SIX DAYS BEFORE
"Finally, you're awake."
Blinking slowly, Harper's brown eyes adjusted to the light, her head not making any attempt of lifting from the pillow it rested on. Across the room she appeared to be in, a girl around her age sat on a bed, her legs crossed and a small smile on her face. She recognised the girl from somewhere, she knew that, but she had no idea where from.
Harper sat up, wiping her mouth as she looked around. The room she was in was extremely minimalistic- in a painful way, too. Everything was coordinated cream and white, although there wasn't even much in the room. Just two beds, a joint desk, and two lamps. Standing up, she glanced out the window and knew where she was immediately.
"Who changed me?" She demanded to know when she realised she was no longer in her pyjamas but in some grey jogging bottoms and a long-sleeved maroon shirt.
The strange girl raised her eyebrows, "really? You just woke up in a mental asylum and the first thing you ask is who changed you?"
"It's not my first time here," Harper gritted her teeth at the thought before calming down at the girl's surprised expression, "I'm sorry. My name's Harper. You are?"
A proud smile crossed the other brunette girl's face, "I know who you are. I'm Malia."
Malia watched as Harper's eyes widened almost comically. This was the teenage girl that had been a coyote in the woods for years after her family had died in a tragic accident.
"Malia?" She repeated softly, "oh gosh. I'm so sorry about what happened to you-"
"I'm sorry about what happened to you too," Malia cut her off, not missing the strange look on Harper's face, "don't tell me you don't remember? I was the coyote that comforted you while you were crying in the woods about a year ago."
"I knew it was you," she whispered, "nobody believed me."
Malia scoffed, shaking her head, "to be fair, I wouldn't believe you either."
Harper chuckled back a little before reality began to sink in. She was at Eichen House with little to no memory of how she got there. The last thing she remembered was answering the door and being drugged by some strange man, but that was it. She thought she would be here because of her dad, but she hadn't woken up in the supernatural unit as Harry had.
"You're confused..." The other brown eyed girl realised, "did you not emit yourself here?"
The Empath shook her head, "no, no... I was kidnapped. I have no clue what I'm doing here."
"Jesus," Malia raised a brow, "well, you should stick with me while you are here. Nobody messes with me since I punched Brunski in the face last week. Trust me, everybody else here is completely insane."
Harper hummed, "it is a mental asylum."
Malia chuckled dryly, "you have no idea..."
...
Malia was right when she had said Harper had no idea. Everybody walking around were like time ticking bombs, waiting to explode at any second. A lot of people here believed they were Virgin Mary, or even Jesus Christ himself. Others were just mad in their own ways. People would whisper to themselves or stare at Harper with wide eyes when she walked past. It made her skin crawl and her heart hammer.
"Here's the cafeteria," Malia pulled her by the wrist into a large, white room with rows and rows of plastic tables and chairs, "the food here is awful. They don't serve deer before you ask."
Harper raised an eyebrow, "um, I wasn't going to, don't worry."
The two brunettes grabbed what looked like stew from the front of the room before taking seats beside each other in the corner of the room. Guards stood around all of the exits, watching everybody with stern eyes. Harper noticed the tasers in their pockets and cringed, thinking of her visit to the supernatural facility here. That reminded her.
"When will someone talk to me?" The Empath questioned, moving her food around with her fork distastefully, "nobody has given me any instructions yet, nothing."
Malia shrugged, "someone will pull you out."
"When?"
"Now," a deep voice came from behind Harper, causing her to look over her shoulder.
She was surprised to see Jeremy stood there, a sinister smile on his face as their eyes met. Harper looked back at Malia with wide eyes, but of course, the coyote saw nothing wrong with it. She just shrugged again.
"Come with me, Ms Verum," he patted her shoulder, "we have a lot to discuss."
"No," Harper pleaded, realising where she was going, she turned back to Malia as Jeremy pulled her up from the table, "no, no, no. Malia, you need to help me-" she started to get dragged away, "stop! Let go! Malia! They're gonna kill me! They're gonna hurt me!"
Malia bit her lip as she watched. Maybe she hadn't been kidnapped and taken here, maybe Harper really is crazy, she thought to herself, she did say it wasn't her first time at Eichen.
Some people watched her, others didn't. It wasn't unusual to see someone kick off in the cafeteria, or anywhere in the asylum for that matter. Except Harper knew she wasn't insane, she knew exactly what they were going to do with her.
They dragged her by her arms, her legs kicking out and trying to get a grip on the floor. She struggled with all her might, tears leaking from her eyes and her face bright red as she persisted with everything she had inside her. It was no use.
