Wow, okay, I do have to apologise for waiting five months before an update for this series. Anyway, this covers the last few episodes of Season 1, so the end of the first part, at least, and we'll be heading into Season 2 now.

Warnings: some frank discussion of rape, assault of a blind person, assault of a woman by a man.


The Last Waltz

The next morning, Caroline found herself in a very awkward position.

Her arm was carelessly thrown across Klaus' stomach, bare of any shirt, so that her palm was pressed against his warm flank and she could feel the ridges in his abdomen against her forearm. His hand was on her shoulder, fingers jutting into her collarbone and twisted amongst her loose blonde waves. Their legs were entwined, warm and soft and boneless from sleep, and it was the most peaceful she had been in months.

But it wasn't to last, so she pulled away, slowly, careful not to wake him as she did. She rolled out of the covers and slunk off into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her, which promptly woke up Klaus, his eyes bleary as they searched in the direction of what had roused him.

However, it was the ominous sound of the outside ice machine being handled that had Caroline stumbling out of the bathroom, her hair a rat's nest of sunshine, one side of the Henley he had lent her slipping off a shoulder. They exchanged a worried, hopeful look and swept outside the door without much ceremony.

They crouched behind the ice machine, staring into the door of the room beside them, ajar and the sound of an ominous flute melody creeping towards them. Slowly, Klaus began to approach around the ice machine, Caroline hot on his heels, and pushed open the door slowly, warily discerning the room for threats. Caroline slipped inside after him and shut the door behind her, turning around to find the music coming from a CD player on top of the TV cabinet. Caroline took a deep breath and went over to switch it off, while Klaus made for the bag placed on top of the bed.

"You're getting colder," Klaus said, suddenly.

"What?" Caroline demanded, rushing over to the bed to peer into the bag, onto to find it half-filled with ice and a sticky note plastered on top, signed by A.

"Who's A?" Klaus asked, confused.

Caroline swallowed hard. "No clue." She lied straight through her teeth.


Needless to say, accusing her mother's current boyfriend of murdering her best friend (who was seeing him at the time of said murder) didn't end so well for her. Other than making her mother incredibly disappointed in her (which wasn't so different from the norm, but she had to admit it stung that her mother thought she was lying), it didn't do much in the way of getting rid of Mason, especially since that the tree that had been proof of the Elason relationship had miraculously been cut down in the time between Caroline and Bonnie finding the carving and Caroline going to the police with the information, but it had also been integral in outing the fact that Caroline had also been seeing Mason that summer (and wasn't that just awkward).

This, of course, had led to a complete shut-out from her mother, who was not only angry at her for macking on her boyfriend over a year ago, but 'lying' to the police that said boyfriend was a teenage-girl-screwing murderer.

Which hurt, because Liz Forbes (no matter what her faults) was still her mother, the only mother she had, and knowing that her own mother didn't believe her, well, it wasn't the easiest thing for her to bear.

But it left her trapped in her room, grounded for being a compulsive liar, not that physical contact meant for much in the age of Skype and Facebook, but it was annoying.

She hid her glee when Klaus climbed through her window that night, without a care in the world, as if he wasn't a guy almost charged with murder and this wasn't the Sheriff's house.


"So, how's the house arrest going?" Katherine asked, curiously, touching up her glossed mouth.

"Boring," Caroline muttered as she washed her hands.

Rebekah snorted. "Doubtful, considering the surprise visitor she's been having every night."

Katherine and Bonnie immediately rounded on her and Caroline vividly resisted the urge to pull on Rebekah's hair like they were still four-year-olds in the sandbox.

Katherine looked absolutely devilish. "Klaus has been sneaking into your room at night?"

Caroline grimaced. "Look, it's not like that. We just… talk. That's it. We're both kind of Public Enemy Number One right now in Mystic Falls, remember?" She turned to Rebekah. "And how did you even know that, anyway? 'Cause he's not even living at your house anymore."

