The Vampire Diaries(BxB)

Truth Of The Non Belief

It's been four days since the Founder's Party, and I wake up on the right side of my bed, and look at my journal on the nightstand, and pick it up, and sit up, but think of nothing to write, and set it back down on the nightstand, and get out of bed, and head to the bathroom. I open the door, and see Vicki brushing her teeth. "Um.." I say. "I. I'm sorry, I'm almost done." She says. "It's. It's ok. Take your time." I say, and turn around, and shut the door, and exhale, and walk downstairs, and see Jenna with her back turned. "Jenna!" I whisper yell, as she looks at me, and I walk around her to my chair, and point up. "Are you aware of what's going on upstairs?" I ask. "Uh huh." She says, as I put my hand down. "And you have no objection?" I ask. "He could be craftier about it. At least try and make an effort to sneak her in and out." She says, as I walk to the bowls on the shelf, and pick one up with my right hand. "Oh, and, uh, just so you know, I won't be home for Dinner." She says, as I walk back to her, smiling, and pick up the cereal box, pouring it into my bowl. "Oh, so you're actually going to do it. You're going to go out with Logan." I say, laughing. "I'm going to show up and torture him, yes." She says, and I smile. "And have you heard from Stefan?" She asks. "Not since he uh, left that very vague message three days ago. Hi, uh, Ethan. I, um, I have something I have to do. Ill, uh, explain in a few days." I say. "Haven't you called him?" She asks, as I pour the milk. "Nope. Not going to, either." I say, looking down. "And you're okay with everything?" She asks, and I set the milk down, and look up at her. "No, I'm not okay with any of it." I say, shaking my head. "I was gonna write in my journal this morning, and then I thought, I have nothing to write. I'm not gonna be one of those pathetic guys whose World stops spinning because of some guy." I say, and put a spoon in my cereal, and take a bite of my it. "Ok, then." She says. "I'll be fine. No.. I won't." I say, putting my bowl down, crying, and she stands up, and walks over to me, hugging me, and I hug back, and we release. "I.. have to get to school." I say, and walk off. I'm with Mark at school, and I see Tony handing out flyers, and look back at Mark. "Unbelievable. It's like nothing happened." I say. "He's in denial." He says, and I look back at Tony. "Hey." Stefan says, and I look at him, and he gives a small smile, and lowers it. "Hey, uh, you know, I gotta go, uh, be somewhere right now." Mark says, and walks off, and I look down. "I'm so sorry I haven't called." He says, and I look up at him. "I was dealing with Damon." He says. "And did you? Deal with Damon?" I ask. "Yes. Yeah." He says, nodding. "For four days?" I ask. "You have every right to be upset either me, but can I explain it all to you, please?" He asks. "Sure. When?" I ask. "I gotta be home after school, but the Grill, around four o'clock?" He asks, and I nod. "Ok." I say. "Thanks." He says, and we hear footsteps, and look at Tony. "Stefan? Where's Damon? He has some serious apologizing to do." He says, and I look at Stefan. "He's gone, Tony." He says. "When's he coming back?" Tony asks. "He's not coming back. I'm sorry." Stefan says, and looks at me, and walks off, and I give a small smile, and turn to Tony. "This is a good thing, Tony." I say. "I know that." He says. I arrive to the Grill, and see Matt playing Pool. "Hey, Matt, uh, have you seen Stefan?" I ask, as he looks at me. "Nope." He says, and sighs, as I'm about to walk off. "If you want to kill some time." He says, and I look back at him. "Um, you can rack." He says, and I sigh. "Come on. We haven't played in forever. I'll let you break." He says, smiling, and I smile back. "We never played. I always won." I say. "With your big brain of knowledge." He says, and we both laugh. We're playing Pool, as I'm talking about the drama. "And there's Vicki being all nonchalant in the bathroom like it's no big deal that they're hooking up." I say, and hit another stripe ball. "Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. Your brother and my sister, that's weird." He says. "Yeah." I say, and my phone vibrates, and I pull it