Her smooth, cream-colored fingers traced over the lining of a ceramic picture frame, sucking in a harsh breath, as her trembling hands grazed atop of the smile of a middle-aged blonde woman, who was clad in a dull green sheriff's uniform.
Beside her in the picture, enveloped in the older woman's arms, stood a cheerful teenager with the same distinct, fiery blue eyes and pale blonde hair as her mother, dressed in a deep red graduation gown. A young girl with a smile and eyes bright enough to shed light even on the darkest of moments. And despite the horrors of her life, the innocence that she held did not diminish.
But as her eyes — the eyes of the same pretty teenaged girl in that picture — swept over the frame in her hands, it was clear that she no longer displayed the cheerful persona or unique liveliness of that past version of herself. Instead, they were replaced with slightly slouched shoulders that held the weight of the world on top of it and the dull eyes of someone who had been through so much.
Caroline Forbes tried hard not to allow the tears that swelled in her eyes to escape and trail down her cheeks. She tried hard not fall back into that deep, seemingly never-ending rabbit hole of grief that she had been in for the past few months. But it was hard not to give up. She always did her best to fight — to never surrender to anything — but it was hard. It was hard not to give up, when your whole life was taken out from under you — when her mother, her only remaining living family, was dead.
And from cancer, of all things.
Sometimes, Caroline found it comical for someone who lived in a town infested with supernatural creatures her whole life to die of something so...natural. It was absurd. Her daughter was a vampire who's former boyfriend and almost boyfriend consisted of a werewolf-slash-vampire hybrid and a century old vampire. It was ludicrous that after all they had been through — a manipulative and deadly vampire doppelgänger, a megalomaniac Original hybrid and his equally terrifying and homicidal family, a two-thousand-year-old warlock and his vengeful lover, along with their whole town being blown up — how her mother could succumb to something so mundane.
And Caroline had to live with the death of her mother for the rest of her undead life — which was, unfortunately, for eternity.
The blonde-haired girl placed the picture in her purse and looked around her childhood home with a sad smile. The only sound that could be heard was her heeled boots clicking against the hardwood floors, as she slowly walked over to the fire place and placed her palm on the mantle. Caroline took in a deep breath and couldn't help but shut her eyes, being swept up in a memory.
A memory of Christmas with her family when she was seven.
She remembered when her mother found her downstairs — with flour on the tip of her nose, dusted across the apples of her cheeks, and even more sprinkled in her hair. Her tiny, chubby hands were covered in cookie dough batter — and so was the marble kitchen counter. There were miscellaneous cooking tools — some unnecessary, like a cheese grater and a pair of tongs — strewn across the kitchen floor, causing her mother to look at her with wide eyes.
But Liz Forbes just couldn't find it within herself to get angry, as she watched a guilty, yet adorable smile stretch across her daughter's flour-covered cheeks.
It was around the end of December, and Caroline had gone to the trouble of making a plethora of food for Santa to eat when he came down the chimney, causing the house to smell like cookie dough and frosting for weeks.
She smiled inwardly at the naive little girl she used to be — the one who was so innocent and completely unaware of the world around her. A naive little girl that would never have thought to believe in witches, werewolves, and vampires — or that she would become one of them.
Feeling herself overcome with another wave of grief, Caroline opened her eyes, only to look around the room and find a completely empty house, much to her dismay. She no longer saw a little girl clad in Mickey Mouse footie pajamas, bunny slippers, and adorable blonde pigtails — a little girl who's bright blue eyes sparkled with happiness and optimism, as she looked at the world before her...and at her parents.
It was faded and only a flash, but she remembered her mother sitting on the couch beside her father, watching with utter adoration at their little girl unwrapping her Christmas gifts.
Back when she was human. Back when her parents loved each other. Back when they were all happy.
Finally, the tears that had been swelling in Caroline's eyes had begun to trail down her cheeks, as she tried to keep in the sob that was threatening to burst from her chest.
But she wouldn't allow herself to cry.
So, after she wiped her eyes with the back of her hands, she dropped her arms to the side, feeling a tad bit lighter. And again, Caroline looked around the empty house and let out a sigh. And that's all the house was now: empty, void of the happy family that used to live there.
Because they all died: her mother died, her father died, and so did she.
Caroline felt stuck.
And she was stuck.
Caroline Forbes was stuck as a seventeen-year-old girl for the rest of her immortal life. But she refused to be stuck. The blonde-haired vampire refused to have her feet glued to the ground and her hands bound behind her, unable to do anything but watch as her life turned to shambles.
She wasn't going to let that happen. She wasn't going to let that continue to happen.
She was going to get back her control.
So, that's why she was moving out of the house. Because, in all honestly, she felt trapped — trapped in a place that was supposed to bring her comfort, when, in reality, all it brought was misery. And all it did was remind her of everything that she lost — everything she had that was taken away from her.
Mystic Falls was toxic. Caroline only wished she could've seen it sooner.
Wrapping her arms around her midsection, she walked toward the front door and exited the house, not looking back. She slowly traveled down the concrete steps and across the driveway to her car — her ticket out of this miserable life.
And once she hopped into the driver's side, Caroline found that she couldn't suppress the urge to put on her seatbelt. It was unnecessary, given that a car crash wouldn't be fatal for her, but it made her feel normal — human.
Caroline looked behind her, stealing a quick glance at the boxes of her stuff in the backseat. It was just her things. Everything that was left from the house, most of which she didn't need and didn't want to see, was gone.
Because, truthfully, she couldn't handle waking up and going down the stairs to her new kitchen to brew a cup of coffee, only to unintentionally grab one of her mother's mugs from the cabinets and end up never leaving the house for the rest of the week.
