Monsters | Stiles Stilinski

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒𝟔

THE HALE HOUSE REALLY WAS BEAUTIFUL before the fire, even afterwards there was still a beauty behind the decaying walls. I didn't even realise where I was heading until the house had come into my view and I slowed to a stop, pulling my headphones out of my ears and pausing my music. Jogging seemed to be the only way to relieve me of my thoughts recently and with the full moon coming up I had plenty of pent up anxiety I needed to get rid of.

I exhaled shortly, my chest heaving as my breaths regulated. I hadn't realised how far I'd ran, I'd gotten from one end of town to the other in just under an hour but I'd never felt better.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my forearm as I looked up to the house in introspection. How hard was it to separate my memories from the traumatic fate this house suffered?

I almost wished there was a page about it in a book somewhere but then again, my memories liked to play with my mind. Perhaps a session with Morrell would help me out. The subject of the fire wasn't as sensitive as it once was and I thought I could at least talk about it now. I just wanted what I'd missed back and if opening up about the fire was the way to that then I would do it. I'd sit down in front of Morrell or anyone in a heartbeat to recover my memories of my mother and I.

The thought of that alone triggered a wire in my brain as I saw a much younger version of myself sitting with a black haired girl the same age as me, Derek's younger sister Cora, and I had a pink cast on my left arm. Cora and I were just chatting to ourselves about everything and nothing until I saw my mom and Peter walk out of the Hale house together. The both of them stood on the porch as Cora and I were lost in our own world, completely oblivious to them, and they spoke.

"I need to tell you something." My mom said to Peter suddenly, looking sideways to him. There was a look of respect in her eye as she stared at the side of Peter's face. His and my mothers relationship went years back and my mom deeply respected Peter and he her.

"Okay." Peter nodded, looking to my mom.

Unlike my mom who looked exactly the same as she did now, Peter had changed significantly over the years I'd known him. Him and my mom must've been in their mid twenties here, three or so years before the fire, and yet Peter looked to be in his early twenties. His face was young and his hair was relatively short but thick compared to now. I could see what my mom saw in him, especially if they'd known one another since they were sixteen.

My mom looked away from Peter and pressed her lips together, a troubled expression on her face as she looked to Cora and I, "There's a reason you feel a deep connection with Alex." She said to him.

"There is?" He asked, "I thought it was just because I'd known her for a while now."

"Remember when you first met her though?" My mom said to him, "How you said to me you felt like you'd known her since she was born?"

"Yeah.. I remember." He nodded.

"It's because she's yours." My mom told him after a minute of silence.

The air between my mom and Peter didn't shift but silence consumed them like a wave would a person. It dragged them down and I watched as Peter's face dropped in revelation. He didn't know what to say or do as he processed what my mom had told him. It was quite a bombshell, finding out you had a six year old daughter who'd been under your nose the entire time.

"How- how do you know?" He asked her.

My mom exhaled as she kept her eyes on Cora and I as she said, "Neil found out I'd been bringing Alex here. He — for whatever reason — decided to do a DNA test, seeing if Alex was his. It came back negative."