Rebekah shrugged. "Kol knows all. And he was very forthcoming."

Caroline wondered if Rebekah and Klaus would be angry at her if she went at Kol's kneecaps with a baseball bat. Although, knowing the Mikaelsons, they'd just find that funny.

"Nothing happened," Caroline said, firmly.

The door to the bathroom opened and they all fell silent, as Hayley's cane clacked against the linoleum. Hayley proceeded to the wash basin, smoothly, and began to wash her hands.

"I hope, for your sake, that nothing did happen, Caroline," Hayley said, coldly, staring emptily through her sunglasses at her own reflecting in the bathroom mirror. "I know you're easy and all, but don't you think it's a little desperate to invite him up to your bedroom?" Her lip curled. "The last thing Nik needs right now is to get caught up in your mess. He's still dealing with the stigma of being an alleged murderer, not to mention 'rapist' after Homecoming. Haven't you done enough already? Who knows what your mum will say to get him thrown in jail when she finally catches you two? Your string of exes prove that you're bad news."

Caroline saw red. She saw that damnable video. She saw the way Klaus' muscles had braced when Hayley had slid a hand across his bare flank, as if he couldn't bear for her to touch him. She saw the way he had avoided her gaze after she told him she had seen the video, as if he had something to be ashamed about, as if Hayley hadn't raped him and made him think he was the aggressor.

And now, she had the nerve to stand here, content in her disability as if it were a shield, and claim that she was bad news, she was the reason Klaus was whispered about, when Hayley had put her hands on a guy who didn't want her, who hadn't wanted her and who would never want her, under penalty of brutal retribution that would ruin his life.

Hayley called him Nik – she had no right to that name.

Caroline strode forwards until she was standing right in front of Hayley, who had turned to face her direction when she heard Caroline's approach. Caroline lashed out and slapped Hayley across the face, hard enough that her sunglasses felt off. Hayley was left standing there stunned and vulnerable, her eyes sunken inside her skull and eerily glazed over. Caroline took a deep breath, fingers twitching in regret, and she kneeled down, scooping up Hayley's fallen shades. She grabbed Hayley's wrist, roughly, and placed the sunglasses in her upturned palm, closing Hayley's fingers around them.

She leaned in.

"Threatening guys with a rape charge is how you get guys to have sex with you, Hayley. Not me."

It was cheap and crude and a low blow and it probably even diminished Klaus' trauma at Hayley's hands, but it felt good, it felt like justice.

She did it for Klaus.


Her mother had broken her unofficial house arrest to force her to accompany her and Mason to the Founders' Day festival (despite her protests that it was hardly appropriate for her to tag along on her mother's date, especially considering that said date was with a guy that she used to fool around with, which her mother was very much aware of).

She knew that her friends would be there as well, of course (it was the Founders' Day festival; in Mystic Falls, that was the equivalent of the ball dropping on New Years' Eve in New York), but she doubted that her mother would let her leave her side to even go and meet up with them.

All she was missing was the ankle monitor.

She let her mother and Mason go on ahead, while she followed behind them at a steady pace, not too slow that her mother could accuse her of trying to run away, but not too fast that she could actually hear their conversation (the whole situation was awkward enough without having to actually listen in on their date).

Her phone buzzed and she looked down, seeing a message from Klaus, asking her to meet him in the haunted house. For a moment, she was confused – of all the places to meet up, the haunted house was definitely a strange choice, and to be honest, not really a romantic one either. But, she mused, it would certainly be somewhere her mother wouldn't follow. Her mother hated haunted houses. She hated the idea of walking into some dimly lit tunnel of rooms that were designed to throw her off guard. And if she were feeling particular off her game, she might even pull out her gun and shatter a few mirrors in the process.

