𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔, ᴛᴇᴇɴ ᴡᴏʟꜰ

𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆. battlefield

[ 2.11 ]

i don't feel sorry for him.

Maya rolled over, basking in his scent. His arm wrapped around her, pulling her closer. Her eyes opened, meeting his green eyes. "Hi."

"Hi, beautiful. How'd you sleep?" Derek asked, taking her cold hand in his warm one. "Why are you always cold?"

"I don't know, I just am. I slept okay. Every time I woke up scared, I'd feel you and be okay again. Thank you," she told him, resting her head on his chest.

"I'm always going to be here for you. Me, Isaac, Boyd, Erica. We're your family. Your pack."

Maya smiled softly at that, comforted at the thought of actually belonging somewhere. Then she laughed, "Y'know, Boyd and Isaac don't have to be stationed outside my room. I can protect myself."

"Yeah. But I feel a lot better about leaving you alone every once in a while when I know you've got Isaac, Scott, or Boyd by your side."

"Or Erica, or Allison, or Ivy," Maya added, rolling her eyes playfully.

"Yeah, them too. As long as you're not alone."

"Derek?"

"Yes?"

"I'm scared."

"I know," he nodded, pulling her hand to meet his lips. "I'm here."

Maya nodded, positioning herself closer to him so that her face was in the crook of his neck and his arms were draped around her waist.

☀︎☀︎☀︎

Stiles sat in the guidance office, tying the strings on his lacrosse stick. "You know when you're drowning you don't actually inhale until right before you black out? It's called voluntary apnea. It's like no matter how much you're freeing out, the instinct to not let any water in is so strong that you won't open your mouth until you feel like your head's exploding. Then when you finally do let it in, that's when it stops hurting. It's not scary anymore. It's actually kind of peaceful."

"Are you saying you hope Matt felt some peace in his last moments?" Ms. Morrell asked him, eyeing the way he tied and retied the strings.

"I don't feel sorry for him," he answered Ms. Morell. "No one should."

"Can you feel sorry for the nine year old Matt who drowned?"

"Just because a bunch of dumbasses dragged him into a pool when he couldn't swim doesn't really give him the right to go off killing them one by one. And by the way, my dad told me that they found a bunch of pictures of Maya on Matt's computer. And not just of her though. I mean, he photoshopped himself into these pictures. Stuff like them holding hands and kissing. You know, like he had built this whole fake relationship. So yeah, maybe drowning when he was nine years old was what set him off the rails but he was definitely riding the crazy train."