After All This Time

Winter Song

Lydia put her car in drive and started down the road. She hadn't been to this part of Beacon Hills in so long. She used to know it so well, she used to live there. Most holidays she wouldn't come home, instead her mom would fly out to campus, they were always interrupted by holiday busyness and important business meetings. She ended up spending most of the holidays alone in her dorm studying, it's not like she reached out to anyone to make it different. Allison of course called her to talk and made a point to say that everyone wished she was there. She never really believed it.

Everything looked festive as she drove down the road coming up to her childhood home. As much as Lydia would say she hated the cliche that is the holiday season and Christmas, she loved the lights. She couldn't help but fall in love with the way the world looked when a certain silence fell over it, leaving nothing but distant carols and crisp cold air littered with glowing twinkle lights. Everything was happier, everyone was happier. She loved the idea that maybe even for a short time people could forget the trouble they experience and just be okay. Okay with each other and okay with the world. That's what Christmas should really be. It's what Christmas was to her.

As much as she loved her mother, she hadn't seen her in about a year. She was busy and her mother was busy and neither of them made an effort to see each other. One of them would always end up disappointed, and it was usually Lydia. And she began to realize the full extent of the disappointment the closer she got to the place she once called home. She, all of the sudden, feared the rest of the drive. She didn't know why it felt like this, maybe it always did. She hated it, but she kept going anyway reaching the exact road and soon enough the exact house, pulling into the long driveway. She took a deep breath and pulled out her phone.

After a subsequent amount of rings she got the voicemail.

"It's stiles, I'm probably busy but if you leave a message and I like you I'll call you back when I can." She was annoyed now. She needed to talk to him, he should pick up. She then realized that he had no obligation to, he just always did.

"Uh hey it's me I was just. Actually never mind I'm sorry this is the most pointless message. I'll talk to you later." She let out a breath, pressing her lips together with annoyance and letting the silence sit on the voicemail for entirely too long before she uttered a goodbye and hung up, putting the phone into her purse and getting out of the car.

She felt the cold air eat away her warmth as she wrapped her arms around her chest pulling her sweater closer to her body. She didn't know whether or not to walk in or knock first, so she knocked and heard the high healed footsteps all the way to the door, as it swung open in front of her she instinctively took a step back.

"Lydia honey you don't have to knock." Her mom was almost offended but Lydia saw an understanding look on her face. Natalie stepped forward pulling Lydia into a tight hug.

"Honestly I don't know what to do in this town. It's like I've forgotten all common sense."

"Well I think maybe there is more to it than just that." Lydia rolled her eyes, knowing her mom was right and walked into the house, setting her purse down on the table and pulling out her phone. Stiles still hasn't called back, and a part of her worried and part of her, the logical part, told her that he was working. That just because he didn't answer once didn't mean that he was being taken by some kind of supernatural creature.

Natalie observed Lydia, watching her glance at her screen every ten seconds.

"Waiting for someone to call?" Natalie gestured towards Lydia's phone.

"Uh no. Just seeing if someone got my message." Lydia's tone was mysterious and Natalie didn't overstep. Lydia was grown now and if she wanted to share she would.