MONSTER, stefan salvatore [2]

The Day I Tried To Live

CHAPTER 43: THE DAY I TRIED TO LIVE

trigger warning: mentions attempted suicide

The Salvatore Boarding House

Sometimes, Natalie had a few days that made her want to cry. Days like when her mother died, both times. And right now, the day that made her want to fall to pieces, was February 5th. And the reason was that February 5th 1992, a small baby girl named Bonnie Bennett was born. And now, 21 years later, she was dead. Well, not exactly dead, but she was gone. And it hurt. It hurt everyone around them to know she was all alone in the prison world because she decided to be so damn selfless. Natalie would have taken her place in a heartbeat, just so she could be out there with the people she loved. 

But still, Elena had decided that to get everyone's minds off the things about the Geminis and Liz that had been happening lately, they would honor Bonnie by throwing her a birthday party, one she wouldn't show up for. 

But Natalie decided that she needed to do her best to be optimistic, and so she thought that looking at the bright sides of things would be better. So, she smiled as she looked at pictures of Bonnie, Caroline and Elena as children. They seemed so happy, so carefree. She was too at that age, but she was carefree in North-Carolina. 

She looked at a picture of the three of them sitting on a park bench, backpacks thrown over their shoulders while wearing their nicest clothes. She turned the picture around and found some writing. The girls' first day of school.

She giggled a bit as she decided to go back and look at the terrible choices Elena made with her hair. She wasn't far away from thinking she asked her five-year-old brother, Jeremy, to do her hair for her. 

Speaking of Jeremy, he just entered the house, probably (or, rather hopefully) getting ready to take a shower as he wiped the sweat away from his forehead from what most likely was another harsh work-out of the kind that were only done by hunters of the five and bodybuilders. "Hey, Jeremy! Did all your drinking kill those two brains cells you had left?"

He turned around to face her, frowning in confusion. He had no idea why she had suddenly decided that insulting him was going to be fun, but he also had a feeling he didn't want to know. "I think I have at least two left, so no."

"Oh, I'm not so sure about that. If you did, then I didn't have to find this in the trash can," she pulled up an application Jeremy had filled out for an art school before throwing it away. "You didn't even tell me you were considering going to art school."

He sighed, having hoped that nobody would find out about it. He would rather it be Elena who would find it, even. He was almost surprised that Natalie just didn't send in the application for him. "I'm not. The only class I'm passing is study hall. They'll never let me in."

Natalie pushed herself off the floor, rolling her eyes. "Jer, you know I've stolen your portfolio and looked at your drawings. You didn't speak to me for a week, remember? But it was worth it, because they were some good ass drawings."

He shook his head. It wasn't because he doubted his artistic talent, he hadn't done that since he was a small kid, long before he met Natalie. "Doesn't matter. I'm not leaving without knowing Bonnie's okay or not."

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Once Jeremy let to fortunately actually take that shower Natalie hoped he would, she decided to go out and meet with the others who were going to celebrate Bonnie's birthday party. She found Caroline on the phone, asking her mother how many eggs were supposed to be in a cake she had already finished baking. Yeah, Natalie was confused too.