Matt walked through the darkened halls of the hospital. He wondered why the halls were so dark but the rooms where the patients were trying to sleep were so bright. Finally finding Vicki's room, he didn't notice the outline of Stefan Salvatore hidden in the shadows. 

Walking into the hospital room, he was confused. Vicki's bed was empty, her sheets bundled messily at the end of the bed. Her IV was still hanging from the hook, but Vicki was nowhere to be seen. 

Bathroom, maybe? He wondered, turning in that direction. 

"Whoa!" Matt gasped out as Vicki materialised behind him. He held his arms up slightly, as if she was a frightened animal. 

There was a far away look in her eyes and she stared at his chest. 

"Vic? Vicki, hey," Matt soothed. He bent down to catch her eye, "Vic, it's Matt. Hey, what's wrong?"

He watched as a tear rolled down her cheek, and reached out to her in concern. 

Then Vicki was screaming.

"No! No!"

"Hey! Vicki, Vicki!" Matt yelled, his arms wrapped around her middle. "It's me, Vicki! Stop!"

But she continued screaming, Matt hated it. She sounded scared, frightened of him. She broke free, stumbling back into the bed still shouting 'no' in protest. Matt took the opportunity to run from the room to grab a nurse. 

Within a second, Vicki was laying back on her hospital bed as Stefan Salvatore stared into her tear-filled tears. 

"It was an animal," Stefan compelled. "It came out of the night and jumped you. You blacked out. That's all you remember."

"That's all I remember," Vicki repeated monotonously. 

"An animal attacked you, you blacked out, that's all you remember." Stefan repeated again, worried his compulsion might not work. 

"That's all I remember." Vicki repeated again. 

Then he was gone. 

⋅.˳˳.⋅ॱ˙˙ॱ⋅.˳˳.⋅ॱ˙˙ॱᐧ.˳˳.⋅

Elena was sat with Bonnie and Caroline at a table outside the Mystic Grill, folding pamphlets about the town's next event 'The Night of the Comet'. She'd taken Jeremy to the hospital and dropped him off, but couldn't seem to bring herself to actual step foot into the door. Something had felt off lately, so when Bonnie said Caroline signed them up for folding pamphlets, she was thankful for the distraction. 

"I was talking to Grams, and she says the comet is a sign of impending doom. The last time it passed over Mystic Falls, there were lots of deaths. So much blood and carnage, it created a bed of paranormal activity." Bonnie spoke, eyeing both Elena and Caroline. 

Caroline rolled her eyes, "Yeah, then you poured Grams another shot and she told you about the aliens."

Her tone was somewhat teasing, but Bonnie genuinely looked offended at Caroline's reaction.

Caroline either didn't notice, or chose to ignore her, turning to Elena, "So then what?"

"So then nothing," Elena replied, the words barely leaving her lips before Caroline was interrupting with, "You and Stefan just talked all night? There was no sloppy first kiss, or touchy-feely of any kind?"

"Nope, we didn't go there." Elena replied, focusing on folding a pamphlet in front of her.

"Not even a handshake?" Caroline probed. "I mean, Elena, we are your friends - you're supposed to share the smut!"

"We just talked for hours."

"Okay, what is with the blockage? Just jump his bones already! Okay, it's easy. Boy likes girl, girl likes boy. Sex." Caroline wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at Elena.

"Profound." Elena retorted.

There was a beat of silence, then Elena was getting up from the table.

"Where are you going?" Bonnie questioned.

"Caroline is right," Elena replied, causing Caroline to share a smug look. "It is easy. If I sit here long enough, I'll end up talking myself out of it instead of doing what I started the day saying I was going to do."

With that, Elena turned from the table, leaving the two girls in silence. 

"She's in denial," Bonnie spoke quietly.

"About Lois? Yeah, that's pretty obvious." Caroline replied. 

"Do you really think she'll go see Stefan when she hasn't even gone to see her yet?" Bonnie murmured quietly. 

There was a pause, before Caroline shrugged lightly. 

⋅.˳˳.⋅ॱ˙˙ॱ⋅.˳˳.⋅ॱ˙˙ॱᐧ.˳˳.⋅

Back at the Gilbert House, Jenna was waiting to interrogate Jeremy. 

He walked in, going to grab his coat off the back of a chair. 

"I picked up dinner, tacos," Jenna spoke, announcing her presence in the kitchen. "I had an urge for guacamole."

"No, I'm good, thanks." Jeremy replied, barely sending her a glance as he walked towards the open door. 

"Eat anyway, it's a ruse. I want to talk."

Jeremy began a beeline for the door, but Jenna exclaimed, "Hey, you!"

He paused, turning to see her with her arm in the air, "Come," She spoke, motioning him over and pointing to a chair, "Sit." 

Turning around in annoyance, Jeremy walked over, "Back in school," Jenna began. "Freshman year, I could eat my weight in nachos, with extra cheese. It was my munchie food whenever I got stoned."

"You get high?" Jeremy seemed surprised.

There was a pause before Jenna answered carefully, "Did. Past tense."

Jeremy looked down then, maybe she wouldn't understand like he thought she would. 

"But, yeah. Loved it," Jenna continued. "Anything to get a little distraction from life...reality."

"And it worked... For a while," Jeremy's smile dropped, and he looked annoyed. "Never lasts, though. Hey, I'm not saying I wouldn't love to rail back and kick it, but with a thesis looming and a waistline expanding..."

Jenna had turned to grab something from the refrigerator, and Jeremy took the opportunity to disappear through the open door. Jenna sighed sadly.

_____

AURA COLOUR CHART

red: energy, strength, anger, lust, passion, ego

orange: self control, ambition, thoughtfulness, courage

yellow: optimistic, happy, intellectual, naive

light green: peaceful, healing, compassion

dark green: deceitful, jealousy, moody

light blue: fear, indecisive, sensitive, skepticism

dark blue: spiritual, loyal, creative, kind

violet: wisdom, intuition, highly spiritual

indigo: benevolence, highly intuitive, seeker

pink: love, sincerity, friendship

grey: depression, sadness, exhaustion, low energy, skepticism

brown: greed, self-involvement, opinionated

black: lacking energy, illness, imminent death

white: perfect balance