ICARUS ▻ the vampire diaries.

𝔦𝔦𝔦. chapter three

𝕴𝕴𝕴 : Fall and Foilage.

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ALASKA'S EYES WERE BATHED IN THE PASSING SCENE, able to see the rich natural hues laid all the more bright by closeness to an open sky.

The cool, clear air helped her to breath as she cycled her way to school ; the humidity and heat of a Virginia summer always made her regret the sunshine and freedom of summer vacation: she enjoyed the clear air and turning foliage of fall, and the first hints of spring only people who cycled or walked everywhere noticed - the odd splash of purple or rich golden-yellow from the earliest crocuses. Alaska had gotten her drivers licence right on the beginning of freshman-year. She had even gathered a lot of money after a summer internship in the Fell's agricultural firm to pay for a beautiful car. But ever since the accident, she hadn't been able to bring herself to drive it.

Cycling was cathartic to her, needing less physical exertion than kickboxing, and it relaxed her, as she cycled she could feel her the looming anxiety drifting off her like filmy veils whirling in the breeze. . . her imagination started whirring, a clue she was recovering from the stress of the early morning.

Alaska smiled as she passed Ferra's Cheesesteaks, where she spent hours with her friends before the summer. There was the stone-gated country club- she'd first gone there with her parents when she was freshly sixteen, and feeling bold, Tyler Lockwood had walked up to her, asking her if he wanted to share an ice-cream sandwich with him. Alaska loved to play hard-to-get. So, she only batted her eyelashes and turned him down cold, of course.

And there was the sunny, tree-lined road that led to the Wickery bridge. As the brunette paused at the four-way stop sign, she could practically hear her parents' voice at every bend in the road and see their reflection in every house's oversize bay window. She slumped down in her seat and swallowed a breath before continuing to pedal

The high school was close to the center of town. Still straddling her bike, Alaska walked it to the parking lot and she had just enough time to catch a sign with a large magpie pecking at flakes of rust on the top; the words Mystic Falls High School were embossed in ochre. The school was a large, yellow-brick building that had probably been built in the twenties, judging by some of the more art-deco shapes styled into it. It sat in the middle of an enormous lawn, where students waiting for classes to start hung about in small groups.

"Here we go..." Alaska murmured to himself as she carefully picked up her backpack and sauntered towards the main gate.