The Missing Piece

Terrible Surprises

"He left without us," Rebekah said as she burst into the boarding house. "He actually left without us." I dropped my bag by the door, holding the hangers with my dresses over my shoulder.

"Who did?" Stefan and Damon came into view, Damon looked severely confused, both at my appearance and Bekah in general.

"The bastard I call my brother." She looked around before gesturing at her stuff. "Where's my room?" I held back a chuckle.

"Not here," Stefan jumped in immediately. "You're not staying here." This caused Rebekah to pout.

"Oh don't hurt her feelings, Stefan, that's not nice." I chastised him with a smirk.

"Who is 'her' anyway?" Damon asked looking between Stefan and me.

"Nik's little sister, sorry, younger sister." I casually responded with a shrug. "Bex you can room next to me, come on I'll show you." I picked up my bag and lead the way to the stairs, pushing past my brothers who had an identical look topped off with crossed arms.

As I walked down the stairs into the living room, I stopped at the bottom to look around. Rebekah was scanning the shelves but neither of my brothers were in sight.

"Whatcha up to Bex?" I asked as I moved to stand beside her, peering over he shoulder at the books she was looking for.

"Nothing," her reaction was a bit suspicious but I ignored it for the time. "Your brothers went to a bonfire, I think."

"We should join them then, see what their up to, find where the trouble is. Don't you agree?" She gave a reluctant nod. "Then let's get changed and go." I smiled as I went back up the stairs and looked around my closet. I didn't have anything too casual, like for a high school bonfire, but I found something soon enough.

I put on a maroon v-neck t-shirt and a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, throwing my black leather jacket over top. I slid on a pair of old converse before heading back down the stairs to catch up with Bex on her way out. With a smile we were off, once we had arrived at the party we split up in hopes of finding my brothers.

"Careful," I heard Stefan say, I started walking towards the sound and saw Elena walking on the edge of the bleachers, Stefan was watching with both amusement and concern. I knew he had been compelled to watch over Elena, and on top of that, Nik decided to have him keep an eye on me as well.

"Having fun over here are we?" I walked closer with a smirk, Elena's grip released from the railing and she began falling backward. I quickly went to catch her, succeeded, but Stefan had collided with me causing all of us to fall over anyway. I rubbed my forehead, my eyes closed tight, as I heard a bang, or something. By the time I had opened my eyes again, Stefan was on the ground nearing unconsciousness and Alaric Saltzman was standing by Elena. They looked at me before Elena helped me up.

"Go home and get some rest," she looked at me, with what I assumed was pity before I shrugged off her hand.

"Don't tell me what to do." I turned on my heel and started walking back to where I had entered the bonfire, before I noticed Bex sitting by a fire, attempting to roast a marshmallow. I saw her getting frustrated and so I walked over, hoping to help her out. I grabbed my own marshmallow and roasting stick before sitting down next to her.

"Cleo," she said softly, "I really don't see the appeal in this, it keeps burning." I chuckled. I set my stick towards the fire and waited for the marshmallow to catch on fire.

"I don't see what's the big deal," I pulled it away from the fire and waited until the majority of the marshmallow looked black before blowing out the fire and removing the marshmallow. "I prefer it to being just roasted." I popped the marshmallow into my mouth as Damon walked over.

"I forgot how weird you are Cleo," he said attempting to joke, but I wasn't in a good mood before and he most certainly wouldn't help. He sat on the other side of Bekah and smiled. "You just have to remove the outer layer to get to the gooey goodness inside." He pulled off the skin of the burnt marshmallow, tossing it to the ground before offering the stick back to Rebekah. I rolled my eyes as she ate it, her eyes never leaving his.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm just going to go back to the house and try to drink away this disgusting image." I dropped my stick before walking away from the party.

Once I had reached the boarding house I tossed my jacket over the back of the couch and walked to the alcohol. I poured myself a glass of bourbon, sitting on the couch as I pulled out my phone. Every muscle and thought in my body want to text him or call him, just to hear his voice or his humor, but before I could even decide whether to cave and do so I heard knocking at the door. I downed my glass before getting up and walking over, the knocking becoming more and more urgent.

When I opened the door my hand went to cover my mouth and the glass dropped from my hand, shattering on the wood floor.

"Cleo," she coughed, struggling to get out her words. I shushed her and helped her into the house, laying her on the couch before running to get a cloth from the kitchen. Her neck was torn up and looked absolutely terrible, she was coughing and nearly crying. I reached for my phone to call Nik, but I knew he'd never get here in time, even if he wanted to help.

I wish I could say my spring break was going to mean more time to write, but unfortunately, I'm completely booked. I'm planning an extra post or two since I'm off for a bit, but we'll see how it all ends up. Hope everyone is having a great week! ~Kat