VESTIGE ↬ D. HALE [3]

12 ; grit

12 ↬ GRIT

"So, how was Europe?" Elise questioned as she lounged against the doorway of Isaac's new room. Seeing as nearly all of Elise's belongings were now at the loft, the McCall's figured that they could move the remnants of Elise's old room into the attic, allowing Isaac to officially move in. After losing his daughter, Chris Argent had left Beacon Hills, taking Isaac with him. Isaac had sent a few updates during the first couple of weeks of traveling, but after that, the rest of the pack had lost contact with him. The last Elise had heard, he and Argent had stopped in France, the ancestral home of Chris' family.

"It was good," Isaac said simply, moving a few items from the small box of belongings he had. "It was weird being away from here," he added.

"Was it nice, though?" the woman asked. "Not having to look over your shoulder or sleep with one eye open all the time?"

"There's still plenty to worry about outside of town," Isaac reminded her. "But, yeah, I guess it was kind of a relief."

Elise nodded, taking a seat on the edge of Isaac's desk and looking into the box he was shuffling items from. "But the best part was the carbs, right? I hope you ate at least your weight in bread and spaghetti."

"Why all of the questions?" Isaac asked, his brows arched upward humorously.

"I don't know," Elise confessed, leaning back as she braced her arms on the desk behind her. "I've just never really been out of Beacon Hills. I don't know what it's like to travel the world."

"Why don't you?" Isaac suggested.

"What?"

"Why don't you travel?" Isaac repeated. "Take a week or two off of work. You can drag Derek to Europe and eat all the food you want."

Elise shook her head slightly. "I can't. Not with everything going on."

"What about after it's over?"

Elise frowned. "Is it ever really over, Isaac? I mean it feels like, with this town, it's just one thing after another," she breathed. "We just can't catch a break." Isaac didn't respond, so Elise shook her head slightly and stood up. "But, it keeps me busy, at least."

The rush of surprises from the supernatural side of Beacon Hills hadn't even stopped to give time for Isaac to get a real welcome back into Beacon Hills. The night of the party at Lydia's lakehouse, the banshee had unearthed a list of supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills, with everyone's name on it. It was a deadpool, and everyone had a price on their heads.

"El-"

"That's enough doom and gloom," Elise insisted, brushing hair out of her face. "How about some pretzels?" Isaac nodded hesitantly and Elise got to her feet. Before he could say anything else, she returned to her usual self and disappeared into the hall.

Isaac could hear the steady pace of her footsteps as she began to bound down the stairs. Abruptly, the sound of her steps was interrupted by a loud thud.

"Elise?" Isaac called, looking up from his box of belongings and directing his gaze toward the hallway. "Elise? What was that?"

↬

She was walking down the street, her eyes trained on the road in front of her. She stumbled slightly as a painful sensation pinched at the nerves in her upper arm. She raised her other hand, feeling the soft plume attached to the end of the syringe-like projectile.

She felt her limbs grow heavy and she stumbled forward as her knees buckled underneath her. She couldn't even raise her arms to break her fall, and she collided painfully with the pavement.