"The corpus callosum is not only the largest white matter structure in the brain, but also the bridge connecting all parts of the brain to each other. That ability for all parts of the brain to communicate, and to work together, help us make leaps in cognitive thinking." Mrs. Finch explains to the class. I'm sitting in my usual seat next to Lydia by the window. I look out of the window when I hear a tow truck. I look to see a man towing a blue jeep parked outside. I tilt my head some. Why is he towing that jeep? Wait. Why do I care if he tows the Jeep or not?
"Any questions, thoughts, insight, Autumn?" I look up to see Mrs. Finch looking down at me.
I shake my head. "Oh, I agree."
"Is there something outside that's more fascinating than the structure of the human mind?" She asks me.
"I don't think so." I say lowly looking back outside. I shake my head. "No."
She nods her head before going back to teaching. I look over to see both Scott and Lydia looking at me. I shrug my shoulders at them before looking back outside. "Okay. Good. Now, many people credit the corpus callosum, uh, for giving us a sense of intuition, gut instinct, even we ourselves aren't aware..."
I see the man about to lift up the jeep. For some reason, I feel like I can't let him take it. I grab my bag and stand up out of my seat. "I'm sorry, I'll be right back."
I run out of the classroom, ignoring everyone's stares. I rush down the hallway and out of the doors. I run towards the parked jeep.
"Hey!" I yell at him, but he doesn't respond. "Hey! You can't tow this Jeep."
He looks up from his clipboard at me. He lets out a chuckle. "Paperwork says I can. It's reported as abandoned."
I roll my eyes before placing my hand on the jeep. "And now it's not."
"Oh, this is your vehicle?" He asks me unconvinced.
"Does it matter?" I roll my eyes.
He scoffs at me. "Sounds like a no."
All of a sudden, a body appears next to me while the other one thrown themselves onto the jeep. I look to see Scott leaning on the hood. Lydia is to my right.
"It's mine." Scott says. "Uh, my Jeep. Thank you. I'll move it. Once I get the keys from my locker. After you leave."
The man looks at the three of us. "I'm sorry, once it's on the hook..."
"Please don't say you're on the hook." Lydia says.
"Well, I can't now." He tells us. He turns away from us and towards the jeep.
"Come on man." I say making him look at me again. "There's gotta be something that we can do. Sign something? Call someone?"
"Pay someone?" Lydia adds.
He looks at her before smiling. "Drop fee's a hundred and fifty. Cash."
I place my book bag on the hood of the jeep while Lydia starts to dig in her purse. I pull a $20 out of my bag and hand it to Lydia.
"It's all I have." I whisper.
"It's okay." She winks at me. "I got you."
"A hundred and fifty?" Scott looks at us. "This thing isn't even worth that much."
"How much you got?" Lydia asks.
"Uh, how much have you got?" Scott asks back.
"Just give me your money." Lydia whispers harshly.
"Please." I pout. He can never handle me pouting. He'll always say yes to whatever I'm asking.
Scott lets out a puff of air before digging in his pocket. "All I have is $50. And when I say "all," I mean all."
Lydia grabs the money and combines it with ours before handing it to the man. He smiles before taking the money. He walks to the front and starts to unlock it.
"Uh Hey." Scott grabs my arm. "You know I don't actually have the keys to this thing, right?"
"I don't either." I say before letting out a small smile. "But now we have a Jeep."
Scott walks back to class while Lydia and I stand by the jeep. I let out a sigh as the tow truck leaves. She turns to me.
"Now will you tell me why you wanted this so bad?" She asks me.
"I don't know." I shrug. "I just did. I feel drawn to it."
"Have you ever seen it before?" She asks.
I look at the jeep. "I don't remember, but it feels like I have."
I look at Lydia to see her looking at me. She sighs before shrugging. "Works for me. We've done more for less."
A strange sound started coming from the Jeep. It almost sounds like an old radio. Like when you're trying to find the station but all you hear is static. Lydia and I turn to look at the jeep. I start to walk towards the driver's side. I take a peak inside.
"Holy shit." I whisper.
