𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘴 ☪︎ 𝘦. 𝘮𝘪𝘬𝘢𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘰𝘯

ᴏɴᴇ ↬ ɴᴜᴍʙ

᪥᪥᪥᪥

You know the feeling? The feeling of relief knowing you're safe and comfortable as soon as you enter your home? Well, it's the opposite of what Isabella Rossi felt when she came back home. Foreign. Foreign is how Isabella felt the second she stepped foot in the dreary town of Mystic Falls after ten years of spending her time in the golden state...California.

Isabella had spent time taking care of her ill grandmother, all while she attended hell...school, and working to survive. Isabella's parents had passed away in a car accident in one of the most typical, common ways...by a drunk driver. Depression, anxiety, and pressure took its toll on Isabella, having the responsibility to take care of everything, though she tried to stay strong, she just didn't want to feel anything for a while. She loved her parents, and it surprised her by how numb she felt, she wanted to mourn them, and she felt disappointed in herself how she couldn't do it.

Six months ago, her grandmother's illness had gotten worse, and it broke Isabella's heart. A month ago, at the age of eighty-eight, she had peacefully passed away in her sleep, after saying her last goodbye to Isabella.

After only a few days she arrived, Isabella still felt like a stranger living in her own childhood home. It felt strange to sleep in her old bedroom, it somehow felt larger, and everything was the same, left untouched. She felt unwelcome, like she was violating a random person's home, even though she wasn't.

Right now, Isabella found herself sitting on her bed, staring at a picture of her family, just trying to get herself to feel something, anything. She just couldn't feel it right now, her body just didn't feel the need for her to cry right now. She knew it was healthy to grieve, there was nothing wrong with it, she just knew right now wasn't the time to feel it. She tried to convince herself she was a horrible, awful person, completely heartless, but she really wasn't.

She felt it was odd how she never properly mourned her parents, given the fact she loved them so much, yet unusual how she grieved a bunch when her grandmother passed. Maybe it was because she was so caught up in taking care of her grandmother, going to school, and working, she just didn't find a way or time to actually mourn her parents. Or, maybe it was just because her grandmother had Alzheimer's, so it was much more of an impact. Though, she just returned to her usual bubbly self to hide just how broken she actually was, though she found outlets to help her recover.

Isabella sighed, standing from her bed, heading towards the bathroom and turning on the shower. She stripped down, and stepped in when the temperature was near scalding hot, a content sigh escaping her lips as the hot water relaxes her body.

Ten minutes later, Isabella turns off the shower and steps out, wrapping a fluffy, white towel around her body. She exits the bathroom, shuffling back into her room, quickly changing into the underwear and outfit she had laid out on the bed. She applied makeup and brushed her long black hair, before grabbing her purse and making her way downstairs and straight out the front door, locking it behind her.

᪥᪥᪥᪥

After days of shopping, organizing her house, attending funerals, and online classes, Isabella was ready to relax, to blow off some steam for one night. The annual masquerade ball was being held at the Lockwood mansion tomorrow, and Isabella was in a party mood, she had loved the masquerade when she was here.

Although she was content with helping set up for the masquerade, Isabella couldn't deny the fact she was tired. She hadn't properly slept in days, well...years, even, because of all what had happened to her. She just wanted to go into a deep sleep for the next six months and forget about everything. Though, her sleeping schedule wasn't all so horrible...her dreams about the man with the gentle, chocolate brown eyes had been frequent.