The hours dragged by in silence, and Caroline couldn’t shake the feeling that the walls of the room had somehow closed in around her. The shadows of her own mind were worse than any physical presence. They crept into every corner of her thoughts, gnawing at her until she felt as though she might lose herself entirely. Damon had left, and yet, his presence still lingered like a heavy fog in the room.
She found herself staring at the dark ceiling, the ticking of the clock in the corner of the room the only sound that broke the quiet. She had heard the stories, the rumors that had followed Damon like a persistent shadow. There were whispers of a man who had been too broken by loss to be healed, of a man whose heart had been shattered by love, and who, in turn, shattered others. Lila had been
