Crimson Whispers

Chapter Fourteen

I’ve been avoiding Elena all day. I couldn’t sleep last night, thanks to nightmares about this woman from a long time ago trying to take control of Bonnie. I just hope it isn’t real. Please let it be nothing more than a nightmare. As I make my way to my car, I’m cut off by none other than Damon Salvatore. The sight of him makes me jump from both surprise and fear. He made me nervous before, but now that I know he’s a vampire, I’m starting to feel anxious around him. It feels like I’m a doe standing in front of a wolf. He has his usual cocky smirk as he steps toward me.

Damon: “Well, if it isn’t my favorite twin.”

Skylar: “What are you doing here, Damon?”

Sidestepping him, I try to put some space between us, but he clearly isn’t allowing that as he gets closer.

Damon: “You know, I couldn’t help but overhear, the other night, you saw how I killed Lexi before I even did it. I’d love to know how that’s possible.”

It feels like my heart stutters in fear as I hear his words and I don’t even want to be here right now.

Skylar: “You and me both. I have no idea how I did it or how I even knew about you and Stefan before that moment. Now that you have your answer, I’ll be taking my leave.”

I walk past him, and he grabs my arm, turning me back to face him. He wraps an arm around my waist and leans in to look me in the eyes as my vision fades away. I see the woman again. She looks a lot like Bonnie. She looks at me before looking up at the sky. I follow her example, looking up to see a comet over us. She looks at me and says, ‘It’s here.’ I look back at her and see Bonnie instead, wearing the necklace from Caroline before I wake up. Damon is still holding me, but looks stunned now.

Damon: “What did you see?”

Skylar: “I have to go.”

I try to push him away, but he won’t let go of me.

Damon: “You’re not leaving until you tell me what you saw.”

?: “Hey, let go of her!”

I turn to see Matt making his way over to us.

Damon: “This doesn’t concern you, Quarterback.”

It terrifies me to think of what Damon could do to Matt.

Skylar: “It’s alright, Matt. I’ve got this. We’re just talking.”

Damon: “I’d listen to her if I were you.”

Matt glares at Damon before looking back at me.

Matt: “If he hurts you, just let me know.”

Skylar: “I promise.”

Damon scoffs as Matt walks away.

Damon: “What did Elena ever see in that guy?”

I take him by surprise, pulling myself out of his grasp.

Skylar: “That guy happens to be a dear friend. Not that you would know anything about friends.”

Damon: “Look, Skylar, just tell me what you saw and I’ll leave you alone.”

I roll my eyes at him.

Skylar: “Why don’t I believe you?”

Damon: “You’re right, that doesn’t sound like me. How about you tell me and I won't kill the Quarterback right here, right now.”

I glare at him as he threatens me with Matt’s life.

Skylar: “Fine, I saw a comet over a tomb and Bonnie being possessed by a necklace from her ancestor.”

Damon: “Thank you, now, was that so hard? I’ll see you around, little psychic.”

He leaves, and I head home as fast as I can. Pulling into the driveway, I notice Bonnie and Caroline’s cars are here. As I enter the house, I hear Caroline getting angry from the dining room.

Caroline: “Why are you such a little liar, Bonnie?”

Bonnie: “What?”

Elena: “Caroline!”

I walk into the kitchen to see Caroline holding up the necklace she gave to Bonnie. Elena and Bonnie look stunned.

Skylar: “What’s going on?”

Caroline places the necklace on the kitchen island as she replies to me.

Caroline: “What’s going on is Bonnie told me she threw away the necklace and I just found it in her bag.”

Bonnie: “I’m not lying to you, Caroline. I swear.”

Elena: “It’s true. I watched her throw it into a field.”

Caroline: “Well, then explain it.”

Bonnie looks at Elena.

Bonnie: “Emily.”

Caroline: “Who’s Emily?”

Bonnie: “The ghost.”

Caroline: “Oh, the ghost has a name now?”

She walks back over to the kitchen island to stand beside me.

Elena: “Caroline, please.”

Skylar: “Are we talking about your ancestor, Emily?”

Elena: “Yeah.”

Bonnie: “I wonder why she won’t leave me alone.”

Caroline: “Okay, what is going on? Why am I not a part of this conversation? You guys do this to me all the time.”

Elena shakes her head no.

Elena: “That’s not true.”

Skylar: “Yes, it is. You rarely include me either. I hardly know what’s going on in this conversation.”

Caroline: “At least you know something.”

Bonnie interrupts us.

Bonnie: “I can’t talk to you two. [Gestures to Caroline] You don’t listen, [gestures to me] and you’ve been dealing with your own crazy thing.”

Caroline is offended by her words.

Caroline: “That’s not true.”

Bonnie looks ready to prove it.

Bonnie: “I’m a witch.”

Caroline: “And don’t we all know it?”

Bonnie: “See? That’s what I’m talking about. I’m trying to tell you something, and you don’t even hear it.”

She storms off into the living room.

Caroline: “I listen. When do I not listen?”

Skylar: “Bonnie’s right. I haven’t been fully here lately. I’ve been so wrapped up in these stupid psychic dreams that I've ignored almost everyone around me.”

I hug my arms and rub one as if that’ll help ease my guilty conscience. Elena walks over and pulls me into a hug.

Elena: “We’ve all been through some crazy stuff lately. It’s no one’s fault. Next time just tell me about the visions. I don’t want you dealing with it on your own.”

