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Under the dim light of the street lamp, two figures stood close to each other. Even for an outsider, their sadness was written on their faces, there was no need to hear their words.
After all, what could hurt more than saying goodbye to your son?
The Sheriff watched the hideous looking building with a frown on his face. This place struck even the bravest with a sense of despair, the dim light illumabted on the walls and the shadows moved as if the place had a soul. A twisted soul begging to reach out and dig it claws in, a promise of notorious creatures living inside. Now he had to let his son go in there only by himself. Stiles felt his discomfort, it was impossible not to, something inside him broke as he watched the pain on his father face, knowing that he cause of the discomfort.
Like there wasn't enough guilt for him to carry on his shoulders, Scott McCall jogged his way towards the two Stilinski standing side by side. Stiles immediately looked down on his feet as the small rock he had been pushing around with the tip of his shoes was too interesting to raise his chin up. It was a refusal, he refused to look in to his best friend's eyes because it meant saying goodbye, he just couldn't. It would make all of this... real.
"Why didn't you tell me?" The true alpha asked, his features screamed betrayal, he seemed hurt. Out of all people Stiles, his best friend, was keeping secrets.
Sheriff, seeing the guilty look on his son's face, cut in. Stiles let a nervous breath out, greatful. "Because we wanted to avoid something like this."
"It's only 72 hours," Stiles added quickly, trying to act like it was not a big deal. Knowing that his stay could've been longer, longer then any of them would want but he might have to.
"This is the same place where Barrow came from. The guy who had a tumor inside him filled with flies," Scott exclaimed, trying to sound collected but sounding at the brink of shouting. His chocolate brown eyes lingered on the sign.
Eichen House.
Scott wasn't sure whether it was a true alpha instinct or just a sane person's reaction to a horrwndous place. Regardless everything about the building made him think about death and destrustion. He gulped down-
A crash sound made Ash drop his pen on the floor, panic started to raise from the back of his theoat as his eyes followed the movement of the pen, rolling away from his feet.
"Ash!" The boy sighed with relief as he recognized the voice, his öuscles immidietly relaxing with the familerty and ran his fingers through his messy curls. Hiding the toilet paper (that he was using as an actual paper to write on) inside his pocket, he got out of the toilet.
"Malia, what did we talk about approaching other humans?" Ash smiled kindly and leaned against the sink watching the irritated look on the girl's face.
"What?" The werecoyote asked, genuinly curious and mostly annoyed, meanwhile crossing her arms over her chest, raising her brows in the processes.
"Kicking the door is not a proper way to let me know that you are here."
"I called your name once. Was I suppose to wait forever?" She sighed dramatically and locked the door.
It had became a part of their routine over the time they had spent together in Eichen House. Toilets were usually empty when it was the free time where they were allowed to watch television, or mostly drown themselves in their thoughts, the duo had decided to spend that time enjoying each other's company.
Ash was overly excited when he started writing about Malia, even if she was in the story for a brief period of time, he had grown to like her. He was dying to meet with her in person when he understood that she was bound to come to Eichen House. A part of him felt guilty because he would never want her to end up a place like this but he had no choice, it was her destiny.
Messing with destiny was out of quesiton.
At first, Malia's first instinct was to get away from the curious gaze of the petit boy, she had tried to attack him a couple of times, even managed to punch him once. Apparently she wasn't used to people trying to be friends, offering their cupcakes after meals, trying to hug (yikes). However Ash was stubborn and it was almost as if he felt that they should be friends. In the end he was victorious the day when Malia let him sit with her at lunch.
It was a small step. It was a step nonetheless and Ash had took pride in himself for achieving.
"Tell me, what's going on with your story?" Malia pulled her legs to herself and wrapped her arms around them, resting her chin on her knees. Her light brown hair fell to her face gracefully and she tried to blow them away from blocking her view like a little kid.
Ash smiled lightly and sat next to her, he didn't like to sat the way Malia usually did because it made him feel uncomfortable when he hugged his legs since he was very skinny. Instead he leaned back and crossed his legs, sitting Indian style.
"Wait, did you bring it?"
Malia smirked a little which was a rare occasion. "Please. Like you had a doubt." Malia reached for her pocket and handed a bright new pen to Ash. "It's blue as you desired." Ash grabbed it eagerly, holding tightly in the palm of his hand. "I also stole a lollipop for you. It's not blue but it makes your tongue green."
This time Ash squealed and kissed Malia on her cheek before she had the time to push him away. (Perhaps, she didn't want to, considering her inhuman reflexes- or Ash was just that happy) In exchange Malia rolled her eyes and wiped her cheek with her sleeve as if she was disgusted with the action. The little tilt of her lips upwards begged the differ though. In a way, she found Ash's need of hugging and getting touchy feely with everyone absolutely weird because she was not used to it. Secretly she had grown to enjoy it. Hence the unstopplable smile creeping its way out whenever Ash showed affection.
Meanwhile Malia was feeling happy and proud of herself for getting the items, Ash was enjoying himself with the lollipop. "Is it green yet?" He asked enthusiastically, sticking his tongue out.
Malia leaned back against the cold wall and narrowed her eyes at the boy. "Stop it. Its green, okay? Now tell me about your story."