out of my pocket, and see it's Stefan. "How late is he?" Matt asks, and I look at him. "Hitting the hour mark. There's nothing wrong though. Which means I'm not talking boy problems with you." I say, and hit another stripe ball. "Good. I mwan, it's not like we were ever best friends or anything." He says, smiling, and hits his ball, and I sigh. "Ok. Here it goes." I say, and he straightens up. "What do you think of Stefan? Is he a good guy?" I ask. "Why? What's he done?" He asks. "Not any one thing. He's just so secretive all the time. I think there's something that he doesn't want me to know, which makes me want to know all the more." I say. "Like what?" He asks, smiling. "Like that he's a Serial Killer and he keeps a clown suit in his trunk?" He asks, hitting another ball, and I give a small laugh. "No, of course not. And I did an essay on John Wayne Gacy for AP Psych. But what do we know about him, really?" I ask. "He's great at Football. A little bit of a loner. And as much as I hate saying it, he might be a nice guy." He says. "So you think I'm just being paranoid?" I ask. "I think you should talk to him." He says. "Talk to who?" Stefan asks, and we look at him. "I'm so sorry that I'm late." He says. "What happened?" I ask. "I got held up." He says. "Is everything okay?" I ask. "There was this thing with my Uncle." He says. "And you couldn't call and tell me that you were going to be an hour late?" I ask. "Ok. You two have fun." Matt says, touching my shoulder, and puts his hand down, and walks off, and I look back at Stefan. "I'm really sorry. It was unavoidable." He says. "What was unavoidable?" He asks, and looks down, and back to me. "Ok." I say, and begin to walk off. "Oh, uh, Ethan, please." He says, and I look at him. "No, Stefan, don't you get it? Every question gets a vague non answer. What is so awful that you're afraid to tell me?" I ask. "I know you." A man says from behind me, and I turn around, and see an old, dark skinned man. "My God." He says, and I look at Stefan. "I'm sorry?" He asks, and I look back at the man. "I know you. How can it be?" He asks. "I think you have the wrong person, sir." Stefan says. "You haven't aged a day." The man says, and I look at Stefan, and he looks at me, and back to the man. "I'm sorry. Excuse me." He says, and looks at me. "Hey, can we. Can I take you home and we can talk about it?" He asks, taking my hand, and we start walking off. "Is that ok?" He asks. "Wait, what was that?" I ask. "I. I don't know. Uh, nothing." He says. "Right, nothing. Ok um.. I'm just.. I uh.. I gotta go, Stefan." I say, and look down, and he let's my hand go, and I look back up, and walk off. I'm at home, writing in my journal. "I tried. I want so much to make things right, but every instinct in my body is telling me to be careful. I don't want to get hurt. What you don't know can hurt you, though." I write. I'm laying on my bed, on my stomach, cuddled up to my pillow, and hear footsteps. "You okay?" Jeremy asks. "Is Vicki in there?" I ask. "Don't answer a question with another question. Maybe." He says, and gives a small laugh. "What's wrong with you?" He asks. "I'm miserable." I say. "Well, you should go eat something. Even you need to eat, especially." He says. "I'm not hungry." I say, and sigh. "Go on. You'll body will thank you later." He says, and I turn around, and see him smiling. I sit up, and get out of the bed, and walk past, and begin walking down the stairs, and I hear clattering. "Jenna?" I ask, walking down the stairs more, and head towards the kitchen. "Jenna?" I ask, and walk over to the double sliding doors, and open them, and see Stefan chopping garlic. "Stefan? What are you doing here?" I ask, walking over to him. "Dinner. Jeremy told me that Chicken Parmesan is one of your favorites, or was one of your favorites, and I happen to be a good cook. The Italian roots demand it. I can even make my own homemade Mozzarella. Only tonight, it us unfortunately store bought." He says, holding up the container, smiling, and sets it down. "I don't uh.. know what you're trying to accomplish." I say, walking closer. "You want to know me, right?" He asks, and I nod. "Well, I figure if you're going to dump me, you should at least, um, know