Chào các bạn! Vì nhiều lý do từ nay Truyen2U chính thức đổi tên là Truyen247.Pro. Mong các bạn tiếp tục ủng hộ truy cập tên miền mới này nhé! Mãi yêu... ♥

ı 16 ı You

˙ ˙ ˙

"Un-break the broken, unsay these spoken words"

˙ ˙ ˙

THERE'S AN ODD sense of familiarity standing in front of my twin again and I have to forcefully remind myself not to be a hypocrite. Every part of me wants to scold, yell, and scream at my brother for never calling, never telling me if he was okay. And it takes every part of me to remind myself that I did the exact same thing to him not for two months, but for two years.

Stefan's face composes into a soft expression, his sad eyes resembling those of a lost puppy. He's always had that look about him, the look that makes it so difficult to stay mad at him. His lips curl upwards in a small smile, trying to ease the tension but Caroline beats him to it.

"Blair!" she exclaims, her blue eyes wide with content.

Her cheerful voice snaps my attention to her, all the confusion and anger immediately vanishing as soon as I make eye contact with her. "Hey Care," I smile, embracing her in a hug.

We break apart and she turns to James, holding out her arms to give him a hug, both of them laughing at the awkwardness of her being in just a towel. "It's good to see you," she laughs into his shoulder. She then bends down to Theo's level, taking him into a gentle hug. "You have grown so much mister!" she exclaims, making him smile.

She stands back up and faces Stefan, all of us expecting him to say something. He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly, before stepping towards me. However, as he takes a step forwards I take a step back.

"Blair," he begins, but I cut him off.

"What happened to keeping in touch?" I say flatly.

He scoffs and raises a brow irritably. "Did you not do the same thing-"

"But you promised, you promised to keep in touch," I cut him off harshly. "I had no idea where you were, or even if you were alive, and that was hard enough. I already lost Damon, and the thought that I had lost you too? I-" I trail off, biting my trembling lip so I won't loose it in front of everyone.

"I'm sorry," he says innocently, not knowing what else to say.

"Yeah," I say lividly. "Me too."

"Listen, why don't we all calm down and go to the cafe across the street where we can have a civilized conversation," Caroline suggests.

"No," I wave her off. "I don't really feel like it," I say before spinning around, walking out of the dorm room.

"Blair!" Stefan calls after me, but I continue to storm down the hallway, determined not to speak to him. I don't want to feel angry, but I can't help it. He's part of the reason for my pain, pain that could have been avoided. I could have been spared the pain if he had just called.

I am forced to stop as he vamp speeds in front of me, forcing my eyes up to his. "What?" I snap.

"I know you don't want to talk to me, but just do me a favour and stay with James, or someone at all times today," he says seriously.

"Why?" I ask in an estranged way.

"Because there's been a vampire hunter going about- Tripp Cook, and he's been gaining on my trail, and I don't want him to connect you to me. So just please, stay with James," he asks almost desperately.

"I can handle myself perfectly fine. I'm used to doing things on my own," I say passive aggressively. 

Stefan purses his lips and looks down. "I know you can. I'm just looking out for you."

"How long have you been back to Mystic Falls? Or in the area considering our home is still a death trap?" I interrogate him.

"Not for long," he admits.

"Well are you going to stay?" I question him, my brow raised.

"I don't really know if I'm wanted here," he mutters. I know he's talking about Caroline, as she never really got to say goodbye to Stefan before he left. I can only imagine how uneasy it is between the two of them. There seems to be a lot of uneasiness between a lot of the original Mystic Falls gang right now. It's making my stomach turn. 

"Where else are you going to go?" I ask.

"I don't know," he replies honestly. "You've always got good advice. What do you think I should do?" he asks, surprising me a little. He seems so lost and despite the anger I feel towards him I still want to help.

"If you leave, you'll make things worse. If you'll stay, chances you'll also make things worse," I tell him, causing him to chuckle.

"Wow, you're great help." 