It didn't take much for Jeremy and another orderly to get her to an office. Harper had managed to get the other orderly where the sun didn't shine, which she was quite proud of. However, she didn't have much time to take pride in her minor victory as she was being strapped down into a chair.
Jeremy took a seat behind the desk in front of Harper, dismissing the orderly with a small nod of the head. The bulky man left the room, quietly shutting the door behind him.
"You're sick," she spat, "I thought you were on my side."
"You and Harry left me down there," Jeremy chuckled dryly, shaking his head, "do you realise how much trouble I got in for that? Letting our only Empath escape? Luckily, the only other Empath in the world was stupid enough to come back here a couple of days ago, so..."
Harper threw her head back, grunting as she tried against the leather cuffs holding her down. Jeremy only chuckled louder.
"You can't keep me here," she said, "you have no consent forms from Melissa, all I have to do is tell an orderly and they'll look into it."
"Oh, but Melissa agreed," he replied, handing over some forms that sure enough had her signature at the bottom, "She thought it would be best, since you've been having an increase in panic attacks lately."
Harper felt utterly betrayed, but bit her tongue. The dark haired man continued.
"Your doctor is busy for the next two weeks," Jeremy began to shuffle through some paper, "however, we thought it would be easier for you to be brought in early, to adjust to your surroundings. You can do what the other freaks here are doing- therapy sessions, eat with them, privileges, you know the rest."
"I won't be here for two weeks," Harper glared, "my friends are looking for me right now, and they'll find me. You'll wish you never even tried the second they get here."
Jeremy hummed, "well, we'll have to make sure they just don't find you then, won't we? Your doctor is-"
"Let me guess," Harper hissed, cutting him off, "Dr Valack."
Jeremy smirked, "I see you're familiar with his work."
Harper glared harder, "you're an asshole. What does my dad want me for? What did he need Harry for? Tell me."
"You'll find out," Jeremy shrugged, "something your dad is very passionate about."
Harper figured he had to be right. After all, who the hell kills a bunch of people (including both his children's mothers), fakes his own death, goes into hiding and experiments on his kids if he only cared about something mildly?
"Mark my words, Jeremy," Harper leaned forward as far as she could in the seat, "my friends and I are smarter than you. Getting me out of here will be one of the easiest things they ever do."
"Whatever you say, Ms Verum."
...
PRESENT DAY
It had been a whole week since Harper had been kidnapped and thrown into Eichen House and the brunette was starting to lose all hope. More and more conspiracies filled her head every day her friends didn't come from her, wondering what the hell was taking them so long. Normally, the pack managed to find a solution to something like this in only a couple of days. Maybe they were so wrapped up in the whole Nogitsune problem that they hadn't even had time to start thinking about looking for Harper.
The thought made her heartache, an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach. Perhaps the conditions she had been living in made it worse. If Harper wasn't insane when she got here, she thought she sure as hell would be by the time she got out. The plain walls, the people, having nothing to do, the staff, Jeremy... It all made her want to go to the top of the stairwell and just jump off.
Harper thought that while she was here they would have the young people doing school work or something, maybe tutors or hangouts for kids her age, but there was nothing of that sort. However, Harper didn't really want to socialise with the other teenagers here anyway, the only person she actually liked was Malia.
She and Malia had grown close over the week, which was the only pro to being at Eichen House. Harper told Malia all about what was going on in Beacon Hills, all about her brother and her friends and Malia told Harper all about what it was like being a coyote and her life before. It turned out they both had pretty tragic stories to share, resulting in a lot of tears and hugs.
Currently, Malia and Harper were stood in one of the hallways. Malia was ranting about one of the cooks that had given her a dirty look at breakfast while Harper simply listened, her eyes looking out of the window. Either Malia didn't notice that Harper wasn't looking at her or she didn't care, but it didn't stop her from talking her ear off.
"Harper?" Someone called uncertainly from behind her.
Harper jumped at the familiar voice and whirled around, Malia too, coming face to face with someone Harper had almost lost hope in seeing ever again. She knew in a week when she was emitted down to her father, there was a possibility she would never look into his hazel eyes or run her hands through his dark hair again, but now here he stood, equally as shocked to see her.
"Stiles?" She whispered.
Like opposite magnets, the couple collided, their arms wrapping around each other immediately. Harper's dainty fingers clung to the back of his shirt, her face in his chest as he ran his hands through her hair, eyes wide with shock.
"What are you doing here?" They questioned in unison as soon as the pulled away.
Stiles ran a hand over his mouth, "I emitted myself here to protect everyone. We- we were looking for you, Harper. Why are you here? What happened?"
