Chapter twenty-nine✓
Everyone quickly became fond of Olivia as they got to know her. When they had first met her either in the woods, Scott's house, or in Derek's loft, or the woods after punching a tree in half, they grew extremely fond of her and quick. It felt like she had been there with them all of their lives and not up until a couple of months ago. She fit in with their little group far better than anyone could have imagined.
So, when Olivia was upset or struggling with something, it was first nature to go and ask her what was bothering her. But, during the few weeks Olivia had been MIA, no one knew of the horrors she was going through — not that she would say anything either. The others had asked Scott about her, but he refused to say anything because he felt that it wasn't his to tell, even though Olivia was being mentally tormented by a psychotic demon, but, of course, he only knew what he saw.
Olivia would go over to Allisons in the middle of the night, tears stained on her cheeks and sleep with her. No matter what Allison tried she would never talk and all that she could do until she would was simply be there next to her. That's why they were keeping a closer watch on her throughout the school day — on eachother so no one slips through their fingers.
"Good morning everyone."
First period had started and Olivia's plan of her trying to avoid everyone and go unseen was already not going according to plan because she had almost every class with at least one of them. So there she sat, her knuckles white and she clenched them tighter and tighter till they cracked. Her nails dug into her sweaty palms, head feeling like an air horn had gone off and was still ringing. Basically her day was already shit.
The most dreadful thing was that it wouldn't leave her alone. Not even for a minute. So, in the corner of the front of the classroom there it stood, watching Olivia and growling under its breath. She tried so hard to not look at it or pay any attention to it, but it was no use. The teacher was at the front, she had to pay attention somehow.
Olivia closed her eyes tightly, trying to block out any loud noises that made her jump or seem startled. Then, some dumb ass kid had to fucking sneeze like a freaking fright train. Olivia must have flinched so hard because all of her friends at the same exact time, turned over their shoulders and looked at her.
That was Olivia's first mistake.
The mummified creature started to walk, shuffling with a limp in one of its legs, out of the corner. Its bandaged hands trailed the desks, making its way over ( slowly but surely, probably for dramatic effect ) to where she sat scared shit less. The lights began to flicker in the classroom and Olivia didn't even notice because her eyes were sewn shut, seeing black spots and designs in the darkness of her eyelids. The thing was, it wasn't in her head. The lights were actually flickering in the room. Everyone noticed finding it rather odd but not too strange since their school was odd, but one particular person only grew more concerned.
Stiles turned around and found Olivia a few seats behind him with her eyes shut and hands wrapped around the edges of the desk.
Olivia could feel it moving toward her, taunting her in a way that weakened her. She was tired of this, tired of no sleep, tired of avoiding the people she cared about, but she couldn't let it get to them. Over her dead body.
It walked with a more fastened pace from the front of the room, banging on desks, whispering venomous things to get into her head.
We're going to destroy them all.
Your friends are going to die by your hands and it'll be all your fault.
Let me in and we can feel their cries for help as we kill the people who didn't even care about you until their own lives depended on it.
She kept telling herself nothing was happening, that she was in a public place so it couldn't hurt her, muttering to herself that it wasn't real and simply all in her head. It was a delusion that wouldn't last her long.
Gripping onto her desk, almost snapping it in half from the amount of anger she felt, Olivia abruptly stood up from her desk, grabbed her bag and headed straight out of the classroom, not daring to let her eyes wander to the other students.
Stiles straightened up immediately and his eyes followed the girl all the way out the door. His eyes connected with Scott whose expression matched his: concern. They made a silent agreement that they had to make sure that she was okay — no one was slipping through their fingers. Without hesitation, Stiles shot up and everyone's attention was suddenly on him, which was slightly uncomfortable.
"I have to go somewhere...that isn't, uh, here." and with that he bolted out of the classroom and into the hallway.
Olivia's breathing was short and heavy as she started to pick up her pace and sprinted down the hallway and into the nearest girls bathroom. Tears glossed over her eyes, threatening to fall. Her hands grabbed the sink and her breaths were deep and uneven. She looked up and into the mirror to see a more shattered girl than before. Her back slid down against one of the bathroom walls, pulling her knees into her chest.
The lights started to flicker and this time Olivia could see them.
"Why can't you see that I'm only here to help you? I want to make us strong and powerful. But look at you, you don't deserve it. You're nothing but a waste of power." It hissed, entering the bathroom.
"There is no us. There is only you." she snapped. "Please, just, leave me alone." Her pleads made their way back into her voice as she talked.
It stepped closer to the weeping girl. "Let me in."
