Changeless ( Sequel Of Timeless.)

Chapter 17

Bonnie woke up.

Someone was calling her name. Her vision was frayed between dream and reality and it took her a few moments to focus on Jeremy's face in front of her, kneeling by her bed. He was in a black pair of slacks, a white shirt hanging open over his arms and chest.

"Hey," he said gently,placing a hand over her hair. "Gotta wake up or we'll be late."

She nodded, letting out a little moan of affirmation. Jeremy gave her a tiny grimace, before standing up again and leaving her to fully wake up. Her eyes followed him out before landing on the modest black dress hanging on the back of her door.

Caroline's funeral was on a Friday. Liz had been stoic when Bonnie had told her the news of her daughter's death. She had accepted the news as facts and then jumped into action, making arrangements and calling Caroline's father and step father. Bonnie realized that in spite of the vast differences between the two Forbes women, there were some things that Caroline had inherited from her mother after all.

It was the Sheriff who had come up with a story to explain Caroline's sudden death.

"Attacked, in New Orleans, while on a trip," Liz had suggested, the tremble in her lip serving as the only crack in her fortress of practicality and calm. "Police don't have any leads. Just a victim of a random mugging."

A lot of people from school came to Caroline's wake. Flowers were arranged everywhere, in hues of purple and yellow, Caroline's favorites. Elena stood next to Bonnie, both of them in simple black dresses. She leaned over and whispered in her ear. "What is Gloria Fell doing here?"

Bonnie's eyes lifted to see one of their blonde classmates walking through the door, a tissue clutched in her hand. She was another Queen Bee wannabe of Mystic Falls High School, just like Caroline, but without the heart of gold beating underneath her plastic facade.

Bonnie snorted. "I can just hear Caroline now," she murmured, letting her voice raise an octave. "That fake bitch! She hated me! She's just using my death to get attention."

Elena and Bonnie laughed for a moment, but then Elena's expression dropped. "Caroline died thinking I hated her."

Bonnie laid a hand on Elena's arm. "No-"

"She did. We fought before you guys left for New Orleans and we hadn't talked since then. It's all my fault. If I hadn't wanted the cure, none of this would have ever happened."

Bonnie shook her head, blinking to hold back tears. "Elena, we could all play the what-if game. All of us. None of this is anyone's fault."

The ceremony and burial were restricted to family and close friends only. They gathered at the cemetery around the Forbes family plot, where generations of Forbes had been buried, and watched as another friend was laid to rest.

They'd lost too many people.

Though he kept his distance, Bonnie noticed Klaus hovering near the woods of the cemetery. His appearance twisted her gut. She'd never felt sorry for him. Caroline may have loved him to the ends of the Earth, and Bonnie had accepted their relationship out of her love for her friend, but to her Klaus would always be the Original Hybrid who had caused them all grief and pain because of his own selfish goals and obsessions. He was a terrible person who did terrible things.

At that moment, for all his power and might and fearsomeness, he was nothing more than a man who had lost his entire world. He leaned against a tree like it was his life raft.

There was a rustle on the other side of the clearing and she looked over to see Tyler walking toward their group. He had come back from wherever he had been. He walked forward, embracing Matt, who welcomed him with open arms. Behind him was Hayley, who hung back, visibly uncomfortable and not wanting to intrude on the intimate moment.