Full Moon ☾ Derek Hale

Chapter Twenty One: Venomous

Chapter Twenty One: Venomous

Chapter Song: Buzzcut Season by Lorde

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I grew restless. Restless of sitting in bed, restless of thinking...yet somehow I couldn't find the urge to leave my room. My mind had failed to shut off, not even in the few hours I attempted, and failed, to sleep. Every time I shut my eyes, I was surrounded by water and darkness. Every time I managed to fall into an unconscious sleep, I woke up gasping for air as if my lungs were submerged in icy cold liquid minutes later. The burning of my throat and pounding in my head was just a reminder of what had happened last night. It was like a void through my chest—a vast emptiness that refused to go away no matter how many times I pushed it away. 

It was so much more than just having the water stop my heart to cause me to fall into this panic and overthink. It was the Kanima, Gerard, werewolves, drowning, and my mother. Around four in the morning I made an executive decision that the very realistic moment with my dead mother was simply me making up insane stories while I had a lack of oxygen to my brain. It was the only simple answer that was possible. And right now, all I could do was simple.

But, we all knew my life was far from simple.

The morning light flooded into the room as I stood beside the window with the shades pulled back. The sun egged on the pounding occurring behind my eyes, but I couldn't help myself from staring out into the driveway, almost as if I was expecting for someone to walk up and knock on the front door. And it wasn't just any someone, I was looking for a certain leather clad Alpha werewolf.

I silently groaned, my arms wrapping around my torso tighter as Derek's name rang through my head like a bell. When I wasn't thinking about that cold, empty feeling the drowning had left me with, I was thinking about him. At first after Derek left, I thought I'd been hallucinating and that there was a chance I fell asleep—or maybe I really never woke up from drowning. Maybe I was dead. But as moments passed it became apparent that the kissing had actually happened, but I was unsure of why. Was it just a payback for what happened in the pool? Was it just sympathy?

I was desperate to get answers to my questions but it wasn't like I was going to bring it up. Derek had failed to call or leave any messages or even, with the high unrealistic hopes I had, show up and check up on me this morning. Nothing. It was like he went dark and dropped off the face of the earth. I checked my phone every few minutes during the night in hopes he'd called, but I was more than disappointed when he didn't.

Pathetic, Hayley. 

"Hayley." Scott's voice perked in my ears. I peaked my head over my shoulder, seeing my brother standing in the bedroom doorway. His brows were knitted tight together, a look of concern painted over his face.

"Yeah?" 

"Did you hear anything I just said?" 

"Uh, no. Sorry." I quickly excused as I turned around to face him. Scott's jaw squared. "What's up?"

"Stiles is going to pick us up in 10. You coming?"

"Yeah. I'll meet you downstairs." I assured with a faux smile, padding over to my dresser. Scott hovered in the doorway, hesitating to open his mouth to ask me how I was doing as I continued my morning routine as if I hadn't just drowned last night. I popped my earrings in, catching Scott staring at me in the mirror. I quickly looked away, pretending I hadn't seen him silently debate how to talk to me about last night. I grabbed my phone, preoccupying myself to avoid the awkwardness with my brother. My heart skipped, noticing I had a new message, but the feeling soon dropped as I realized it had been from Allison. With a quiet sigh, Scott finally walked away. My fake smile dropped and I tossed the phone into the bed. I quietly groaned, plopping myself against the mattress.