Caroline Forbes wakes up in a hotel room in New Orleans, the sheets are cold, its raining. It's such a bad day already and she hasn't gotten out of bed yet. She rolls over in her bed to check her phone - then remembers, she threw it out a car window. So that's a no go.
"Good morning, love."
Her eyes slowly drag themselves up, coming out of the bathroom, Klaus. "I know you're not real. I crashed my car for you last time, not falling for this one again." She pulls herself up to a sitting position, rubbing the dirt, and the Klaus, out of her eyes. But when she's done rubbing, he's still there. "I'm not buying this."
"I'm not asking you to buy anything, love." He sits on the edge of her bed, "How have you been?"
"How have I been?" She lets go of the breath she's been holding, "I don't know. I honestly have no idea. Where is Klaus?" She asks, more demanding.
He just chuckles and shakes his head, looking down, "We both know that's not how this works, Caroline."
"Well typically when you die you don't come back, so lets just say most things aren't working properly."
"Do you remember when we kissed in that bar? Down the street?" His eyes wander to the window, "You didn't turn around, Caroline."
Caroline shakes her head, "No. I did not." She plops back onto her pillows, "Are you real?" She asks, "I'm so tired of these.. hallucinations.. ghosts.. whatever you are. I just want the real thing."
"Find me, love. I'm so close." Klaus says, with a smirk, he gets up, adjusting his jacket. "I bet you'll even find me today."
Caroline gets up quickly, "What do you mean? Where? First letter, anything, please."
"You're smart. You'll figure it out, won't you, love?" He smirks and in the blink of an eye, he's gone again.
Caroline thought that when Klaus died, the memory of him would stop haunting her.
Find him today? Caroline didn't even know where to start. She went to bars, she went to his house, she went everywhere. She went everywhere. At a loss, she found herself sitting in the graveyard. He wasn't buried there. No one had the decency to bury him.
If she'd been here, she would have buried him.
She rests her face in her hands, sighing, "Where the hell are you, Klaus."
Suddenly, she hears someone behind her, she whips around quick, to see herself face to face with Stefan Salvatore. She doesn't smile, but she jokes, "Human looks really good on you, Stefan."
He puts his hands in his pockets, "Thanks. What are you doing all the way out here?"
Caroline shrugs, "I don't really know anymore."
"You're here to find him, aren't you?"
"What do you know about that?" She stands up, "We both know I can kill you in less than a second, so if you know something, you have to tell me."
Stefan chuckles, "I'm not sure I'm going to ever get used to threats like that. We used to be friends Caroline. More, even."
She folds her arms over her chest, "That was a long time ago. This is important to me, Stefan." She pauses, holding her lips tight against each other, "I'm not totally sure why it's this important."
"Because you love him. You didn't get your chance."
She feels like cold water has been thrown on her, she lets out the breath she'd been holding. "Yeah. Maybe that's it."
"Yeah, maybe."
The silence is deafening. They're just staring at each other. Caroline feels like she's going to cry. The pain of losing Klaus has been so raw, so real. The most emotion she's felt in a long time. Standing here, talking to human Stefan, about Klaus, was all too much for her. Everything had changed so much. Before, she was just a normal high school student, no vampires, no hybrids, no one making her feel this dark and lost. Now, everyone made her feel this dark and lost. She hadn't spoken to Elena in years, she lost Klaus, and now Stefan, standing in front of her, trying to be nice. Pretending like he hadn't spent a year trying to kill her best friend.
There were so many emotions spinning in Caroline's head, and there was no where for them to go.
"Can you at least say you're sorry?" She chokes out.
Stefan looks confused, then nods, understanding, looking down at his feet. "Caroline, we both know you don't want an apology like that."
"I want something!" She snaps.
Her tone silences the entire space, she's not breathing, Stefan is breathing, hard, his heart is picking up pace - she can hear every beat.
"Check under the old willow tree, in the park." He says it so quietly it's barely a whisper.
Caroline looks confused, "For what?"
Stefan shrugs and starts to walk away, "Figure it out, Caroline. I'll catch you around."
"Yeah, I'd love that." She says sarcastically, "Thanks anyway!" She yells after him.
