the unknown ↠ stiles stilinski¹✓ (REWRITTEN)

thirty-one

Chapter thirty-one✓

"You should try to get some sleep."

Olivia stared down at her hands that were wrapped around the hot coffee. Her body craved the warmth rather than the drink itself. She didn't respond. Stiles looked over at her. The more he focused on her features, the more he came to realize how much like death she looked. Olivia's dark circles under her eyes, pale skin with fragile bones that looked like they could shatter under the weight at any moment. The girl looked like she had just crawled out of a grave.

He, too, could pass for a zombie.

"I can't." She stated. "Sleeping isn't necessarily the best choice for right now." There wasn't much of a choice though.

"I'd rather not, preferably." She played with the hem of her sweatshirt, not looking at him directly.

"How long?" he asked. It was a simple question that made her pause.

Olivia closed her eyes in defeat. She knew this question would come up sooner or later. She was just dreading it. She couldn't answer, afraid of the outcome. Would he be mad that she didn't tell him sooner? Would she be blamed for letting it get this bad?

Stiles waited for an answer that he never got.

"Olivia." Stiles said sternly, beginning to worry about her answer.

She was afraid, hesitant and he picked up on that just adding to his suspicions.

"...two weeks and counting." Olivia said barely above a whisper, but he heard it nice and clear. The first few nights after the ordeal, things were perfectly fine. Everyone was well and finally getting some down time. Olivia hung out with Allison, Lydia came over often — things were great even.

Then there was silence.

Stiles's breath hitched in his throat, eyes hardening. This had been going on for that long and she didn't say anything? As far as he knew, his nightmares only started last week, if not maybe a day or two before. His eyebrows knitted together wondering why she kept such a troublesome matter to herself for so long.

"I don't understand you, Liv."

Olivia finally looked up in confusion. His words were the last thing she expected. Before she could ask what he meant, he beat her to it.

"There are some things you can't fight by yourself. That's why you have us. The reason we've all survived this long in this type of world is because we rely on each other. You have to trust us...or, or at least me— someone. I guess I just don't understand why you keep it to yourself." His voice was steady, an undertone of pleading.

"It hurts. It hurts like hell that I'm not strong enough to handle this..." Olivia kept her voice calm as she talked, trying to keep her voice steady even though the urge to scream at the top of her lungs was strong. "I don't think people understand how hard and stressful it is to explain what's going on in your head when you don't even understand it yourself." She pursed her lips and wiped away a few stray tears that escaped.

He couldn't argue with her. She was right. Whenever he was struggling to understand something in school, asking for help from a teacher never helped one bit, so he learned it at home by himself with no help. Just like Olivia was doing now.

Coming to a decision in her head, Olivia spoke. "Alright, I'll try and get some sleep." she couldn't argue with him.

Stiles' face lightened up for a moment.

"But,"

His face dropped.

She hesitated before speaking again, almost becoming uncomfortable under his gaze. "Can you stay?"