☽◯☾
𝙰 𝙼𝙸𝙻𝙻𝙸𝙾𝙽 𝙳𝚁𝙴𝙰𝙼𝚂
[¢hคptēr tຟ໐ -Ƭнє Ɲιgнт σf тнє Ƈσмєт]
[𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚍]
Even ıf she be not hαrmed, her heαrt mαч fαıl her ın so much αnd, so mαnч horrors αnd hereαfter she mαч suffer, both ın ɯαkıng, from her nerves, αnd ın sleep, from her dreαms.
― 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐫, 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚
☪︎ ☪︎ ☪︎ ☪︎
I wake up with a gasp sitting up in my bed, running my hands through my hair to calm my breathing. Fucking nightmares are going to give me a heart attack. For a week straight after I lost my sight, all I could dream about was the last thing I saw My parent's death. I haven't had a dream about it since then. Instead, I had started dreaming about a man with blue eyes and blonde curls, and then suddenly, my nightmares were back.
Probably because their room is five feet away, I swing my legs off the bed, feeling the cold breeze - wait, why do I feel a draft? I grab my cane from the side of my bed and make my way over to the window. I don't remember opening it. Annalise must have cracked it a little while I was sleeping. I reach for the handle on the window doors when the hairs on my body stand up, and an eerie feeling passes through me.
I can tell someone is looking into my window, and without a second thought, I slam the window doors close with the curtains muttering a barrier spell in case they try to enter. I grip the curtains in my hands, waiting for the eerie feeling to pass. When it does, I get back in bed, begging sleep to take me, but it never does.
☪︎ ☪︎ ☪︎ ☪︎
" Do you want some toast?" Annalise asked me as i walked into the kitchen. I spread my arm across the counter, looking for my spell book I left the night before " Depends on if there's Cinnamon on it." I respond, still spreading my hands over the marble countertop.
"Always is," Annalise says. I hear her placing the plate in front of me and decide to abandon my quest for the spellbook, stuffing toast in my mouth. Instantly calming my nerves. " What were you looking for?" She asks me.
"You mean patting the counter stupidly." I scoff. I feel a cup placed at my fingertips, brushing them slightly before grabbing it, the warm coffee goes down my throat.
"Well, someone's feisty today." She states.
"I had a nightmare last night, and I couldn't sleep after it," I admit. "I was looking for my spellbook to see if there was a peaceful dream spell, no dreams at all, or just a spell to knock me the hell out."
" So you've learned how to control it?" She asks. I already know she isn't referring to my dreams anymore. She is talking about the dark magic.
" I learned enough control not to hurt anyone." I state, putting my coffee down.
I hear Annalise hum, then her footsteps move to the front room, back into the kitchen, and place something heavy in front of me. " You left it on the couch," She says while rubbing my back to comfort me. "It is going to be okay. How about you talk to your friends and reconnect? They would ask about you a lot." She suggests, to which I only nod in response before walking away.
☪︎ ☪︎ ☪︎
"You are skipping the second day of school?" Elena asks me over the phone. "I thought you wanted to talk and catch up."
Before I left the house, I called her and told her I wanted to hang out with her, Bonnie, and Caroline. But when Annalise drove past the cemetery, I felt a pull towards it, and I knew I needed to revisit them. So I told Annalise to drop me off there instead, and I would get Bonnie to pick me up before school started. As soon as I kneeled in front of my parent's grave, my nerves finally fully relaxed since last night. I knew I wasn't going to school. So for the past 5 hours, that's where I have been.
" Yeah, that's why I'm going to meet you, Bonnie, and Caroline at the Grill afterward," I explain to her. " My nerves are everywhere, so I just needed to relax."
" I could have come with you. I wouldn't have minded, Carter." Elena said as I heard a locker close in the background.
"I know you can get Bonnie to pick me up, though." I say, causing Elena to laugh. I laugh with her until I get an Eerie feeling again. What now?
" Carter? You still there." Elena asks worriedly.
" Yeah, just this stupid crow bothering me again. I will see you later." I say, hanging up the phone before she can reply.
I stand up and turn my head, trying to feel where the stupid bird was. " I know you are out there. I can feel your eyes on me," I say. I hear a whoosh behind me, and the shock runs up my spine. I spun around, ready to knock the crow out with my cane, but instead, a cold hand caught the side of my wrist. I felt the same shock when I touched Stefan's hands, but the shock went entirely through my body this time.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. " A deep voice says.
" Um, sorry for almost hitting you with my cane. I thought you were this crow that keeps bothering me." I say, laughing a bit.
" It's okay. I saw the crow flying towards you, but it flew off when I started walking over to you." He explains.
" Thanks." I reply. I realized he was still holding my wrist, and before I could pull away, I felt him slide his hand down to mine and kiss softly on the back of it.
