in another life ( Allison argent) (3)

chapter ten

WHITE ROOM

Under a brilliant white glare, one-by-one, Aria, Scott, Allison and Stiles burst up from the water in the steel tubs, gasping for breath.

Fingers wrapping around the sides of the tub, aria sits up, blinking away the water dripping down her face.

She peers about, squinting under the glare.

Feet land on tiled floor as the four teenagers pull themselves out.

They gaze over a large and empty, industrial white room.

A room that might have once housed dozens of cubicles, but is
now devoid of any life.

Soaking wet, Aria, Allison, Scott and Stiles look to each other in confusion. Until they notice something even stranger...

At the other end of the room, a massive TREE STUMP seems to grow right out of the tiled floor.

Without a word spoken, the three teens begin a cautious approach.

Aria reaches the stump first and looks down with widening eyes at there was a symbol that looked exactly like her tattoo on the tree.

Almost by instinct, aria reaches a hand out to the symbol on the base of the tree stump.

The moment she touches the wood
with her fingertips, her eyes close.

Blinking, aria finds herself shivering in a cold rain in the woods.

She turns, gazing around in confusion at her new surroundings.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spots a FIGURE moving through the drizzling rain--A young man and a women searching for something with the light of their phone’s display.

Starting forward to get a better look, aria blinks in recognition.

The young women is her and the man is scott.

Standing in the drizzling rain, aria watches, stunned, as the memory of what happened flashes back to her with every blink of her eyes.

Pulling back in shock at the discovery of Laura Hale’s severed body, tumbling back down a ravine--

Crushing the wet leaves underfoot, she starts toward there younger selves, almost as if she’s trying to save them.

She hears Scott's SCREAM as he’s brutally attacked and bitten by a
werewolf and her struggle trying to get the wolf of her bestfriend.

But Present aria stops short, finding herself standing in front of the stump of the great tree. Mere yards from where
She was bitten.

Aria whirls back as the four surrogate sacrifices lie perfectly still in the
water of the steel tubs.

Aria, Scott, Stiles and Allison--their faces breaching the surface of the water just enough to breathe while their bodies remain submerged.

All at once, THEIR EYES SNAP OPEN and they lurch up, surging back to consciousness.

Water SPLASHES across the floor as
they each grasp for the edges of the steel tub.

Aria: I saw it--I know where it is.

One-by-one they scramble out of the tubs, soaking wet.

Stiles: We passed it--there’s a stump--this huge tree--not huge now--it was cut down--but big. Very big.

Scott: It was the night we were looking for the body--

Aria: The night that we were bit by Peter.