Edgewalkers

Left in the dark

Caroline POV

As Klaus left in a hurry, I took only one second to gather my thoughts. Stuffing my phone in my back pocket, I got up and ran after him. The facial expression he'd had on his face worried me deeply. I passed that Greg guy while walking out, but ignored him completely, more invested in the Mikaelsons than anything else.

Never had I expected our meeting to go like this. Klaus had looked so horrified. Him being who he was, as feared as he was, I did not even want to imagine what could possibly leave him as scared as this.

Klaus was already gone when I reached outside, probably having vanished around a corner.
Unsure of what to do, I contacted each and every one of the Mikaelsons. None of them replied.

With a sigh, I decided to head home. There was nothing I could do for my friends anyways. At least Elena had tried to contact me, I'd missed her call when walking home. When I called her back, her weak voice greeted me from the other end.

"Elena, how are you doing?", I asked. She sounded happy to hear from me, yet still so vulnerable that it broke my heart.
"Caroline, hey.", she spoke softly. "I'm a bit exhausted. There's been so much going on. Turns out Damon found pills that according to him brought back something in Jer's memory. If he's right, and Jeremy didn't lie about seeing some kinda deal, his accident might not have been so accidental after all."

"What?" That was crazy. Was this her tired mind talking or did she really believe that conspiracy?
"I know how this all sounds.", Elena sighed. "I'm sorry for unloading this on you, it's just a bit too much right now."

"That's alright.", I reassured her. "I'm sorry I can't be there for you in person during this time."
"Hey, don't beat yourself up. How could you have known all this would go down before you moved away?"
"I know, I know.", I mumbled.

"If you want to help, please take my mind off things. What's going on in New Orleans?", she wanted to know curiously.
"A lot of things.", I started, trying to sort my thoughts. "Have I told you about the gang dynamic yet?"
"I think so.", she seemed to recall.

"Yeah, so, I have befriended a group that is kind of on top of all that. Unfortunately, now, everyone else hates me. And my friends keep a lot of secrets.", I informed her of my frustrations. "Work's pretty much the only thing keeping me going at the moment."

"That doesn't sound as good as I was hoping.", my friend stated with concern. "Was today any good at least?"
"Today was fine. I had work and met with the brother of a good friend afterwards.", I told her, knowing full well this was her kind of tea.

"A boy?", I could almost hear her grin. "Was it a date?"
"I wouldn't call it date.", I claimed. "We met up as friends, I think."
"You think? Alright, I want to know everything!", she squeaked. "Bonnie, come over here, Caroline met a boy!"

I heard footsteps running closer until the phone was snatched away.
"What is that I hear? A boy? Spit it out!", Bonnie's excited voice made its way through the speaker. It was sore as if she'd been crying. I was unsure if I should ask her about it since I didn't want to darken her mood.

Instead, I decided to do as Elena had asked and take their minds off it.
"Put her on speaker!", Elena demanded, then both chuckled, allowing me to finally speak.
"He's the brother of a friend, you said?", Elena caught Bonnie up while also getting me started in the conversation.

"He is. He's older than her and me, and honestly a bit difficult to figure out.", I admitted.
"In what sense?", Bonnie asked.
"Well, he seems like the leader of the group and he is the only one who actually told me a few things about his family. The others keep all that secret."

"But?", Elena guessed my next word.
"But I cannot seem to figure him out. Everyone else fears him, yet I feel like I know him somehow. Does that make sense?"
Elena inhaled loudly. "Love."
I rolled my eyes. That was not what I meant.

"Most definitely love!"
"What’s the fuss about?", someone else entered the room over at their end of the line.
"Hey Stefan!", Elena gloomed. "Caroline is telling us about her boyfriend to be."
"Don't listen to her, Stef, she's exaggerating.", I laughed.

"Who's the lucky guy?", Stefan jumped in.
Bonnie agreed right away: "Yeah, you haven't told us his name yet."
"Klaus Mikaelson."
"Klaus?", Bonnie repeated. "Is he German or something?"

Stefan on the other hand had different worries. "Niklaus?"
"That's his full name, yes. How do you know that?", I wondered aloud.
Rumbling noises made their way to my ear. From the bickering in the background, I guessed Stefan had snatched away the phone.

