58. Perishable

The next morning I screamed at top of my lungs when I woke up, as when I opened my eyes I saw Lydia sitting in front of me. "Damn Lily, what are you doing here this early?" I yelled, but before she could say anything Stiles came running in my room, with his baseball bat. 

"What happened? Who's here?" 

He asked while searching the room. "Calm down Sty, it's nothing. I was just startled by Lydia. I didn't expect to see her this early in my room." I said but then also Stiles checked the whole room and once he was done, he came and sat next to me and asked Lydia the same question, what she was doing here.

"Last night I was at boathouse, and Mom followed me there as she was worried about me or something, and as we were talking I showed her the Photo of Meredith and she recognized her instantly, and then as we got talking she started telling me how grandma was also in Eichen house, as Dad thought she was crazy because she used to hear things. As if this wasn't enough, mom gave me an Urn and told me it contained grandma's ashes and her last wish was that after I turn 18 I spread them across the lake. So opened the Urn but I felt like they were not the ashes so spread them in the air and it formed a circle around the boathouse as it was mountain ash. Then I realized that the whole house was made from Mountain ash. Then at the end of the Urn, I found a code which she left for me, similar to the Benefactor's code. So now I think that she faked her death and she is the Benefactor." 

Lydia explained the whole thing to us and it took us several minutes to register this information but once we were done, we decided to take Lydia to Station and tell Dad about this, as he was the only person who would be able track Lydia's grandmother, if she was alive. 

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"Hey, Dad. Do you have a minute?" I asked as we walked in the Station and Dad was talking to Deputy Haigh. 

"Yeah, you guys wait in my office, I'll be there in a minute." 

Dad said so we went in his office. 

"What happened?" 

Dad asked as he entered his office and closed the door behind him. Lydia then started explaining the whole thing to him. As Lydia finished Dad looked outside and asked if anyone had seen Deputy Parrish. Deputy Haigh told him that no one had seen him today and went back to his work. Then as Dad and we were discussing what to do we heard gunshots coming from bullpen. Dad told the three of us to hide behind his desk and took out his gun and opened the door and went out. I also took out my gun and then peeked outside to see Deputy Haigh on floor and Deputy Parrish was naked with dirt all over him and punching Haigh. Haigh suddenly grabbed his gun and tried to shoot Parrish but he ducked and Dad got shot on the shoulder. "Dad!" Stiles and I yelled and ran from under the table. Stiles took care of Dad while I was ready to shoot Haigh, but when I got there Parrish was already beating the living shit out of him. Once he was satisfied beating Haigh he stood up and it was like he was out of trance and looked at us confused while we looked at him horrified. Then he came to see if Dad was okay, and he was just as confused as rest of us. There was jacket laying around on Dad's desk so I gave it to Parrish. Then we called ambulance and as we waited for it I asked the most obvious question from Parrish, "What happened to you?" 

"Yesterday night, Haigh and I were on duty and he bought coffee as we both were sleepy, but after drinking it I suddenly felt weird and soon I was out. When I woke up I was in my car covered with gasoline and Haigh repeated what you guys told me that he would get 5 Million to kill me. I tried to reason with him but he didn't listen and set me on fire. I don't know how I got out or to here." 

He explained, By that time the ambulance got there so I turned to Lydia, "Take Parrish home so that he could get dressed up and after that take him to Derek so that he could look what kind of supernatural creature is he. And also call Scott, he might be able to help. Stiles and I are going with Dad and we'll be there as soon as we can, till then call us if something happens. If needed call Mr. Argent also, he has the bestiary." I instructed Lydia and she nodded but Parrish looked very confused and refused to move so Lydia grabbed his hand and dragged him out of there. 

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Dad was scheduled for surgery in the morning as it was going to take some digging to get the bullet out of his shoulder. Stiles and I were sitting in the room with him when the doctor came and handed Dad some paper. Dad looked at the paperwork and asked the doctor about the term 'balance patient responsibility'. The doctor told him that it meant some procedures and the hospital stay are not covered by insurance. Stiles and I share worried glances. After that doctor left Dad, assured us that everything will be fine but then Stiles admitted that we knew about the bills, the debt collectors calling about Eichen House, the advance from the department, and the credit cards. 

"Kids, are you going through my stuff?"

Dad asked shocked, "Yeah, we go through all your stuff, especially when you keep things from us." I replied. 

"I keep things from you both, because you don't need to know everything."

Dad said, defeated. 

"Yes, we do. We have to know everything. How the hell else are we supposed to take care of you?" 

Stiles argued. 