who you're dumping. So let's start with Alex." He says. "Stefan.." I say, and he interrupts me. "He was.. the most handsome guy that I had ever met. He had this perfect light pale skin. And he had this laugh. It was ridiculous." He says, looking at what he's chopping, and back up to me. "I mean, his laugh made you laugh." He says, and I smile. "And he was fun. He knew how to have a good time. But Alex was also very impatient and entitled and selfish, and, uh, and impulsive. Enter Damon." He says, looking at what he's chopping, and back to me. "He claims that he was with him first. I don't know. I do know that I did some things that.. I'm not proud of. And my biggest regret is not being able to make it right before he died." He says, and I nod. "I miss him, but.. I'm no longer crippled by his loss." He says. "Would you like some help? And Chicken Parmesan was and is my favorite." I say, smiling. "I would love your help." He says, smiling, and I walk over to him, and begin chopping onions. "I'm an avid reader. A huge Fitzgerald fan. The Great Gatsby, his masterpiece. But I'm no snob. I love some good Grisham. I think Seinfeld is the best American Television show for the past fifty years." He says, and I smile at him, nodding, and go back to the garlic. "But, I Love Lucy, is all time." He says, and I look at him, as he's smiling. "The Loving Cup episode was the best, I think." He says, and I laugh. "Huge Scorsese fan. I can watch, Taxi Driver, over and over again." He says. "Here, let me help with the garlic." I say, and begin chopping them. "As far as music, it's pretty much across the Board. Um, Dylan, Hendrix, Patsy, Willie." He says, and I look at him. "Oh, Kanye. You know what, I even like that one Miley song." He says, and I laugh, and look back at the garlic. "Easy." He says, and I can feel him smiling. "I didn't say anything." I say, smiling, and look at him. "Hey, this is for the Garlic Bread, right? Because I'm not eating Garlic unless you agree to, too. I don't want to be alone with garlic breath." I say, smiling. "Are you kidding? I love Garlic." He says, smiling, and I laugh, and kiss him, and he walks over to the fridge and opens it, and I accidently cut my finger. "Ow! Shit." I say, and look down at my bleeding left index finger. "You okay?" He asks, walking over to me. "Um.. yeah. Think so." I say, and grab the rag, and walk over to the sink and turn it on, and wash my hands, and look up in the mirror, and see he has veins under his eyes, and I turn around, and so does he. "Your face.." He says, and I walk over to him. "I. I, uh, I think I got something in my eye." He says, and I touch his shoulder. "Stefan." I say, and he turns his head away from me, and I put my hand down, and step to my left, and touch his other shoulder, and he moves his head again. "Hey." I say, and let go, and step back to the right, and touch his shoulder. "Stefan." I say, and he exhales, and looks at me, without veins, and I give a small sigh. "Uh, I think that my um.. paranoia has turned into full blown hallucinations." I say, and he gets closer, smiling. "Part of your charm." He says, and leans in, and stops, and looks at me, and I stand on my heels, and kiss him, and put my heels down, and smile at him, and he touches my chin, and kisses me, and my alarm goes off, and I pull it out of my pocket, and look at it. "I guess it's time for Dinner." I say. "Jeremy said you used to not always be like this." He says. "Well, it's getting back to normal." I say, and kiss his cheek, and he smiles. It's the next day, as I'm at the Sexy Suds Car Wash, wearing my Swim Jacket and a gray tank top underneath, talking with a shirtless Tony. "No Freebies. No pay you laters. We are not running a Charity here." He says. "No, we are not." I say. "Hey." Stefan says, and I look at him. "Hi!" I exclaim, and stand up, and walk over to him, smiling, and he rubs my shoulder. "The event is called Sexy Suds, you know." Tony says, as we look at him, and he has his arms crossed, and smiles, and walks off, and I look back at Stefan. "Did we just get scolded?" He asks. "And judged, yeah." I say. "Wow." He says. "I'm sorry, but I guess your going to have to take that jacket off." I say. "I think you have