{18} BATTLEFIELD.
'Guidance Counsellor'
"You know when you're drowning; you don't actually inhale until right before you black out. It's called voluntary apnea. It's like no matter how much you're freaking out, the instinct to not let any water in is so strong that you won't open your mouth until you feel like your head's exploding. But then when you finally do let it in, that's when it stops hurting. It's not scary anymore. It's - it's actually kind of peaceful." I say playing with my fingers that are placed on top of my lap.
"Are you saying you hope Matt felt some peace in his last moments?" Ms Morrell asks me. I didn't sign up for counselling they figured out that it was best for me.
"Yes. I mean all his life he felt like he was drowning even when he was falling asleep. I don't feel sorry for him, though" I say with no emotion coming out my mouth. I could see Matt drowning in the back of my head.
"Can you feel sorry for the nine-year-old Matt who drowned?" She asks me.
"Just because a bunch of dumbasses dragged him into a pool when he couldn't swim doesn't really give him the right to go off killing them one by one. And by the way, Stiles's father told me that they found a bunch of pictures of Allison on Matt's computer. And not just of her, though. I mean, he photoshopped himself into these pictures. Stuff like them holding hands and kissing. You know, like he had built this whole fake relationship. So yeah, maybe drowning when he was nine years old was what sent him off the rails, but the dude was definitely riding the crazy train." I stop for a minute before continuing.
"I just feel sorry for him sometimes, but overall I don't. I mean no one was there to support him, and he felt like it was his own fault, and I guess I understand how he feels. I feel like maybe if someone was there to talk to him about the stuff he has been through it might've had a better outcome, but nobody actually spoke to him. Yes, he was crazy, but sometimes the things that happen to people are what cause them to become crazy and manipulative." I continue talking.
"Why is that you feel like this? Especially about this situation?" I think before answering.
"This stays between us right?" I ask her, and she nods.
"Well my mother died a year ago before I moved to this school and it had an enormous impact on me because I thought it was my fault that she died. I mean she wasn't getting better being in a coma and all so one way or another she had to die. I was crazy after that because I was the one who pulled the plug to her life support not my father but me. I just felt like she was watching me everywhere I went. One day I went to school, and I went mental. I felt like everyone was talking about me. I went to a chemistry classroom and started creating a fire bomb from what I had researched online. I created 4 of them and threw them all over the school canteen where some kids were. They called the police and everything, but I only had community service to do for the whole six months considering everyone knew what situation I was in. I just feel like circumstances make a person who they are I mean if it wasn't for that then I could be an entirely different person." I say tears start falling down my cheeks.
"I understand what you mean." She nods and continues speaking.
"How are feeling about tomorrow? Feeling some anxiety about that championship game?" She asks looking directly at my eyes.
"Kind of - I mean it's my first game. One of my teammates is dead and another one's missing, so even if I were there we would probably still lose. I guess hopefully Stiles can play considering he is always on the sidelines."
"You mean, Isaac. What's your relationship with him? I haven't seen you two together."
"We normally are together outside school hours, but we're close," I say.
"You haven't heard from him? Or any of them, have you?" She asks. I have to change the subject.
"How come you're not taking any notes on this?" I ask.
"I do my notes after the session."
"How is your memory that good? I barely remember what I ate this morning" My subject changing skills are excellent.
"How about we get back to you? Amelia?" I don't answer at first.
"Well, I'm great you know aside from the fact that I barely sleep. The constant jumpiness and the crushing fear that something terrible is going to happen." I skip a few details so it wouldn't seem like there is a huge problem with me.
"It's called hyper - vigilance, the persistent feeling of being under threat." Her voice is neutral like nothing is getting to her.
"It's not just a feeling you know? Like I know that I'm under threat, but I don't know what of. It's like a panic attack, and it's to the point where I can't even breathe."
"Like you're drowning?" I nod in response.
"So if you're drowning, and you're trying to keep your mouth closed until that very last moment, what if you choose not to open your mouth? To not let the water in?" You can't control your reflexes. Sometimes it just happens.
