A/N: Wow, so many reviews! You guys are crazy, thank you SO much!
So, it seems like Kathya won the title of "favorite couple of the moment" hands down... Let's see if some of you will change your minds in the future. ;) Now, on to the story! Do you think poor Maya is going to catch a break soon? Or that things are just going to get even more crazy? Leave a review to tell me what you thought of the new chapter (:
Ps. AuntieTana96, how dare you propose to me and then admit that you would kiss Katherine without a second thought three sentences later?! I'm afraid I'm going to have to turn you down... your heart clearly belongs to someone else. And who would blame you, really... ;)
Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes, but the original characters and original storylines present in "My Paper Heart" are my own work.
I had no idea how long I remained slouched against the door like a broken doll. I was dying to call Elena. She was the one I desperately needed right now. But I was relentlessly fighting my urge. I was afraid that I would hurt her feelings if I wasn't able to handle the resemblance Elena had with her. And I hated myself for not being capable of drawing a clear line between the two of them.
I finally decided to drag myself painfully to the bed, and let myself crash weakly on my stomach.
I stared into space for what seemed like an eternity. Or maybe it was for no longer than just a second. My brain was running like crazy, thinking of all the supernatural aspects of my life and the very human aspects of it. Like when I found out I had incredible physical force. Or every time my heart had been broken. But my brain was also numb; empty, frozen… I was stuck in that weird paradoxical state.
Finally, I slowly built up some strength back and snapped myself out of my pity party. I wasn't the kind of girl that you could easily piss off. But what Katherine had done ignited a cold rage inside me. She was always bringing out the worst of me, and now she was going to witness the consequences of it.
I had convinced Stefan and Damon once not kill her, but those times were over. If I had a chance to stake her, I would bury it deep into her chest.
My new resolution and my assumed wrath surprisingly cheered me up. No way was I going to sleep now. I stretched my arm to my bedside table and turned the alarm clock toward me with my valid hand: 4:00am.
I sighed and hesitated for a few minutes before I finally decided to get out of bed. I traded my jeans for thicker sweatpants and slipped on my lined black hoodie. After digging around for my stakes, I went downstairs with determination. I stopped right behind the front door and focused my senses on the outside. She wasn't there. I pulled the hood over my head, opened the door and ran at a strong pace. I was heading to the woods. I kept my stride and stayed very alert, sensitive to the presence of unwanted visitors.
By the time I could be certain that Katherine hadn't followed me, I was deep into the woods. The lights of the town were no longer visible, the trees solely lit by the moon. I stopped running and took a deep, liberating breath. I had always loved the woods. Ever since I was a little girl, trees had always brought me strength and peace. It was as though nature was sharing its forces with me. I started to walk slowly, enjoying the scents and the silence around me. I let my fingers run over the massive trunks. I looked up through the leaves, chasing the moon with a fastened gaze. I paused and sat down a couple of times to listen to the melodic nocturnal life of the animals there.
I lost track of time, but I had finally reached a certain inner peace. My body was now relaxed and my mind clear. I was looking at the dew starting to appear on the roots of the trees when I felt it suddenly. There was a vampire around. I looked anxiously into the distance, but my worries disappeared when I realized that the intruder was Damon. From the way he sped in my direction, I could tell that he had felt me, too. He stopped right in front of me.
"What are you doing here? Are you crazy?" he asked through gritted teeth, looking frantically into my eyes. "You should know better than the rest of human kind that the woods are crowed with supernatural creeps at night!"
"You mean like you?" I shot back, a teasing smile on my lips. He gave me a stern look. I chuckled lightly and grabbed my back pocket stake and my belt stake to show them to him. His features softened a little and a small smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth. I finally pulled on my sleeve, revealing my wrist stakes to put the final nail in the coffin. I was not going to make the same mistake twice.
"Good gi-" He stopped abruptly as something caught his eye, and I watched as his gaze lowered to my wrist. His brows wrinkled in worry. "What happened to your hand?" He stressed the power of his demand by grabbing my upper arm firmly. Crap.
