Chapter 3 ━━ Who's There?

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It's night time, and Bonnie is standing behind the stove where Damon usually stands. She is mixing beans in a pot, she makes three bowls of it. Damon and Lorna are sitting at the table silently, and Bonnie walks over and places their bowls in front of them. And she sits across from Damon.

Damon unfolds his napkin, and Bonnie hands him a spoon. He smiles at her as a thank you and begins to eat as Lorna imitates him. She sighs and looks down at her food.

"I miss them too, you know." Bonnie says, making her look up in surprise, and nods in agreement. Her eyes are full of understanding and concern.

Damon pulls the blonde into a side hug. He always cares about everyone even though he doesn't show that. That is why Damon is a brother to Lorna.

Bonnie smiles and looks back at her food and begins to eat. 

Damon grabs the newspaper on the table and stares at it. "Look who got 27 across." He sounds impressed.

Bonnie smirks. "I wish, 27 across is a rock I am pushing up an endless mountain."

"It's an old tongue twister Eddie turned top 40, Eddie Vedder, pearl jam. Yellow Ledbetter." Damon sits the newspaper down. And Bonnie looks confused. 

Then she grabs the newspaper and looks at the puzzle, 27 across is filled in, 'YELLOW LEDBETTER'. 

Bonnie, looking up at Damon. "Are you messing with me?"

Damon, taking it as a joke. "No, you messing with me?"

Bonnie, talking about the crossword puzzle. "I didn't finish this."

"Well, neither did I." Damon raises his hands in defence making them look at the blonde at the same time.

"What? You guys know that I'm not into puzzle things." Lorna says with an equal confused look on her face.

Bonnie, still-faced. "There's someone else here."

They are seated at the table, looking around suspiciously, where they find no one around.

Later on, Damon, Bonnie and Lorna are currently walking towards the small store in Mystic Falls to shop for groceries. 

"Youngblood Say you want me, say you want me out of your life And I'm just a dead man walking tonight But you need it, yeah, you need it all of the time… Yeah, ooh, ooh, ooh..." Lorna sings loudly as she continues to walk before Damon cuts her off.

"I get it, blonde. You miss my brother and all of those lovey-dovey moments with him. But I love my ears."

"Are you telling me that my singing sucks?" She glares at Damon making Bonnie chuckle.

"Maybe or maybe not." He grins. 

"You can go to hell." Lorna glares at him.

"Already living in the hell with Bon Bon and a blonde devil." He jokes.

Lorna scoffs dramatically making them laugh whilst we continue to walk forward. 

They arrive the grocery shop where Lorna finds herself in the middle of another war zone. Damon is leaning against a cart, Bonnie is beside him and Lorna beside Bonnie, they are strolling through the aisles of a deserted store. Lorna rolls her eyes at Bonnie and Damon who are fighting over the cart handle.

"I got it-" Damon says stubbornly.

Bonnie sighs. "Okay." She picks up a small piece of paper. "We need strawberries."

"Sounds good." The blonde picks up a strawberry packet. "I love them."

"Mmhmm." Damon responses.

"Eggs, milk and-ooh candles." Bonnie picks up one and sets it in the cart, Damon looks at her for a second.

"I know it's been a while, but you couldn't do magic as an anchor, so I'm curious what momentary lapse reason makes you think you can do it now?"

They turn the corner to another aisle.

"You know, when all this started, you sucked at making pancakes but now they're somewhat edible." She shrugs. 

"That's true." Lorna sides with Bonnie.

"Milk." Bonnie says.

Damon stops the cart, opens one of the many fridges and takes out a big carton of milk, he sets that in the cart.

"There's no reason to be Peter Pessimist." Bonnie heads over to a rack of glasses and sets blue shades on her face with the tag dangling. "We have proof we're not alone."

"First of all. Don't nickname, that's my thing-" Damon points to himself and strolls over to Bonnie with the cart, he snatches another pair of glasses from her. "-And this proof-" He sets the blue glasses on his face, so now both of them are wearing it. "-This mysteriously filled in the crossword, could very easily have been you."

