cr: selfignitingimagines on tumblr

You had been going to school in Beacon Hills all your life. You thought of yourself as a normal teenage girl, someone with common interests like writing and listening to music. You had another interest though, and that was a girl who had made your heart skip a beat the first second you saw her.

Malia Tate was a year older than you, with a radiant face and luscious lips that aroused in you an irresistible desire. This was something you had never felt before, but when you looked at her, you swore you could feel your blood burning in your veins.

Malia wasn't oblivious to this either, and she could always see the way you looked at her. She wasn't one to act coy, so every time you met her eyes in class or in the hallway, she decided to have a little fun.

You couldn't help but blush every time she licked her lips in your direction, or winked at you in Biology. Sometimes, she would even brush her fingers across your thighs under your desk, just to mess with you. It wasn't uncommon that you would be blushing so hard you had to leave the room.

Aside from her attraction to you, you were a bright and happy girl, and a lot of people liked that, including Malia. When she finally asked you out on a date, you realized she was the one for you.

She quickly became the girl who occupied all your thoughts, who gave you confidence in you, and who loved you for what you were. She was a normal girlfriend, and as far as you were concerned, a perfect one. You loved the cuddling under her blankets at night, and all those sweet words she whispered in your ear. Every once in a while you would get the strange feeling that she was hiding something, but you were far from imagining what she really was.

Scott and her other friends were always supportive of you two, although just like with Malia, you felt like there was something you didn't know. It didn't bother you too much, because Malia meant so much to you despite that. What she was hiding was something that usually stayed in the back of your mind, but everything changed one warm, spring night.

Malia had gone away for the weekend to hike out of town with Scott and Stiles, and you had been missing her. You decided to go on a hike of your own in the preserve by yourself, although it was really more of a walk.

You were wandering through the woods, listening to the soft melody of the music coming through your headphones. An eerie wind blew by, caressing your skin and causing you to shiver. You cut the music to be more attentive, but as you looked around and saw nothing you convinced yourself it was all in your head. You blamed your unease on all the stories you had heard about the preserve, things like dead bodies being found there and bizarre animal attacks.

It always seemed safe when Malia took you out there, so going out by yourself hadn't seemed like a problem. When you suddenly heard the snapping of a branch behind you, you began to rethink your decision.

Your breath caught in your throat as you turned, realizing that an enormous animal was standing several yards behind you, just watching. You took a cautious step back, but the thing raised its hairy paws and followed you. The more you looked at it, the more you realized it had to be a wolf, but the thing was enormous. Wolves didn't even get that big, and they definitely didn't approach humans like this.

That's when you began to remember all those stories about the animal attacks, and how bodies had always turned up left and right with strange scratches and bite marks. You were suddenly sure you would become the next victim, and you panicked, breaking into a run.

You cast a terrified glance behind you and let out a scream as you realized the wolf was chasing after you. As you looked back ahead, your foot caught on a root, and you fell to the ground, groaning in pain. When you looked back, you realized the creature was almost right on top of you, and you became paralyzed with fear.

By the time you decided you weren't planning on becoming a snack, the beast lunged for you. You scrambled up, but its paws hit your shoulders, slamming you into the ground. You let out a choked gasp, unable to scream with the wind knocked out of you. You felt a sharp, agonizing pain in your shoulder, and your vision faded to black for a few seconds.

When you opened your eyes, you no longer felt the sharp teeth in your shoulder, and the weight of the animal was gone. Your body trembled with pain and shock, and you were shaking so badly you could hardly breathe.

After you found the strength to turn over, whatever had attacked you was gone. You lay

there on the ground, feeling the blood pooling at your shoulder. You managed to sit up with only a short scream, and miraculously, you stumbled your way out the of the preserve and back to your car.

When you got home, you sneaked into your bathroom, not knowing who to tell. You were sure everyone would think you were crazy, so you took refuge in the shower, letting the hot water wash the blood from the wounds on your skin.

