Touch | Lydia Martin

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴏɴᴇ

"Did you steal from the station? Good on you."

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"You couldn't wake up?" Scott asks as himself, Stiles and Charlotte walk towards the school.

"No, and it was beyond terrifying." Stiles nods with a small sigh.

"How terrifying? One being the time when we were in the parking lot with Peter hacking into Scott's phone-" Charlotte starts.

"You two did what? Why didn't I know about this" Scott asks in shock.

"It was irrelevant. Anyway- ten being the time at the motel place?" Charlotte asks Stiles.

"What would a nine be?" Stiles asks her curiously, making Charlotte think for a moment.

"When you guys were sacrificed." Charlotte replies.

"You'd put that as number nine?" Scott asks her, furrowing his eyebrows a little.

"It was scary!" Charlotte defends.

"Have you two ever heard of sleep paralysis?" Stiles asks, making Scott and Charlotte turn to him.

"Yes." Charlotte nods.

"No... do I want to?" Scott asks.

"Have you ever had a dream where you feel like you're about to wake up but you can't move or talk?" Stiles asks.

"Yeah, I've had that." Scott nods.

"No." Charlotte shakes her head.

"It happened because during REM sleep, your body basically becomes paralysed. It's called muscle atonia and that way, if you start dreaming about running, you don't actually start running in your bed." Stiles explains.

"That makes sense..." Scott trails.

"And on that note, I've learned enough for the day." Charlotte smiles, about to turn around to walk home, but Stiles quickly grabs her shoulders and drags her with them.

"This is mean, you deserve jail." Charlotte glares at Stiles, who just sends her a small smile.

"Sometimes, your mind wakes up before your body does. So, just for a split second, you're actually aware that your body is paralysed." Stiles adds.

"Do you think that's what people in comas think everyday?" Charlotte asks curiously.

"Yeah, basically. And that's the terrifying part." Scott nods.

"Okay, yeah, that's the new number nine." Charlotte nods, scrunching her nose a little, her shoulders slumping when they walk into the school.

"It turns your dreams into nightmares. You can feel yourself falling, getting strangled... or in my case, like you're at the centre of a grove of magical trees where human sacrifices took place." Stiles nods, letting go of Charlotte when they walk into their classroom.

"Fair enough. I had a similar dream, but this time I was being eaten by a tree branch with salsa music playing in the background." Charlotte hums.

"Surprisingly, you've dreamt worse." Stiles points out, himself and Charlotte high fiving each other.

"Do you think it means something?" Scott asks.

"What if what we did that night, getting sacrificed? What if it's still affecting us?" Stiles asks.

"Post traumatic stress?" Scott asks.