Chapter 13: Can You See the Light at the End of the Tunnel Yet?
Caroline walked through the halls of Mystic Falls High, alone. She couldn't bare sitting in class while the teacher went on and on about the 18th and 19th century, the part of his life he had kept a secret for so long because of that girl.
"I wonder if he ever hurt her." She whispered with despite.
Every time the teacher had begun a sentence which made her think of him made her want to burst out in tears and flee the classroom, and after ten minutes it just got unbearable. So she fled.
As she reached her locker she couldn't understand how she got there, her legs felt like Jell-O and it was a wonder that she even made it out of the classroom.
Caroline opened the locker and switched her books from history to English which was her next class.
She shut her locker door with a loud slam before she leaned her back against it and slid down on the floor with her books on her lap and her knees crawled up under her so she could put her chin between them.
It didn't take her more than three seconds to burst into tears and change her heads position on her knees so she was crying into them instead.
Her hair fell around her face in a thick, blond perfectness. She'd taken the extra time to flatten it this morning since she knew he preferred her curls.
The slight movement of her body made her books fall down on the floor with the book she was supposed to finish today on top. The book still had a bookmark in it, about 20 pages from the end.
"Crap!" She cried and picked up Wuthering Heights.
She opened with a less than gentle grip and accidently ripped it in two pieces, and of course the first thing her eye spotted was the year 1778.
"Crap! Crap! Crap!" She screamed and threw the pieces through the empty corridor, or that's what she thought.
"Wow! What has that poor romance novel done to you to deserve such a horrible fate?" Tyler said, standing next to the trashed Wuthering Heights and kicked it back to her.
"Go away, Man-whore!" Caroline yelled and threw the book back in his face.
"Man-whore? Now you really need to explain it to me after insulting me." He said and fired off a bittersweet smile towards her.
He sunk down on the floor next to her and made it clear he had no intention of leaving.
"What do you want Tyler?" She snapped. "Another whore? Sorry, I can't give you that!"
"I want a second chance…"
"Oh, no!" She interrupted and quickly stood up. Her books hit the floor with a loud noise and he caught her right arm before she got the chance to get away from him.
"Just hear me out, please?" He begged and tightened his grip of her arm.
"Ah Tyler! You're hurting me!" She shrieked and tried to get free.
"Just sit down and listen and I'll let you go. You can do whatever you want afterwards if you only give me a chance to explain."
He spoke in a low, almost whispering voice and if it wasn't for the fact that he couldn't, Caroline would have thought he was compelling her.
"Is that alright?"
"I guess it is." She answered and tangled out of his hand as he let go.
She sat down next to him again and he gently grabbed her hand again.
Her body reacted to the touch like a hungry wolf. She just wanted to be loved and right now her douchebag of an ex-boyfriend seemed more appealing than her crappy piece of shit boyfriend.
Was he even still her boyfriend? They hadn't really officially ended it, but on the other hand she didn't really know if she wanted to.
Sure, he had done one of the worst things he could ever do to her, but at the same time he'd just opened up to her and told her everything.
He'd even told her about her, the one person he'd never even mentioned since their fallout. He'd forbidden anybody who ever knew her to never say her name again, he'd told her.
"I'm sorry, for everything I've done to you. I never meant to hurt you, Care, you have to believe that…" He abruptly stopped his apologizing and gave her the most caring and sincere look.
"What's wrong?" He asked with real worry hidden under a thin layer of nothing.
Caroline realized she'd begun to cry when the memories from yesterday came bursting back up to the surface again while hearing the apology she'd been waiting months for.
"I don't know. It's nothing, really." She lied and hastily removed the tears of her face. She knew exactly what was wrong, it was the apologize. She truly had been waiting months for it and now that she'd finally gotten it, she realized it was never from him she wanted it to be from.
"You know they say the best way to get over someone is to jump right into a new relationship."
She was surprised by his words.
"How did you find out?" She curiously asked, not thinking before she let the words out of her mouth. Thinking had gotten so painful lately.