If the toilets were their secret hiding spot, their getaway plan was to talk about Ash's story. It had become an unspoken agreement between the two teens over the time. Malia would steel pen or paper for him since it was forbidden for him to use any as a part of his treatment. It never stopped him even before Malia though, he would carve his words on the walls if it got too intense and he had to write, even dig with his nails if he has to. (Obviously he prefered proper ink, not blood.)
Although Ash loved talking about Scott McCall's pack's adventures, he was still unsure behind the reason why Malia loved to listen him rant about his characters, their relationships (because he obviously had favorite couples). At first, he had though that she was doing it out of pity which made him feel terrible. Over the time they had spent together, Ash began to start noticing small things about the way she listened. The way Malia's face lit up when Ash told the funny stories the McCall pack had. Or the way she held her breath when something serious was going on.
Even though he did not exactly know why, Ash had guessed it was linked to the fact that she was never able to have a normal teenager life. Which was thing he could relate, since e had been in the Eichen House for nearly two years. Malia simply enjoyed listening about a group of friends sticking together no matter what. Ash just kept his guess to himself though, knowing that Malia would get all defensive claiming she was okay being a coyote. In reality she was just afraid to be a human. But this was Malia's own problem that she had to figure out by herself, Ash would never force her to face her fears.
"Hello? I am waiting Ash. You are doing that thing when you zone out with a blank expression on your face," Malia snapped her fingers right in front of his face and brought him back to reality. Ash blinked a few times and fixed his baby blue eyes on Malia's, smiling internally when he caught a glimpse of eagerness and curiosity.
Ash straighten his back and put on a serious face, rubbing his hands in excitement. "So you remember my favorite person? I mean, I love them all dearly, but I have a favorite?" Ash widened his eyes waiting for an answer.
Malia's brows rose in confusion as she hummed trying to find a response. "Is he the lizard boy who went to France? I remember you saying he was hot as hell-."
"No! Jackson was never my favorite, he is a douche. I love him though. And- he went to England not France." Ash sighed and face palmed himself like he always did, a habit that stuck with him through out his childhod into his teenage years. "Stiles is my favorite, dumbass. Plus he is the only one I actually saw in real life." Ash frowned a little, he had been the writer for so long that he felt uneasy when he was reminded of the reality. It was easy to think that they were just stories so he wouldn't get too attached and more importantly he wouldn't spend every minute wishing he was out there as well. It was the thing his doctor wanted him to say, however he couldn't, he knew they were not stories. It would feel like bettaying them.
The hardest part was the fact that, he felt close to those 'characters'. Sometimes he was overwhelmed by the fact that he was so close to them-- mentally. He was the one to know their deepest desires, their little habits, the way they lied and the way they suffere. He knew the thing wven they wouldn't be admitting to themselves. It was as if he was watching behind a glass, seeing and hearing everything but not touching, not feeling. And when they looked at that glass they couldn't see him, he was no one to them.
They were oblivious to his existence but to him, they were close to him as much as Malia.
"Stiles? He is the main reason why they 'saved' me right?" Malia made a quotation mark with her fingers while spitting the word, 'saved', making it clear that she did not see it that way.
Ash ignored her sour attitude, knowing that it was the easiest solution. "Drop this act because... You are going to meet him in person! I just wrote him checking in to Eichen House!" Ash clapped his hands with happiness, if unicorns were real he would be surrounded by them at the moment. His face lit up with the huge grin and eyes sparkled with excitement.
"Are you serious? I would punch him right across the face if he happens to come here." Malia snickered, not realizing what she actually said.
Her words were like a cokd water splashed on to his face. "What do you mean 'if'? I just told you that I already wrote it and I don't plan on changing it." Ash's brow furrowed, he looked highly offended and hurt. This time Malia wanted to punch herself, she did know how sensitive Ash was about his story.
"Forget about it, okay?" Malia spoke with a flat tone, the werecoyote was a slowly learning to be a proper human but she hadn't quite understand the concept of lying not to hurt, lying to protect someone's feelings yet.
Therefore, Ash realized for the first time that Malia loved listening to him because she just saw it as a story. Not because she believed in him, she didn't believe him like everybody else.
"How can you not believe me? I knew your whole story," Ash crawled away from her, slipping in to his defensive mood.
"It's because I told you Ash. Please stop it, I still love hearing your story..."
"No! I knew it before you even step foot in to this place. I just wanted to see whether you would be honest with me or not."
Ash let out a shaky breath as his voice cracked a little at the end of his sentence. He quickly wiped the tears that were storming in to her eyes. "I think you should leave." Malia parted her lips to say something, wanted to comfort him but simply she didn't know how to do such a thing. "Okay, I'll go." He dropped the half eaten lollipop on the floor as he rose on his feet.
Unlocking the door he speared a glance over his shoulder eyeing his only friend. "You will believe me when you see him in the flesh." After that he pressed his lips in to a thin line and shut the door behind him.
Pulling his sleeves and tugging it with his fingers, he wrapped his arms around himself, he hadn't felt this lonely for awhile. Quickly he wiped those thoughts out of his mind, he wouldn't be lonely for a long time after all.
Stiles would be here, very soon.
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AUTHOR RAMBLES:
well, i said goodbye to teen wolf ages ago lol but this story is dear to me. i dont know if anyone will read it, i just want this story to be finished and out there when i leave wattpad behind so... bear with me, i will be deleting my old author's notes and edit this story & add some stuff and well. you can expect regular updates...