𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐎𝐋𝐅 ━━ LYDIA MARTIN

66

REID WALKED TOWARDS the table where he saw the whole group sitting together. Ignoring the questioning looks they sent him, he sat down beside Stiles since the other places were all occupied and tossed his bag beside him on the ground.

"You look like shit," Scott muttered, leaning forward as he eyed the hybrid skeptically. He huffed an chuckle in response, "don't remind me."

"And on top of that you're late," Stiles reminded, "you've missed the first few periods of the day. Where have you been?"

"Home," he muttered, his eyes falling on Lydia who was staring at him with narrowed eyes but she said nothing. He ran his tongue over his lower lip, turning his head to look at Allison then Stiles then Scott, "are we okay? I mean, with the hallucinations and shit."

"Nope."

"No."

"Never been worse."

Reid raised his brows at the answers, nodding to himself, "well, what happened?"

"Stiles thought he was asleep in class but he wasn't," Scott responded as Stiles hummed before adding, "yeah, I was seeing everyone speaking to me in signs language. I mean– how crazy is that? And also, I wrote wake up like a shit ton of times on a paper. This is not okay!"

"Calm down," Reid mumbled, "we'll figure it out."

"So what happens to a person who has a near-death experience and comes out of it seeing things?" Scott's question was aimed to no one in particular.

"And is unable to tell what's real or not?" Stiles added earning a sigh from Allison, "and is being haunted by demonic visions of dead relatives?"

"They're all locked up because they're insane," Isaac responded with a nod earning a small chuckle from Reid and a loud huff from Stiles, "ha. Can you at least try to be helpful, please?"

"For half my childhood, I was locked in a freezer..." Isaac trailed off, "so, being helpful is kind of a new thing for me."

"Hey, dude, are you still milking that?" Stiles asked, irritation clear on his features as Isaac mirrored his expression, "yeah, maybe I am still milking that!"

"I—" Stiles was cut off by Kira who abruptly stopped at their table, "hi!"

"Hi...?" Reid trailed off, shooting her a questioning look. Her face redenned, "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..."

"Tell us then," Reid leaned in on his elbows, all of them waiting to hear what she has to say.

"There's a Tibetan word for it— it's called ‘Bardo.’ It literally means in-between state," Kira informed, "the state between life and death."

Lydia shot her a condescending look, "and what do they call you?"

"Scott's new crush," Reid responded making Kira's eyes widen and Scott choke on air while Stiles and Isaac chuckled under their breaths. Scott shot Reid a glare which he returned with a smile.

"Kira," Scott cleared his throat, attempting to difuse the awkwardness in the air, "she's in our history class."

"So, are you talking Bardo in Tibetan Buddhism or Indian?" Lydia asked earning a shrug from her, "either, I guess... But, all the stuff you guys were just saying? All that happens in Bardo. There are different progressive states where you can have hallucinations. Some you see, some you just hear. And you can be visited by peaceful or wrathful deities."

"Wrathful deities?" Isaac repeated, "and what are those?"

"Like..." Kira paused, searching her brain for an example until Reid beat her to it, "demons."

"Yes," she nodded, smiling at him which made Lydia visibly frown as Kira repeated, "like demons."

"Demons," Stiles sighed, "why not?"

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

"Death," Kira responded, a hint of obviousness in her tone as she allowed her eyes to flicker from person to person at the table, "you die."

"Well, isn't that just sweet," Reid muttered, turning to look at his friends who all visibly paled at the mention of death.

Stiles cleared his throat and nodded, "just the answer we were looking for, wouldn't you say?"

"Yeah," Scott mumbled, nodding to Kira who looked as confused as ever. He flashed her a smile, "thanks for your help. We just... needed to know. It's this thing we do, ask weird random questions and try to find the answers by ourselves."

"Oh, that sounds interesting." Kira muttered with a nod, smiling awkwardly at Scott, "I'll just... yeah, I'll see you guys around." With that, she walked away.

"Reid?" Lydia spoke up making him look at her, "yes?"

"Could I speak to you for a minute?" She had already stood up. Reid nodded and got up as well before following her away from the group, knowing what she wanted to talk about.