Maddie, Madoue, Madness || Elijah Mikaelson

Chapter 2 - Broody not sparkling vampire and the Dream Walking of Hell

It was quiet, or at least as quiet as it could be. Only Jenna was at home, eating ice cream in the living room in front of Lion King. Her thoughts weren't on the movie but on her late sister. On what was left of their family.

Elena and Jeremy were at a party. All Elena had on her mind all day had been to see the weirdo guy again. If it had been someone else, Madeline would have been happy for her sister, as it would have been a nice change, a break in her grief. But no, it was that Salvatore guy and she made Jeremy promise to look after her.

Madeline hadn't gone to the party, of course. Just going to the Grill the evening before had taken a considerable effort, she wasn't ready for a party. And somehow, she seriously doubted she would ever be.

She was staring at her reflection in the mirror. She looked... more dead than alive. Her face was pale and hers cheek hollow, nearly gaunt. Dark circles below her eyes contrasted with the white of her skin. Her dark brown hair, before rich and lively, was now lifeless. And her eyes... her eyes were the worst as they reflected her anguish and, more than anything, the very thin veil between her sanity and her madness. How could one stay sane when they were always hearing people's thoughts? Things that should stay private, things that nobody else should know... She did. She knew secrets she didn't want. She knew who had cheated with who. She knew when somebody was hurting so bad they wanted to kill themselves. She knew. But she wasn't meant to.

She put her hand on the mirror and drew with her fingertips her facial features, not caring about the marks she left. There were so many secrets hidden behind her eyes, and nobody knew. Nobody knew about the delicate thread keeping her from breaking. Mad Maddie they said... But if only they knew.

Madeline sighed and walked away from the mirror. She took her sweater off and left it on the floor. She hesitated a second before doing the same with the rest of her clothes, leaving her completely bare. She lay down on her bed, closed her eyes and let her hand skim her body until reaching between her tight. She stroked, first slowly and then faster. Faster and faster, and harder. There were no imaginary face behind her closed eyelids, no loved face lost forever, just her hand and herself, in an attempt to feel something, to forget everything else for just a moment. She felt hot and pressed harder. Her breathing accelerated. She gaped. Her whole body tingled. She was close, so close. But then she stopped. She couldn't reach that moment when everything else disappear. She just couldn't let it go.

"So... pathetic," she muttered somberly, looking at the ceiling.

Jeremy had painted a beautiful sunrise on it a year ago, saying it was to remind her of how beautiful the world could be. She didn't know about the world, but the painting surely was. The kid had golden hands. And according to Vicki's wishful thinking, golden fingers too. Not that she had wished to know that. But then again, Vicki wasn't really difficult to please. Still, she had never, like never never never, wanted to know this about her baby brother.

"I wonder if there is still ice cream...," she pondered aloud as Jenna was thinking about adding chocolate to her vanilla ice cream. And chips of white chocolate. Good, she was now hungry.

She twisted and turned in her bed for a few hours, glaring every once in a while at her clock radio. It was late. Like really late. Or very early in the very morning. Could it be called morning if the sun wasn't already up? Jenna was still in the living room, watching now George of the Jungle while wondering about the pleasure of having sex on a tree.

Madeline groaned, wishing desperately to wash her brain. She so didn't want to think about her aunt like that. Just like she didn't want to think about weirdo guy realizing his so weird bloody fantasy with her sweet little sister. Elena was so...innocent. She couldn't hurt a fly. Was it that innocence that appealed that guy? Because if so, she would show him, innocence. With a clean sweep... In his face – followed by her running away in case he truly was a psychopath and not just a weird guy with weird thoughts.