The One You Once Were

I do something but ONLY for experimental reasons!

We ended up ordering pasta. Not Hayley nor Elijah joined us for dinner, it was just me and the hybrid. Klaus was careful with what he said for the rest of the day, always seeking glances at me whenever he could. I tried to ignore his gazing eyes but it was hard, considering how deep and cautious they were. It was like I was a treasure to him that he needed to protect, no matter the cost. It made me wonder why I'd been so upset earlier. Maybe because Hayley had been after Tyler once and it bugged me that she'd slept with Klaus who usually only payed attention to me. Not that I was an attention seeker or anything, just that I was used to it being that way, I guess. When I thought of it this way, it made me feel really pathetic.
As we were eating our food, his thumb nervously tipped on the glass over and over again as if he was trying to think of something good to say.
"I'll have to take care of something later today.", he finally stated.
"Later today?", I asked and took a look outside. The sun had already gone down and the stars were starting to show. "It's already evening."
"I am aware. I'll probably go to bed for a bit and see how things go."
"What things?", I wanted to know.
"Not so important. You just concentrate on getting a good night's sleep. No offense but you look like you need one.", he said and I stuffed my mouth with a slice of pizza.
"Do I look that tired?", I worried.
"Let's say, you look exhausted.", he answered and got a piece of lasagna on his fork.
"Can I try some?", I asked, pointing at his plate.
"Sure. It's yours.", he shrugged his shoulders. The lasagna was more than delicious. After we'd finished eating, he put our plates in the dishwasher and I cleaned the table. My mind was spiraling as my eyes locked onto my phone which had a pitch black screen.
Bonnie still hadn't figured out the spell, at least she didn't contact me. None of my friends did. The only people around were Hayley and Klaus. Though Hayley and I avoided each other a bit, probably the reason she didn't eat with us.
"Alright now, all done.", Klaus said as he closed the dishwasher. "Are you heading to bed?"
I gave him a nod.
"Enjoy your night, Caroline."
So I went to sleep, hoping for a relaxing night. Unfortunately, this wasn't what I got. Instead, images and scenes forced their way into my mind, causing for me to not really sleep at all. I tossed and turned, tears appearing in the corner of my eye and sweat on my forehead. My head felt like it was going to explode any second, giving me a headache like I almost never had before. I felt like I was sick as my gut gave me the feeling of having to throw up if my head continued at this rate. An actual rest was impossible and I wouldn't really call this a good sleep either.
It had been like this for some weeks now, to be exact since the time I had exposed Fake Bonnie. Which meant, I hadn't gotten any proper sleep since then... wait... that wasn't true. Last night, I had slept very well, in fact, I didn't have any images in my mind at all. What had been different? I tried to recall the night. I had slept in Klaus' room... Had it been the bed? Or perhaps, Klaus' presence? Nah. That couldn't be it. Right?
I spent my day thinking about that question. Klaus spent some time at home and asked if I wanted to do something fun but I wasn't feeling up for it. My sleep schedule bothered me and not even coffee could fix that. Klaus tried to lighten up the mood several times, he even asked worried if this was still about Hayley which I quickly denied. I spent the day inside the library, yawning almost every second and trying not to fall asleep. Even at daytime, I was afraid the images might return if I did. It was like a paranoia haunting me, my fingers were shaking only by the thought of it. The worst thing weren't the images themselves but moreover, not knowing if they were real or not. And if they were, why did I have them?
"Didn't you sleep well, sweetheart?", Klaus questioned concerned, interrupting my thought process. I shook my head.
"Why not? Isn't the bed to your liking?", he slowly sat down next to me.
"No, it's fine. Just had a bad dream, that's all.", I said, ruffling through my own hair and blinking to stay awake.
"Want to tell me about it?"
I was about to chuckle because I thought he was joking but his eyes were dead serious.
"Not really but thank you.", I smiled.
All of our slight argument from yesterday seemed to be forgotten. His worried look didn't leave his face the entire time. My attempts of smiling didn't help. When I tried to walk around to not close my eyes, I almost tripped and he caught me in his arms.
"What is up with you today?", he questioned. "You've been acting weird, you're starting to freak me out and that feeling's not really common to me."
I slowly got up on my own feet again.
"Don't worry, it's nothing. I only tripped.", I excused myself. He didn't believe me but since I wasn't saying anything else, he had no choice but to cope with it.
From then on, he seemed scared to leave but I promised, I'd be fine. I didn't need his help. I was just tired. Not more, not less. Still, I poured myself another coffee.