It's Argent, It's Strife {4}

chapter five

She'd never been a sleepwalker before, she was certain of it. She had no memories of walking around while she was sleeping but she knew that most sleepwalkers didn't always know what they did while they were sleepwalking.

Of course, Rory had technically felt like she was sleepwalking before, when she and Lydia had both appeared at their school in the middle of the night when Jennifer Blake was sacrificing people to gain power - the deputy that used to be a middle school teacher that they'd found dead on the school sign, well, Scott found.

But this, this was definitely closer to sleepwalking than she'd ever done before.

A hand landed on her shoulder and scared her awake - or at least, she thought it scared her awake, but she was technically already awake, just in a vision.

"Rory?" Lydia said gently causing the brunette to spin around.

"What are you doing here?" Rory questioned her friend with a frown.

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" Lydia shot back in curiosity.

"What are you talking about?" Rory asked in confusion.

"Rory, what are you doing in Stiles' room?" Lydia questioned the girl.

Rory suddenly became away that the carpet she was standing on wasn't her own, it was older, as if it had been laid out longer and the amount of light that was shinning in the space was harsher giving away the fact that the windows weren't covered by blackout curtains that Rory invested in when she first moved into her apartment, and the lack of Pickett jumping at her ankles all gave away that she wasn't standing in her own bedroom.

"Did you sleepwalk here?" Aiden questioned as he examined her - she was clad in soft cotton shorts, a large sweater that had once belonged to Scott before Rory stole it from him and socks that came up to her calf.

"I think so" Rory answered vaguely.

"Your car is here" Lydia pointed out to the girl in concern.

Rory glanced around the room observing the way that red strings were attached to the walls and a pair of scissors that were stabbed into his mattress.

"Oh God"

"How'd you know? Did he called you too?"

Scott and Isaac had just burst into the room, the latter immediately coming to Rory's side, gently touching her back.

"I heard it" Lydia answered before tacking on,
"Rory was here when we got here"

"Don't ask" Aiden advised with a shake of his head,
"It gets more confusing when you ask"

"Okay" Scott muttered with a small nod.

"Not as confusing as this" Rory said catching all of their attention, Scott came over to her and followed her eyes to the walls and the string,
"He uses red for unsolved cases"

"Maybe he thinks he's part of an unsolved case" Aiden suggested with a small shrug.

"Or is an unsolved case" Isaac added pessimistically.

Rory spun around and stared at Scott,
"Is he still out there?"

Scott hesitated for a moment, an awkward expression covering his face, Rory questioning,
"Do you not know where he is?"

"He said he was in an industrial basement some where" Scott explained,
"We came here to get a better scent"

"What else did he say?" Lydia questioned.