Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
❝ we never purposely make mistakes; we call them that in hindsight. ❞
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT THE UNNECESSARY VIOLENCE YOU COMMIT AGAINST YOURSELF? Not just the physical violence. Not just the way you punish your body. The violent thoughts. The violent feelings. The nights you spend wishing you were someone else. The days you spend unable to look at yourself in the mirror. That, too, is violence. The visceral way you cringe when you hear yourself on video. They wryness in your voice when you speak about your younger self filled with such shame and embarrassment and contempt. You are not who you used to be, but who you were is what made you who you are.
Enola thought about it all the time. How violence one step removed is still violence. Violent is the way she denies herself love. The way she predicts the worst case scenario in the name of self preservation. The hope-zapping internal dialogue. What did you think? That things would be different this time? Don't you know yourself? How often are you violent against yourself? Too many times to count. Does it horrify you? Yes. Can you stop? Not even I tried. Do you want to? Sometimes. And if you did, would you know how to? No. She had been so busy throwing herself a pity party that she almost missed Jeremy packing this morning. He was going to Denver to stay with some family friends. He had been compelled and she hadn't been informed. She had left for school that morning without a single word.
"Where were you this morning?" Elena inquired.
"Were you ever going to tell me?" Enola questioned.
"Tell you what?" Elena frowned in confusion.
"That you had Damon compel Jeremy to leave town," Enola deadpanned.
"I—I was going to tell you," Elena stuttered anxiously.
"Was that before or after he left?" Enola hummed. "After. So I wouldn't have the chance to stop you."
"I just want to keep him safe," Elena reasoned.
"So do I," Enola agreed. "But that should be his choice to make."
"As long as he is here, he is not safe." Elena continued. "Klaus will keep coming after him."
"What is going on?" Bonnie frowned, making her way over to them with a happy birthday poster for Caroline tucked under her arm.
"Elena had Damon compel Jeremy to leave town," Enola exposed.
"You what?" Bonnie blinked, turning towards the guilty Gilbert twin.
"It's not safe for him here anymore. Leaving will give him a better life." Elena said. "I don't want to argue about this anymore. It's Caroline's birthday. Have either of you seen her?"
