(Prologue)

She was the one who always made mistakes.

Most of those said mistakes could be tempered, undone, changed or convinced to be elsewhere, the issue truly lied in the fact that she kept making them.

No matter how many times she tried not to, as she walked down the school hallways, her eyes glazed over (a thing of commonplace as of late), her eyes caught her reflection in a passing window.

She didn't look any different to what she did earlier that day. A strappy blue summer dress cascaded past her stomach like nothing was even there.

And God did she try to convince herself that nothing was there.

(What would Grams think, dad, Bonnie, hell the entire town?!) Serena was stupid and went to a stupid party she knew she wasn't supposed to be at, wound up blackout drunk, and woke up naked and sore.

Now two months later, that decision was kicking her in the stomach. Literally.

She was only fifteen for fuck's sake, and her Dad and Grams had so much to deal with, considering her little sister Bonnie was practically a ball of energy at just seven years old. Besides with her Mom deciding to up and leave and her Dad distancing himself from everyone and her Grams focusing her sole attention on Bonnie, there truly was no place for this mistake.

So she laughed. She laughed and she probably shouldn't have but she did. It's funny, how some go through life, in a truly not funny way.

(She spent all this time wearing a mask because she didn't want to share herself with another set of people. So she has to keep this calm, cool, and collected persona so that others don't think they've got one up on her. She thinks she can get away with it, and when she comes home from another day of fighting off demons within four walls disguised as an institution, to then again prepare herself to fight again within the four walls she's supposed to call home. It's truly a never ending battle made even worse.)

It's interesting.

She had thought she had it all figured out.

Head cheerleader. Beautiful. Enemies close and subordinates far below. And then it all comes crashing down.

Serena Marie Bennett finds herself stopping a foot away from the door of her first class, instead of going in she turned on her heel and swiftly left, because she just couldn't. Not today, maybe not ever. All she knew was she needed to get away.

She didn't even know the slightest thing about babies.

But she did know one thing.

She could only keep this a secret for so long.

There was a time when Serena experienced the world in vivid light, color, sound-endless possibilities.

The trees called to her, whispering green leaves drawing her outside, bright yellow rays weaving through her dark hair as they touched the earth. She had always been magically inclined, there had never been any hiding for her because there truly couldn't be- at least not from herself.

When she first mastered her first levitation act she could remember the look on her mother's face, disgust almost, but more tame. Similar to disappointment but much harsher. Her mother had then dug her nails into the young girls shoulders, holding her still.

"Never do that again."

Serena's eyes had flooded with tears and the moment her mother released her she ran to the nearest bathroom. She slid to the floor, pulling her knees to her chest and wondered why she couldn't be a perfect little girl, like everyone else. She had decided, right then and there, to hide. To hide in plain sight from her mom, her dad, and even her grams.

Vivacity and resiliency only go so far in a little girl.

That was when she learned that it was safer to not be so bright.

That was the first time the lights of the world around her dimmed.

Serena had always been a brilliant child so finding information and challenging herself and in turn herself without anyone knowing was turned into a game. The people in the books she found, the witches, were always so strong and brave and she wanted to be like them.

Her powers grew and no one ever knew and that was good enough for Serena.

Now there was no hiding.

It seemed with her child came an increase in power, and her inability to control it was stark.

The way the truth comes out is horrifying.

So is the aftermath.

When she leaves Mystic Falls, alone on a bus with one suitcase and the swell of her belly to keep her company she tells herself that everything was okay. That even though her father wanted nothing to do with her and her Grams was disappointed she would be fine.

So she didn't cry, didn't even show that any of this upset her.

She just left.