Episode 5: Sexy Suds Car Wash
"He was a killer, a thing that preyed, living on the things that lived, unaided, alone, by virtue of his own strength and prowess, surviving triumphantly in a hostile environment where only the strong survive."
― Jack London, The Call of the Wild
Whitmore College, 1957
I was seventeen. My hair was long and brunette. I was reading in my father's study. I jumped hearing a loud sound from the other side of a door that I knew led to the basement. Father never let me go down into the basement. He said there was nothing interesting there, just pipes and storage and archives.
I could hear a clunking sound, coming repetitively from the basement door. It could have been one of my father's assistants.
My father wasn't in the room. I pressed my ear to the door. I could hear a rhythmic thunk, thunk, thunk… I was about to open the door when my father entered the room.
"Sabrina! Get away from there, what have I told you about entering the basement?"
"Sorry Father, I heard a noise."
"Then don't go near it! It's dangerous for you to be down there."
"Dangerous? How can old books and junk be dangerous?"
Her father looked quite off guard, as if caught in his lie.
"The pipes have been leaking, I'm sure it's just the plumber you heard, but it's not safe for your health to be down there."
Mystic Falls, 2009
"How are you doing?" I asked Caroline one morning as we sat at our kitchen island with coffee and toast.
"I'm great." Caroline said, unconvincingly cheery. "Have you confirmed with the band?"
"Yes Care, I triple checked with the members of band that passed your inspection, and they are still on board."
She was referring to the school fundraiser she was hosting. It seemed to be the only thing Caroline wanted to talk about this weekend, no matter how many ways I tried to bring up Damon.
It has been four days since the Founder's Party and no one had heard from either Salvatore brother in that time. I had gone back inside after Stefan had left with Damon to find my friends.
"Damon's gone, Care," I had said, "he's not going to hurt you any more."
"What?" Tears were brimming in her eyes, threatening to spill. Her voice was shrill as she accused, "What did you do?"
"What happened, Charlie?" Elena had asked more calmly, rubbing Caroline's back to soothe her.
I explained as calmly as I could without slipping out the vampire bits that I had confronted Damon, he attacked, Stefan knocked him out, and now they were both gone. The first couple of days after, Caroline became recluse. I tried talking to her about what happened that night or what happened between her and Damon, but she didn't want to talk.
Then yesterday she came into my room like nothing happened and we watched reruns of The Office and polished each others nails. I tried not to bring up Damon again because I figured if she wanted to talk she would bring it up herself.
At school she acted the same as she always did.
"The sexy suds car wash is tomorrow. The football team and the band have committed." Caroline was reminding students in the hallway. "Well, not all the band. Just the ones who could pull off a bikini, like Charlie. I want, in your face, sexy. I mean, it's a fundraiser, for god's sake."
"Is she okay?" Elena asked, unsure.
"She hasn't talked about Damon at all since the Founders Party." I told Elena and Bonnie, "Every time I try to bring him up she changes the subject."
"She's in denial." Bonnie said.
"Hey." Stefan greeted as he came up to us. Bonnie and I looked at each other and silently agreed to leave.
"Hey. You know, I gotta go… be somewhere right now." She said.
"Yeah, I gotta be there with her." I said as I followed Bonnie down the hall.
"How are you doing?" Bonnie asked once we had stopped by my locker. "You said Damon attacked you?"
"That may have been a glamorization. It wasn't really that intense," I tried to downplay it. Sure, Damon biting me had scared me in the moment, but not as much as what happened to him when he did. "He kinda just held me really tight, and he yelled at me, which was scary at the time. But Stef jumped in and saved the day."
"Starting to think Stefan's not as bad as we thought."
"Oh, I wouldn't go that far," I joked. "But I am starting to think he's worth a chance, for Elena's sake." I looked over to the couple as I mentioned them, my eyes narrowed as I saw Caroline interrupt them demanding to know where Damon was. The look on her face as Stefan told her he wasn't coming back broke my heart. I didn't like the hold Damon had on my sister even when he wasn't around. It was all so Dracula-esque.
"So what weird stuff have you been dealing with?" Bonnie said, drawing my attention back to her.
"What do you mean?"
"You started to say something back at the Founders party before Elena came in. What were you going to say?"
