There were exactly seventeen missed calls from Liam on Addy's phone. She didn't know that though. There wasn't a chance that she was going home. Her mother was beginning to worry about her whereabouts, as well as Brayden. In fact, no one knew about her whereabouts. Addison was off the grid without a phone and without shoes.
"You checked her house?" After Liam called Brayden again without good news, he called Scott who was with Stiles. So the three of them were driving around in the jeep trying to find Addy. Brayden told them that he had no idea where she went, but he was right about her being at the lacrosse field. He didn't mention anything about their mother, although it probably would have helped a ton.
"Yeah, her mom didn't say much, but I did grab her phone," Liam answered, showing the device in his hand. Her lock screen was a picture of them. One day, Scott had taken a picture of the two sleeping, and she kept it for months. "Why would she just up and leave? I mean, she was okay when I left. You don't think someone took her, do you?"
"No, she's too smart for that," Stiles answered. Addy was too smart and cautious to be taken by someone, besides if someone even tried she would be able to fight them off. "Where else would she go?"
They checked the school again, The McCall household, the hospital, and even around the preserve. She wasn't anywhere, and without a phone, it left the others very worried. While Scott called Malia and Lydia, Stiles questioned Liam even more. It wasn't much use as every answer was 'I don't know.'
Liam was getting frustrated. There was something that they were missing, some bit of information that would explain why she just left. He hadn't talked to her since that afternoon, and it was dark out. Addy ran off like that before, but she was with someone – even if it was Theo – and she had her phone.
"Malia's gonna check the woods with Hayden," Scott announced. There was still the chance that Addy was just off doing something on her own, but they weren't willing to take that chance. Not with everything they've seen in that town. "Lydia said she'd pick up Mason and they'd look around town more."
"And what are we going to do?" Liam asked.
"We're going to figure out why she left."
)( * )(
"I need your help."
"Addison?"
"I need your help," she repeated.
The man in front of her looked down at her bare feet. They were cut up and bloody from the lack of shoes combined with all the running she did. Addy knew that Scott and Liam were looking for her, and she had to run through the woods to make sure they wouldn't catch her scent. It worked, but the trees had cut up her feet as soon as they started healing.
It didn't matter, though. She needed to get away from them because Addison knew for a fact that they would stop her from what she was about to do. She knew it was risky, but she needed the answers that she tried so hard to get and couldn't find. There were new questions to be asked and new answers to be learned.
"Please. You're the only one that can help."
After outrunning Scott and the others, she made her way the one place she could get help: the animal clinic. Doctor Deaton was the only that knew how to help. Deaton nodded his head slowly and gestured for her to sit. "Do the others know you're here?" he asked as she settled on the edge of a chair in the waiting room.
"No," Addy muttered. "No, they'd just stop me. I know this is dangerous, but I need answers. I need my memories."
"Addison, what you're asking me to do it very–"
"I know. I know it's dangerous, and I could die, but I'm willing to take the chance. And I know you know how because Scott told me everything that happened before. He told me about Isaac. You got his memories before."
Addy was willing to die for the memories she desired. Disregarding everything she said to Brayden, she pleaded for the vet to help her. Deaton nodded hesitantly and gestured for Addy to follow him. She was led to the back room where there were three large tubs. They pulled one out front.
Deaton worked silently, and after politely asking Addy to wait, he filled the metal tub with ice cold water. He could hear her feet tap against the floor while she waited. It was nerve wracking, and the whole time she just wished that Liam wouldn't find out. It was what he wouldn't think of her after. She wasn't just curious about what her past was; she was obsessed, and everyone noticed it.
However, her wishes were ruined when the bell above the front door opened up. Scott, Stiles, and Liam all burst through the door. Addy hopped up from her chair and glared at Deaton.
"You called them?" she snapped. There was a reason that she didn't call them: they would only stop her. She needed to find the answers, and they would stop her from getting that opportunity.
"Addy, you can't do this." Liam stepped up. "It's too dangerous. I love you, okay? I don't want to lose you, again."
"You don't get it, Liam." Addy shook her head, tears welling up in her already swollen eyes. Her cheeks were still red from crying earlier.
"You're right, we don't get it." As he spoke, he slowly moved closer towards his crying girlfriend. It broke his heart to see her weak like that. "You just have to explain it to us all, okay?"
