ᴛʀᴏᴜᴠᴀɪʟʟᴇ || ꜱ. ꜱᴀʟᴠᴀᴛᴏʀᴇ

009┊𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧

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1865

Stefan sat by the river bank where he and Prim used to sit for hours upon hours and chat aimlessly, bouncing from one topic to the next. He hadn't visited this specific river since her death. It was Lexi's idea to help him feel again. He met Lexi a few months after he turned into a vampire, if he was honest he couldn't remember if his emotions were on or off, it all felt the same. The world was now tauntingly dull, like the bright colors that used to rain down on his face had faded into an agonizing shade of grey named 'emptiness'.

Lexi had read all of Stefan's journals he kept from when he was younger. In almost every single entry, a girl named Prim was mentioned in some way. Lexi didn't know who she was, Stefan wouldn't talk about her, but she did know that Prim had a very special place in Stefan's heart. So she used it to make him feel something over the past few months, discretely. It started with buying Primrose flowers from the florist and placing them in vases around the house. She often found Stefan staring at them and stroking its leaves with his thumb and forefinger.

After that, she would purposely take Stefan to places where Prim and Stefan had special moments. The tree in which they shared their first kiss, the river bank where they had first become friends, the place where they admitted their love for one another. He would always stare blankly at specific places when she did, it was always the exact same places, the large old tree stump that lay vertically on top of a hill, a clearing in a wildflower field, the fountain in the center of town.

Then the writing stopped completely in April 1864. Stefan had told Lexi about Katherine, a girl who he believed he was in love with but turned out to be lies, abuse, and mind control. Lexi hated Katherine, she forced two brothers apart in her selfish act of greed. She abused them both, fed them her blood without permission, and controlled them in every way she could.

Then one final entry from 1864 was on November seventh,1864; titled 'Primrose'. It was two pages of heartbreak and tear-stained paper that tore Lexi apart from the inside out. It was hard for her to read, she couldn't imagine how hard it must have been to write it.

'Primrose Gilbert always has, and will always be the love of my life and my many lifetimes to come. Katherine took the one person I loved, more than life itself, away from me in greed of lust. She knew I would never return the feelings she wanted without force, so she forced.

In consequence, she forced me to push Prim away, causing the one girl I will always unconditionally love to be hurt by me, something I promised I would never do. Prim was let down by so many people in her life and I swore I would not be one of those people to leave her hurt and alone. Instead, what I did was much worse. I made her feel unworthy of love, I made her feel alone, vulnerable, and used. I made her feel like nothing, I treated her as if she was the dirt on my shoe or an unwanted house rodent. Prim deserved so much more than that.