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Beacon Hills is haunted for Theo. It was for a long time now, but when he first came back, it was easy to ignore it.
Before, every emotion the little Theo ever had was buried inside, so deep that he never even thought they would come back. He didn’t know what it was like to feel anything other than fear, anger and hunger for power, because that was all he let himself feel for half of his life... that was all he had felt since The Dread Doctors appeared in his life. Because feelings are weakness, and he couldn't be weak. If he was weak, it meant he was a failure, and he wasn't one. He had to prove that to The Dread Doctors. He always had to prove it.
But then he was sent to hell, where his sister takes her heart back from his chest, over and over again. That was the first time he let himself feel the regret that had been killing him since he was nine, even if he didn't want to acknowledge it. He hadn't want to acknowledged all the emotions he had buried.
Then, Scott's 'stupid beta' got him out of hell, and something in his eyes made Theo feel things he didn't know he was able to feel anymore. By the time his emotions started to break free, it was too late for Theo to stop them.
Now, everywhere Theo goes around the town, he is haunted... but not by hunters or other supernatural creatures. He is haunted by memories, by nostalgia, and by the life he could have had if he hadn't been so stupid to trust the Doctors—a life where he might have grown up with his best friends since kindergarten, whom he abandoned once he was fooled by The Doctors, by hope. A life where he would have grown up with his sister and parents. A life where he would fight with his asthma and heart problems but would be surrounded by people who cared about him. And if Theo was honest, he would do anything to take back all the wrong decisions he made.
Because in this lifetime, Beacon Hills is haunted for him. Theo is haunted at every step. Wherever he goes, he sees his younger self, carefree, happy, and innocent, spending time with his two best friends or his sister.
Now he is in the park where he, Stiles, and Scott spent afternoons together after school. He can hear younger Stiles' voice telling them how he will be with Lydia one day, or the endless arguments about Star Wars or which superhero was the best.
Theo doesn't know what is worse. Sleeping only to be back in the nightmares from the time he was in hell, or staying up to wander the town and see ghosts of the past.
The past that he fucked up by being so stupid. Now he is a stranger in this town. A sort of ally to one of his childhood best friends, and a person that other childhood best friend hates and doesn't trust.
He debated a lot whether he should leave. He really wanted to leave if it meant he wouldn't see the ghosts anymore. But he couldn't—not when he thought about leaving Liam behind. Not when leaving meant never seeing Liam's eyes again. Those eyes that Theo swore cast some sort of spell on him. He couldn't bring himself to do that to Liam, or to himself.
He sat on a bench in that park until the sun was back in the sky. Lost in his head, he thought about how he, Stiles, and Scott used to play and fool around. How, at the end of the week, whichever parent was with them would buy them ice cream from the stand near the park. How Stiles ended up asking his parents for an inhaler because both Scott and Theo used to forget theirs. How, at some point, they started using each other's inhalers so much that they didn't even know whose was whose.
Then his mind went further, leaving the park behind. He remembered how, every time he came out of surgery, he would wake up with Stiles and Scott beside him, on the hospital bed or just in the chairs in the room. How they used to go to the arcade, where Stiles would beat Theo and Scott at most games. How he and Scott constantly needed their inhalers to keep up with Stiles' energy. How every time they watched a movie, Stiles would talk through it, which end up making all three boys forget about the movie before they even reached the half of the movie.
Then he remembered when Stiles heard his parents talking about what was happening with his mom. The first time Stiles heard his mom would die, Stiles was only eight years old. He and Scott tried everything to make Stiles stop thinking about it.
Oh, how much Theo regrets that he wasn't there for Stiles when his mom died. He wasn't there for him, while Stiles had been there for Theo when he killed his sister. Not that anyone knew Theo was the one who did it back then.
When Theo finally escaped from his mind, he looked at the time. It was almost 11:00 AM. He had to go find a place to shower and change clothes so he wouldn't be late for the pack meeting. Even if he wasn't part of the pack, he went to the meetings as an ally.
He end up burying those emotions again because he needed his mind clear. He couldn't continue to hope for things he can't have. He had to be grateful that they didn't kill him or even worst, sending him back to hell.