Thanks For Nothing (Teen Wolf)

01 | Safe

Two years ago:

The supernatural wasn't the only form of shapeshifters that resided in the town of Beacon Hills, California. The friendly community never thought twice about two separate homes on Park Street. The ones that resembled the other houses with their inviting front yards and cheerful faces when the family stepped out of their front doors. No one questioned what happened behind closed doors.

Someone should have questioned it, taken notice in the constant injuries or bruises on the children's body when they fled from their homes to attend school, threatened to pretend like it was all an accident or cover their bruises with makeup.

The children felt utterly alone until they accidentally stumbled upon each other at a small creek behind their houses. The only place the children felt safe, often returning to the creek as the years passed by as their own little secret.

8123 Park Street.

The house seemed ordinary to say the least. The exterior walls were painted a smoky gray color with white trimmings. The front yard was often mowed to the perfect length and the bushes evenly wrapped around the front porch were neatly trimmed. The house appeared exactly as it did four years ago when Diana Jordan left her family behind in a drunken rage.

The community of Beacon Hills felt sorrow for Bradley Jordan and his ten year old daughter, Riley. Their concern for the family gradually dispersed over time until the only time the Jordan name crossed their minds was when Deputy Bradley pulled them over or showed up for an emergency.

The daughter learned how to become invisible without her body actually disappearing. Students passed her in the hallways and sat beside her in class without a second glance in her direction. Teachers occasionally called on her in class, but that was as far as their interest went. They never noticed the extra makeup she wore to cover the bruises that sprinkled over her body like large freckles.

No one ever noticed, except for Isaac Lahey.

No one even noticed the window facing the backyard of the two story home quietly slid open until Riley's auburn head popped through the small space. Cool air greeted the teenager and sent a wave of goosebumps across her arms underneath the thin jacket she wore. Her hands shook uncontrollably as she stealthily climbed out on the roof, painfully aware of every sound she made, worried about her father camped out on the couch in their living room.

Most of Riley's nights consisted of waiting until her father passed out on the couch with a half empty beer in his hand, exhausted from the long day of work and abusing his daughter. She often escaped through her bedroom window at late hours of the night to visit the one person in her life she trusted.

Her beat up Vans softly scuffed across the dark shingles of the roof with every small step she took until she reached the edge of the roof. She carefully lowered herself into a crouched position and grabbed the lip of the edge before she stepped down on the white, lattice trellis attached to the back of the house on the right side.

The toes of her sneakers slammed into the earthy ground after she jumped down from the trellis halfway to the ground. She speedily moved across her backyard with the help of the moonlight until she reached the trail hidden amongst the trees behind her house. A deep breath was sucked between her lips when she reached a safe distance from her house.

The pathway brought a small sense of comfort throughout her body. The route was all-too-familiar to Riley Jordan after she spent years of secretly traveling through it to meet her only friend— her best friend. The one person she felt safe around.