Lights Flicker And Fade : Kol Mikaelson [3]

235: A Ghost Along The Mississippi

a/n: Cami and Kol's chats make me v happy
(Also, so many people were commenting last chapter it felt so good to be back aaaaaaa xxxxx) Remember to comment and vote x
- Bea <3

Fare thee well, my darling girl.
Fare thee well, my daughter.

MJ's head dropped, waking her up.

She'd called her dad to explain the boxes coming his way and tell him about the ghost visions, and then...she'd gone to bed?

Waking up on a sofa, having dosed off like it was her apartment, only it very much wasn't.

MJ was wrapped in a thin throw blanket, curled inside an apartment, red brick walls paired with a tiny window opening out to New York's familiar skyline. Constantly battling between looking grimy and beautiful. Overly beautiful. Skyline too clear. No smell reminded her how unkempt everything was. No scuttling of rats in the background of the beating trains rushing above and below.

She rushed to her feet, shoving the blanket aside to scan the walls.

The apartment was filled with walls, each room separated by doors – the opposite of what she looked for. Especially paired with all the colours. MJ was a colourful person, but each fabric looked fake. Too saturated. A set designed to avoid brands, every label like a parody of reality.

Leaving her in the living room, the teal blue sofa covered in small pillows, the coffee table and TV stand too clean. No trace of dust. No stains from glasses left there too long. The walls were decorated with photos of her and Kol smiling and posing in different countries.

Her finger lingered on that, fighting off a small smile.

A landline phone was on one of the side tables, a retro-looking spin dial in the middle, a clock on the wall, a record player, and a calendar on the back of the door, filled with reminders.

Glancing through doorways, she found a small kitchen and an office space filled with sketches, photographs, and easels surrounded by paint supplies. Its window leading to the fire escape opened slightly, sending her back to the good memories from her childhood. The noise of the city kicked in with its discovery.

Noise of the city...

New Orleans.

New Orleans was where she'd fallen asleep, so how the hell was she in some apartment in New York?

Why did sticking her head out the window seemingly give her vertigo? Eyes transported to the view of a lens, generic shots looking up at the tall buildings as people passed by. Mind now a drones flying, capturing yellow taxis and billboards. A light tune shoving her back inside like a jingle.

Searching the apartment for any other proof of life beyond the photographs, MJ found a safe in the bedroom closet.

It was a one-bedroom apartment, a spare room big enough for another bed, but clearly in a transition phase, boxes inside – leftover pieces of furniture. MJ couldn't tell if that meant they'd just moved in, or couldn't agree on what to turn the room into, so just used it for storage.

The safe had her a whole new level of confused.

Birth certificates, medical records, High School and College graduation certificates – for both her and Kol.

Her birth certificate was identical to the one she had in real life; August 16th 1992.

Kol's reading May 7th 1988.

It looked too real.

MJ knew everything had to be a figment of her imagination, and they were vampires. They could compel Kol a birth certificate if they wanted to, but something inside her said it wasn't fake.