Vicki Donovan was confused. Her neck hurt and her mind felt scrambled, and not in the good way she remembered when she got high. She pushed the food provided by the hospital around on her plate, not really hungry. She was bored.

Glancing over at Matt she realised he hadn't even woken up when the nurse had brought the food in. Next thing she knew she was throwing the tub of jello at him with a smile.

Matt stirred, mumbling to himself, "What the fuck?"

Vicki laughed, smiling at him, "Finally, you're awake!"

Matt pulled himself up on the chair, "Hey. How are you feeling?"

Vicki was smiling, so he continued, "You look better. I was worried before... You really had me freaked out with all that screaming."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Vicki asked curiously, confusion evident on her face.

"You don't remember?" Matt asked sceptically.

Vicki glanced around, that odd feeling returning, before saying "I feel fine."

She hoped she sounded reassuring.

"Good... good," Matt inhaled deeply, clearly confused. "Doctor said you could come home tomorrow."

Vicki was smiling again, and Matt couldn't help but ask, "Vic, what attacked you in the woods?"

Vicki hesitated.

She glanced around the room, as if waiting for someone to appear and grab her again.

Breathing out slowly, she said, "An animal."

Matt looked at her and she continued, "What else could it have been?"

Matt didn't get to question her any further as Jeremy was entering the room.

"Hey," He breathed, relieved at the sight of Vicki sitting up and talking. "I was, I was just down the hall with Lois. How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," Vicki smiled, as Matt looked between the pair weirdly.

"I...I'm gonna...I'm gonna go grab a coffee," He said, standing up.

He greeted Jeremy as he passed. "Hey, Jer."

"Why are you here?" Vicki stopped herself. "I mean, I know why you're here but why are you in my room?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing." Jeremy replied.

"Did you see that look on Matt's face? That was suspicion. I don't want people to find out about us, Jeremy." Vicki warned.

"Well, you gotta get over that."

"Tyler is finally showing some interest." Vicki sighed, a slight desperation in her tone.

"You have to get over that, too," Jeremy repeated, before his voice took on a mocking tone. "Do you see Mr. Concerned? Tyler? Are you under there? No."

Vicki laughed as Jeremy lifted the blankets at the end of the bed, jokingly checking if Tyler was under the bed.

She quickly composed herself, "It's not cool for people to know. Okay? I'm older than you, and... Matt and Elena would freak."

"No one's going to suspect anything," Jeremy reassured. "Why wouldn't I check on you? I mean, I'm the one who found you."

"You are?"

"Yeah, I carried you out of the woods." He smiled at her, adoration clear in his eyes.

"Thank you."

"Yeah, you're welcome."

Silence fell over them both before a memory hit Vicki like a train.

"Lois! Oh my God, Lois! Is she okay? Is she alright?" Vicki asked frantically, grabbing on the front of Jeremy's hoodie.

"Whoa, Vicki, calm down. She's down the hall, we got her too, don't worry." Jeremy tried to sooth.

"I don't really," Vicki paused, trying to collect her scattered thoughts. It was like someone had come in a thrown open all the filing cabinet drawers and thrown the contents around. Nothing was coming to her easily. "I don't really remember what happened, but she was there."

Jeremy pulled the chair Matt was previously sat on closer to Vicki's bedside, urging her to continue.

"My heads all foggy, but I think... I think she was in her pyjamas?" Her tone was confused, but Jeremy just let her talk. "She looked scared. Why was she in the woods in her pyjamas, Jer?"

Jeremy sighed sadly, "I don't know, Vic. Ever since the accident..." He cut himself out, breathing in harshly. "She... She's having a hard time at the moment."

Vicki nodded slowly, not really in understanding but in a form of sympathy for them all.

"She was awake earlier today apparently, but she's sleeping again now. They're hoping she'll be out tomorrow, like you."

Vicki smiled and Jeremy smiled back.

⋅.˳˳.⋅ॱ˙˙ॱ⋅.˳˳.⋅ॱ˙˙ॱᐧ.˳˳.⋅

"He's on the rebound and has raging family issues." Elena complained to Aunt Jenna, sulking in the kitchen as they made dinner together. In reality, they were just re-heating the tacos from earlier. Elena still hadn't been to the hospital, and definitely wasn't in the mood after meeting Stefan's brother, Damon.

"Well, at least it's an ex-girlfriend. Wait till you date a guy with mommy issues or cheating issues... Or amphetamine issues." Aunt Jenna laughed and Elena laughed with her.

Jeremy closed the front door. Jenna, noticing the movement, walked out of the kitchen and into the hallway.

"Jeremy? Jeremy, where were you?"

Jeremy turned to her and said, "More stoner stories? Look, Jenna, I get it, you were cool. And so that's... That's cool."

Jeremy began to walk up the stairs when Jenna grabbed an apple, "Oh, no, no, no!"

She threw the apple she had in her hand at Jeremy, it hitting him square in the back.

Jeremy paused on the stairs, "Ow! Why? Why... Why did you do that?"

"Listen up! Quit ditching class or you're grounded. No discussion." Jenna barked.

"Parental authority, I like it. Sleep tight." Jeremy said, continuing up the stairs.

_____

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