Bonnie had been on the lookout for some motel or something she could stay in before deciding it wasn't worth the money.
Instead, she found an off-road parking lot meant for a hiking trail nearby. It was completely empty and dimly lit under the pale moonlight. There were no lamps and the only reason it caught Bonnie's eye was the thinning trees in the otherwise densely enclosed road she was driving on.
The crackling of the gravel beneath was the only sound as Bonnie pulled slowly into the informal lot.
It looked safe enough, a wooden sign most likely depicting the trail stood right next to the dull entrance leading into the thickness of the looming woods. On the other side was an empty bin, signalling the popularity, or lack thereof of this particular spot. Deciding this would do, Bonnie reclined her seat and shuffled around to make herself comfortable enough to sleep. She wasn't all that worried about security, she knew she could take care of herself and the little encounter earlier on had just proved that to her.
Exhaustion overcame her as the events of the day finally caught up. It felt like days rather than hours since she stumbled into the autumn forest of the real world. And to be frank, it was anticlimactic as hell. The whispers of her long pushed down fears had snuck back up from the pool of her consciousness, humming the unwanted thoughts that escaping the prison world was the beginning rather than the end. These truths fizzled in her mind but the tiredness murmured over it and pulled her down to the darkness of slumber.
Buzzing lulls her awake and it takes a moment to realize it's her phone. Squinting against the harsh light Bonnie fumbles to look at who is calling her. It's Elena. She rejects the call and instead goes to type a message, blinking the tiredness away and taking care to ignore all the new messages in her inbox. Admittedly there aren't too many. People must not have been made aware of her return and those who had must have only just found out about her absence.
I'm okay. I need a break.
She sends the text off to Elena and promptly switches off her phone to avoid them altogether. There was no one really she felt like talking to at the moment.
It's strange seeing as she was alone for so long in the prison world. Desperate to get out and see her friends. But now? She felt okay without them, content even. Things were too…suffocatingaround them, she'd really forgotten how exhausting the whole thing could be.
Besides, there were stillotherpeople she could finally see and interact with. That was enough for now.
Slumping back in her seat Bonnie ponders the possibility of going back to sleep for a bit but ultimately decides against it. It's light out now and she hasn't even made itthatfar away from Mystic Falls, it'd be better for her to keep moving and try to figure things out a bit.
She's still the only car in the lot but through the thinning trees Bonnie can see the occasional flash of various cars driving by on the main road. It takes her a moment to gather the energy to continue moving, the tiredness still lumbering over her as she fights through the haziness of it and the desire to fall back asleep.
Taking one last deep breath that turns into a yawn, she sits up in her seat and starts the car.
She finds herself a few miles down the road at a truck stop of sorts. There's a bathroom and convenience store alongside a decent enough diner. Heading to the bathroom first she freshens up and changes her shirt before walking into the diner, the door clanging softly as it swings to a stop behind her. The smell of cooking food envelops her alongside the sound of sizzling and pots clanging. There's a TV mounted in the corner of the room turned to the news channel, the talking adding to the background noise she hasn't heard in months.
It's both comfortable and slightly overwhelming. Apparently, she'd become accustomed to the ringing silence that could turn you mad in the prison world.
Bonnie slides into one of the many empty booths and examines the menu. A waitress pops out from the back and heads over to her, flashing Bonnie a smile as she pulls a pen out of her faded yellow uniform to take her order. Bonnie chooses a coffee and the 'Deluxe Breakfast Burger'. Hell, after the night she's had she can safely say she deserves it.
The waitress flickers off to the kitchen and comes back with a pot of coffee that has Bonnie perking up at the sight of.
Yes… she definitely deserves this, she smiles.
After taking a moment to herself to savour the strong liquid and settle into the ambient noise created byactualpeople, she finds the will to contemplate her next move.
Would she need a 'base of operations'? A home? Well… yes - she hardly wanted to live out of her car for the rest of her life. But maybe for now she could settle for something not so permanent until she found the right place.
She wondered how to go about doing any of this. She didn't really see the need for college, at least not right now. She had a decent amount of money that had been left to her. Hell, she even had two houses in her name, both now empty. She could always rent them out or sell them but that would require her going back to the place she had just left to sort things out and she wasn't ready for that quite yet.