"You both are not supposed to take care of me! I'm the Dad, you're the kids. You get it? Dad. Kids. I take care of you."

Dad yelled throwing the papers on the bed. "We're supposed to take care of each other." I said as Stiles and I went and sit on his either side. Dad grabbed both of our hands and promised us that everything will be alright and we don't have to worry. After that his morphine kicked in so he closed his eyes while Stiles and I hugged him and I whispered, "We'll always worry Dad."

Then Melissa came and assured us that Dad was out for the night and she'll be with him, and requested us to go home. When we didn't listen she dragged us out of there so we finally went home.  

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As we got home, we both were too tired to cook so Stiles ordered some Pizza and I cleaned a little. After we both were done and going to bed, our door bell rang, and when I opened the door Lydia was standing outside. 

"Hey, babe. How are you?" 

She asked and the way she gave me small sad smile, I just launched myself onto her. I didn't cry or anything but I just clung to her. 

"It's okay babe, I got you." 

She kept saying and squeezing me more. Few minutes later Stiles walked out to see what was taking me too long. 

"Guys, I hate to break your little moment but it is very late and with assassins lurking around, it would be better if you both come inside." 

Stiles said and we both nodded and walked inside. After Lydia asked us if Dad was okay and we told her about the surgery tomorrow, then she told us that her mother has provided with new information about her grandmother. Lorraine Martin was with a woman named Maddy, they were madly in love. Lorraine, used to work in San Francisco for IBM. She was there on a weekend, catching up on work. She started hearing this sound like rain, but when she looked out the windows, all she saw was blue sky, she kept hearing the rain and it just kept getting louder until she finally screamed. Like a banshee. Lorraine called Maddy, who was planning on taking one of the boats out on the lake. Since Maddy said that she could see blue skies as well, Lorraine kept quiet. But there was an accident and it took them four days to find Maddy's body. And then it took decades to figure out how Lorraine had known. After that Lydia told us that Lorraine started with parapsychologists, who built the study in the lake house according to every pseudoscientific theory they could find. When that didn't work, Lorraine turned to more extreme occult like mediums and psychics. Eventually, at Eichen House—a fragile girl who didn't understand the things she heard. That girl was Meredith, she tried to help but she suddenly had a seizure and was hospitalized for over a year and never really recovered.

"My grandmother drove her insane and I drove her to suicide. And all she ever wanted to do was help." 

Lydia said as a tear escaped her eye. Stiles and I hugged her tightly. After that Stiles took the code and Lydia's grandmother's photo from her and placed it on his murder board. 

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Next morning Lydia, Stiles and I skipped school to figure out the cipher key for code which Lydia's grandmother left for her. We tried various cipher keys, including Maddy, Lydia, and Natalie but nothing was working. As we were working Stiles printer kept making noise so I went and shoved some papers in it. As I sat back Stiles suddenly got up and said, 

"We have been doing this all wrong. All the words we've been guessing, have to do something with Lorraine. Since the message was left for Lydia, maybe it should be something specific to Lydia."

Then Lydia told us that she and her grandmother used to read together, so I asked what did they read and she told us it was The Little Mermaid. 

"You read that movie?" 

Stiles asked shocked. "It was a book first asshat, written by Hans Christian Anderson." I said. Then Lydia tried both Little mermaid and Mermaid but it didn't work.

"We read it every night. I got so obsessed with it for three months I wouldn't respond to anything but 'Ariel'. I drove my parents crazy but ... Grandma thought it was adorable."

Lydia yelled in frustration and pushed the laptop away, but I took the laptop and typed in Ariel and the code started unravelling. Lorraine's banshee code has revealed another list of names. The only one Lydia recognizes is her grandmother, Lorraine Martin. Then Stiles printer again started making noise and when we looked, it was printing the Deadpool list. When we looked at the list Derek wasn't there anymore and Liam's now worth $18 Million. After that we took the new list to Parrish so that he could track those people. Parrish told us that all of the people on the list died within the last 10 years. All were suicides that occurred at the same place, Eichen House. Then as we were talking my phone vibrated and when I checked it was a call form Isaac. "Hey babe, is everything alright?" I asked as I picked up the call. 

"Yeah. It's just has been a while since we talked. Is this a bad time?" 

