Chapter 8: Hmm…
Elaine's POV
I stepped down the stage and every one gave me wide smiles. I look to the left, I look to the right, and I was pretty sure that there were dozens of masked faces everywhere with tight grins on their lips, eyes filled with sheer joy and excitement, ready for an encore, and their applauding hands sounding of a thunderous clap. I was amazed by their support and their delight with such an improvising performance. I glided through the room as graceful as I can, even though I know I'm such a total klutz. I began turning my head sideways to find Elena but she was nowhere behind the colorful costumes and the enigmatic faces everyone was wearing, till' I felt a soft and gentle tap on my right shoulder.
I turned around to see that it was a beautiful blond with emerald green eyes hidden behind a pink mask designed by lace. She was wearing a ravishing hot pink gown that flowed to the floor with beads sprinkled on the halter. Her hair was let loose and in curls beside her head, and her pink lips were all the way covering half of her face. It was the beautiful Caroline Forbes with luscious golden hair like silk flowing from her head. I gave her a wide smile and she wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug.
"I've never seen you perform like that, Elena! You were really great!" Uh, did she just call me Elena? Haven't we already moved on from that phase? I got away from her embrace and stared at her with menacing eyes. I knew she just couldn't stand that look, and I also know that she'd recognize me in one glimpse with eyes as fierce as a cat's. I drew my lip into a straight line and stared back at her.
"Wrong answer." I replied back and continued my icy cold stares. I could see beads of her sweat trickling down her face in pressure, and I didn't know why. It was just a simple question with two choices, and if I wasn't Elena, it was obvious that I was Elaine. She interlocked with my gaze and then gasped wide eyed, her lips parted in complete shock. I looked at her in a confused manner as she whispered a completely unknown name to me. Katherine. I tilted my head sideward and tried digging up my mind for the right reply. Who the hell was Katherine, and why did Caroline, one of my cousin's best friends whom I've met like 7 times, mistake me for her?
"Who's Katherine?" I asked her ignorantly. I crossed my arms on my chest as I raised my eyebrows up. It was only 3 weeks since we first met, and I bet she doesn't even know that I'm very impatient, easily provoked, and I hate not knowing about things that are going on around me. Her eyes widened and then I suddenly felt her ice cold arms wrap around me once again.
"Oh my God, Elaine, I am so sorry!" She said in an apologetic tone. I felt myself stiffen at her hard touch. "You know how much you and Elena look alike, and I haven't got enough of my mind aligned in the right place to observe the differences and," She paused as her lips began stuttering, looking for the right words to say. "Katherine, she's one of my friends who just happen to resemble you and Elena. I really thought you were her when you stared at me with an 'I'm going to kill you' look and¾"
"Shh, Caroline, chill, relax, and breathe. You're going to die eventually if you don't breathe. And it's alright, I get that all the time since the moment I set foot here in Mystic Falls. We're actually enjoying tricking other people. I get to know a few stuff about Elena, she gets to know a few stuff about me. It's all good, we're both mutual, everything's fine." I held her shoulders and tried to gently pull her down, and talk her into calming the hell out of her hysterics. I began telling her to take deep breaths, and luckily she did as I told her. After a few seconds, she was back to normal again, a huge smile with narrow pink lips, and eyes that smiled along with the world. "Now that's the Caroline we all know and love."
"Thanks. Oh, I forgot, I promised to have a dance with Matt. It's not always you get to go to a golden masquerade ball wearing a beautiful dress and get to dance with the man of your dreams. Why don't you find someone to dance with?" She pursued me into finding the perfect dance partner, as she gently elbowed me on the ribs. I laughed with her and just began pushing her away.
"No, I'm alright. I'm out on the hunt for Elena and Stefan anyway. I've been looking for them since I got off the stage. With this big wave of crowds surrounding me, I could hardly even see who's who." I whispered as I exaggeratingly waved my hands to my sides, gesturing to the huge crowd in the room. "I think you should have the time of your life with Matt. We don't' get to live forever." I added and she smiled. She gave me one last and final hug and disappeared through the colorful crowd that pranced and danced around the room.
