Into the Flames → Liam Dunbar [2]

Chapter Thirty-Five

There were exactly seventeen missed calls from Liam on Addy's phone. She didn't know that though. There wasn't a chance that she was going home. Her mother was beginning to worry about her whereabouts, as well as Brayden. In fact, no one knew about her whereabouts. Addison was off the grid without a phone and without shoes.

"You checked her house?" After Liam called Brayden again without good news, he called Scott who was with Stiles. So the three of them were driving around in the jeep trying to find Addy. Brayden told them that he had no idea where she went, but he was right about her being at the lacrosse field. He didn't mention anything about their mother, although it probably would have helped a ton.

"Yeah, her mom didn't say much, but I did grab her phone," Liam answered, showing the device in his hand. Her lock screen was a picture of them. One day, Scott had taken a picture of the two sleeping, and she kept it for months. "Why would she just up and leave? I mean, she was okay when I left. You don't think someone took her, do you?"

"No, she's too smart for that," Stiles answered. Addy was too smart and cautious to be taken by someone, besides if someone even tried she would be able to fight them off. "Where else would she go?"

They checked the school again, The McCall household, the hospital, and even around the preserve. She wasn't anywhere, and without a phone, it left the others very worried. While Scott called Malia and Lydia, Stiles questioned Liam even more. It wasn't much use as every answer was 'I don't know.'

Liam was getting frustrated. There was something that they were missing, some bit of information that would explain why she just left. He hadn't talked to her since that afternoon, and it was dark out. Addy ran off like that before, but she was with someone – even if it was Theo – and she had her phone.

"Malia's gonna check the woods with Hayden," Scott announced. There was still the chance that Addy was just off doing something on her own, but they weren't willing to take that chance. Not with everything they've seen in that town. "Lydia said she'd pick up Mason and they'd look around town more."

"And what are we going to do?" Liam asked.

"We're going to figure out why she left."

)(             *           )(

"I need your help."

"Addison?"

"I need your help," she repeated.

The man in front of her looked down at her bare feet. They were cut up and bloody from the lack of shoes combined with all the running she did. Addy knew that Scott and Liam were looking for her, and she had to run through the woods to make sure they wouldn't catch her scent. It worked, but the trees had cut up her feet as soon as they started healing.

It didn't matter, though. She needed to get away from them because Addison knew for a fact that they would stop her from what she was about to do. She knew it was risky, but she needed the answers that she tried so hard to get and couldn't find. There were new questions to be asked and new answers to be learned.

"Please. You're the only one that can help."

After outrunning Scott and the others, she made her way the one place she could get help: the animal clinic. Doctor Deaton was the only that knew how to help. Deaton nodded his head slowly and gestured for her to sit. "Do the others know you're here?" he asked as she settled on the edge of a chair in the waiting room.

"No," Addy muttered. "No, they'd just stop me. I know this is dangerous, but I need answers. I need my memories."

"Addison, what you're asking me to do it very–"