She slowed her pace down somewhat and waited a few minutes to make sure her mother and Mason wouldn't look back, before quietly slipping away and going off in a completely different direction. Finally, she entered the haunted house, squinting into the darkness as bright lights flashed around her, distorting her senses. There were a few people ahead of her, but she ignored them, focusing on the sound of feet taking each steep, as the bulbs at every archway flashed repeatedly at her crossing. Creepy clown laughter drifted over the intercoms and suddenly, two large white hands slid out of a hand on the wall, completely blocking her escape from either ends. She cringed, slightly, curling in on herself, until the hands withdrew and it was safe to keep walking.

She licked her lips. "Klaus? Are you in here?" She called out.

She opened a door into a room which was filled with red. Fake smoke was thick around her, as if she were in a boiler room. The lights turned blue and a clown was revealed hanging from the ceiling, face plastic but the flesh seemingly eaten as if it were a zombie. She grimaced and recoiled as it cackled cruelly.

And that was when she spotted the words painted in red on the wall.

Having any fun yet?

Shut up, or I'll shut you up.

A.

She felt the fear like ice and she immediately trying to leave, calling out for Klaus once more. In her attempt to flee the room, she found herself stuck in a small, rounded hatch, just big enough for one person. But she couldn't open the other side. Her throat went thick and she bit back the urge to cry, tears already stinging her eyes. She banged on the door with her fists.

"Hello?" She called out. "Is someone out there? Can someone please get me out of here?" She asked, her voice rising in its panic.

Minutes passed and no one came to get her.

"HELP!" She screamed, her hands shaking.

The fear felt like it would sweep her up any second now. Hell, she didn't even realise she was claustrophobic until now.

"Please! Someone open the door!"

She curled in on herself, wrapping her arms around herself, as she vainly tried to get her breathing under control. She heard the sound of metal and her eyes snapped open.

"Nik? Is that you, Nik?" She called out, hopefully, in a small voice.

The hatch slid open and Mason was looming over her, a crowbar in his hands. Caroline gasped and pressed herself back against the wall, but there was nowhere else to flee. He was blocking her only exit.

"Mason?" Caroline heard her mother's voice in the distance.

Mason turned in that direction. "Yeah, I've got her. She's fine."

Liz came running up, followed by Mrs Lockwood (which Caroline was surprised by, considering she didn't think that Carol Lockwood exactly approved of the relationship between her brother-in-law and Liz), just as Mason knelt and snatched up her phone. The moment she saw her mother, she stumbled out of the hatch and threw herself into Liz's arms, still shaking as the panic slowly faded away like a cold trickle.

"You had to use a crowbar to get her out?" Her mother's voice was muffled, as if she weren't actually here and holding onto Caroline with a death-grip.

"It's what was keeping her in," Mason replied, as if he were outraged by the idea.

Caroline knew better though.

He was probably the person who had put it there.

Her phone sounded and Caroline took it from Mason's hands, unceremoniously, glancing down at here to see a message from Klaus.

I'm here. Where can I find you?

Klaus.

"Nobody goes in here until you figure this out. My girlfriend's daughter could've been seriously hurt," She heard Mason arguing with one of the haunted house's staff, as she slowly walked away.

She remained curled in on herself as she walked pass the still flashing strobe lights, dodging anyone who came in the opposite direction. When she stepped out, she swayed slightly as she took a huge gulp of cold, fresh air. She didn't even that her face was slowly freezing over. She didn't ever want to feel that trapped and helpless ever again, the air burning in her lungs as she fought to breathe.

She saw Klaus standing there, just outside the haunted house and she desperately wanted to rush to him, when her mother and Mason came out as well, followed by Carol Lockwood as well. Her mother and Mrs Lockwood spotted Klaus, both faces twisting in disapproval. Her mother tugged on Caroline's arm.

"Come on, honey, let's go," Liz said, firmly.

Caroline flinched and hung her head, preparing to follow her mother. But she couldn't seem to take her eyes off Klaus' face, seeing something akin to hope glinting in his eyes – hope that she would choose him. She stayed there, standing, her feet stuck to the ground, and only broke the eye contact when her mother called her name once more.

