┏━━━━⋆°.☾⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆━━━━┓

AIN'T NO REST,
AIN'T NO ESCAPE

THE DRESS WITH THE SPAGHETTI STRAPS ENDED UP BEING THE WINNER.

She paired it with short beige heels and a carefully crafted smile, though a part of her was genuinely happy. Emerson had worked tirelessly to get to this very moment, and based on the unshed tears in Hannah's eyes, she knew she had at least done something right.

"I'm gonna miss you," the Prescott woman whispered out as they stood on their front porch, the deputy taking as many pictures of Emerson that she could fit within her phone storage.

Emerson sniffled, her hand feigning an itch at her nose. "Don't think I would've made it this far without you, Han," she said as she walked up to the woman. She wrapped her arms around her, savouring the moment before they had to head off to the school. "You were the best aunt I ever had."

She could still remember the day that Hannah had taken her in, relinquishing the Hughes' guardianship over the girl in Rochester.

"And you were the best niece I ever could have wished for," she chuckled wetly, and Emerson let out her own bubble of laughter. "I wish it didn't have to be like this."

Emerson agreed easily. "Yeah, me too."

"Your mother would've been so proud," Hannah added, pocketing her phone and not so subtly wiping at the skin beneath her eyes.

Something pulled at Emerson's chest, nauseatingly, at the mention of the woman who she'd never known. The woman Hannah herself had once known more than two lifetimes ago.

"I hope so."

The ceremony was efficient in its structure, with Emerson's name being one of the quickest to be called out due to her A surname. She had the damn diploma is a white knuckle grip the entire time, cap snug on her head as everyone clapped politely for their peers. Inside was a name that wasn't even fully her own. Nothing but a fake.

And if Emerson clapped a little louder for the likes of Elizabeth Miller, it simply wasn't anyone's business. This would be the last time she saw her, and she owed her that much anyways.

So, when all was said and done, and the graduating students put their tassels to the other side of their caps before throwing them in the air, it was over.

All of it was now over. Emerson's valiant smile never faltered when she exchanged pleasantries with these people who would never remember her in a few months, much less in a few years.

But Emerson would remember, she would remember because she had a nasty habit of memorizing the faces around her.

Elizabeth found her after the ceremony easily, like she actively sought her out.

She launched herself into Emerson's arms that were already outstretched, the pair of girls hugging one another with a grip so entirely visceral.

The Avery girl found that something trickled down her cheek as they pulled away, yet still hand their hands gripping each other's own.

Elizabeth laughed a little bit. "Don't cry, Em," she whispered out, squeezing her friend's left hand. "We still have all summer, yeah?"

They didn't have all summer. She was leaving tonight.

"Yeah, you're right," Emerson responded with a sniffle, eagerly wrenching her hands away to rub at her eyes to ensure it looked like the tears had never been there in the first place. "I'm being stupid, sorry."

Elizabeth shook her head, a teasing smile on her face. "Emerson Avery crying over little old me," she sang, and the blonde rolled her eyes playfully. "I don't know if I should be concerned or elated, honestly."

"Let's stick to the latter," she said, before she was pulling the girl into another hug. "Thank you."

It was better than saying goodbye, or talk soon, or I'll see you later. This was for her own good. Elizabeth would be just fine without her.

"I should be thanking you," Elizabeth smiled, her eyes momentarily catching sight of her own parents coming their way. "You made high school a little more tolerable. You're my best friend, and a little distance in the fall won't change that."

Emerson physically swallowed the remorse that was desperate to claw its way out of her, to spill out onto the floor beneath their feet. All she could do was nod as the Miller girl was whisked away by her family, sparing Emerson a vibrant wave.

This, this departure, was proving to be much more difficult than the others. Maybe she should've left after two years anyways, sighting of the bad man or not, and not lingered like she evidently did. She became attached, miserably so.

So attached that she had one last thing to do.

Emerson never liked saying goodbyes; however, she had one last thank you left in her that was reserved for someone who wasn't even there.

She reached for her phone in the pocket of her dress, dialling up a number she had memorized by now. Something she almost beat herself up for doing, but it wouldn't matter come tomorrow.

It picked up on the second ring.

"Can you meet me at my place?"

ೃ࿔*:⋆

She was in the passenger seat of Hannah's car when it rolled to a stop in front of the house. The Prescott woman didn't enter the driveway, and the very actual made Emerson furrow her brow.

The blonde looked up from her nails, a question on her lips, before her eyes took hold of something else entirely.

It was the boy she'd summoned to her home, standing in front of the front door that looked like it had been kicked in, barely hanging off the hinges. She was throwing the door open before she could hear Hannah's words. "Emerson, wait a sec—"

Her phone forgotten in the car, she raced up toward the front porch where the Lahey boy stood, his head snapping in her direction upon her arrival. "Isaac, are you okay?" she asked, not knowing what might've happened.

"I just got here like, two minutes ago," Isaac told her, giving Hannah a nod once she joined them. She nodded back, though her hand was hovering over her belt. "Derek was busy, so I walked over."

He ran, but Emerson didn't need to know that.

She hummed, going to take a step inside before Hannah was grabbing at her arm. "Emerson, someone might be inside," she stressed. "Let me—"

But Emerson couldn't detect any sounds that were out of place. No strange breathing, no secondary footsteps, no voices. It was silent in the home, and that was all it took for her to shed her guardian's grip from her.

Entering the home, everything was in complete disarray. Things had been thrown around, furniture had been flipped over, hell, the fridge door had been left open.

It was a message, a clear one at that.

"No," she started to mumble, shaking her head before she shot up the stairs. The mumbling continued. "No, no no no—"

Isaac followed after her, hot on her tail as she burst through her own bedroom door. The sight was one she'd seen countless times, but seeing it here, here in her room in Beacon Hills the day she was meant to leave? It made her throat constrict.

Aside from the utter destruction that seemed to have unfolded, the walls were littered with an oh-so familiar emblem. It was a symbol, a three-legged design with a triangle in the middle.

Suddenly, it was almost like there was water in her ears, her head plunged beneath a cold surface.

She was panicking. She was drowning.

"These are just like the ones at Derek's," Isaac offhandedly said, looking around the room in what she knew must've been confusion.

Only, her blood turned cold, her head slowly turning toward his.

"What the hell did you just say?"

⋆°.☾⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆

[ wyn's note ]

HERE WE GO!!!!!!

HERE WE GO!!!!!!

next chap a few things will fall into place! but shit, the alpha pack hath arrived! thanks for 4K my lovers xx