"But," I continue. "If you leave you'll never have a chance at fixing things. You can only do that if you stay."

"Is that why you came back? To fix things?" He raises a brow.

I shake my head. "James and I, we came back to pick up from where we left off. Things just weren't working for us in Atlanta." 

"An Joel?" 

"He chose to stay behind," I whisper quietly, the matter of it all still raw.

"Well, Mystic Falls isn't for everybody," Stefan shuffles a laugh.

"I don't even know if it's for me," I admit.

"Maybe not, but it's your home. And mine and Damons," Stefan says, before turning his attention to the elephant in the room. "Have you thought about him lately?" he asks quietly.

"Everyday," I say quietly.

"Me too," he says grimly. 

Just like that with the mention of Damons name we both become statues, numb to the core and frozen with pain.

I sigh as we both stand there, taking in the sadness that floats between us. "Listen, I'm sorry for lashing out, I really am. Maybe I'll take Carolines offer and go for coffee. You in?" I ask him.

"I'll see," he smiles, still hesitant when it comes to Caroline. Deep down I suspect he wouldn't feel this way about hurting Caroline if he didn't feel something more for her. Maybe more than friends.

I give him a smile before turning around, continuing my journey through the campus. "You okay?" James asks in my mind.

"I'm fine. I'm just going to explore the campus for a little while. I'll meet you at our new house later," I tell him.

"Okay. Be safe," he warns, no doubt referring to this hunter Stefan speaks of.

"Always," I assure him.

I pass several students through the compound, taking in the environment and the mood. It's a nice school, and part of me wishes I hadn't skipped out on this part of life. I had other things to worry about at the time anyways.

As I pass some class rooms, I can't help but over hear Alaric teaching a class, my face immediately lighting up in a smile. However, before I can go in someone grabs my arm.

"Blair?" Elena gasps, letting go of my arm.

"Elena! Hey, how's it going?" I ask.

"Things are good! What brings you into town?" She nudges me in the arm.

"Just stopping by," I lie, too distracted by how cheerful she is considering she lost Damon only two months ago.

"How are you?" I question her, referring to Damon but she doesn't seem to catch on.

"What? I said I'm doing good!" She laughs suspiciously.

"I mean about Damon? How are you about loosing him?" I clarify.

She furrows her brows together in confusion, looking at me rather offended. "I'm perfectly fine, why wouldn't I be? I mean the world didn't really loose anything when he died, did it? No offence, since he was your brother and all. Don't you get embarrassed talking about him?" she scoffs.

"What are you talking about?" I growl, becoming annoyed.

"He was such a monster. I don't even know how you two were related," she says gently, taking my hand as if to comfort me.

I immediately rip my hand from her grip, glaring at her with furious eyes. "What's wrong with you? Sure he did terrible things but so did I and so have you," I say cautiously. Something is wrong, but I can't figure out what. She seems to be missing part of who Damon was.

"Did he kill your brother right in front of you?" she snaps. "Did he force you to take vampire blood?" she raises her voice.

"Elena, I don't know what's going on, but he was your boyfriend. You loved him," I tell her firmly, just as the class beside us dismisses. To our luck, Alaric steps out and meets us.

"Blair! You're back?" he smiles, going to give me a hug when I step back.

"What did you do?" I growl. Alaric is an original, seeing as he was created by the original witch. He has the ability to compel vampires, like Klaus was able to compel my memory away.

"What?" he stutters.

"You compelled her memory of Damon away?" I accuse bitterly, glaring at him. However, his expression only confirms my suspicion.

"She was in pain-" he tries to explain, slightly taken back that I figured things out so quickly. They don't call me a detective for no reason, after all.

"So was I, but I didn't take the easy route and compel my memory away. I lived without James for two years! I lived two years with excruciating pain! I didn't compel the pain away, I didn't flip the switch! No! I lived with that pain so it could remind me what I had lost, so it could remind me what I had to live for!" I yell, trying not to cause a scene.

