Hunger

Chapter Six

Derek

Stiles sounded terrified as he started explaining the horrific details of his recurring nightmare. The look on his face was sickening to look at. It made me want to just hug him tight and tell him it'd all be okay.

When he explained how it started, he was just a little bit shaky, a little bit nervous. When he got to the part where fingers were plunged into his skull, he bean to cry. I didn't want to seem heartless, so I gently placed my hand on his shoulder and rubbed my thumb over the fabric of his shirt, listening intently. After he finished explaining, after the part about the faceless man almost killing him, I leaned over and hugged him. I didn't hug Stiles often, but I felt like he needed it. There wasn't anyone else to comfort the poor boy.

"I'm just glad you've been there to wake me up," he whispered, wiping his tears with the back of his hand. "Will you drive for a while?"

"Of course. Just pull over," I replied softly.

Stiles found a gas station to pull over and switched sides with me. Before I got in my seat, a young woman stopped me. "Excuse me! Sir?"

I looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "How can I help you?"

"I-I can't find my son. All I have is this picture, have you seen him?" she asked, holding up a photo of a little boy who looked to be about six. He had bright green eyes, shaggy brown hair, and a square face. She slowly lowered the picture, looking at me hopefully.

"I'm sorry, but I haven't seen him. Do you know where he was with you last?" I replied politely. 

The woman nodded. "We were eating at a restaurant down the street. I told him to wait at the table while I used the bathroom and he wasn't there when I came back," she said, beginning to sob into her hands. 

Stiles soon stood beside me, his fingers softly touching my arm. "Derek," he whispered quietly. I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "What's going on?"

I glanced at the crying woman and sighed. "We have to help her find her son," I mumbled against his ear. 

Stiles nodded and stepped closer to the woman, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We want to help you, so you need to answer some questions for us. Can you do that?" The woman nodded slowly, her eyes meeting his. "Okay. When you were at the restaurant, were there any suspicious looking people? Maybe one or two people dressed in dark clothes, maybe they kept looking at you? Anything?"

She wiped her face with the back of her hand, thinking about the question. "I don't think so," she responded with a sigh. "There weren't many people in there."

"Can you take us to the place you last saw him?" I requested from behind Stiles. She focused her attention on me, slightly suspicious. I don't think she trusted me as much as she did Stiles, but that's just how Stiles was. People trusted him. I trusted him.

"Just follow me," she said while looking at Stiles. "We have to drive there."