Underneath the Moonlight

I wake up to the sun shining through my window. Even with the covers over my head, it is still bright in my room. I pulled the sheets off of me and sat up straight in my bed, making my stiff joints pop loudly. I rub my eyes open as I take notice of my room. Everything looked strange at first, but as my vision cleared up, it made sense. I swing my feet over the bed and tried to stand, only for my legs to give out under me and almost fall. I held onto my nightstand as I tried to find strength for me to walk properly. The bandages still wrapped on my feet don't really help me, but I manage to walk fine as I went over to my window and look outside. I open the screen and poked my head out a bit. I felt the cool breeze flow by and I took a deep breath, inhaling its fresh scent. I could hear birds singing in the background as I looked all over the scenery of my parent's mansion.

"I'm home." I say to myself. "I'm actually back home."

I pull myself back inside and close the window. The first thing I do is go over the mirror to look at myself, and let's just say it's a sight to see. My hair is a tangled mess, sticking out in all places, my face is drained of its color and a huge bandage is still stuck on my forehead. Instead of brushing it like I usually do, I grab a nearby scrunchy and put my hair into a messy bun. I washed my face and then I took the band aid off slowly to examine my head. There's still a huge long almost healed gash just standing out in the open. I touched it carefully and pain surfaced but not much.

"Well, this well just not do..." I say as I turned the sink back on. Looking at myself in this mirror, I ran my hand through the water until it was good and wet, placed my fingers on the wound, and concentrated really hard. I felt my power go through me like it did last time, but this time I didn't have to say an incantation. I saw as my purple eyes glowed vividly brighter and so did the water on my hand. The water moved as I commanded and swirled around the gash, cleaned it and then began to heal itself. I stopped when the gash fully closed itself, and saw that it's now just a long pink scar on the side of my forehead.

"I guess I'm stuck with this for now." I said as my eyes went back to their normal shade of purple. I made my way out of the bathroom, out of my room and walked out into the hallway. I could hear voices downstairs, some familiar and some not. I hold onto the railing of the stairs so that I can keep my balance. I come to the bottom of the stairs and I could smell the potent scent of fresh food in the kitchen. My stomach growled in response and I let out a small laugh as I followed the voices into the living room, where I see my parents, Chris, and then a couple that was talking to my parents. No one noticed me until a small puff of black and dirty white jumped out from my mother's lap and ran its way to me. The small dog then wagged its tail as it stood on its hind legs, begging me to pick it up.

"Hi there, little guy." I bent down to pick up the overexcited puppy. It let out a small bark and licked the tip of my nose, making me giggle.

"Hey, baby sis. How'd you sleep?" Chris greeted me as he came by my side and pulled me into a hug, knowing that there's a small animal in my arms.

"I slept okay. My feet are still sore and I have a bit of a headache," I told him, taking noticed of my bandaged feet, "But other than that, I feel fine."

"C'mon baby girl, sit down and relax." My father offered his hand for me to the couch nearby, and I took his offer as I sat down. My mother came by my side and rubbed my shoulders. "Are you hungry, sweetheart?"

"Yes, please. I'm starving." My stomach gave me away before I could really answer her.

She laughed as she kissed the top of my head. "Okay, I'll go make you some breakfast." She went off to the kitchen, but then a thought crossed by mind. 'Wait a minute, Mom hardly ever cooks or makes food.'

"Umm, doesn't James usually do the cooking?" I referred to our butler.

"Mom and Dad gave James the day off. He needed it, and besides, Mom is trying to learn some cooking skills, so I would just let her do what she's doing." Chris answered me, making a little bit of a joke. Everyone knows that my mother is not the best of cooks, but she tries.

"Alaycia, do you remember the Whittemores?" My dad made notice of the rich couple on the couch on the other side of me.

I nodded and said hello. "Of course I do. Thank you so much for the roses, they're beautiful." I took notice that all of my gifts that were in the hospital room with me, are now all scattered on the floor near the fire place.

"You're welcome my dear." Mrs. Whittemore smiled at me. "We didn't know what your favorite one is, but your parents say that you like flowers regardless, so those were the first ones that came to mind."

"They're still lovely. I appreciate it." I smiled back politely. The dog escaped then escaped from my lap and followed my mother as she came into the room with a tray full of food. The tray was filled with scrambled eggs, bacon, french toast with jelly, some fruits and a glass of orange juice. She placed the tray on the table in front of me and told me to dig in, and I did. I really didn't care about table manners at the moment, all I cared about was stuffing my stomach with as much food as I can.