Harper's hand clasped his wrist and she brought him over to a secluded part of the hallway where no ears would be listening. Malia shot her a look, eyebrows raised.
"They got me," she whispered shakily, "they came to my house and they drugged me and took me here. If I don't get out of this place in a week, I'm here forever Stiles."
Chewing on his bottom lip, Stiles' hand moved into his hair, "holy crap," he muttered, "we're gonna get out of here, don't worry. I don't know how yet, but we will. Why haven't you called? Everyone's out looking for you, even the police. Your poster is up everywhere."
Harper cut him off from his ranting, "I'm banned from the phone," she pulled up the sleeve of her maroon jumper, showing him the green and yellow bruises that littered her arms, "anytime I go near that damn thing..."
Clenching his jaw, Stiles' fingers traced some of the patterns. He rolled her sleeve down and pulled her close to his chest after a while, pecking the top of her head and closing his eyes.
"I'm sorry," he muttered, shaking his head, "I tried so hard to find you... We all did. I never gave up, I swear. I think I pretty much lost my mind obsessing over where you were."
Harper frowned, her hands reaching up and gently took a hold of his jaw. She pulled his face down to look at her, their eyes meeting.
"Thank you," she leaned up on her toes and pecked his cheek, "I mean it, Stiles. You've found me now, anyway. Maybe I have a chance of getting out now you're here. I'm just glad it's you that's here, not..."
Shivers ran down her spine at the memory of the Nogitsune possessing her boyfriend. She remembered how he had grabbed her face and asked for her help.
"If I go through another episode you need to get away from me, Harps," the hazel-eyed boy pleaded, taking her hands and squeezing them, "when the Nogitsune takes over I have no control. I'm forced to watch all the crap that he puts you guys through..."
His eyes began to shine with tears. Harper nodded at him before any could fall. They stared at each other for a few seconds and Stiles knew Harper would do as he said. A hand clasped the back of Harper's shoulder, causing her to turn around.
Malia stood there, her arms folded across her chest and an expectant look on her face, "Harper, who are you talking to?"
Stiles' brows furrowed, "Malia?" He recognised, "It's me, Stiles. I'm Scott's friend, I helped turn you back-"
Before Stiles could finish his introduction, Malia has swung her fist back and punched him as hard as she could in the jaw. Harper gasped as Stiles dropped to the floor on his hands and knees. A guard yelled Malia's name as Harper moved to assist her boyfriend, only for hands to grab her.
"Hey, let go," she tried to kick at them.
One of the men pushed Stiles against the floor, restraining him so that he couldn't get back up. Stiles grunted, "what the hell? She hit me!"
"A few more like this, Malia, and you're headed to the closed unit," the orderly that had Malia in his arms threatened.
Harper watched with wide eyes as Malia was dragged away through the crowds of patients surrounding them. Stiles continued to yell out for them to let him go, but Harper had given up a few seconds ago, realising she was no match for the six-foot-something-bodybuilder that had her restrained.
"Enough!" Morrell yelled, causing some patients to put their hands over their ears, "I said enough."
The man released Harper roughly so that she fell to the ground. She let out a grunt, running her hands over her wrists as she watched Morrell talk to Stiles. He looked just as shocked to see her there as Harper did the first time she saw her.
As soon as they stopped talking and the crowd dispersed, Harper moved over to him and placed her hand on his cheek gently, turning his head to the side to inspect it. A faint red mark littered his pale skin. He offered her a tightlipped smile.
"I don't know why she did that," Harper sighed, "Malia can be violent, but she's okay with me."
Stiles rubbed his cheek, "it doesn't matter, I'm fine," he pushed himself up off of the floor, accepting Harper's hand, "where did they take her?"
Harper shrugged, "probably back to our room."
"Roommates," he scoffed, "what a coincidence."
A bell chimed from above them, an echo of groans coming from the patients surrounding them. They resembled zombies. Stiles looked at Harper with furrowed brows.
"What does that mean?" He asked.
"Back to our rooms," she sighed, leaning up and pecking his cheek, "bye, Stiles."
As she walked past him, Stiles reached back and grabbed her arms, pulling her back. Harper let out a surprised gasp as he placed his lips on hers, his large hands cupping her face. She wrapped her arms around his neck, tilting her head at a comfortable angle.
"I love you," he whispered against her lips, "so much."
Harper smiled a little, "I love you too."
...
i have like six chapters done but i don't know when i'll post them because i have mock trials in December, meaning I'll be spending most of my free time up until then studying. i'll probably spread the posts out idk, depends how much you guys want them aye