I finished pouring my coffee. I took a sip before walking into the living room. Before sitting down, I looked out the window. The SUV was still there. My eyes wandered to the car sitting in front of my house. He stayed.
I walked outside, shutting the door quietly behind me. I sat on the porch steps and balanced my cup on my knees, keeping my hands on the sides. I looked up and watched Kai walk toward me. He sat a few steps lower than me and leaned back, holding his arms over his face.
"How was your night?"
He groaned. "They never moved."
"I told you so." I stared at his body, relishing in my ability to do so. "You should've come inside." I looked at his covered face.
"I'm far too noble for that. Sharing a bed with a young lady such as yourself. Quite the scandal." The sleep in his voice made my head feel light.
"Well, nobility is your middle name."
After a minute of silence, he lifted his arms and sat up, moving to the step I was on. He looked over at me, "How's Caroline?"
"I'll let you know later. She's still asleep." I held the coffee out to him. He looked at it for a few seconds before taking it. I crossed my arms over my stomach and stared at the stalker around the corner.
My thoughts wandered to Stefan. His priorities are obviously fucked. Letting Caroline go shouldn't have even been an option for him.
"What's on your mind?"
I glanced at Kai, acknowledging that I heard him. I looked at the sidewalk. "I don't understand how he could do something like that. I know he loved her; you can't be in a relationship for that long if you don't love the person, but I don't know how he could hurt her if he loved her. I mean, when you love someone, you do everything you can not to screw up. Somehow, he achieved the exact opposite."
"Well, I mean, there could be more to the story that neither of them told you."
"You're defending him?" I looked at him.
"No, I'm just saying that there's always more to the story. Maybe he didn't try to hurt her on purpose, but he did anyway."
"But he knew it was bothering her. He could've stopped being so close to Valerie and respected Caroline, but he didn't. He didn't want to screw up whatever he had with Valerie, so he sacrificed his relationship with Caroline."
"I know Stefan wouldn't ruin his relationship with Caroline without a good reason, and you know that too."
I could see the certainty in his eyes. He has a point; I just don't want to agree with him. Especially since he's right. I could hear voices inside. I glanced back at the door, then looked at him again. "You should go home. Get some sleep."
"Are you sure? I can stay longer if-"
I put my hand on his. "You've done enough."
He furrowed his brows for a passing second then nodded. "I'll see you later." He handed the cup back to me.
I held it close to my body and watched him stand. He walked to his car. He glanced back before getting in. I took a minute before getting up and walking inside. I walked into the kitchen and rinsed out the cup.
"Hey."
I turned to see Bonnie and Elena in the doorway. "Hey." I shut off the water then dried my hands.
"Caroline won't get out of bed."
A weird feeling passed through my body as a memory flashed through my mind. Not being able to leave my bed for a few weeks. I turned to face them. "Why?"
Elena shrugged. "She won't talk. She's been like that for an hour." She took a breath. "We have to go help Damon, but we can stay."
I shook my head, "No. Go ahead. I'll talk to her and see what I can do."
They glanced at each other. Bonnie looked at me again, "Bye, Evelyn."
I offered a smile. They both walked out. I made my way upstairs. Her door was closed. I walked toward it. When I tried to open the door, I couldn't. I sighed and stared at the handle.
"Caroline, let me in." She didn't answer. I felt panic in my chest. "Caroline?" No answer. I knocked on the door, "Caroline, answer me."
"Go away."
I sighed in relief. "No. Let me in."
"I want to be alone. Go away!"
I rattled the doorknob again. "I understand that you're hurt, and you're upset, but I can't let you be alone."
"I'm not like you! I'm not going to kill myself; I just need to be alone."
Her words felt like a knife twisting in my chest. "Caroline-"
"Leave or I will!"
I felt angry at her and myself. I shouldn't have let her be alone for more than a minute. I should've come up the minute Elena and Bonnie came down. I reminded myself that she's hurt, and she probably won't remember half the things she says. She also doesn't deserve to be alone no matter how badly she's acting.
I took a breath before speaking. "I'm not leaving. I'm staying outside this door until you're ready to talk."
She didn't respond. I could hear her crying. I felt my body ache. The uselessness that ran through my mind was torturous. I searched through my room to try and find something to open her door.
Two and a half hours and twenty useless attempts to get her door open later, I was sitting against the wall, staring at her door.
I'm going to resort to emotional appeal to try and get her door open because then she'll hate me for it. It could also push her to shut her humanity off again.
"You're still alive, right?"
A few seconds later something hit the door. Alive and violent.
I leaned my head back against the wall and closed my eyes. I waited out the rest of the day, asking every half hour for a sign of life. Every response was something hitting the door.