You dragged your tired body out from under the stream and turned off the water, feeling all the exhaustion from the strange day finally hit you. You bandaged up your cuts and the bite, curled up into bed, and passed out without even shooting Malia a goodnight text.

In the morning, you woke up to several worried texts from your girlfriend and a shocking sight in the mirror. When you had pulled off the bandages from the night before, the wounds from your animal attack were completely gone. No scratches, no bite, and not even a bruise marked your skin.

"What?" you whispered, your voice trembling.

A door suddenly slammed downstairs, causing you to jump, but the sound seemed to echo in your head. You clapped your hands over your ears, flinching at the harshness of the noise. Everything suddenly seemed so loud.

You waited until it stopped, and then you pulled your hands away from your ears and pushed open your bathroom door. You picked up your phone, ignoring all the worried texts from Malia and sending one of your own.

And that was only the beginning of the chaos that would come later.

"What do you mean something attacked you last night?" Malia demanded over the phone. "Why didn't you call me?"

"I didn't know what to say," you admitted, sitting down onto your bed.

She huffed. "Y/n, you know you can tell me anything. I lived in the woods for eight years. Nothing is too crazy for me."

"This might be," you warned her. "It's weird. I'm not even sure I didn't totally imagine it."

"Just tell me what happened."

"Well, I was walking through the preserve-"

"Y/n," Malia groaned. "I told you not to go in there on your own. Especially not at night."

"The sun wasn't even down yet," you complained. "And you always take me out there. I figured it would be okay."

"Well it's not," she told you sharply. "Not without me."

"Okay," you told her, suddenly feeling embarrassed and dumb.

"Y/n," Malia said softly. "Please just tell me what happened."

You took a deep breath and told her the events of the night before, and what you had seen when you woke up that morning.

"It bit you?" she demanded when you were done.

"Yeah. It hurt so bad, Malia. I wasn't even sure I could make it back to my car."

"It left a mark, right?"

"Yeah. It was huge. But now...now it's gone."

"Gone?" she repeated.

"Gone. Like...like it healed."

Malia was silent for a few moments. "It healed?"

"I don't know how, but it did. And that's not the only weird thing. I've been hearing things, things I could never hear before. Am I going crazy?"

"You're not crazy," she said firmly.

"How do you know that?" you whispered.

"I just do. You have to trust me on that. But I'm coming home today, and when I do, I can help you."

"How?"

"You're going to have to wait until I get there before I explain. But until then, promise me you'll stay calm."

"Of course," you told her.

"No, Y/n, you have no idea how important this is. Whatever you do, you have to stay calm, okay? Just stay calm."

You blinked, feeling like all the weird behavior that had never bothered you before probably should have. The way her and her friends had acted, like there was something they were all hiding from you, suddenly seemed like it had something to do with what had happened to you.

"Malia," you began slowly. "Do you know what's going on with me?"

"I promise I'll explain everything once I get there, and I'll tell Scott and Stiles to pack everything up as soon as I hang up. I'll be there in an hour. Do you think you can hold on until then?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I...I don't know, Y/n. Just call me if you need me, okay? I love you."

The hour that followed was the hardest 60 minutes of your life. While you waited for your girlfriend quietly on the couch, you felt a sudden rush of heat wash over you. Every light in the room suddenly seemed too bright. Then, just like before, you began to hear every sound, every creak in your house. The drop of tap water, the wooden floor squeaking, the light wind on your window.

You jumped up from the couch and rushed upstairs, hoping no one in your family would notice you acting so strange. You flinched as you feet pounded on the steps, and you wondered what was happening to you. This wasn't normal at all. No one should have been able to hear those sounds. No normal person at least.

The bright light shining in from your window stung in your eyes, and you reached forward to jerk the curtains closed. Dizziness suddenly washed over you, and you grabbed the windowsill to steady yourself, preventing you from falling. But then a sharp pain began to pound against your skull, and you groaned in pain.

