Fighting Love | Stefan Salvatore

The One With The Hospital

"Wait, why are you so wet?" Jenna questioned as she rose an eyebrow at her oldest niece.

Emily's eyes quickly moved over to Elena as she mumbled, "uh..." Emily's mind was totally blank. She usually would be able to lie on the spot, but with her mind all scrambled, she couldn't think of what to tell her aunt. But, thankfully she didn't have to think for too long.

"I pushed her into the pond at the Lockwood's today!" Elena quickly told her aunt as she covered for her sister.

Jenna looked at Elena in disbelief as she questioned, "really?" The strawberry blonde moved her eyes to the other twin as she wondered, "and you didn't get her back?" It was unusual for the oldest girl not to get back at Elena after she pranks or messes with her.

"There's still time," Emily called out loudly as she headed upstairs to her bedroom with the sound of her family's laughter and Elena's groaning trailing behind her.

Emily heaved out a heavy sigh once she closed her bedroom door and was inside of her safe haven. She sealed her eyes shut as she relaxed against the wood that blocked her from the rest of the world. She was relieved that she could now lose her false happy attitude and her fake smile. Emily had barely been around her family, and she was already exhausted from acting like she was okay.

Emily slowly took off her sticky and wet clothes as she moved off of her bedroom door and made her way towards her closet. Once she threw her damp clothes into the ocean blue hamper, she opened the door to her closet and grabbed the first thing she could find, which thankfully was a pair of comfy Adidas leggings and one of her favorite shirts.

Emily stood in front of her full body mirror after she was finally dressed in some warm clothes. But as she stared at her reflection, Emily realized just how bad she looked. She was surprised Jenna didn't ask why she looked like she cried a river. Emily's usually bright green eyes were now dull and surrounded by red blotchy spots. Emily's hair wasn't any better as her single braid was falling apart and looked like she rolled around in a pile of leaves.

Emily huffed out a sigh as she roughly pulled the hair tie from her brown hair and went to place it into a messy bun. But as she tried to fix her hair, Emily noticed how badly her hands were shaking. "No, stop it," Emily growled under her breath as she felt fresh hot tears beginning to drop slowly down her cheeks.

Emily threw the black hair tie at the mirror after a few seconds and yelled out in aggravation as she gave up on fixing her hair. She just stared at her reflection while she squeezed her fingernails into her palms as she tried to stop the shaking of her hands. She hated feeling this weak. But Emily knew what was coming as she felt her walls beginning to fall apart now that she was alone and could grieve properly.

Emily was feeling so many emotions all at once. She felt pain because she lost another person at the young age of seventeen. She felt guilty that she didn't do more than just watch it happen. But most of all, Emily was angry at Mason. She was angry at him because he left her alone in this horrible world. Mason was her hero, her big brother, and now he was just gone like everyone else she had ever loved.

The grieving girl forced herself to sit onto her bed as she felt her whole body beginning to tremble. Emily didn't know how to control her feelings right now. It wasn't like when her parents died. She didn't know that was going to happen. But this, she knew Mason was going to die. So, it made everything so much worse.

The exhaustion was taking a large toll on her body, so Emily slowly laid onto her soft pillow and curled into a ball as tears continued to make their way down her face. However, as Emily stared blankly at her wooden dresser, something suddenly caught her attention. She tiredly got out of the bed and tip toed to her dresser, where she noticed a picture frame that was calling to her. Emily shakily grabbed the frame and studied the picture of her, Tyler, and Mason. She remembered the moment instantly. It was the day before Mason left town when she and Tyler were twelve. They were all sitting together at the Grill and enjoying milkshakes.