These Sorrowful Hearts

The Masquerade

❝A mask you ask? Optional I find! Masks lend appeal of a mysterious kind.❞

- E. A. Bucchianeri, Phantom Phantasia: Poetry for the Phantom of the Opera Phan

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Adalynn Gilbert was many things, but she never once believed herself to be paranoid. Well, until Stefan and Damon Salvatore entered the town - and her life - seven months ago. Ever since then, a dark cloud had descended upon the small town of Mystic Falls, covering everything with the sickening stench of death. What had started with a concerning series of animal attacks had soon turned into an even more concerning mixture of strange deaths, inexplainable disappearances, and mysterious accidents that left half of the citizens wondering if their beloved hometown was cursed.

Of course, Adalynn didn't believe in curses or other superstitious nonsense. She was a firm believer in modern science and the power of rational and logical thinking. That belief, however, began to falter little by little when the nightmares started.

Monsters with black, bloodshot eyes and sharp fangs haunted her subconsciousness every night, followed by a pair of cold, piercing blue eyes, the color of the sky on a cold, snowy winter day, and a creepy crow coated in fog so dense she could barely see her hand in front of her face.

She knew who these eyes belonged to. She saw them every day, following her twin sister like a shadow.

Damon Salvatore.

Mystic Falls' bad boy, town alcoholic, a misogynistic womanizer with an ego bigger than the Empire State Building - and madly in love with his brother's girlfriend, also known as Elena Gilbert, Adalynn's twin sister.

Words couldn't describe how much she disliked seeing him leaving and entering their house as if he owned the place. Something about him was giving her major unhinged serial killer vibes. Yet, her usual overprotective twin sister apparently deemed him safe enough company for her heartsick younger twin, while a polite and sweet girl like Jeremy's deceased ex-girlfriend Anna wasn't even allowed to say 'Hi' to her without immediate interference.

Worse than having to endure Damon's obnoxious and misogynistic comments and "I'm every woman's wet-dream"-attitude day in, and day out, was the the fact that at some point during the last seven months, everyone around her had started to keep secrets from her. Her siblings were barely at home anymore, skipped school, or even went missing for a day or two with no explanation. Everyone was always busy, whispers stopped the moment she entered the room and she couldn't shake the feeling that they knew something she didn't, for example, what the hell had happened during the days and hours that seemed to be gone from her memories, or the strange bruises and scars that randomly seemed to appear on her body. Whenever she steered the conversation towards that topic, Jeremy and Elena would shoot her guilty looks before shrugging it off and blaming it on her medication.

Adalynn wasn't stupid. Of course, she knew the pills had side effects, but they shouldn't cause blackouts, hallucinations, or bruises on her skin. No, something had to be wrong with her head. If she wasn't so scared of the outcome, she would have long since scheduled a check-up at the hospital. If she truly had a brain tumor, she didn't want to know. She didn't want to spend what could be the last few months of her life at the hospital, living with the fear that every day could be the last. That was no life. Not that Adalynn had ever known a carefree life.

Her heart condition had always stifled her and held her back. While other children were running through the neighborhood, jumping up and down the street, Adalynn was forced to stay indoors, studying for school or reading books. While Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie joined the cheerleader squad, went on school dances, got drunk at parties, or did whatever stupid shit teenagers did these days, Adalynn had already worked through half of the textbooks for senior year and spoke about five languages fluently, including Latin and Old Norse. Homework and staying ahead of her classes was only occupying her for so long and there was little else to do apart from watching movies and reading books.