chapter four. the comet

season one—————episode two.

      ELODIE SOLACE HAD RECEIVED A GOLD star on March 1st, 2000. Elodie remembered that day vividly for years because that was the first time it had become real to her that her father was truly leaving to endanger himself once more. That was also the first time Elodie had experienced a panic attack, at only eight years old in the bathroom of her elementary school. She hadn't known exactly what happened, but she returned to class like everything was alright because her older brother always told her to keep her head up in public. Her teacher had given Elodie her first golden star on a test that day.

March 1st, 2000, was also the first day Elodie had come to realize that pretending was much easier than confessing.

It wasn't until fourth grade that Elodie's mother found out about her extremely frequent panic attacks. Lily Solace had sent her daughter to a therapist who had diagnosed her with panic disorder and offered many solutions. The only thing that worked for her was the medication she had been prescribed. Seven years later, and Lily Solace had no idea that her daughter still had panic attacks—the older woman under the assumption that they had stopped once she stopped asking to see the therapist and get her prescription filled. Only, Elodie was doing them both on her own under her mothers nose, and Lily Solace was always too busy with helping the town council and the school board the focus on what Elodie was doing with her free time.

Elodie had just learned to push through her issues, smile through them. Pretend—as her mom begged. But, that Saturday, Elodie didn't want to pretend. So Caroline canceled her lunch date with Bonnie and Elena, and after telling them a very vague and shortened version of events the two rushed over to Caroline's house bearing gifts in the form of ice cream and cookies—two things Elodie loved.

The four girls piled into Caroline's bed and watched as many romcoms as they could before Elodie requested a few disney movies. As they played in the background, the four girls sat in a semi-circle on the bed, smiling as they all talked, catching up with each others lives.

"My grams said the comet is a sign of impending doom, I guess." Bonnie shrugged.

      Caroline elbowed her, "Bonnie! God!" The blonde tried to gesture to Elodie, but she had already noticed.

      "Caroline, it's fine. I'm all for what grams has to tell us. So all mighty which what doom may this comet bring?" Elodie smiled.

      Bonnie smiled back, "well, according to her, the last time it passed over Mystic Falls there was lots of death. So much blood and carnage that it created a bed of paranormal activity!"

      "And then what?" Elodie nodded, interested in the paranormal aspect of things. Her mind flashing to the vampires that had been brought up two too many times in the past few days.

      "She poured grams another shot and then she heard all about the aliens." Caroline rolled her eyes, blocking the pillow Elodie tossed her way.

      "Fine," Bonnie sighed, slightly deflating, "Lena, what's up with you and Stefan? What happened last night?"

      "We just. . .talked," Elena shrugged, shying away from all the attention.

      "You and Stefan talked all night? There was no sloppy first kiss, or touchy-feely of any kind?" Caroline scoffed, not believing that nothing had happened.

      "Nope," Elena shook her head. "We didn't go there."

      "Not even a handshake?" Caroline added, "I mean, Elena. We are your friends, okay? You are supposed to share the smut with the three of us."

      "Nothing happened, though! We just talked for hours. It was, refreshing." Elena smiled, and Elodie glanced out the window, watching as cars passed by silently.

      "Okay, what is with the blockage? Just, jump his bones already! Okay, it's easy. Boy likes girl. Girl likes boy. Sex."

      Elodie smacked her hands down, "can we not. This is supposed to be girl time."

      "You virgin mary, Ellie, girl time is talking about boys." Elodie blushed, covering her face at Caroline's words.

      "Then," Elodie shifted, placing her hands on Elena's knees, "I say you go for it. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? He says no, and you have to see him again for the rest of the year? That's not that bad."

      Caroline covered Elodie's mouth, pulling her closer, "okay that is enough advice from you, darling."

      Elena stilled, thinking over Elodie's words before nodding. The brunette climbed off Caroline's bed, stumbling to put her shoes back on as the three sat up in curiosity.

      "What are you doing?" Bonnie asked.

      "Ellie is right. The worst he can do is say no, and it's as easy as that. So, I need to go now before I can talk myself out of it. Or Elodie scares me into thinking there are much worse things he could do. So, thank you." Elena nodded, before grabbing her bag and hightailing it out of her room.

