CHAPTER IV ―

A LOT OF FUN!

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐏 𝐆𝐀𝐒𝐏 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇-𝐏𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐀 𝐆𝐈𝐋𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐓 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐋𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑, as she leapt out of her chair and rushed to her friend's side, grabbing her arms and forcing Colby to look her in the eyes. There was an absolute terror in Colby's eyes as tears began to flow, this had been the sixth time she'd awoken like this; utterly afraid. The first three times the Montenegro girl had to be forced back into a slumber as she screamed and ripped the IV out of her arm as she thrashed. Elena Gilbert had never seen anyone as terrified as her friend was, and she had yet to figure out exactly what was upsetting her friend so much.

"Colby, you're alright. Your parents just went for coffee and I'm here. You're safe," Elena soothed, holding her friend closely as the curly-haired brunette seemed to slowly calm down. It was getting easier to calm her down, that had to be a good sign, right? "Shh, you're fine. You're safe. You're at Mystic Falls Hospital. You're alright." She'd been repeating this every single time she'd been here for Colby waking up.

"Ele-Elena?" The Gilbert girl nodded fiercely, smiling gently at Colby.

"I'm here, Colby." Reaching onto the table next to the hospital bed, Elena showed Colby the cup. "It's water, you need to drink again." Gently putting the cup up to her lips, Elena tipped it back so Colby could drink. "There you go." The Montenegro girl didn't know how parched she was until she started drinking the water, her shaky hand grabbing the cup from Elena and swallowing down its contents.

Elena had refilled the cup twice before Colby deemed it enough, setting the cup aside again. "Where are my parents?" Her voice wasn't nearly as hoarse, but she felt a dull throb at the side of her neck. "They went for coffee and I offered to take over. We've all been taking turns-" she tuned Elena out as the throb in her neck became more uncomfortable, Colby reached up and her eyes widened. It wasn't a nightmare, it was real. It was very real.

"It was real," Colby whispered, eyes wide. "It was real, it was real, it was real. Oh my god." Her whispers slowly got louder and louder as the brunette felt her heart beginning to race again. "Elena, it was real! I'm not safe, he's going to hurt me again, El. None of us are safe. Oh my god! We need to get out of here." Before Elena could comprehend, Colby was trying to get out of the hospital bed. "We need-we need to get out of here!" There was clear panic and fear in Colby's voice.

"Wait, Colby. Wait." Elena shoved her friend back into the hospital bed. "What's real and who's going to hurt you again? We can protect you, Colby. Who did this? Do you know who did this?" Elena watched as Colby shook in fear and was talking to herself, whispering "he's going to get me, we're not safe, he's watching" but who was he? "Colby, I need you to tell me who hurt you so we can protect you."

Colby's head shot up, her panicked eyes meeting Elena's warm and worried ones. "It's too late, you can't protect me." And just like that, the Montenegro girl passed out.

...

"She's in and out, we've decided to keep her here for a few nights. She's freaking out every time she wakes up, muttering nonsense. I don't know what to do. When will you be here?" Stefan Salvatore frowned as he could hear Colby's father talking to a woman on the phone outside his daughter's hospital room. He had to fix this, even if his compulsion was weaker than Damon's. For her sake. "I'll meet you at the house. See you soon." There was a click of his phone and Stefan watched as Colby's father rushed off in the opposite direction, no doubt meeting someone important.

Taking another look around, Stefan rushed into Colby's hospital room, finding her alone and sleeping in the hospital bed. She had a bandage wrapped around her neck, a small patch of blood slowly seeping through the bandage. His brother had really done a number, her eyes looked sullen, her skin oddly paler than her usual ivory tone, dark circles visible under her eyes. She looked like she'd been touched by death. It was unnerving. Stefan swallowed.

Her hospital room was filled with flowers, cards, balloons and stuffed animals, all saying various wordings of "Get well soon!". She sure was cared for in the small town of Mystic Falls. Slowly walking over to the hospital bed, Stefan gently put his hand on Colby's shoulder and took a deep breath. "Colby," he muttered. "Colby." This time it was firmer and her eyes popped open, almost startling him. Once her eyes landed on him, he watched the fear begin to take over. She knew. She'd figured it out. He had to do it now. There was no understanding her eyes. No, there was utter terror. "P-Please," she whimpered. He sensed her beginning to get worked up, he hushed her.

