Quick TW: one scene alludes to attempted rape.

Chapter 4: Dream 2

Caroline was rifling through her locker at Mystic Falls High School, desperately trying to find her history textbook and failing. In fact, her locker was full of nothing but notebooks. Some were blank, wide-ruled with plain covers, others were unlined journals that she'd started to write in but stopped. Then she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the magnetic mirror attached to the inside of the locker door. Behind her, she heard hushed voices and snickers.

"Nice dress, princess," a girl commented, to the amusement of her friends. Caroline looked down. She was wearing the dress from the ball again. This time she was also wearing white satin gloves, diamond bracelet clasped around her wrist. In the mirror she saw a fully made up face framed by blonde curls. No wonder the girl had said something. She'd showed up at school in a ball gown, nicer than any prom queen or Miss Mystic had ever seen. And the gloves. Why was she wearing elbow-length gloves to school?

"I need to find Bonnie," Caroline said to herself. She slammed the locker door shut, having given up on her history book. She proceeded to check every women's restroom in the school for Bonnie, or Elena, or anyone she knew really, because out of all the faces she'd seen in the hall, she hadn't recognized a single one. Which was extremely weird because she was Caroline Forbes, Miss Mystic Falls, head of every dance committee, cheerleader, and...yeah. Weird, she thought. After opening the door to the final restroom to more snickers, she heard the bell and ran toward the history room, afraid to be late.

Out of breath, she threw the door open to find a very confused teacher that was definitely NOT Alaric. No Bonnie, no Elena, no Tyler, Matt, Jeremy, just a bunch of anonymous people.

"Can I help you?" the teacher asked, perturbed by the disruption.

"Sorry I'm late," she replied, making her way to her seat, which she found to be occupied by yet another random teenager she'd never seen before. "Excuse me," she said, "I think you're in my seat." The girl looked up at her as though she was crazy.

"I'm sorry, but I think you should report to the principal's office," the teacher suggested. Do you have a visitor's pass?" He picked up the phone to dial the office.

"Um...nevermind, I must be in the wrong place," Caroline replied, embarrassed.

"Yeah, the Miss America pageant is down the hall," a cheerleader cracked from the back row.

"Excuse me," she said, preparing to lecture her on how she was a senior cheerleader and had never seen HER bitchy face before, but she caught herself. She turned on her heels and stormed out of the classroom. A loud "UGHHHHHHHH" came from the hallway as her heels clicked on the tile.

Instead of going to the office, she threw open the doors of the school and headed toward downtown. Maybe everyone had skipped and gone to the Grill. Halfway there, the sun started to set. In her waking life she'd have found it strange that the sun was setting in the middle of a school day, but in the dream it didn't raise question. When she got to the Mystic Grill, she searched the crowd, which was full of more anonymous faces.

"Have you seen Matt?" she asked the bartender.

"Who's Matt?" they replied, mixing a drink. Maybe the bartender was just new.

"Matt Donovan, he works here."

"Doesn't sound familiar, sorry!"

"Ugh," she said. It was just like at school. It was completely dark outside now. She walked up and down the street, searching for a familiar car. If Matt were around, his truck would be close. As she made her way down the street, she heard scuffling.

"Let me go, creep!" a girl yelled from the side alley. Caroline ran toward the alley to find a tall man with stringy blonde hair pinning the girl to a brick wall. There had been times during her vampiredom that she'd been annoyed at her heightened senses, and the open dumpster on the other side of the alley made this one of those times.

"Let her go, asshole," Caroline shouted. The man's head spun to look at Caroline. His eyes were dark, his cheekbones hollow. His mouth twisted into a smile as he looked her up and down, one hand still pressing the girl into the wall.

"Oh good, a second course," he said cockily.

"Let her go or I swear to god I'll rip your head off."

He scoffed. "Yeah, okay bitch. I'll let her go." He released his hand, but didn't let her pass. "I'll take you instead." Caroline slapped his hand away as he grabbed her ass. "You even dressed up for me," he whispered creepily.

"Don't. Touch. Me." Caroline's eyes got dark. She could feel the tips of her fangs almost breaking through her gums.

"Oh, I'm going to touch you, princess. And you'll like it, I promise," he said mockingly. And she's going to watch," he added, gesturing to the terrified girl behind him.

Her sight went red. Her fangs grazed her lip, veins darkening under her blackened eyes. This terrified the girl even more.

The man stumbled. "What's the fuck is wrong with you?"

"You," she said, her eyes boring into his. "Your creepy ass is what's wrong with me. And the whole 'raping a girl in a back alley' thing is what's wrong with me." She stared into his pupils, which dilated ever so slightly.

"You will stand here silent while I kill you. It has been a REALLY strange day and I have zero faith in you ever turning into a decent person. So you will stay put, and silent, while I do this."

"O...okay," he shuddered, unwillingly agreeing to her compulsion. Caroline's mouth spread wide, light reflecting off her exposed fangs. She grabbed his shoulders and sank her teeth into his neck, veins getting even darker as she consumed the contents of his artery. When she was sated, she grabbed his head and snapped his neck, letting his body crumple to the ground. She could feel a little blood at both corners of her mouth but made no effort to wipe it away.

"What just happened? Are you going to kill me too?" The girl said, shaking and barely able to get the words out.

"No. I'm not going to hurt you," Caroline said softly, and looked into her eyes. "You're going to go home, and forget any of this ever happened."