"You do anyway. It's a reflex." I say.
"But if you hold of until that reflex kicks in, you have more time, right?" Like two seconds worth of time.
"Not much time, though."
"But more time to fight your way to the surface?" I nod, and she continues to talk.
"More time to be rescued?"
"More time to be in agonising pain. I mean, did you forget about the part where you feel like your head is exploding? What's the chance of you being rescued? Sometimes two extra seconds of being in pain is worse than dying because then you don't feel anything." I say.
"If it's about survival, isn't a little agony worth it?" I think about it for a few seconds before responding to her.
"But what if it just gets worse? What if it's agony now and - and it's just hell later on?" I say thinking about what the future might hold.
"Then think about something Winston Churchill once said - "if you're going through hell, -" I cut her off by finishing the rest of the quote.
"- keep going" I smile. I say a quick thank you and exit the room. I close the door behind me a sigh. My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I take it out to answer the call.
"Hey, Erica."
"Amelia. Are you busy right now?"
"No. I just left the guidance counsellors office."
"I need you to come here as fast as you can" I feel another short vibrate and look at the message. It was an address. I reply with an okay and leave the school building and get in my car. It takes me a while to get to the building as I didn't know where it was exactly. I finally find the building and enter it. As I walk in, I see Erica and Boyd standing opposite Derek. I stand next to Erica as they continue speaking.
"Tonight," Erica says not hesitating.
"Everyone is going to be at the game. And we figured it would be the best time." Boyd says finishing Erica's sentence off.
"It's not like we want to."
"What do you want?" Derek replies to what Erica had just said.
"Since I just turned sixteen a month ago, I wouldn't mind getting my license. I can't do that if I'm dead, you know." I had no idea what was going on, but I had a few ideas to what it might be about.
"Well, I told you there was a price."
"Wait. Guys, what's going on?" I say cutting of Boyd as he was just about to speak.
"We found another pack. There must've been a dozen of them maybe more."
"Yeah, or maybe two. You know what the Beau Geste effect is? If they modulate their howls with a rapid shift in tone, two wolves can sound like twenty." Derek says trying to persuade them to stay. Although I don't think it's working.
"Look that doesn't matter, okay? There's another pack out there. There's got to be. We've made up our minds." Is that why she called me? To say goodbye?
"Yeah, we lost, Derek. And it's over. We're leaving." Boyd says no emotion can be read.
"No. No, you're running. And once you start, you don't stop. You'll always be running." You can sense the anger in his tone. Boyd grabs my hand, and we all leave the building.
"I'm confused? Why did you call me?"
"We want you to be there when we leave," Boyd responds.
"Alright, I'll be there." Although I have a game, I would rather not go. This way Stiles definitely has a chance to play the game. After a while of speaking, I leave and go home. As I was driving home, I see Isaac walking out the animal clinic. I stop and whistle to get his attention. He notices me and gets in the car.
"Hey."
"What were you doing at the animal clinic?" I ask him.
"Seeing what else I can do." I nod and start up the car.
"I'm not going to be at the game tomorrow. I'm leaving with Erica and Boyd. Well, I'm seeing them off not leaving." I say
"That's nice. I was deciding whether or not I should leave. I've decided to stay." He says looking out the window.
"Why? I'm not saying you should leave I would rather have you here." I say if he's gone I'm pretty sure I would leave with him.
"You. And the pack." He responds. I nod and smile.
I drop Isaac off and drive to my house. I get a good nights sleep before saying goodbye to Erica and Boyd. I start getting ready around eight o'clock. I put on blue jeans that were ripped on the knees and a white tank top. I put on a jacket and grabbed my bag and left to meet the rest.
We all met at the entrance to Beacon Hills Preserve. I was the first one to walk into the preserve, and we walk around until we hear howling. Erica and Boyd start running towards the sound, and I run after them slowly catching up. Boyd pulls me towards him my body crashing into his and his hand over my mouth before releasing it and putting a finger to his mouth to make sure I stay quiet.
