What Lies Beneath

Chapter 20: Breaking Inside

Bursting through the doors of the Mystic Falls Hospital, Bonnie Bennett hurried down the pristine halls towards Caroline Forbes' room. She'd received a call earlier on her cell from Matt telling her that their friend—his girlfriend—had taken a turn for the worst and had to go back into surgery. Something about internal bleeding and needing to find out where it was coming from. There was a good chance that she could die.

A world without Caroline just wouldn't be right. Sure she had her problems and vices like everyone else, but when the chips were down she always managed to come through. And there were times when she was completely sincere with her affections. Before her father ran off with another man, she'd been this bubbly, caring person from a two parent household. It was natural that shaking that up would change her outlook on life and herself.

This is all my fault. I didn't remove the spell on the device properly and now everyone I care about is paying the price. How am I supposed to fix this?

Running a hand through her hair, she rounded a corner to see Matt sitting on a bench looking like he had no reason to go on. With what was happening in his life, she couldn't blame him. "Matt, hey. I came as soon as I heard."

"Bonnie, hey." He stood and accepted her hug. "Thanks for coming."

"Of course." She said softly. "What's going on? I thought Caroline was doing better…"

He sighed deeply. "She was and then last night something happened. They said the monitors started going crazy and she just, took a turn for the worst. They had to take her back to surgery."

"She's going to be fine." The little witch related. "She has to be."

"I hope so. I—I don't know what I would do if…" He let the sentence die. "How could this happen? Tyler isn't a bad driver. I still don't understand how he crashed his car or that stupid noise he said he heard."

That he heard because of me. "I'm sure everything will be explained or whatever. All we need to do now is focus on having good thoughts and making sure Caroline pulls through."

The blonde flopped down hard. "I'm gonna wait here in case the doctor comes out or something. They won't really tell me anything because I'm not family but it won't stop me from asking."

Nodding, she gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Don't worry, Matt. She's gonna be fine." Pause. "I'm gonna go get you some coffee. You look really tired."

"Thanks." He whispered, turning his eyes back towards the double doors to the operating rooms.

Exhaling, she turned on her heels and headed for the snack room, her mind whirling with different thoughts. Something was up with Tyler and she felt as if she needed to figure it out. That she wouldn't be able to rest until she understood why he'd been affected by Jonathan Gilbert's device. It just didn't make sense because he wasn't a vampire and neither was his father…so what was their deal? Why had they heard what only supernatural ears could pick up?

Is Tyler a something else too? And if so, what?

Drifting past the nurse's station, she was surprised when she literally bumped into her best friend Elena Gilbert. They embraced and the brunette asked, "Bonnie, how's Caroline? I came as soon as I heard."

"She's weak. They don't know if she's gonna make it." Bonnie replied sadly.

Elena's eyes widened in shock and she accepted another hug from her friend. "What? I—is there something you can do? Like, a spell or something?"

God I wish it were that easy. Before she could reply, Damon Salvatore stepped into view from where he'd been eavesdropping. "Unfortunately my little witch doesn't know how just yet. Do you?"