A/N: I know, I know. This is really short, and I'm sorry for the lack of updates recently. But I am back on track, and thought I should at least post something for the meantime. A super big thank you to everyone who has reviewed xo
Hopefully, I will be back later tonight with a much longer update.
thekolbydiaries: I definitely agree that (this) Caroline is selfish. She's never really been in a position where she has to care for anybody besides herself (and, of course, her siblings), and my goal is to illustrate that struggle - to convey/record Caroline's reactions to feeling all these new emotions, and her being forced to feel them instead of lock them away.
"Get out of my way!"
Caroline struggled to suppress the panic rising steadily from the pit of her stomach. Hot and bitter, she felt it hitting the back of her throat. Her heartbeat loud in her ears, she took a breath to calm herself.
Just breathe, she told herself. Just. Breathe.
She shoved her way through a throng of tipsy teenagers, the devil be damned if they noticed a slim, blonde girl throwing the school's wrestling team easily into a wall. She didn't care; she propelled herself forward at the whims of her urgent need to find him. Her eyes scanned the crowd diligently, she chanted to herself over and over, willing her heavy, unusually clumsy limbs forward. The people, the music, the cacophony of voices and hazy, smoky air overwhelmed her senses. Caroline felt as if she were drowning at sea, her lungs filling with each panicked, trembling breath. She made her way steadily through the darkened halls, determined to fight the onslaught of emotion that threatened to swallow her whole.
Keep moving. Keep moving. Keep moving.
She closed her eyes; taking a deep breath, she tuned in to her other senses. A whiff of cologne, his cologne, and she spun on her heel in his direction. He's close, she thought to herself. And the bile and panic rose again. What would she say when she saw him? It had been days since their last encounter, and every single moment with him replayed in Caroline's mind in a loop. Days spent in isolation, and she failed to keep the memories from her mind. They were never far away, and it maddened her. All her resolve had crumbled with a single glance from him, and she cursed herself for running after Klaus like some love sick puppy. Still, Caroline was determined that he would not get away; the rest she could deal with later.
Now I'm the one chasing you, she thought. Flashes of their romp through the woods brought the ghost of a smile to her pale face.
She shook her head as if to clear it of any undesirable thoughts. The smell grew faint, his trail cold. Caroline weaved through the crowd until she found herself in her downstairs study. She was not alone.
"Caroline," Damon sneered; he lifted a tumbler to his smirking lips and took a long sip of amber liquid. The door shut behind Caroline, and all the noise of the party instantly lessened to a dull hum of excited chatter.
"Damon," Caroline drawled, feeling her muscles tense at the sound of her name. She briefly glanced at Stefan behind him, and her body instinctively poised for an attack. "Where's the rest of the Brat Pack?"
"Around," Stefan stepped forward, his hands in his pockets. He shrugged, holding his perfectly coiffed head arrogantly high. "Couldn't pass up the opportunity to party with an Original, could we?"
Caroline laughed. She had no time for children's games, and their attempts at intimidation were laughable. "What do you want now?" She asked, all the while surreptitiously sniffing the air.
He must've been in here earlier, she deduced.
Her eyes darted impatiently towards the back door, the only other exit to the room. She doubted they could catch her before she could wrench it open and propel herself into the dark, cold night; but the stubborn, prideful part of Caroline compelled her to stay. In all her years as a bloodthirsty Original, she could never back down from a fight. It was in her nature to destroy.
"I want to know what you're doing here," Damon said. He laid the tumbler onto the deep, rich wood of Caroline's desk. She gritted her teeth in annoyance. "You're up to something. I know it. We've been here before."
"Seriously?" Caroline huffed, stamping her foot imperiously. "Get out of my house before I snap your neck again. And this time, I'll snap it clean off your head…"
Outside, a commotion ripped Caroline from her slew of threats. She heard the familiar screeching tones of her younger sister as she stomped her way towards them, her voice somehow amplifying against the drowning bass of the music. The Salvatore brothers stilled as they exchanged identical dubious looks. Caroline rolled her eyes, muttering under her breath.
She threw her hands up impatiently; "Really?!"
"WHERE IS SHE?!"
The door finally wrenched open, revealing a red-faced Rebekah.
"BITCH!" Rebekah came storming into the room, Tyler following on her heels with a tight look on his face. She slammed the door shut behind her, the wood buckling in its frame.
"What?!" Caroline whirled, coming face to face with her livid sister. She drew herself up, staring daringly back at Rebekah, the Salvatores all but forgotten .
"You fed from my boyfriend!" Rebekah screeched, "Out of all the boys here, you had to drink from him?!"
"Bek…" Caroline's voice died in her throat. She knew she was in the wrong.
"HE WAS MINE!" Rebekah screeched, her blonde hair flying everywhere. She stilled, her expression growing cold and distant as she gazed back at her older sister. Caroline stood her ground, her features blank and unrelenting. The girls remained locked in a silent stalemate, the air between them charged with tension.
"Caroline," Tyler stepped towards her. Caroline wrenched her gaze from her sister. She took a step back towards the wall, eyes wary. She knew what he was going to say, and she didn't want to hear it. She didn't want to hear any of it.
"Caroline," Stefan cleared his throat behind her.
"CAROLINE!" Rebekah bellowed, advancing. She was not to be outdone by the other voices in the room.
It was all too much. Tyler, Rebekah, the Salvatore's. Caroline felt the walls of the room closing in on her, the circle of voices rushing to meet her in the middle, a deafening roar in her ears. She didn't think twice before she bolted the room, launching herself from the study's balcony into the waiting night; not daring to look back. The cold air whipped at her face as she sped away, too fast for the average human eye, blurring across the perfectly manicured gardens of her sprawling mansion. She made it past the clearing and into the woods, dodging and weaving through the pitch black brush. With nothing but endless forest around her, Caroline could finally breathe. She felt the endless night surround her, draw her in with open arms. The night was her element, and she ran carelessly into it, having memorised the undergrowth of the forest like the back of her hand.
Or so she thought.
Caroline slammed into an unfamiliar mass with all the force of a freight train. She let out a small, surprised gasp before she righted herself. She was sure there wasn't a tree where she was standing, and yet, something had stopped her. Without warning, she felt a forceful shove from behind, her body smashing agonizingly into the trunk of a painfully existent tree. Strong hands whipped her around; she focused her gaze into the blackness before her, finding the strange lump to be a person, not a tree. Not just any person, but the person.
"What the fuck!"
Of all the people in the world, Caroline found herself slamming into the one person she both hoped and dreaded to find.