      The three other girls sat in silence, before Caroline stood up, "well, I know where my mom's liquor stash is so I'm going to stock up for the three of us. Ellie find us another movie."

      When Caroline disappeared out of her room, Elodie turned to Bonnie. "I'm sorry about what she said earlier, you know that she can be a bit—"

      "Bitchy?"

      "Well, I was going to say blunt but I guess that works too. But she didn't mean it, and I definitely want to hear more of grams stories whenever you can!" Elodie smiled, and Bonnie grabbed her hand softly only to gasp.

      She seemed to zone out, time passed slowly for Bonnie, like she was stuck in a honey pot. Flashes of sharp teeth and fangs, wolves and humans. A bright yellow light that seemed to grow larger before she glanced down a body lying on the forest floor, neck bent at an odd angle, the face belonging to—

      Bonnie had shocked herself out of it, jumping up and ignoring Elodie's questions as she quickly gathered her stuff. Bonnie brushed past Caroline who was bringing bottles of tequila and wine and bourbon, as well as a dr pepper with vanilla for Elodie. Caroline glanced down the stairs watching as Bonnie rushed out the front door before entering her room once again. "What was that all about?"

      Elodie didn't want to worry her much more, so she just answered with a white lie: "someone came up, I think she mentioned something about grams."

      Caroline nodded, only half paying attention, "okay! Well more for me I guess. What movie did you pick?"

      Just like that, the topic had been immediately forgotten about by Caroline—only, Elodie spent the next two movies thinking about Bonnie and how she had reacted to her touch. She even had Caroline confirm if her hands were cold, which they weren't, but she couldn't find an exact reason why Bonnie would react like that.

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THE NEXT MORNING, ELODIE'S LITTLE BUBBLE of pretend happiness had to be popped. Her parents and Dalton were at the Forbes home bright and early, Lily Solace smothering her daughter in hugs as she cried in her daughter's hair. Begging for her forgiveness for not being there. Clayton kept a stoic expression but the unshed tears that lined his eyes as he hugged her told a different story. Dalton made a joke about her stealing the spotlight as he hugged her.

Then Liz Forbes came in and requested Dalton and Caroline to leave the room so she could get Elodie's statement. Caroline began to protest, but Liz clicked her tongue at her daughter, shaking her head, "It's her decision, Caroline."

Caroline pouted, smacking her sides in anger. Elodie reached for her hand, "it's okay. I'll see you at the comet celebration tonight, go hang out with Dalton."

      At the mention of his name Dalton tried to protest as well, but one look from their father had him closing his mouth and silent following Caroline out.

"Okay Elodie," Liz spoke, sliding a recorder across the table. "I'm going to be recording this conversation for documentation purposes, is that alright?"

      Elodie nodded, but quickly corrected herself, "yes ma'am." Lily grabbed her daughter's hand, squeezing tightly.

      Liz sighed softly, pulling out a piece of paper with a pen, "for the record, what is your full name and date of birth?"

      "Um, Elodie Grace Solace. I was born on February 2th, 1992. That um, makes me seventeen years old."

Liz nodded, "two nights ago, you phoned Caroline Forbes, what did you tell her?"

Elodie swallowed harshly, "that I believed someone had broken into my home."

      "No if you believed that, why did you not immediately call the police?"

      "Is this an interrogation or an interview, Liz?" Her mother interrupted, anger lacing her voice.

      "This is an interview, but I need all of the information. Now if you're planning on interrupting this interview again please take your leave now."

Elodie squeezed her mother's hand, "it's alright mom. Um, I called Caroline because I didn't want to call the police if it was just something silly."

"Alright, and then what happened from there. Exactly how you remember it with as much detail as possible."

Elodie swallowed harshly, brushing a piece of hair behind her ear. She glanced at her hands, "well, I walked home from the shelter around like eight-thirty I believe. I didn't really look at a clock. Um, then, well I got to my house and locked the door. I heard it click, and then double checked that it was locked before heading up the stairs. I didn't even get three steps upstairs before I heard a glass shatter in the kitchen. So I grabbed an umbrella and when I got to the kitchen it was empty. I thought I was just going insane, there wasn't even glass on the floor, so I headed back to the front door and that's when I saw it wide open. I called Caroline right after."

"You walked home?" Clayton questioned, "I thought Caroline was going to pick you up?"

