On My Own | Hale - TVD/TO/TW [4]

10 | Turn This Around

Lexi's apartment only has one source of light through the darkness of night: the television plays some useless advertisement. Lexi lies on the couch, a blanket tucked under her chin with her face in a throw pillow. The static noise from the television covers her nearly silent cries, black tears slipping down her cheeks.

A knock at the door makes her go quiet.

It creaks open slowly, light from the hall flooding in. Peaking his head in, Derek looks around before he finds her body curled up on the couch. He swallows the lump in his throat as he turns back to leave.

She sniffles.

He stops. With a sigh, he steps into the apartment and closes the door. Leaning his back against the wood, he says, "You know, anyone could've walked in here. I could have been Kali."

"I would welcome death," Lexi whispers, but he still hears her. "Then it would just be over."

The floor groans under Derek's feet as he sits on the coffee table in front of the couch, blocking the ever-changing light from the television. "You shouldn't talk like that," he says. "Someone might actually kill you."

"It's not a joke." She shuffles, pulling her legs into her chest as she turns to face the couch cushions.

"Peter told us you were back," Derek says. "I don't know if you heard, but we needed you." She does not move; he only hears her suck in the air between her teeth. "The Alpha pack attacked—"

"I feel bad enough, ok?" She snaps. "I know what happened. I know about—" Her voice cracks. "I know about Boyd. I'm sorry I couldn't help—my mother was trying to kill me."

Derek frowns.

"Oh, Peter didn't tell you that part?" She lets out a watery chuckle. "My mother, back from the dead. Turns out, she hates us." Lexi bites down on her cheek as more tears slip onto the pillow. "It doesn't matter though. I'm here now, right?"

He shakes his head. "That's not it." He leans forward on his knees, gently putting his hand on Lexi's shoulder. She flinches, shifting underneath the blanket; he removes his hand. "What else happened?"

A cry slips past her lips. "I know how you felt," she whimpers. "With Peter. I-I get it. He betrayed you and all that other bullshit, but how could you just—how did you feel nothing when he died?" Saltwater drips in between her lips.

Her phone begins to ring.

Derek glances down at it on the table. "Someone named Bastard is calling you," he says, offering the phone.

"The last time he called, he told me our brother was dead."

Despite her reluctance, Lexi pushes herself up into a seated position, tilting her head so that her cheeks are shrouded in darkness before she takes the phone. "What, Nik?" Lexi asks as she answers. "Rebekah better still be alive, or I swear, I'll find Esther myself and ask her to kill me."

"Well, you won't be able to." She can hear the concern in his voice. "Are you ok?"

"Ok? What kind of a word is that?" Lexi seethes. "Esther is trying to kill us. Elena Gilbert, as always, is right in the center of it, and Finn is dead." She inhales sharply, covering her mouth with her hand.

Klaus hesitates. "Finn was trying to kill us too."

"Finn was locked in a box for ninety percent of his life, thanks to you." Lexi shakes her head. "It doesn't matter now. What do you want?"

"Esther's dead."

Lexi blinks. "I'm sorry, what?"

"She's dead. Right in front of Rebekah. No pulse—no magic. Just dead."