The Girl In The Coffin // D.H

Twenty

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

As the minutes ticked by, Derek could feel his patience wearing thin. He wanted answers. He needed to know what was happening to her, why she had suddenly 'woken up', and why her connection to the earth seemed to grow stronger with every passing day.

He stepped back and let Melissa continue her work, but his mind wouldn't stop spinning. He couldn't just sit idly by while Abigail suffered. She had already lost so much—her voice, her memories, her connection to the world. He couldn't allow anything else to be taken from her.

☾☆☽

Hours passed, and the sterile silence of the hospital room weighed on Derek like a heavy stone. He'd left to grab a coffee, trying to give Melissa space to run her tests, but nothing felt right. He kept returning to the thought of the injury on her throat—the cut that had robbed her of her voice. Had it caused more than just physical damage? Had it taken something from her mind as well?

When he returned to the room, he found Melissa still at work, scanning through the results, her brow furrowed in concentration.

"Anything new?" Derek asked.

She glanced up from the screen. "Nothing conclusive yet on why she's unconscious, but I did take a look at her throat."

Derek felt a flicker of unease. "And?"

Melissa hesitated, but then nodded slowly. "There is a faint scar line that goes from here to here."

She points to a point just below Abigail's ear and trails over to the other one.

"Looking at the scar, it has been a long time since this happened, but it is very possible that it damaged her vocal cords."

Derek stared at the scar, the faint pink line that could easily be mistaken as a skin crease. He hated that someone did this to her, that they caused such damage to such an angel of a human being.

"We'll have to look deeper with scans to see if her vocal cords actually are damaged. If they are, we can try and repair them with surgery."

Derek stared at Abigail. Her silence had always felt like a mystery, but now it was something more. It was still a mystery, but now they knew what had caused it. The questions now were why and by who.  whatever the answers, he would find it. He would do whatever it took to help her.

Just then, he felt it— a shift in the air. A soft rustle, a movement. He looked down to find Abigail's hand twitching ever so slightly.

Her eyelids fluttered.

Derek's breath caught in his throat.

Abigail's eyes opened slowly, blinking as if adjusting to the light. there was a faint glimmer of recognition in her gaze. She looked up at Derek, and her lips parted, but no sound came out.

Derek moved closer, kneeling beside her, his voice soft but full of emotion. "Abigail? Can you hear me?"

Her eyes searched his face, and for a moment, the silence between them felt heavier than ever. She blinked again, and Derek could almost feel the weight of the unspoken questions between them. But then, with a soft and strained breath, Abigail raised her hand—slowly—and placed it over her throat.

Derek's heart skipped a beat.

She couldn't say it, she couldn't say that she heard their conversation about her trauma. And she couldn't say that she remembered who did it.

☾☆☽

Abigail and Derek were still at the hospital, making conversation when Melissa stepped back into the room.

"How are you feeling Abby?" She asked with a soft smile, which grew when Abigail gave her two thumbs up with a large smile. Stiles had taught her about the thumbs up and what it meant, she was proudly showing off.

With a chuckle, Derek shook his head. Amused with the girls antics and the way she found joy in the smallest things.

"Uhm, Derek can I talk to you for a second?" Melissa said with a cautious smile. Derek nodded silently, patted Abby's leg before standing up and following Melissa out of the room.

Abigail sat alone on the hospital bed, the room's stillness pressing against her like a weight. She let her fingers trace the hem of the blanket as her thoughts churned. The strange energy she'd felt earlier still lingered, humming faintly beneath her skin. It was both familiar and foreign, like a forgotten memory trying to surface.

Her eyes flicked to the corner of the room, where the fluorescent light seemed to dim slightly. Shadows gathered there, darker than they should have been, but when she blinked, the space returned to normal.

The air shifted, though—softly, almost imperceptibly. A chill ran down Abigail's spine. Her breathing quickened, and she clenched the blanket tighter in her hands. She felt something, as if the room wasn't empty anymore, though no one had entered.

The silence stretched, but it wasn't comforting. It was alive, pulsing faintly, and Abigail's heartbeat thudded in time with it. She turned her head slowly toward the corner again, her chest tightening.

The sensation wasn't like the earth's energy that she often felt, warm and grounding. This was colder, sharper, like a distant whisper brushing the edge of her mind.

Her hand instinctively reached for her throat, the faint scar beneath her fingers grounding her in reality.

Suddenly, the door creaked open, and Derek entered. Abigail flinched at the sound, startled out of her thoughts.

"Abby?" Derek's voice was steady, but his eyes narrowed as he caught the tension in her posture. "What's wrong?"

Abigail shook her head quickly, as if to dismiss his concern, but Derek wasn't convinced. He moved closer, his sharp gaze scanning the room.

"Was someone here?" he asked, his tone low but firm.

Abigail hesitated, her fingers fidgeting with the blanket. She glanced toward the corner of the room, where the shadows had gathered earlier.

Derek followed her gaze, his expression hardening. "You felt something." It wasn't a question.

Abigail nodded slowly, her wide eyes meeting his. She raised her hand, miming the sensation of something brushing past her shoulder, the lightest of touches that sent shivers through her.

Derek's jaw tightened, his instincts kicking into overdrive. He didn't know what she had felt or why, but he trusted her instincts.

"Stay here," he said, his voice low. He turned and stepped into the hallway, scanning for anything out of place. Melissa glanced up from the nurses' station, frowning as Derek's eyes darted around.

"Everything okay?" she asked, concern lacing her tone.

Derek shook his head. "I don't know yet," he muttered.

Back in the room, Abigail let out a slow, shaky breath. Whatever she'd felt, it was gone now, leaving behind only an unsettling emptiness. But something deep in her chest told her this wasn't over.

Far from it.

*
A/n: okay so in backkk, sort of? I don't know yet, what I do know is that I'm sorry for leaving you hanging like that, I had horrible writers block and could not seem to get through it but I did it! Somehow? I'm still working on more chapters so it can take a while for me to update again and for that I am once again sorry!

I love you all and I really appreciate the support on this story!

Lots of love and kisses,
Leia