Saved by a Salvatore

Chapter 6

Saturday September 9, 2006

I've been in the Salvatore Boarding House for a little over 3 months. I'm doing so much better than when I first arrived. Stefan and Zach have been working themselves mad to help me get better. Either it be being me food or tea. Running therapeutic baths the help with the tremors. They've been so helpful and hands on. I've decorated my room to my liking, although I didn't really take anything away from it. Stefan insisted that I add at least a few things or he would've been insulted for giving me the room. I haven't slept in here since the night I woke up screaming. It's a good thing my room was right next to Stefan's. As soon as I'd woken in a violent fit of terror, he was there before I could bolt for the door.

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"Hey." he says cupping my face. "You're in the Boarding House. You're fine." searching my eyes that still haven't rested on him. "Kit, its Stefan. I'm here. Please look at me."

"NO! I can't go back! They'll kill me! I can't go back!" I screech, my head anywhere but in this entire house.

"It's only a nightmare. You're safe. Look at me, please." He hugs me to try to bring me back into the now. "You're the safest person in Mystic Falls at this very moment. Please, come back." he say close to me ear.

"Stefan?" I'm back. "What's going on? What happened?"

"I heard you screaming so I rushed in here and you where on the edge of the bed. Are you okay?" he says searching my eyes for any sign that I am okay.

"I don't know. One minute I'm dreaming and the next-" he stops me.

"Don't worry about any of that. You're safe now. How long have you been having these nightmares?" he frowns as if he's made the stupidest mistake ever.

"For as long as I can remember. They started when I was little." I say

Well, apparently I was wrong about letting you sleep in the room all by yourself." he says still frowning.

"What do you mean?" still not all there.

"What I mean is that you're not sleeping in here or alone anymore." He's serious.

That snapped me out of my dream. "If I'm not sleeping here, where am I going to sleep?" I say looking completely baffled.

"You are going to sleep in my room with me. No questions." he says sternly.

"You can't be serious! I thought this-" he cuts me off.

"It's nothing of what you might be thinking. If you've been having these nightmares for sometime, I'm sure things escalate and I don't want you to hurt yourself." He's stern.

"You don't have to do that. I'll be fine." When will this stop?

"I know very well what I don't have to do. But, I'm choosing to do this." he smiles.

"Why? Why do all this for someone you don't even know?" I have to know what his deal is; it's beginning to really piss me off.

"Let's just say that I've been where you are. Someone helped me. I didn't have screaming nightmares, but we all have our certain demons, right? Come with me." he stands holding out his hand for me.

Giving him my hand, "So, you're paying it forward?" I ask astonished.

"You can say that, yes." walking my out of the room.

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Stefan has officially affirmed that I'm the little sister he never got. I on the other hand, warmed to him almost immediately after the night he saved me from my own fear. Since I've been sleeping in his bed, I haven't had a nightmare and it looks like they won't be returning any time soon. I still have to pinch myself to understand how it is that I can sleep in bed with a guy and not sleep with him. I refuse to rehash the argument we had about, his and my view on spooning. To him, it's not spooning if you have platonic feelings toward that person. In a way, it makes since. To me at least. We've talked about our families. Apparently, He's an only child. His parents passed when he was younger. I told him about the reason that had me in Chicago in the first place. I simply walked off stage at my own concert the night after meeting Nomie. Something she said about me being a puppet stuck with me. My aunt Gloria thought it would be wise to go live with her for a while to figure out my next move. I can still remember the shock on her face when she found me in the Pink Panther. She kicked my ass so far to the curb. But, it wasn't long before I'd met Nik for the first time. There's so many ways a man can look at you dancing in a cage. But Nik was different. He didn't want me for the reason every other man did.

Nik was a gentleman. The only man who didn't look at me as if I was meat or a toy to play with. The only man I allowed to care for me. He knew I didn't want a commitment, and he understood my boundaries.

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"Nik, you can't feel this way about me. You don't know who I am or what I've done. I'm too messed up for someone like you." I push him away.

"We all have our faults, love. It comes with the territory. Who are you without inner demons, without inner struggle? Tell me, would you be here if you were not struggling to find something?" He says with that accent that throws me every single time. I swear sometimes I'll do little things just to get him to talk to me. As if I even need to try.

I can't dwell on that anymore. I can't dwell on Nik anymore, he's old news and I'm free of Chicago forever.