When A Dove Begins To Fly With Crows [Bamon]

Three Evenings

Prologue

                         Bonnie Bennett felt numb. With each day passing, she dragged herself to school and idly sat through her classes, though the teachers' words never reached her. She responded automatically to Elena and Caroline's attempts to draw her attention, keeping them at distance with a fake, reassuring smile that didn't falter until she headed for her Prius and performed the acts to get the vehicle up and running.

Upon coming home to an empty house, she took an aspirin to calm the throbbing headache that was the only disturbance to the absolute muteness surrounding her.

Bonnie Bennett felt empty. Completely, utterly empty but for a raw, painful feeling of despair that clenched her heart every time the reason for her grievance flickered through the wad of cotton wool in her mind.

Sometimes, whether it would be when Caroline said something infinitely tactless or when she watched a show on television, she was momentarily distracted from the inescapable exasperation that would return twice as fiercely the following moment, a cruel punishment for her negligence. These were moments to avoid.

She had asked her father not to clean up her grandmother's house as of yet and, knowing how much his daughter had loved her Grams, he had respected her wishes. She had yet to visit the house, though.

At night, after she'd done her homework - thanks to the copied notes Elena silently slipped her - she sat down at the window seat and watched the dark sky above the looming forest. When weariness took over and silent tears flowed down her cheeks, she found that the gloomy call of crows from the woods framed her dejected mood.

She cried herself to sleep every night.

First Evening

                         When Bonnie came home, it had been a Tuesday like all of the others, except for the headache which now throbbed inside her head with even more ferocity. Bonnie sighed shakily as she blindly made her way toward the kitchen, closing her eyes against the light which sent shards of pain into her brain.

Today, Caroline had realized that she had lost not only one but two of her most talented cheerleaders in less than a year's time. She hadn't taken it very well. Reaching inside the drawer, Bonnie decided on taking two aspirins today.

Then she dragged herself up the stairs to do her homework.

Darkness had fallen over Mystic Falls when Bonnie closed her French textbook. She made herself a cup of tea and sat down at the window seat, one leg tucked underneath the other, while she breathed in the sultry air coming in through the opened window. Of their own accord, tears started to stream down her cheeks as she looked up at the starry night.

"I'm so tired, Grams," Bonnie suddenly whispered, her voice choked from sadness. Never before had she spoken when she was watching the night sky, but the events of today had shaken the stoic numbness blanketing her. "I quit cheerleading today. I just...can't work up the enthusiasm anymore. Caroline, of course, didn't understand. Knowing her, I won't hear the end of it tomorrow, but I... I don't know how much of that stuff I can handle. I...I miss you so much, Grams."

Her hand clenched the cup of tea she was holding, her knuckles turning white. "How do I go on, Grams? I'm trying, but I feel like I'm drowning in a pool of blackness. It's killing me, Grams!"

She bowed her head as a sob suddenly ripped through her chest. "I need you. Why did you leave me? How will I ever go on learning what you wanted me to learn when you're not here anymore? I don't know if I have the strength to do it on my own, the will to do it on my own. This all is still so very new to me..."