Maybe her future plans were a little muddy but she could at least sort out the more immediate plans. Did she find a motel for the night? Or was she better off travelling at night and sleeping through the day? Maybe even an alternating schedule… but what exactly was she running from?
Bonnie sighed. It was a confusing situation, she wasn't exactly flouncing off on vacation but she wasn't really running away either. She was simply … leaving. She pondered these thoughts while tracing meaningless patterns on the worn-out and faded surface of the green diner table.
Whatever, now wasn't the time to get caught up in semantics. She'd need to sort her stuff out first seeing as she had packed in a hurry and so had skipped out on the whole organizing aspect. She also wanted to figure out all the magic stuff. Especially now that she finally had hers back.
She hadn't bothered packing much of her 'witchy' things. Not like she was missing out on a whole lot, she barely had much stuff to begin with. She had never been one for crystals or other types of symbolic objects. In her experience so far magic was much plainer than how they made it out to be in Hollywood.
The only thing she had brought was the one pathetic candle she had used last night.
Of course, magic still required a few basic items from time to time - candles and herbs and the occasional salt circle. These were all things she could pick up relatively easily. While she was at it she might as well start her own grimoire and hell, maybe even check out some of the more conventional tools found at stereotypical magic shops. It couldn't hurt to do so and it's not like she had much else to do.
She'd need to find a magic shop first though… or at least a supermarket. They were surely bound to have candles and salt. And staring at the deluxe burger that was currently being put down in front of her by the chipper waitress, she realized she'd also need to pick up food and stuff too. You know, the normal human stuff she'd actually need to live.
There must be some places around here… Well, maybe she'd need to find out where exactly 'here' was first. Google maps or the old fashioned way of asking around? Bonnie contemplated this as she stared out the window into the finally alive world.
Still not completely comfortable with speaking toactualpeople Bonnie ultimately decided on switching her phone back on to search for what was around while pointedly trying to ignore the messages she had received.
She finds a magic shop a couple of hours away in a town she'd never heard of before, actually in the direction of New Orleans. While Bonnie wasn't crazy about the idea of seeing the Mikaelsons or getting mixed up in any of the drama that was happening over there, if there was ever a hotspot for magic then that would be the place. Surely it couldn't hurt for her to check it out and see if there were any places that struck out to her.
Besides, magic was supposed to guide you so Bonnie supposed this could be taken as a sign. Regardless, it's not like she had many other plans to choose from. She'd start with heading down to the magic shop and also the supermarket there. Then she'd check around for a motel or something and decide if she wanted to stay or keep on heading down to New Orleans.
Happy with her rudimentary plan and the food she had just demolished, Bonnie pays and heads over to the convenience store to pick up a jumbo-sized raspberry slushy, Cheetos, crisps and a various assortment of candy that will keep her happy throughout the road trip.
With full arms and a smile on her face, Bonnie dumps the collected goodies on the passenger seat, climbs into her car and cranks the radio up high before she begins her journey, already ripping the Cheeto bag open with her teeth.
"The Mystical Moon" magic shop is what you'd expect out of an advertised magical-spiritual shop. It's situated a little out of the way of the more normal shops, the intricately lettered sign standing tall on the stone cobbled street, inviting you into the cozy dark wooden interior. Display shelves are aligned neatly and stocked with overflowing bowls of crystals, pendant necklaces classed as good luck charms, jars of herbs with handwritten labels and many other 'magical' items including tarot cards and even a few ouija boards. Bonnie briefly wonders about the merit of voodoo magic, she had heard of it in passing but it wasn't something she had ever been taught about. Not that she had been taught about much. There's a heavy earthy smell with floral hints and a spicy undertone, courtesy of both the candle section over on the back wall and various assortment of herbs and teas Bonnie recognizes.
The two other customers, both women, look up momentarily at Bonnie's entrance before refocusing on their browsing. The lady in blue yoga pants and sunglasses high on her head goes back to reading the labels of the different teas she's holding and the older woman doused in pendants, bracelets and a patterned cardigan reassumes her assessment of the necklace she holds high up against the light from the windows.
"Welcome to the Mystical Moon!" the man behind the cashier's desk greets with a cheerful smile and pep in his voice, "anything specific you're looking for or just browsing?" he finishes off the standard greeting.
Bonnie offers a small smile, "just browsing" she tries to soothe out cheerfully to match the curly-haired man. But it comes out a little flatter than she'd like. Oh well, she'd work on that. In her defence, it had been a while since she was required to participate in actual human interaction.
