Departure ↠ Argent [3]

01. Side Effects

A scream. That's what woke me up.

The first thing I thought was that it was Stiles having another nightmare, but this time, his scream sounded much worse than what it usually did. I should have been exhausted from the lack of sleep, but the moment I heard Stiles scream, I was throwing the covers off of me and running out of my room and down the hall to his room.

When I threw the door open, I was startled at what I saw. Stiles was still screaming, but his hands were gripping the sheets as his knuckles turned white. It was a terrifying sight to see, and to see something like this happening to Stiles made it so much worse.

His eyes say it all: pain, horror, and most importantly, fear. I pause in the doorway for a moment to take in the sight, but when I realized how bad this nightmare must have been, I ran forwards to help him. His screams and shouts continue to echo throughout the house as I grab his shoulders first, trying to keep him still.

"No!" he screams at me, but he wasn't talking to me. He continues to claw his hands up my arms as if he needed help, so I tried to get a better grip on him by holding his arms still. "The door-"

"Stiles," I say slowly, trying to calm him down. "Listen, okay? You're not dreaming anymore. This is real. I'm real."

He shakes his head, still clearly losing his mind. "No, no. This isn't real. I'm still not awake. Wake up!"

I didn't know what to do. I didn't know where John was, but I had a feeling that he was coming. My heart aches as I pull Stiles close to me, trying to figure out something to do that would make him realize that he was awake. His hands go from my arms to my shirt then as he bundles a handful of it into his hands, clasping on as he cried onto me.

"It was so real," he breathes, finally starting to calm down. I hated seeing him cry. "Scott was there, Lydia was there..."

"Stiles?" I hear a voice say from the doorway then, causing me to look back and see John standing there. He appeared tired, but just like me, after hearing Stiles scream, it woke both of us up in a snap.

Stiles' eyes look up then, causing his grip on me to loosen. In just a few seconds, John was by the bed and wrapping his arms around his son as I backed away, not really knowing what to do. This has been going on now for the past couple of weeks, and I still wasn't sure exactly how to comfort someone after a nightmare.

"It's okay now," I hear John say as I watch the two of them hug, trying to calm one another down. I could tell that Stiles was okay now, only just a little upset about his nightmare. I wanted to ask what he saw this time, but I knew it was the wrong time. It was always the wrong time.

After a couple of minutes, Stiles looks back up at me, nodding his head in a thankful type of way. I knew that he was glad that I tried to comfort him, even though I was terrible when it came to comforting people.

"I can stay in here if you want," I say, thinking out loud. John and Stiles both look at me, waiting for one of them to say something.

Stiles sniffles before shaking his head. "I'm okay now. Thank you though, Corey. I-I think I'm okay."

"Okay," I nod, taking a step backwards before stopping in the doorway. "I'm headed back to bed."

"Goodnight," Stiles forces a smile, but it pained me more to see him forcing it. Stiles was usually the person who made others smile; not the one who could barely smile himself.

As I started to walk back down the hallway to my room, I couldn't help but wonder why Stiles suddenly got all of these nightmares. I mean, I know that sacrificing ourselves left a dark part of us, but I haven't even noticed anything wrong with me other than the weird glances of images I'd see when I looked into the mirror or at a reflection. Stiles got the worst out of the three of us, and it wasn't fair.