Blind ✥ HALE

0.8: Undead.

❝Grief is not as heavy as guilt, but it takes more away from you.❞

✥

I climb the stairs to my room tiredly and yawn when I reach the top, calling out to my mom that I was home and that I'm going to bed. I don't get a reply, so I just close my bedroom door behind me and fall face first onto my mattress. I groan, turning on my back and sprawling like a starfish as I yawn again.

Scott and Aunt Mel had a long, energetic talk during the ride back home while I sat in the back and thought. I'm not gonna lie, I'm glad that he's able to forget the werewolf problems and try to be normal, at least for a while. Surely, on Monday, the three of us are gonna have to get together to talk strategies on how to approach the Derek situation. But for now, Scott should revel in his win all weekend. He's earned it.

I change into my PJs and snuggle under the sheets to try to get warm, my accelerated mind fighting a losing battle with my exhausted body. As I'm about to drift off, a slight sound jolts me out of my first sleep cycle. It sounds as if someone opened a window, but that's impossible. No one's in my room except me. Right?

I get up, eyes closed as I reach out for the windowpane on the other side of the room. My fingers confirm that it's shut, so what the hell? I shake my head, returning to my spot. I must have dreamt that the window opened or something; I always have the weirdest dreams when I'm tired.

I get under the duvet again, but I keep hearing things all around me like an echo. Breathing, soft movement, the sort of noises you'd hear when someone is in your room. God, it feels like I'm being stalked, and I don't like it at all. Out of the blue, a documentary dialogue pops up in my head when I sit up. 

Anxiety is a complete disorder, with physical and mental symptoms so severe, that they mimic far more serious disorders. Auditory hallucinations are an example of just such a symptom. While anxiety doesn't cause these hallucinations on the same level as schizophrenia, it can cause what's known as "simple" auditory hallucinations that some people find extremely frightening.

Well, Brain, that makes sense. I've been pretty stressed out lately, so I'm probably just having an auditory hallucination. I lay back down and turn on my right side, which I've heard helps you sleep faster. But throughout the night, I end up having restless dreams and waking up many times. All my dreams have something to do with Scott killing someone, and even worse, Derek wanting revenge for being thrown into jail because of three nosy kids.

Can't I ever catch a break?

✥

Monday mornings are absolute bitches, let me tell ya. I walk into the school hall behind my two boys, eyes heavy with fatigue. Rest seems to be have been a distant friend to me all weekend, and I'd honestly do anything to reconcile with it at this point. Hell, I'll even kill Jackson for it. (Who am I kidding, I'd kill him anyway.)

Scott has been antsy since Stiles and I met with him earlier. He keeps going on and on about a weird dream he had in which he and Allison had snuck onto a school bus to make out. But in the middle of kissing her, he had wolfed out and proceeded to rip the love of his life apart while hearing her scream for mercy. Lovely.

"So you killed her?" Stiles asks incredulously.

"I don't know. I just woke up," Scott says. "A-and I was sweating like crazy, and I couldn't breathe. I've never had a dream where I woke up like that before."

Our best friend snorts. "Really? I have. Usually ends a little differently."

My eyes widen in horror when I realize what he's implying, and I make exaggerated gagging sounds to audibly display my discomfort. Eww, teenage boy hormones. Scott seems to be in agreement, saying in a whiny voice, "A: I meant I've never had a dream that felt that real, and B: never give us that much detail about you in bed again."