They say the passage of time will heal all wounds, but the greater the loss, the deeper the cut and the more difficult the process to become whole again. The pain may fade, but scars serve as a reminder of our suffering and make the bearer all the more resolved never to be wounded again. So as time moves along we get lost in distractions, act out in frustration, react with aggression, give in to anger, and all the while we plot and plan as we wait to grow stronger, and before we know it, the time passes. We are healed; ready to begin anew.
- Niklaus Mikaelson
The pain could not be described. It was like a never ending hole in your stomach. And every time it had healed, someone clawed it open again. On porpoise. She lost sleep, even though she was asleep the whole time. When she finally opened her eyes she could feel her spirit get drawn back to her body. Earlier she was just floating over it.
"Audrey, honey," her mother called with her soft voice whilst petting Audrey's hair.
"Audrey wake up!" her mother screamed in pain.
Audrey opened her eyes and coughed out water from her loungs. She was lying on her back and turned her head so she wouldn't choke on to the water again. Her eyes were half opened and she could see a male figure being knelt down on her a body. His face was dark and tired, it gave her chills. He had saved her. She kept replaying the scenery in her mind. She had snuck out with Elena to go to a party and their parents had picked them up and then, what? She remembered her mother screaming and the car hit the water.
"Elena?" she was able to cough out. Everything went black. She heard sirens and then, just darkness.
Dear diary, today is going to be different. I will go to school and show that I am not a weak little girl who lost her parents. I am going to be strong and independent. I'm going to get through high school with honor. I'm going to be strong.
Audrey closed her journal and threw it on her mahogany bed. She had a room next to her twin sister Elena's and they shared the same bathroom. Her brother Jeremy had a room next to her and next to Jeremy's was her parents room. Was her parents room. Now they were dead, had been the whole summer. It felt like she had cried all the time after their death. Audrey put her hair on a ponytail and picked her day clothing. Blue skinny jeans with a white tank top and a black hoodie. She had brown hair and brown eyes like her sister. She put her blue vans's on. Audrey walked out of her room and knocked on Jeremy's before she opened it.
"Jer?" she asked and peeked from the tiny gap. Jeremy was sitting on his bed putting shoes on. Jeremy lifted his head up and smiled to Audrey.
"Try not to get high today, okay?" she asked kindly but he just grunted.
"Yeah, yeah," he said and got up from the bed. He started walking towards Audrey and tried to pass her. She stopped him by placing her hand on his chest.
"Jeremy, I mean it. It's the first day of school."
"I get it, Audrey," he said and walked by with a tiny push. Audrey sighed and stared at the closed Jeremy's rooms door and turned around to face the stairs. She ran them down and walked to the large kitchen Her favorite part of the whole house was the living room. It was beautifully decorated and she always walked by it when she went to the kitchen. She saw her aunt Jenna there with her strawberry blonde hair tied up on a ponytail, talking to Elena. Audrey smiled and walked to them.
"Hey," they both said to her as she walked to the coffee machine. She took a cup and poured the black steaming hot coffee into the cup. She placed the coffee on her lips and took a sip. It tasted awful so she threw the coffee into the sink and cleared her throat. She listened to Jenna's talk with her side-ear.
"It's awful isn't it?" Jenna asked and made Audrey turn around. Her aunt had her eyebrows furrowed and she looked at her desperately. Audrey shook her head.
"No, it just that, I don't like black coffee and we're out of milk," Audrey said and smiled. Jenna sighed and turned back to Elena, who raised her brows to Audrey in a sign of a 'good-one'. After Jenna had finished talking to Elena, her sister raised her head to her.
"So, let's go to school," Elena said and Audrey nodded fast. Audrey and Elena were twins, born on the same day at the same time, well almost at the same time. Elena a minute older. They looked a lot alike, they weren't identical but there were many same features in their faces and bodies. They were known in the school as the Gilbert twins, a really stupid name and they both hated it, but being a twin was near Audrey's heart, she couldn't imagine what would it be like just to have Jeremy.
Audrey walked with Elena through the school halls and gained looks. Audrey frowned and glanced at Elena who sighed. They walked to the lockers where Bonnie was. Bonnie and Elena were talking about Matt. Elena had broken up with him just before the summer and the accident.
"He hates me," Elena said sadly and looked at the floor. Audrey snorted and placed her hand over Elena's shoulder.
"He doesn't hate you," she said and Elena glanced up.
"Looking good Gilbert," a guy walked pass Audrey and winked at her. It made Audrey scoff.
"Unlike you," she yelled to him and got answered by a chorus of 'oo's.
"How do you do that Audrey?" Bonnie asked and made Audrey frown.
"Do what?" she asked.
"Never mind," Bonnie said and turned her look back to Elena. Audrey shook her head and studied Bonnie.
"No, tell me, how do I do what?" she asked with a friendly smile.
"I mean, remember the time you got caught getting a tattoo?" Bonnie asked and it made both Elena and Audrey laugh. She nodded and Bonnie laughed too.
"Yeah, still got it," Audrey said and moved her hoodie to show a simple star that was above her collarbone.
"You are just so spontaneous," Bonnie finally said and it made her chuckle a bit.
"I am stupid, if that's what you mean. Elena has always been the smarter one," Audrey said and rolled her eyes. She saw Caroline walking their way and put a fake smile on.
"Oh god," Audrey whispered and made Bonnie and Elena chuckle.
"Elena, Audrey. Oh my god," she breathed and pulled both of them to a forced hug. Audrey felt like her eyes were about to pop out.
"How are you? Oh, it's so good to see you. Are they okay?" Caroline asked from Bonnie.
"We are fine," Elena answered for both of them. Caroline's face turned to unbelieving.
"Really?" she asked and Audrey nodded. She saw Tyler walk past them and looked long at his back. She bit her lip and looked at her friends with apologizing look.
