Burning Slowly

Chapter 8

It was late in the morning when Stiles was finally dressed. He walked down the stairs into the living room. He looked around. No one seemed to be in the house. He walked over and looked out the front door. The van wasn't parked in the gravel driveway. Perhaps Derek had gone into town after seeing the void in the cabinets where snack food used to be. Whistling to himself he knocked on the door to Allison and Scott's room, hopefully they wouldn't be in the middle of making out. He wanted to see what they wanted for lunch. He was going to make up a picnic basket so they could all hang out on the beach.

There was no answer. That sucked, maybe they were outside. He went over to Lydia and Jackson's room, knocked on their door as well. No response came. He sighed, pulled out his phone. There were no messages. He dropped the phone back into the pocket of the cargo shorts he was wearing. He head towards the front door, slipped his feet into flip flops as he went. Everyone had a key of their own so it wasn't like anyone could be locked outside.

He made a circuit around the porch. He felt silly about wanting to call out for his friends. No one was there. He went back inside, noting that the bathroom door was open. He went up to the second floor and out onto the terrace. His stomach grumbled, hungry for something more than the Lucky Charms he'd given it earlier.

Stiles walked around the terrace, looked down the small slope that led down to the beach. He couldn't see anyone. It was like the whole world was empty except for him. He swallowed nervously, his mouth suddenly dry. Where was everyone? He decided he'd just pack a variety of things into the basket. If some people didn't like what he had it would be their own fault. They should have been around when he was making them food.

He went back inside, headed down to the kitchen. Stiles opened the fridge, started grabbing all sorts of things. Cold cuts, vegetables, condiments, and fresh fruits. He piled it all up on the counter. He added a jar of peanut butter, two kinds of jelly as well as a loaf of bread. He pulled out his phone. There were no messages, no missed calls. He shrugged, went about the work of preparing what everyone would declare was the most amazing lunch spread they'd ever seen.

Stiles worked happily, listened to music playing from his phone. He didn't glance at the front door or the doors that led to the back very often; it wasn't like he was worried he'd been abandoned by everyone. He chewed on his lower lip as he made the food.

When he was finished and the basket he had purchased solely for the occasion was nearly bursting with yumminess he glanced at his phone again. It was sort of past lunch time. There were still no messages on his phone, no missed calls. He glanced out the back door, there was no one on the beach that he could see.

He went out and spent some time in the hammock, played video games on his phone. He chuckled to himself as birds sought vengeance against the pigs who'd wronged them. The hammock was comfortable, but after an hour his stomach reminded him that he was not the master, that it was time to pay tribute.

He hopped out of the hammock, walked down the driveway to look both directions down the road. No pretty strawberry blonde with her arms full of shopping bags appeared. There wasn't a young couple holding hands and whispering secrets to each other running up breathless and happy to be back at the house. He walked around to the back and glanced down towards the beach again. There wasn't a blonde athlete swimming in the water or basking in the late afternoon sun. Hell, there wasn't even an intimidating man who only wore black scowling at anyone who seemed to be having fun.

Stiles went back inside, noticed his phone battery was almost dead. He walked back up to his room, plugged it in to charge. He must have sent too many pigs' houses tumbling down. His phone hadn't rang, hadn't notified him that anyone was wondering where he was or what he was doing. Stiles went back downstairs, figured that it was time to eat alone. It sounded awesome...