped and there was nothing left to get out. The two boys stared at each other, and then back at her, silently communicating with one another on what to do. "What happened to me?" Corinna asked softly as she wiped her tear stained eyes and pushed away from Stiles, standing up on her own as he instantly did the same.
Scott rubbed the back of his neck, "Why don't you take a seat . . . there's a lot we need to explain." He began, placing his hand on the small of her back and guiding her to the couch. "Um, I'll go get you a change of clothes," he added before looking at Stiles cautiously and exiting the room to do as he said.
Stiles stood awkwardly off to the side, unsure what to do as he watched the girl he'd loved since he was a mere child sat on his couch, covered in dirt and blood, but most importantly—she was alive again.
He had thought he'd lost her—lost his chance, lost the girl his heart belonged to, and lost himself in the mix of it all. So now, to see her in his living room, with not a clue as to what happened, Stiles was both grateful, and horrified. One of the many reasons he liked Corinna was because she was normal—or, as normal as it gets in the town of Beacon Hills where apparently people rise from the dead like a regular occurrence. She wasn't roped into the mess of the world he lived in, and she was like him—human. But now, now he wasn't sure. No one was sure about anything anymore, so it seemed.
"Um . . . so . . ." Stiles suddenly spoke up, his hands digging desperately into his jean pockets as if he would find the answer to everything in them. "Do you know—um—what happened?"
Corinna's eyes lifted to see the pale boy staring at her, and it was only then, as she took in the sound of his awkward rambling, and noticed the moles that littered his skin like perfectly placed stars, did she realize who the voice belonged to that guided her.
They hardly ever spoke, though that was mostly due to the fact that every time they did, the boy ended up nearly sending himself into a panic, thus leading to him frantically running off. But he was sweet, from what Corinna had gathered, and he noticed things about her that she wanted people to, but never cared enough to.
The blonde girl sighed and rubbed her arms as the cold sensation still lingered on her pale skin, "No. All I know was was that one second I was swimming laps at the pool, and then it was complete darkness—like I was trapped in some void of just . . . nothing." She began to trail off, the memories of the place overcoming her panicked thoughts, leaving her to stare off absentmindedly in front of her. It was only as Stiles moved to sit beside her, that she returned to reality. She cleared her throat before continuing. "Next thing I know I'm waking up in a coffin. Because apparently I was murdered." She scoffed quietly, the idea of her death still something she was unable to fathom.
Stiles stared at her pitifully, his heart aching as he watched the way she clung desperately to the necklace still dangling from her neck.
Before he could speak on her statement, Scott McCall returned, a pair of sweatpants and a shirt not-so neatly folded in his arms as a towel draped over his shoulder. "This was all I could find. It might be a little big, but I'm sure it'll be better than sitting in dirt and . . . blood." He informed, handing her the items. "The bathroom's down the hall if you want to shower or whatever," he added, knowing the house that acted as his second home like the back of his hand.
Corinna smiled gratefully at the boy and began walking down the hall to the bathroom with the clothes and towel in hand.
After closing the door and locking herself inside, Cori stared at herself in the mirror.
She looked terrible—hair knotted and frayed, skin sickly pale and frozen to the touch, and her body looked like it's very own crime scene with the blood staining it like paint. She removed her eyes from the mirror, unable to look at her horrid self any longer, and instead turned on the shower and began to strip. Her torn, black dress fell loosely to the ground, a gust of dirt rising up as it hit the tiled floor. The blonde girl stepped into the boiling hot water and watched as the once clear liquid, turned into a murky red-brown color. Down the drain, along with the dirt and blood that once encased her body, went the girl Corinna Hoffman once was. No longer was the girl the angel the town once spoke so highly of, but in replace, was a corpse with a vengeful spirit.
From the living room, Stiles and Scott paced, unsure what they had gotten themselves into this time as the girl that was supposed to be dead, was now showering in the bathroom down the hall.
"How is this possible, man? I mean—it just—it doesn't make sense. Why now? Why, after four months of being dead, is she back?" Stiles asked, his hand stroking his chin as his mind raced.
Scott ran his hands through his hair, tugging at the roots as he began to stress. If it was possible for Corinna to come back, was it possible for someone else to as well . . .? "I don't know. Maybe—maybe we should go see someone, someone that would know what to do."
Stiles stopped his pacing and turned to stare at the boy across from him, "Like who? Derek's MIA, Lydia wouldn't be able to handle this, and—that's really all we got."
"What about Deaton? He might know," Scott theorized.
The pale boy nodded, "Okay, yeah, that's an idea. But how are we gonna get her out the door and to the animal clinic without anybody seeing her?"
Scott hypothesized for a moment before an idea came to mind, his face practically lighting up. He quickly ran up the stairs, leaving a confused Stiles to await for his return. When he did, he came back with a white sheet in his arms and a large grin on his face. Stiles stared at him in bewilderment, "You're joking, please tell me you're joking. We are not putting a sheet over her like she's a kid's crappy ghost costume!"
Scott frowned, "Why not? I don't see you coming up with any ideas."
Stiles released a sigh as he rubbed his forehead, "Fine. But if she ends up haunting your ass, don't say I didn't warn you."
Just as their conversation was put to an end, Corinna returned, looking as the girl they once knew what felt like lifetimes ago. Her skin was slowly regaining its natural color, and though her hair was wet, it was nicely brushed and cascading down her back. "Um . . . I heard shouting, is everything okay?"
Stiles and Scott turned to face her, wide grins overtaking their faces as Scott held out the sheet for her.
"What is that for?"
Stiles grabbed the sheet before walking closer to her, "Um, we need you to wear this so we can take you somewhere without anybody seeing you."
Corinna's face contorted, disbelief etching into her features, "You're joking, right?" Receiving no answer in return, the blonde sighed. "What did I get myself into?" She mumbled before taking the sheet and throwing it over her head, completing the look of a terrible ghost costume, as Stiles put it.
"Perfect! Now let's roll!"
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𝖠𝖴𝖳𝖧𝖮𝖱'𝖲 𝖭𝖮𝖳𝖤. . .
she's alive ! whoop whoop. i hope you guys liked the chapter :) this book probably won't be very long, but i'm excited to write it. also, the teen wolf timeline is lowkey confusing, so here's my envision of it : corinna died august 17, in replace of the lifeguard guy lydia found at the pool. and then now, as she comes back, it's a little bit before the pack goes to mexico to rescue derek hale, so like december. hence the four month time jump. hopefully that made sense. please vote and comment !
- g <3