(Hello everyone, sorry for the long wait. I haven't thought about this fan fic in a long time. It's been YEARS since I've touched it. But I'm going to try and be better. It took me a few days with my real life going on, to fully finish a chapter. But here y'all go. Please let me know how you like it. I'm a lot older then I was when I first began writing this fic. I have no idea where I want to take it. But might as well take it chapter by chapter, and see where it goes, enjoy 😊)
Jeremy could still feel the lingering burn of Annas kiss on his lips. It didn't leave even after hours had passed since that moment in Elena's SUV. He rested his fist against his chin, the tips of his fingers grazed his lips as he stared into the popular and very busy, hang out of Mystic Falls Grille.
He wanted to quit his job, he wanted to leave town, he didn't want to carry on with this life, as the boy who rose from the dead. Jeremy never quite fit in to begin with, he was always the outcast, the poor stoner boy who had lost his parents in a car crash. No one ever looked at him the same as before, so adding to the fact that he was "dead" then he came back, just made the chore of trying to remain somewhat normal, all the more difficult.
His bare elbows rested on the counter as he zoned out. He had a full view of the bathroom doors. The Flashes of his last memories with Anna alive burned through his mind. Jeremy closed his eyes and tried to zone them out, knowing if he thought of her for to long, she was going to come. He could almost hear her screams calling his name as he they ripped her from his arms.
"Jeremy, it hurts!"
He winced, and closed his eyes, as the sound of her blood curtailing scream poured into his soul, like boiling water trickling down the back of his throat.
"Jeremy make it stop!"
His knees began to shake under the weight of this memory, he desperately wanted it to vanish.
"Jeremy"
"stop it" he whispered as he covered his face, hiding the pain from the memory under his bruised hands.
"Jeremy please! Help me"
The image of her flesh burning as she screamed out for help, surrounded by other more deserving evil souls, who should have perished this way, played like a kaleidoscope in his mind.
"Stop this!" he barked, now raising his voice slightly.
A hand brushed his shoulder lightly, "Jeremy!"
His eye lids snapped open, Annas voice faded from his mind as Bonnies face came into full view. She was concerned, looking him over with her hand against his exposed flesh. He knew what was coming next, "Are you okay!?"
Although Bonnie was important to him, he hated himself for the thought of wishing she were Anna instead. It was a strange thrill, he resented the fact that he could see her, and part of him hoped that she would stop appearing all together, but he couldn't bring himself to shake the hope that every figure with long dark hair crossing his path, was Anna. Bonnie stood there with a worried expression painted across her face.
"Bonnie, its you." He said in an out of breath tone.
"The one and only" she said as the worry slowly dissipated from her eyes. "Are you.. okay?"
Jeremy started to zone back in on the real world unfolding around him, like a camera lens regaining focus. The searing pain in the center of his brain faded as bonnie brought him back to earth.
"Yeah" He sighed as he rubbed his forehead with his left hand. "Just a real bad migraine."
"I have some Advil in my purse, I don't know if it will help your head but, it does the trick for cramps" She laughed as she began to rummage in her bag.
"Its okay Bon, its going away I don't need anything."
"Oh stop it, shut up and let me help you."
At this point Jere knew that it was pointless to fight her on this. Bonnie was extremely caring, loyal to the death. She would do absolutely anything for the people that she loved. Even if it meant forcing painkillers down his throat. Jeremy sighed and laughed as she rummaged in the endless abyss of her black bag, that hung low on her hips, where her dark bronze skin was slightly exposed .
"Here you go, take this with some water!"
Instead of coming at her with a sarcastic response in regards to him being seventeen years old and highly aware of how to take a pill, he took it from her hand, smiled and said "Thank you, Bonnie."
She hopped up onto the stool next to the counter he was leaning against and set her phone down. He was already worried that she was going to try to ask how he was doing, and fish for more information through flirty small talk. Knowing how she got her information wasn't to difficult as she was his older sister, Elena's childhood bestfriend. Fully prepared for it he already had a wall built up, Jeremy didn't quite know how he would respond if she asked about what ghost from their past he had seen yet, his mom or dad, Vickie, Anna... This is something he didn't know if he would even be able to practice how to answer. As he thought about this she began to pry.
"Soooo I didn't see you at school today, did you even show?" she questioned with a smile "or were you playing hooky...?"
Jeremy smiled as he hesitated, thinking of a witty response to prove that he was Just fine, that she didn't need to worry. "Oh come on, you know its not like me to have a perfect attendance..." he snickered, Satisfied at his quick thinking with a response to slowly cover up his tracks.
