Ruins || The Vampire Diaries [2]

07: She's Come Undone

   The house was eerily empty, with nothing and no one. I was anxious, worried, a bit scared of the person that had called me. My phone had rang several times while I was in bed, and I had refused to answer for the all of them. When it rang once again, the final time, I finally answered. When I heard his voice, I couldn't help but be surprised. It had been months since I last heard of him, days since I thought he had left. He asked me to come, and I did, so I called out for him.

   "Elijah," I called out for the fifth time. "Elijah, I'm here!" I heard a noise behind me and turned to see him standing there. He looked at regal as always, with a clean suit and clean hair and a hand in his pocket. I breathed his name out, almost surprised.

   "Clara," he softly said, "I'm glad you came."

   "You said it was an emergency." I shrugged my shoulders and pulled my arms together as if I were cold. The truth was that I didn't know what to do in front of him.

   "Yes, I lied," he admitted, avoiding my eyes. "I apologise for that, but it was the only way I could get you out of bed. I've been told that you have been quite depressed ever since the massacre of the twelve witches."

   I sucked in a breath and nodded. "You do know that I would have still come, Elijah. Emergency or not, you are my friend."

   "Yes, of course," he nodded. After a few moments of silence, he spoke once again. "We're returning to New Orleans. The witches there are planning against Niklaus, and you know how I can't leave him alone."

   I glanced around the empty house. "From what I'm seeing he already left, and without a goodbye. I'm not surprised."

   "Actually, Clara, he did hand me this." He pulled out an envelope from his jacket and pushed it towards me. My name was written in gentle cursive in the front, the C big and bold. I immediately knew the handwriting belonged to Klaus. "He gave it to me before he left, a goodbye I presume."

   "Does he plan to never see me again?" I asked, hurt. 

   "Think of this as a see you later," Elijah said, almost shrugging his shoulders. "From me as well, Clara."

   I looked up at him, furrowing my brows. "You're leaving, too?" I asked, surprised. "I-I mean, I heard you the first time but I just... I didn't want to believe it. Elijah, the last time I actually saw you was the night I left."

   He stepped towards me and laid a gentle hand on my cheek. "Oh, sweet Clara. This is not a goodbye, dear friend. We will see each other again." He gave me a small smile as he pulled his hand away. When he turned to leave, I grabbed his hand.

   "Elijah, wait!" I held on to his hand, gently squeezing it. "I need to ask you: when you first saw me after fifteen years, when we were in Richmond, I wanted to leave. You were driving back to Mystic Falls and I asked you if I could leave. You told me that I didn't need your permission, and I was going to leave, but, you..." I let go of his hand and glanced around, shaking my head. I looked back at him, a pained expression on my face. "You compelled me to feed until I arrived at the boarding house. Elijah, I killed two young boys. One was ten, the other was eight, and they screamed the loudest. I killed them because you compelled me to. Why did you make me feed until I arrived to the boarding house?"

   Elijah stepped closer to me and stared down at me. For once, I could clearly see that he took pity on me. "I was angry," he said. "We had been together for more than a century, Clara, and you left. Back then, I didn't know you were compelled by Niklaus to leave. I thought that the only way I could make you hurt was to make you do what you hated the most, to kill." He let out a sigh and nodded. "I deeply apologise for the pain I caused you, Clara."