I looked at Bonnie, one of my best friends, who may or may not be a witch, whatever that means in a world where vampires and whatever I am exist. What I could possibly say without it being too much?
"I've just been having some strange dreams, that's all." I said as the bell rang, conveniently saving me from having to elaborate.
It's not that I didn't want to share what's been happening with me with my best friends, I just didn't know how. The dreams, the appearing suddenly on a roof when I was on the ground a second before, burning Damon's face when he bit me, none of it made sense to me. How could it make sense to someone else?
After school, I met up with Stefan at the Salvatore Boarding House.
"Thank you for coming, Charlie." Stefan said as he let me in, "I wish we could have spoken sooner, but I've been busy."
"With Damon?"
"Yes."
I steeled myself for the answer as I asked, "Is he dead?"
"No." Stefan replied, and I let out a relieved breath. Sure I was mad at him for hurting Caroline, but there was still an irrational part of me, residual from my dreams, that stubbornly cared about him. He continued, "I have him locked away. Damon won't be able to hurt anyone anymore."
"But you knew what he was and what he was doing and you let him bite Caroline." I accused.
"Trying to force Damon not to do something is more dangerous, trust me."
I closed my eyes and took a calming breath. Stefan was probably right. Damon was a killer, he hurt Caroline. I had to keep reminding myself of that, but my dreams weren't making it easy.
"So you guys are Vampires right?"
"Yes. I'm sure you have a lot of questions."
I shrugged, "Not really. I think I always knew. That's why I didn't like you when we first met. Not that I like you now, but I think you've earned the chance to prove yourself after the Founder's party."
"Thank you, Charlie."
"Oh don't thank me yet. I don't know how, but I know you Stefan. You're hiding something dark and dangerous, and it's not just the vampirism." I could see Stefan stiffen, visibly uncomfortable with the conversation. "You need to let Elena in on your little secret if you want to continue being with her. She deserves to know what she's getting herself into."
"I will, when the time is right." Stefan promised. He cocked his head to the side, "How did you know about vampires?"
"I've been having dreams."
"What kind of dreams? Are they prophetic?"
I shook my head, "No. They're more like memories. The night before the first day of school I had a dream that you attacked me, well not me per se…"
"What do you mean?"
"I was someone else. It was the 1920's, I had brown hair and… I think my name was Daisy."
Stefan was quiet for a minute, he looked to be in anguish as he remembered the name.
"You're right about me…" he finally said. "I do have a past that I am ashamed of. I'll be spending the rest of my eternity trying to atone for the things I've done. One of them being in 1922, I killed a woman named Daisy Barnham."
"How could I possibly know that?"
"Maybe you're a witch. Some witches have powerful psychic abilities."
"Did it hurt you when you bit me? I mean, Daisy? Like it hurt Damon."
"No. And I don't know why that happened. What other things have you seen in your dreams?"
"I've had a lot of dreams of me and Damon recently. But he was still human."
"Who were you in those dreams?" Stefan probed.
"Maggie Byrne."
Stefan nodded, as if this all made sense.
"Damon was in love with Maggie before Katherine arrived, and I think even after he still loved her. But Katherine was—"
"A manipulative compulsionist bitch." I supplied.
"So you've seen her in your dreams too?" Stefan asked. I nodded. "So you know that she—"
"And Elena are carbon copies. Yeah. At least we know you have a type. Do you think Elena gets weird dreams from Katherine's past too?"
"I don't think so," he replied and added, "God, I hope not."
"Whatever happened in the end between Damon and Maggie? I haven't seen that yet."
"I'm not sure. One day she just disappeared. It probably hurt her to see Damon pining after Katherine. Not too long after, Damon and I became vampires."
"Do you have any idea why I might be dreaming these things?"
"I'm not sure. I could ask some witches I still have connections with. It could be that you are a witch or maybe reincarnation is real."
"Even though I'm nothing like Maggie."
"Maybe not in looks, but in spirit you're very similar." Stefan said reassuringly.
Caroline was picking out our bikinis for tomorrow as I flipped through a magazine.
"So…" I started, "You and Damon…"
"I told you I don't want to talk about it." Caroline said shortly. She picked up two different bathing suit tops. "Stripes or Polka-dots?"