"What? What is it?" Lydia asks me.
I look at her. "I've seen the inside of this jeep before. In one of my dreams."
"Maybe that's why you felt drawn to it." Lydia says.
I look back to the jeep. Inside is an old looking radio, and what looks like a police scanner. I look to see Scott and Malia making their way towards us. Malia stands next to Lydia while Scott walks over to me.
"It's coming from inside." Lydia says.
I place my hand on the door handle and pull. It was no use though. The door was locked.
"Did somebody just lock the keys inside?" Malia asked.
"Break it." I hear Lydia say.
I look at her before placing my hand on the door handle. I yank it hard, letting out a small smile as I heard it break. I open the door successfully this time and look inside. The radio where the center console should be is what is making the noise. I look back at Scott and he looks at me.
I let out a shrug before hopping in the driver's seat. Malia and Scott jump in the back while Lydia takes the passenger's seat. The four of us start digging through the jeep trying to find out who it belongs to. All of a sudden, the radio stopped making noise. Scott leans up in the front seat.
"Why'd it stop?" Malia asked.
"It doesn't matter." Lydia said flipping one of the switches on the radio. "There has to be a reason."
I turn to look at Scott when I hear him sniffing the air. "What? Did you catch a scent?"
"Yeah." He answered. "Uh ours. Mine, yours, all three of us."
"Mine? I've never been in this Jeep before." Malia says.
"Neither have I." Scott agreed. I look at Lydia. She looks back at me. We've been in this jeep before. Because it belongs to Stiles.
"Yes, we have." Lydia says making Scott and Malia look at us. "We just don't remember it."
"I thought we were done with that." Malia groaned.
"Oh, we never said that we were done with this." I say. "You did."
"Uh, yeah, guys, Parrish checked the VIN number. There's no record of owner." Scott said.
"The Jeep didn't just drive itself here." Lydia said. Scott looked at us confused.
Malia looked at him. "Whose side are you on?"
I glare at her before looking at Scott. He raised up his arms in surrender. "I'm on everyone's side."
"Why are we trying to pick sides?" I start to raise my voice. "Why can't you two be like Lydia and see how important this is to me?"
I see Scott's expression change. I can see he wants to believe me, but he also want to believe Malia.
Malia leans up and looks at me. "He's not real. Trust me. I've lost a lot of people in my life. It's a long list and I don't feel like adding to it."
"Don't act like you're the only person who has ever lost someone." I let out a low growl. She glares at me. "You two don't believe me. That's fine. Just keep your comment about how he doesn't exist to yourselves. Let me do this. Let me figure this out."
Lydia pulls out a paper from the glove box. It was the title to the car. "You might not have to add anyone to your list. Not if we get him back."
She hands Scott the title. He reads over it. "This is from '96. And there's no name."
"But there's an address." Malia point to a spot on the paper. "129 Woodbine Lane."
I look up at them. "I know that address."
***
Mr. and Mrs. Stilinski sit on the couch opposite of me. She look over the paper of the title of the jeep. She looks down at the paper before shaking her head.
Mrs. Stilinski looks up at me. "I don't know what to tell you. I haven't seen that Jeep in almost 18 years."
"It's in your name." I say confused.
"But it was stolen." She told me.
"Then how did it end up at the high school?" I ask them.
"Beats the hell out of me. I mean, that thing was a junker back in the day." The Sheriff says. "God only knows who'd want it now."
"Maybe somebody dumped it there." Mrs. Stilinski suggests.
"Is there any way to trace the history of the Jeep after it was stolen?" I ask.
The Sheriff shakes his head. "No."
"Maybe there's fingerprints in it." I suggest. The two of them look at me with sad looks.
I feel my eyes start to water. I want to believe he's real. That Stiles is real. That he's somewhere waiting for us to come and save him. It's getting hard though. Everyone, except for Lydia, keeps looking down on me like I don't know what I'm talking about. That I'm crazy. They just don't get it. No one does.
"Autumn, is this about Stiles?" The Sheriff asks me.
