Fragile (Teen Wolf/Stiles Stilinski)

Chapter 1

(Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or any of it's characters)

Chapter 1: Faye's POV

I could feel the air being practically squeezed out of me as two strong arms engulfed me in a bear hug. It didn't matter though. If this was the last time I was ever going to see my friends again, I could deal with some minor lung damage.

"You'll call me as soon as you get to Beacon Hills, right?" My friend Mallory Borden's voice was trembling and squeaky, fighting off the urge to burst out into tears. The two of us had been best friends ever since kindergarten, and we were closer than sisters. The night that my parents died, I had been with her, asleep in her room.

It was two thirty in the morning, and windows of my bedroom were being lashed by torrential rain. The downpour was accompanied by brutal thunderclaps and relentless lightning that literally shook our shack of a house.

My mother had insisted on going out to buy backups to all of the appliances we owned, just in case the storm got really out of hand. She told me to go stay at Mallory's in case the power went out. Something deep in my gut told me it was a bad idea, but I still let her go out. I let her die. It was all my fault. If I had just listened to my instinctive gut feeling, my mother would still be here, alive and well. But instead I took the easy way out, going over to Mallory's without even saying goodbye to the woman who gave birth to me.

About thirty minutes after my mom left, the Borden's phone rang. I'll never forget that call.

How Mallory's dad looked at me in horror, how her mom had squeezed me tightly before even explaining what had happened. I'll never forget seeing my mother's bruised and broken body laying there in the hospital bed, surrounded by machines that would beep and whir.

But most of all, I'll never forget hearing the long high pitched tone of her heart monitor going flat. That sound is always going to be imbedded in the deepest, darkest corners of my memory. But it's got nothing on the sound of my father's last words. It's not like his life meant more to me or anything, but just the fact that he was the second parent of mine to die that night gave his words meaning. With the very last wisps of breaths mustered up in his lungs, my father wheezed, "Don't screw up like I did.".

My mom's car and my dad's car had collided on the freeway. He had been on his way to our house, probably to apologize for the hundredth time for leaving us. Sure, no part of me would ever forgive my dad for walking out on me and my mom, but standing next to him in the hospital flipped a switch.

It was like some deeply buried memories of my father resurfaced, the ones before his alcoholism took over our lives. Us playing in our sad excuse for a garden, him tucking me in and reading me a bedtime story, or all three us laughing around the dinner table. Somehow, in those last moments I forgot the crude man with the slurred speech, and chose to remember the loving father who I spent so little time with.

That didn't last long, though. After all of the inevitable mourning and fake sympathies from complete strangers that I had to deal with, it came time to discuss guardianship. Neither my mother or father had any siblings to take me in, so there was no one for me to live with. It almost came to a point where I would have ended up in an orphanage, but luckily someone took a close look at my father's will before that happened. It had said, "If I am to die or become too sick to take care of Faye McCall before she turns eighteen, I place her in the care of Melissa McCall."

Who the hell is Melissa McCall? Clearly we are related somehow, judging from our last name, but that's as far as my knowledge about this woman went. She wasn't my father's sister, he was an only child. And she was far too young and alive to be my grandmother, seeing how both of them were also dead.

The lady remained an unsolvable mystery until someone working my case tracked her down. Melissa lived in the small town of Beacon Hills, California, along with her son Scott. She worked as a nurse in the town hospital, and was a single parent. Scott was my age, and attending Beacon Hills High School. Neither of them knew of my existence either, or of the fact that her name was in my father's will. Even so, Melissa was kind and considerate enough to agree to be my legal guardian. Apparently her and my father had been very close, making me her personal responsibility and apparent obligation.

Within the month, it had been settled that I would move to Beacon Hills ad start my new life with Melissa and Scott McCall. Today was the day that I was leaving my home town, and saying goodbye to my friends. Scratch that, saying goodbye to my friend, singular. I sort of cut off all contact with the outside world after my parents death, but somehow only Mallory managed to force her way back into my life. She was the only one stubborn enough to do that for me, while everyone else just accepted my need for solitude. Mallory knew that I didn't need to be alone, that I needed a companion to help me get through everything else.

"Of course I'll call you Mal, don't worry! Just pick up and we should be all set." Her strangled attempts to laugh were muffled as she buried her face on my shoulder. There was probably going to be a shitload of mascara and lipstick on my shirt now, but it couldn't matter less. "I love you Faye! You're my best friend, so don't ever forget me!"

I'm not much of a crier. Hell, the last time that I cried was the night my mother and father had died. Crying just never seemed like a worthwhile thing to do, until now. As the smallest of tears spilled it's way onto my cheek, I whispered,"I love you too Mal! I won't forget anything." And with that we broke apart, her bloodshot olive green eyes staring back into my crystal blue ones. I didn't want to look away, to ruin this final moment of togetherness. But too soon it was time to go, and I climbed into the driver's seat, fastening my belt and shutting the door. I backed out of my driveway, and set the GPS for Melissa McCall's house.

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Hey guys!! I know, this chapter was long and boring, but I wanted to give you some of Faye's backstory.

Please let me know what you thought and what I can improve on! I don't know when my next update will be, but hopefully soon!

Thank you so much for reading, lovelies! xoxo