𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟏

                                    

                                          
   I HAD AN IDEA.  
In my opinion it was a good idea — one that was beneficial to myself. I liked my idea and I didn't care for anyone else's take on my idea. To be honest, I wasn't planning on informing anyone else of my idea — not even Stiles — because it was something I wanted to do on my own. I feel like if I'd let Stiles in on my idea he would tell me I didn't need to go through with it and give me a list of reasons as to why. He would try and talk me out of it and it was something I didn't want. I'd rather go through with it on my own and if he found out then yeah, I would tell him. 
It wasn't a bad idea. It was a good one. In fact, it was probably the best idea I'd had in a while. It involved skipping school — which was always a good idea — but it was hard to make my getaway without Stiles noticing. I had to go to school with him this morning to then time my exit perfectly, hanging around the halls until the bell rang and Stiles and I separated to attend our morning classes. I then had to get past the faculty, namely Morrell because she seemed to have a tracker on me at the minute. 
Nevertheless, I had managed to make my great escape and I walked through town to my planned destination — or rather our planned destination. 
I wasn't sure why I selected the Hale house as a point for us to meet. I felt drawn to it, like a moth to a flame. I hated the place with every fibre of my being but there was something about it. I couldn't shake it though, no matter how hard I tried. Perhaps it was because it was the source of all my problems, my subconscious was driving me to return to fix everything that went wrong here. I wasn't sure but there was only one way to find out I suppose. 
When I reached the clearing I stood against the trees, the burnt house still standing in it's glory under the morning sun. I remembered a time — now, anyways — when the house was complete, in a world of it's own. Now though the back of it was missing, a victim to the flames that had claimed so many that day and luminous yellow police tape hung off the door and around the wooden posts that held the decaying porch roof up. The house was dilapidated, probably an enormous safety risk to anyone who ever stepped foot inside of it. While the foundations were strong the rest of it was not. 
It seemed like I was the first to arrive and I found myself walking towards the front door. I treaded slowly, hesitant in my steps as I neared the old wooden door — walking up the few porch steps. The house was no longer locked — I suspected it hadn't been in a long time — and the door was slightly ajar, the yellow 'crime scene' warning tape the police had stuck on had fallen and the opening invited me in. In my eyes there was nothing stopping me from walking in.
This place was once a home away from home and now it was merely a place of the past. A glorious house that had seen so much, now an abandoned building. 
The floorboards creaked underneath my shoes as I walked slowly into the house and I looked up towards the staircase in front of me leading to the upstairs floor. Immediately, a thick wave of nostalgia hit me as I glanced around the grey abode — the paint work had been demolished by the flames, instead leaving a dark grey colour behind on the walls and floor. As my eyes cast over towards what used to be the living room of this house I noticed the still fresh blood splatter on the floor in the right hand corner, a vivid reminder of how Kate had met her demise. 
I heard a voice then, a voice so soft and calm I could hardly believe my ears. My recollection of Talia Hale was pretty much abysmal but I would forever remember the way she spoke. Her voice was like a melody and as a child I remembered being enticed by it — it was something I didn't know I remembered but hearing her speak just now was opening a box I never knew I had unlocked. 
"This is your choice, Carmen." 
Carmen.. my mom. Talia was talking to my mom. 
I wasn't sure why but I found myself looking around for the two women although — as expected — they were nowhere to be seen. My shoulders sagged in disappointment and the thought that maybe my mom and Talia had been alive all this time flew out of my head as quickly as it entered. They were both dead, I was kidding myself by thinking otherwise.