I opened my eyes and sat up, feeling disoriented. The light filling the hallway confused me. I checked the time on my phone. I fell asleep. I rushed to stand up. I knocked on the door. "Caroline!"
"I'm not coming out. You're not coming in. Go away."
I felt exhausted. I rubbed my eyes a few times. There was knocking on the front door. I glanced back, then looked at the door. I walked around my mess and walked down the steps. I pulled the front door open. Kai stared at me. He gained a quizzical look on his face.
I leaned against the door. "Speak before I shut the door."
"Uhm..." He took a few seconds to gain his words back. "I was just checking on you. You didn't answer your phone."
I let my eyes fall shut. "I didn't hear my phone."
"Did you sleep last night?"
"Mhm. On the floor." I felt unbalanced. I opened my eyes and stood up straight. "I'm fine. You can go now."
"You don't look fine. You look exhausted."
I furrowed my brows. "Is that how you pick up girls?"
He tilted his head. "What's wrong?"
I stared at him. "I'm handling it."
"Yeah, it looks like it."
I tilted my head, "Goodbye."
He put his hand on the door and stepped inside, "I didn't mean that. Just tell me what's wrong so I can help you."
"Nothing's wrong, nothing you can fix."
"I can try."
I stared at him. Letting him in this situation would be involving him in drama that he detests. Why would he do something like this if he doesn't like it? "Caroline has been in her room since yesterday morning, and she won't open the door. She's alive and she doesn't want to hurt herself, but I'm worried about her. She says things, but never full sentences. I stayed up for a really long time trying to get her to open the door, but she wouldn't." I felt a lump in my throat. "I don't know what to do."
He stepped closer, putting his hands on my arms. He stared down at me, "We can figure this out." He nodded, "It will be okay."
He pulled me close to him and I wrapped my arms around him, burying my face in his chest. He cradled my head in his hand, using his other hand to rub up and down my back. He kissed the top of my head. At that moment, everything felt okay. But I couldn't figure out why.
...
Walking on eggshells for the past two weeks has been the hardest thing I've ever done. Once she came out of her room, she was in a better mood. She hasn't gotten to a depressive state again, but she's been upset. I remedy that as quickly as possible. I hate seeing tears form in her eyes, it causes an ache in my chest that I can't soothe.
She got up and walked to the kitchen to refill her glass of water. There was a knock on the door. She went to open it. The glass slipped from her hand. I got up and walked over. I looked up from the broken glass to see Stefan. He was staring at Caroline. I looked at her. Her happiness has completely faded.
"What are you doing here?" The words sounded venomous.
"I need to talk to you."
"Why?"
He glanced over at me, then at Caroline. "Alone, Caroline."
I could see the debate in her mind. He stepped back as she walked past him onto the porch. I shut the door, leaving them to talk outside. I started to clean up the glass. One of the pieces cut into my hand, causing me to draw back from the glass. I looked at my palm to see blood pooling in my palm. I got up and walked to the sink. I got a towel wet and wrapped it around my hand, wincing.
My phone started ringing from the living room. I kept holding my hand tightly until I reached my phone. I answered Kai's call. "Hey."
"What happened?"
I looked at my hand as I walked to the kitchen. "Caroline broke a glass. I was cleaning and I accidentally cut myself."
"Well, are you okay?"
I held my phone between my shoulder and my head as I carefully pulled the towel off. "I don't know." The blood made me queasy. "I think?"
"I'll be there in a minute."
"No. It's okay. I can just go to the hospital."
"Why are Caroline and Stefan on the porch?"
"Just use the backdoor."
He ended the call. I dropped my phone. I cursed myself as I bent to reach it. I stood back up, my eyes instinctively going to the kitchen window. Lillian was staring at me from outside. I gasped, losing the grip on my phone again. I looked down at my phone.
"What is it?"
I looked at Kai, then at the window. "I just-" I furrowed my brows. "Dropped my phone."
He grabbed my hands and I turned to face him, looking up at his face. He inspected my hand. I looked at the window again, making sure she wasn't there. I moaned in pain, feeling him pull something out of my hand. I looked at him and he was staring at me with a familiar look.
"There. You should..." A smirk formed on his lips. "You should be fine now."
I rolled my eyes and pulled my hand away. "You did that on purpose."
"So glad to hear that I can still help you out."
I tilted my head, "Get out." I turned to the sink and washed the blood off my hands.
"Oh, come on, that was funny."
I turned the water off and dried my hands. I looked up to see Lillian again. She was staring straight at me. I felt my heart pause to jump in my throat.
"What's she doing here?"