Bonnie leans on the cart. "I didn't. Fill. It. In."

"No. You don't know you filled it in. You also don't know that you talk in your sleep." Damon says. "Eggs." 

Bonnie opens the fridge beside them and grabs the eggs. "What are you saying? Are you saying I sleep crossword?"

Damon takes the glasses off. "I'm saying it makes more sense than the alternative." He snatches the eggs and slams them in the cart.

Bonnie takes off her glasses. "I get what you're doing."

"What am I doing?" Damon asks.

"You refuse to have hope that you'll see Elena again so you don't have to be disappointed." Bonnie says and they turn the corner again.

Damon, in a slightly loud voice. "I refuse to have hope because there's nothing to hope for."

Lorna stops suddenly, pausing. "Pork rinds."

Damon digs into the car and looks at the shopping index. "Not on the list and eww."

"No, day-mon-a." Lorna emphasises his name. "There were pork rinds on this shelf, There have been pork rinds here on every shopping trip we've had for the past 4 months."

Suddenly an electronic chime playing melody comes on.

"You hear that?" Lorna asks looking at Damon and Bonnie before the latter hurries out of the store. The two vampires follow her to finally find a small horse carousel outside the door, playing.

Bonnie looks satisfactory. "Hmm, you hear that, Damon?" She sounds like she's proved her point and Damon still looks bewildered. "That's what hope sounds like."

Damon opens the switch box of the horse carousel. "It's gotta be a short, faulty wiring, something."

"Or someone put a quarter in it and turned it on." Lorna adds and Bonnie nods.

"You know I'm a little confused with all this misplaced hope. All right, Let's just say there's someone here. How do you know we're gonna get out?" Damon asks, not ready to give up that easily 

"Well, you say that this is your hell right? If there's someone else here, that means it's not your hell, and if it's not your hell that means Grams put us here, and if Grams put us here there's a way out." Bonnie says.

"That's a hell of a logic knot you've tied for yourself." Damon states, making the blonde chuckle.

"Thank you." Bonnie smiles. "So now that we have properly placed our hope, let's play a game. When we get out, what's the first thing you're gonna tell Elena?"

Damon thinks for a moment. "Sorry I killed Bonnie. But she was the most annoying person in the world." He starts walking towards the car park. "She wouldn't shut up. She just kept talking. I mean, it's a wonder I made it as long as I did, but here's the thing, I think it's better this way because she didn't have magic, and she was pretty much useless."

Lorna chuckles once again.

Bonnie notices something in the car park. "Damon."

"What??"

"I don't know, you still think I'm useless?" She points to the parking lot and where they see Damon's car in the parking lot.

"Look at that car and the number plate." Bonnie says.

"That's my car. That's my car." Damon squeaks.

Damon is now sitting in his car while Bonnie and Lorna are standing close.

Damon pretending like he's driving the car. "Vrrrmm, vrrrmm!"

"How much longer are we gonna listen..." Lorna starts but Damon cut me off.

"Shh, shh, shh, shh. This sound is the opposite sound of your voice, and I so enjoy it."

"How did it even get here, Damon? Did you leave it here in 1994?" Lorna asks.

"I don't know. It was 18 years ago. Had a lot going on that day." Damon shrugs.

"Ok. So you admit that it's pretty unlikely that you did." Bonnie speaks up this time.

"Very unlikely." Damon says.

Bonnie starts probing Damon to admit she's right. "Which would stand to reason.. that..."

"Someone may have put it here, Bonnie. Yes, I admit that." Damon finally admits.

Damon looks like he's thinking something. "I'm gonna tell Elena how much I love her." 

That makes the two girls smile.

"And then I'm gonna apologize for killing you, Bon." Damon adds.

At the same time, Lorna notices something behind. It's actually someone. "Wait. Did you just see that?"

They turn to see a figure speeding behind a parked car.

"I did that time. Let's go meet our little friend." Damon says.