that way untruth lies
prologue
"behind me dips eternity,
before me immortality,
myself, the term between."
—
Once a year, every June, they sleep in the barn (forbidden domain of Caroline—most times) for three days to expulse the bad (school) and welcome the good (holidays).
Sue them; they were sixteen. Normal sixteen years have fun. They drink, they party, they live their lives in moments of spontaneity, and spilling a different secret every other night doesn't seem half as bad when you're with (best) friends.
Bonnie was finally establishing a relationship. It's set, officialised. Two years late and two hundred omens behind (Katherine would say), Bonnie will walk down that road.
(In her sun-kissed, sleeveless dress, always like the light of stars, and: "hello, my friends." Motionless undo, exist no mightier than adieu. Whisper-selves and violet whiskers whipped into mush, rambled on with miles and tales siphoning through.)
"Congrats!"
They popped open the champagne and rapidly gulped fuzzy buzz (buzzed high). They're getting drunk and giddy, jamming to the millennial generation beat. Tonight, it's the night.
"Watch out Elena, drink too much and you'll be telling us all your secrets." And Elena nearly chokes on the sip of champagne she's taking, as Caroline emphasizes secrets almost mockingly.
"Friends share secrets, that's what keeps us close."
(Pyjama bottoms and bunny feet, skid the disc wide and sleek. "Send me off in a riot. Send me off encased in hysterics." Hold rigid in the ribs. It's gonna be an execution in hissing fits.)
Katherine Pierce was an eccentric woman with eccentric tastes.
She wakes up to the brink of dawn, firefly golden light dust trickling across the couch from the window, and as she tries to sit up, she's hit with a gust of dizziness, a rush of blood to the head that makes her quickly collapse back against the pillow before she has an urgent need to throw up onto the floor.
Elena takes a few miniscule breaths, before trying to focus her attention on something other than the light-headedness she's feeling. Her eyes carefully wander across the barn and just as they land on the door, a girl with curly blonde hair and odd blearily blue eyes comes through it.
Caroline.
She stops in place at the sight of her awake, before giving her a timid blank stare.
"You're awake." She states the obvious with a vague tone and Elena glowers at her for a second, before letting her eyes look around for Katherine and Bon – gone.
The wood beneath the carpet floor creaks slightly (Bonnie—oh Bonnie—darling, dearest, is awake) and Elena turns around from the big door, arms still across her chest, and even in the flickering light, she can sense the contemplative turn from Caroline's normal behavior around them, "Guys," Bonnie calls out, "Where's Katherine?"
"She's gone." Caroline replies with a dramatic drawl, walking closer to them.
Elena smiles, resigned, no sign of the usual chipper brunette at all, "What do you mean with 'she's gone'?" She finally rasps out, giving up eventually on hoping that Katherine will suddenly pop out of thin air any second now.
"I've looked everywhere for her," She finally informs them, the uneasy quality of crystallized tranquillity still present in her tone, "think I heard her scream."
Today, she goes missing.
Today is the beginning, is the end.
Today, she goes missing.
A/N: Just five things. Pretty Little Liars plot, but revolving around our TVD girls—it's different still. It's not tagged Klaroline for nothing, even though I don't know the other pairings (endgame) yet, Klaroline will be. Bear with me, because it'll take some time till some romantic action happens, but it will. It's unbetaed. Last but not least, this story is written from Caroline's point of view, but I'm going to switch occasionally.