Chapter 23
They walked into the Stilinski household to the sound of laughter. They both stopped short at the sound of a loud laugh that could only belong to Stiles. For some reason, it made Malia sad instead of happy. Before she could puzzle it out on her own Scott spoke up,
“Now that’s a sound I haven’t heard in a really long time.” Malia thought about his words and came to a distressing conclusion. She had never really heard Stiles laugh, a real, loud, carefree laugh. Sure he joked around a lot and smiled and chuckled and gave sarcastic ‘Ha ha’s, but she hadn’t ever heard him laugh like he was currently laughing.
“I’ve never realized that he doesn’t really laugh.” She murmured.
“Yeah, his mom was really good at making him laugh…” The words were barely out of his mouth when they heard a woman’s voice above the laughter. Malia and Scott exchanged a look before following the sounds to the kitchen. They walked in to see Stiles doubled over in laughter and his mom talking animatedly. He was too old for it to be a memory, so it had to be their Stiles. Confirming her thoughts, Stiles looked up at the two of them.
“Scott, Malia! What are you guys doing here?” He said with a huge smile on his face. Malia suddenly had no idea what to do or say. This was the first time in his head that Stiles had acknowledged their presence.
“We just came by to visit,” Scott spoke up.
“I just saw both of you less than an hour ago…” Stiles said a bit suspiciously
“Well, my mom’s working late and you know how bad Malia’s dad is at cooking, so we figured we’d stop by for some of Claudia Stilinski’s famous cooking.” Scott improvised quickly. Malia was impressed by his speedy thinking.
“You guys know you are always welcome for dinner,” Claudia said smiling at them, “I always make plenty.”
“Awesome” Malia said with a smile that she didn’t really feel.
“Well, pop a squat guys, Mom was just telling me stories about her crazy first graders.” Scott and Malia sat down wordlessly. "Are you okay?" Stiles whispered. She nodded in response. "Is something wrong with the pack?"
"Everything's good Stiles, we just came for a visit." Stiles either bought it or decided to drop it, but either way he switched his attention to his mother. The whole thing felt incredibly strange and wrong. Malia realized that Stiles had constructed an entire alternate reality inside of his coma. A world where his mother had never died. That was why he hadn’t woken up yet, the world inside his head was a lot more appealing than the world outside. Somehow they had to figure out a way of making him realize that this wasn’t real. But they had to go about it delicately. Deaton had warned them about messing with Stiles’ head.
Stiles started laughing at something his mom said that Malia hadn’t even heard. While he was distracted she turned to Scott and mouthed “After dinner”. He nodded, showing that he agreed. They had to get Stiles alone to talk to him and they knew that wouldn’t be able to happen until dinner was over.
*****
A short while later, Malia and Scott found themselves eating a delicious dinner with Stiles and his mom. The Sheriff was working late and hadn’t been able to join them. Despite her best efforts to not get swept up in this fake reality, Malia found herself really liking Claudia Stilinski. The woman was easy going, talkative, funny and a damn good cook.
Scott and Malia joined in on the conversation to play the part, and Malia found herself enjoying the it more than she should. She had never seen Stiles as happy as he was sitting at the table with them. It broke her heart knowing that she was going to have to take him away from all of this. She and Scott were going to have to bring him back to a reality where his body is broken, his mind tormented, and his mother dead.
She couldn't blame Stiles for wanting to stay in his false reality.
Malia was brought back to the moment when Stiles took her hand under the table and laced their fingers together. Malia suddenly felt a rush of sadness. Because this was Stiles holding her hand, but it was not really her Stiles. All the feelings that she had tried to push down since Stiles was taken washed over her. She really missed her boyfriend. She missed talking to him and seeing him smile. She missed his lame jokes and hyperactive tendencies. She missed the way his lips felt against hers.
The boy sitting next to her was not the Stiles that she had grown to love. This perfect reality was not the one that she wanted to be in. Living means that you have to experience the bad and the ugly along with the good and the beautiful. Malia knew that back in reality Stiles would be broken, but she preferred a broken Stiles to a falsely happy one. Even though she loved seeing him like this, happy and laughing, she knew that they had to put an end to it.
