anne

01 | Proceed with Caution

Anne's Timeline

• ____________ •

The sun rose across the Seattle horizon, stretching towards lofty buildings and far-off mountain ranges, and tip-toeing into Anne's apartment. Warm light hugged the floor and crept up the walls, surrounding her bed and trapping her in her own warm little place. 

Anne's bedroom was very open and spacious, something she valued in her home. Her apartment was on one of the top floors in the 20 story building, which overlooked half of Seattle. It was built far enough from other tall buildings that she could get away with murder with a window open and no one would know.

Some few minutes later, the morning sun fully coated her cheeks. She groaned and shoved her face into her pillow. But that only made it hard to breathe, and the sun still made her body hot.

"Okay, I'm up, I'm up!"

Rushed by the morning, she begrudgingly got out of bed and walked towards her ensuite, turned on the shower, and undressed.

All the windows in her apartment had been altered to be explicitly tinted, so people on the outside couldn't see the inside of her apartment—compulsion was one of the finer perks of being a Vampire. The bathroom windows were no exception.

Anne winced at the sight of last nights dinner still on her chin, even though she was sure she wiped the red away. Then she remembered Klaus, the friend she hadn't seen in centuries. Last night felt like she had it coming, she knew it would happen eventually. But standing in the morning light made it feel more real, more confronting. Centuries of running around the world finally caught up to her, and she was filled with a dreadful feeling that she'd have to pick up where she left off with the Mikaelsons; one in particular.

Thick steam captured her attention, so she brushed off her thoughts, kicked her clothes out of the way and walked into the shower. Pelting hot water ran through her tangled hair and rinsed her body clean from blood and dreadful thoughts. 

Once she felt thoroughly washed, Anne wrapped herself in her bathrobe and went into her walk-in wardrobe, picking out a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, a long sleeve white shirt, and her favourite black leather jacket. She walked out to the full-length mirror in her bedroom and smiled at her jacket, reminiscing how she'd stolen it from some rock band concert she'd compelled herself into back in the seventies. She gave herself an approving 'humph' and went into the kitchen to make herself a hot chocolate and some toast with banana slices on top.

Halfway through pouring hot water into her mug, her phone rang out. She reached into her back pocket and put the phone between her ear and shoulder, continuing to make her hot chocolate. 

"Good morning Charles," She didn't need to look at the caller ID, she was expecting him to call her around this time, "Did you remember what it was you'd said find for me?"

Anne had been helping Charles with the case of his missing wife, Celia, for a few months now. Celia disappeared from suburbia out of the blue just over two years ago, leaving Charles and his two daughters with no closure, just an assumption of her death; until Anne came along and opened the case wider than human investigators could.

"Yes, I did. Thank god," There was shuffling on his end. Anne put the kettle back on the stove and set her phone on the bench on speakerphone, making her toast while he continued.

"Well, it's her diary. I didn't want to look through it. I read the last couple chapters though, just to see if maybe it had anything to do with, um... suicidal thoughts, or maybe... I don't know, maybe she was starting to regret marrying me, or something, so she ran away." His voice was strained, but he was dedicated to finding his wife, or finding the truth.