Addison fell into his open arms, her head leaning against his chest. He whispered small words that it would be okay in her ear whilst rubbing her back. After several minutes of recomposing herself, Addy was finally able to tell the tale of her night. They understood why she ran from them, but it still didn't make it right. She was still a kid and could easily get hurt from other things that weren't supernatural.
Scott argued with her for nearly twenty minutes about following through with her plan. Isaac was fine when he did it, but that was different from her case. They weren't dealing with a werewolf. It was an extremely delicate science experiment, and one small wrong move could mean disaster. It was too dangerous, but she couldn't get that through her head.
"Stop it! Okay? Just stop! It's my choice, Scott. I want to do this. I need to do this," Addy yelled. She had enough of the pointless argument. Even if it was three against one, she would get her way. "I'm doing this, so either stay to help or get the hell out."
Scott huffed out a large breath air and reluctantly pulled up his sleeves. She was glad that he decided to stay. They all were. As Deaton added the final few details to the tub of water, Liam pulled Addy aside. He didn't like this. He didn't like it one bit. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Liam asked, pushing a loose hair behind her ear.
"Yeah, I think so." She nodded. "Look, if this doesn't work, or something goes wrong, just, just know that I love you, alright?"
"Don't, don't do that," he stopped her. "I'm not going to let you get hurt."
Addy smiled and looked up into his eyes. He always seemed to be able to calm her down. She tilted her head up, connecting their lips. His hand rested on the back of her neck while her arms rested over his shoulders.
"I love you."
"Love you more," she whispered. "But you know I have to do this, right? Like, you understand?"
"Yeah, I think so," he breathed out, repeating her words from earlier. It was a lot for him to understand and for her to be able to remember. There were several things that she wanted to know, the first being if she remembered anything about her father before he left. There was a reason he came back at that time, and she wanted the reason. There was also her creation by the Dread Doctors. It was all that she craved to know for so many months, and she was finally about to get the answers.
"Addison? It's ready," Deaton poked his head into the waiting room where Addy and Liam were. They joined the others around the tub. Addy looked at it wearily. It was filled with ice cold water, along with several bags of ice and other herbs that would make the whole thing work. "Obviously it's not going to be particularly comfortable, but the idea is to slow your heart rate down enough to be in a trance-like state."
"Slow enough that you'll almost be dead," Scott continued. All he could think of was Isaac; he almost died from shock. The alpha couldn't imagine what would happen if she died, how devastated everyone would be, again. "Look, you can still back out."
"No." Addy shook her head. Hesitantly, she wiggled out of her skinny jeans, but the long shirt she wore remained on. As soon as her skin touched the freezing water, she gasped. There was a pause before she continued to get in the tub, and the whole time, a grimace was plastered on her face. The water was beyond cold. Addy wasn't used to being cold, and quite frankly, she hated it.
"You ready?" Scott looked over as she finally laid fully in the water. Addison nodded. Goosebumps covered her whole body, as well as it shaking the whole time. In a matter of minutes, she could have been left with hypothermia. The tub was more ice than it was water. She had never been cold like that before.
Liam felt Addy's muscles tense when he grabbed her shoulders. He and Scott were to hold her under until she reached the fugue state to reach her memories. They looked at each other before pushing her down. Water and ice splashed out of the tub and all on the floor.
She didn't struggle at first, but after several seconds, the werewolves had trouble keeping her under. She was just as strong as them, and with the instinct to get out of the water and breathe, she was even stronger.
All of a sudden, the water began heating up on them. Addy's powers were on overdrive as her fighting instinct began to tick. "Hey, Doc!" Scott panicked. His grip was slipping, and the ice cubes in the metal tub slowly began melting away. The contrast with the cold water and her warm skin caused steam to fill the room. The hands keeping her under were slowly turning red from the heat.
"Keep her under!" Addy had managed to slip from their hold. Her upper torso, the parts that weren't in the water, lit up in flames, and a scream passed her lips. "Get her back under!"
With wide eyes, they pushed her flaming body back into the water. She was calmer that time, causing less of a struggle with all her energy used up. Liam began to panic when Addy stopped moving altogether. Her body was limp in the freezing water and he could barely hear her heart beating. Addy floated up to the top of the ice water – slightly less ice water from when they began – and breathed in a lungful of air.
