On My Own (TVD Series)

Acquaintances

Stefan's POV

Sitting at the edge of the window crook, I leaned my head back against the wall as I glanced out the window, watching the wind blow the trees in all directions. The sun was nearly blocked in all directions by the clouds, setting a dark mood around town. Still unconscious, Lauren laid in her old room surrounded by boxes and a few furniture pieces that she hadn't taken to the other house. 

With Damon still brooding about Elena and their breakup, I could hear him heading up the stairs, turning the corner quietly until he leaned against the door frame.

"How is she?" He whispered.

"Still unconscious..."

"What the hell happened out there?"

"I don't know...one minute we were being watched by them, the next they were burning alive...all I remember is Lauren screaming and running through the cars before she fell."

"She fell?" Damon questioned.

"Yeah...she, um...it looked like she saw something-"

"Or someone."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"She's the anchor to the other side, Stefan...or have you forgotten that?"

"...they were passing through her."

"We should've gotten rid of this a long time ago-"

"But someone wanted to sacrifice her-"

"Hey, don't blame this on me-"

"It was your plan, Damon. If you hadn't opened your mouth, she wouldn't be like this. We don't know when she'll wake up..."

"Just wave a little bit of bourbon around her-"

"You don't get it. There were dozens of them...surrounding the entire yard, god knows how many of them passed through her at once." I snarled, rising from the window crook.

"How in the hell were we supposed to know-"

"Can you stop fighting...my head is pounding." Lauren groaned, rolling her head to the side.

"You're up."

"I've been up for the last hour...I figured I'd torture you a little bit before I woke up."

Striding over to her bedside, I helped her sit up against her metal bed frame as Damon walked further into the room.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like...someone slammed my head against two symbals...I'm thirsty, though..." She sighed.

"I'll go get you something..."

Waiting as Damon headed out the door, I took a seat at the end of her bed watching her stretched her arms outward, cracking and tensing her body, allowing her sleeves to rid up and reveal the bruises all along her forearm.

"What are those?" I gasped.

"What?"

Carefully rolling up her sleeves, the two of us gazed at the clumps of purple and blue bruises on her skin slowly trailing up her shoulder and neck.

"Does this happen often?" I asked.

"No...I've never seen these before."

Dragging my thumb all along her arm, I made brief glances at her seeing if my touch caused any pain.

"Does it hurt when I touch them?"

"No...maybe it's just the aftermath of their death, they did burn up into flames." She mumbled.