The memories were painful enough to carry with her on her own; she didn't need constant reminders of the worst time of her life and the best people she ever knew that she lost during it. So, she gave the rest of the furniture and most of her mothers clothing to charity, considering they needed it more than her.
She was starting fresh.
Caroline shifted her gaze back over to the front seat, spotting her purse and her phone out of the corner of her eye. Recently, she got a new one, erasing all of her contacts and only adding the ones that she actually needed and the people she actually wanted to keep in touch with.
That was the first step to moving on from Caroline Forbes' book: removing the toxic people from your contact list. And she would be lying if she said that clicking the 'delete' button didn't fill her with relief.
Grabbing her keys from her bag, Caroline put them in the ignition and started the car, smiling as her sensitive ears picked up on the familiar purr of the engine. Of course, she would never admit it, but she secretly liked cars — no matter how hard they were to make out in.
She tapped her fingers against the dashboard, a bit nervous, knowing she was going to miss the quaint little town, even though she had already said her necessary goodbyes.
Caroline had a heartfelt hug with Matt, both of them shedding tears when she announced her departure from Mystic Falls. She also gave him her new number and compelled him, with his permission, to not give away her phone number and to call her on a burner phone. It was a precaution Caroline took, just in case any vampires found out that the blond boy had her phone number and tried to compel it out of him. The compulsion prevented him from giving it away, no matter how someone asked.
She also visited Bonnie's grave and called her late best friend's cousin, Lucy, and notified her that she was leaving.
Lucy was the only living family Bonnie had left and visa-versa.
All of Bonnie's other family, that she knew of, died. Her mother abandoned her when Bonnie was a little girl, and when she finally came back, Abby Bennett was turned into a vampire by one of the Salvatore brothers, in order to save Elena's life. And Bonnie's dad, Rudy, was never really there for her. He rarely payed attention to his only daughter, and his work became a bigger priority than Bonnie. And before he could even devote attention toward her, it was too late, seeing as he was killed by Silas, while Bonnie watched as a ghost from The Other Side. And another relative of hers, Sheila Bennett, Bonnie's grandmother who practically raised her ever since she was a toddler, died from overexertion, as a result of using too much magic. After Elena insisted for the older woman and Bonnie to open up a tomb full of vampires for Damon Salvatore, so he could get Katherine Pierce out, who never ended up being there in the first place, Sheila's heart stopped. Her body wasn't able to handle the amount of magic she used, and Bonnie lost the woman who was more than a mother to her than her actual mother that day.
And after Caroline called Lucy Bennett and told her about the death of another member of the Bennett family — Bonnie's death — the two decided to meet up for coffee weekly and shared stories about the fallen Bennett witch.
It gave Caroline comfort; hanging out with the older witch made her feel like a piece of Bonnie was still with her. So, when she met up with the Lucy at the coffee shop for the last time, Caroline told the witch that she was leaving Mystic Falls. Her news caused Lucy to threaten her, saying that she better call or she would give Caroline an aneurism, no matter how far away she was. And, of course, some crying ensued between the newly found friends, along with a parting hug. The dark-haired woman also encouraged Caroline to live her undead life, which was something that the blonde never really got the chance to do, ever since she became a vampire.
Not wanting to face Lucy's wrath, Caroline grinned and promised the older witch that she would call her, when she got the chance.
Lucy smiled back and told the blonde vampire that if Bonnie ever managed to find a way back, considering how stubborn the young Bennett witch was, she would tell her right away. And the older witch couldn't prevent the sudden feeling of sadness that washed over her, realizing that if Caroline never notified her of her younger cousin's death, she would have never known that Bonnie died. And for that, she was extremely grateful for the blonde vampire. After Katherine manipulated her, the witch tended to stray away from all things with fangs, but Caroline became a real friend. And as much as it surprised her to admit it, Lucy genuinely liked Caroline — aside from the reason that she was the only one from that horrid town who had the decency to track down and notify Bonnie's only living relative of her death. And, strangely, Lucy also somewhat admired her. The blonde vampire was filled with so much light, a rarity for vampires and even humans in this world. And she would miss that light dearly.
So, other than Caroline's former boyfriend, yet still good friend and the last-standing Bennett witch, no one else knew of her leaving Mystic Falls. Not Damon, Stefan, Tyler, or even Elena.
And Caroline was glad.
Speaking of, Lucy also, being cautious and worried for the blonde vampire's safety, even took the liberty of placing a protection spell on the Forbes girl, blocking all supernatural creatures from detecting her scent. The spell was a good idea, considering it wasn't possible to know what supernatural creatures might be lurking around. And it not only protected others from detecting Caroline's scent, but also gave her the element of surprise. Since her opponent would think that she was just a weak human, no one would expect her to sprout fangs in a fight. It also made her identity oblivious to any hunters that might come her way. And the spell prevented anyone from Mystic Falls from catching her scent and finding out where she was.
Klaus could probably find her someway, though: throw in a charming smile at the first person he saw, boast about him being an original hybrid, vow to rip out the throat of anyone who didn't prove to be helpful, and threaten to kill a witches entire bloodline, if they didn't find the blonde vampire for him.
But she just hoped that he wouldn't.
Who knows? Maybe he found a new blonde to obsess over her and seduce with his charming accent.
Letting out a sigh, Caroline reversed out of the driveway and headed down the street, driving toward her new home. And she couldn't stop the smile that stretched across her face at her reflection in the rear-view mirror: her grin wide and the corner of her eyes crinkling with happiness — a feeling she hadn't had for a while.
Turning up the radio, a relieved laugh escaped her lips, as she passed the 'Welcome to Mystic Falls' sign, knowing that it was going to be a long ride. But it would be well worth it.
Goodbye, Virginia. Hello, California.