"Sure! Let me know if you need any help." his cheerful tone was unaffected by her weak response.
The floorboards creak as she prowls cautiously towards the different items, her head slightly tilted in curious interest. Before she went off to look at more adventurous articles she'd start with candles. That was something she needed and something she knew so it seemed like a pretty safe bet. After selecting a few, Bonnie feels slightly more confident at her decision to come here, already soothed by the items that had become such a part of who she was, like an extension of herself. She makes her way to the herbs, the next basic item, with a small smile blooming on her face.
Now that the more necessary items are taken care of, Bonnie decides to have a look at all the other things the store offers - crystals and bells to drive away evil spirits, pots and chalices and even the tarot cards and ouija boards. She recognizes almost everything, some of the things were considered more pagan, others more of the 'new age spirituality, and things like the tarot cards were more about divination, foretelling future events or asking for hidden knowledge usually with the help of supernatural powers. Bonnie flicks back in her mind about what she knew about voodoo magic. Her grams had said it was an old magical practice that relied mostly on herbs and poppets and dolls. It's a "sympathetic magic" her grams had explained one day, as it essentially mimics whatever you do on the doll to the person. It seems both limited and vast in its offered abilities. Bonnie really didn't have too much experience with it to validate its usefulness.
Voodoo magic was more known in New Orleans and the witches there. In fact, Bonnie was pretty sure that New Orleans was the birthplace of voodoo magic.
She herself had never tried it. But at this point, what could it hurt? She was trying to branch out and be different and new and better. Feeling both intrigued and open-minded she selected one of the tarot card boxes and balanced it on top of the candles she had her arm wrapped around.
Continuing to shuffle around the store to peruse the different items, Bonnie feels a murmur ofsomethingtugging at her consciousness. She pauses to glance around and survey both the inside of the store and the world outside through the window. But before she can get far, her focus narrows onto a display of charms and pendant necklaces.
She makes her way over to examine the graceful pieces.
She remembers the talisman Caroline had given her. The one she originally called apiece of ebbs up in her. She had always dismissed whatever witch stuff grams had told her. There's a shame that now burns within her, much like her anger and power does. Shame at her disinterest, at how she treated her family's power and heritage as a joke. As a tool used for the good of vampires she should have fought against and fights she should have been on the other side of.
And now she was paying for it. Alone and without the guidance of her ancestors, her family, the delicate yet powerful gifts her bloodline had wielded with care and honour.
Grams had berated her repeatedly to wear the Bennett talisman. To respect it and have humility toward the power of her family.
A witch's talisman is supposed to be a powerful tool. Grams told her that despite it being in Caroline's possession, it had found her and wanted to protecther. Bonnie knew that there were probably no more family heirlooms left and even if there were, she was unsure if they would be willing to protect her anymore. Most likely after what she had done, they'd either remain useless or even turn malicious. Turn against her as she had turned against them. It hurt to think about, so Bonnie pushed those thoughts away.
But perhaps the pendant she held in her hand, the one that had murmured at her and invited her closer, had found her. Maybe this one wanted to protect her, wanted to be cared for by her. Entwined into the magic that hummed beneath her skin and through her blood. Perhaps she didn't need the support of her bloodline's past, of her ancestors or family. She hadn't left much behind anyways. Perhaps this was a new start for here where she would build her own family, her own ancestry. Find her own heirlooms and secrets of power and magic.
She could do it. And above all, shewantedto do it. Could feel the desire ablaze within her blood. Alive and spitting, eager to .
With her mind made up, she clutched the pendant that much tighter and made her way to the chipper cashier.
"Did you find everything alright?" he asked with a smile.
Bonnie found herself matching his smile in return, "yes. I did." she was genuine. The words sung out without her even thinking of it.
After picking up what she needed - both magic related and non-magic related, Bonnie also decided to treat herself to some non-essential shopping too. While she may have been able to shop to her heart's desire in the prison world, they were lacking a lot of the more modern stuff she admittedly missed.
Shopping bags loaded up in the trunk, she plucked her coffee cup from where she had settled it on the roof of her car and swung the driver's door open, throwing her purse on the passenger seat before getting in herself. Car turned on, radio turned up, and Bonnie is ready to continue on her way, feeling the determination howl fiercely deep within her bones.