"Addison? Can you hear me?" Deaton spoke. There was to be only one voice to talk at a time, and his was it. Addy had told him already what she wanted to know and he knew the questions to ask.
"Yes," she answered.
"I'm going to ask you a series of questions. Is that okay?"
"Yes."
Liam stood beside the metal tub and intently watched the girl he loved blandly answer the questions she desired. Her lips had turned blue and her tan skin was pale in the cold water. Occasionally, Addy's body twitched and her eyes moved under her eyelids.
"I want to ask about when you were younger, do you remember your father?"
"Yes." Addy nodded. "He, he left us."
"Do you remember why he left you?" Deaton questioned. Scott and Liam stayed by the tub in case she decided to make any moves and they could hold her down. Stiles remained off by the metal table. He wasn't a fan of Addy's powers, not when he was the one in possible danger at least.
"He left because my mom cheated." Addy's hands curled around the side of the tub. Even in her subconscious state, she was angry. She didn't know how she would be able to face her mother again, if she would be able to go home to even see her face.
"Is there any other reason he left? Do you know anything else about him leaving?" Deaton continued on. He noticed that when Addy moved her hand, there was an imprint in the metal. They would have to be careful with her. She wasn't a werewolf; she was different.
"No, he just left." Addy twitched.
"Are you sure?" The vet continued. "Are you sure there was nothing else?"
"No," she announced. They had no idea what was going through her head, the memories that she could remember. It was like watching a movie with no picture. "He took something from me."
"What did he take?"
"I don't-I don't know." Addy thrashed around. Her eyes squeezed shut even more, and her head snapped to the side. "No! No, he can't do that! No!"
"Addy!" Liam panicked. He leaned down beside the tub, both his and Scott's hands holding her shoulders down. She could easily hurt herself without having control.
"What did he take from you, Addison?"
One of the lights from flickered.
"No!" She screamed. She tensed one final time before letting go and allowing her body to float freely in the water. "No, he's gone."
"Can you remember anything else?" Addy completely calmed down, her body limp once more. The werewolves' hands were red from the water being freezing and her body being hot. Stiles had to continuously put ice back in the water to keep it cold. The floor was soaked from her movements. Each time she twisted and turned, water would spill out.
"No, there's nothing else," Addy breathed out. She could see everything. Her past: she could see it. Her father taking something from her, something she could name. All she knew that it wasn't pleasant. In fact, it was quite painful. Something important to her was taken, and she couldn't remember what it was.
"Is it okay if I ask you about something else?" They needed to keep pushing through. Her body may have been supernatural, but being in that cold of water for that long was something that could end badly for anybody.
"Yes."
"Can you tell me what you are?"
"I'm, I'm a science experiment," she answered. The lights flickered again. Addy was shaking from the cold, her eyes glued shut. She hadn't opened them once. She didn't want to open them. "The Dread Doctors made me."
"Can you tell me about the day they... made you?"
"No, no, I don't want to. I don't want to!"
"It's okay, Addison. They're just memories. They can't hurt you," Deaton calmed her down. Liam kept one hand on her shoulder to make sure she stayed down, and the other ran through her wet, knotted hair to calm her down. "Tell me about that day."
"No, no, they're here. They, they want to hurt me," Addison cried. Her tears mixed in with the water, and her heart rate was rising. "No! Please, no!"
"They aren't going to hurt you," Deaton promised. It didn't reassure her, and the images that flashed behind her closed eyes were enough to put any human in shock. "Tell me about that day."
"They took me at night. Everyone was asleep. Bray-Brayden couldn't hear my screams. I needed him. I-I need Brayden! Where is he?" Addy cried even more. She wanted her brother, the one who always made her feel safe. The one who calmed her down when she cried. The big brother that raised her.
"He's safe. They're not going to get him," Deaton assured. Addy mumbled out words that no one could understand. However, her movements were calmer and they were able to continue the questions. "Can you tell me why they took you?
"I don't know. I don't, they got me!" She was terrified. Everything that she had dreamt about, all the nightmares she suffered through: they were all playing through her mind at once. She was living through them again, except this time they felt real, and this time they were actual memories. "Theo! Theo help!"
"Theo?" Scott muttered. He was helping them even back then? Why would Addy ask for his help in the first place if she knew he was working with them?
