p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"It did not take long before I was all dried up, donning a loose pair of gym shorts and t-shirt with black socks...because white socks are crazy, and was softly knocking on Elena's door.../p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"Though, as expected, there was no answer./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"I waited for a while and listened./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"No response. Not even the sound of soft breathing or crying./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"I could only envy the supernaturals of the world for their enhanced senses, and loathe the vampires for that switch that controls emotions, because fuck-all if that switch would not be useful in this moment./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"My stomach felt queasy and a nervousness that I did not recognize as my own had made itself known./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"This world was different from the one I had seen on the show. By how much, I did not know./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"My hope was that the only difference would be the death of Jeremy, which allowed me to take his place. Other than that, if all stayed the same, that would be ideal. However, I have never been one to close off my mind to the possibilities...that's why I could churn out fan-fic after fan-fic over and over. My imagination was endless and ever evolving. My mind was open. And as I said, as long as I was alive, the possibilities were endless./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"Though, for now, I would operate and respond to known events as they appear and any unknowns, like if Klaus were to turn up in town tomorrow, I would respond accordingly and the only question was if I would have enough time to, at the very least, prepare myself accordingly for anything this world had to throw at me and my people./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;""Elena, are you awake?" I asked through the closed door. The thought of the "what if" scenario where she had, like Jeremy, intentionally or unintentionally ended her life or hurt herself, in some way. I did not like the unknown. I have never liked the unknown, and had rarely invested enough emotionally in others to have to put much effort into worrying about their unknowns...now that is different, and I had an unknown in the form of a beautiful teenager that was mourning her parents and felt responsible for their deaths./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"*Heavy sigh* "There truly ain't no rest for the wicked." I said, quoting one of my favorite songs, despite only knowing that one part./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"My hand grasped the doorknob and turned./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"The door smoothly swinging open, exposing the contents of the room to me, and the scattered mess that led to the girl snuggled under a mound of blankets that I just saw move./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"Good enough./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"I stepped in and closed the door behind me and leaned my back against it with my hands clasped behind my back. She was clearly awake./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"So I would wait./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"Pressuring her would do nothing beneficial, and I had no interest in making her overly reliant on me by forcing her to talk and open up. If this were a peaceful world, it would be fine. But it's not. This is a world dictated by the strong. She would need to be strong, at least mentally. Meaning, I would need to give her a direction and let her walk with her own strength. That whining girl from the show who only knew to rely on others and play the role of the damsel in distress had no place in my orbit./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"I'm no captain and I ain't saving hoes./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"Though, if there were anything to be said about her character traits that went along with caring, compassionate, and foolhardy...it would be stubborn./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"When she dug her heels in, her mind and actions would reflect someone who only knew how to charge forward on the path she chose and would not deviate or try to find a better way./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"Stubbornness and inflexibility can often go hand in hand and I now found myself dealing with the stubborn aspect of her personality...but sucks for her, because I have patience in spades and a mind that can keep me occupied with thoughts for as long as I needed./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"15 minutes is a long time to stand with ones back leaning against a door, but for someone trying to ignore another person while they sulked, it was not only a long time, but also annoying./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"Which was evident by the way that Elena threw the covers from over her head and glared in my direction. Her face and hair a mess and it was clear that she had not showered since she returned from the funeral./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"One teen went out to numb themselves and the other retreated to a blanket cave and hibernated for the winter./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"Neither a good plan./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;""You've got to do better, Senator!" Said Falcon from somewhere inside my mind, and I could not help but agree./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;""Problem?" I asked her, the slight smirk on my lips doing nothing for her mood./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"I've always found anger to be a very good distraction for those wanting to retreat into themselves./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;""What do you want, Jeremy?" She asked, her tone clipped and annoyance apparent./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;""Nothing, I'm just standing here," I responded, casually. "What do you want, Elena?" I asked her in the same clipped way that she asked me./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;""Get out of my room!" She yelled, clearly