Twentieth.
It took me a few more days to get back to normal. I spent my time reading, watching TV and entertaining all of my visitors. I had a chance to get to know Stefan and Ric better, Bonnie stopped by twice, and I even had a chance to make amends with Caroline. I still didn't care for her very much, but at least we could be civil with one another. Damon had been strangely absent since he had fallen asleep next to me, but I figured he probably had a lot to do.
On the third day I couldn't justify staying in anymore. I headed back to the falls again with my journal and camera in hand. The sun was peeking out through the clouds and fog had risen up from the ground. I got to the bridge quickly, stood there for a few minutes just taking in the view, then crossed it and found a spot on the ground to settle into. I placed the towel I had brought onto the wet grass and sat with my journal in my lap. When I finished my entry I put the journal away and pulled out my camera. From this angle the sun and the mist formed a rainbow over the bottom of the falls. As the sun rose the light changed and the rainbow disappeared. It was getting warm out so I took off my sweater and tied it around my waist. I grabbed my bag and folded up the wet towel.
I walked back through the woods slowly, taking in all of the sights, the smells and the sounds. I weaved back and forth through the trees and watched a doe with two fawns grazing in the distance. My mother had always told me that we have to respect all living things and that included people, animals and plants. It had been centuries since I had walked through the forest with no set agenda, just wandering for the sake of wandering.
When I made it back to the house I walked around the grounds for a bit, then sat on the wall in front of the door, leaned back against the cool brick column and pulled out my camera. I flipped through the first few pictures of the falls and the church cellar. The pictures all came out really good, I kept flipping through them until one picture made me pause. The last picture that I had taken before coming to Mystic Falls was Lexi and I.
I had asked someone to take our picture in a booth at some chain restaurant. We were looking at each other, laughing about some long forgotten joke. Lexi had her hand on my shoulder, her mood ring pointing towards the camera. I loved teasing her about that ring, it almost never changed color because her skin was always so cold, but she loved it. I wondered where that ring was now. Maybe I could convince Damon that if he found that ring for me I would forgive him for killing her.
I looked back through all of my pictures, some I hadn't seen in years, others that I had never even looked at or seen. There was the time that she had compelled a girl in the restroom at a bar to take pictures of us biting each other. When I asked Lexi if we really had to bite each other she told me that of course we did, just bite down hard enough to make each other bleed and get some blood on our fangs, then look up at the camera for the picture. We took turns being the vampire and the victim, it took almost fifteen minutes just to get two good pictures because we couldn't stop laughing at ourselves and Lexi's wound healed too fast. There was another one of us dressed up in ball gowns, fancy make-up and hair pinned perfectly. I couldn't remember what the event was, but I did remember the looks on peoples' faces when we danced with each other all night, denying every man who asked us to dance claiming that we already had a date.
I scrolled through them all, birthdays, holidays, Wednesdays, any opportunity to take a picture. I smiled as the memories came flooding back. I found a few pictures of Lexi and Stefan from a few years back, that rat, she had stolen my camera! I guess I can't get too mad about it though considering I obviously didn't know it was gone. I turned the camera off and walked into the house.
Back in my room I tossed my bag on the bed and went into the bathroom to wash my hands. When I came back out I rifled through the bag, took out my journal and put it back in the drawer under my t-shirts. I took the bag off of the bed and slid it over near the bedside table. I felt a breeze and realized that I had left my window was open. I started towards it to close it when I saw a note blow across the comforter. I hadn't seen it there when I came in, but I wasn't really looking over the bed either.
I picked it up and read it. I recognized Damon's handwriting and was disappointed that I missed him again. The note said that Elena had called to say she might not be able to meet me in the square, and that she had tried to call me but it went straight to voicemail. I reached for my phone but it was dead, I had forgotten to put it back on the charger overnight, damn. I found the charger and hooked it up. It was fine, I could make it through one day without it, hell I had lived five hundred years without one after all.
I was bummed, I had been looking forward to meeting the girls in the square today. I decided to go in anyway, see if anyone shows up. I had a little time so I changed into something more comfortable, ran a brush through my hair and decided to leave it down again. I put on a little make-up, checked my teeth in the mirror and decided I looked good enough for a walk into town. I spritzed myself with a little body spray, threw a few extra things into my bag and left.