The Forgotten One (The Vampire Diaries)

Chapter Eleven

I've made it my mission to distract Bonnie from the shitstorm that occurred a month ago. Yup. We've been here a month. We could've gotten out of here earlier but, my magic isn't there. I mean, it's there, but barely. It's as if something sucked it out of me and I've just been stuck here recharging.

"Come on." Bonnie grunts as she pulls a medium sized tree toward the high school. The eclipse begins to darken the sky once again and she barely glances at it. "Nope. I'm not noticing you. Today's not May 10, 1994. Today's the tree decorating ceremony and you are not telling me otherwise."

"And what's the tree decorating ceremony?" I question as I sip my hot chocolate.

"It's something we do every year as tradition. We go up to the school and pick the largest tree we can find and decorate it together. The whole town." She grunts again. "We all gather with hot chocolate and merry, catching up with others."

"Okay." I place down my drink and walk over. "You look like you're struggling a bit there."

She stops tugging to glare at me. "What gave you that idea?"

"All the moaning and groaning. I think you're sweating a bit too." I smile as I help her tug the tree to the center of the lot. "Okay." I wipe my hands, briefly. "Now what?"

"Now, we have to stand it upright and then decorate it."

"Can we do that after?" I whine. "I'm hungry."

She pauses. "You cookin'?"

"Sure." I shrug.

"Alright then."

**

Once we were all finished eating the soup I made, we hightailed it back to the tree to finish off what she started.

After an hour, Bonnie and I hang up the popcorn garland we made at the house. "All that's left is the lights, Bon."

She chuckles with glee as we get closer to the end of this decorating ceremony. "You take this end, I'll take the other."

We take the lights and run around opposite sides of the tree giggling as we rush past each other.

Once the tree is decorated, she pulls an extension cord towards it. "Ok, tree. Let's do this."

With a simple plug in, the entire tree lights up beautifully.

"Oh, here." I hand her a paper cup and grab the thermos. I pour some hot chocolate into her cup along with mine.

She smiles her thanks as we stare up at the tree. "You know, one time, I threw a snowball at Elena and started an entire snowball fight with all the residents of the town."

"That sounds fun." I smile, softly.

"Too bad there's no snow around here." She mutters.

"So, do we leave it up?"

She glances up once again. "We miss you guys." She grabs my hand and simultaneously, we lift our free hands towards the tree. In a flash, the tree bursts into flames.

**

Flash forward another few months and it's Bonnie's birthday. As you can tell, she's not exactly happy about it.

"Happy Birthday, Bonnie." She mutters sadly before tossing the calendar angrily into the lit fireplace.

After wallowing for a few minutes, she walks over to me with the video recorder in her hands. "Wanna reminisce?"

**

Damon, Elena, Jeremy, and Kai all watch Bonnie and Scarlett go through the memories of the video recorder. They can't touch or speak to the girls. They're simply unseen ghosts.