"Try harder, Addison. Why did they choose you? Why did they choose someone who wasn't a chimera to begin with?"
"They want to unlock something! It hurts!" Addy cried out. Her hand latched onto the closest thing near her, which just happened to be Liam's wrist. The grip she had was so tight he could feel his bone starting to crack.
"Calm down, Addison," the vet commanded. "What are they doing to you?"
"It hurts," she whimpered. "I-I can feel the fire burning me alive. Make it stop, make it stop! I can't get out. It burns!"
"She's going into shock," Deaton told them. Her body thrashed around. The grip on Liam tightened until there was a snap throughout the clinic. The lights above them flickered once again.
The lights turned off altogether, bursting all in unison. The others protected their faces while Addison Ryder snapped out of her trance. She screamed, loud enough to be assumed it was a banshee and enough to worry all the werewolves in town. The daze she was in was gone as well as the small amount of consciousness she had.
The tub of water splashed for a final time as Addy fell back in it. Air bubbled past her lips and a wave of water filled her lungs. "Addy!" Liam shouted. He reached into the tub, and with his broken bone and the help of Scott, lifted her up and out of the water. They hauled her up on to the metal table and watched as she wasn't breathing.
"Ads..." Liam's jaw clenched. Her breathing stopped, and they couldn't hear her heart beating. His cold hands grabbed her cheeks, and he shook her body in hopes to get her moving on her own. "No, no, Ads. Come on, wake up. Addy!"
Scott looked over at Stiles, a grim look on his face. There was no heartbeat. Stiles choked on his tears, she knew the risk and yet she still did it. There was no way she was gone. She couldn't be gone. Addison was too strong to die like that. If she could withstand everything else, she could withstand an ice bath. The room was dead silent, the only noise coming from Liam as he pleaded for her to wake.
Addison sat up suddenly, a large gasp of breath being taken in, but the oxygen wouldn't reach her lungs with the water trapped in it. She turned to the side, coughs erupting from inside and spurts of water going out with it. When all the water was out, she breathed in deeply and groaned as she laid flat on her back.
"Don't do that again," Liam scolded. He was scared that she was going to leave him, again. A large towel was wrapped around her freezing frame. The soaking shirt she wore was traded for Liam's sweatshirt that he had taken off before pushing her under. Addy pulled her dry jeans up her legs and noticed the goosebumps that covered them.
"I-I'm so c-cold," she muttered though her teeth chattering. Liam wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. His body heat didn't help her at all, and she couldn't contain any heat.
"Did you get what you wanted to know?"
"Yeah." She nodded. The images were tattooed in her brain, and each time she closed her eyes, all she could see was herself getting tortured. "There's still one piece that I'm missing."
"What's that?"
"I need to talk to my dad." Addy hopped off the table. She pulled the sweater tighter around her and brushed back her wet hair. Addy was prepared to leave the vet without any explanation of what had previously happened.
"Wait a minute, you can't just leave!" Stiles exclaimed. "You just died! Again!"
It was hard enough to close her eyes. She didn't want to talk about it again. There was a darkness surrounding her heart, and it was just getting bigger. She did want to tell them – just maybe not everything, because everything that she remembered was too much for one person to handle. Maybe it was a good thing that the chimeras couldn't remember getting turned, because there were parts of Addy that wished she didn't remember.
Fire: that was what she remembered the most. They made her immune to it, and it had to have been in the most painful way to do it. Her screams echoed around in her brain and the silent sounds wouldn't leave. Addy scratched at her wrists and didn't stop until Liam intertwined their fingers.
She was off in her own land again, someplace in her mind that was filled with every terror she could possibly think of. Her brain was in the middle of a tug-o-war trying to fight the bad and find someplace good. The migraine in her head worsened by the minute, and the pain was beginning to spread through her whole body.
Black veins crawled up Liam's arms. "You're in pain."
"It's just an ache," she brushed it off, the mix of the pain invading her whole body going along with the warmth that she couldn't contain. Liam also noticed that her hands were ice cold. He expected that she would have warmed up in a matter of minutes, but that wasn't the case. Her whole body was as cold as when she first got in the water.
"Look, I'm fine." Addy pulled away. "I gotta go."
)( * )(
Word count: 3775
November 5, 2016
The next chapter is going to explain everything and it also happens to be one of my favourites.