The girl nodded her head slightly in agreement and ran out of the alley, turning toward home.

Caroline tapped her shoe against the now-deceased attacker and collected herself. Her dress was fine, but her gloves were dirty from grabbing his greasy hands and neck and were dotted with his blood. The bracelet glimmered on the broken concrete a few feet away. Thankfully it had only come undone in the fight and hadn't broken; she fastened it back on her wrist and let out a frustrated sigh before eventually walking down the street and taking a seat on the bench across from the Mystic Grill. She'd just wiped the blood from the corners of her mouth when she heard someone approach.

"Hello, love."

Caroline's head snapped around to find Klaus, who was dressed in the same tuxedo he'd worn the night he gave her that gown.

"Ugh, are you serious? Finally I find someone I know, and it's you."

Klaus chuckled to himself, turning his gaze to his feet. "Mystic Falls does feel a bit different today, doesn't it?"

She'd thought up half of a snappy response - something about how it shouldn't be any different for him because everyone there is probably just food to him anyway - before realizing she wasn't actually that annoyed at him being there.

"It's so weird. I haven't seen Bonnie or Elena or Matt or anyone else all day. I haven't seen anyone I even remotely recognize. And these little snots at school were making fun of my dress." He smirked at her frustration. The triviality of it was cute. Klaus never wanted to see her truly upset, but he did get some amusement from how worked up she got over these kinds of things.

"How could anyone make fun of the most beautiful woman in all of Mystic Falls? MISS Mystic Falls, if memory serves."

"Ha ha, very funny," she replied sarcastically, standing up and smoothing her dress. "Really though, where is everyone? Who are all of these people? And…" she trailed off. She seemed to be entering a more lucid, self-aware state. "Why...am I wearing this dress? And the school, and my locker full of notebooks?"

Klaus held out his arm for her to take. "Well, love, we're dreaming," he responded, to Caroline's further confusion. "Why don't we take a walk?"

She eyed him incredulously, but took his arm anyway. "Fine. So what do you mean we're dreaming? How are you invading my dream, anyway?" She was trying to keep up her "I'm annoyed at Klaus" tone, but didn't know why anymore. It was a dream. He wasn't even really real (at least she didn't think so), so what was the point?

"We're sharing a dream. That's a beautiful bracelet you're wearing, by the way."

"Thanks. It's so strange, my last memory of it was throwing it on the floor, actually." She caught Klaus smiling to himself. She tried not to blush at his dimples.

"Funny how some things find their way back to us."

"Yeah," she said, letting through a small smile. "Funny."

Caroline looked up to see that Klaus had effectively walked her home, or at least to the home she grew up in. The lights were on as if someone were home, though she knew the house was empty. The realization caused her smile to fade. Seeing this, Klaus turned to stand in front of her, taking her hands in his.

"I am so confused...why do I keep coming back here? Why are you here?"

"In time, love," he responded softly, tucking a blonde curl behind her ear. They heard what sounded like excited children yelling and scampering through the house. "In the meantime, it sounds like someone might be looking for you."

She looked into the house, then looked back at Klaus, not sure what to ask or say. Her eyes fluttered closed as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Good night, Caroline," he whispered. Suddenly everything around her started to brighten, forcing her to blink and squint, and she heard banging, like someone was pounding on a door.

"Mommy, Aunt Bonnie's here!" Lizzie and Josie squealed from the hall, continuing to pound on the door. Caroline shot up in bed. It was just after sunrise, which meant she hadn't overslept at least. But Bonnie had just arrived and the entire house was awake. She opened the door to find her two very excited daughters practically dancing with excitement. Her own face spread into a huge smile. It made her happy to see them so happy, but she was just as happy (and relieved) that Bonnie was back. She'd missed her best friend.

"Why don't you go downstairs and see if she needs any help or something to eat? I'll be RIGHT down," she replied, trying, tiredly, to match their excitement.

"Mom, did you do your hair? It looks really pretty," Josie said. Caroline's eyes widened.

"Oh, I...was just playing around with it. Go find Aunt Bonnie," she said, shooing them down the hall before clicking her door closed and running to the bathroom mirror. Her hair was curled, tendrils framing her face. Upon further inspection, she saw a dark spot just under her ear.

Dried blood.

But the bracelet was gone. She tore the blankets off the bed and eventually found it between the sheets. It had come off her wrist while she was sleeping - she hadn't intended to fall asleep with it on. Carefully, she laid it in the drawer of her bedside table. Then she returned to the bathroom and tried her best to muss up her hair so it looked appropriately slept in, because while her daughters may have bought the "just playing with my hair" excuse, there was no way any of the adults would.

Thank god Bonnie's home, Caroline thought. She was happy and relieved. And she had so many questions. Once she looked more like she'd just woken up, she threw her door open and nearly slid down the stairs to throw her arms around her best friend.

"Welcome home, Bonnie Bennett. I missed you so much," she said, squeezing Bonnie a little too hard. Common vampire problem. She eased up a bit as she heard some air escape Bonnie's lungs.

"I missed you too, Care," she replied, wrapping her arms around Caroline. "I missed you too."

Hi all! A few notes about relevant dream symbolism (from dreammoods):

Notebook: may indicate emotions or things you've lost track of in your waking life

I was also inspired by the suggested meanings for death and killing; death can suggest that you're repressing some part of yourself, and in the case of killing, that you're on the verge of losing self-control.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks again for reading, and thanks to everyone who has followed/favorited/reviewed!