The house was truly beautiful, like a work of art hidden away up in the high hills of the far away town. It was a originally her grandparents house, she only remembers them the stories and photographs her father showed her. This house a final escape within their beautiful retirement till their end of their days where their mortal bodies were once returned to become one with the earth beneath the ground of the town which their blood had founded. The Gilbert family has always been in Mystic Falls, they stay, they remain and even if a few of them stray away they always come back. Her uncle had inherited the house while her father was left with their all their family heirlooms, some land of which Grayson built a home while both splitting their finical estate. This home is something is true and pure to her. It was her home away from home, it is still her home. She merely wishes she would get to come home more often and under better circumstances yet she finds herself melting into the peacefulness she is surrounded by here the moment she steps inside. It's like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders. The pregnant girl looks around her summer home. Alexis sees all the dust and the memories living in the pictures on the walls. It feels nice to be back. The girl looks over her shoulder at him standing across the room, dropping his keys into the hall table and looking at her. Her lips twitch up, eyes full of fondness and wonder as they flick back to look around. "I've missed it here." She admits softly, voice full of nostalgia. His eyes stay on her.
"I've missed having you here." He admits and that pulls her full attention to him. Her lips part slightly, smile falling. It's been so long. It's been over a year since she's last been here and months before she had seen him last. "It's just not the same here alone." He continues, a look on his face she just can't make out exactly. Like he's lots in thought and it hurts her heart that he ever feels lonely but then it clicks. Her eyes flutter away from him, frown on her face as she notices the dust on the photos and on the small entry table next to her. Her uncle has not been here in a while either. It makes sense...he probably has an apartment in the city or something, this place is far too big for a single man to be living in on his own. He must get lonely here allot, and after Dad died she thinks he must feel alone allot. They were best friends.
"To me, it's the almost only place that feels like home." Alexis admits, as though it's mean to make him feel better, voice full of honestly and it does warm his ridged heart to know but then the true meanings of her words catch up to him causing him to frown.
"What do you mean?" He asks, and her smile falters, eyes casting down, frown appearing. Her heart feels heavy all of a sudden and she struggles to find her words. She presses her lips together, pausing for a moment before she starts speaking slowly and cautiously.
"After Mom and Dad...the thing that makes a house a home felt as though it started fading. It started slowly then all of a sudden, all at once. It doesn't always feel that way but..." She trails off, heavy feeling inside of her but then she perks back up, sad glimmer in her eyes but a small smile on her lips. "But this place. It never fails to feel like home." She smiles but it isn't a completely happy one and yet he feels something inside of his chest grow arm at the fact even through something horrible he was somehow able to keep a home for her, a sanctuary. He almost says something as she looks around again, eyes glistening with tears she didn't even notice. "You know, for a brief moment I thought...hoped.. that after mum and dad died that I'd come here. We all would.." Alexis spoke as if it were a distant dream, something to never be real.
John lets out a sigh and with a heavy heart he shakes his head. "You know that wasn't what they wanted. Taking you kids away from your home, from Mystic falls-" He speaks, crossing his arms looking conflicted and Alexis already understands what he is getting at.
"I know. But it was a nice dream. " She shrugs with sad smile on her face as thinks how different everything could of been for all of them. If Mom and Dad had known everything, Alexis is certain, that their wishes would have been different. She lets it go, as if it were just a fleeting thought before a silence falls between her and her uncle. John lifts a hand up, putting it on her upper arm in a comforting gesture.
"Why don't you head upstairs, rest and have a look around? The place has change a little since you were last here."
The first place she seeks out in the house is her own bedroom, she steps instead placing her bag down in the doorway and she smiles softly. It seems frozen in time. Her eyes flicker around before landing on a fluffy pink object in the centre of her bed. "No way." She breathes out, walking over and laughing as she picks up a stuffed plush bunny rabbit. Her heart feels warm as she looks at it in her hands before holding it closer to her chest. It was her favourite toy from her childhood, her mother made it herself and her father gave it to her. Alexis can still remember that day standing outside this house with big teary sad eyes begging her father not to go and him kneeling before her with such a loving look on his face as he handed her the bunny. He promised it would protect her and she would never be alone. She can remember him tapping her on the nose playfully before tapping her forehead and chest right above her heart. He promised the bunny will be with her to spend the summers with but he, her father, will always be with her inside her heart and mind.
Alexis settles into her old room with ease, looking at all the trinkets she had on display and all the photographs stuck to the mirror. Still holding her bunny tucked beneath her arm she decides to follow her uncle's instructions and give the place a look around. Unlike her room most others aren't frozen in time. It's nice walking the house and have all the memories flood back, how she used to leave muddy foot prints through the dining room coming inside after she'd play in the pondage, there's still some paint on the tiles where he had set up a paint set in the kitchen when she was seven and she can remember him talking to her as she got paint everywhere. She can remember crying on the deck outside the last summer she spent here from a broken heart when she found out Matt told Elena he loved her for the first time. She can remember Jeremy continuously prank calling the house because he missed her. She can remember Tyler texting her nonstop because he didn't want to read the summer assigned books and wanted all of her notes but she gave him hell for it. She can remember Caroline and Bonnie calling her from cheer camp, talking in hushed whispers. She can remember the golden haze in her eyes as she ran into the water, her uncle always able to go further than she could ever. She can remember so much, the good and the bad but she loves it all.
Finally after awhile of exploring she makes it to her uncle's office. She steps into the room, looking around when her breath suddenly catches in her throat as she recognizes something so familiar on the book shelves. Alexis almost stumbles as she walks over, not believing her eyes.
"Dad." She whispers in a quiet breath only the dead could possibly hear, her fingers delicately tracing the fingers of the spine of the leather bound book. Her eyes welling up with tears as she carefully grabs a book off the shelf, looking at it as though she can't believe it's real. Her hand splays over his written name on the front real, her eyes slip shut and a shaky breath falls from her parted lips. It's almost like she can feel him. She remembers him. Her teary eyes flutter open and flic back up to the shelf with a searching gaze. The books on this shelf, the dozens of books...these are all her fathers journals. All of them.
She had no idea these still existed, or that some of them even existed at all. She looks back to the book in hand, flicking it open seeing a year written on it. Alexis lets out a small laugh, it was from his high school years, when he was her age and around the time he when he had just started dating her mother. Alexis smiles, tears in her eyes as she slowly walks to the desk and slips into the chair with the book before her. The young orphan gets lost in the book over hours upon hours, fingers turning pages of her fathers journals as she's emerged into his past as though it was her very own present. Losing herself in his life, soft eyes glisten with as tears stain her face while she smiles. It's bitter-sweet. The girl hasn't felt this close to her father since his death. It's like he's right there next to her, she can hear his voice again reading out all the worlds he wrote to her. She falls asleep slowly then all at once, curled up on the chair and book held close.
Look im sorry this is so short, im really trying to get into the swing of this story again and I just want to post something while i've got it. I am working on and have the next chapter planned out, it's around 6 thousand words and is mainly just about John and Alexis (Sorry there's allot to unpack) before it gets back to mystic falls Feel free to message me at any point if you want quicker updates or anything:)