"Play it again." Is what I hear before the howling starts once again. My breathing gets heavier as I knew that we were in trouble. Erica starts running, and Boyd follows after dragging me along. We are all moving as fast as we can while being chased. My pace starts getting slower as I do not run that often. An arrow shoots Erica on her leg, and she falls to the ground. I run towards her and lift her up.
"No! No, no, run. Go!" She screams at us. Boyd runs off, but I stay beside her knowing that Allison won't shoot me. Well hopefully.
"Come on Erica. Get up!" I shout at her.
"Amelia, just leave!" She shouts back. We see Allison running over to us. Getting ready to shoot another arrow. Erica breaks the arrow that's already on her leg. A few second later another one is fired at us. This time I get in the way. It hits my arm, and I scream out in pain. She sends out another this time it was fired at me and hits my stomach. I continue screaming out in pain as she keeps shooting an arrow to me. Seven arrows have been shot at me before Erica screams at Allison.
"Stop! Please, Allison! Stop!" Allison gets ready to fire another one, but her bow gets shot by her father.
"Allison. She is human." My eyes start getting heavy. I hear Erica and Boyd howling a few times trying to get the attention of somebody. Something digs into my arm before I feel someone picking me up and running with me in their arms. My body starts shaking and getting hot, and after a while, I am greeted with something cold against my back.
"We need to cool her down!" I hear the scurrying of feet and shrieking of moving something heavy. I hear water being entered into a metal container followed by something entering the water something harder like rocks or ice. I feel hands on my back and legs as I'm being lifted up. My body is instantly in cold water, and instead of shivering, I feel healthy. Like I'm not cold or boiling.
"What's wrong with her? She shouldn't be acting like this to the bite." Someone says presumably, Derek.
"Yes, she shouldn't. If she was human. The first time she came here, she couldn't open the gate which shocked me. I put mountain ash around her, but she could still cross. There has got to be something supernatural inside her. Just a recessive trait." Clearly, that is Deaton considering he knows pretty much everything.
"At the race, she couldn't cross it until her third try. I didn't think it was important enough to mention."
I suddenly feel much better, and I begin to get up. I look around and see that I'm in the animal clinic. Deaton and Derek start getting closer to me, and Derek holds his hand out to be. I slowly get out the bath tub they put me in.
"Derek, I need you to teach her how to get her claws out as soon as possible," Deaton says, and Derek nods. We go to the metal table, and I sit on it.
"Alright just think of them coming out okay?" I tried a few times and kept failing.
"You have to concentrate more. Once you get used to it, you can do it anytime you want." I nod and close my eyes concentrating harder than before. On my seventh time, I succeed. Deaton comes back in the room after Derek calls him.
"I need you to cut Derek Amelia." I put on a confused face, and Derek pulls his sleeve up and puts his arm in front of me. I dig my hands into his arms pulling it towards me to create a cut. The cut looks very normal, to begin with, but then Derek starts screaming. Not loud as if the pain would kill him but loud enough so that we knew that whatever was wrong with me is the cause of this. Deaton gets a needle and pulls my arm to him and takes a little blood out of my system. He puts the blood on the cut I caused on Derek, and it starts healing faster then it would've. I look towards Deaton asking for an explanation.
"Well, I've figured out a hypothesis. Recessive Vampire gene. That's why sometimes you can't cross the mountain ash and sometimes you can. Your claws contain a small amount of toxin which won't kill the person unless you completely cut them all around the body at least seventy percent of the body. Your bite can create another werewolf as long as you are an alpha." I nod. This isn't a shock to me considering all the things I knew. I'm pretty sure I knew it was going to happen to me anyways.
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Yes. She is finally a werewolf/vampire. She can go into the daylight which is why I made it her recessive gene so she isn't completely a vampire. Anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter. Love you all ❤🖤
E xxx