The golden lighted chandelier glowed as I made my way through the thick crowd again, hoping I could see any sign of Stefan and Elena. There was one couple that looked like them, but the girl wasn't wearing a peach sequined halter gown. I spotted another pair, but their masks were entirely different. Finding Elena and Stefan in this huge crowd was like trying to find a needle in a haystack, and I didn't mean that as a simile, a hyperbole, or any other figure of speech. It was literally the truth. I spun around and around uncountable times, maybe 15 or 16, and I didn't find them till' I reached the 23rd spin. And figuratively, I didn't find them, they found me. I turned at the familiar voice of my identical cousin, and her boyfriend as he applauded me. I approached them silently.
"And there's the girl with the golden voice." Stefan acknowledged, clapping his hands out in front of him, his face smeared with delight. "I didn't know such a small girl could have a big voice. If you were to ask me, I wouldn't even recognize the voice unless I see which girl it came out from. You really have talent."
"Well, Elaine's the one to brag, she just doesn't brag her singing that much. And it's always been her talent to sing. She's been singing since we were 5-years-old. I was out picking flowers while she jumped on the coffee table and began singing her heart out to Michael Jackson's music." My cousin boasted out with pride. I've never seen her this way before. As if she just turned off her other side and let her inner yang do all the talking. I grinned and opened my mouth again.
"Inspiration can come from anywhere, at any given time, so I've got to be prepared with the right instruments to get it down. Whether it's a memory I need to write down in a journal, a moment I need to photograph in a camera, a song I need to compose on the piano, anything. I make sure I'm ready for it when it comes, because it may just blow away like the wind, or flow away like the water." I said in a soft voice, quiet enough for other not to hear, but loud enough for them to hear it clearly. Elena's eyes flickered toward me and I gave her a weak smile. I was so inspired tonight that I wanted to do another song, only this time, I didn't know what that song would be. I gave a loud sigh as the long and awkward silence between the three of us consumed the atmosphere.
"I think that's all I got for tonights 'Words of Wisdom: Brought to you by Ms. Elaine Gilbert'. Oh, and speaking of winds and water, would you excuse me for a moment. I need to go to the restroom. Do you know where it could be?"
"Oh, just beyond that hallway, pass by the patio and the 2nd door to the right's the girl's bathroom." She smiled at me and Stefan did the same. I gathered up my skirt and began striding across the floor. I was brisk walking and I could feel the pressure on my thighs and my hamstrings. The dress was a complete workout, wearing it. Before I got through the entrance of the hallway into the shadows of the dark night, I was already sweating. I could feel myself sweat bullets as I ran further along the hallway. It was a long and wide corridor consumed by the darkness as the chandelier's golden light only lit the main ballroom. It was dark and nothing lit the hallway except for the light of the moon and the stars right outside the patio. And that's when my eyes were caught in such bewilderment and beauty that I can't take them off the wonderful sight.
My path was distracted as I saw the magnificence of the multicolored flowers and plants surrounding the perfectly stoned center of the patio. And just there, in the middle, was a beautiful tiled fountain with cerulean blue water rushing out of it. The shadows of the night may have consumed half the color of this beautiful Eden, but beneath the moonlight glow, I could still see the colors and the blurred images of the fountain, the wild plantations and the stone benches around the circular center. I was so enthralled that I hadn't realized I was slowly drawn to circle the garden.
I admired every moment I had with nature till' a sudden snap of twigs distracted me from my train of thought. What was that? I turned around reflexively to check what had happened, and when I twisted my head around, nothing was there, not even air. I ignored the coincidental creepy sounds that happened behind me, thinking that it was just my supernatural and creative imagination playing pranks on me, till' it happened again, only this time it was the rustling of leaves. I instinctively turned around again, and as I've checked before, still nothing was there, and this time I knew I heard something. My eyes just kept on moving from side to side, observing every inch. I saw something move in the bushes, which was followed by a loud booming thud on the concrete wall on the other side of patio that was out of my view. And I overreacted. I ran as fast as I could to the bathroom which was luckily just a few running strides from where I was standing. I finally got a chance to take a deep breath when I knew that I was in the safety of the bathroom.