"Get out of my head first then maybe we can work something out!" she yelled at the bandaged creature as her patients were next to absolute shit. She could feel herself start to lose control and her emotions get the best of her as the bathroom stall doors began to shake and then the pipes.
"Let me in!" it yelled into Olivia's ear as she whimpered at the chilling voice that gave her nightmares.
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" She screamed, tears flooded her eyesight and with that rage filled scream, the bathroom mirrors cracked, stalls shaking. Her hands grabbed at her hair, pleading to make it stop but it just kept going, getting worse.
It kneeled down right in front of her as she continued to weep heavily and it just smirked, then whispered something in another language that Olivia couldn't understand. It sounded like the creature's native tongue. Her vision started to go in and out, showing the creature but then to another person. Her brows pulled together for a moment, wondering why the creature was posing as Stiles — it had never done that before. Her vision started to settle and every sensation flooded back into her. She was being shaken by Stiles whose eyes were wide and deep with great worry.
"Olivia? Olivia!" he yelled, arms shaking hers. "C'mon, Liv." his voice wavering as he practically pleaded to her.
She didn't know what was real or not. Was he real? Or was it just another trick? She was defenseless and could do nothing about it.
"You're not real," As much as she wanted him to be real, to her, it seemed like another illusion to weaken her mind.
Stiles paused his shaking and stared at her. He didn't know what to do other than to just stare at her with astonishment painting all of his features. Last time he checked he was real unless something happened in the time of earlier this morning and now. "Why wouldn't I be?" he asked, a hint of being hurt lying in his voice.
Just at that, everything stopped. The stalls, pipes, toilets — it all stopped. Olivia's eyes traveled around the room, her heart was beating so fast she could hear it drum in her ears. Everything around the two was completely still and quiet. When her eyes landed on Stiles once more, she came to the realization that he was real and actually before her. "You're real? You're actually here?" she asked quietly.
Stiles nodded. "Yeah, I'm real, here with you." All he could do was state the facts, but he was still speechless.
Hands trembling, Olivia shot forward and hugged him tight as sobs wracked her body. Her fingers gripped his shirt just in case he were to disintegrate in her grasp suddenly.
"I won't let anything happen to you, I promise," he whispered in her ear, hands tightening around her waist. But could he keep that promise? After a moment, "We might have to move out of here because one, this is the girls bathroom and two, I am a guy." he had rushed in after her, having paid no mind to where he entered, only just now making the observation.
Olivia just held on tighter, he is real, and so was his sarcasm.
☾☾☾
After Olivia's episode and began calming down, she stayed with Stiles the entire rest of the day, not feeling comfortable going to classes or being around others who she didn't know was real or not in general. But, she knew he was.
So, there she stood. Standing next to Stiles's locker while he struggled to open it. She had her hood on and didn't look anyone in the eyes. Olivia wasn't even listening to their conversation, hell she didn't even know why she was there — oh right, they wanted to keep an "eye" on her.
She hadn't told anyone about the stupid ghost or whatever it was that was haunting her because she thought that they would think that she was crazy. She hadn't talked to Stiles since he found her in the bathroom like an absolute freaking mess because she felt vulnerable, you wouldn't be able to waterboard the incident out of her. That entire event she just wanted to forget and pretend like it didn't happen. It was a fragile moment where she lost her cool.
Out of the corner of her eyes she could see Stiles giving her small not so subtle glances to make sure she was doing alright. Not many people had seen her break down like that before. She didn't really know how to act in front of him now other than staring at the ground.
"Oh dude, your eyes." Olivia heard and her head pulled up from the current position it was at. Scott was breathing heavily and his eyes were glowing red.
Olivia slapped him on the arm.
"What the hell was that for?!" he whispered, rubbing his arm that didn't even hurt.
"Would you stop that! Your eyes?!" she exclaimed, speaking for the first time for the day.
Scott didn't do anything for a beat, staring at her because it was the first time he had heard her speak the entire day since what had happened last night. Then, he snapped out of it and immediately closed his eyes hoping they would magically turn off, but to no luck. Stiles grabbed his arm and pulled them into an empty classroom. Scott was panting at this point, like an actual dog.
"Scott-" Olivia said as she inches forward, concerned for him as he started to ram into things.
"No, stop — I don't wanna hurt you." Scott said breathlessly. Stiles slowly stepped in front of Olivia when Scott began to yell out in pain, claws fighting their way out. Olivia looked at his hands, hands that were seeping blood onto the floor. Like hers were half an hour before.