"Mr. Solace," the Sheriff warned and Clayton just scoffed. "Anything else, Elodie?"

"Um, well I called Caroline, I ran upstairs and locked myself in my room. Someone had to have followed me because right after the door nob started moving, I had put a chair under it because I saw that's what they did in movies. Caroline had hung up to call you so I went to the farthest corner in my room and waited. He started to hit at the door, and that's when I heard the sirens."

Liz glanced at Elodie, the tears rolling down her cheeks silently, "he? How do you know it was a male?"

"His footsteps, they were heavy and almost intentional. Like he wanted me to know where he was, and I saw black hair, it was shorter but that's all I saw." Elodie swiped at her cheeks, swallowing the rest of her tears.

      Liz nodded, pulling the recorder back to her. "Well, that's all I need from you then, Elodie. Go home and rest."

      Clayton pulled her up, wrapping her in his arms as he walked out of the study. They met up with Dalton and Caroline who were eating in the kitchen, Elodie wanted to hug Caroline goodbye but she didn't want to leave her dad's embrace. She settled for a wave and promise to text her before the family of four walked out of the room.

      The drive to the hotel was silent. Lily and Clayton had decided to sleep in a hotel until they could get Elodie's door fixed and had a better security system installed. The hotel was closer to the center of town, but it was the fanciest of the hotels in Mystic falls and fancy enough that her parents had splurged for the suite. It was almost like their own home.

      Dalton kept his arm around Elodie's shoulders as they rode the elevator up to the top floor. He tried to poke fun at her but Elodie didn't respond only smiling at him comments. When the elevator slowly stopped on their floor—yes, the suite took up the entire sixth floor—Elodie silent slid from Daltons arms and headed toward the room she hoped was a bathroom.

No one spoke to her as she left, but Elodie knew they would start as soon as her mother heard the shower running.

Elodie stepped into the shower, letting the hot water wash over her. The steam wrapped around her, a comforting shield from the world outside. In the privacy of the hotel shower, she refused to hold it together any longer. Tears mixed with the water streaming down her face, each drop a release of the fear and pain she'd been hiding. The sound of the water drowned out her quiet sobs, giving her the space to finally let go. She let the water pelt at her skin, turning it red from the heat as she let the weight release off her shoulders slowly.

      She didn't know how long the she stood under the water, but the temperature slowly began to cool when she finally began to wash her hair. The water had turned lukewarm by the time she had shut it off and climbed out, tying her hair into a towel before wrapping herself in another. She used her palm to wipe off the condensation on the mirror, watching herself. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she collected herself.

"You are okay." She whispered to herself, "you are going to walk out there and smile and be okay, because you are Elodie Solace and you will always be okay. You've got this."

      She used the back door of the bathroom, hoping it led to an empty bedroom. It did, a bedroom with a suitcase settled next to her bed. Her phone was sitting on her bed. She quickly unzipped the suitcase, finding all of her favorite outfits. She sucked in another deep breath before shuffling through the beg to find a pair of low rise jeans—Caroline always said they made her look amazing—and a cropped white ruffle shirt, one that hung off the shoulder and was long sleeved.

      She ignored the soft tremor in her hands as she pulled on a brown belt to match the bag she had planned to bring. She shook her hair out from the towel, blow drying it quickly before slipping on a pair of tennis shoes and walking out of the room.

      Her family went quiet as she entered the main space, she plastered a smile on her face as she nodded at them. Walking towards the elevator.

      Her father was the one to speak up, clearing his throat, "and where are you going?"

      Elodie spun on her heel, the soft curls she had made smacking her face, "to the comet party in the town center? Why?"

      "Elodie, I think you just need to rest." Lily interrupted. "The comet will pass out Mystic Falls again."

"In over one hundred years," Elodie rolled her eyes, "mom I'm fine. I'm not a glass doll that will shatter at the drop of a hat."

Lily stood up, walking over to her daughter, "are you sure, Elodie? No one will shame you if you don't show up."

Elodie swallowed back tears, "yes, I'm sure. Promise mom."

Lily sighed, "fine, but Daltons going with you."

"Sweetie, he's grounded." Clayton added from the couch, where the older man was sipping a scotch. Lily spun around, leveling a glare at her husband. He raised his hands, "aright."