"Honey, don't you think you've taken this far enough?" Mrs. Stilinski says handing me the paper back. "I don't really know what's going on with you lately, but maybe it's a good time to talk to your mother."
I shake my head. Maybe they're right. Maybe I'm just making all of this up and need to stop. "I'm sorry. You're right."
"Hey, you okay?" The Sheriff asks me.
"I don't think I can answer that." I say honestly. I can feel my voice start to crack. I point towards the bathroom. "I'm sorry. Can I just... Uh, do you mind?"
"Of course." Mrs. Stilinski tells me. "Take your time."
I get up and quickly make my way out of their field of view and down the hallway. As I make my way down the hallway to the bathroom, I stop. I look to my left where the ripped wallpaper is. I walk up towards it, placing my hands on it. I let out a quiet sob as I slide down the wall. I pull my knees up and wrap my arms around them, hugging myself. I feel the tears fall onto my face. Why am I doing this? Why am I driving myself crazy? Over someone I can't even proves if he exists.
***
"What did I tell you the other night?" Lydia asks me as she drives us to the school. She picked me up from the Stilinski's house after Scott texted us that that guy was trying to tow the jeep again.
I lay my head on the head rest. "To not give up hope."
"Exactly, so why are you giving up? We're so close to finding something. I can feel it." Lydia says.
"I'm not losing hope." I say.
She takes a quick glance at me before motioning to me. "Then what is this?"
"I think I'm just having a small mental breakdown." I chuckle. "Not anything out of the ordinary."
"So, you're good?" She asks me as we pull into the parking lot. I see Scott and the tow man in front of the jeep.
"For now." I mumble.
"Good. I didn't wanna have to beat some sense into you." She smiles. I let out a laugh. "Now, let's run this guy off again."
Lydia and I both get out of the car after she parks it. We walk up to Scott and the tow guy.
"We already paid you." Scott said as we approached them. "I gave you all of my money for that drop fee."
"Yeah, and I dropped it, all right? Now I'm picking it up again." The guy said.
"How much?" Lydia said. "I'll write you a check."
The guy shakes his head. "It's not about how much. They want it out of here, okay? It's not up to me."
He tries to walk up to the jeep, but Scott stands in his way. Scott glares at the man.
"Don't make me move you, kid, okay? I'm hookin' this thing up and I am towing it away." He tells Scott. Scott's expression changes to anger at his words. I hear him squeeze his fist together, cracking his fingers. Oh boy.
A sound coming from behind us made us turn to look what it was. Malia had the hook from the tow truck in her hands. With one little yank, she breaks the piece. She hands it to the man. "Your truck's broke."
As the man grumbled and left, Malia gave me a small smile. "That's me making up from earlier. We're a pack. I'm supposed to help you when you need it."
"Thank you. It means a lot." I smile back.
Scott, Lydia, and I get into Stiles' jeep while Malia stands outside keeping watch for the tow truck guy. I was leaned back in the passenger's seat, Lydia was in the driver's seat, and Scott was in the back. I felt my eyes close from exhaustion. The three of us jump as a loud roar was heard.
"What the hell?" I heard Scott say as we get out of the Jeep. We run towards Malia.
"Did you hear that?" She asked us.
"I think all of Beacon Hills heard that." Lydia responded.
"Who is it?" I ask. "I don't recognize the roar."
"I'm not sure, but I think I recognized it." Malia said.
Lydia looks at the three of us. "Go!"
The three of us take off into the woods. Malia and I stuck together while Scott went off on his own. I haven't picked up a scent, and they haven't roared again. So, I can't pinpoint where they are.
"Hey. Any luck?" Scott asks as he runs up to Malia and I.
"No." I answer. "He hasn't roared again."
"I've got a scent but..." Malia starts.
"There's something wrong with it." Scott finishes.
I stop in my tracks as the scent finally hits my nose. "It smells like rotting flesh. Like something's burning."
The three of us snap our heads when we hear another roar in the distance. We take off in the direction of it. We start to slow down as the smell of burning flesh gets stronger. We stop when we see a burnt body with smoke coming from it. Malia and I start to walk towards him when Scott holds out his arms.