She began to follow her mother and Mason and Mrs Lockwood. But only a few steps later, she stopped and turned back to Klaus, who was still standing there, his hands in his jacket pockets. Before she could even make the decision, she was striding back in his direction, to the point where she could've even been running. She didn't stop until she hurtled into his arms and he held her close. She felt the tears snap then and there and she buried her face in his jacket, her breath coming out of her lungs in sharp, stilted gasps.

"It's okay," He hushed her, quietly. "It's fine. I'm here now. You're safe, Caroline."

She could feel the judgmental eyes of her mother and Mrs Lockwood (who already had a bit of a grudge against her, after she, you know, accused her brother-in-law of being a skeevy, teenage-girl-dating murderer of said teenage girl) looking on, but she didn't seem to care.

Finally, she pulled away only to kiss him firmly on the mouth, the first time they had touched like this in over a year and she felt alive.

She had missed him something fierce and she hadn't even realised just how much.

He clutched at the curve of her hips through her jacket and moulded his mouth against hers the way he used to in those coat closets during those drunken hook-ups. They'd never had the courage to do this in public before, and it felt good. It felt good to do as she liked, with whom she liked, no matter what her mother or Mrs Lockwood or those judgy, in-desperate-need-of-good-sex people thought.

She felt proud, standing here. Damon had never made her feel proud. He had made her feel ashamed and awkward and disgusted in herself for feeling all of those things because shouldn't she be happy she was with him?

Finally, the need to breathe became a little too great for them to just ignore and they broke apart. Caroline fisted her hand in the front of his jacket, unwilling to let him go (the last time she had, it hadn't ended so well for either of them), even when she heard footsteps approaching them.

"Caroline," Her mother said, clipped. "It's time to go."

Caroline didn't need to turn her head to know that her mother was glaring at both of them.

"I'm staying with Klaus," She told her mother, firmly.

"Caroline," Liz raised her voice.

Caroline looked at her mother, resolute in her decision. "I'm staying with Klaus." She said, stubbornly.

Let her mother try and drag her away; she'd have one hell of a fight on her hands.

As if reading her mind, Klaus gripped at her hand like she'd be pulled from his hold, prepared to go to war right beside her.

"This isn't going to help you, Caroline," Liz argued, quietly. "You're already in so much trouble. Do you want to make things worse for yourself?"

Caroline shook her head. "The only person making things worse for me is you." She snapped.

Liz looked like Caroline had just slapped across her face, but Caroline didn't care. Mason came up to them and Caroline felt Klaus tense under her hand. She didn't have to look at him to know that he was glaring daggers at Mason, wishing he were dead. Mason put a hand on Liz's shoulder.

"Come on, Liz," Mason soothed. "Let them go. I'm sure Caroline will come home when she's done." He looked steadily at Caroline, as if daring her to argue.

Caroline nodded, stiffly. Finally, under Mason's word, Liz drew away, not before shooting Caroline one hell of betrayed, worried look. Once her mother and Mason and Mrs Lockwood (who looked keen enough that Caroline knew that she'd be the next topic of conversation at the woman's next sewing circle or whatever it was that middle-aged upper middle-class women in Mystic Falls did when they had no job to go to and husbands who screwed their secretaries more often than they screwed them) left them there, Caroline turned back into Klaus' embrace, fitting her nose against where his collarbone was.

"What happened?" He asked, lowly, worriedly.

His concern made her smile, even if she was still trembling.

"I got stuck in the haunted house," Caroline murmured. "There was this hatch and the door wouldn't open…" She trailed off, unable to finish.

Klaus' fingers twisted in her hair. "You're out now, love."

"Yeah," Caroline sighed. "I know."

"And you kissed me."

"Yeah."

"Is that all you're going to say?" Klaus asked, curiously.

Caroline's shoulders slumped. "Can we do this like not now?"

She looked up to see Klaus' face twist.

"Yes, fine. Later."

