And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone, but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
The smell of coffee hung in the air and sprung her awake, she had finally had a peaceful night of sleep with no dream interruptions, and for the first time in a long time, she felt relaxed. Yet, there was still the lingering feeling of unease, her dreams of suicide or rather… being murdered still haunted her, and she couldn't for the life of her shake the feeling of utter sadness from her system. Still at times when her dreams brought her the twins she felt a sense of calmness wash over her, as if each twin, Jade and Beck, were there to protect her, to shield her from the sadness of it all…
But sadness from what? Why was she sad in the first place, and why did everything end with her dead? She still couldn't understand why her subconscious brought these images to her.
Throwing back her blanket she stretched her limbs and messed around with her hair before standing to go wash her mouth.
(x)
The smell of coffee grew stronger as she walked down the steps into the kitchen. "Good morning." Her aunt Christina greeted her with a warm smile and a mug full of vanilla bean coffee. Tori gladly took the cup from her and sipped. "Morning." Tori mumbled back before grabbing back a seat and sitting down at the table.
"Got any plans for the day?" Christina asked her hand on the counter and the other one on her mug.
"Not really. I'm going to head out with a friend of mine for a while that's all."
"Friend… is this friend a boy?" Christina asked, curious.
Tori made a face and placed her mug on the table, "Yes a boy. Pero no te preocupes, he's just a friend."
Christina nodded, "Si usted lo dice."
Tori smiled at her aunt before making her way to the living room, there see saw Trina sitting on the couch, her own coffee mug on the tiny coffee table in front of her, she had a box in her lap and pictures in her hands.
"Morning Trina." Tori said before sitting down on the couch, snuggling into the cushions.
Trina looked up at Tori bewildered.
"What?" Tori asked.
"You… you look just like our great-aunt, it's creepy."
"What?"
"Come here, look at this." Trina said, staring down at the pictures.
Tori got up rather reluctantly and scooted over to Trina and when she made herself comfortable enough she took the pictures from Trina.
Tori's mouth fell open and her heart sunk in her chest, she couldn't believe it. The pictures of her great great-whatever aunt, looked just like her. It was as if they were twins, the same features were present. In one photo there her great-aunt stood, a solo photo, wearing an old fashion dress, one she could recall from her dreams, her hair was curly and tied back with a few pins and around her neck was a locket, but not just any locket, Tori had seen the locket before…on the bottom of the picture printed was the name Victoria Marie Vega .
Just in that moment her aunt Christina entered the room, "Girls, I'm off to work, call me before going out and don't forget to lock the door."
"Titi, who's this?" Tori asked holding up the picture.
Christina took a good look at the photo, "Where in the world did you get that picture?"
"Found it in a box in the attic." Trina confessed.
"How come we've never heard of her before?" Tori asked.
"That was your great-aunt Victoria, you're named after her Tori, and I'm surprised your mother never told you the story."
"What story?" Tori asked.
"She was killed at a very young age, accused of messing around vampirism and murder, found guilty and was sentence to hang, she was only sixteen years old, very young."
"Oh my god." Tori said, her heart now pounding in her chest, like drums to her ears everything got fuzzy quickly.
"What did her parents do?" Trina asked, looking through other photos that contained their great-aunt along with her father and mother.
"They couldn't do much, they were held at arm's length by the law and had to see their daughter die, and afterwards, they had three more children, Jonathan, Mylena and Sophia, to make up for her loss. Though her mother Katherine never recovered and went into a deep depression, eventually taking her own life, hanging herself in the attic."
"Wait a minute, you mean she killed herself in this house?" Trina said, frantic.
"Oh Trina, it was forever ago, it's not like her spirit is haunting this house." Christina mocked.
"Yeah but that's just crazy and not to mention a little scary." Trina said.
"For you maybe, who will eventually have to put these pictures back in this box to the attic." Christina nudged her. Trina made a face. "Now I really have to go. Please girls remember my rules, and if you're going to have friends over clean this house before they come over." And then she was off.
"That's just crazy, I mean accused of vampirism, was this town nuts back then or what?" Trina said, looking over to Tori.
Tori looked up her, her eyes a little bulged and tired. She looked like a ghost.
"Tori are you ok?" Trina asked a little worried.
Just then Tori snapped out of whatever trance she was in. "I'm fine." She choked out, putting down the pictures she stood up. "I'm going to go shower and dress before Beck comes by later." She said before walking away, leaving Trina staring after her.