I was too frozen to answer. He rushed out the backdoor. I blinked and she was gone. I stepped back from the sink after sitting the towel down. I grabbed my phone off the floor. I turned to see Kai walking back to me.
"Do you know why she's here?"
I shook my head. "No. I didn't even know she was here." I thought I was hallucinating. He looked at the window. I could see the worry resting on his furrowed brows. I stepped closer, "Hey." He looked at me. I shook my head, "What's going on?"
He shook his head once, "Nothing."
I tilted my head, "Don't lie to me."
"I'm not. There's nothing going on."
"Then why are you so on edge?"
He sighed, "I'm not."
"Really? Then why the hell did you run out of here to chase after her?"
He looked to the side, "She was watching you," he looked at me. "I need to know why."
I started to say that she's not watching me, but he just saw it. "She's not a threat to me, Kai."
His jaw tightened. He tilted his head, "Well, she is to me. And if she's going after you-"
"But she's not going after me. She can't get in here unless I invite her in, and that's never going to happen. She can't get to me unless I go to her. I'm safe."
A look of realization crossed his face, leaving after a second. "Right." His answer was clipped.
I stepped closer, "What?"
He shook his head, forcing a smile on his lips. "Don't worry about it." He took a breath as he stepped back. "I'm gonna go. I'll see you later."
Before I could speak, he was out of the house. I sighed, feeling defeated. He won't tell me unless I beat it out of him, so it's pointless to bother him about it.
I finished cleaning the glass. I stopped in the middle of the hallway, seeing the door open. Caroline shut the door and turned, slowly. She was staring at the ground with a smile on her face. I cleared my throat. She looked up, taking a step back.
She looked over her shoulder, then back at me. "We, um, we made up."
I raised my brows, "I can tell."
She giggled to herself as she walked further into the house. Her sad spell was beginning to make me sad, so I'm eternally grateful to Stefan for apologizing or whatever he did to make her giddy again.
...
I expected Caroline and Stefan to be more focused on one another than on me, which is why I agreed to go to dinner with them in the first place.
"But you haven't been with anyone in over a year."
"Because I don't want to. I'm fine by myself."
"Or you're just stuck on Kai," Stefan argued.
I looked at him. "What makes you think that?"
"You can't move on."
I tilted my head, "That's ridiculous."
"Is it?"
I looked at Caroline. "Caroline."
"Well, you see him every day."
"Not every day, just some days."
"Okay, but he's the only guy you see."
I looked at the table. "Maybe it's not because I'm not moving on." I looked at her, "Maybe I'm secretly a lesbian. You would never know."
"Are you?"
I looked at Stefan. "No. And that's not the point." I looked at Caroline. "I'm not stuck on him, and I have moved on. I just don't want to be with anyone. I mean, have you seen my dating history?"
"You mean the five guys you've been with?"
"Exactly. And they were all horrible." My phone lit up. I picked it up and looked at it.
"And who could that possibly be?" I could hear the smug grin on her face.
"This does not prove your point."
Kai:
Where are you?
Me:
At the Grill with Caroline and Stefan.
Kai:
Leave right now. I can explain later, but you need to get out of there.
Me:
Why?
"What's wrong?"
I turned my phone off and looked at Caroline. "Nothing."
She and Stefan glanced at each other.
"Evelyn," Caroline tried to grab my attention. I looked down at my phone to read his text.
Kai:
Please, Evelyn.
I felt my stomach sink. He wouldn't be this confusing and dramatic unless someone was in danger. I pulled my eyes away from my phone. "I have to go."
Caroline looked concerned. "What is it?"
I shook my head, "I don't know."
"Evelyn."
I ignored them and got up. I rushed to my car and got in. I started driving as quickly as I could. I glanced in my rearview mirror. I stared at the reflection of a black SUV. I looked back at the road to see that I passed my house. I kept driving. I'm not making a U-turn with them following me.
I pressed harder on the pedal, racing further away from them. Before I knew it, I was at the edge of town. My phone started ringing from the passenger seat. I looked at it. I reached for it. I looked back at the road to see a woman standing in front of my car. I swerved and slammed on my brakes. But it was too late, I was heading straight off of the bridge.
I started to panic. Water filled my car. I unbuckled quickly. I couldn't get my door open because of the water pressure. I pointlessly beat against my window. I couldn't hold my breath any longer. The water burned my lungs.
...
I choked on the water as I coughed it up. I turned to my side to throw up the water. I laid on my back as I started crying. I opened my eyes to see who was above me. Fear became my only emotion as I stared at Joshua. The guy who's dead. The guy Kai killed. He put his hand against my forehead.
"What are you..."