He asked and I felt a little guilty but said, "Yeah actually. Sty, Lily and I are with Parrish. Apparently one of the deputy set him on fire because of the Deadpool list but he walked out of it like a Phoenix and came to the Station, and that Deputy was shocked seeing him and tried to shoot him but Dad got shot in the shoulder instead and he's in the hospital right now, but we can't really go to him as we finally figured the key the code Lily's grandmother left for her and it was another list of supernatural but it has name of all the people who had committed suicide in last 10 years at Eichen House. And as if it wasn't enough, earlier today when were at home, Stiles printer went crazy and suddenly started printing the Deadpool list, which doesn't include Derek anymore because of which Liam is now worth $18 Million, and we talked to Scott he told us the same thing happened at Coach's printer." 

"Damn! I feel really bad that I can't help you." 

Isaac said but I tried to encourage him, "You can, by focusing on your studies and staying there till we figure out this whole mess. Okay, now I have got to go. I love you." 

"I love you too." 

Isaac said and I ended the call. After that I went back and we again started storming ideas. "Can't we get the files from Eichen House?" I asked and  Stiles pointed out that we would need a warrant to get any files and there's no one there who would be willing to help us but there might be someone willing to take a bribe. 

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Stiles, Lydia and I went to visit Brunski at Eichen House. He wanted $1000 to let us into the file room. He knew that Stiles and I didn't have that kind of money and then made a remark that if we did, Sheriff would've paid the bills by now, but he was pretty sure Lydia might have that kind of money. Lydia, looking unimpressed, pulled $500 out of her wallet and it was enough to sway Brunski. Before he let us into the file room, though, he conspicuously change side on his cassette tape and we noticed that the tape was exactly the same kind the Benefactor was distributing, but since we were out of options we followed him in the files room.

As Brunski leads us into the records room, Lydia handed the list to Stiles.

"Lydia, why did you write another name on here?" 

Stiles asked and I took the list to see Stiles name written at the end in her handwriting.

"I didn't write anything."

Lydia argued. "This is your handwriting." I said and she got annoyed, 

"Why would I write another name?" 

"The real question is why would you write mine and Rue's?" 

Stiles asked and I handed her the list. Suddenly Brunski appeared behind us and asks, 

"It was the tapes, wasn't it?"

As Stiles and I gave each other confusing looks Brunski took out a taser and used it on Stiles. Before I could take my gun out he used it on me and I felt my heartbeat turning fast and everything turned black.

When I opened my eyes again, Stiles, Lydia and I were tied to a supporting column with the same padded restraints used on patients. Lydia was screaming for help but Stiles reminded her there are a lot of people screaming for help in this place, no one's listening. We then realized that all of the Eichen House suicides were actually murders and Lorraine Martin predicted her own death. 

"She knew I'd figure it out—" 

Lydia started but was cut off by Brunski

"Once you were able to predict your own." 

As Brunski walked in the room he had his cassette player. He then said that he was not a serial killer. There were some people at Eichen House who didn't simply needed the treatment, but release and he was helping them. Now, he wanted Lydia's help, he then pulled out a cassette tape labelled Lorraine Martin and popped it into the player. Lydia listened, tears streaming down her face as on the tape, Lorraine Martin asked Brunski what he was doing. Brunski told her that it was going to be all right; she was just going to have a little trouble breathing. Stiles tried to get Lydia focused on his voice so she could block out the sound of her grandmother's final moments while I yelled at him at top of my voice to turn off the tape but he came near me and punched me in the face instead and then he did the same to Stiles. He then told Lydia to listen as the tape was coming up on the part he never understood, Lorraine begged him not to hurt Ariel before she died.

Brunski then pulled out a first aid kit and said that they get a lot of teenagers trying to break into their drug cabinets, most of the time they don't succeed but we looked pretty clever so that was how he would disguise our deaths. Brunski filled a syringe with some kind of death serum, he came towards me and I was ready for it as Stiles yelled at him but then at the last moment he decided to switch and went to Lydia instead while Stiles and I thrashing around, trying to get free and save her. Before Brunski could inject Lydia, Parrish appeared holding his gun and told Brunski to drop the needle.

"Young deputy. You're just a kid. I bet you've never even fired a—" 

Brunski started but was cut off when Parrish shot him. By that time I freed myself and help Stiles get out and then ran and hugged Lydia and she sobbed in my arms.

"He killed my grandmother. He was controlling Meredith." 

Lydia told Parrish. 

"He used her to create the Deadpool, and he killed her when she tried to help us." 

Stiles continued. Brunski suddenly coughed up blood and laughed.

"You think it was me? That I was controlling her? She was controlling me."

His head lolled to the side as he died. We realized that Brunski wasn't the Benefactor and then someone else spoke—someone we weren't expecting.

"No. And he wasn't on my list. But he was a bad person."

All of our jaws dropped as Meredith walked in front of us smiling.