(x)
She lay in bed thinking, thinking, wondering, and contemplating if she was out of her mind. She had lived through her great-aunt with her own eyes or mind…. she had lived her life through her dreams, and she had dreamed of her death as if it were her own. Suddenly everything became clear and much more complicated, and when she thought about it for too long her body would start to hurt and the deep feeling of pain and sadness would come back to her, crashing over her like a storm. She couldn't for the life of her figure out why she was dreaming of her dead great-aunt Victoria, who she was named after.
'She looks just like me' Tori thought with a shiver. It was all a little overwhelming. And the twins, she dreamed about them too, with her great-aunt, those two loving her, as if they had the greatest love triangle of all time, Bella Swan, eat your heart out.
But what made it worse was how lively her dreams were, how she could feel at times the rope around her neck, the touch of Jade's hands against her own, or the sheer thrill of Beck's lips upon her own.
It was too real.
*Beep* went her phone, interrupting her thoughts, turning her face over to her phone she picked it up and it read, 'almost there – 5 minutes away' – Beck
She replied with a smiley face and turned her head back to facing the ceiling once again.
His watch, Jade's locket… something wasn't right, actually everything was wrong.
She was killed at a very young age, accused of messing around vampirism and murder.
And as her mind tried to make sense of things that seemed impossible there was another text. Beck was here.
They greeted each other with kisses to the cheek and when Tori asked where they were headed he turned to her, smiled, and said it was a surprise as he handed her a helmet. Biting her lip she looked at him with curious eyes and then placed the helmet over her head, securing it tightly before climbing onto the motorcycle. Her arms circled tightly around his waist as he warned her to hold on before speeding off down the street.
"Where are we?" Tori asked her arms stretched out in front of her. She was blindfolded; the last thing she could recall was stopping by the peak of the woods right next to Lake Greywood. "Miss Vega patience is a virtue. It's a surprise." Beck insisted as he guided her by the hands.
"I can't see anything, what if I trip?"
"Then I'm right here to catch you. Just relax."
"Yeah easy for you to say, you don't have a blindfold on."
"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you." Beck said.
"Is that a promise?" she teased.
"It's a blood oath."
Tori almost tripped over her own feet, his words making her uneasy. He caught her quickly and held her upright.
"Whoa…easy." He said.
"Sorry." She replied catching her footing.
"We're almost there." He said.
And shortly after walking a few more feet they made it. He untied the blindfold and as it fell her vision became clear to the colors around her. She was underneath a willow tree, and around the trunk and front surface were roses, roses of different colors and shapes, with all different aromas. It was beautiful.
She looked over to Beck in awe, and yet in that moment her entire world froze.
"Wow." Tori uttered.
"Oh my god." She whispered.
"Do you like it?" Beck asked.
"Do you like it?" he asked.
"You planted these here?" Tori asked, her heart thundering and her head aching.
"Did you- did you plant these here?" she asked.
"Jade and I planted these here for our mother, she died a while back. And these are in honor of her memory." Beck said, looking around before walking over to Tori and taking her hand.
"My sister and I, we found this tree a few years back, and then after my mother had passed away we decided to plant roses in her memory." He said.
"Jade told me your mother passed away, I'm so sorry." Tori said, grasping Beck's hand tighter.
"It's ok." He whispered before sitting down, pulling Tori down with him. She allowed him to pull her, and as she sat with him, looking around, she tried to place her finger on something that was so clearly missing.
"Tell me about Europe, the places you went to, everything you saw, everything you ate. Tell me stories." Tori said. She wanted him to talk, she wanted to hear him speak and she desperately wanted the headache that was pounding her to misery to go away.
Beck licked his lips. "Okay, deal, I'll tell you about Europe if you tell me why you moved here from LA."
Tori looked over to him and sighed, "Deal."
And that's how they spent their time, he told her about his trips to Madrid, Milan and Barcelona, about the different people, culture and food, he talked about dancing with the Spanish, cooking with the French, and painting with the Scottish. He was in complete trance when he spoke about Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland. He fancied it there a lot, spent time taking pictures and enjoying his nights there. "The people there are alive." he said, "They live like most people should live, they eat, they drink, and they're merry. It's fascinating to me." And when he finished talking about his great adventures around the world he let room for her to talk about her troubles. Hearing him speak about all the great places he had visited made Victoria want to hush up about the troubles she escaped from home. But she swallowed her spit, looked him in the eyes and told him the truth, and he listened to her, intently without any remarks or interruptions. And she told him about the drama with Naomi, what had happened with Ian and even when she hit the volleyball that ruined her life. She didn't cry when she told him the story, she didn't bother to, it didn't feel as bad as it used to, and when she was done telling it she looked up at him, expecting a bewildered reaction, instead he smiled at her, took her hand, kissed her knuckles and told her, "The past was in the past, and everything was going to be better."
