fire on fire | void stiles [au] (DISCONTINUED)

TWO ━ CURIOUS EMBERS

chapter two

SHE FELT BONELESS, HER muscles feeling drowsy and her body feeling so heavy, too heavy to move. She could practically hear her strong heartbeat get more erratic the more consciousness washed over her, the memory of what had happened slowly but surely coming back to her. The more awake she became, the more of reality's nightmare she faded into.

Unhurriedly her eyes flickered open, only to squint from the old lamp swinging slightly from above her, the object clearly being the only source of brightness in the darkened room. She managed to crane her sore neck downward, seeing her clothes still attached to her body, but now they were damp — from the rain the brunette guessed. Her breath hitched as she realized further she wasn't in the safety of her home.

In that moment, Avery instinctively tried to move, despite her body disagreeing with the idea. Restraints stopped her, the metal chains rattling against the chair she was in, and then she immediately ceased her attempts of sitting up in the horizontal position she was in. The girl was terrified to attract attention.

The brunette didn't know where she was, she didn't know what was going on, and really she was utterly and wholeheartedly confused. Frustration set in too, adding to the emotional rollercoaster she was going through, and more than ever she wanted to cry for help and sob in self pity, but she didn't. That wouldn't help, and she knew this. Avery tried to remind herself that too when she began to hear footsteps approach her.

It terrified her to glance up once she noticed someone appear beside her, though she did it anyway, blinking slowly up at the boy who didn't look at all like the one she knew. His brown eyes were cold, bleak, but there was mischief swirling around in his irises, the kind that couldn't possibly mean anything good. A slight smile was also twisted into his dark expression, one that was too demented for Stiles himself to ever form. Every familiar feature turned unfamiliar in an instant, and Avery could feel that she was staring at a stranger.

The girl was going to speak, her mouth parted to whisper something, but then she decided against it. She didn't know anything, and at this point she wasn't sure he would answer any of her questions if she asked. The brunette didn't know what to do for once, so she stared up at him, her innocent gray eyes contrasting so immensely with his malicious pair of amber ones. They both felt something surge through them at the intensity of the eye contact, something foreign and relentless, and it was the reason why the male next to her broke and looked away first.

"Finally you're awake. I was getting quite bored waiting on you." He spoke up, shattering the silence between them, and then he stepped away out of her line of vision.

Once again, Avery didn't bother to form any words of her own, cautious of this whole situation. Instead, she listened to the shuffling and rattling that resulted in whatever he was doing, his presence making her internally feel like she was drowning. Everything about him, about this horrible circumstance, washed over her in one brutal, merciless wave, and it was hard for her to keep her composure. She did though, she kept her facial expression blank for the most part and tried to keep her breathing even, while hoping with everything that nothing too bad would happen.