Stefan realizes that Damon's gone even before he opens his eyes. He sits up, lets the silk sheets fall away from as he rises from the bed and runs to Damon's room. A chill settles along his spine as he enters his brother's room; there is nothing out of place, but something is missing and Stefan needs to find him now.
He ransacks the room, tossing aside books and tearing the sheets from the bed; by the time he's through, it looks like a madman had destroyed it, but there's no trace of Damon, no hint as to where he's gone, and Stefan falls to his knees with Damon's sheets pressed to his nose.
***
"Elena." Stefan approaches her outside of school with only a frown.
"Stefan, what's wrong?" She immediately thinks that Damon's done something again and she reaches forward to comfort him, but Stefan pulls back.
"Have you seen Damon?" He's not looking at her; his eyes are scanning the crowd and he's desperately trying to catch his brother's scent on the wind.
"No. Haven't you?" Elena touches the necklace almost subconsciously. "Is Damon missing?"
"I haven't seen him since yesterday morning." He's angry now; he's supposed to be keeping an eye on him and now Damon's missing and he has no idea where he is.
"Stefan, he probably just left-" But Stefan's not listening to her.
"Damon wouldn't just leave, not after all the trouble he's gone through." He inhales, shuddering. "I can't find him, Elena; who knows what's happened to him." Stefan leaves abruptly, going to search for Damon, leaving Elena standing there.
***
He spends the day searching every inch of the city and the surrounding forests, but there is no sign of Damon. Stefan goes home and feeds before settling back into the empty room. The scent of his brother is a shallow comfort but one he must afford himself now.
It's midnight and he is curled in Damon's bed, the sheet abandoned on his waist. That's when he hears it.
His brother is screaming for him.
Stefan leaps from the bed and out the window in seconds; he follows the sound of his name through the woods, but then, it stops. It just ends as though his brother has no more strength to call for him.
"DAMON!" He shouts for him, but he hears no answering call and he screams in frustration.
Stefan inhales, trying to find his brother that way, but there's nothing.