"You two know each other?", Stefan panicked.
"We met today, yes. And he's my friend's brother.", I stated in confusion.
"Rebekah?"
How did he know all their names?

"Stay away from them!", Stefan spoke to me in an intense voice. "Klaus is a dangerous individual, involved with all kinds of illegal things. His siblings aren't any better. You will only get hurt when you keep hanging about."

I had never heard him so upset, not even when he told me about Jeremy.
"You sound like my classmates with their paranoia.", I told him, causing him to mumble something I couldn’t quite catch.
"Trust their words.", he tried to convince me. "If you won't believe them or me, follow him and see what he does. Believe me, you will see him act out."

Was he suggesting I spy on Klaus? How would that help? That seemed like a bad idea. However, Stefan had planted the seed of doubt in my head. And what followed later that day, only made it grow. But I am getting ahead of myself with this.

"How do you know Klaus anyways?", I wanted to know of Stefan.
"We have some troubling history together that I would rather not get into.", he avoided a straight answer. History? Meaning they knew each other? Should I maybe ask Klaus about all this? I wasn’t sure.

"That's vague.", I accused him, but he only told me off with: "Just trust me on this."
I sighed. "I can very much make my own choices, but I'll be careful, if that calms your worries."
"Very much so.", he confirmed. "If I can't convince you to stay away completely, that will have to do."

Why was everybody acting so strange today? Klaus, now Stefan. What was up with everyone?
"Stefan, give me the phone back!", Elena complained and Stefan at last gave up on his mission to get me to abandon my only friends in New Orleans.

"What was that all about?", Bonnie asked into the speaker.
"I wish I knew.", I admitted, biting my lip in thought.

For a moment, we all kept quiet. I tried to think of something else to say, which made me realize that ever since moving here, my life had pretty much consisted of the Mikaelsons. More or less voluntarily, seeing as no one else would talk to me because of the Mikaelson label. Though maybe, my friends in Mystic Falls shouldn’t know about that little fact. I did not want to unnecessarily worry them.

Since the girls both wanted to return to Jeremy's side, we decided to hang up and continue our talk some other time.
After a while of me sitting in my kitchen alone and in quiet, I decided it would do me no good to mope around my flat with nothing to do. My homework was already finished and I'd also caught up with all the materials I'd missed when I was sick.

And so, I wandered the streets of New Orleans when I suddenly happened upon Marcel and Davina. The two were sitting on a bench, eating ice-cream. Their faces had uncertainty and a tad of fear carved into them. Why weren't they with the rest of the group?
Davina spotted me and slightly waved in my direction. As a result, I headed over to them to find out more.

"Hi. You two look like you've seen a ghost.", I tried to joke when reaching them.
"Something like that.", Davina answered, her tone shaking.

"Where are the others? Klaus told me there was a family emergency?", I pressed further.
"Which is precisely why we are not at the mansion. We would make matters worse for the siblings, and believe me, they already have enough to deal with as it is.", Marcel told me. My face shifted from concern to curiosity even though I was already aware they wouldn't evaluate on that.

"It's complicated.", Davina shook her head. Wasn't everything? Probably the reason everyone, even my closest friends excluded me from all the secrets. You would have guessed I was already used to that by now.

"Fine, I won't ask.", I said. Davina looked almost apologetic when she saw my facial expression. She herself had been in my position once before they had taken her in. I was pretty sure that as soon as Kol and her had gotten together all the cautions had been abandoned very quickly.

Marcel's phone made a sound and in record speed, he unlocked it and read the new message. "Rebekah wrote.", he informed Davina.
"What did she say?", the girl immediately asked.
"We can come home. Nevertheless, she told us to be quiet, so he doesn't hear us."
Who was he...?

The two exchanged looks, then stood up and threw their ice-creams in the trash. Now that was an unnecessary waste of food.
"We'll see you around in school.", Davina tried to give me a smile, but failed miserably.

As they walked away, I was trying to go through all the events of the day again in my mind. Klaus leaving because of a family problem that Davina and Marcel were not a part of. Stefan urging me to stay away from the entire group.
Honestly, what was even going on anymore?