" I'm Damon Salvatore." He introduces.
Salvatore? He must be related to Stefan.
" Carter Crescent. I have classes with a Stefan Salvatore."
I hear him chuckle and let go of my hand softly. "He's my younger brother." He said.
"He didn't tell me he had a brother." I reply.
"Well, Stefan's not one to brag." He says. I nod my head to reply.
" So, are you visiting family?" I ask him to make a conversation.
"Yes, it looks like you are too." He says. I hear him moving beside me in front of my parent's grave.
"Yeah, I thought I could spend the day with them." I say, bending down to sit on the grass, placing my can next to me.
" Mind some company?" Damon asks. I turn my head in the direction of his voice.
" Is it because I'm blind and alone in a cemetery?" I ask.
I hear him gasp dramatically. "You're blind. I had no idea." He says, which causes me to laugh. I feel him sitting beside me on the ground, his hand grazing mine a little when he does, a shock going up my spine again.
" Something tells me you're not an ordinary blind girl." He states. I chuckle to myself and am going to answer before my phone buzzes in my pocket. I tap the screen until I hear Siri say messages and tell me Bonnie recently texted and clicked on it to listen to the message.
" Hey Carter, Elena told me you were at the cemetery and to pick you up. My last two classes were free periods, so I'm going to come to get you now if you don't mind." Siri reads the message.
I go to the bottom right of my keyboard and click the microphone. " It's okay." I say into the phone, pressing send.
" Seen a lot of things in life but never a blind person using a phone," Damon tells me, impressed.
"Well, Salvatore, you keep hanging around me, and you will find out a lot of things," I state, smirking.
☪︎ ☪︎ ☪︎ ☪︎
" Well, I was talking to Grams, and she said the comet is a sign of impending doom." Bonnie explains. As she, Caroline, and Elena were folding flyers for the Comet viewing party. While I just ate some French fries and listened.
"The last time it passed over Mystic Falls, there was lots of death. So much blood and carnage, it created a bed of paranormal activity." Bonnie said, continuing her story. I listened to every word she said, knowing exactly what her grams were going on and knowing what she said was true.
" Yeah, and then you poured Grams another shot, and she told you about the aliens." Caroline teases, which causes me to chuckle and Bonnie to knock my french fry out of my hand.
Caroline pays us no mind and speaks to Elena. "So then what?"
"So then nothing." Elena states.
Which causes Caroline to sigh and say, " You and Stefan talked all night? There was no sloppy first kiss or touchy-feely of any kind?"
"Nope. We didn't go there." Elena says, causing me to raise an eyebrow.
"Not even a handshake?" I ask.
"I mean, Elena, we are your friends. Ok? You are supposed to share the smut." Caroline exclaimed.
"We just talked for hours." Elena says.
"OK, what is with the blockage? Just jump his bones already!"
"It's easy, actually. Boy likes girl. Girl likes boy, sex!" I tease, making Bonnie laugh.
"See, Carter gets it," Caroline says, which causes Elena to reply with " Profound." I then hear her grabbing her stuff and the chair moving.
"Where are you going?" Bonnie asks her.
"Caroline's right. It is easy. If I sit here long enough, I'll end up talking myself out of it instead of doing what I started the day, saying what I was going to do." She says confidently.
" If I knew we were adding sex with hot guys on a to-do list, I would have written down a couple." I joke, popping more french fries in my mouth.
" If you could see Stefan trust me, you would add him first to your list," Caroline jokes.
"Would I really?"
"Well, he probably would be second, with Carson still number one, I bet." Bonnie teases. I bite my lip at the thought of my old boyfriend. Yeah, he was definitely number one on my list. The only one, to be honest. Well, the rest are celebrities. They don't count.
Since Elena is getting herself a new boyfriend, you should find yourself one too." Caroline suggests as her fingers brush against mine, letting me know she's stealing my french fries. I lift my hand and wave it in front of my face. "You know what I meant. It isn't like being blind made you unattractive. Hell, It made you even more attractive to guys."
"Thanks, Caroline." I state dryly. "You make me sound like some damsel in distress. I don't need any idiots sweeping me off my feet."
" Even if it's Robert Patterson?" Bonnie says knowingly, and I feel my face get warm.
"Okay, he can get a pass." I mutter, causing them to laugh. I crack a smile before joining them.
I miss laughing with my friends. It's almost like old times at the grill with them always stealing my food, talking about boys, the town's gossip, and then going home and talking with my parents, or if it's a Thursday, it's game night, so playing Sorry or Uno together. But everything won't be the same as it was before. We have gotten older and started losing what's important to us. For some reason, I have a feeling our lives are going to be changing in ways we could never imagine soon.