You began to taste blood in your aching mouth, and you rushed to the bathroom, feeling your throat tighten with the bitter taste. When you opened your mouth to find the source of the blood, you realized that your teeth were suddenly so much sharper, and longer than they had been minutes ago. They poked out of your bleeding gums, causing you to gasp and close your eyes, hoping you were just imagining it.

When you raised your head to look at yourself in the mirror, you were unrecognizable. Your lips were purple, your skin pale. Hair seemed to sprout from your cheeks, and when you felt a tearing sensation in your fingers, you looked down to find claws gripping the sink, right where your nails should have been.

You let out a short scream, and screwed your eyes shut. "Stay calm," you whispered to yourself. "Stay calm, stay calm."

You sucked in a deep breath, thinking back on Malia's words and trying to stay true to your promise to her. When you opened your eyes again, you were back to normal. The blood in your mouth was the only proof that something bizarre had happened.

"What?" you whispered to yourself. Were you going insane? Were you imagining it all?

But then again, your gums were bleeding from the puncture wounds of your teeth. Your clothes from last night were still stained red with the blood from your shoulder. That hadn't come from nothing.

You let out a frustrated groan, running a hand through your hair and resisting the urge to scream. Something was happening to you, and all you wanted to do was figure out what it was.

You were suddenly angry with Malia, because you were sure she knew something. Why was she making you wait in agony like this? Why couldn't she have been honest with you from the beginning?

All these questions sent your blood boiling. She had no right to be keeping things from you, especially not now. You were seized with a rush of anger, causing you to throw your fist into the mirror in front of you. It shattered under your touch, and blood coated the glass.

When you pulled your hand away though, the pain in your knuckles disappeared, and there were no marks to show for your violent outburst. There was simply blood, blood that had seemingly come from nowhere.

You heard a knock on your bathroom door, causing you to jump. "Y/n?" Malia demanded. "Open the door! I heard something break."

Your breath caught in your throat, and you looked up fearfully at the broken mirror. Had you really just done that?

"Y/n?" Malia asked again. "I know you're in there."

You swallowed nervously and unlocked the door, pulling it open to reveal a very worried Malia.

"Y/n?"

You suddenly burst into tears, burying your face in her shoulder. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

She startled at your outburst, but then placed a comforting hand on your mussed up hair. "It's okay. I do."

"Then tell me," you begged. "Please, tell me, because I think I'm going insane."

"You're not going insane," she assured you. "Everything you're seeing and feeling is real."

You blinked, pulling away from her shoulder and looking up at her. "How do you know about that?"

"Because I've felt it too," she told you. "And I thought I was protecting you by keeping this from you, but now you're just like me."

"Like you? I don't get it."

"Y/n, you're a werewolf," she told you.

You make a choked noise. "What?"

"The claws and fangs? The heightened senses? The healing? You've been feeling that, haven't you?"

You swallowed nervously and nodded, half sure she was messing with you.

"It's because whatever bit you changed you," she explained. "And you're turning into something just like me."

"But werewolves aren't real," you whispered fiercely. "None of this can be real."

Malia sighed and closed her eyes, she waited a couple seconds, and when she opened them again, they were glowing a bright, electric blue. She grinned, revealing sharp canines like the ones that had appeared in your mouth earlier.

"Believe me now?" she asked through a mouthful of pointy teeth.

You gulped, but after a few seconds, you nodded.

She sighed, and closed her mouth, letting her eyes return to normal.

"Am...am I going to have eyes like that?"

"Yellow ones," she told you.

"Why are yours blue?"

"That's a long story. Kind of a sad one, actually. One day, I'll tell you. For now, we're going to figure out how to make sure that nothing like that-" She gestured to the broken mirror. "-happens again."

"Okay," you whispered.

"Come here," she told you, reaching for your bloody hands. "Let's get you cleaned up.