to go first." He says, smiling, and I smile back. "Ok." I say, and he begins to unzip his zipper, as do I, and mine gets stuck, as he takes his jacket off, and helps me. "Ok, um. Sorry. So not sexy. Ugh." I say, and pull the sleeves down, and sigh, and he touches the sides of my face. "I disagree." He says, and I give a small laugh, and he kisses me, as I hold his waist, and go up to his hands, and he takes them down, and we interlock fingers. We're cleaning a car, and I notice he's getting soap in his ring. "You're getting soap in that ring." I say, and he looks at his ring hand, and looks at me. "Oh, it's fine." He says, smiling, and goes back to scrubbing, and I think of Damon's ring. "I uh, noticed that Damon has one, too. Is there a story behind it?" I ask. "Yeah. It's the Family Crest from the Italian Renaissance." He says, and I walk over to him, and he looks at me. "Hm." I say, and lift up his hand, looking at the blue stone. "What's the stone?" I ask. "It's called Lapus Lazuli." He says. "Oh. You should really take it off." I say, and looks up at him. "I can put it in my bag." I say, smiling. "No, it's. It's fine, really." He says, and puts his hand down. "Thanks, though." He says, smiling, and goes back to washing the car. "Ok. I'm gonna get some towels." I say. "Ok." He says, and I walk off. I walk over to Tony, and see him sitting down. "Hey, we're out of towels and those uh.. shimmy things." I say, and sit next to him, and he looks at me. "I'll go get some more. Mind the money." He says, and walks off. Someone soon approaches me, and I see a dark skinned hand. "That'll be twenty dollars." I say, and look up, and see the man from the Grill, and he hands me a twenty dollar bill. "I saw you last night. You were talking to my boyfriend, at the Grill?" I ask. "Well, I. I thought he was somebody I knew." He says. "Stefan Salvatore." I say. "Nah, it can't be. It's just my mind playing tricks on me." He says. "Where do you think you'd seen him before?" I ask. "When I first moved here, I stayed at the Salvatore Boarding House." He says. "Oh." I say. "Stefan was just passing through to visit his Uncle. I mean, none of us knew he was even here until the Attack." He says. "The Attack?" I ask. "His Uncle got killed. Mauled by an animal in the woods." He says. "His Uncle, Zach?" I ask, and he shakes his head. "No. Joseph." He says. "I'm sorry, sir. I don't think I'm familiar with the story." I say. "Oh, how could you? I mean, this happened years ago." I say, and Tiki, a classmate, approaches us. "Grandpa, you gotta go. Mom wants you home. Ok?" She asks. "Ah." He says, and begins to walk off. "He wasn't bugging you, was he? Head a little Alzyheimer." She says, and I stand up. "No, he was nice." I say, and walk over to him. "Hi, sir, I'm sorry. Uh.. are you sure that the guy that you saw, that you knew, his name was Stefan Salvatore?" I ask. "Yes." He says, nodding. "I remember his ring and his brother." He says, and I interrupt him. "Damon?" I ask. "Yeah." He says, nodding. "Stefan and Damon Salvatore." He says. "When was this?" I ask. "It was early June, nineteen fifty three. Yeah. June, nineteen fifty three." He says. "Thank you." I say, and turn around, and look at Stefan, and he looks at me, and I smile, and he throws his rag down, and wipes his hands together and shakes them, as he's walking over to me. "Tony finally freed you, huh?" He asks. "Uh, I don't know where she went. She abandoned me. She went to go get some towels and those shimmy things, and haven't seen her since." I say, and he takes my hands, gently. "Are there um.. any other Salvatores in Mystic Falls?" I ask. "My Uncle Zach." He says. "Where did everyone else go?" I ask, and he shakes his head. "Kinda just spread out." He says. "Hm." I say. "Why?" He asks. "I'm trying to learn more about you." I say, smiling. "Hm." He says, looking down, and back to me, and kisses my cheek. I'm walking over to Jenna, as opposed see her sitting at a table. "Your car was done an hour ago." I say, and she looks at me. "You're saying that out loud why?" She asks, standing up, and I see Logan Fell approach us. "Hi. Ethan, right? I think I met you once when you were nine." He says, offering a handshake, and I shake