It's Always Been You [Josie Saltzman]

Why? What? How?

I shook my head in shock, "No, no you're lying. That can't be possible!"

"But it's true, Bentley. I'm your mom." Parker tried to convince me, but I just couldn't

I took a step back, shaking my head, "You know what? I don't care."

"Let me in there." Parker said to Dr. Saltzman.

"Parker, we don't know what she's going to do. She's unpredictable at a time like this." Dr. Saltzman explained.

But Parker just shook her head, "She's my daughter, deep down she doesn't want to hurt me."

Dr. Saltzman hesitantly unlocked the werewolf chamber. I sat along the wall, didn't want to move or talk to anyone. Until Parker got dangerously close, I could hear her carotid artery beating faster and faster. Practically, taunting me to come and take a little taste of her blood.

I could feel the veins form around my eyes. The blood rushing through as she knelt down right in front of me. The fangs growing as she got closer, the smell of her blood, flooding my nostrils.

"I need to get out of here. I need air." I told them, but Dr. Saltzman shook his head.

"You can't leave here Bentley. I can't risk having you kill another innocent." he explained, but I shook my head.

"I have to get out of here!"

Josie put her hand on her dad's shoulder, "Let me take her out. It's late, no one's going to be out. I'm just gonna take her to Mystic Falls High and we can hang out on the football field. She's not going to cooperate if you keep treating her like she's some kind of caged animal."

He let out a sigh before nodding. The two of us left the school and headed straight for the football field, "You know, I don't believe you." Josie admitted.

"Believe what?" I asked.

"That you don't care about me or anyone. That you finding out Parker is your actual Mom, didn't bring back some humanity." she explained, "Plus, if you really wanted to kill me I'd be dead right now. But you care about me."

I scoffed as we reached the football field, watching her climb all the way up towards the top of the tall bleachers, "It didn't. And trust me, you're right if I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead right now. But I don't want to kill you."

"Because you care about me." she stated and I rolled my eyes.

"No I don't care about you." I spat and it was her turn to roll her eyes. She knew it was just my humanity switch being off that was causing me to say these things, but it didn't mean that it didn't hurt.

"Then you care about Parker because I saw the way your veins started popping out. But you took a few deep breaths to control it going away." she said, continuing to take steps dangerously close to the top.

"I don't care about anything. Stop trying to find the good in me, Jo. It's gone. It's been gone!" I screamed, my voice echoing throughout the quiet empty town, "And I hate Parker for what she did! We could be a happy family! I wouldn't have to go through all of past trauma. The fact that I was nearly beaten more times than I can count! Where was she then Jo?! Where was my real mom when I was in a living hell with my fake one?! She's just as bad!"

"Then you wouldn't care if I did this?" Josie pretends to drop off the edge of the tall bleachers. Her falling could instantly kill her. She's fragile like that.

My heart stops in its track, but I keep my cold front up. My heart desperately tried to reach out for that switch and turn it back on, but my mind kept it off. That's the way it needs to be. I need to stop hating myself for everything! For what I did to my parents and my sister! For killing these guys! For all of it! I need to stop constantly thinking I'm not enough for Josie. Because if I have this off, I wouldn't care enough to believe what she thinks.