Leverage

Missing

I walk into the school library and up the stairs to the second floor to meet up with Scott. We have a history project due tomorrow and don't have much time left for procrastination.

I reach a table and drop my books, pulling out only the ones I need. Scott isn't here yet but I'm starting without him.

Placing a notebook in front of me while holding my pencil in my mouth, I start flipping through the history book until I reach the page I'm looking for. This shouldn't take too long to do. It's just a timeline of major battles and their impact that occurred during World War II.

Finding the correct page, I begin to read the chapter....or at least I try to. I squint my eyes at the words on the page but they....they don't look like words. The pencil drops out of my now open mouth as I stare at the them, forcing myself to comprehend what the chapter is telling me, but everything is scrambled. The letters don't form a single word no matter how much I strain to make them appear.

Bewildered, I look up from the book and scan the room around me. I'm in my dad's office at the sheriff's station. And instead of my schoolwork in front of me, there are missing child fliers. They all have the same picture on them....Me.

I hold one in front of me. Just like my history book, I can't make out what it says. I don't understand. Why would I be on a missing child flier? I'm not missing. Is this some kind of joke?

I drop the papers from my hands and stand up. I have to find my dad. Ask him what this is all about.

Walking out of his office, I search the station for him. But neither him nor anyone else is here. It's completely empty. I continue to the back of the building, wandering along the hallways for any sign of another person.

I arrive at the room with the holding cells and notice that one of them is open. I don't know why, but it intrigues me. I peer into it and am slightly disappointed to find it empty. Not sure what I was expecting to see inside it.

I enter the cell for no reason in particular when I hear a noise behind me. I turn around to meet a relatively small room. This room looks familiar but I can't place where I've seen it before. I glance around, taking in the scene before me.

I'm not alone in this room.

There is a figure lying against the wall. Pity for the thing creeps itself inside me. It looks like another teenager. He is bloody and beaten. I see bruises and cuts all over his body. Sadness brings tears to my eyes.

What could do something like that to a poor kid? I have to get him out of here. My dad will know what to do.

I begin to step toward him when the door swings open. No one comes in, but distinct voices can be heard from down the hallway. With a quick glance to the kid, I look away and make my way out of the room to see who the voices belong to.

I'll be right back, I tell myself.

Down the hall, my feet bring me closer and closer to the boy's abusers. My mind doesn't really register that I should probably call someone and report this rather than face it by myself.

The hallway brings me to an open room with a group of people talking. A man with sandy brown hair, black glasses that blind people wear, and a walking stick has a dark haired woman at his side. Another guy, bigger, takes up a position at his other side.

They are all facing what appears to be a younger man, might even be a teenager. I take a few more steps forward so I can catch what they are saying to each other.

"Please, just think about this." The blind man begs, clearly upset. "Hasn't he suffered enough?"

"Suffered?" The younger one questions. "He doesn't know the meaning of it." He sounds so cruel.

"I honestly don't know how much more he can go through. I told you. We aren't expecting anything from you except you joining us. We aren't requiring you to kill or hurt anyone in the process. Just leave your old pack behind."

"And I told you. No. I don't care what you do, I'm not joining you. I have my own pack to take care of let alone worry about something like this."

"I thought he was your friend. Your best friend." Blind man tries to reason. "You can stop all of this with no real loss. In fact you would gain more. He will live and get on with his life. Isn't that enough?"

"Get on with his life? Yea, sure he will. After years of therapy thanks to you." Younger man quips.

"Wouldn't that be better than leaving him in there?" The blind man wears a sorrowful expression. "As I said before. I don't know how much more he can take. He is only human, after all."

"Exactly! He's human. He's weak. He doesn't belong in my pack and they are all I care about. Them and my mother."

The blind man tries to retort but the younger one cuts him off. "We're done here. You know my answer. It's not going to change no matter what you do to him. In fact, you should probably just put him out of his misery."

With nothing else to add, the younger man walked away from them and out of the building.

I can't believe how heartless the man was. That is supposed to be his best friend in there and he waved him off just because he's human. The kid can't help it. And if that's what happens when you become what he is then I wouldn't want to be one either. I can sympathize with this kid.

The disappointed blind man speaking again pulls me from my thoughts. "All right, Kali. You know what to do."

He walked away with the bigger guy while the woman drew out her claws and made her way to my direction.

I have to get this kid out of here. Now!

I retreat back to the room to grab the kid, but he's not where I left him. Where could he have gone?

The woman, Kali, snickering behind me made me jump. I turn around to face her and she stares me dead in the eyes.

"Today is your lucky day, Stiles. I'm going to end it all for you."

I take a step away from her. "What?" I manage to get out.

"That's right. It's all over."

I don't know what drove me to do it, but I look at myself. My clothes are torn and ragged, blood drenching them. I have bruises and scars everywhere. In the exact same places as the other boy did.

What's going on? Fear erupts from within me as I realize....I'm the boy. I have been missing. Who knows how long. And that was....that was Scott out there. My best friend. He...He left me. Left me with Deucalion. And now...now Kali is going to 'end it all.'

A sob escapes me. I don't want to die. I don't.

Kali raises her hand in the air, ready to strike. Before I have a chance to beg for my life, she brings it down and slices my throat.

Blood pours out of it, dropping me to my knees. I try to apply pressure, but it keeps coming. I can't make it stop. I choke on it, spraying it on the floor.

Not like this. Not like this.

I cry as a coldness takes over me. It's my blood. It feels so cold. It boggles me that in my last few minutes of life, I am analyzing the temperature of my blood.

It's really cold though. Like ice. In fact, it's freezing.

"Get up, Stiles!" Kali commands, making me flinch. "Get up now!"

She glares down at me while holding a bucket of what appears to be ice and water.

"I said, 'Get. Up.'"

She pours the contents of the bucket on me and I'm shocked awake. I thrash around, taking a look at my surroundings. I'm back in my room, throat unharmed except for some soreness from Ennis choking me, and Kali is standing over me with an empty bucket.