I hug her back and Caroline looks guilty now.

Caroline: “Why didn’t you tell me about them?”

Skylar: “I just wanted to ignore them and hope they were nothing more than dreams. I’m sorry.”

Caroline: “Me too. I should’ve paid more attention.”

She hugs me.

Caroline: “I’m gonna apologize to Bonnie.”

Elena and I nod before watching her go into the living room.

Elena: “When did Bonnie tell you about Emily?”

Skylar: “She didn’t. I’ve had a couple dreams about her, despite not knowing who she was. I guess I shouldn’t call them dreams anymore though. Especially now that I’ve had a few while being awake.”

Elena looks really worried now.

Elena: “What do you mean? What kind of visions have you had?”

Skylar: “Lately it’s been Emily and Bonnie telling me something is coming. I have no idea what though.”

Elena: “We’ll figure it out together.”

We hug once more before Caroline calls us into the living room. We walk in and Elena sits on the couch with them while I sit on the chair.

Caroline: “Well, there is just way too much drama in this room. So what do you guys wanna do? [gasps] I have an idea. Why don’t we have a seance?”

Bonnie: “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Skylar: “Care, that’s gonna be way too creepy.”

She rises from the couch while responding to us.

Caroline: “Come on. Let’s summon some spirits. This Emily chick has some serious explaining to do.”

We look at each other and silently agree Caroline is right. I get off the chair.

Skylar: “You’re right, Care. She needs to explain herself.”

We go up to Elena’s room, setting up some candles and sitting in a circle around them, although with the four of us it kinda looks like a square to me while we hold hands.

Bonnie: “What are we doing?”

Elena: “I don’t know.”

Skylar: “It’s kinda creepy without the lights.”

Caroline: “Shh. Be quiet and concentrate. Okay, close your eyes. [We do, although it feels really dumb.] Okay, now take a deep breath. [We follow her instructions.] Bonnie, call to her.”

Bonnie: “[Not sounding sincere at all.] Emily, you there?”

We open our eyes all with similar expressions of confusion, wondering why she said it like that.

Caroline: “Really? ‘Emily, you there?’ That’s all you got? Come on.”

Bonnie: “Fine. Jeez. [We close our eyes, trying again.] Emily, I call on you. I know you have a message. I’m here to listen.”

The flames of the candles flare up, and we drop each other's hands while staring at them in shock.

Elena: “Did that just-”

Caroline: “Yeah, it just happened.”

Skylar: “Do you think we should stop?”

It gets freezing cold out of nowhere.

Bonnie: “It’s just the air conditioning.”

The flames flare up again.

Caroline: “Ask her to show you a sign. [I look nervously at her wondering why she would want that.] Ask her.”

Bonnie looks really nervous too and really doesn’t want to.

Caroline: “Emily, if you’re among us, show us another sign.”

We nervously watch the flames, waiting for something to happen.

Bonnie: “See? It’s not working.”

She sounds shaky and unsure as she says it. A moment later, the window bursts open, scaring all of us. We scramble away from the candles, getting off the ground.

Bonnie: “No, I can’t. I’m done.”

She throws the necklace at the candles. The wind blowing through the window blows out the candles, and I let out a small scream from shock.

Bonnie: “Get the light. Please get the light on.”

Elena: “Hold on. I got it.”

Elena turns on the light, and we look at each other, all of us looking a bit freaked out.

Bonnie: “You guys, the necklace, it’s gone.”

We look at the candles, finding nothing but candles and wax on the ground.

Skylar: “Yeah, the seance was a bad idea.”

Elena: “Okay, fun’s over, Caroline. You made a point and I get it. Now give it back.”

Caroline: “What? Well, I didn’t take it.”

Elena scoffs and I hear someone walking in the hallway. I nervously look from the hall to Elena, who looks just as scared.

Caroline: “What? What happened?”

Elena: “I don’t know.”

Skylar: “I thought I heard something.”

Elena: “Maybe it’s Jeremy. I’ll go check.”

She looks out into the hallway.

Bonnie: “Um, guys…”

We follow Bonnie’s gaze into the bathroom as she walks in, picking up the necklace. As she turns to us, the bathroom door slams shut. She screams, and we rush to the door, trying our hardest to get her out, but it won’t open. She’s calling for help and Elena runs to try the hallway door. All the lights start flickering as she cries and screams for us while we are yelling for her. Elena comes back to us, trying to help. Suddenly, everything stops. Bonnie stops screaming, the lights stop flickering, and the bathroom door unlocks before opening. Bonnie is standing in the middle of the bathroom with her hands covering her face, completely silent as we stand in the doorway.

Elena: “What happened?”

Skylar: “Are you okay?”

She puts her hands down as she calmly looks at us.

Bonnie: “I’m fine.”

Caroline: “Unbelievable. You were totally faking it.”

Elena: “Caroline, come on.”

Caroline: “No, you scared the hell out of me.”

Crossing her arms, she walks away.

Skylar: “Bonnie?”

Bonnie: “I’m fine. Everything’s fine.”

As she walks out of the bathroom, she accidentally bumps my shoulders and I hear someone yelling my name as my vision fades.

I watch Bonnie in the woods. She’s standing in front of some ruins while performing a spell. My vision flashes to a stone wall with some type of carving on one side that seems like it could be a door. Emily appears before it. ‘I won’t allow it.’ I try to ask her something, but I have no voice.