On My Own (TVD Series)

Missed Calls

A FEW DAYS LATER...ENZO'S POV

Sitting at the edge of my bed, huntched over as I laced up my boots, I hung there, letting gravity push out all the air in my lungs. Taking in the tightness of my chest as my knees were pressed against me, I pulled away, gasping for another breath as my hands rest at my side. Staring out at the far corner of the room, my shadow sat before me. This dark mass tracing itself along the wall as everything else around me was plain and white. I would've expect my imagination to run freely and see swirls of lights or other figures emerge next to me, but it was empty.

Days had passed since the last time I saw Lillian, with her deadly thirst and her vengeful heart as she longed for the ascendant back, I had become protective of her. As she was of me all those years ago, I had grown past the anger, and felt sorry for her the night she relapsed. Drenched in blood, she stood beside the car with tears running down her face, comforting an innocent dead man until I came to get her. She was utterly and complete alone her, with her family locked away in a prison, she had no anchor. Nothing to keep her accountable for as she faught tooth and nail to bring them back. And while she cried and went about her day, her children where nowhere to be found. Stefan and Damon where unbothered by her presence, and continuiously brushing her off like a naive child, but Lauren, on the other hand.

She was nowhere to be found.

The night I had learned about her mother and their relationship, I returned back to the Estate anxiously waiting for her arrival to speak to her. Pacing back and forth in my room, thinking of all the ways I could bring the subject up again but I was found with nothing but silence. Her room was spotless, her bed had not been slept in, and her voice had not been heard. I brushed it off for the first day, thinking that she might be off dealing with something, but then the second day came. I waited in the kitchen, eating breakfast with the others, and helped around the house. Gaia and Hestia went on about their day, gathering and gardening around the estate, while Selene kept herself busy with inside chores. Lauren was still nowhere to be seen.

By the third day, I had wandered up to the attic to find it empty and bare. Her brushes pointed up, organized by size next to the sink. Canvases, both blank and colored, were stored in the darkest part of the room, covered with cloths. By the fourth day, I had looked in every corner, room, and basement. Keeping my hunt as discretely as I could without worrying the others, I had taken a stroll around the land near the fountain and the old keepers shed. Again, she was knowhere to be seen. Eventually, not even 21st century technology could help me get a hold of her as every call I made went straight to voicemail. And I was fine at first, but after the 10th call and the 11th voicemail, I gave up trying to leave a message and simply sat there listening to the sound of her voice repeat 25 little words.

'Hi, this is Lauren. I can't come to the phone right now, but leave a message after the beep and I'll get back to you.'

It was depressing really, listening to her talk without seeing her in front of me. I could picture her standing before me with half her hair drapped over her shoulder and the rest running down her chest. Her soft eyes gazing at something off in the distance, while the corners of her mouth tightened and pulled to reveal this delicate bright smile. A slight brush of pink flushed across her cheeks as the sun beamed above her. But with my phone pinned to my ear and stuck in a trance as I heard her voice for a 12th time, I let out a deep sigh as my weigh of my phone fell at my side.

"Are you waiting for someone?" I heard a voice behind me, followed by the door creaking open.

Gasping out from excitement, my eyes peared upward at the door where Gaia's head was peaking in from hallway.

"...Hello, Gaia." I sighed, slipping my phone in my pocket.

"I was just making a call...that's all."

"You mean to Lauren?"