DRIVING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS // CHRISTMAS CALENDAR 2020

Tuesday December 15th

The next morning, all the students at the high school was gathered in the gym together with the teachers and the rest of the staff. Our principal was standing in the middle of the gym, holding a microphone, waiting to have our attention. The students were seated on the tribune.

"As you may have heard, one of our beloved teachers sadly passed away yesterday. She was killed by an animal. For those of you who heard it on the news, I am sorry that it was the way that you found out. I wanted you all to hear it from me. For those of you who were on Mrs. Jenkins drama team, I am sorry, because this is one of those accidents that can happen, where the show cannot go on anymore. Therefore I am cancelling the Christmas Show."

A part of the students started protesting heavily, yelling that it was unfair, but most of us was quiet. The principal waited to have the chance to say something again.

"My thoughts and prayers are with Mrs. Jenkins family. Let's have a minute of silence in her honor."

The protesting students stopped arguing and went silent. I looked at my hands in my lap.

"You are all free to go home," the principal said when the minute was up. Our group of friends decided to go to the grill to have lunch and discuss the matters of the case.

"I can't believe he cancelled the show," Caroline sighed and sat on a chair at the grill.

"How deepfelt of you, Caroline," Elena said sarcastically. "The drama teacher just got killed by an animal and you're all about the show."

I could see that Stefan wanted to say something but he didn't.

"Right," Caroline chuckled bitterly. "An animal,"

"You think it was a vampire?" Bonnie asked.

"What else should it be? My mom asked me about it right away. She knows that it couldn't be an animal, right Stefan?" Caroline looked at him and he uncomfortably looked at the floor.

"Animal attacks are rare," he mumbled.

"Okay, so if it wasn't you then who?" Elena asked Caroline.

"Well unless Stefan's all ripper like again, then it only leaves us with one option." She said, and we all knew what she meant.

"Damon said that he didn't do it," Stefan said barely audibly.

"And you think he's speaking truthfully?" Bonnie asked. She was right. Damon wasn't very reliable and he had a history of hiding and lying. He was most likely to commit a crime as well.

"Honestly, he seemed pretty upset when I accused him of coming up with a lie," I explained.

"Yes. Because he did it!" Caroline argued.

"Hey." Stefan said. "I said back off."

Caroline shrugged.

"Well my mom is bringing him in for a friendly conversation tonight," Caroline said. "We'll see what the truth is then."

None of us ate much of our lunch. We weren't feeling like it. Stefan and I left after not too long.

"I should go pick Damon up from the police station," I said.

"I can do it for you," Stefan said.

"No, Stefan, I would really like to do it myself. I want to talk to him about this again."

Stefan let me borrow his car to pick Damon up. I didn't know when Damon would be done in there, but I didn't care.

I waited in front of the police station for hours before a saw Damon walk out with an unreadable facial expression.

He saw the car but turned around and walked in another direction. I got out slamming the door behind me.

"Damon," I caught his attention, making him look at me.

"I just wanna talk that's all." I said. "Please get in the car."

He looked like he was gonna turn me down and walk away but he surrendered and got into the red porche. We sat in there for a while, not driving anywhere. Damon looked out of the window, watching the rain.

"What happened in there?" I finally asked. He didn't look at me.

"Liz Forbes asked me some questions. I answered them. She let me leave." He said like he didn't care, yet I knew he did.

"Everyone thinks that you did it, Damon"

"I noticed."

"So what are you gonna do about it?" I asked. "Are you gonna prove them wrong?"

"No," he answered. "I'm not gonna do anything. People can hate me all they want. I don't care. I didn't kill your teacher, yet you still think so. So it doesn't really matter what anyone thinks, because I'm not a good person, Luna. And I'm never gonna be one."

"She was killed by a vampire!" I argued. "You're the only one who doesn't have an alibi."

"What makes you so sure it was a vampire?" He said angrily.

"She had two small wounds on her neck! She had bitemarks!"

Damon bit himself in the wrist and showed me the wounds.

"This is what a vampire bite looks like. And yes, her wounds might have looked like it, but she could have been stabbed with a screwdriver or something!" He yelled. "Mystic Falls ain't protected from regular murderers!"

Damon got out of the car again but I grabbed his wrist.

"Damon, stop." I said.

"No, you know what?" He laughed bitterly. "It was stupid of me to think that this conversation would be any different. Bye, Luna."

He ripped his wrist from my hold and walked away. I sighed, drove home. Damon was probably gonna take a walk, then come back to get some sleep-

"Where's Damon?" Stefan asked when I entered the house without him.

"He left." I said. "I think he's going for a walk and then coming back home."

He nodded but I saw the worry written in his face.

"He's gonna be okay," I reassured. "Nobody is gonna hurt him."

"We already did," Stefan said. "We accused him of the kill when he told us he didn't. And we never believed him."