𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄

𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙪𝙚

We call evil the darkness and the virtuous the light. We represent them in the color black and white. We tell our kids the difference between the bad and good, between a villain and a hero. The villain goes to hell, while the hero goes to heaven.

But we never told nor realized that the reason there is a difference is due to the fear of the unknown, for the reason that we are scared of what is going to happen when we close our eyes and stop breathing. We fear the things that we do not understand or believe, things such as vampires, werewolves, witches and all the supernatural beings. And this fear that is turned into hatred leads to another fear, death.

The best example of the fear was the man in a suit, who lay in a coffin, who was Richard Lockwood, the Mayor of Mystic Falls.

Estella Harper looked at her legal guardian from the corner of her eye, leaning at the doorframe with her arms crossed. The feeling of guilt, weighed on her shoulder every time she saw the dead person. She looked across the room wanting the guilt to brush off by the wind but increased as she saw the windowed woman and fatherless son.

"Do you think he deserved a funeral?"

Estella stood along with Tyler. They were both assigned to welcome the people who came to pay their respects to their late Mayor, by Carol Lockwood, Tyler's mother.

Tyler's question hung in the air like an unspoken confession, and Estella's gaze wandered, seeking something, anything, to distract her from the weight of it. She knew the 'he' Tyler referred to was his father, the late Mayor of Mystic Falls, the man who had left a family in mourning, a town in shock. She couldn't blame him for asking.

"I don't know," she finally said, her voice softer than usual. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, avoiding Tyler's searching eyes. "What do you think?"

Tyler looked at her for a long moment, his expression unreadable. "I can't believe he is dead." His voice carried an edge of uncertainty, and Estella felt the tension crackle between them, the rawness of them cutting through the heavy silence. 

Estella could feel the weight of his grief pressing down on her, but she didn't know how to respond. The last thing she wanted to do was make it harder for him. She swallowed, "Yeah... it feels unreal."

For a moment, they both stood there, the sound of the distant wind outside the only thing filling the space between them. The world felt muffled, as if it was holding its breath.

Tyler's gaze softened, and he looked down at the ground, his jaw tight. "He wasn't a good father, you know. But he was still my dad."

Estella's heart ached for him. She knew what it was like to be left with conflicting feelings—how hard it was to mourn someone who hadn't given you what you needed, yet still carried the weight of their absence.

"I get it," she whispered, her voice gentle, careful. "It's hard to hate them and miss them at the same time."

Tyler nodded, a strained chuckle escaping him, though it held no humor. "I'm not sure I miss him, but I guess I'm still figuring that part out."

She gave him a small, understanding smile, the kind that didn't try to fix things but just acknowledged the pain that was there.

The silence stretched again, but this time, it wasn't quite as suffocating. After a beat, Tyler turned to her, the corner of his mouth lifting in a teasing grin. "I guess we both have some things to figure out, huh?"

Estella raised an eyebrow, the faintest hint of a smile tugging at her lips. "You're not wrong there."

Tyler nudged her lightly with his elbow. "Well, you're still stuck with me. Family, remember? And mom does love you more than me."

Carol indeed loves Estella like her own daughter, everyone in the Lockwood family, except Richard, considers the teen to be part of the family. Even the whole of Mystic Falls wants the Lockwood family to adopt the naïve child when she first came to the town, but it was her wish not to get adopted, wanting the only thing that connected to her and her parents. 

Estella laughed softly, the sound a small release, though it didn't completely shake the tension. "Well, that's your fault. You happened to be bad at the 'son department'. Like really bad."

Tyler rolled his eyes dramatically, but a small smirk tugged at his lips. "Harsh, Harper. You ever hear of being nice?"

She tilted her head, pretending to think. "Hmm... nope. Not my strong suit. Besides, someone's got to keep you grounded."

His smirk turned into a quiet laugh, one that seemed to loosen the weight in his chest, if only a little. For a brief moment, the heaviness around them felt less suffocating, replaced by the kind of banter that only came from knowing someone well enough to tease without hesitation.

He chuckled, his smile genuine now. "That's right. Even if you're stuck with the Lockwood drama."

Estella rolled her eyes, though a flicker of warmth passed through her chest. "I think I'll survive."

Tyler was about to give a snappy comment when his eyes caught something. He snapped his neck so fast, that even the black crow that sat on the handrail flew away. He blinked at her a few times, before widening his eyes, "Well this day couldn't get any worse."

Estella not understanding the sudden difference in his expression stared at Tyler before she peeked in the direction where he was looking at. Seeing the familiar black SUV, an uneasy feeling of dread washed all over her body.

Maybe it might be because of the reason that she partially knew this was going to happen last night and had done nothing to stop or warn him about the dangers.

The feeling of guilt, especially of someone's death, is a very petrifying emotion. It eats you slowly and painfully, till you are down on your knees. The worse part is that no one notices the pain that is hidden behind those beautiful eyes.

The pain that never ends till you beg on your knees for death to take your darkened soul, after all, guilt is the most painful companion of death.

Death will always knock on your door when you don't accept it. Besides, even if you expect death to be there on the other side of the door and you escape it, you can't forever hide.

Nature will find a way, even if you're a servant of nature or the moon. Especially when the person knocking at your door is the son of the mother nature.