And when his mouth pressed against her knuckles she felt a fire burn across her skin. There it was again, that flame, that feeling of being burned by Beck brewing to life once more.
They stayed a little while longer, talking, and she never wanted it to end. Alas, as the hours ticked by, they knew they had to head back. Taking his hand they left the willow tree and the roses behind and rode back to his place.
(x)
Jade was there when they arrived, she was out in the front steps. As he parked Tori slid off and walked over to Jade. "West." Tori greeted.
"Vega." Jade responded, "Had a good time?" she asked.
Tori nodded, "Yeah, yeah I did." She said, and as she smiled at Jade her eyes landed on the locket around her neck. The sinking feeling came back to her and she took a step forward.
"Let's go someplace." Tori said, "Let's go eat."
"Are you alright?" Jade asked.
"Starving." Tori said.
Jade nodded and stood up, "Wait for me in the car, I'll be right out."
Tori nodded as Jade walked into the house, and as she turned Beck was beside her.
"I had a good time; we should do it again, soon." Beck said, his hand reaching up and pulling her hair behind her ear. Staring at his wrist she saw the familiar watch she had distinguish from before. Her lip trembled and she wished for two things at the moment, one, for him to kiss her, and two, for the loud drumming in her head to go away.
"Maybe sooner than you think…" She whispered before taking his hand and laying a kiss on his palm. As her lips collided with his skin her head boomed. Everything went fuzzy, she quickly met his eyes, giving him a knowing look, before turning around with all of her strength and walking to Jade's car. No turning back, she had to know, she was no longer waiting for a special invitation. And as she settled in Jade's car everything flashed before her eyes, her head banged hard, and the pictures from before came rushing back, her great-aunt, the necklace, the watch, the dreams, the feeling of Déjà vu. Closing her eyes Tori drifted away.
When she awoke she was wearing the same dress her great-aunt was wearing in the pictures, puffy, old-fashion, brown and tight. She was in a field, right outside the West mansion, there were a few trees but most of it was clear land and she was alone. Standing up and catching her footing she marched pass all the grass and without knocking she opened the door and walked in. Beck was there, he was standing at the top of the stairs, and his attire was old fashion once again, he looked handsome, devilishly so.
"You're always here, aren't you?" she asked. Beck came down the stairs. "I'm only here if you want me here. Only when you allow me to be I am." He said. And he sounded so beautiful and poetic, she wanted to beat against his chest and kiss him senseless, she wanted to ask why and have the answers revealed. Instead she leaned on her tiptoes and whispered into his ear, "Its time." Right before brushing pass him and into the kitchen. He followed behind her of course, and as she walked around the kitchen, her fingers tracing the walls, her heart no longer pounded and the drumming from before was gone.
"Victoria, what do you mean its time?" he asked, "time for what?"
"I just want the truth." She said, smiling at him.
"Curiosity killed the cat." He said.
"Oh yeah, but it was still left with eight lives remaining," she retorted. Turning to face him she backed up against the drawers of the kitchen, feeling for a handle. Opening it carefully she smiled, tears coming down her face now. "There it is again," she whispered, "that feeling of sadness, it never goes away."
"I could help you make it go away." He told her.
"Yeah… I'd like that." She said and as her hand slipped into the drawer she grabbed a sharp knife and held it out.
Beck's eyes snapped to the knife, his hands up in the air, trying to divert the situation.
"Victoria… put that down." He said his voice full of concern and warning bells.
"No… I have to find out, and if this is the only way, so be it." And then as quickly as he moved beside her she placed the knife into her palm and sliced herself.
Victoria sprang forth from her sleep, still in Jade's car she held up her hand. Sure enough, she was bleeding.
"Oh my god." Jade whispered. Horrified Tori looked over to Jade, her heart sank and a scream tore from her lungs. Jade's face…. She looked like a demon.
"Tori wait." Jade pleaded as Tori lunged for the door, ran out of the car and before she knew it, kicked off deep into the woods, her hand bleeding and questions forming faster than lightening… everything had gotten much more complicated.