The sound of running footsteps made her look, only to find Rebekah and Katherine pushing past a myriad of people in attempt to reach her. She pulled away from Klaus (albeit reluctantly), just as the two girls landed in front of her.

"We need to go," Katherine said, quickly.

"Why?" Caroline frowned.

"Bonnie found something," Rebekah told her.

"Found something as in…" Caroline trailed off, pointedly.

"Found something," Katherine returned, just as pointedly.

Caroline grimaced. "Great. Okay, let's go."

"Wait," Klaus protested. "What are you four up to now?"

Rebekah rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, Nik, we'll get your home skillet back to you as soon as possible." She drawled.

Caroline choked. "What are you, a twelve-year-old in the 2000s?"

"Just come," Katherine urged, pulling on her arm.

Caroline groaned. "You are such a cockblock." She muttered, glaring at the brunette, who rolled her eyes. She rounded on Klaus, who was smirking at her. "Not that there was going to be anything worthy of a cockblocking nature. Capische?"

Klaus inclined his head, innocently, but she didn't believe the whole 'wide-eyed school boy' shtick for a second.

She sighed and kissed him, quickly, once more. "I'll call you when I get home." She promised, and he nodded. She turned back to the girls. "Let's go." She motioned for the other two to go ahead, and they began walking away.

Katherine stopped in her tracks, suddenly, and grimaced. "Oh, yeah, wait, you need to go get Bonnie's phone."

"What?" Caroline asked, her voice rising in incredulity.

"Yeah, she left it at the church," Rebekah shrugged.

"Why do I have to go get it?" Caroline demanded.

"Because you didn't answer your damn phone," Katherine retorted, sharply. "Ergo, you get the short stick."

"For fuck's sake," Caroline cursed. "Great, fine, I'll go get it. Where do I meet you?"

Rebekah rattled off an address.

Caroline frowned. "Where is that?"

"Bonnie found a key to a storage unit, underneath a snow globe that Elena gave her the summer before she died," Rebekah said, slowly, making sure no one was listening in on their conversation. "Meet us there once you have Bonnie's phone."

"Can't we just go get her phone after we visit the storage unit?" Caroline asked, pointedly.

"You really think it's wise for her to go around missing her phone for much longer?" Katherine shot back. "What if A finds her?"

Caroline bit her tongue, because she couldn't really argue against that. But call her a coward, she didn't want to be the one on her lonesome, not when there was a creepy-text-messaging sociopath on the loose in Mystic Falls.

"Fine," She relented. "At least I have my phone. I'll meet you guys at the storage unit once I get Bonnie's phone."


The door to the church creaked open as Caroline pushed. She went inside, into total darkness, calling out for Pastor Young, hoping that he would return her call. She started to peruse through the pews, looking for Bonnie's phone.

"Looking for something?"

Caroline's heart caught in her throat and she swung around, only to come face to face with Mason, looming over her with his arms crossed over his chest. There was a flat, empty look to his eyes and it scared her a little bit, so she took a wary step backwards.

She tipped her chin up in defiance. "Just for Bonnie's phone. She left it here."

Mason hummed, as if accepting her explanation. He looked around, pointedly. "Where's your jailbird boyfriend? He didn't come with you?"

"He's not my pet," Caroline retorted. "He doesn't follow me around wherever I go." She eyed him, hatefully. "Why are you here, anyway? I thought you were with my mum, on a date."

"I was," Mason cocked his head. "Then I dropped her off."

"And you came to the church?" Caroline asked, sceptically. "Why? For some late-night confession?"

Mason's lips twitched. "I thought we should have a little talk." He said, smoothly.

That raised the hair on the back of her neck.

"About what?" Caroline asked, coldly.

"Just… some boundaries," Mason offered, taking a step closer to her.

Caroline promptly took a step back.

Mason sighed. "Look, Caroline, I really like your mum, and I don't want anything," He looked at her, pointedly. "Or anyone, to ruin what we have."