not in the mood to play games. Her eyes already watering and her mind clearly not all the way present since usually she would take whatever opportunity she could grasp to play the "adult" between the two of us. She liked to pretend to be more mature than she was and our parents encouraged it and doted on her for it./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"That might be why, when they told her no to her party and bring her ass to family night despite her wants, essentially treating her like a child, she took it upon herself to prove her independence...right up until she needed a ride./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"And now here she was. His spoiled cousin who had abandoned her mask of maturity and was going down the rabbit hole of bratty teen, until she eventually pulled herself together and knuckled down on her faux maturity and attempted to gain a semblance of control over her life by asserting that control over herself and everyone else./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"One of her worst qualities on the show was constant attempts to control every single thing that was thrown her way...even when it would have been better to let others make their own choices, especially when it came to Jeremy./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"At no point in time was it okay to erase his memory, no matter how weak-hearted the boy was. And while I understand her thought process and her belief that he was not mature enough to handle the truth of the world, in the end, it did more harm than good...but that's just hindsight, so I can't truly judge./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"All I could do was make certain that we did not repeat the same mistakes...which is something that happened far too often in the show./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"Learn from your mistakes, people./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;""No," I told her, once more speaking casually as I strolled away from the door and to the bed. "I think I'll stay here for a while."/p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"And with that, I made myself comfortable. Ignoring the feeling of her staring at the back of my head. I could only imagine the look on her face. Probably some look that asked the question, "are you crazy"./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"It only took a little more back and forth with her making demands and me either ignoring her or playing it off as a calm exchange before she was back, buried under her mound of covers, only this time, instead of grief and guilt, she was stewing in anger./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"A much better use of her time in my opinion./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"I knew this would take a while so I laid backwards across the bed and across her body with my arms crossed and made myself at home./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"It would not be long before she was back to expressing herself and doing her best interpretation of a banshee, but I was in it for the long haul and ignoring an angry woman was a well-practiced skill of mine./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"...I'm not a scumbag, though. In my opinion./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"Though, as expected, there was no answer./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"I waited for a while and listened./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"No response. Not even the sound of soft breathing or crying./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"I could only envy the supernaturals of the world for their enhanced senses, and loathe the vampires for that switch that controls emotions, because fuck-all if that switch would not be useful in this moment./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"My stomach felt queasy and a nervousness that I did not recognize as my own had made itself known./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"This world was different from the one I had seen on the show. By how much, I did not know./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"My hope was that the only difference would be the death of Jeremy, which allowed me to take his place. Other than that, if all stayed the same, that would be ideal. However, I have never been one to close off my mind to the possibilities...that's why I could churn out fan-fic after fan-fic over and over. My imagination was endless and ever evolving. My mind was open. And as I said, as long as I was alive, the possibilities were endless./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"Though, for now, I would operate and respond to known events as they appear and any unknowns, like if Klaus were to turn up in town tomorrow, I would respond accordingly and the only question was if I would have enough time to, at the very least, prepare myself accordingly for anything this world had to throw at me and my people./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;""Elena, are you awake?" I asked through the closed door. The thought of the "what if" scenario where she had, like Jeremy, intentionally or unintentionally ended her life or hurt herself, in some way. I did not like the unknown. I have never liked the unknown, and had rarely invested enough emotionally in others to have to put much effort into worrying about their unknowns...now that is different, and I had an unknown in the form of a beautiful teenager that was mourning her parents and felt responsible for their deaths./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"*Heavy sigh* "There truly ain't no rest for the wicked." I said, quoting one of my favorite songs, despite only knowing that one part./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"My hand grasped the doorknob and turned./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"The door smoothly swinging open, exposing the contents of the room to me, and the scattered mess that led to the girl snuggled under a mound of blankets that I just saw move./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"Good enough./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"I stepped in and closed the door behind me and leaned my back against it with my hands clasped behind my back. She was clearly awake./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"So