The house was quiet until around five o'clock when everybody started arriving home. Danny had come back after band practice around five fifteen, mom walked in the door twenty or so minutes later, and dad had just messaged saying he was waiting on a delivery.

After arriving home, I sat in the chair by the window overlooking the woods that started about twenty yards from our backyard. Beacon Hills County was surrounded by woods and pretty much nothing else, and with woods came a multitude of animals. Living so close to the edge, sometimes you could see deer or possums wander out and into the yard. On rare occasions, you can catch sight of a bobcat or a coyote. This was Southern California after all, and although, I've never seen one, Danny swears that he has.

My brother stopped when he saw me in sitting in silence. He looked down at my relaxed position, my knees bent and my legs crossed with a blanket thrown across my lap. He threw my jacket off of my bed before sitting down across from me. 

Danny sighed loudly, before leaning over and rubbing my knee soothingly. "I wanted to tell you that mom got a call from the school explaining what happened today." I nodded, not expecting any less from the school. I mean why wouldn't the school call a parent if their child was a potential suspect in a murder and had to go give a statement to the police. "I don't know if he did, but expect that dad got a call as well or mom told him, but I just wanted to tell you."

"Thanks," I spoke quietly, my voice slightly cracking. I wasn't about to cry again. Firstly, I didn't even know Isaac's father, so I wasn't emotionally attached enough to cry for his namesake. Secondly, I cried earlier today. More in the name of Isaac than his deceased father, but tears still made their way down my face. Finally, I was more shaken up, then scared. I've never known anyone to die before, so the fact that I was one of the last people to speak to this man other than his son before he died, frightened me. "I still have to go give my statement down at the Sheriff's office tonight."

"Wait, I thought you were excused from school to go do that? Why didn't you?"

"I was a nervous wreck. I didn't think I could handle all of that within a two-hour time span," I explain.

"Jamie," he denoted sadly. "Now you'll have to go after dinner or something. This isn't something you can push off."

"I know that I just was too nervous to go earlier, and I was hoping if I waited maybe I would be with the Sheriff since I'm somewhat comfortable with him."

Danny looked at me, "You don't think he has to go home at some time to?"

"Well yeah, I was just hoping that time would be later." Danny gave me a look telling me to think rationally, and I groaned. "You know what, I'll go right after I eat if that will satisfy you."

He chuckled, "It's not me you have to satisfy. It's the officers, and what do you think mom and dad will say about all of this? What time do you even think you'll be home?"

I shrug, "I can't expect it to last more than an hour and a half or so. I bet I'll be back by nine. Then I can talk to mom and dad about what happened. Your acting as if this is gonna take hours."

"Maybe I'm just being conscientious. Come on I hear dad downstairs just and mom wanted me to tell you dinners ready," he said patting my back guiding me up.

"Do you know what were having?"

Danny thought for a second, "Uhh... mexican?"

I look at him in all seriousness. "Dude, I love mexican." I jokingly shove Danny out of the way before rushing down the stairs and into the kitchen.

We sit at the table. Dinner is placed out and there's a thick, unwelcomed tension in the air. No one eats until everyone is served. We pass the plates around in silence, only speaking to ask someone to pass over what we want. The tension was due to topic floating in everyone's mind, and unlike the private discussion I planned just for mom, dad, and I, after I arrived home from the interrogation, it was going to happen now. Danny was bound to find out eventually, so I didn't mind if it happened now, but I didn't want him to watch as mom and dad question me about how I got in this position.

I watch my father move in a stiff manner as he poured black beans onto his dish. He extends his hands towards my mother and my brother, and they extend their hands to both him and me and my father gives thanks to God for food and work and friends and family. I cringed slightly in the middle of our prayer over the topic of friends, but I felt Danny squeeze my hand in reassurance. "Amen," we say in unison before slowly eating.

"So," my mother says to no one in particular at first. "Tell me." Okay, apparently she's talking to me. Great. I wasn't ready for this conversation. She takes my father's hand and moves her thumb in a small circle over his knuckles. I stare at their joined hands. My parents loved each other, but they rarely show affection like this in front of us. It was just something they did quietly behind closed doors or behind our backs.

