Mind over Matter ↠ Elijah Mikaelson

44

Marianne dug through her pocket and retrieved the paper ticket that she had stuffed in there a few hours ago. She wore black fingerless gloves that almost were covered with her sleeves of her jacket. She gave the bus driver the ticket and watched as he tore another line in the paper and handed it back. "Next" he called as Marianne walked down the tight aisle.

Her hand clutched the strap of her duffel bag and pulled it up as she glanced at each passenger, choosing the right place to sit. She passed a sketchy looking man that held onto a back pack, she didn't want to even guess what was in there. She passed a large man who spluttered and coughed into his hand, before wiping it on the chair beside him.

Eventually, as she approached the back, she settled on the empty seats. At first she searched for anything to cover the dirt riddled chair; but then she remembered that she wasn't the spoilt little princess others saw her has. Not anymore.

And so she sat down and put her bag on the seat next to her, preventing any other dodgy looking characters from sitting beside her. It made her appreciate the life she did have, seeing this now, this is the life that some live, and it was sad.

Marianne sat and waited until the dreaded words the bus driver would call when they stopped. End of the line. But it was a good few hours until that would happen. It gave her time to think.

Her life had now turned a dark grey, the sky was black and the people here lacked colours. She longed for the diversity, the bells and rings that the witches in the quarter wore, everything that made her life whole. Even the littlest things made it better. But this, it was full and boring and upsetting.

The rain hit against the window making her glad that she was inside, even though she was trapped with a bunch of strangers that looked like they had a criminal background.

Marianne felt like taking her phone out of her bag and trying to figure out how to use it, to phone Elijah and apologise how sorry she was and ask her to come and pick her up. But number one, she threw the one she was given away and got a new one, and two, she knew she'd be tempted to do anything like that so she didn't keep any contact details of anyone she could ask to come and pick her up. She was much too proud.

But she could always just pick up and go back to the compound, all she needed was to get back into Louisiana and then she could figure out the rest. Or she could just stop injecting herself with the blocking spell and let Elijah find her, but that would risk Tristan finding her.

The question that she really had to ask was that was anyone actually trying to find her? Did her disappearance stir things up or did everyone carry on their lives unaffected? Marianne walked out and she was completely blind to what was happening back home.

"Looks like there's a storm coming" an elderly woman spoke from behind her, causing Marianne to turn her body to see her. She looked at the clouds and then smiled at the old woman, turning back around again.

"you look like that kind of girl that shouldn't be around these parts" she carried on

Marianne turned her neck slightly "I'm just passing through" she sighed, turning back around again and wanting to keep as low as possible, no contact with strangers on the bus.

"They're looking for you" the woman hummed "both of them are"

Her words made Marianne freeze, she tried to ignore it, she tried to keep looking forward and ignoring her. But she needed to know.

"who is exactly looking for me?" She turned around quickly and asked. Fearing for the worst.

"The one that used to love you and the one that still does" she stated, it was like she knew everything about Mariannes life.

Tristan, the one that used to love her. Elijah, the one that still does. Well at least she thought anyway. "He's looking for me?" She asked, feeling a little spark inside of her light up at the knowledge "How do you know?"

"I have my sources, child" she replied, clutching onto her bag on her knee. "I know you're in danger"

"Do you work for Tristan?" Marianne just had to ask, she couldn't not ask "please don't tell anyone about my location" she pleaded

"I am my own person, I won't tell anyone anything" she motioned to zip her lip and throw away the key "but you will probably need to get off at the next stop to avoid any collisions"

Marianne looked to see that the bus was pulling over to the next stop. The one she needed to get out on. "It was nice to see a friendly face" she started to say goodbye to the woman now scribbling on an old napkin that she had found in her bag "thank you"

"Wait, dear" she called as Marianne put her bag on her shoulder "vampires have the ability to compel people to forget, whereas you cannot" she passed her the old napkin with incantations and ingredients "you'll figure out what to do"

Marianne was overwhelmed with how the woman was so friendly to her, a stranger. Well at least a stranger to Marianne. She didn't know what that woman knew or even if she could trust her.

Marianne panicked as she regretted getting off the bus, was she about to walk into Strix country? will she walk straight into Tristan's grasp?

But all that happened was she walked straight into the rain. Marianne stuffed the napkin in a pocket of her bag for protection. She just needed a place to rest her head for tonight as the sun had disappeared and the moon was shining. Just anywhere.