"Glad to see you haven't lost your appetite, little sis." Chris laughed at me as I kept eating. I paid no mind to him a bit. The more I ate, the more moans escaped from my throat.

"At least this is better than the hospital's food. I don't know if you've noticed, but the food that they gave us is purely disgusting." I told them, slowing down on my consumption to savor the food later. "It's been a long time since I've had a home cooked meal."

"Alaycia," Mr. Whittemore started talking, "If you don't mind me asking, but how does it feel coming back home after being taken away for so long?"

His question caught me off guard. I stopped what I was doing and cleared my mind a bit. "I don't mind at all. To be honest, I feel really relived to be back home after being away for a whole year. What I've been through... no one should ever have to experience it. That's all I really have to say."

Yeah, because you're getting nothing else from me otherwise.' I mentally said, and that moment, the spot where my scar is at started throbbing a bit. I rubbed at it to calm it down.

"How's your head, sweetie?" My mom said as she came by my side with Chris in tow. I lifted some of my hair out of the way for them to get a better look.

"It doesn't hurt much. Just a little pounding then and there." I said as they examined it. As Chris looked, he started smiling.

"You know with a pair of rounded glasses and a British accent, you could be like-" Chris tried to say.

"I swear, if you call me Harry Potter, I will punch you." I warned him, knowing what his joke was ahead of time. Chris laughed his butt off and Mom told him to stop harassing me, but of course that's not going to stop my brother.

"Nothing like some aspirin and some concealer won't do." My mother murmured to herself as she went to go find some medicine. Chris kept laughing as he went on to making more Harry Potter jokes, and I got up from the couch and went to go punch him, but my feet gave out again and I almost fell. Again. If it wasn't for my father sitting in front of me and catching me, I would've fallen flat face into the carpet.

"You alright there, baby girl?" My dad said as he held me straight up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just hate these braces around my feet." I stood my balance correctly as I examined my feet. "I can't walk with these things on."

"We'll take a look at them, when you're feeling a bit better, Alaycia." Mom told me as she sat me down and gave me two aspirins for me to take for my head. I popped them in as I took a gulp of my OJ.

"Well, it is time for us to go. We have other matters to attend to, but it was nice to see you all again." Mr. Whittemore said as he and his wife stood up from their seats and collected their belongings.

"It was nice for you to stop by, friends." My mother said goodbye to the Whittemores as she and my father showed them to the front door. Chris and I followed in tow.

"It's so wonderful to see you back safe and sound, my dear." Mrs. Whittemore came by and gave me a hug before she left and I hugged her back out of kindness. "I know that he's busy with his friends right now, but I'll make sure to tell Jackson to stop by here soon. I know he would love to see you too, Alaycia."

I could feel the smile on my face trying to disappear, but I tried to keep it on my face, even if the smile was fake. "Oh no, that's not really necessary, Mrs. Whittemore."

"Oh, it's no problem, my dear. I'll be sure to ask him as soon as he gets home." Mrs. Whittemore smiled at me, not listening to a word I say. Before they left, I heard Mr. Whittemore say, "I hope you like your present, Alaycia!"

"'Present?'" I looked at my parents with confusion. "What is he talking about?"

"Well, honey, since you came back to us, the Whittemores wanted to show their gratitude to us in any way they can since they also tried to find you with us," My father explained it to me.

"And since your birthday is coming up soon, they felt the need to get you a very special present. We didn't expect them to bring it so soon though..." My mother dragged on as she and the others turned their heads over to the living room, where a very happy puppy is playing with my sets of boutiques and other sorts of gifts. I put the two and two together.

"They got me a puppy?!" My voice went up an octave as I can feel a smile so wide that it could tear my face in half if it could pop on my face. I went over to where the small animal is and sat down on the floor beside it. The pup jumped into my lap immediately and tried to get near my face as close as possible to lick. I laughed as I played with him.

"He is soooo adorable! I love him!!!" I hugged the small creature in my arms, as I felt its soft waggley tail hit me.

"They were hoping you would, honey." My parents smiled as they looked at me.

"I can really keep him?" I asked them.

"The Whittemores gave us the paperwork to fill out, so yes baby girl, the dog is yours to keep." My father explained and I leaped with joy as I went to hug my parents.

"You guys are the best!! Tell them I love the gift." I went back to the dog, and played with him some more. Chris came by my side to play with the pup too.

"So what are you going to name the little guy?" He asked.

"Umm............ How about Zane?" I asked.

"'Zane'? What made you think of that name?" He was curious.

"I don't know... I've always liked the name, I guess." I said as my mind wandered off as I picked up the soft creature. "How about it, little guy? You want your name to be 'Zane'?"

