ICARUS ▻ the vampire diaries.

𝔳𝔦𝔦. chapter seven.

𝖁𝕴𝕴 : Strangers in Paradise.

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THE BACK TO SCHOOL PARTY WAS A HORRIBLE SHITSTORM GARBAGE FEST : THAT MUCH EVERYONE COULD AGREE ON.

Only an hour after the party started, people were filing out of the place, a chunk of them speeding off to accompany Matt who was taking Vicki to the hospital and everyone else evaporating in their eagerness to avoid cops, parents, and any potential line of questioning.

Most of the violence that Alaska had seen in her life, she realized, had been heavily sanitized. She’d always assumed that the way she felt at the sight of blood gushing and bones breaking on-screen—annoyed at the gratuity of it, eager to move onto the next thing—would apply to what she saw in real life, too.

But real blood was nothing like movie blood, just as real death was nothing like movie death.

There was no amount of horror that could prepare a person for seeing the life starting to slowly ebb from someone's eyes. No matter who the person was. The helplessness and the fear was nearly unbearable. That's how it was watching Vicki bleeding out. Everything happened so fast that Alaska could barely wrap her head around it. One minute she was taking a peaceful walk through the bridge and the next she was cradling an unconscious girl's head while onlookers called for an ambulance.

The crowd imploded right after Elena had called 911. It was a whirlpool of frenzied movement and noise. Alaska, shocked due to the turn of events found herself stapled next to Vicki and Matt. An irrational part of her argued that it was her duty to help, that not being a moral support was the actual equivalent of choosing not to believe in global warming or stealing from the collection basket; another part pointed out that no one was going to give her a medal for rubbernecking at Vicki's near-death experience.

Horrible things were bearable, if you knew they were coming. No one had seen this coming, though. There was a fuzzy black spot in Alaska’s vision. She could only see a thin sliver of Vicki's face as she was carried to the ambulance—puffy and covered with dark blood—was the worst kind of mystery.

The thought of some sort of animal attacking Vicki in the middle of the woods seemed quite absurd. At least to Alaska. She had been living in the quaint town of Mystic falls her whole life, and it was always known to be a bit of a backwater place. Stagnant and out of the current. Stuck in a rut and unaffected by the changes. Nothing outlandish ever happened over here.

Vicki's only injury was a bite. It was decently sized, but not large enough and too precisely located above her jugular to be a predator living in the forests of Virginia. Besides, she knew animal attacks were rare - bobcats, mountain lions, and coyotes tended to be more afraid of humans than humans were of them. The only time they attacked was if they were sick or desperate. And even in that case, if it had truly been an animal, Vicki would have had bites and cuts all over her, not just on her neck. It almost seemed as if someone had tried to . . . murder her.

Alaska was distraught, shell-shocked and upset that, nevermind everything else, her phone had died and Elena was holding onto her hand like she was afraid her twin was going to disappear. Her blood ran cold as she thought of what Portia Ricci had said to her earlier.

The woods may seem tempting to wander in, but there will only be trouble if you let yourself be led astray.

Alaska's doe eyes darted towards the forest. It was as if she could still hear it echoing. Daisies were sprouting out of the tall grass, peering back at her through hogweed and cow parsley. The cool air on her still glowing cheeks was bliss, but it didn't take long for the sounds of the forest to echo ever louder in her head.