"You have to talk about it sometime, Care. We've avoided the subject for four days and you know you can't keep things from me. We're not just sisters, we're best friends."
"Fine." Caroline dropped the bikini tops. "I don't really remember Damon ever biting me. I mean I remember the steamy bits. But it's like there's holes in my memory lately. I remember him kissing my neck, or maybe biting my neck. I don't know. It's just weird. Maybe I let him bite me."
"I don't think you did that, Care." I said sincerely.
"Can we not talk about it anymore? I just want to go back to normal."
"Okay..." I picked up one of the bikinis she was looking at, "You should wear the polka-dot one, it's cuter and the ruffles fill out your chest more."
"Good call." Caroline smiled. Her phone rang and Caroline picked it up. "Hey Tiki, what's up? No, Tiki, do not do the one-piece, ok? I've seen it on you. Trust me. Yeah, we are going for stripper pole vibe this year."
"Maybe we should wash the cars in slow motion." I suggested loudly.
"You heard her?" Caroline laughed. "No."
Caroline looked around widely. She mouthed, 'did you say something?'
I shook my head, 'no.'
"What?" Caroline returned to the phone call flustered. "oh, um, no, sorry. Um, so I'll just see you tomorrow. Two-piece. Ok, bye."
"What was that about? You were looking a little out of it there."
"Huh? Oh it was nothing, I just thought I heard something."
The next moment a crow flew into her open window, startling us. Simultaneously we grabbed pillows and shooed at the bird.
Whitmore College, 1957
I had disobeyed my father and gone down to the basement. The pathway was dimly lit and I could see a space where they had set up a laboratory. The medical slab standing in the middle looked ominous in the moonlight entering from the basement windows.
Farther down the basement hallway I came across cell doors. One of them was occupied by a man sitting against the brick wall. He looked sick and weak.
"Oh my god, What are they doing to you?" I whispered. Who knew how my voice would carry here.
"Shouldn't you know?" He replied weakly. "What are you? A teaching assistant? Intern?"
He turned his face towards me and even in the dim light his shocking blue eyes stood out. They were the same eyes that had been haunting me in my dreams, and suddenly I new exactly who he was, Damon Salvatore.
"I'm Sabrina Whitmore." I said.
"Whitmore, huh? Look me in the eyes." Damon stood up a little more, so I could see his face better. "Open the door. Open the door." He repeated.
My hands went to the lock on the cell door, of course I wanted to let him out, but at that moment I heard footsteps coming down the hallway.
"I'm sorry." I whispered, "I'll come back." And then I ran off as Damon cursed.
Mystic Falls, 2009
The day of the Sexy Suds Car Wash I wore a strappy bright pink bikini and high-waisted shorts. Caroline and I took turns braiding each others hair. We got to the school early to set up the fundraiser since Caroline was in charge. There were already some cars waiting when we got there. Caroline informed all the volunteers how we were going to run the car wash and then we got to it.
"What are you wearing?" I asked as I brought over a bucket of water and some sponges to Matt.
"Uh...a shirt?" He said, pulling at the fabric of his v-neck.
"Well, take it off!" I playfully scolded, "It's called sexy suds for a reason, we're trying to raise money here."
Matt swiftly took off his shirt.
"Is that better?"
"Almost." I said as I dipped a sponge into the bucket. When the sponge was full of water I wrung it out over Matt's head. "Better," I said cheekily.
"You're gonna pay for that," he playfully threatened. I ran around the dirty car for protection. Matt grabbed the bucket and raced after me, flicking water at me when he got close.
"Save the water for the cars guys," Bonnie said as she came over to us. I stopped mid chase to look at her.
"Sure thing Bonnie." Matt said before he flung the rest of the water from the bucket all over me and the car.
"Thanks for that Bon-bon." I said after spitting out some the water that got in my mouth.
Matt refilled the bucket and we actually got to work to clean the car.
Later that afternoon Matt and I were taking a break after finishing our sixth car of the day. Matt stared off into the distance.
"Hey, no!" I snapped my fingers in Matt's face as soon as I noticed what he was looking at: Elena and Stefan.
"What?"
"None of that tortured pining stuff." Bonnie said.
"I'm just observing." Matt said defensively.
"Sure you are Matty." I said, patting the poor lovesick guy on the back.