The pup barked excitedly at me as I held him in the air as he wagged his overzealous tail.

"He likes it." I told Chris giggling.

"Okay then, Zane it is." He had no choice but to agree with me. I laughed as I played with my new dog, and eventually went back to having fun and spending time with my family, which was very much needed.



After a while, both my father and Chris had to go back to work, even though it's a Saturday. That left me to have some quality mother-daughter time, but even she, a busy woman as she is, had to go back to her job as well. For the entire afternoon, I've been in my room playing with Zane as he ran all over the place.
I relaxed myself by laying on my bed and been listening to a ton of Ed Sheeran songs . His voice is so soothing, that it almost puts me to sleep. I was actually gone for a good few minutes, until I felt a weight land on my stomach. I open my eyes to see Zane laying on my stomach holding a stuffed animal in its mouth. I take the toy out of his mouth to see that it's the teddy bear that I got while I was at the hospital. The note is still attached to the bear, whereas the tulips are on the floor where Zane had almost gotten to them. I got up from my bed, picked up the precious flowers and laid them
carefully on my nightstand. My eyes wandered to the rest of my gifts that I had received while I was in treatment. I search through and grabbed every card and note that I could find and scattered them on my bed. I told Zane to get down so that he wouldn't make a mess.
I examined each one of the names that all of my notes came from. Some of the names I didn't recognized, which means that half of these must've came from my parents' co-workers and friends.

"Figures. Just because my parents are rich, just means everyone who's not them just wants to kiss their asses, and do whatever they can to be on their good side." I muttered to myself as I tossed those names to the sides, and discarded them as I searched for the important ones.

The Whittemores, The Martins, Danny Mahealani, a few of my other friends, and I even found one from Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski. And then of course, there's the one from Izzy. I ran to my nightstand and pulled out my old photo album. I open and look through all of the old pictures of me and the others back in the good old days. Back to when Jackson wouldn't constantly hit on me, Lydia and were I actual close, I was the third puzzle to the McCall - Stilinski pair, and my adventures I used to have with Izzy. Everything was perfect back then. The more I look at the pictures, the more I missed my old friends. By the get well soon notes I got, I know that they miss me too...

I gave it no second thought as I closed up the photo album and walked out of my room with Zane following right behind me. I descended down the stairway which leads to the kitchen, where I find my mom talking to another woman, possibly a client of hers. I walk very slowly so that I don't disturb her.

"Thank you so much, Lisa for helping me on such short notice." The woman said to my mother as she stood up from her seat in the living room. "I didn't know who else to turn to."

"Don't mention it, Brenna. It's my job as your wedding planner to do whatever I can do to assist the bride." My mother shook her hand and began to show her the door when she saw me. "Hi honey, I didn't see you there. Is everything alright?"

The woman saw me too. "So this is your daughter. It's a pleasure to finally you, my dear. I've heard so much about you from your wonderful parents."

I gave the strange woman my thanks and turned back to my mother. "I need to ask you something."

"Alright, just let me finish with Ms. Meyer and I'll be right back, sweetheart." She lead her to the front door, where to I can still hear the rest of their conversation.

"Your daughter is so beautiful, then again that's usual running in your family." The woman kept talking. "If I need help with anything else, I'll be sure to call you, Lisa."

"I know, and I'll be sure to hear from you soon." My mother said as she shut the door and let out a huge sigh. "I swear this woman is going to drive me crazy."

"I think that you forgot to mention to your client that I'm actually adopted." I hinted towards my mother, knowing that she would hear me.

She wiped her head and came towards me. "Alaycia, it doesn't matter what anyone says, you are still my precious daughter. Even if you're not related by blood, your father and I still raised you as our own since you were a baby. Never forget that, you understand me?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Now, what is it that you wanted to ask me?" She changed back into her nice mood.

"I've been thinking a lot about this, and I wanted to ask you..." I felt a little hesitant, but I had to tell her, "Mom, I want to go back to school."

Her face was absolutely stunned by the question. "Alaycia, we just got you back after being taken away by those kidnappers over a year ago."

"I know, Mom, but that's why I thought about it. I'm glad to be back, you have no idea." I hugged her to keep my emotions in check, and she did the same. "The thing is that I don't want to live the rest of my life in fear, thinking that something else will happen. Plus, I really miss my friends. I really do, that's why I want to go back to high school. I just want to put all of this behind me and get back to my life the way it was like nothing's happened. That's the only how I'm ever to get over this."

"Now, honey, are you sure this is what you really want?" My mother asked me, still embracing me but not as much to look me straight in the eye.

