The Secret Holder

XVI. From Here To There

"Hey, I'll be here in a second, I'm just going to make sure we got everything, okay?" Stiles half-grins, then closes my door for me.

I wonder what it was that made him change his mind. I wonder what switch flipped inside him that made him want to help me move out. He's back before I can think about anything else.

...

Stiles's eyebrows furrow. "The 'Desert Wolf', huh? So what is she, a were...cactus? Is that even a thing?" He makes a right turn out of my neighborhood into a public street.

"I don't think so." I stifle a laugh, and glance out the window.

"It should be," he mutters.

I feel a tap on my arm.

"You want to listen to something?"

"Yeah,"

He powers on the radio, and turns the dial to find a station. The light turns green, and he has to look up.

"You can choose." He says.

I turn the dial until I hear something I like, stopping on a song with a somewhat floral quality, and lean my head against the window. My eyes close and I manage to fall asleep. In my unconscious state, I hope that we'll back at the house by the time I wake up.

When I open my eyes, the sun is high in the sky. I look forward to see miles and miles of road in front of me. "Stiles?"

"Mmm?"

"Where are we?"

"I don't really know."

"What? What are you talking about? You don't even know where we are?"

"Of course I know where we are," he replies, detached.

"Okay, then answer the question! Where are we?"

"Right where we should be," Stiles's words slur toward the end of the sentence.

"Which is where? This whole avoidance tactic is really starting to get monotonous, Stiles."

"I just know that we're where we're supposed to be." He seems almost frustrated at this point, his cheeks flushed and hands gripped tightly on the wheel. What is he trying to tell me?

"Can we just stop for a second? You need to tell me what's going on!"

"No. No, I can't!" Stiles's knuckles turn white on the steering wheel.

"That's it. Pull over."

"No, Lydia, I can't."

"Do it now, or I make you!" I scream.

Finally, the car comes to a screeching halt on the side of the road.

Stiles is silent, but twitching in his seat. He keeps putting his hand over a spot on his neck, his breathing fast.

I want to know what all of this is about, but before I can ask him, he bolts out the door.

"Stiles!" I get out and yell after him. "What has gotten into you?"

He turns to face me, in tears. "I just ahm...I don't know what's wrong with me..." His eyes glazed, look at me, pleading. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry, Mom...I didn't mean to---to..."

His movements slow, and his breathing increases at lightning speed. It all seems shockingly familiar.

"Stiles! Stiles, come on! Calm down!" I yell as I run closer to him. He's trapped in a hallucination and he'll never be able to hear me.