"Your father and I got a call from the school and Sheriff Stilinski today, and we're not exactly sure what to tell you yet Jamie," she announced. "We've noticed you're odd behavior the past few days. Is Lydia's disappearance working you up? We're just worrying because of your friend or and then what happened to that boy's father, but your father and—"

"What your mother means to say is that what you did to try to help your friend was good, but if you know or think that someone is being abused, you need to tell someone." Father was usually straight to the point and spoke laconically about things, an aspect I loved about him. Mother usually spoke for a few minutes going on a tangent of things before getting to the main point.

I stare at my plate. Mexican was my favorite, but right now, I just wasn't feeling it. "I didn't know he was being abused until Jackson told me a few days ago. I didn't know what I did was a bad as it was until the Sheriff told me today."

Father sighed, rubbing his template. Mother chewed silently and listened as I spoke on about how Jackson told me of Isaac being abused, to the night I went to visit him and spoke with his father, all the way until earlier today when I spoke with the Sheriff in the principal's office. I explained everything that happened with as much detail as possible and tried to explain to them how I felt. As I spoke, I was only interrupted a few times to be asked a question, to which I explained to them the best I could. By the time I was done dinner had started over twenty minutes ago.

"You said you still have to go down to the station to give a statement, didn't you?" my dad asked.

I nod, "I was planning to go after dinner. I don't plan for it to be too long though, but at this point, I don't even know what to think anymore."

"Then you need to eat your dinner quickly, so you can go over there," my mom says while getting extras for herself.

"Okay," I say. I hadn't taken a bite of anything because I was talking the entire time, and that would have been rude to. So when I took my first bite, it didn't matter if the chicken was slightly cold, I found it delicious. It didn't take me to long to finish, but I wish it would have taken longer knowing what was looming in the near future.

After, pulling on a light jacket and slipping my shoes back on, I was grabbing my keys off the back hook.

I said goodbye to my understanding parents and brother and quickly went to leave. As I was opening the back door I heard my father, "Now Danny," he started putting his fork down. Danny looked up from his third helping. "Let's talk about your French grade."

Danny groaned loudly and I chuckled at him. He looked at me his eyes pleading, but I shrugged offering no help to him at all as I left to the sheriff's department. Family dinners were just great here.

It was already dark when I left the house. At the stop light, I look up at the sky and noticed the full moon start to peek its way over the eastern hills. It was a beautiful night, yet I felt like I was doing something so dirty. The station came sooner than I expected and I pulled up and parked on the side. Other than the two squad cars parked out front, it didn't look like anyone else was here.

I sat with the engine off for a moment, not wanting to leave the security of the vehicle. It wasn't like what I had to do was difficult, all I had to do was basically tell Sheriff Stilinski what I told my parents as he wrote it down on a sheet of paper. But the idea of it seemed tiring, and I was lazy, so none of it seemed appealing to me. Nonetheless, I gather my courage and step out into the chilling night air.

As I entered inside, the lady behind the counter smiled at me.

"I'm—"

"Jamie Māhealani," she finished reading from a sheet of paper. I looked at her in shock, "The sheriff told me you'd be in here sometime today."

"Oh, that's great." I forced a smile, but the deputy didn't notice.

"Let me take you to the back so you can answer them privately. Okay?" I nodded as she guided me behind the desk towards the back. We walked past a couple of doors before we turned down another hall. I followed closely behind the deputy, but when I looked down a hallway towards a small section of jail cells, I instantly noticed him. I knew that shaggy-haired boy from anywhere. We made eye contact for only seconds before I had passed the hall entirely.

I frowned at the thought of Isaac in that jail cell. Sheriff Stilinski told me Isaac was going to be here. I just thought he was going to be held for questioning, not locked away in a cell. That was all he needed right now after the death of his father. Did they really think Isaac was capable of murder? That boy could barely finish a lacrosse practice without running out of breath, I highly doubt he could commit first-degree murder.

She brought me to a desk surrounded by a few others and turned on a small table lamp. "Okay Jamie, all I need for you to do is answer the few questions on the front. Since you are being asked to state for the abuse case of Isaac, you'll need to write down the events as vividly as you remember them the night you went to visit the Lahey's do you understand?"