"I hear a heartbeat." Malia says.
"Who is that?" Scott asks.
"I don't know, but I know the scent." Malia says. "Even through the barbecue."
She starts to walk towards him. Scott and I follow her. She bends down to get a better look at him.
"How do you think he got here?" I ask. "There's no tracks. No fire."
Scott and I jump as Malia lets out a gasp. I look over to see that the man had opened his eyes.
"Oh, my god." She whispers. "Peter?"
Scott and I rush over and bend down next to him. "Who's Peter?"
"Peter Hale." She answers. "My dad."
I look back down at the man. My eyes widen at the realization. All of the memories of him come rushing back. It's Peter. He's the one that bit Scott and I and turned us into werewolves.
"He bit us." Scott said shocked. "How could we forget him?"
"How did I forget him?" Malia asks.
I jump back as I feel something by my leg move. I look down to see Peter moving his arm. "He has something."
Peter starts to make noise like he's trying to talk. Scott grabs his arm. His veins turn black as he starts to take Peter's pain away. I grab his other hand and do the same. His whimpering slowly starts to stop. I feel Peter's hand open up. I open his hand to revel a set of car keys.
"What is it?" Scott says. I hold up the keys in my hand. I hold them closer to my face to see better. When I see a word on the car key, my eyes widen.
Jeep.
"Oh my God." I get up and take off away from them and out of the forest. I hear Scott running after me.
"Autumn." He yells. "Autumn, slow down."
I make it out of the forest. I see Lydia still standing there waiting for us. I run past her and towards the jeep. I hop in the driver's seat. Lydia jumps in the back while Scott gets into the passenger's side.
I hold up the keys. I take a quick glance at Scott before sticking the key in the key hole. I let out the breath I was holding in when the key goes it. It fits. I turn the key. The engine sputters, and it doesn't start. I try again, this time pushing the gas with it.
"Don't flood it." Scott tells me.
Lydia look at us. "Do you know what that means?"
He looks at us confused. "Not really."
I turn the key one last time. "Come on. Please start."
My eyes widen as the Jeep starts. I let out a smile along with a laugh. I look at Scott and Lydia. We just proved Stiles existed. We're one step closer to finding Stiles. The three of us jump when the radio comes on. The sound of static fills the jeep. Scott starts to turn it down when a voice comes through.
"Hello?"
Scott goes to turn off the radio, but I grab his hand. "Wait."
"Hello? Is anyone there? Can anyone hear me?"
I look at the radio. I know that voice. I pick up the receiver and push the button, saying the name that has been stuck on my mind. "Stiles?"
The radio was quiet for a second before a voice came back. "Autumn? Autumn, baby is that you?"
"Stiles?" Scott says. I look at Scott and Lydia in awe as I feel my eyes water for the second time this night. He's real. I'm not crazy.
"Scott?" Stiles asks. "Is that you?"
"Oh my God, Stiles. We can hear you." I say.
"Oh, my god, you know me? You remember me?" Stiles' voice comes through.
I push the button. "Stiles, is this... Is this you? Is this actually you?"
"Yeah. Listen to me do you remember the last thing I said to you?" He asks me.
"You said." I start. I can feel the words rush back into my memory. "You said, "Remember I love you."
"Are you okay?" Scott asks.
"Where are you?" Lydia asks.
"We're comin' to get you." I tell him.
"No, no, no. You can't." His voice comes through. "You won't be able to find me."
"Stiles, what what are you talking about? Just tell us where you are, and we'll, we'll come and..." Scott stutters.
"Right, just remember this." Stiles interrupts him. "Canaan, okay? You have to find Canaan. Just find Canaan."
The radio static comes back signaling Stiles wasn't there anymore. Scott takes the receiver out of my hand. He pushes the button.
"Stiles! Stiles!"
***
Word Count: 3,351
Hey guys!
I hope you liked this chapter. If you did, please vote and comment what you think. Thanks for reading.
Also, I decided to add an extra chapter of the graduation. Since there wasn't an actual scene, I thought I would write it myself.
Megan