He grinned, but it wasn't an obnoxious grin, more like the sexy one that hid a little secret smile in it.
"I've got my contacts." He said and continued the secrecy.
"Oh, come on Tyler! I (the girl you're supposedly still in love with and who you've been trying to get back for the past two days) have been crying in on and off in front of you for some time now, you got one real chance to make me see you've changed and now can be honest and make up for everything, and the best you can do is I've got my contacts?"
She got closer to him and put a flirty hand on his upper thy.
She could hear his breath sharpening between his teeth from her touch.
"I-I-I…" He stuttered. "He took another sharp breath between his teeth and then continued with new confidence.
"I'd put Charlie on information-duty and he kind of heard what happened."
She removed her hand and suddenly looked furious.
"How much did he hear?" She whispered with a voice so full of suppressed rage he thought she'd jump him at the spot.
"He stayed long enough to hear him throw you through the room, and then he ran, afraid of what he would do to him if Klaus had caught him eavesdropping." He had this sanity and calm over his voice that immediately got through to her and she cooled down.
Even though his words had reassured her that he didn't know anything about the things he'd told her and she was calm as a frozen lake, she still put a threatening undertone in her next sentence, just to be sure.
"Let's hope, for his sake, that's the truth."
Klaus entered the empty bedroom at his house. Everything from the soft bed sheets to the solid plant pots went in the coloring of musty purple, persuading black, faded dark grey and polished silver.
The bed hadn't been touched since yesterday and he could even feel how her presence had weakened around him. It didn't feel right anymore, this room, it was meant for her. It had been a place for her to recover and be happy in, now all it did was scream at him with her absence.
He felt like the walls were closing in on him, drowning him with the cheerfulness and grace she'd brought that was no longer there to help him through the day.
Memories. Memories of her lying hurt in the bed, just a couple of hours after she'd sought his help, the horrifying sight of her stepping into the light without her ring on, the flirtation, them kissing here, them kissing everywhere. They were overwhelming.
He shook off the miserable feeling of desperate desire even though he knew the feeling was just what he deserved.
Damn it! He was Niklaus Mikaelson for fucks sake, he wasn't supposed to get emotionally involved with anyone and he should never have lost control like he did.
Why couldn't he be more like Elijah on that part? He was always so… Stable, always in control.
No, he couldn't seriously be thinking that, looking at Elijah as a role model? He couldn't have sunk that low? Could he?
No, no he couldn't. Never. It wasn't possible.
Anger filled his body. Thrilling, throbbing, psychopathic rage. It filled him from the inside and out, from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. Filling him, suffocating him and tearing him apart, ripping his heart into a billion pieces.
He released all of his rage, frustration and heartache from his shaking body in a loud, long wail and went berserk on her room.
It wasn't until he slowly calmed down that he realized what he'd done. It was the same story all over again. He'd lost control at her room just like he'd done with her, yesterday.
He'd only fully lost control like this once before, when she had betrayed him. There had been nothing like that now but the lost feelings from her got mixed up with the once he had from losing Caroline and there was a short moment when he didn't know who he'd lost.
The aching in his heart continued and just increased in its level of pain every second. The aching was unbearable, it felt like it'd never stop.
Niklaus Mikaelson realized there was only one way he could make the aching stop, at least for a while.
He swept along the floor towards the ruins of the bed and looked around him.
The heartbroken original picked up the one he knew would help the most. He put the sharp end on his chest and slammed it in with all of his power.
The sharp wooden plank speared his heart with a, for him, musical sound, before it gave him momentary rest and piece in death.
The bell rang loudly and both Caroline and Tyler jumped, they hadn't been aware of the time with their wild, ongoing discussion sucking up are of their attention.
Even though they had reacted to the bell they didn't let it end the discussion.
It was so silly really, they were arguing for and against whether or not there should be snacks at tonight's party.
The bell might not have bothered them, but a chill going down the spine certainly did.
Caroline looked away from Tyler and saw the new girl walk with Dana just a couple of feet away.
There was something weird about her, something off that neither Caroline nor Tyler could put their finger on.