I would wait./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"Pressuring her would do nothing beneficial, and I had no interest in making her overly reliant on me by forcing her to talk and open up. If this were a peaceful world, it would be fine. But it's not. This is a world dictated by the strong. She would need to be strong, at least mentally. Meaning, I would need to give her a direction and let her walk with her own strength. That whining girl from the show who only knew to rely on others and play the role of the damsel in distress had no place in my orbit./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"I'm no captain and I ain't saving hoes./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"Though, if there were anything to be said about her character traits that went along with caring, compassionate, and foolhardy...it would be stubborn./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"When she dug her heels in, her mind and actions would reflect someone who only knew how to charge forward on the path she chose and would not deviate or try to find a better way./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"Stubbornness and inflexibility can often go hand in hand and I now found myself dealing with the stubborn aspect of her personality...but sucks for her, because I have patience in spades and a mind that can keep me occupied with thoughts for as long as I needed./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"15 minutes is a long time to stand with ones back leaning against a door, but for someone trying to ignore another person while they sulked, it was not only a long time, but also annoying./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"Which was evident by the way that Elena threw the covers from over her head and glared in my direction. Her face and hair a mess and it was clear that she had not showered since she returned from the funeral./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"One teen went out to numb themselves and the other retreated to a blanket cave and hibernated for the winter./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"Neither a good plan./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;""You've got to do better, Senator!" Said Falcon from somewhere inside my mind, and I could not help but agree./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;""Problem?" I asked her, the slight smirk on my lips doing nothing for her mood./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"I've always found anger to be a very good distraction for those wanting to retreat into themselves./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;""What do you want, Jeremy?" She asked, her tone clipped and annoyance apparent./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;""Nothing, I'm just standing here," I responded, casually. "What do you want, Elena?" I asked her in the same clipped way that she asked me./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;""Get out of my room!" She yelled, clearly not in the mood to play games. Her eyes already watering and her mind clearly not all the way present since usually she would take whatever opportunity she could grasp to play the "adult" between the two of us. She liked to pretend to be more mature than she was and our parents encouraged it and doted on her for it./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"That might be why, when they told her no to her party and bring her ass to family night despite her wants, essentially treating her like a child, she took it upon herself to prove her independence...right up until she needed a ride./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"And now here she was. His spoiled cousin who had abandoned her mask of maturity and was going down the rabbit hole of bratty teen, until she eventually pulled herself together and knuckled down on her faux maturity and attempted to gain a semblance of control over her life by asserting that control over herself and everyone else./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"One of her worst qualities on the show was constant attempts to control every single thing that was thrown her way...even when it would have been better to let others make their own choices, especially when it came to Jeremy./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"At no point in time was it okay to erase his memory, no matter how weak-hearted the boy was. And while I understand her thought process and her belief that he was not mature enough to handle the truth of the world, in the end, it did more harm than good...but that's just hindsight, so I can't truly judge./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"All I could do was make certain that we did not repeat the same mistakes...which is something that happened far too often in the show./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"Learn from your mistakes, people./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;""No," I told her, once more speaking casually as I strolled away from the door and to the bed. "I think I'll stay here for a while."/p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"And with that, I made myself comfortable. Ignoring the feeling of her staring at the back of my head. I could only imagine the look on her face. Probably some look that asked the question, "are you crazy"./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"It only took a little more back and forth with her making demands and me either ignoring her or playing it off as a calm exchange before she was back, buried under her mound of covers, only this time, instead of grief and guilt, she was stewing in anger./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"A much better use of her time in my opinion./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"I knew this would take a while so I laid backwards across the bed and across her body with my arms crossed and made myself at home./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"It would not be long before she was back to expressing herself and doing her best interpretation of a banshee, but I was in it for the long haul and ignoring an angry woman was a well-practiced skill of mine./p
p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve-breaks; margin: 10px 0px !important;"...I'm not a scumbag, though. In my opinion./p