ALMOST IS NEVER ENOUGH | TVD [3]

XVI • WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

****

Salvatore Boarding House

The caramel hybrid brunette wakes up, alone, with a small gasp on her big queen-sized bed in her empty bedroom, revealing the events at the local bar to be a dream, which relieves her. Truly puzzled, she sits up on the bed and looks around the empty room before she uses her vamp-hearing to listen to anyone's presence around the house, unfortunately to no avail and she starts to wonder where everyone else is. Perhaps Stefan is home? Or Damon? Fortunately, anyone she can trust should be fine since she needs to know what has happened ever since Katherine Pierce inhabited her body.

The poor doppelgänger walks out of her room to explore, "Hello? Damon?" No one answers, so she continues to explore the rest of the unoccupied bedrooms, "Hello? Anyone home?" She hears the floor creaks, "Huh?"

Stefan makes it to the top of the stairs, relieving her, "Hey. You're awake." Again. How fortunate for the both of them to finally speak to each other; to say that he missed her so much would be a huge understatement now.

"Stefan...Where is everyone? What happened? Where is Damon?" Or Elena.

"Everyone's gone. They cleared out for spring break. You've been in and out since you first woke up." Her caring ex-boyfriend informed her in concern.

"Oh. Okay. That makes sense. I thought I was going crazy." She walks up to him and encounters an invisible barrier which prevents her from coming too close to leave or walk down the stairs, "What? What's going on? Wh-y-y--"

"We had to seal you into the house...We've got a lot of catching up to do."

"Yeah, yeah, o-okay. Tell me what happened." The oblivious girl asked him.

"First of all: what was the last thing you remember?" He questioned her.

She breaks eye contact with him to recall her final clear memory, "The last thing I remember, okay, I was running through the woods...m-my head hurts-- it felt like it was being attacked by Katherine's whole life. I saw Damon and I threw my arms around him...and...nothing." Only darkness.

"Yeah...that was about three weeks ago." Her ex-lover chose to conceal his upset expression with understanding that she doesn't remember him.

She widens her already big doe hazel eyes in disbelief, "Three weeks ago? Wow. Three weeks...yet it took just one second for Katherine to infect me with some virus that makes me want to kill all my friends...to kill you." Obviously, she doesn't want that to happen. She doesn't want to become a ripper, who feeds on someone until she rips their head off, a monster.

"Oh yeah. You know Katherine — She's not about to go out without a grand finale. Just like Alexandra. Talk about psychotic doppelgängers." He scoffs.

"Ugh, don't remind me about that psychic freak. Do you really think this whole lock-down is necessary? I mean, I feel fine. I'm me." She shrugs.

"Look...we shouldn't take any chances. If Damon taught us anything is that the virus makes you want to attack at the mere scent of vampire blood."

"Oh. Well, how did you..." She holds her hand up to the magical barrier.

"Liv..." Her ex-boyfriend simply mentioned the unfamiliar name to her.

"Liv?" Rosie looks at him with a look of utter confusion and cluelessness.

"She's a new witch. Bonnie's been teaching her some spells. Look, I know this is a lot to process, but just know that Caroline and Isaac are out, looking for the antidote and in the mean time, we've figured out how to ration blood to keep you satiated. We're going to figure this out, okay?" He spoke.