"I crossed the path of a very angry tree," I joked lightly, careful to keep a detached tone. "Obviously, the tree won," I added, a soft smile to my teasing. I knew that if I told him the truth, he would fly into a blind rage and confront Katherine. I didn't want him to end up ripped into shreds.
"You expect me to believe that?" His eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"I just stumbled against a root, Damon… The trunk stopped me."
"Well, that's what happens when you lurk around in the woods at night," he shot back, a grating smirk tugging on his lips. I rolled my eyes in mock annoyance.
"It looks broken," he remarked, serious again, studying my knuckles with concern.
"It's not. It's just tumid… I can move my fingers," I stated, wiggling them slightly to prove my point. My knuckles had started to heal a little bit so I was indeed in control of my fingers again. But the action took everything in me not to scream in pain.
I needed him to believe me. I could fake a bandage for a week, but faking a cast for a month was another ball of wax. Not to mention that the X-rays taken at any hospital would reveal my healing ability. Nothing as impressive as what the vampires had, but still a lot more than humans should be capable of.
"Is she still alive?" I asked suddenly, trying to change the subject.
"What?" His eyebrows wrinkled in confusion.
"You still have a little bit of blood on your lips…" I informed him with a deliberate smile, looking at the corner of his mouth. He let go of my arm and immediately raised his thumb up to wipe the small stain of blood.
"Of course, she is!" he declared in an exaggeratedly dramatic tone. "But don't change the subject." A severe expression clouded his features. He looked at me invasively for a few seconds, his eyes searching mine.
"Could it be possible that you, lurking in the woods at 6 in the morning and punching trees, has something to do with what happened Saturday night?"
"I didn't punch a tree!" I exclaimed in annoyance. "I told you the truth. But you're right…" I sighed resignedly. "I needed to clear my head after all that happened." He gave me a sympathetic look and nodded in understanding. Suddenly, I remembered something.
"Wait, what? It's 6:00am?"
"Yeah. Why?" He was obviously amused by my reaction.
"I need to go!" I called out behind me, rushing in the direction of my house. He sped in front of me.
"Nuh uh, uh!" He chided me sternly as though I was a disobedient child, shaking a finger in front of my face. "You're not going anywhere. I'm taking you to the boarding house."
"I need to get ready for school, Damon," I shot back, thoroughly annoyed.
"When was the last time you sleep?" He had me there. I opened my mouth, but realized soon after that answering would do myself a disservice.
"That's what I thought…" he said disapprovingly. "I'm taking you home and I'm going to cook you breakfast- since I'm assuming that you have been negligent to your needs in that department too. And after that, you're going to get your fill of sleep," he ordered irrevocably.
"I agree with the first two ones. But I'm going to school, Damon. No discussion." We started a staring contest of stubborn looks. He finally sighed after a minute and surrendered.
"Fine… Let's go."
He kept his word. He cooked me a gigantic breakfast with an incredible amount of bacon. I devoured it gratefully. He also insisted on applying some repairing cream on my hand and proceeded to wrap a bandage around it. After that, I had been allowed to go to school. He drove me to my house so I could change and grab my things.
Finally, we stopped in front of the high school.
"Last chance to ditch school and have a good night's sleep!" Damon dangled the offer over my head joyfully with a sarcastic smirk on his lips. Despite the fact that the moment of peace the woods had brought me earlier was already gone- and I was starting to feel a headache kicking in, too- I was determined to go to school. The last thing I wanted was to lay wide awake in bed, chewing over dark thoughts.
"Thanks for taking care of me, Damon." A sincere smile graced my lips. I grabbed my bag and stepped out of the car. Before I closed the door, he spoke up.
"Wait! If you change your mind- or if you're not feeling well- call me, OK?" he asked, a deadly expression on his face. "I'll have you home in no time." I nodded, closed the door and then turned around to walk toward the front doors.
