A/N: Hey Readers,
Please read Chapter 26 before reading this chapter since I have uploaded these two together. All those who have read Chapter 26, please carry on reading.
Epilogue
(Kaleb's P.O.V)
I had lived more than 800 years, 800 years of solitude, colourless life and when I finally found someone who filled colours in my life, my life was taken from me. Now, a lot of people would think that I am complaining, but I am not. I am not complaining because my life saved the life of my one true love, the person I would always love. Had I known that my coming to Mystic Falls for Lily was going to be the end of my life, I would have done things differently.
First, I would have fought the compulsion harder, then, I would have confessed my love sooner and finally, I would have loved her deeper. There is no way that I would have done things other than that. If it was pre-decided that my love for her was going to be the death of me, I was ready for it the moment I laid my eyes on her photo. I would have not given up the opportunity to meet his beautiful human being, and even though I know this is where our paths separate, I feel lucky that I had someone who makes goodbyes hardest.
I kept a close eye on Lily following the day I died in her arms. I believe it was the most peaceful death I could have wished for, even though it hurt like hell. I had kept my promise, I had kept her safe but what I did not realise was that I had forgotten to protect her from herself. I looked over her shoulder every night when she wrote her diary and I read the regret in her words. I read all the depressive feelings that were eating her on the inside and I never felt more helpless.
Only if she knew that I was right here, looking over her since that night. I saw the five stages of grief in her, more closely than anyone else. I saw when she was in denial – that very first night, she refused to let my body go and begged everyone to help me, the poison had done it's work and I was gone, but Lily refused to believe that. She believed that maybe I would wake up because my body would heal, others knew better. She would not drop a single tear, believing I would wake up any minute. I wished every single second of it that I could get back to her.
I saw the anger stage, and I thought that it was going to be the worst of it all. She refused to talk to anyone, she refused to eat, she was angry at everyone – but especially at me. She was angry at me for leaving her alone, but how could I tell her that I was right there? That I was trying to wipe her tears away while I cried too? How helpless I was that I could not comfort her? I could not bear to see it. In her anger, she let others continue with my funeral. My body was buried in the Waters crypt. Lily looked the saddest in her black funeral dress, but she did not drop a single tear. She had called my mother – Sophia for my funeral too. If it was not heart-breaking enough to watch Lily, Sophia was devastated, she cried and I could feel her loss. I was the only one she had and I had left her too. It was the first time I had let Lily out of my sight. I could not look at the two most important women of my life broken.
At the bargaining stage I realised that it was the worst of it all. Her behaviour took a more unexpected turn. She blackmailed Olivia to contact me, she believed that I was around somewhere. When they both tried to contact me for the first time, I could slightly step to their world. I could touch things – I could touch Lily. I touched her after 5 months. "Kaleb is that you?" tears rolled down her cheeks as a smile appeared on her face and I mirrored her expressions. I looked at her and wiped her tears away, making her gasp.
They continued this for about a week and everyday would be a little dangerous than before but I was too blind to see that. All I could care about was getting to be with Lily, it did not matter how it was happening. I had given up hope that I was ever going to touch her again and here I was, getting my wish granted. Soon enough, I realised that Lily was planning to do something far dangerous than I could I imagine. "I am going to bring you back" she promised me, when we were in her bedroom alone. Though it gave me a sense of hope, I did not get a good feeling from it. "I am finding any witch that practises expression, they can do it" she told me her plan with a smile. I was shocked to find out that she was going to use black magic to get me back, that she would go to such extent. I stopped giving her signs that I was there after that.
It was not right, she might get her into trouble. Though it broke my heart to watch her struggle, but I stayed out of her way. I realised that she needed to move on – that was the only way to keep her out of trouble and if not being with her was going to ensure her safety, I was ready to take the pain.
What I did not know was that I was pushing her to the fourth stage – Depression. All she did for the next 6 months was wake up, cry, sleep and repeat. She hardly went to school; her grades deteriorate just like her health. I would sit by her bedside all day and all night and watched her struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts. She went as far as almost taking her life, in the hopes of being united with me; but Damon caught her in time. I felt that I was going to die all over again watching her suicidal tendency grow.
It felt as if her fourth stage was going to be her last stage – as if it would not end, but I was wrong and I was thankful for that.
One day, Lily woke up and she did not cry as soon as she woke up. I watched her get out of her bed and walk to her window, she pulled the curtains away and let some sunlight in, after so long. I smiled looking at her, when she pulled her hair in a ponytail and I don't know in how long she got ready for the day. I frowned when I saw her wearing the dress she had worn at my funeral.
She sat on her bed and pulled out her diary, she had a picture of her and me in her diary that she would look at all the time. She pulled it out and kissed my face on the picture and hugged the picture close to herself before putting in back in the diary. It drove me crazy that I did not know what she was thinking. Though I found it out soon enough, she looked at her phone and said, "8th February" it was the date I had died – it had been 1 year since she and I had been separated.
I followed her to the graveyard where she visited my family crypt where my body laid. She stood outside the crypt and a tear fell on her cheek but she wiped it away as soon as it dropped. With slow, unsure steps, Lily stepped inside the crypt and to where I was lying. She put the roses in her hand on top of my coffin and touched it.
"I am not going to cry anymore" she started, "but that does not mean that I have stopped missing you. In fact, I miss you all the same, even more, if that is possible. Just like I love you and will always love you till my last breath" she sighed and looked up from my coffin and right in my eyes.
Though I knew she could not see me, I felt as if she could because her eyes gleamed for a moment. "I feel like you are right here, watching me" her voice was wobbly but she gulped in. It felt like my dead heart was coming back to life. 'Yes baby, I am right here' I wanted to tell her and though I kept my hand on top of her hand, neither of us could feel each other anything.
"I had planned everything in my head, how we were going to spend every moment of our life together" she smiled though tears rolled down her cheeks, she used the hand I had kept my hand on to wipe her tears away and then put her hand back on my hand, but I could not feel her! It made tears roll down my cheeks too.
"I was so mad at you for not letting me experience that but I realised something" she was still looking in my eyes. "You spent the rest of your life with me, and you loved me more than anything in this whole world till your last breath" she sighed and wiped her tears away from her other hand.
"I promise that I am going to love you till the day I take my last breath, and I miss you – I miss the sound of your voice, I miss your touch, I miss how you used to look at me – I just miss your presence" and she looked around as if searching for me, that is when I was hit with reality, she could not see me, she could not feel me.
She sighed and pulled her hand back, and I missed her touch more than ever. She gave a last glance at my coffin and turned around. "Lily" I whispered and she stopped, gasping. If my heart was still beating, I knew it would be erratic at this moment, could she hear me? She looked around, "Can you hear me?" I asked hopefully, was I getting back to her?
She turned towards the exit and slowly she started walking out of the crypt. "Lily" I said more loudly, "Lily!" I shouted, hoping she would hear me as tears poured down my cheeks. "I love you Lily" I shouted, helpless, and alone as I watched her walk out of the crypt and melting in the bright, white sunlight.
A/N: Hey Readers,
Please don't kill me! XD I am sorry for the ending I have given to the story, if it has offended you. Thank you for your continuous support, I am grateful for it. This would have not been possible without you guys. Leave a review for the story, I promise it would not take more than a minute and it would mean the world to me. Also, let me know if you would like a part 2 of the story.
Thank you!
-JT