"She didn't have anything left to live for, she was dying in her own grief," Alaric tries to explain, but I'm not convinced. All the compassion I had for Elena, all the empathy I felt for her is now long gone, replaced with disbelief that she would to go the extent of erasing her love for Damon away.

"She had Caroline! She had you Rick! I was one goddamn phone call away!" I shout back.

"Blair-" Elena tries, but I cut her off.

"How can you be so weak?" I chastise Elena. "If you really loved him you would know that he was worth the pain!" I yell before turning around to walk away.

"You don't understand Blair!" Alaric yells after me, defending Elena but I ignore him.

"You're right. I don't," I snap with sarcasm, walking away feeling a little more hurt than before. "It's not like I spent 145 years locked in a fucking tomb, with my memory of the love of my life wiped away! Memory is a goddamn gift, not just something you can throw away!" I yell, as I continue to walk down the hallway.

The amount of rage I feel within my bones this very instant is both annoying and thrilling at the same time. The fact that Elena had the nerve to erase all the good parts of my brother from her mind not only breaks me down, but it breaks my heart. Damon is worth remembering, and that's all that I can argue with.

For now I walk out to my car, and drive off, determined to finish unpacking at our new house just outside the border of Mystic Falls.

∆ ∆ ∆

By the time night falls, our new house is unpacked and ready to go. It's quite empty, and doesn't really feel at home, but for now it'll do, at least until we're able to enter Mystic Falls again.

"So..." James says, crossing his arms across his chest as we both stand in the living room of our new home. So far the living space consists of one couch, a table, lamp and empty bookshelf. The kitchen isn't all that great either, as our eating space consists of a couple stools around the counter and a carpet on the floor where a table should be.

"It's not home. It's a nice neighbourhood, but it's not home," I sigh, pursing my lips.

"It's temporary," he assures me, taking my hand in his.

"It was nice of Matt, to get us this house," I add, trying to stay optimistic.

"Yeah, especially on such short notice," James chuckles, referring to how our choice to leave Atlanta came so quick.

"Theo's in bed?" I ask, turning on the lone lamp in the dark room.

"Yes," James replies. "Believe it or not, he was rather excited to sleep in an empty room. He told me he wanted to decorate it." James smiles, leaning against the wall.

I let out a laugh and shake my head. "If we let him decorate his room, it will be endless storm troopers, lightsabers and jedi's," I say, picturing the disaster in my head.

"I mean, he doesn't have bad taste," James points out. After all, he was the one who showed the four year old the world of Star Wars.

"Nope," I laugh lightly,  staring down at the floor. James notices my change in mood, and walks over to me.

"What's up?" he asks, his hands placed on my shoulders.

"Elena, she had Rick erase her memory of Damon away. I just can't believe Elena would do such a thing. I can't believe she would request her memory of Damon to be erased," I scoff, shaking my head. "I mean, my memory of you was erased against my will, yet here she is begging Alaric to erase hers. It's so wrong."

"Maybe, and you out of all people know how precious memories are, but to her it was unbearable and compulsion was the only relief. Elena knows grief Blair, and so do you. That was just her way of coping," James assures me, kissing me gently on the cheek.

"I guess," I sigh, going to the front door to grab my coat. "I'll be back. I just need to do something." 

"Going to visit him?" James raises a brow.

"Yes." I nod. "I'll be back," I assure him, before closing the door and walking to my car.

It doesn't take long to reach where I'm going, as the cemetery is only ten minutes from our new house. It appears everything is within ten minutes of our house, which is surprisingly convenient.

I park my car at the edge of the tree line, right before the forest thickens, before I hop out and continue the rest of the journey on foot. I stuff my hands in my pocket and watch my breath fog out in front of me at the crisp night air, as I walk deeper into the forest.

I pull out my phone and use it as a flashlight to avoid tripping on tombstones and to avoid accidentally crossing the anti-magic border until I make it to the famous Salvatore tomb, where our family is buried. Seeing as Damon's body never got recovered and we never had a funeral for him, there is no real place for me to visit him, so I choose the place he should have be buried. However, as I enter the tomb do I realize it's lit with candles and occupied by another person.