I suddenly realized that Bonnie had probably informed Elena and Caroline that I was immune to magic. Meaning that she also must have had to explain how we figured it out. My exhaustion kicked in suddenly at the thought. I was feeling completely drained. I took a deep slow breath to try to give myself some courage as I reluctantly entered the school.
To my surprise, none of them brought up the subject. Not even Bonnie, which I found weirdly suspicious. All they seemed to be concerned about was my hand.
"I just met some pretty hard wood, that's all…" I served them my excuse for the day with a reassuring smile.
"How did that happen?" Elena asked, her face contorted in worry.
"I stumbled and knocked my hand against it while trying to hold myself up," I explained, trying to be as persuasive as I could.
"You actually expect us to believe that?" Caroline's eyebrows were raised in disbelief. "You're like a freaking cat! You always land on your feet!" She deliberately crossed her arms in front of her chest and gave me a knowing look. I chuckled at her statement but in reality, I was beyond tired of their questions. I was tired of pretending. I settled for ignoring her and dragged myself into the classroom.
I survived the first hour, but my headache had progressed to a migraine. Elena and Caroline nagged me between classes, worried that I was looking too pale, exhausted. Bonnie settled for shooting me questioning glances whenever she could catch my eye. I was finding her behavior really odd this morning, but I couldn't deal with any of this right now. I dodged their concern by telling them that I just had a migraine and walked like a zombie toward my next class.
The light was starting to become too bright. The sounds too loud, the smells too strong. I was feeling sick and dizzy, but somehow I made it into the next class. I was barely sitting for a few minutes when all of my senses suddenly went crazy. The sound of the fabric crumpling when the students around me moved ever so slightly became like sand paper to my ears. The voice of my professor bounced forcefully inside my skull. The light was so bright that it was blinding me. The mixed smells of perfume, sweat, food and dust were making me feel extremely nauseous. I pinched my temples roughly between my hands in an effort to make it stop. My heart was racing erratically. Not again.
I suddenly felt my eyes burning wildly behind my eyelids, and I knew I needed to get the hell out of here before something happened. I stood up, realizing too late that I was unsteady on my feet. I held onto the corner of the table as an attempt to regain some balance.
"I'm sorry, I…" I was out of breath. Trying to ask my professor for permission to leave took all the energy I could muster. My own voice burst agonizingly through my eardrums. I found it more and more hard to breathe.
"I need to…" I tried again, barely holding back the sudden, intense urge to throw up. I stumbled against the feet of my chair and rushed toward the door. Grasping the handle felt like squeezing an icicle. I pushed the door open and started to run into the hallway.
I heard some footsteps behind me that sounded like a jackhammer, muffling the voice that was shouting something towards me. I increased my stride to an abnormal speed and threw myself against the front doors. I rushed down the few steps, but the sun stopped me instantly. I could no longer see. The light was incredibly painful for me. The sunbeams felt like they were burning my skin. I raised my arm to protect my face. The air, the noises, the smells, and the sensation of my clothes against my skin… everything was too much. They were like daggers stabbing my brain, one after another, without mercy. I couldn't breathe anymore. I was about to collapse.
The woods. I needed to reach the woods across the football field. I ran towards them with difficulty. The effort and the sound of my heart drumming in my ears increased the pain even more, causing me to groan unwillingly. I finally reached the tree line and stumbled a few times before falling hard to my knees. The shade, the slightly cooler air and the muffled sounds brought me some relief. But it was a short-lived break. The pain soon kicked back in a thousand times stronger. My ears felt like they were being pierced with a billion of needles. My eyes were burned by a wild, spreading fire. My sense of smell was suffocating me, and my skin hurt with every single one of my slightest movements. It was excruciating, causing me to yell loudly, desperately, while grabbing my head with both hands to relieve the pressure.
"Make it stop…" I implored inaudibly into space. My broken voice echoed back to me, ricocheting off the dense trees. A blinding pain flashed suddenly through my head, violently. I tried to open my eyelids, praying for something or someone to come, terrified by the thought of dying alone.
I caught a brief glimpse of a blurry silhouette before everything went black.