Stiles and Olivia watched in horror as Scott fell down to his knees, still yelling out in pain, backing up but then hitting the back of the classroom. He finally stopped and then sat down, breathing like he had just run a marathon, but no, he had just almost transformed. Two very different situations.
"Pain makes you human." he said, sweat beading his forehead. Olivia watched, horrified, as she saw him cry out from self inflicted pain and it hurt her to see him like that.
Stiles walked forward, meeting Scott half way, "Scott. This isn't just in our heads. This is real." he said. His eyes seemed to wander to a dark place as he paused. "And it's starting to get bad for me too." Stiles spoke, barley above a whisper.
"I'm not just having nightmares."
Olivia's eyes widened.
"I'm having these dreams where I have to literally scream myself awake."
Olivia froze in her spot. Her heart was racing and she was pretty sure Scott could pick on it because he looked at her for a split second. Olivia thought back to the night with her "dream" she had seen Stiles and how he was screaming at himself to wake up. Was she in his dream?
"And sometimes I'm not even sure if I'm actually ever waking up." He finished and Olivia's color had drained from her face completely. It sounded way too familiar to her. Her mind was screwed at the thought of her being in his dream. She didn't say a word, she was silent and stood in the middle of the classroom just taking in all the new information.
Scott looked at his best friend with concern glossed over his tired eyes, "What do you mean?" he breathed out. Stiles took a minute and played with his hands nervously before answering. "Do you know how you can tell if you're dreaming?" he asked, more like asking himself. "You can't read in dreams. More and more the last few days, I've been having trouble reading. It's like I can't see the words, I can't put the letters in order."
Olivia played with the rings on her finger as she listened to the conversation. "Like even now?" Scott replied. Stiles stood back up and looked around the room with scared eyes.
"I can't read a thing." He said shakily.
☾☾☾
Olivia slammed the passenger door closed to the old rusty jeep and buckled her seat belt. She had not said a single word to Stiles since the scene in the bathroom and the silence was deafening. She had so many questions and so many problems at the same time. She needed to say something, at least.
"Stiles." Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Stiles, shocked to hear her actually talking to him, turned around with his eyebrows raised. "Yeah." he asked, looking at her twiddling her thumbs together.
"I need to ask you something, okay? Promise not to think I'm absolutely crazy?" she asked, finally looking him in the eyes.
"It's Beacon Hills. Crazy is the normal here." he chuckled lightly and noticed the complete seriousness spread upon her face and his slight smile faded quickly, picking up that something was wrong.
"I — um. I honestly don't know how to explain this." she started, earning a very confused look from the brown haired boy beside her, who's hazel nut eyes were focused on hers. "Last night I had a dream and you were in it."
Stiles blinked once, twice. "What kind of dream are we talking about?" he asked suspiciously.
Olivia stared at him. "A nightmare?"
"Oh."
"What were you thinking of?"
"Nothing."
Olivia waited for another answer but he gave no explanation, just rubbing the back of his neck anxiously. "Um, anyways, I saw you in the boys locker room. The school was deserted and it was almost midnight outside." She then waited for confirmation.
"Wait, how do you know that?" he asked, staring at her pale face, wondering how she could possibly know exactly where he was in the dream.
She didn't answer right away. How could she tell him that she basically had a front row seat to his nightmare—? Well, not really a seat, more like being tied down and then being forced to watch it because a freaky demon forced her to.
Stiles was still waiting for an answer, waiting for something to come out of her mouth. Olivia furiously played with the hem of her sweatshirt, thinking of an easier way to say what had actually happened that night.
"Because I was there too." she said.
Stiles' jaw clenched. He looked at her, studying her every feature. He could tell she was nervous and scared but he didn't understand why. "I saw you and tried to call your name and you, uh, didn't notice me." Olivia said quietly because the last part wasn't entirely true. She was then dragged by the creature and then strapped to a chair. But, she could leave that part out.
He could tell she was keeping something from him and wanted to know what. It seemed to be something serious which compelled him to push forward. "What aren't you telling me, Liv?" he asked Olivia who's head shot up and sheer panic spread across her face for a moment which only concerned him further.
"I don't know what-"
Stiles cut her off before she could lie again. "I know you're not telling me something and it worries me. It seems to be something serious and from what happened in the bathroom earlier and sometimes secrets get people killed, especially here," he paused as if trying to keep himself from remembering the event. "What happened earlier scared me and if another episode happens like today, you're going to have to if you hadn't already."
—
rewritten✓
People around Olivia must think she's like insane or talking to some imaginary person all this time.