"Dalton go get dressed, or sister wants to leave now," Lily added, looking at her son who jumped up.

Dalton was ready to leave within two minutes. Elodie smiling as the two siblings rode the elevator down to the first floor. Their hotel opened up to the town center which had become party central. Children cheered as they raced around the center, cotton candy falling off their sticks, their faces covered in face paint. Elodie smiled, remembering when her and Caroline were in the same position.

      Caroline and her sixth sense began heading over to where Elodie was, Dalton having wandered off somewhere. "Elodie! I'm so glad you came."

      "Caroline, I told you I would." Elodie smiled at the blonde. Caroline watched her with worried eyes and Elodie sighed, "I told you, I'm fine. Really."

      Caroline looked at her suspiciously, before nodding once. "Fine, but if you wanted to leave let me know and we'll both go."

      Elodie wanted to protest, knowing that Caroline couldn't exactly leave this when she was the one hosting but she just nodded. Caroline looked behind her, smacking Elodie's arm in excitement, "look! Look there he is!"

      Elodie spun around, "who?"

      Caroline blinked and the mysterious man was gone, "ugh, I just thought that I saw..."

      Elodie turned to look at her, "saw who?"

      Caroline masked the disappointed on her face with a smile, "no one. I have to go say hi to some other people, are you fine?"

      "Go Care, I'll be fine!" Elodie laughed as she walked away. Caroline still glancing around them to find something, or someone.

      Elodie headed towards the Grill. Since most of Mystic Falls population found themselves in the town center, the Grill was mostly empty. Elodie took a sat at the bar, requesting a dr pepper with vanilla syrup. She handed the woman her card before spinning around on her chair with a smile. She watched a short interaction between Jeremy, Tyler and Vicky before the girl stormed away.

      Elodie picked up her card from the bar and started to head outside. Elodie was watching her feet, not paying attention as she bumped into something hard, her soda splashing over the rim and onto the persons clothing.

      "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry," Elodie apologized, glancing up to find a man with dark hair and a leather jacket towering over her. He had a look in his eye that made her stomach turn with worry.

      "Don't worry about it," his voice was harsh as he brushed off the liquid from his jacket.

      "No please, let me at least dry clean that for you, it's the least I can do for not paying attention." Elodie pleaded, trying to find cash in her wallet with one hand. The other was still holding her sticky cup.

When she glanced up, the dark haired man was gone. Elodie sighed, and quickly finished her drink before handing it to the bartender with a thank you.

It was dark by the time she found Caroline, Elena and Bonnie. Bonnie handing Elodie her candle as the three girls left Elena to hash it out with Matt.

Elodie was helping light others candles, holding her flame to the wicks as she walked around. She glanced up, smiling at the glowing green comet shooting across the sky, Caroline found her. Standing at her side at the two watched the sky.

Caroline never understood Elodie's connection to the sky, she was always outside as soon as the sun rose, cheerful and lively. Almost like she was powered by the sun, but at night Elodie could never take her eyes off the stars, the flashing masses in the sky telling her a story only she could hear.

"This is stupid," Caroline objected, "we could be doing something so much better than just watching a green rock shoot across the sky."

"Caroline! This is amazing, a once in a life time sort of thing we're witnessing here. Enjoy it," Elodie shot a glare at her best friend, and Caroline almost laughed before she watched the sky once again.

A few more seconds passed before Caroline groaned again, "Ellie please."

      Elodie sighed, "go."

      Caroline laughed, walking away from the girl. She put her candle out in bird bath—something that Elodie stored away in her mind for later—before walking into the grill. Elodie sighed, glancing back up to the stars.

It wasn't just admiration for the stars; it was a connection she couldn't define, a sensation that the shimmering lights above were more than distant suns—they were pieces of something she had lost or forgotten. She often wondered if the answer lay in her dreams, which were filled with galaxies and shadowy figures that felt both familiar and elusive. Though she couldn't explain it, the stars felt like home, as though they carried a fragment of her soul she had yet to rediscover.

      A throat clearing next to her had Elodie spinning on her heel. She didn't get a chance to see the person before her vision went black.

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KENNEDY SPEAKS :

350 reads!? oh my gosh thank you guys so much
much for this. you guys are amazing!!! but here
we are! i don't really have a plan for this season so
i'm trying to make it move faster...