ALMOST IS NEVER ENOUGH | TVD [4]

XX • KILL 'EM ALL

twenty. kill 'em all

Mental Health Center in Asheville, North Carolina

Minerva is washing her hands at the small sink in the connecting small bathroom, two large lesion scabs can be seen on her hands, resulting from the power suppression pills given by Enzo when she was in New Orleans for the previous three years; she decided to come with Bonnie after a negotiated phone call. She pulls her light pink shirt off of her left shoulder to reveal more; she is trying to hold back the agonizing tears as she covers up again. She wipes away the tears and makes herself more presentable.

After she asked the female nurse at the front desk in the main hallway to see who they wanted to see for interrogation without further arguments, Bonnie and Minerva are then speaking with Virginia in a secluded room, who's behind glass due to after what she tried to do to Bonnie the other day.

"We don't have a lot of time. And we need answers. Now." Bonnie began.

"Honest and serious ones. Your sister Alex is hell-bent on having us open that vault. We need to know what's in it." Minerva demanded sternly.

Virginia is a little more confident in herself when it comes to this mystery she's reluctant to speak of, "Well, that's the question everyone's been asking since 1882...when my great-grandfather first managed to open it."

The Bennett girl frowns in contemplation, "Your great-grandfather?"

"You mean the original founder of the Armory — Enzo's dad." Minerva said.

The mental patient nods a little, "Mmhm. His name's Dalton St. John. Almost half a century ago, he went into the vault with his friends. It's dark. Pitch black. Nothing, until a woman's voice called out his name."

"A woman?" The Devon girl highlighted, frowning, in utter confusion.

"The voice kept calling out only his name until one by one, each of their lights are extinguished by itself, trapping them in the darkness, and then the only sound they could hear was my great-grandfather's screams."

Minerva and Bonnie are both horrified, frowning, at learning this new mysterious information about it and the curious former asked, "What's in there?" Virginia does not look at either of them, "What's in there? Tell us."

"It's not a what. It's not a who. It's what it does to you. It strips away your compassion. It takes away your empathy, your capacity for love...Eating away at your soul, until all that remains...is darkness, and nothing else."

Bonnie and Minerva share a relatable look of concern at this response.

"His friends dragged him out of there and closed the door. My great-grandfather assured them that he was fine at first, but then something's not right about him. He was more...excited than horrified."

"Oh my God." The youngest woman out of the trio muttered, frowning.

"I guess you could say he was pretty stoic...when he killed his own friends and hung their bodies from the ceiling of the Armory." She shakes her head in pure horror, "My great-grandfather was only in there a few moments. My sister Yvette has been trapped in there for four years." Virginia's voice breaks, "And I can't imagine what she's been twisted into in that time."

Bonnie and Minerva seem confused, but the older former tried to convince the mental patient, "No one can survive four years sealed in a vault."

The young woman shrugs, "I said the same thing. Except Alex can hear her, through the walls, crying to her for help. Whatever's inside that vault, it wants out. And you two have to promise me, you won't let Alex set it free. Please." Virginia stares the two young ladies down with determination.