Ruins || The Vampire Diaries [2]

01: Catch Me If You Can

   You know that feeling in the pit of your stomach, the one you get before something big happens? It can be a birthday, a trip, and even something as simple as seeing somebody you love. I had that feeling, and it was flowing all over me. It was a horrible feeling, which I hadn't felt in such a long time, or it felt like a long time. I sat in the seat with the window view, the sky a deep hue of orange whilst the sun appeared like a big, red cherry in the centre of the sky. The ground was green, a simple scenery of trees that appeared like bumps and cars that appeared like little ants. In a sense, a weird one, it was the only thing that allowed me to calm down the anxiety that nibbled my stomach.

   I twiddled my fingers on my lap, glancing from them to window. The distance between myself and Mystic Falls was getting smaller, and that caused my anxiety to double. All I could think about was seeing everyone again, their reactions. Caroline would hate me, that I knew. She had called many times, and I had let every call go to voicemail. While I waited for my plane, I decided that it'd be best to listen to them, since my voicemail was already full.

   Each call from Caroline was her telling me about what happened what happened while I was gone, which included the death of Mayor Lockwood, Bonnie's father being the new mayor, and something about a weird professor obsessed with the supernatural, which was in a way thanks to him that they found the cure. Her calls also included her cussing me out because I left without telling her anything, without a goodbye. Although she left many voicemails, she spoke fast, leaving me to understand less than half.

   Then, there were Stefan's calls. There were some where he was sober, where he called me selfish for leaving, and then he told me that he understood. There were barely any drunken voicemails, but those that were was him speaking about how he was sorry for picking Elena over me. It was then when I felt horrible, for leaving and for allowing him to even think that. Even though I was angry—and jealous—that he did pick her, I didn't want him to know. To be honest, I don't think he was ever drunk. He didn't sound drunk, but he did sound as if he had drunk The Mystic Grill dry.

   "Miss?" One of the flight attendants leaned over the two seats and smiled at me. There was a tag on her blue jacket, her name all in capital letters—Kate. For a second, it reminded me of Katherine, and I almost scoffed. "Would you like anything to drink?"

   I looked at her cart. "Uh, I'll have a red wine," I told her with a smile. I glanced down at my phone, seeing that I was an hour away from landing, and then turned back to the attendant. "You know what? Make it a whiskey."

   The woman chuckled and began to rummage through the cart. "Going back home?" she asked, glancing at me with a smile.

   "You can say," I answered, almost shrugging my shoulders.

   "I'm not a fan of home, either," she said, still smiling. "But, home is home no matter what. Oh, are you married?"

   I glanced down at my wedding finger, seeing the ring I had pulled on ever since I found it in my bag when I arrived in Puerto Rico. It was my engagement ring, the one Damon had given me all those many years ago. At first, I was curious of why was it in my bag since I returned it to him when I let him go, and then I realised that he must have somehow put it in, knowing that I would be living. I didn't like to admit it, but he was one of two people that knew me more than I knew myself, the other being his brother. Without realising, I pulled the ring on my ring finger, just like it was so many years ago.

   "No," I answered, taking off the ring and putting it in my pocket. "It's just... It's just a ring." I smiled at her and nodded. 

   She chuckled, looked around, then showed me her left hand. "It's not as big as everyone finds it to be." There was a small golden band with a small diamond in the centre on her wedding finger. It didn't look extravagant, but it looked well-taken care of. She looked down at her ring, a love-filled smile on her lips. "It is fantastic. I mean, you're the person you love the most for as long as the both of you want. But, it's not always baking in the early hours of dawn, or lovingly staring at each other, or being happy all the time. It's like work, although more fulfilling."