"I think I can handle that," I assured not only the deputy but myself. She handed me a pencil before informing me that she had to go back to the front desk.

Once she was gone, I left out a breath of air. Maybe I was overestimating what exactly I was doing. My first assumption was that I was going to be held down in a room while officers asked me a number of questions that I didn't know the answer to. Writing down what I saw and that's it, is by far the easiest thing that I could be doing. "Okay then," I say to myself before answering the few questions on the front.

I looked up at the clock and noticed half an hour had gone by, and I flipped to the next sheet where I began writing my statement. Suddenly, the fire alarm went off, and I broke my pencil while I was at it. 

Even though I didn't smell fire, I didn't want to take any chances and left the room. Today wasn't the day I wanted to die. I didn't hear the deputy at all, so I assumed she went to turn it off, but nothing should be taken lightly. Hastily, I moved following the exit arrows until I was going back in the direction I came from. Upon turning the corners, I ran and tripped over something. 

"What the hell!?" I said in shock as I looked down at Stiles Stilinski. I fumble as I try to get off of him. But then I saw him. In front of us stood a male deputy with a large needle in his hand. I looked at his face and followed his eyes to the empty middle jail cell. The large metal door was ripped off of its top hinges and hanging loosely on the wall.

The siren continued to blare loudly, and when I noticed the situation I knew the siren wasn't a fire alarm. It was an escapee alarm. "Stiles, what's going on?"

All of a sudden, the officer standing a few feet in front of me was attacked from the side and thrown across the room into at desk with a loud crack. I let out a high pitched scream before scrambling to my knees. The officer rubbed of the attacker and stood back up.

Stiles seemed to kick into action, "Move Jamie!" he shouted before pushing me behind the desk Just as two bodies began just fighting just on the other side. I moved without thought listening to Stiles, for something odd and scary he seemed to be handling the situation well. He scooted in front of me.

My heart was beating rapidly, and my mind was in a blur. I was already in a weak state and wiped tears from my eyes. What the hell was happening? I glance around the edge of the desk at the fight from behind Stiles protective body. It was the first time I got a good look at the attacker and I gasped in shock when I saw they shaggy figure hurl the deputy into the wall. But that couldn't be him. Could it?

His back was to me as he fought the deputy. There was an animalistic growl across the room, and my body began to shake in fear. My eyes widened as I saw the attacker twist the deputy's arm after he tried stabbing him with the large needle. I flinched and shook harder and tears flowed from my eyes as I heard the sound of what I assumed was bones cracking and watched as the man's arm was bent in ways only seen in horror movies. The deputy's head was slammed into the wall and he fell to the ground either unconscious or dead.

If things couldn't get any more terrifying, a tall, dark, handsome man clad in leather, entered smashing the needle to pieces under his heavy boots. The attacker stood and turned around and faced Stiles and I. For the first, I looked at the attacker straight on.

Isaac Lahey.

Although, it was him—I was 100% sure it was him—Isaac looked nothing like himself. His ears were two sizes larger than usual and pointed at the top. His light brown hair came down on both sides of his face into large, hairy sideburns. His large hands grew long, sharp nails that looked almost like claws. His mouth pulled into a snarl which exposed edged fangs. The skin between his nose scrunched together in wrinkles and his nose was larger than usual. What stood out most was his eyes, which glowed a brilliant gold.

Isaac growled at Stiles and I, but it stopped immediately when he spoke something that shook my core. "Jamie?" he spoke in a gruff voice that wasn't his own.

Suddenly, the man dressed in leather growled a ferocious growl. Fangs extended from his own mouth and his eyes turned a fierce red. Isaac cowered against the wall, almost as if in fear as the large man continued to growl down at him. When the man finally stopped, and Isaac looked up, all the abnormal features vanished. He was Isaac again.

"How did you do that?" Stiles asks looking between the two.

The man looked down at Stiles, then glanced at me. "I'm the alpha."

I've had issues with hyperventilating before, so it wasn't a surprise when my eyes rolled back and my head hit the concrete floor.

☾

UPDATE: 22/03/2018

Word Count: 2902