One More I Love You

Outsider

Unfortunately Isaac was able to find me during free period. I mean the school is only so big so it was only a matter of time. To be honest I'm surprised I've avoided him for this long. When he did find me he insisted that we leave campus for free period, said he had a surprise for me. He led me to the woods behind the high school before telling me to close my eyes. "I swear, if you run me into a tree I will end you." I tell him as I comply.

"You know we really need to work on your people skills." He chuckles before reassuring me he would never do such thianhe grabs my hand and leads the way. We walk a good five minutes into the woods until we come to a complete stop. "Don't open your eyes and don't move, I'll be right back."

I could already heard his footsteps retreating before I had the chance to respond. "Isaac don't leave me here!"

"Two seconds! I'll be back I promise!" His voice began to fade off into the distance. "Don't peek!" That was the last I heard from him before radio silence. All that was left were the sounds of the forest, and the animals that inhabit it.

I waited a couple of minutes but I didn't hear anything. He never came back, and no it's not like those times where I wait two seconds and then get impatient. It's not just that anyway. The forest sounds changed after a while too. I could no longer hear the animals, or feel the wind on my skin. It's like everything stood still. 

Just then I hear movement on my left. "Isaac? Is that you?" I to stay true to my promise and keep my eyes shut. But I couldn't shake the feeling of something being wrong. That's why when the movement quickly moved to my right with no response, I quickly open them as I snap my head in that direction.

It's moving too fast to be an animal or teens deciding it's a good idea to fool around in the woods. This is something else entirely. I was able to locate what ever it was hiding behind a tree. Against my instincts I decided to approach it. Then again my instincts haven't been exactly a reliable source as of late.

"Isaac this isn't funny." I call out sternly. It wasn't until I was pretty close to the tree that I heard constant growling. Before I had the chance to pull back it lunged at me. When it came out of hiding I was able to tell what it was. It was a Kanima. Never thought I'd use that word again. But Jackson is a werewolf, not to mention he's in Europe.

Could someone else have become a Kanima an we didn't know? To be honest I didn't take much time to think about it before I was weaving my way through the forest trying to get away. I wasn't doing a very good job considering I could hear it right behind me.

As soon as I made the mistake of looking back I crash into a girl almost sending us both barreling into the ground. Once I could stable us both I noticed that is was Lydia. "Lydia, what are you doing out here? It's not safe! Go get Scott!"

Her face was a mix or confusion and fear, probably because I almost took her out. "What are you talking about?" she was cut off by a loud roar coming from behind us.

"Go!" I pull her behind me and get into a defensive stance. I pulled out my claws and bared my teeth as it slowly came out from behind the trees. I tried to growl at it to prevent it from coming any closer but it just keeps coming, venom dripping from its claws.

I don't have time to wait for Scott, or anyone else for that matter. So I made a judgment call, one that might get me killed but I mind as well try to take it down with me. So I went after it. Once I took those first few steps it seemed like everything was happening in slow motion.

I hear Lydia yell from behind me, "Allison no!" followed by the sound of an arrow being shot. Wait, Allison? Then in a blink of an eye everything changed. I was face to face with an arrow that was about to go straight through my head, to my right stood Isaac who stopped said arrow, and the Kanima was replaced with Allison who was aiming her bow and arrow right at me.

I think we might need another plan, and fast.
-
The next day, during lunch the six of us sat at a shaded bench to compare notes. Scott, Stiles, and I on one side and Isaac, Lydia, and Allison on the other. Due to recent events none of us really felt like eating.

"Okay, so what happens to a person who has a near-death experience and comes out of it seeing things?"Scott asks out loud. He thought if we look at it from an outside point of view we'd be able to look at it clearer.

"And is unable to tell what's real or not?" Stiles adds.

"And is being haunted by demonic visions of dead people?" I throw in.

"They're all locked up because they're insane." Isaac half jokes. I kick him in the leg while everyone else sends glares his way.

Stiles cuts his eyes at him as he meets Isaac's attitude. "Can you at least try to be helpful, please?"

"For half my childhood, I was locked in a freezer. So, being helpful is kind of a new thing for me." Isaac challenges him.

"Dude, are you still milking that?"

"Yeah, I am still milking that." I roll my eyes at both of their childishness. As much as Isaac was joking, he's right to a certain degree. We're all too close to this, too biased. We need an actual outsider. Someone who has nothing to loose if this all goes left.

I see the girl I met earlier with her dad, walking up to our table before stopping in front of it. "Hi. Hi, sorry. I couldn't help overhearing what you guys were talking about. And I think I actually might know what you're talking about." Well, hello outsider.

"There's a Tibetan word for it. It's called 'Bardo.' It literally means 'in-between state.' The state between life and death." She continues. She has a slight glint in her eyes. Like the one you get when your talking about something your really passionate about. She quickly quiets down when she reads all the confused and more than likely unwelcoming looks on our faces.

"And what do they call you?" Lydia interrogates being retracting back to her mean girl persona she seems to have with people she doesn't know. No doubt crushing that little glint.

Before I, or even she for that matter, could answer Scott jumps in. "Kira. She's in our History class."He adds the last part when he could finally tear his gaze from her to look at the rest of us staring him.

"So are you talking Bardo in Tibetan Buddhism or Indian?"

"Either, I guess. But all the stuff you guys were just saying? All that happens in Bardo." That little spark returns to her eye as she sits down excitedly next to Stiles and explains farther. "There are different progressive states where you can have hallucinations. Some you see, some you just hear. And you can be visited by peaceful and wrathful deities."

"Wrathful deities? And what are those?" Isaac asks suddenly interested in what he has to say. He's doing the thing when he puffs up his chest in anticipation of danger.

"Like demons."

"Demons." Stiles repeated, as if the news wasn't surprising what so ever, and he turns to Scott and I to mutter under his breath, "Why not?" Scott and I shush him before returning our attention.

"Hold on, if there are different progressive states, then what's the last one?" Allison chimes in.

"Death." Kira explains, clearly simplifying for our benefit. "You die."