༺sunshine | niklaus. m༻

chapter 1

my head was clouded, groggy but there was still the faint sounds of screaming, as always. 

i checked the front pocket of my pink daisy patterned dress for my lighter and emergency joint, finding them, and leaving them in my pocket. 

i sat up from the dusty red shag couch, grabbing my head at the sudden throbbing. i looked around the room to see various planks of wood nailed to the windows keeping the sun out, making the room dark and eerie. i looked to my left to see my younger sister, elena, passed out on the couch, her head resting against the arm rest. 

i hear distant chatter, maybe a room over. a male and a female. i had a nervous feeling in my gut, like something is coming. something bad, but not necessarily for me. it was strange. the air around me felt thick, heavy. i took the emergency joint from my pocket along with the lighter and set it alight. holding it to my lips and taking a puff. the voices quietened and the throbbing in the forefront of my head came to a halt. 

there was a quiet moan and movement from beside me. looking back to my left, my sister too sat up, looking around at the dark room. her eyes landed on my and a look of relief passed over her face, she rushed to hug me. 

"thank god you're okay." although i was almost four years older than her, she was basically the older sibling of the gilbert family. "i saw you get knocked out and panicked, i'm so sorry you were dragged into this sunny." she apologised, i could see the sincerity in her eyes. 

i knew all about vampires. i had for a long time. grayson and john gilbert made sure i knew, they were so paranoid that i wouldn't be able to protect myself against them because of my 'disability' as grayson called it. i have had the voices for as long as i can remember, it wasn't until i was 13, when i first tried god's gift of weed, that they quieted. and so, as a result, i'm known as the town pothead, the hippie flower child, too far off with the fairies for you to rely on. i liked it that way though, there were no expectations for me to hold up, people just always expected the worst, that i would fail, so they just stopped trying. 

i was asked to look after my younger siblings when grayson and mum died, but then they saw i wasn't 'mature' enough to look after them, so they called my aunt jenna. i wasn't so sad about that fact. i knew i couldn't be dependable, it wasn't who i was. 

"it's fine elena, no harm done." i said, leaning back into the ratty couch closing my eyes, and taking another drag.

"you know smoking is bad for you sunny."

"oh, what do you know elena." i said opening one eye giving her a look as if to say don't bring it up. she stopped talking and lie back down on the couch. 

i sat there, cross legged on the old smelly couch leaning back with my eyes closed, smoking. my attention was brought away by elena only a moment later. 

"What do you want?" she whimpered. i opened my eyes to see an dirty blond haired man wearing a plain t-shirt and a hoodie. he had a light stubble across his face and an almost concerned look in his pale blue eyes. he walks in, shushing elena.

"please, im hurt." she whines, i think he can tell by the look of that bloody pink sweater she's wearing. i roll my eyes and lean back, closing my eyes again.

"i know, just a taste." he says. i hear elena whimper in fear and sharp movements from beside me. 

"Trevor! Control yourself." i look back up to see the man, now known as trevor, leaning over elena about to take a big chunk out of her neck. my eyes follow where the voice came from to see a woman. she had above shoulder-length brown hair and bright blue eyes and was wearing a brown leather jacket. i tilted my head. she looked similar to alice cullen, save the pixie-like stature of the fictional vampire. 

"buzzkill." trevor complained. i giggled, he turned to me and winked.

he walked back through the doorway and out of the room. only the woman stood.

"What do you want with me?" elena whined.

"Oh my god, you look just like her." she must be talking about katherine.

"But I'm not. Please, whatever you-"

"and you, you look just like the paintings." she said looking at me. i blinked. paintings? what fucking paintings?

"what fucking paintings?" i asked her, she ignored me though. that that i would blame her, she has every right to do whatever she wants, i'm the one being held captive. 

"Be quiet!" she said looking at elena. i assumed it applied to me too and shut up, but elena doesn't know how to listen.

"But I'm not Katherine. My name is Elena Gilbert; you don't have to do this." elena tried to reason with the woman. 

"I know who you are, I said be quiet." seriously elena, this is the second time. please, shut up.

"What do you want?" elena tried again, god just be quiet. i looked at her as if she were crazy, when a kidnapper tell you to shut up, you shut the fuck up.

the woman slaps her hard across the face. elena falls on the couch, unconscious. thank god. 

"i want you to be quiet."

"i think we're going to be great friends." i said smiling, looking at my unconscious younger sister. "i'm sunny." i said holding my hand out for a handshake. "it's lovely to meet you."

"rose." she said hesitantly.

"i was just wondering, what did you mean when you said i looked like the paintings?" i asked.

"the girl was always in his paintings. he never really showed them to people but he had one, i remember, it use to sit over the fireplace in one of the sitting rooms. it was 1492, katherine had just became a vampire and i was packing up all my shit to leave with trevor, i was getting something from one of the storage rooms in their castle and i saw dozens of them. paintings. they were all different but also the same. they all held a girl, hazel eyes, some had different coloured hair, but it was always the same face. your face. he use to paint you, i believe, in the morning, just after he woke up. there were rumours in the servants quarters that he had dreams of the girl and that he painted her to make the memories last. but those were just rumours." 

"wow." i said stunned, some man was painting me. "what was the man's name?"

a look of fear fell over rose's face. "klaus" she said with a shaky breath. the name made shivers run down my spine. 

"klaus" i whispered, lightly biting my lip. it was familiar, i felt like i knew the name, like i knew him. "i use to have dreams about a man named klaus, he was polite, kind to me, i was only young, it may be why he seems so familiar to me. do you know where he may be? i assume he was a vampire, like you?" 

"he is more than a vampire, he's death, it follows him wherever he goes. i don't know where he may be now, but there is a man coming, for elena, he might know where he is." 

"what does he need elena for?" 

"i'm not sure, but he has been looking for a doppelganger for a long time." 

"well i'll be sure to ask him about klaus." another shiver ran down my spine making me smile at his name. rose walked away out of the room, most likely to talk to trevor. 

just the thought of him made me giddy.

him.

klaus.

{and this concludes the first chapter.}