Saving Scott

10: Missing

The Tate House

Around Midnight

Malia returned home that night, despite Melissa's offers of staying at her place. "No, I've been gone for too long anyway - I'm still grounded, as my dad loves to remind me," she had told Melissa.

She had been just about to fall asleep in bed when her phone started ringing. Malia quickly answered it, mostly because the theme song - thanks to Scott, who she had been teaching how to make his own ringtone - was "How Far I'll Go" from Moana. "Stiles, it's like midnight," she groaned, checking the caller ID. There was only a static-like noise coming from the other end. "Stiles?" Malia asked again, concern seeping into her voice. 

She could hear Stiles' panting on the other side; he sounded panicked, and Malia got worried, immediately, sitting bolt upright in bed.

"Stiles, are you there?" she asked again.

"Malia," Stiles finally managed to say.

"Yeah, I'm here," Malia reassured him. "Are you okay, can you hear me?"

"Malia, I don't know where I am, I don't know how I got here," whimpered Stiles on the other end. "I think I'm sleepwalking."

"Can you see anything?" Malia asked. "Just - uh, just tell me what you see."

"It's hard - it's hard to say," Stiles told her. "I don't know, there's something wrong with my - " and then the phone call cut off.

Malia stood up, now officially in panic mode. She tried to call Stiles again, but it only went straight to voicemail. She tried again; it went to voicemail, again. "Come on," she cursed, raking her hands through her already-messy hair. 

She was standing in her bedroom in an overlarge white shirt that had belonged to her father a long time ago, as well as a pair of comfy flannel pants. Not the most girly of attires, but warm, because it was supposed to be really cold out tonight; both Kylie and Malia had gotten the lecture from Mr. Tate (who had also made sure to mention how Malia should've come home straight after school, because she was grounded). 

So now Malia was grounded for double her original amount of time.

Finally, Stiles called her again, and Malia quickly answered. "Stiles?" she asked frantically.

"Malia?" Stiles had the same level of panic in his voice. "I don't think I can get out of here, I can't move."

"Where are you?" demanded Malia.

"I don't know," Stiles' answer was the same as before, "I don't know, it's too dark, I can't see much. Something's wrong with my leg, it's stuck on something, I think it's bleeding."

"How bad?" Malia pressed for answers, beginning to pace the room. "Stiles, how bad is it? Stiles, what...Stiles, are you there? Can you hear me?"

"There's some kind of smell down here," Stiles whimpered, "something smells terrible...it's horrible, my eyes are watering..."

"Okay, okay, listen, I'm gonna call your dad," Malia told him.

"Wait, no, don't," Stiles stopped her.

"But your dad - "

"No, don't, just please don't call him. Please, promise me you won't," Stiles pleaded. "He already worries about me too much, Malia, please."

"What if I can't find you?" Malia argued. "Stiles, I can't make a promise like that."

"No, no, just please..." begged Stiles, "please don't call him, come find me, you can do it, you're the awesome wolf woman, you can find me."