"I need to go talk to him. Sorry," she said and turned her back on them. She didn't hear them say anything to her as she jogged to Tyler and tapped his back. Tyler turned and Audrey saw the shock on his face. He had his mouth open and he just looked at her. Tyler's brown eyes and dark hair were attractive but he was a douche, at least to Audrey.
"So I heard this crazy rumor that you are sleeping slash slept with Vicki Donovan," Audrey said and had her hands on her waist. Tyler shook his head and smiled nervously.
"Where did you hear it? They're just rumors Aud," he tried.
"My brother Jeremy told me. First I didn't want to believe it but then I saw you two walking together and you placed a really horny gaze on her. You know the normal," she said and swung her left arm. It hit Tyler's cheek quite hard and it left an instant red mark on it.
"What the hell?" Tyler shouted. Everyone stared at the two, mostly because they were in the middle of the school hall and because everyone just had gotten use to them holding hands and snuggling.
"Stop whining and go fuck Vicki Donovan," Audrey spat and started walking away. God she hated to act strong. As she walked away she almost shed a tear. She wiped the under of her eye and fastened her pace. She was just done, she didn't need Tyler in her life. She walked to her first class, history. She had her black bag on her left arm and as she got to the history class she threw it on her table. A new guy sat next to her. She turned her gaze to him and studied him. Dark thick eyebrows and a brooding look. Good hair though. Elena wasn't in the class yet. The guy turned his look to Audrey.
"Hey, I'm Audrey," she said and nodded to him.
"Stefan Salvatore," he said and smiled awkwardly.
"Oh, surnames. Audrey Gilbert," she repeated and offered her hand. Stefan took it and they shook hands. Elena stormed into the class just before the teacher did. Audrey noticed Stefan's gaze turned to her. Audrey frowned but placed her look in front. It was time to pay some attention to the class.
The day went by and so did the next. The evening was dedicated to the school start party. Audrey was there like every other Mystic Falls high school student. The party was in the woods and Bonnie, Elena and Audrey had gotten their party fever on. They were next to a fire and drinking. Aunt Jenna wasn't going to mind, at least she couldn't do anything about it, not that Audrey concerned. Audrey was wearing quite a short white lace dress and a leather jacket with converses.
"Just admit it, Elena," Bonnie said and Audrey chuckled loudly with a beer in her hand. She took a drink from it and Elena looked at her, concerned. Audrey shrugged to her and furrowed her brows a bit.
"Oh, ok, so he's a little pretty," Elena admitted and it made Audrey smile to her. She glared around feeling like someone was staring at her. She saw Stefan talking to a certain blondie.
"He has that romance novel stare," Bonnie said in a tipsy tone.
"So where is he?" Bonnie continued and glared around.
"I don't know. You tell me, you're the psychic one."
"Right, I forgot. Ok, so give me a sec. Grams says I have to concentrate," Bonnie said and pretended to start to concentrate.
"Wait, you need a crystal ball," Audrey giggled and poured the beer out of her bottle. She offered the bottle for Bonnie. She touched Audrey's hand and she spaced out for a moment. Her eyes were closed for a couple of seconds before she opened her eyes again. She immediately pulled her hand back.
"Are you okay?" Audrey asked and Bonnie just stared at her blank.
"When I touched you, I saw a crow," Bonnie said and Audrey frowned.
"What?" she and Elena asked almost at the same time.
"A crow. There was fog, a man," Bonnie explained, "I'm drunk. It's the drinking. There's nothing psychic about it. Yeah? Ok, I'm gonna get a refill," she said and just left. Audrey turned to Elena and they stared at each other .
"What the hell was that?" Elena asked.
Stefan walked to them and stared at Elena. Audrey felt like she wasn't there.
"Hi," Stefan said with a tiny smile.
"Hi," Elena said back
"Okay, I'm going to go find Bonnie. You two, have fun," Audrey said and walked quickly away from them. Audrey walked to the beers and grabbed another one. Someone chuckled to her. She raised her gaze with a bottle in her hand.
"What?" she asked with a crooked smile. A man looked at her with amusement.
"Aren't you cold?" he asked and Audrey now saw his face. Raven hair and blue eyes. Beautiful bonestructure. He had the whole flirty eyes thing going on. She raised a one brow to him.
"I know that I'm a mess so don't need anyone reminding me about it. And to your question, yes, I am cold," Audrey said and opened the bottle. The man just chuckled and looked Audrey drink almost all of the beer in the bottle. She looked at the bottle and rolled the drink inside it. She saw the man still standing there with her side-eye.
"You remind me of someone," he said and smiled crookedly. Audrey frowned and turned her whole body towards him.
"Is it a good thing?" she asked which she got answered just by a chuckle.
"I'm surprised no one's protecting you here. There could be a serial killer here," he said. Audrey feeling a little, well, let's just say tipsy she went and spilled her feelings. She just vomited the words out of her mouth without thinking.
"Yeah, well just broke up with my boyfriend. Turns out he slept with a slut named Vicki Donovan, behind my back," Audrey said and took another drink from the bottle, "Am I a bad person if I want to hurt the bitch?"
"No," he said too quickly. "Everyone has those feelings more than once."
"Not Elena," Audrey chuckled, "she is perfect. Innocent and sweet."
"Well that can't be true," he said.
"It is," she said, "everyone falls in love with her. Even the new guy, what's his name, Stefan Salvatore. Not that I would want him. Oh god that sounded terrible. No I'm not saying he isn't good looking-"
"Just stop talking, you are making it worse on yourself," the stranger laughed and made Audrey snicker sliently.
"Nice for you to keep me company," Audrey said and glanced at him but he had disappeared. She frowned and glared around, trying to find him with her look.
"That's odd."