"You think I'm going to ruin what you have?" Caroline asked, mockingly.

"I think you're poking into things better left alone," Mason said, lowly.

"Like what?" Caroline challenged.

She slid a hand into her coat pocket, as soon as the phone buzzing started. She didn't know who was on the other end, but she simply answered the call without looking, hoping whomever was calling her was a friendly.

Mason smiled. "Come on, Caroline. I know it must be… awkward… to see me with your mother, especially after everything we shared-"

Caroline baulked at that – it was one kiss!

"Don't you think it's better if we all just move on?" Mason soothed, as if she were the problem. "I mean, after everything that happened with your dad, doesn't your mother deserve to be happy, with a guy that really likes her?"

Caroline snorted. "And you're that guy?" She asked, sceptically.

Mason smirked. "I'm not that bad."

"I don't know," Caroline said, sharply. "Considering you were the guy my dead best friend was seeing right before she died."

Mason's jaw tightened and Caroline knew she had hit a nerve.

"I mean, the video of you and Elena, not to mention that whole Sweetie Graffiti thing in the woods. Elena loves Mason. I wonder what the police – and by that, yes, I mean my mother – are going to think. Aren't boyfriends always the first suspect when a pretty, teenage girl goes missing and ends up dead?"

Mason's smile was cold as he sauntered towards her.

"If you really had proof of any of that, you'd have gone to the police already," He taunted, watching in barely disguised glee as she shrunk away from him, quickly, going around the pews as fast as she could without actually running.

"Yeah, but when they haul you in for questioning, you're going to be singing like a canary," Caroline hissed.

He killed Elena. HE KILLED ELENA. He deserves this.

"You already tried that once, remember, Caroline," Mason said, pointedly. "The police don't believe you and your little friends. Especially after they found out that we… you know…" He trailed off, lasciviously.

She had done more in a coat closet with Klaus that first time when she was fifteen than she had ever done with Mason Lockwood.

"What if I said I found another copy?" Caroline challenged, completely lying through her teeth, but no one said that Mason had to know that.

Mason stilled. "You're lying." He said, coldly.

Caroline's grin sharpened. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Mason sighed, just as Caroline's feet hit the staircase that led up to the belltower at the back of the altar.

"The thing is, Caroline, for any of that to happen, you actually have to make it to the police station."

That was when Mason lunged for her and Caroline screamed. She dodged just as his arms came for, racing up the stairs to the tower. She came up to the rafters and desperately searched for a way out, but found nothing. She spun on her feet just in time to see Mason reaching the top of the stairs.

"I'll make it quick, Caroline," He said, grimly, stalking forwards. "I mean, it's not even that strange. You're already days away from being arrested for Elena's murder. You finally decided enough was enough, and you couldn't deal with the guilt of killing your best friend. Elena's dead, you'll be dead and life… will go on."

He seized her by her hair, despite her shouts of protests (there was no one there to hear her anyway), and yanked her to where the bell was swaying over the open column.

"Don't worry, Caroline, it'll be quick," He said, gently. "One quick snap when your head hits the ground and it'll be over."

Caroline struggled. "Yeah, I bet this isn't your first rodeo." She gritted out.

Mason rolled his eyes. "I'd say this is harder than it looks and it'll give me nightmares for the rest of my life, but getting rid of you, you mouthy bitch, is definitely going to be one of the highlights of my day."

"Yeah, well, I aim to please," She retorted, spitefully, thrashing as much as she could in his hold, but he weighed a good thirty kilograms more than she did and his grip on her hair was beginning to hurt.

Hell, even kicking him in the shins wasn't doing much of an effect.

Mason scowled and kicked her legs out from underneath her, making her slip forwards and off the ledge of the column. She grappled in air for a few, sickening moments, left completely in the lurch and thinking she was about to die, but she didn't know what higher power was smiling down on her or which old lady she must have helped across the street in a former life, but suddenly she was gripping onto the ledge with both hands, for dear life.

