Madeline Sage Saltzman, a vampire hunter and adoptive daughter of Alaric Saltzman, did not know what was in store for her when she entered Mystic Falls. Each passing day meant more potential dangers emerging. How will she handle it when she falls in...
Her father was the one person who was there for her throughout her childhood, attempting to play both parent roles. Maddie still distinctly remembered how he struggled to do her hair for school in the morning, spending all his time looking up tutorials.
Now, when she would fiddle with the ends of her hair, it reminded her of his old habit to fidget with the strands while watching the videos.
As Meredith Fell ran tests on her father, Madeline remained silent, unconsciously playing with her hair. Fucking hospitals. She hated them. The current situation only gave her more reason to. Elena, Pietro, and Stefan looked at her with piercing worry, praying she would say something, anything. Since she was little, she always went silent when battling her emotions. It started with Isobel. When she supposedly died when she was a child, she didn't speak for a long time, traumatized.
Even when the tests ended and proved that his brain had no sign of a tumor or any other threatening matters, she didn't talk. Walking with Elena, she went to inform her father of the news. Upon laying eyes on him, she couldn't see anything remotely different about him, striving to convince herself that it was all a mistake. Although, the journals and Samantha Gilbert proved otherwise.
God, how she hated that ring. Yes, the stupid thing had saved her father on multiple occasions since he was like a magnet for the supernatural, but now it threatened to take him away from her.
"Meredith says that everything is normal." Elena said as the two girls entered the history teacher's hospital room. He was dressed casually, collecting his things.
"Well, everything is normal. Because there is nothing wrong with me. I didn't kill all those people, and I sure as hell didn't shove a hunting knife into my stomach." Alaric defended, unwilling to believe he was going insane. He and Madeline had a similar approach, both trying to rewrite the truth with their minds. Glancing down where his ring was settled on, Alaric exhaled, doubtful about his own assurances. "Or I did, and I've gone insane. Just like that ancestor who wore that ring."
Not wanting to hear about the possibility of him being insane again, Madeline cleared her throat, finding it hard to breathe in the tiny room. "I ─︎ I need to go. I'll be back."
"Maddie, wait ─︎," Alaric called out, but it was too late. Madeline was already making her way down the hall. Chest heaving up and down, Madeline was distracted, counting her breaths. It was only until she ran into someone that she looked up.