"Yes, I'm 100% sure." I pleaded with her.

She bit her lip as she breathed in air. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"I will talk to your father about it as soon as he gets home. I know that he will have something to say though." She sighed.

"Mom..!"

"Hey, I will do my best to try and persuade your dad, but I just want you to know that a lot has to be done before we can even think about you going back to school."

"I'll do whatever I can to make sure this happens, just please, mom." I begged her.

"Alright, alright!" She let out a laugh. "Before I go and tell Dad, inform your brother first okay. He'll be tougher to crack than your father, that's for a fact."

"Oh, mom! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much!!!!" I hugged her again, tightly this time. I released our embrace as I rushed to the phone to tell Chris about the news.



I waited until both my father and brother came to the house late that night to tell them about my idea. My mother was right of course about Chris being harder to convince than my father. Chris put up a hell of a fight convincing me that it was a horrible idea to go back to school so early, but I fought back. The argument took up pretty much the entire night, but my father broke the ice when he gave the get- go about me returning to high school, but there was a few conditions.

1. While I'm at school, all of the campus police officers have to make sure to keep a certain eye out for me.
2. I have to be taken to and from school by a family member/guardian and if it's anyone else, I have to get my parents/Chris's approval first.
3. If I'm attending any after school activity, I have to be with someone at all times, whether it is friend or family.

Those were the only but very important rules of me going back. I didn't agree with majority of them but I have to if I'm going back. In the morning, my parents made all of the arrangements of me enrolling back into Beacon Hills High School. They told me that I had to take this certain test that suppose to test me academic wise since I've been out for a while. I took the test which took up 3 long hours, that I will never get back in my lifetime. We got the results back and it stated that I'm in the same mindset as the rest of my classmates, so they're going to put me where I should be; 2nd semester of my sophomore year.

Regardless of what was going to happen, I was just happy that I was going back to my average teenage life tomorrow. I can actually say that most teenagers wouldn't be too happy about going back to school, but in my condition, I was overzealous at the moment. My family wanted to take me out to eat as a sort of celebration, so I got somewhat dressed up and we all headed out to some fancy restaurant that was a little ways out of town. Chris dressed casually, but still kept his badge and affects with him at all time just for my protection.

When we arrived to the place (a really high paying establishment of my parents' choosing), I felt a chill go down my spine as I could hear off into the distant a blood curling scream. I turn my head into the direction where I heard it from, but there was nothing there.

"Hey, Alaycia, is everything alright?" Chris asked me noticing my strange behavior. I stood there trying to listen for the scream again, but nothing happened.

"It must be just my imagination..." I muttered to myself, but loud enough for him to hear as we went inside the restaurant. My family and I had a great time at the place, but in the back of my mind, the sound of that scream stayed and repeated itself over and over again. That's not what puzzled me. What's more confusing than hearing a scream that only I could hear, was that when I heard the scream, it sounded so familiar... like I know who it belonged to.

We get back to the house so that I could get a good's night rest for school tomorrow. I changed into my pj's and was getting ready for sleep, when I heard a knock at my door.

"Come in." I said, and I saw Chris pop up from behind it.

"Hey, didn't want to disturb you. I just wanted to tell you that I'll be taking you to get enrolled tomorrow morning so be up bright and early." Chris told me.

"I'll be sure to do that." I assured him, but I watched his face and I could see that something was bugging him. "Chris, is there something wrong?"

"No, not really, it's just police business I have to take care of." He said and then I saw his left eyebrow twitch.

"Chris, I know you're lying. What's really bothering you?" I asked him. "Is this about me going back to school?"

"No, I'm getting over that now. it's just..." He looked away from me.

"Chris, you know you can tell me how bad it is." I assured him.

He looked back at me and let out a sigh. "We just got the news that another girl around your age went missing tonight."

"Was she..." I dragged on.

"No, from what I've got, she wasn't kidnapped or anything like that. She was in the hospital room, getting all washed up and everything. Next thing is that she lets out a scream and when the nurse and her father go in to see what happened, she's gone. One of the witnesses says that her window was open when they barged into the room."

"Does that mean she ran off by jumping out of the window?"

"We have no idea yet, baby sis, we're still looking into it. The sheriff wants me and a group of guys to try and go find her as soon as possible before something bad happens to her."

"Well that is your job as a cop, Chris." I told him. "So who is it that went missing?"

"This is where I didn't want to tell you, baby sis." He avoided looking at me again.

"Tell me, Chris. I'm already anxious as it is, so tell me who went missing."

He turned his attention back to me and let out a deep sigh. "It's the Martin's daughter, Lydia, who's missing right now."