The Real Me ↠ Hope Mikaelson ✓

23

𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐀 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐆𝐔𝐈𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄
just because i carry it so well doesn't mean it's not heavy.

MILLIE ABSOLUTELY DESPISES herself for her words and actions the day prior.

Her own repressed feelings had mixed with those of the brain she had eaten, a soldier with PTSD who'd taken their own life because they were so full of anger and guilt.

No matter how scared she is to face the consequences of yesterday's events, she knows she has to apologise to Caroline—she hadn't deserved what was said to her.

So there Millie is, standing outside the office door, trying to calm her anxious breathing.

"Millie, I can hear you," Caroline's soft voice filters through the door.

Millie sucks in a breath, trapping her bottom lip between her teeth. "Oh...." She gulps before opening the door with shaky hands, immediately met by Caroline standing in front of her desk with sad, fearful eyes that instantly break the younger girl. Her lip trembles, and she starts crying. "I'm so sorry!"

Caroline chokes on a sob while shaking her head. "No, I'm sorry. I should've—"

"I had no right to say those things to you," Millie rushes to say, clutching her chest because it feels like her heart is being squeezed. "I never should've blamed you for all the things the... foster parents did and said to me. I'm sorry. I'm so, so, so sorry."

Caroline shakes her head, her body shaking as she tries to hold back her cries. "You were right about some things, sweetheart. I should've fought harder to keep you, to find you. And when I thought you were dead, I should've tried to find any information I could to... find out what happened to you. I don't know why I didn't... other than the fact that I was scared," she says with a sigh, and Millie simply blinks at her, confused. "By the time I got the courage, you were already grown up. I thought you had a happy childhood with a nice family, and I didn't want to ruin that.

"I didn't want to... ruin you. I was broken, and such a scared person even before I turned into a vampire. This town wasn't safe—I didn't want to bring you into the mess. I tried to leave this town multiple times when the twins were growing up, but we kept coming right back.

"I just... I love the twins. They're my baby girls, yes. But... you're mine too. The moment I held you in my arms all those years ago, I'd never felt happier. For once, I felt whole. For once, I truly loved someone more than myself. Your little eyes stared up at me with just as much love. You were so little and so fragile—I never wanted anything to happen to you. I still don't want anything bad to happen to you."

Caroline swallows thickly, reaching out with shaky hands to cup Millie's face. "I love you so very much. Don't you ever doubt that, sweetheart. I wish I could take all your pain away and store it in a box out of your reach, but I can't. I can't change your past, I can't take away all the pain from all those years in the foster system, but I can help you make better memories now. I can make sure you're loved and taken care of. I want to show you what true, unadulterated love is."

Millie stares up at Caroline, her body trembling. She leans into her mother's chest, her body wracking with sobs as she grips onto her like her life depends on it.

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MILLIE AND CAROLINE spend almost a full hour just holding onto one another, crying together, and gripping each other like they were about to die.

Once they calm down, Caroline suggests talking to someone about all of Millie's pent-up feelings, which Millie agrees to.

For an hour and a half, she had talked things over with Emma Tig, the school guidance counsellor. She had laughed, cried, smiled, and felt drained by the end of it.

Right now, she's between her sisters on their beds they pushed together to create one big bed, a huge screen in front of them playing Barbie, starring Margot Robbie.

Suddenly, everything feels a bit lighter.