"She craved his twisted darkness, the same way he grasped at the light in her shattered soul."
Natalie Gilbert has spent her entire life putting everyone else's needs before her own. So much so, that it ended up costing her the one person she couldn...
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NATALIE
"And of course I broke into the Oval Office and took a picture of myself looking all JFK but-"
I stared at my plate in disdain, doing my best to drown out Kai's incessant rambling as we ate across from each other.
After our shaky agreement to not kill each other for the sake of escape. It had taken one quick whiff to realize I was in desperate need of shower. Nothing like the stench of blood, sweat, and psycho to get you up and on your feet.
Thankfully all my stuff had been completely untouched in Stefan's room, and out of curiosity I checked Damon and Bonnie's rooms too. I don't know what I expected exactly. That maybe one of them would be waiting for me or something, but either way I was disappointed stumbling upon empty rooms.
Without a second thought I brought a couple of changes of clothes, and my necessities into Damon's room, making sure to lock the door behind me. Mainly because staying in a bedroom with a connecting bathroom would limit my contact with Kai as much as possible, but also a large part of me missed Damon and his snarky insults constantly filling the quiet, and this was about as close as I could get to having him back.
Like right now he'd probably tell me what an idiot I was being for putting even the smallest amount of trust into Kai. And for once I'd agree.
A small part of me hoped, that they would come back somehow, someway. But the rational, realistic part of me knew they thought I was dead. There would be no rescue mission for a dead girl, if they even thought there was a possibility Kai could come with.
I just hoped Damon and Bonnie broke the news to Elena and Jer gently, or even just straight up lied. Just tell them I found peace before the Other Side imploded, or that I simply wasn't in the prison world with them. I'd rather lie to them, then have to put them through the ache of losing more family. I had seen firsthand that both of them, especially Elena, couldn't handle much more loss. No one had the emotional capacity for that.
Which is why the only thing holding me together was the fact that Kai had a plan. It was quite literally, close to impossible considering neither of us had magic, and the only way to get the spell from my head was...well...magic. But if I gave up on the hope that I might one day just make it out of here? I would fall apart.
I used Damon's ridiculous five head shower, and watched the water turn pink as my dried blood ran down the drain. It was a pretty vivid reminder of just how close I had been to being dead. And how fine a line I still walked at this moment.
I wrapped myself in a towel, tossing my ruined clothes in the trash, before padding my way over to the bed. I took my time, picking out a pair of sweatpants, and a big t-shirt I found at the back of Damon's closet.
Maybe if I just locked myself in here for eternity, I could pretend nothing was wrong and I was in fact just waiting for Elena to meet me for a girl's night, or Stefan was patiently sitting downstairs ready to drive me to school, literally anything else besides my current situation.
