On My Own (TVD Series)

Deceptive Illusions

There was a silence to my soul. A stillness that paused every vein and artery in my body. The flames from the fireplace warmed inside the house, yet as I stood there I began to feel a chill in my blood. Coldness brought the nerves of my brain to stand still, though I let out a gasp of air every once in a while, I could hear my heart beating.

At a steady pace, there was no excitement, no fear, or frustration. But once heads started turning back at me, the silence had unmuted itself and blasted me with the heavy winds creaking the house and the sound of Damon's voice calling out to me.

"Lauren." He blurted out.

"...sorry, I'm..."

Striding around the couch, my eyes followed Lillian as hers filled with tears, dripping down from the inner corner. She hadn't changed in over 200 years, her pale skin and blue eyes were clear as ever, given the dark house. But she was still my mother, the woman who sang me to sleep, who made pancakes with eggs. The same woman who gave me my first sketchbook and pencils, here she was again.

"You are so beautiful..." She gasped, lightly touching the sides of my cheeks.

"...I dreamed of the day that I would see you all grown up. Being your own woman...and here you are."

"Here I am." I gasped quietly.

"And your hair...did you cut it?"

"...years ago, I was going through a phase."

"Well, I hope you keep long...you always did look prettier with long hair."

"She dyed it too...brown," Damon added.

"You were cursed with your father's dark hair...if only you were a redhead like me we would've been twins."

"...how sad." I sighed.

Sniffling, she reached down her shirt, struggling to pull out what looked like a necklace from around her neck.

"I kept this...all these years. See?"

Long enough for the both of us to look at it, she opened the locket, dusting off the picture inside with her thumb. Small and naive, I stared at a picture of myself all dolled up in a red dress with half of my hair pinned up by a bow.

"...do you remember this day? We were running all over town trying to find the perfect baptism dress."

"I remember...father yelled at the seamstress for cutting the dress too short. I cried just before that picture." I mumbled.

"Yeah, well...your father was a difficult man. I hope you never found yourself near men like him."

Noticing her eyes dart behind me, she quickly cleaned the tears and fixed her dress as Kai took his stop next to me.

"Oh, and who is this?"

"...this is Kai. Kai this is our mother...Lillian." I smile forcibly.

"It's lovely to meet you...I heard a lot about you."

"Oh, really?"

"He was the one who told us about you," I added.

"Well, looks like you didn't need help finding a partner after all."

"What-"

"He's not my boyfriend, mom. He's helping us get you out of here..."

Watching Kai from the corner of my eye, he turned to me before his eyes dart over at Damon.

"Oh, well...apologies. Please, sit..."

Taking to longest way around the couch and away from my mother, I took a seat on the couch opposite Damon and Elena, noticing the teacups on the table. Hearing the kettle start to whistle in the fireplace, my mother made her way back over, carefully lifting it from the iron bar she hung it from.