Our trio spent the summer on the road, through the United States in search of a werewolf, it was extremely long and deadly boredom.
Woke up this morning in my hotel room, next to the one Klaus and Stefan were using. I was happy to see that the sun was much higher than when Nik usually comes knocking on my door. Surprisingly, I looked at the time on my watch, it was 9 o'clock in the morning, I also noted the date: 15 July. Probably explains why neither Klaus nor Stefan came to wake me up. I dressed up and put an insincere smile on my face although I cried the day before and I would have liked to be elsewhere as well as in the company of other people.
Again, I would pretend that everything is fine, after all I was using this denial technique even before I became a vampire. With time, I could even sometimes forget my problems and focus on other things. I know that denial is not healthy, but it is far less dark than the sad reality that no one wants to hear when asked how things are going. It was mainly through dance that I managed to manage the wounds of my soul. After all, art isn't always about pretty things, it's therapy, it's about who we are, what happened to us and how our lives have been affected.
Forgetting my little emotional introspection, I went out and knocked on the door next door. Stefan opened and let me in. He informed me that Klaus had left the hotel early and that he had not said when he was coming back.
Seriously, happy birthday to myself.
So I decided to leave the hotel to go to the beach that was at the end of the street. We decided to take advantage of the opportunity that was in Florida for a swim. After more than half an hour in the water, I went to lie in the sun on my towel.
There I was again tonight
Forcing laughter, faking smiles
Same old tired, lonely place
Walls of insincerity, shifting eyes and vacancy
Vanished when I saw your face
All I can say is, it was enchanting to meet you
Your eyes whispered, "Have we met?"
'Cross the room your silhouette
Starts to make its way to me
The playful conversation starts
Counter all your quick remarks
Like passing notes in secrecy
And it was enchanting to meet you
All I can say is, I was enchanted to meet you
I looked at the display of my phone "The Alpha '' as well as an image of Hades from the Disney movie Hercule was visible on the screen.
"Good morning, you too, Nik." Let me answer this.
"WHERE ARE YOU?" he asked, shouting aloud.
"At the beach, by the way my GPS location is activated, you can find me without difficulty." I answered him without giving him time to answer, I hung up.
It took ten minutes for the two men to reach me, Niklaus sat next to me.
Klaus: "Sorry for yelling, Love."
Stefan, still standing, seemed not to know where to stand. Nik handed me a little black box with a purple ribbon. He had not forgotten. I smile at him, I open the box. A beautiful silver necklace with a butterfly pendant.
Niklaus: "Happy birthday sister, the pendant was made by a talented jeweler, there are only two like this. The second, I gave it to Beka on her birthday a year after you left New Orleans. I intended to give it to you when you came home. I hope you like it."
I was surprised, it was the first time since we left Mystic Falls that he was so talkative with me.
I was speechless, not only was the jewelry beautiful, but he had bought it almost a century ago and he had waited so long to offer it to me.
The butterfly also had an important meaning, it did not represent beauty as many believed, but rather change and freedom, although in some ancient belief it was related to death.
In any case, it was a strong symbol that suited me perfectly and it meant that Nik accepted that I could make my own decisions and that he recognized that he had been wrong a century ago.
"Thank you, it is sublime." I said after I came to my senses hoping that my voice would not crack, I do not want to cry.
He hugged me and kissed the top of my head, he helped me put the jewelry around my neck.
I pick up my things ready to go back to look for wolves. While Stefan was still not well, a little away.
Niklaus: "What are you doing?"
Aurora: "We have wolves to find, right? Unless you want to take the easy way out and go to a lovely place in Louisiana where we're sure to find some." I said to him, implying the swamps of New Orleans.
Niklaus: "You know we're not going to Louisiana and then the werewolves can wait until tomorrow. I would like to take you to a special place that I really enjoyed in the area."
He got up and went to give Stefan directions with a list of places to look for wolves.
The place he wanted to take me was definitely an art museum and there really had to be something important for them to want to show me around.
A little later on...
We were in an art museum, most of the works were of extreme beauty and of equally diverse period. However, none would be worth the detour, nor would they justify why I was alone with my brother visiting the different rooms. Not that I complain, spending the day of my birthday hunting werewolves was not the top of my to-do list. It was at the start of a room that I understood why we were here.
I recognized without difficulty who was the author of the painting although the writing accompanying the painting indicated an unknown author, I knew that it was one of Niklaus's paintings. I had never seen this one before and yet I saw most of my elder's paintings.
I stood near the painting when a little girl about ten years old pointed me to her parents, "Mom, look at the girl is like the one in the painting." she said. The kid was not wrong, since I was represented on the canvas. I had just not yet asked the author his motives. I then heard the father explain to the girl that it must have been a pure coincidence. I went to join Klaus who was sitting on the bench facing his work.
Aurora: "Can you explain?"
Klaus: "I drew it a decade after you left and gave it to the museum. I thought you were in the area and that the ceremony for the inauguration of the work would have caught your attention. I had hoped you would come so I could check on you and beg you to come home. Forgive me for being a real idiot."
I know him well enough to know he was sincere. I realized for the first time that my departure had affected my cousin more deeply than he let it seem, he had a lot of affection for his family and he did not always use others to get what he wanted.
He was vulnerable, but I knew it didn't mean he would hesitate the next time he used one of the daggers.
Aurora: "I wouldn't have left if you hadn't stopped me from having experiences and doing the things I'm passionate about. Would you have liked to be prevented from painting or dating people. You're my big brother to me and I love you, but you have to let people make their own decisions. It's your paranoia that drives people to betray you."
I remained silent contemplating the canvas. To give him time to reflect on my words. I was seen with my hair pulled up in a bun, in a long tulle ballet dress. He had represented me as a dancer when he had never attended my recitals.
Klaus: "I'm sorry I couldn't see you as an adult."
Aurora; "The picture is pretty, thank you."
We ended the visit of the museum and joined Stefan in a restaurant where we ate and he informed us of what he had found.
On my way back to the hotel that night, I realized it was one of the best birthdays I've had in many years.
Hey, Klaus and Aurora got to have a chat and they left an old feud behind.
I know it's a kind of an addition, but this chapter allowed me to bring another important aspect to my story.
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