Always and Forever: a new life.

Back from hell.

"Dear diary, I haven't been here in a while.. but pain is a hungry thing, it's eating me away on the inside..."

Hope restarted her journal, she hadn't written since she was 15 to be honest,
"It's easy to screw yourself over when you know you're already screwed. Of course." Hope thought bitterly as she rifled through books and pages of spells. Her fingers travelled over one large leather bound book, flipping through pages, the frustration and urgency building inside her like a storm.

"It's like trying to unburn toast after you set the kitchen on fire," Hope thought to herself, flipping pages until she found a likely looking paragraph, and.... Nothing. Nothing of relevance. Great. She could practically hear Lizzie's voice in her head, sarcastically noting, "Nice going, Hope. You've managed to both overcook breakfast and summon a demon."

Metaphorically speaking, Hope had done a lot worst than burn a kitchen this time. Or summoning something evil.
After Elijah was daggered last night, Hope stayed awake in her bed, unable to get any sleep, red hair sprawled over the pillows her thoughts wandering back to her last conversation with him.

She couldn't help but feel like she turned her back on him.. a little at least. Even though this is how the original timeline had played out she still allowed this to happen, to someone she called family.

So much for always and forever.

Suffice to say, Hope spent her day in bed.
Although morning arose quickly than she would have liked and the incessant buzzing of her phone next to her provided little peace and shelter she longed for, her phone kept ringing all morning and continued till late afternoon. Hope checked her phone again.

Caroline.

Hope felt the stab of guilt again, this time for ignoring her friend. She kept getting calls after calls from Caroline, but Hope had no motivation to get out of bed or even move her limbs at all.

Hours later, she had finally reached for her phone, her movements sluggish. Caroline's voice echoed in her ears, a stark contrast to the emptiness she felt.

"Hope, it's Caroline, again, I know I'm probably being annoying-" Hope faintly smiled, "But I'm just worried about you, you've been ignoring my texts all day. Look, just talk to me okay? I just want to know that you're okay."

Her heart warmed upon hearing Caroline's words, fingers swiped over the screen to play the next audio message left by the blonde girl,

"Hope! Hi! Look, I know you don't feel like talking but me and the girls are heading out to the Grill for a girls night and I really hoped you'd come? Could you? I'd just feel better if I saw you. Elijah is gone and finally out of our lives for good-" Hope snorted at that , "so please come. We could all use a good time right now, especially everything that has happened."

Hope had replayed the message, the words twisting in her mind, there was so much Caroline didn't know, so much Hope couldn't explain to her. Celebrate Elijah being gone. They didn't understand. They couldn't.

She closed her eyes, willing herself to forget the weight of responsibility pressing down on her chest.

Just then her eyes flashed open immediately.

Caroline's words were of natural kindness yet, the message had sparked a recognition in Hope's mind. She remembered what had happened on this day. Now that she thought about it long and hard, Stefan had talked to the Martins and failed at convincing them on his side, Kathrine had taken up residence at the Salvatore's, the girls had gone out to the grill, Matt got injured and the whole place burned. Hope remembered. After Elijah had been daggered-Dr. Martin had attacked Elena.