it, and we release. "Oh." I say. "Your Emotional Maturity Level when we were together." She says, and I look at her. "Ouch. Here is thought we were making progress." He says, as I look at him, and look back to her, and she looks at me, smiling. "Is he enough in your good graces that I can ask him for a favor?" I ask, looking at him, smiling, and he looks at her. "If I do him a favor, will I get back in your good graces?" He asks. "Uh, a very reluctant maybe to both." She says, and he looks at me. "Done." He says, and looks back at her. "Wait. One condition. Dinner, tonight, your house." He says, and she looks at me, and I smile at her. "Fine. But you're eating leftovers." She says. "Ooh." He says, and I laugh, and he looks at me. "What do you need?" He asks, smiling. "Do you have access to old news stories, say, fifties?" I ask. "Yeah, at the Station. Between the Archives and the Internet, we pretty much have everything." He says. "I have this report way past due. It'd be a lifesaver." I say. "Heading there now. Let's go." He says, and I smile, and he walks off, and I look at her. "If anyone asks, you don't know where I went. I don't want Tony to know that I left." I say, and turn around, and look at Stefan, cleaning a car, and turn back around, and walk off. I'm at the Station with Logan. "We digitized all our Archives last year. You can pull all the remote footage right up on the screen. What is it exactly are you looking for?" He asks, and he opens a door, and we walk into the Electronic Room. "An Incident from nineteen fifty three, if it even happened at the old Salvatore Boarding House." I say, and sit down at the computer, as his phone rings. "Sorry, one second." He says, and answers his phone. "Yeah? Fire? All right, be right there." He says, and hangs up. "I gotta go." He says, as I look at the computer, and back to him. "You believe there's actual news to cover in this town? All right, use keywords to search the database. It's pretty easy to navigate." He says, and I look back at the screen. "And Brady down in Tech will help you out with anything you need." He says, pointing, and puts his hand down. "Ok." I say, smiling. "All right?" He asks, and I look back at the computer, and hear him begin to walk off. "Oh, hey." He says, and I look at him. "Could you put in a good word for me with Jenna?" He asks, and I smile. "You got it." I say, and he smiles. "All right. Good luck." He says, and shuts the door, and I exhale, and type, Attacks, nineteen fifty three, Joseph Salvatore, and press enter, and one match pulls up for June twelfth, nineteen fifty three, and it'd a video plus audio, and I click on it, and see a man in a suit and tie. "This is Franklin Fell reporting to you from the Salvatore Boarding House, where a brutal animal attack has ended in tragedy. Ok, they're bringing out the bodies. See if you can get closer." He says, and I see the Police escorting someone in a body bag. Joseph. "Is the Nephew?" He asks, and I see someone that looks like Stefan. Exactly like Stefan. I zoom in, and see it is Stefan. "Oh, my God." I say. I'm at home, writing in my journal. "Dear Journal, I'm not a believer. People are born, they grow old, and then they die. That's the world we live in. There's no Magic, no Mysticism, no Immortality. There is nothing that defies rational thought. People are supposed to be who they say they are. And not lie or hide their true selves. It's not possible. I'm not a believer, I can't be. But how can I deny what's right in front of me? Someone who never grows old.." I write, and remember the Registry, the man, and the News. "Never gets hurt.." I write, and look at my hand, and remember his hand from the Football Game. "Someone who changes in ways that can't be explained.." I write, and remember his eye change, and the veins from it. "Boys and girls bitten." I write, and remember Tony's bite marks. "Bodies drained of blood." I say, and remember Vicki, and remember talking with Matt. "Did she say what kind of animal it was?" I ask. "She said it was a vampire." He says, and I look in the mirror, gasping. I soon arrive to Stefan's house, and approach his door, and stop, and turn around and the door opens, and I see Stefan. "What are you?" I ask.