"Oh," I whisper, frozen in place at the entrance of the tomb, surprised to see Stefan crying on the ground, a bottle of bourbon placed within his lap. He turns to me with red eyes, taking in my presence before returning his gaze to the wall ahead of him.

"I don't see him," he croaks. "I don't see him anymore. Not in my dreams, nothing, like he didn't even exist," he says, his voice drained of hope, reflecting how I feel perfectly.

"Neither do I," I whisper, walking over to him. "But, he did exist, because this exists," I say, pulling out the ugly monkey doll from my jacket pocket, throwing it at Stefan. He catches it with ease and furrows his brows at the doll, recognition filling his face.

"Where did you get this?" he asks, looking up at me.

"New Orleans. Elijah and Klaus took us to some market and I found a vendor there selling them," I say. 

"You went to visit the Originals?" he asks, surprised. Given how Klaus came into our life, it is surprising to hear myself speak of him so casually. In the good old days Klaus was a name without a face, all of us terrified of the day he would make an appearance. 

"It's a long story," I say.  "You remember all the times you two fought over that doll? Deciding where to hide it from me next?" I laugh lightly, reaching down to grab the bottle of bourbon from his lap before swinging it up to my lips instead.

"Yes, I do," he smiles, his eyes sparkling with tears.

"I hated you guys so much for taking that doll, every day. But every day I would still get up and search for it, because deep down I liked the mystery of it. It was our little thing," I trail off, feeling my own eyes well with tears. "This was our doll, and now every time I look at this ugly, beaten, frightening thing I feel like burning it."

"So why don't you?" Stefan questions, tossing the doll between his hands.

"Because it's our doll, and it allows me to feel," I say, bending down to place a hand on Stefan's shoulder.

"I don't want to feel anymore. I don't want to turn it off either, but I- I'm too lost. I'm tired of just existing," he whispers dryly, his voice consumed by the sobs that he's trying to hold in. 

"Then use it, use the doll Steff, use it for you anchor," I say, brushing my own fresh tear away that managed to escape my eye. "Because he's not coming back." 

Stefan looks down and shakes his head, refusing to hear my words. "He's not coming back," I repeat, letting myself cry, letting myself feel. "He's not coming back." 

I stand up, hot tears flowing from my eyes like a waterfall. All I can think about is how he's not coming back, even though I accepted the reality a while ago. I feel as if I say the words long enough, that it'll start to be engraved in both our minds.

I step back until I hit the wall, leaning against it as I grip my head in my hands. Stefan stands up, my words sparking emotions within him as he grabs the bottle of bourbon from my hand and chucks it at the wall, wanting to hear the satisfying sound of the glass smashing into pieces.

However, the smashing never happens. The glass never breaks.

Confused, we both freeze and look over to the end of the tomb where the bottle should have smashed, and lay our eyes on our one and only brother.

I immediately stand straight, rubbing my eyes to rid them of tears that blur my vision, but even with crystal sight I can still see Damon standing there, the bottle of bourbon in his hands.

"So, I'm gone a couple months and you guys think it's okay to waste a perfectly good bottle of bourbon?" Damon asks, before taking a sip of the alcohol himself.

My lips tremble as do my fingers as I stand beside Stefan, both of us eyeing our brother with shock. "Damon?" I croak.

"Yup," he says tiredly, like he's still in shock himself. "In the flesh."

"How-how are we seeing you right now?" Stefan asks.

"Cuz I'm not dead. Not anymore," he tells us, "I mean this bourbon is good, but not 'I see dead people good'," he jokes, making me break down again. It's his stupid humour that gets me, the stupid humour I've missed.

"Y-you're dead," I state, pointing a finger at him.

"I was, but now I'm not," he says gently. "I'm back."

_____________________

Please vote, share, and comment!

[completed & edited: 10/10/2021]


Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen247.Pro