"Shit!" She screamed, her legs swaying in the air just beside the bell.

Mason groaned and walked over to the ledge she was currently gripping onto in fear of death and knelt in front of her.

"You just won't fucking die, will you?" He shook his head. "Oh, well, your lucky streak had to end somewhere." He leaned in, all catty and amused, and Caroline had a sudden flash of Regina George just before the bus hit her. "Don't worry, I'll take care of your mum. She won't even miss you when you're gone."

Just as he was about to pry her fingers off the edge, a black-clad figure appeared behind him, much to Caroline's terror and confusion.

Mason looked up, his brow furrowed, looking just as bewildered by the figure's presence as Caroline was.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

The black-clad figure remained silent and simply kicked Mason with such force that he toppled over the ledge instead of a bemused Caroline.

The bell tolled.

When she looked down, out of some morbid curiosity, she saw that Mason had managed to get himself strangled by the myriad of ropes that held the church bell lofty in the air. When she looked back up, Mason's murderer was no longer there, and she was the only one left. With a surprising amount of upper-body strength that she didn't even know she had, Caroline managed to pull herself up over the ledge, so that she was lying down with her legs dangling off the edge. There was the sound of more footsteps, and Caroline tensed, looking up to see Rebekah, Katherine and Bonnie run up the stairs of the bell tower.

"You came," Caroline said, dazed.

Rebekah held up her phone. "You answered my call. We heard everything." She looked around. "Where's Mason?"

Caroline pointed to the open column and the other three looked over the edge, only to find Mason's body, already pale, swaying sinisterly in the ropes. They grimaced and Caroline could even see that his death (no matter how deserved it had been) had struck all of them, not just Caroline, who would never forget that moment of freefall when she thought she was going to die.

Rebekah knelt beside Caroline, gripping onto her hand fiercely. "You did what you had to do." She said, firmly, knowing that Caroline was the kind of person who would feel guilty, even if Mason had been a colossal bastard who would've killed her with a smile on his face.

"No," Caroline said, dully. "I didn't. It wasn't me."

Bonnie frowned. "But Care, there's no one else here. Who did it?"

"I don't know," Caroline murmured. "I only saw someone in black." Her hands were still shaking when she looked down at them. "Mason killed Elena. He killed Elena and he was going to kill me." She looked up at the other girls. "And he would've lied to my mother about it too and she would never have known that he killed me."

The three girls helped pull Caroline, still shaking, to her feet. Surprisingly, it was Katherine who opened her arms, into which Caroline fell, clutching onto her friend for dear life, as she trembled. There were no tears; Caroline feared she had no more strength for tears.

To say that today had been a long day would have been an understatement.

What seemed like hours later, the girls stumbled out of the church, holding onto each other for comfort. As they tried to push past the police officers that had gathered there (Caroline determinedly did not look for her mother – that was a conversation she had no interest in having at that moment) and the gawking citizens of Mystic Falls, Deputy Sheriff Jess called them back.

"Do you girls think this is funny?" He asked them, sternly.

The four exchanged a confused look, so he motioned for them to follow him back into the church (something which Caroline was utterly reluctant to do). Once they were back inside the bell tower, they understood the Deputy's annoyance.

Mason's body no longer hung where they had left him.

Only empty ropes dangled from the ceiling, with no body strung up in them.

When they came out of the church for the second time and proceeded towards where the yellow police tape had stretched out around the perimeter, where the curious townspeople were still muttering to themselves, looking at the four girls with a new suspicion (the word 'lying' had been tossed around a lot), their phone buzzed.

Caroline closed her eyes.

No. Not now. Please, not now. This was supposed to be over. Why isn't it fucking over?

They all exchanged an identical look of dread, and pulled out their phones.

"Oh, my God," Bonnie moaned.

"But I thought-" Katherine gritted out.

It's not over until I say it is.

Sleep tight while you still can, bitches.

A.