𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍
( chapter six )
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𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐀

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Celia Deaton was hanging around the Animal Clinic where her father worked as Scott hurriedly opened the door, apologising.

"You're two minutes late." Celia grinned slightly, helping her dad unpack some boxes.

"I just don't want you to think I'm slacking." Scott replied, sheepishly.

"Scott," Alan Deaton said, "I guarantee you, you're one of the least slacking kids in this town."

Celia scoffed and looked at her dad, who raised his eyebrows at her. She nodded, muttering, "fair enough."

The door opened again and in walked Noah Stilinski with one of the police dogs. Celia bent down, petting the dog before tapping the examination table and the dog jumped up. "Hey!" Her dad greeted, "I see someone's ready to get their stitches out!"

"Hey there, Scott. Celia. You two staying out of trouble?" The policeman asked. They both nodded, Scott significantly stiffer and more uptight than usual. "Hey, listen, while I'm here, you mind taking a look at those pictures I was telling you about?" He handed Deaton a folder. "Sacramento still can't determine an animal."

"I'm not exactly an expert." He said, but opened the folder nonetheless. Celia peeked her head over his shoulder and frowned at the blood and scars. "This is the guy who was attacked in the bus?"

"Yeah." Noah nodded.

"Ouch. Looks painful." Celia winced at the bite mark and saw Scott looked at her.

"And we found wolf hairs on Laura Hale's body." He said.

"A wolf?" Scott asked, tense. They all looked at him, curiously. He stepped forward, "I mean, I think I read somewhere that wolves haven't been in California for like... 60 years."

"True enough, but wolves are highly migratory." Deaton said, looking at the photos. "They could have wondered in from another state driven by impulse or strong memory."

"Wolves have memories?" Scott asked and Celia frowned at him.

"Longer term memories, yes. If associated with a primal drive. See this one here?" He pointed at the scar on the man's photographed face. "Those are claw marks. A wolf would've gone for the throat or the spinal cord with its teeth."

"So... what do you think, it's a mountain lion?" Noah asked, eyebrows raised.

"I don't know." Her father said, truthfully. "A wolf could chase down its prey, hobbling it by tearing at the ankles. And then the throat."

"Spooky." Celia said and cleared her throat, looking down when everyone looked at her weirdly. Scott left shortly after that and once Noah left, Celia faced her father, "I think you scared him away with your blood-thirsty wolf theories."

"Who?" Deaton asked, packing away his medial tools.

"Scott."

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Is this short? Yes.

Do I care? Um no. Sorry

Here's a fun fact to cheer you up: Ayla's father died in a car accident when she was four.