It looked like she was watching every single movement in the whole school at one moment and in the next she was back, talking passionately about something with her friend.
Caroline felt like the new girl could see all of her darkest secrets when their eyes met for a short moment.
Her eyes. There was something so familiar about those deep, blue eyes. Something terrifying.
She turned to Tyler.
"There's something off about that girl." She said and pointed towards the girl who'd reached her locker.
"Who? Alex?" He asked when he saw where her finger was pointing. "I think you might be right about that."
"I don't know what it is but there's something so familiar about her eyes, something that gives me the creeps." Caroline explained and shook of the feeling of undermining she'd caught when she saw Alex.
"I know that this can't be possible since Bonnie did her reading and stuff, but…" Tyler began.
"You think she's the new vampire too?" She asked relieved.
"Unless there's another way she could have compelled me, then yes, I do believe it's her."
Caroline got up so fast she nearly outgave herself as a vampire.
"She used compulsion on you?! When was this?!" She yelled. Thankfully enough, most people had moved on from their lockers and gone to their next class but there were still some people in the corridor, including Alex and Dana, who sent some annoyed sights towards her.
Tyler gave Alex a quick look and then looked a bit ashamed down on the floor. His cheeks actually went red at about the same time as something else went up.
"Tyler!" Caroline shouted and was about to smack his head in his locker, but was stopped by a gentle hand.
"Not that I wouldn't enjoy watching you smash that thing's head in the lockers but there's some kind of absolute consequences with that which all of them involves you giving telling some very well formed explanations, and we just don't have time for that."
Bonnie put a soft hand on her shoulder to calm her down and then turned her around so that she could see the rest of their little group stand there, watching her go completely insane.
"What did he do?" Stefan asked with his newfound "overprotective-bestie"-voice. It's different from his "overprotecting-boyfriend"-voice, neither of which stray too far from his "we're all gonna die but I have a plan"-voice.
Caroline gave Tyler a furious stare which made him look like he wanted to be anywhere but there.
"Yeah, Tyler. What did you do? Or is the question more of a 'who didn't you do'?"
"Okay Stefan, I get it! …. No, I won't repeat… Fine! Lockwood mansion. Tonight. Carol's old office. Do not touch any of the partying kids… I told you I got it!"
Damon angrily hung up on his stuck-up brother and dialed the next number he had in mind.
Part embeassed to not know what to do in this situation, and part releaved he finally had a reason to get him home, he put his phone to his ear and let the tones sing into his head.
"Damon?" A voice answered in the other end of the line.
"We need to have a drink buddy, some stuff has happened and you need to get back here. ASAP!" He half joked to lower the tension.
"I can't really come home right now, Damon, you know that. Jeremy needs me here even if he doesn't know it." The man said with depression.
"We need you more than little Gilbert does, who, if I might add, doesn't even know you're watching him."
"That's because he doesn't know who I am. We've met a couple of times actually, but you can be cool, he doesn't remember anything. The compulsion with the spell Bonnie put on him is airtight. I don't even think you guys can reverse it. His memories are gone, forever, replaced by that kid's." His voice just sounded darker and darker, with more and more sadness in it than even Damon could handle.
"Listen to me now, I know you swore to protect him once his memories where gone and he couldn't do it himself, but I'm serious when I say we need you more than he does!" Damon desperately stated.
"Besides, you said it yourself, he is gone. The Jeremy you're watching and protecting isn't Jeremy, it's his body, yes, but that's just a shell with someone else on the inside." He continued. "So please just get back here."
"Damon, I just can't…" He tried to explain.
"Ric, listen to me, Phil is dead and we have strong believes it was Klaus who either did it or who made it happen. So we need you, okay? I need you to help me solve this. And we kind of have a psychopathic vampire in town who I just thought you would love to help us with."
"God, you just can't go by in life without me, can you?"
"Nope, but the little Gilbert can, so get here. Fast."
And with those words Damon ended the call to his old drinking buddy and best friend, Alaric Saltzman, without a doubt that he'd be there the next day, ready to kick some murderous ass.