She needed her Stiles back.
*****
They were finally able to get Stiles alone in his room. After they had finished dinner, Stiles had insisted on washing the dishes. Malia and Scott had helped him, desperately aware of how much time they were wasting. They couldn’t afford to stay in Stiles’ head much longer and Stiles himself didn’t have much time.
“What’s wrong?” Stiles said as he closed the door. Scott and Malia exchanged a look, not having any idea where to begin. “Come on, I know something’s wrong. You two looked nervous at dinner and you keep exchanging those very significant looks.”
“Okay Stiles, we have something to tell you, and it’s going to sound incredibly crazy so we need you to hear us out.” Scott began. Malia sat next to Stiles on his bed and took his hand. Scott sat in his desk chair and wheeled it next to the bed. Stiles looked between the two of them, a solemn expression on his face.
“Stiles, has anything felt wrong or off to you recently?” Malia asked him.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, have you had any feelings that something wasn’t right?” Malia figured that this reality he constructed couldn’t be 100% perfect. Some part of Stiles had to know that it wasn’t right.
“I, um...no, well I don’t know. Maybe.” Stiles said, shifting nervously on the bed.
“This isn’t real Stiles.” Scott said, jumping right in.
“What do you mean? What isn’t real?”
“This. Everything. This isn’t reality.” Scott said as gently as possible. Stiles jumped off the bed and looked at them angrily. Malia and Scott also stood up.
“Stiles think, every time something didn’t feel right it was because it wasn’t right. Think about what has happened recently. I know you know something is wrong.” Malia said, taking a step towards Stiles. Stiles put his hand up to stop her and squeezed his eyes shut.
“No, no stop. I don’t know what you are talking about. This is real, it’s all real.” He sounded like someone who didn’t believe his words but desperately wanted to.
“Stiles, you are in a coma right now. All of this is a reality you constructed inside your mind. It’s not real Stiles.” Scott said. Malia winced at the bluntness of his words, but she knew there was no other way to give the information.
“Shut up!” Stiles screamed and backed against the wall. He hunched over and covered his ears. Malia’s eyes widened at the anger in his voice. All of a sudden the room grew darker and everything started to shake. Malia stumbled over to Scott and grabbed his arm.
“Scott, he’s losing it, we have to do something.” She yelled over the noise. He started to say something in response but stopped and pointed to something on the other side of the room. Malia followed his finger and saw a redheaded figure with a knife walking towards Stiles.
“I brought my favorite knife to work with today Stiles.” He sneered. Stiles looked up at him with a mixture of horror and confusion.
“Who are you, how do you know my name?”
“You know who I am Stiles, we spent a lot of quality time together.” He took a step closer as Stiles fell back against the wall in an effort to get away. Malia ran forward and punched the guy. He stumbled back and disappeared. Malia went over and knelt next to Stiles. The room was still shaking and she was afraid everything was going to fall apart.
“Stiles, look at me.” She said gently but the boy didn’t heed her words. Scott came over and kneeled next to her.
“Stiles, we can help you. We can take you out of this place and bring you back, you just have to come with us.” Scott tried.
“Stiles, come with us.” Malia put her hand on his shoulder. All of a sudden his head snapped up. He looked at Scott and Malia with a mixture of fury and hate in his eyes.
“Get away from me! There is nowhere to go, this is real.” He shouted frantically.
“No Stiles...” Scott started but Stiles cut him of.
“Get out. GET OUT!” He screamed and a wave of force hit Scott and Malia sending them flying backwards.
Malia sat up and blinked at the bright lights. It took her a few seconds to realize she was sitting on the hospital floor. Stiles had managed to force them out of his mind. She looked around and saw Scott sitting next to her and the rest of the pack gathered around them. However no one was looking at them, they were all focused on the bed. That’s when Malia heard it. The unnerving sound of a flatline.
- N x
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