Eternal Flame

1. New Beginnings

Sighing, I lifted my luggage out of the trunk of the taxi and let it fall with a loud thump on the driveway to my aunt, Liz Forbes’s house in Mystic Falls.

  “Well,” I looked around, “I guess this is home.”

  Home. Ha. Home meant almost nothing to me now. Yet a tiny lump began to form in my throat as I said the word. ‘No,’ I thought, ‘I can’t start this again.’ Just less than seven months since the plane crash that had killed both my parents, and I was still a mess. Remembering the promise I had made to myself on the trip, I picked up my bags, walked up the steps to the house, and knocked.  ‘I will be pleasant.’

  Aunt Liz and my favourite (and only) cousin Caroline answered right away. Aunt Liz’s expression was mixed with happiness, concern, and relief as I walked into the white house.

  “You’re here! Finally! I thought you’d never get here,” Caroline exclaimed as she grabbed me and pulled me into a tight hug, “How are you?”

  Caroline and I were pretty much best friends, and after the accident she’d become much more shielding, and called me almost every day.

  “I’m good,” I lied as she let go.

  Aunt Liz, still in uniform from her job as the sheriff of Mystic Falls, gave me a quick hug, which was not bereft of caring but contrasted Caroline’s greatly. Aunt Liz was like that; she cared a lot, but she was pretty much always busy and never liked to hover.

  “Bethany,” she smiled, “How was the taxi ride?”

  “We knew you hadn’t been on one before,” Caroline added from behind her mother’s shoulder, appearing a bit upset at not being front and centre.

  “It was good,” this was not a lie. The taxi driver had only tried once to make small-talk, which I had engaged in for a short while, to be polite.

  “I thought you’d never get here! It seemed like forever,” Caroline complained happily.

  As if she hadn’t been texting me the whole way there.

  “I’m really sorry to crash the party, but I do have to get to work- I’m almost late,” Aunt Liz apologized, “Don’t worry, Caroline will show you everything you could ever possibly need.”

  God knows we both loved Caroline to bits, but she was what you’d call a talker.

  “Okay, see you later,” I smiled.

  “Bye Mom,” Caroline called.

  Aunt Liz made her exit, and Caroline and I stood in the middle of the kitchen, my bags at our feet.

  “When do you think she’ll be back?” I asked, a bit warily.

  “Late,” Caroline sighed in response, “Never earlier than nine thirty.”

  “Caroline-” I began sympathetically.

  “It doesn’t matter,” she cut me off, “I don’t need her anymore, anyway.”

  She did. Caroline never wanted to show any need to her mother, since Aunt Liz rarely had time for her. Caroline was forever trying to be independent, indifferent, and in charge. She usually succeeded.

  “Hey!” she exclaimed suddenly, bringing me back to reality with a jolt, “We should totally go to the Grill later! Everyone’s been dying to meet you!”

  Once Caroline realized her misstep, she started backtracking, “I’m so sorry- I meant waiting! I didn’t think-”

  This time I cut her off, “Caroline. It’s okay.”

  “Sure? I’ll watch from now on, I swear,” she said, apologies filling her eyes.

  “It’s all good,” I smiled. There was no need for everyone to watch everything they said and did around me just because I was an emotional disaster.

  “Okay,” she returned my smile gratefully, “Oh, wait! You have to see your room!”

  I followed behind her dutifully as she walked swiftly to the room that would be mine from now on. It was usually like this; Caroline in the lead, breaking trail, and me, right behind her, backing her up, her trusty side-kick. Not that I minded. I wasn’t the shy one or anything either, I was just as fiery as Caroline was. Typical of the Forbes family, I guess.

  Down the hallway, past Caroline’s room but before Aunt Liz’s room, was “my” room.

  “Close your eyes,” Caroline ordered me, grinning with uncontainable excitement.

  I did so unquestioningly, waiting for the order for me to open them. When it didn’t come, I looked.

  The room was painted a unique shade of lilac, not quite light, not quite dark. Most of the furniture was white; a white double bed with a bookcase headboard, two white nightstands, a white closet door, and a white dresser with a mirror. Then there was a lime green armchair, a pine chest at the foot of the bed, and a large mirror in the corner of the large room. Small white twinkle lights lit up the large room along with regular overhead light fixtures. It was absolutely beautiful, and absolutely me.

  “Wow, Caroline,” I breathed, “Thank you!”

  “Oh I knew you’d like it!” she laughed, ecstatic.

  “I love it!” I grinned.

  “I know,” Caroline smiled, a bit smugly, “But it’ll look better with all your stuff in it! Let’s get cracking!”