Bonnie raised her eyebrows and weighed her next words carefully, he could tell, knowing that she was trying to cover up the speculation in her eyes with a flirtatious look instead. She moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders, and pulling him in closer to the middle of her body. The younger version of himself, the Jeremy gilbert before his parents death, before vampires and witches, would have gone crazy over this moment. Her chest perked up, he could almost see down the low end of her tang top, and feel the heat of her body against him. She was trying to tease him, before this would have ensnared him and he would fall apart into her tiny hands... But right now he couldn't bring himself there, so he had to pretend.
He placed his hands on her waistline and pulled her closer into him, looking down at her soft lips. "I missed you." She said softly.
"I always miss you." he lied.
He hated himself for this, he knew the right thing to do was end things with Bonnie. She had gone through so much heart break before this and he didn't want to put her through more. Elena would murder him if he broke her heart, which was the last thing he wanted to do anyway. As he contemplated every decision behind the happy exterior he was putting off, he gripped her tighter. He truly did care for Bonnie, he had always loved her, ever since childhood. Seeing her in any form of pain caused him pain, he couldn't hurt her. She had worked so hard to bring him back from the dead, and it wasn't her fault that this meant he would see every ghost of the people he had loved, that were lost to the dark grips of death.
"Ew get a room!" Elena suddenly appeared next to them, followed closely by Stefan Salvatore.
Saving him from having to pretend further. Bonnie laughed, hopping down from the counter and pulled Elena into a hug. To them everything seemed somewhat normal. Everyone as of right now was in a good place, because the supernatural world around them had calmed down.
"Hey Jere" Elena nudged his arm and looked him over, obviously studying him, probably inwardly questioning if he had seen any more ghosts.
"What sup guys" Jeremy tried to sound as into the moment as possible, Afraid he sounded as exhausted as he probably looked.
"Oh ya know, here for some food... nothing else to do in this town, when were not fighting for our lives" Elena joked.
Stefan laughed and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her cheek, "Hopefully we wont have to do that again."
"Ha!" Bonnie laughed sarcastically.
They all knew there was no point in getting their hopes up for their lives to calm down, lately it seemed like their lives were a never ending nightmare. One thing lead to another, and as soon as one issue was resolved, some thing else never failed to come up. Jeremy leaned against the bar and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath as they continued to converse around him.
Suddenly, that same searing pain shot through the middle of his forehead, he winced as his eyes flashed open but No one seemed to notice. He looked around, Was Anna here? He scaled the crowd, unable to see her black hair and pale skin. Stefan now stared into his face, he seemed to be the only one that noticed Jeremys attention had now been stolen. As Jeremy looked towards the bathroom, a ghostly figure shifted past the bathroom doors.
He couldn't ignore it, the need to see Anna out weighed the goal of not breaking Bonnies heart, causing Jeremy to immediately follow.
"Ill be right back guys" Jeremy said gripping a menu, hoping it would look as if he was simply working. While he took off towards the bathroom, Stefan's gaze followed him, as Bonnie and Elena gossiped about Caroline, their other Bestfriend.
Jeremy stood in the hall before the bathroom door, contemplating on where to go next. He was sure he seen something move this way, something not human. He listened for anything, and wondered why Anna wouldn't appear next to him, she always made her presence known. It also frightened him because he wasn't event thinking of her at that moment. He grew paranoid, but something told him to keep moving forward.
The grilles loud music began to fade out as he pushed open the back door, taking a step outside the door thudded behind him. It was a warm summer night, the trash had not been picked up and there was no one else back there but what seemed to be a man asleep next to the garbage cans.
Jeremy stood like stone in front of the back door,
"Hey man, you okay?" He set the menu down on the old wooden chair by the door, the lamp lit only where he stood, while everywhere else was shadows.
The man did not move at Jeremy's words, he was strangely still. Jeremy took a few steps closer and noticed there was a pipe broken next to him. He tried not to think to much into it, This could be fine. The man didn't look young, he was dirty and unkept, probably passed out from to many drugs or even homeless. His black beard was over grown with specs of grey and dirt throughout.
"Dude, wake up." Jeremy nudged his side with his converse, causing the mans body to roll to the side.
This exposed his neck, that had been ripped open with blood freshly pouring out onto the pavement below him, His light grey shift now seeping in the red puddle. Jeremy gasped and jumped back, although death and despair followed him and his friends everywhere they went, these kinds of things still shook him to the core.
"Oh my god!" He said under his breath, he stood frozen in place, only able to reach in his pocket and pull out his phone.
He quickly typed in the number 911 on the key pad, but he couldn't press the call before he heard a shuffling and a low snicker behind him. Not turning all the way, all the hair on the back of his neck rose. He noticed the ghostly figure, standing ever so politely behind him, with blackened eyes and a face full of blood dripping down onto their neck.
The ghost laughed happily...
"Hello Jeremy."