Another car came in and Bonnie told Tiki, one of the other cheerleaders, to take it, but Tiki responded with a lot of rude attitude. Bonnie obviously didn't like it and shot a nasty look as she watched Tiki get a hose to refill a bucket with water. The next moment water splashed up from the bucket. When she lifted the hose it was moving erratically on its own, spraying Tiki until she was drenched.
"Whoa! What the hell?" Tiki exclaimed.
"Wet and wild, Tik." Matt laughed, handing Tiki a towel as the hose stopped flowing water.
Bonnie had that freaked out look on her face again.
"Hey Bonnie are you alright?" I asked quietly.
"Oh, yeah, just peachy." She said, snapping out of it. "It looks like we're going to need more towels though."
"I'll get them." I told her.
I went back inside the school to grab the towels, but as I was leaving I saw Caroline wandering down the hallway in a daze.
"Caroline? Where are you going?" I asked, lightly grabbing onto her elbow. Without looking or responding to me she shook me off. "Care, you can't just leave in the middle of the fundraiser you put together." I said as I followed her out of the back of the school. She wasn't listening to me though, I became very worried about my sister.
I followed Caroline all the way to the Salvatore Boarding House and down to their basement.
"I don't think we should be here Caroline." I said, but she was still in a trance and continued along the basement. Caroline stopped once we reached a cell door. It had bars on the door window so we could peek inside.
The first thing I noticed was Damon's face; as handsome as ever, his burns had healed completely, leaving no trace that they were ever there. Damon was laying in the corner against the wall looking pale and weak. He looked so much like he did in 1957.
"Damon? Oh, my god! What is this? How did I know that you were here?" Caroline asked.
"Because I wanted you to. Very, very badly." Damon struggled to stand up, but he managed to reach the door. "Let me out of here. Please."
"Caroline we should go." I grabbed her arm to move her away, but Caroline kept her ground.
"You bit me." She said.
"You liked it. Remember?" Damon replied.
"No you didn't," I argued, "Come on Care let's go. Leave him here to rot."
Caroline wasn't moving though. Her forehead scrunched together in thought.
"Why do I keep remembering the same things, but in different ways?"
"You remember what I want you to remember." Damon said. "And now that the vervain has passed out of your system, you won't remember what you're about to do."
"What am I about to do?" She asked.
"You're gonna open the door." Damon repeated, "You're gonna open the door."
Caroline started unlocking the door.
"Caroline, Stop!" I pushed her away half-way through. I tried putting the lock back in place but it was released enough for Damon to push on the door making it impossible. I pushed back on the door trying to keep it closed enough that he couldn't get out.
Zach came down to the basement yelling "No! No!" He went to the door pushing it back with me. "Get out of here. Run! Run!" He yelled at me and Caroline.
Now that she had completed her task, Caroline finally listened and ran. I stayed put. Even the two of us weren't strong enough to keep the door from moving. I could feel the door shudder with Damon's strength pushing against it and knew we couldn't keep this up forever. At best we were staying even for a couple more minutes, but we weren't closing the door again.
"Go!" I yelled at Zach. "Make sure my sister gets out."
"You go!" Zach said stubbornly. He was worried about me, but strangely I didn't feel like I was the one in danger.
I felt a heat in my hands and saw them glow a bright orange-red. Zach's eyes widened as he noticed my hands burst into flames. He jumped back as the heat licked at his arms.
"What are you?" He asked in fear. Suddenly, I realized that was the real reason I hadn't told anyone what's really been happening with me; what if they were afraid of me?
"Get out!" I roared, pushing into the door single handedly. This time Zach listened, scrambling out of the house.
The flames dissipated, but my arms still glowed that hot orange-red color.
I had a massive headache.
My strength must have been greater than I thought because I was able to keep Damon at bay for a few seconds longer, until my headache overwhelmed me and I passed out.
A/N:
Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, you're all so encouraging! I have so many things planned for this story. Not everything is set in stone though, so hearing the feedback really helps!
Jrtjtrgjgtrjter: I don't know if Charlie will get pregnant in the future or not. I have been thinking about it, but if it does happen it won't be for a while.
LouiseFisher and Guest: I will try to put more of the other characters into focus besides Elena and Stefan, (I do love Bonnie and Matt), but Caroline is a major character in my story.