In Another Life

i. Senior Prank Night

Season 3

"This feels like a disaster waiting to happen"

"Raeyn!" Dana exclaimed in a hushed voice. "Don't jinx it!"

We started placing cups on the gym floor to have them filled with water. I suggested we start on the outside, work our way around the perimeter, close in on the middle then finish up at the exits. That way we won't risk knocking over all our work in the process. But no. Someone just had to insist that we start from the middle and work our way outwards without any coherent plan. Now everyone's just scattered the cups in different groups in different areas of the gym floor.

"Rae, your eye's twitching," Dana says as she unwraps another pack of paper cups. Thankfully these cups were only dollar store cheap. "if you're tired, you can take a break you know."

Oh, I'd love nothing more than to just lay down on this grimy ass gym floor right now. My back is killing me and I feel like my legs are going to cramp if I don't stand up in a few seconds. Michael's got the right idea, he brought in his skateboard to help him set up cups faster. But I can feel the sweat in my hands beading up at the thought of one wrong push and all our work, just gone.

"I'll be fine, D," I take the other stack of cups she hands me and continue setting them up. "Thanks for the concern though." I should probably switch over to another task, that way I get a little break from this repetitive motion of open pack, line cups, open pack, line cups, open pack, line cups— You get the idea.

I stand from where I'd been sitting and stretch my arms up high. I love doing that stretch, it makes me think of cats. Plus it feels satisfying to do after being pretty much stuck in the same horrible posture for a while. I look around at everyone else that's helping out in this area. Timothy's got his water gun to spray the water evenly in each cup, smart move. Chad's talking with Dana about whatever. Mel and Sasha are probably talking about their next hair appointment again. Elena's being pulled through the doors by some random man.

"Attention seniors,"

Wait.

Oh.

Elena.

Ugh.

"You have officially been busted," The man shouts in a strained American accent. "Prank Night is officially over. Head on home."

The room echoes with groans as everyone starts to pack up all the leftover cups that we didn't get to unpack. It was no use picking up all the ones we did line up and fill, so we just left them. We'll deal with those tomorrow or whatever. I place my leftover cups back in the nearby box and begin to walk towards the exit.

"You three," Chad, Dana and I turn towards the man holding Elena's arm. "I remember you." Um. Am I supposed to know who this man is?

Dana beats me to the question as she asks and he replies, "Wasn't in my right head last we met." Right. Sounds oddly suspicious. I can feel my feet moving back in small movements. Every inch of nerves in my body is screaming for me to run. I have no idea why. That is until he looked Dana in the eye and told her to keep her foot up. Then he looked at Chad and told him to beat Dana to death if she dropped her foot. Yep, that's my cue to leave.

"Rae, love, could you kindly come here and hold Elena's arm?" Shit. Something tells me my lack of ability to make eye contact has something to do with this man right here. Because one minute I'm about to run for my life before I also get told to do something violently absurd and the next I'm dropping the box in my hands and placing my hand where the man previously had his wrapped around Elena's upper arm. "Now, don't move until Chad finishes beating Dana. Understood?"

A few minutes go by and Dana starts to sway. I can practically smell the fear in both Chad and Dana.

"Keep it up." The man says. I think I've zoned out from being so still. Shit. Please no. I can feel the cramp that's just waiting to happen in my hand if I don't let go of Elena right now. Please please please, please. The door opens up behind us yet I can't move to see who it is. Elena, however, does.

"Bonnie, get out of here!" Wait wait wait, Bonnie Bennett? What's Bonnie doing here?

The man who'd been standing with his arms crossed suddenly whooshes away from next to Elena and I. Probably to greet Bonnie, I can only assume. When his voice rings out, my suspicions are confirmed.

"Uh, Dana, why don't you relax? You and Chad sit tight." Dana collapses to her knees with Chad helping her up. He drags them both to the stands, taking the furthest seat away from us. "Rae, love, you can move now." Thank fuck. I go to take my hand away from Elena's arm but it won't budge. I didn't want to hurt her unintentionally so I avoided using too much strength. What good is being able to move if I can't let go of her? This is pointless.

I heave a sigh and place my free hand with my other. Only then was my hand able to pull away from Elena and finally stretch before the hand cramps started. "Oh, right. You can let go of her too." Finally. The man turns his attention back to Bonnie. Oh, Matt's here too.

"I assume you're the reason Elena's still alive." Huh?

"That's right," Bonnie's voice is low and steady. A cautious confidence. "If you wanna blame someone, blame me." Uhhhh. I should probably go.

"There's no need for blame, love. Just your witchy interference seems to have caused some undesirable side effects." Yep, okay. I'm leaving.

I have no idea what's going on but frankly, and as interesting as it sounds, I have no interest in being part of whatever is going on here. Personally, I'd love to go home and just sleep now. I turn to leave but the door opens and Tyler is getting dragged in by some blonde.

"I'd like you all to meet my sister." The man gestures to the woman holding Tyler's hand behind his back at an uncomfortable angle. She smiles like she isn't even lifting a finger whilst Tyler looks like he's struggling a lot. "Rebekah. A word of warning, she can be quite mean."

"Don't be an ass," Rebekah says before throwing Tyler to her brother, whose name I still can't seem to remember.

I search my memories for any name that seems to fit his face but none come to mind. The chain of my necklace begins to scratch too deeply from my twisting of its silver around itself. it's an odd habit I've come to enact when deep in thought, Bonnie once pointed out.

"Be careful there, love," His voice rings out, again. "You'll tear your neck if you continue to do that." A voice with a face but no name. This is so annoying.

My thoughts were scrambled even further by a hand on my own. He loosened my fingers that continued to wind up the little infinity pendant around my neck like a music box. All the while, he said nothing. Except, his eyes looked at me with this weird hint, his brows furrowed in confusion or concern, I couldn't tell. Aw, does he care for me? Wait— Ew, I don't even know his name. I should ask for his name. Before I could even open my mouth, he's already turned back to the main conversation. Well, I guess I'll just figure it out later.

When I tune myself back into focus, the man has Tyler by the collar of his shirt and bites into his wrist. I'm taken aback when he presses his bleeding wrist onto Tyler's mouth, leaving Tyler no choice but to down the blood.

"I need you to find a way to save my hybrids, Bonnie." He's now got Tyler in a headlock, his other hand reaching around his head. "And for Tyler's sake..." snap. "you'd better hurry." Tyler's body thuds against the wooden floor.

***

A/N: Hello! Sorry if this doesn't make sense half the time. I haven't written anything in a good while so I'm still trying to pick up my old flow. I have also posted this on ao3 under the user 'jktaechwita'. Unfortunately, English is my first language, so this story could either suck or be pretty decent.

Have fun and lmk what you think !! <3