season two, episode two ☾ shape shifted

RIVER WAS A PAINTER. For her, each brushstroke felt like a heartbeat, pulsing with life as it danced across the canvas. Colors blended and clashed, creating a symphony of hues that mirrored the the girl's soul. With every movement, River poured emotion into the work, transforming simple pigments into a vivid expression of joy, pain, and passion.

River was never one to communicate, the words always felt heavy, like stones lodged in her throat, and she found herself stuck in a frustrating silence. It was hard to express the swirling mix of emotions inside her, a storm of feelings that defied simple articulation. Every time the Delgado tried to speak, the right words slipped away, leaving her with a sense of inadequacy, as if she was grasping at shadows.

So, for her, painting wasn't just a hobby—it was a language, a way of speaking without words, where every stroke told a story only she could understand.

So it was only obvious that when she came back from school, she immediately went to her room, ignoring the calls from her dad, to paint.

Without eating, or even taking a shower, River sat down on the stool in front of a big canvas and started her sketch.

She started with the faint outlines of a sunset, in the middle of the canvas, she added a lake — remembering her nickname Lake — she smiled. A small smile, she knew why she was painting this landscape.

It was for someone. A boy. But not romantic.

He was someone she once knew, when she lived in Beacon Hills. He acted like a sibling, or a cousin, or someone she could talk to.

She hoped he was okay. And that he still lived there. She hoped that their paths would cross sometime.

Snapping out of her trance, River heard a knock on her door. Yelling a soft, "Come in," she quickly put away her painting supplies as her dad stepped into her room.

River sat on the bed alongside her dad and started playing with her fingers, anxiously picking at the skin of her fingers, waiting for her dad to say something.

Like a habit, Rick Delgado reached forward and cupped his daughter's hand's into his own, stopping her from hurting her fingers even more.

With a shaky breath, River started, "I don't wanna be here, dad, why are we here?"

Sighing her father responded, "I wish I could tell you, but I'm not even sure yet."

"If you're not sure, why would you drop everything we had back home just for this? It's not our business, we should just stay out of it."

Looking his daughter in her eyes, Rick said, "We can't just stay out of it, it's a part of our family."

Furrowing her brows, the daughter answered, "What's a part of our family?"

"One day you'll know." And with that, he turned out, but before leaving the room, Rick turned around and said, "It's good that you're painting again."

Leaving before she could say anything else, making his daughter more confused that she already was.

Lost in her thoughts, River didn't even notice when her bedroom door opened, revealing Carter.  She was confused, what was all that talk? What was her dad talking about? Why couldn't he tell her? He once said there were no secrets between his family, maybe he was lying.

"Are you okay, River?"

Locking eyes with her sister, she nodded. Carter continued, "Did dad say all that crap about Beacon Hills being a part of our family to you too?" there was so much poison in the youngest's tongue, River was positive she never heard her sister talking like this.

"Yeah, what is all that about anyway?" the green eyed asked.

"I wish I knew."

The continuous sound of her heart beating was all she could hear.

She couldn't see anything, the world around was a labyrinth of shadows, where each step echoed with the hollow sound of being trapped in an eternal void. There was no escape, no hint of dawn, only the dark that pressed in from all sides.

She felt trapped. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to escape.

In the distance, a faint light flickered, fragile and trembling, as if mocking the hope it seemed to offer. Yet, every time the light seemed within reach, it dissolved into the darkness, leaving behind the cold, clammy touch of fear.

Is this what dying feels like?

She heard a voice.

"River!"

Waking up scared, River started to look around for any indication of where she was. It was then, she realized.

"Hey, Riv, it's okay." Carter started, pulling her sister in for a hug.

"I know what you're gonna say, Carter."

"Yeah, so let me say it." The younger started, "Have you been getting them again, the nightmares?"

The concern in Carter's voice was evident. The nightmares started when River's mom, Camilla, left.

They started as meaningless things, such as waking up invisible or being forgotten. But over time, they got worse. Carter always said it was a way that River's mother could talk to her, after leaving. But River found that thought absurd. I mean, how could a random woman control her dreams or thoughts?

"They started again, when we moved here," River started. "It's like everything I've been feeling about my mom and the supernatural and Beacon Hills just came crashing down in form of dreams. It sucks, Cara, I'm just so tired."

Carter's eyes softened the same time River's hardened. It was hard for her to be back here, to talk about her feelings after her mom.

Suddenly, River's room's door opened. On the other side, stood their dad, with the typical face of something is wrong.

"We need to go."

"Can someone please tell me what we're doing here?" River started.

"Yeah, dad," Carter briefly joined, "Why are we at a police station?"

Rick sighed. Knowing that if he told his daughters the real reason they were there, they were definitely gonna drop everything and go back home. So, he opted for the short version, "We're here to help some people."

Before either of the girls could say anything, their dad had already left the car, slightly slamming the door on his way out.

Sharing a confused look, the two girls slowly left the car as well. Walking in the police station, River could definitely sense that something was wrong, they shouldn't be there—she shouldn't be there.

The oldest Daughter could heart strange noises, growling noises. Hitting her in the face like a brick, River suddenly knew the real reason they were at that police station, and she hated it.

Walking through the police station right after her dad, with Carter on her trail, River felt scared. For the first time in a long time, she felt terrified.

Not because of the werewolves, she didn't care about that—as long as she knew how to tame them. She was more afraid of facing the supernatural again. After everything, being back in this town, with these people, it was her worst fear.

When her dad stopped walking, she realized that they had reached their destination, a cell room. Focusing on the scene before her eyes, she could see the guy from the field, the fluffy haired one, sitting against the wall of the room, looking scared.

"How did you do that?" she realized it was Scott

Replying to the McCall boy, River heard a voice too familiar for her liking.

"I'm an alpha,"

With shaky breaths, she released a small whisper.

"Derek?"

NAT TALKS !
wrote this entire thing while watching gilmore girls and crying and it was awesome honestly

i was really liking where this chapter was going but i think it went downhill but still i love it :):)

this is becoming a tradition but thank you alaina for reading this before anyone else you're amazing <3 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 (but you really should watch teen wolf)

thoughts? suggestions?

update: if you're a real one you've noticed that i changed the start of the chapter :D it was honestly so hard but i think i did a pretty good job