"Shh, Colby. It's alright." Colby whimpered again, flinching away from Stefan. "Look at me, Colby. Look at me." Before she could stop herself, Colby's eyes found Stefan's green ones and they were suddenly hypnotizing. "You were attacked by an animal at the party. A mountain lion. Jeremy found you, he saved you. You're alright and you're healing. You won't remember anything about Damon, but you'll stay away from him. I came to the hospital concerned for your health. You're going to be alright, Colby." Stefan had repeated himself a few times to make sure his compulsion worked, but once she had a dazed look in her eyes and a bright smile came across her face, he knew it worked.

"Stefan, hi! Does Elena know you're here?" Stefan grimaced a smile. Something needed to be done about Damon. This wasn't right.

"No, but I wanted to check in on you. I'm glad you're doing alright." He scanned the room to see random yellow roses sitting on the windowsill. "I brought you some roses," Stefan gestured to them. "I hope you get better."

Colby smile widened. "Thanks, Stefan. Elena's lucky to have you." If she could dig the knife any deeper, Stefan thought bitterly to himself. He quickly said his goodbyes and got out of the hospital before her parents or anyone else returned, he didn't need anyone to recognize him. If only he'd seen the crow sitting out in the tree next to Colby's hospital room window...

...

Later that night, after everyone had visited Colby in the hospital, she'd gotten the approval from the doctor that she could take a shower, so long as she kept her neck clean, but it also meant she had to stay another night in the hospital to make sure there was no infection. Standing in the bathroom that was connected to her hospital room, Colby stared at her sullen reflection. She looked like hell, but Diana had been nice enough to bring her clean clothes from her room and a few other things. Thank God for Diana.

Gently pulling the tape on the bandage around her neck, Colby pulled it back to see the wound and grimaced as she felt her skin pull and a twinge of a sting. She swallowed when she looked at the depth of the wound. It was disgusting and slowly beginning to crust over. Oh, how disgusting it was. Why had she searched for Elena in the first place? Thank God Jeremy had found her. Whimpering a little when she went to touch it, she took it off and discarded it, trying her hardest to ignore the slight sting she felt. The pain killers would kick in again soon.

Pulling the strings of the hospital gown, Colby let it drop the floor and stepped into the shower she had started minutes ago. The warm water hit her skin perfectly and she enjoyed it, grimacing as she watched the dirt and slight tint of red come off her skin. They said she'd lost a lot of blood, almost too much and that she'd feel like crap for awhile. She couldn't use soap just yet, but she could at least get the dirt and blood out of her hair, not to mention shaving. She couldn't stand how prickly her legs had gotten. It was a pet peeve of her's.

Standing in the shower for a few more minutes, Colby decided she would get out so that a nurse wouldn't just walk in on her naked. Turning the shower off, Colby opened the curtain and screamed when she saw a man standing in front of her, smirking. She pulled the curtain around her body and stared at him. "W-Who are you?" The man's smirk widened. "Get out. Now."

"Hmm, I really did a number, didn't I?" The man chuckled, staring at her wound. She frowned, shivering a little when the cold air hit her warm body. "Perhaps next time I'll try to be a little gentler, but no promises. What can I say? I'm a passionate lover." There was something oddly familiar about the raven haired man in front of her, like she'd met him before and every instinct in her body told her to run.

"What are you doing here? Are you crazy?! You need to leave!" Colby could feel her fight or flight instincts kicking in, her eyes looking for any possible exit as the man in front of her pierced her with his azure colored eyes; it was like he was starting straight into her soul.

"Oh, Colby. Saint Stefan didn't think he could get rid of me that quickly, did he?" His stunningly azure eyes pierced into her brown ones, he couldn't help but think they looked sullen. Hmm, perhaps he could do something about that. "Remember, Colby. Remember the way I ripped into your throat. Remember the way my hands felt on you, how my teeth tore into your neck with no remorse. Remember how I felt, Colby."

Like she was outside her body, scenes flashed before her eyes. She could see herself, but it wasn't really her. There was a man. She tripped and he'd helped her. His name was Damon and he was picking up Stefan, his younger brother. Stefan warning her to stay away from him. The first nightmare of him. The crying, the screaming, the fear. The way he'd bitten into her neck without remorse... everything came rushing back to Colby and she soon found herself trembling like the little lamb she was. "W-What do you want, Damon?" She could barely get the words out. He suddenly held up a towel.

"I said we were going to have fun, pretty girl," he was grinning down at her, Damon's azure eyes watching her every movement like a predator stalking it's prey; she was the lamb and he was the wolf. "And I wasn't lying. We're going to have a lot of fun."