The Salvatore Garden~Time: Who's Keeping Track?
Sitting in the sunlight, without her book, Abigail was waiting. She had been in this position since she came downstairs and found the bench closest to the house. She was waiting for the shadows, ever present when she was upstairs, nowhere in sight now.
How long had she sat on the sun warmed seat? How long had the midday sun held steady? Waiting was growing tiring. She needed to know what the shadows stood for. After all, the darkness had always spoken to her. What were shadows besides darkness?
That consideration made, she tried to get comfortable on the bench. Settling in for a wait, she wondered what could possibly help her go home? Her real home, not this terrible facsimile. As was lost in her thoughts, she heard a voice speak.
"Abigail?" It was childlike, but she'd recognize it anywhere. It was the same voice that had greeted her during her first visit to this house as a five year old. She opened her eyes and was greeted by twelve year old Damon Salvatore. "Princess Abigail, when did you become so grown?"
She felt tears blur and burn her eyes. His pale ones shown with wonder at finding her in his garden. And while she didn't understand his presence, she welcomed this Damon. The one she'd truly known and trusted.
Patting the bench beside her, Damon sat, still drinking in the look of his fully adult friend.
"I've missed you, Damon." She whispered. Terror filled her that she could lose him, by speaking too loudly or touching him. "This version of you, I mean." She wondered if he understood and noticed he was smiling at her knowingly. "You are really him, aren't you?"
"I'm the Damon you need me to be," he answered. He reached slowly and carefully out and took her hand. "You need to make peace with what you've lost, Abi."
Sighing it dawned on her. In the real world, the darkness warned of impending doom, but here they were echoes. Why had Damon come first? Before she asked, the truth of her being trapped in her own mind was refreshed when he answered her unspoken question.
"Because I'm the loss that you felt the deepest." He said, and in a flash he was the man he'd been before he left for the war.
She didn't flinch in fear or move away. This Damon was familiar as her own face. He smiled, holding her hand and giving her real comfort.
"You and I, Abigail Morgan." His voice was a mimic of the whisper she'd used. "We were supposed to be an epic love story. The whole town knew it. Every dance, every dinner, every place we went together people watched us with envy." Pain tugged as his eyes that clearly matched the wrench in her heart.
"And I ruined it." He said, fighting against morphing into the Damon he'd become when he'd returned. "I left you. I came back and chose a monster." The change complete, he still held her hand, but tears of pain and the anguish of losing him so completely ran freely down her face. "Even our last dance together, before I tried to kill you just to please her, had everyone mesmerized. They still envied us, Abigail. Moments before I killed and buried you, the entire town would have placed bets on us being together forever."
Her sobs choked her as the Damon who she had been so scared of when he'd hidden her in this prison held her. He held her as she released the pain that had built from her hopes and dreams of them as a couple were released. The pain of losing him to war, to the promise of marrying his brother, to Katherine, and finally to his turning into a vampire poured from her. She finally raged at him. She pounded on his chest and screamed. Begging to die so her torment of a life without him and the future she'd carried so close to her chest would finally end.
And as her anguish lightened, as the sobs died down, she felt him fading. And then he was gone. Silence descended on her and her tears fell, but silent now. The pain of her heartbreak more manageable, at least where Damon was concerned. But now she knew. The shadows were people she lost. If Damon was the first, because his loss had cut her the deepest, then who would be next?
Mystic Falls, VA November 1, 2009
Stefan may have felt celebrating his birthday was not in the cards for him this year, but his best friend Lexi hadn't gotten the memo. She showed up on his doorstep and he had to admit he was incredibly happy to see her.
The first hiccup came when Elena showed up unannounced, and Lexi fresh from her shower answered it in her towel. Luckily it was easily explained, although Lexi was shocked at the fact that she looked exactly like Katherine. Hearing her warning lecture was sweet, but it nearly ruined their day.
It wasn't until they were playing pool at the Grille that Stefan told her what he'd learned about Abigail. If Elena's appearance shocked her, then this news nearly floored her.
"She's been in Mystic Falls this entire time?" Lexi asked, confused enough to miss her shot. "And she's stuck in a house that only your brother and humans can access?"
Checking to make sure they didn't have an audience, he nodded. "Yes," sighing her took his turn. "Damon did what he had to do, but we never came back for her."
Shrugging, Lexi waited for Stefan to shoot to continue. "Not totally on you. You didn't know she was trapped." He missed so she lined up her own. "Why didn't he tell you in the many years since you got your issues under control?"
He'd wondered the same, but chalked it up to Damon's desire to make him pay for past transgressions. Stefan knew Lexi would figure it out eventually and she'd be less understanding about it.
"I'm sure he forgot." Stefan offered, sounding lame even to himself. "How many times has he flipped his switch, Lexi?" She was considering it. "Even I forgot her."
Lexi took the next shot, since Stefan forfeited through inaction.
"So your asshole brother forgot the woman who lived with the both of you for five years? Who you told me yourself had been his best friend for longer?" Her tone proved she didn't buy it.
"It could happen. There have been a LOT of women since." Said asshole commented as he strode toward their game. "Why does it matter?" He asked in a low tone. "We forgot her and Emily assured me she would free herself, in her own time." He was projecting an extreme lack of concern and Lexi called bullshit.
"You went through all that trouble to hide her. Making certain that NO one except you and humans could see or find her, but you don't care now?" Her perfectly maintained eyebrow rose in disbelief. "I don't care how often you prostituted yourself for blood-she mattered. And I bet she still does."
