"Tonight! Night of the Comet! Would you like a program?" Bonnie asked sweetly, handing out the Night of the Comet pamphlets to people the girls past in the town square. She turned slight to face Elena as they continued walking, "... He didn't call, huh?"

"Or text." Elena sighed dejectedly, handing out another pamphlet. "But I realised we never even exchanged that stuff. We've never gotten to the texting part."

"That's an important milestone in any relationship."

"Isn't it? The timing is wrong, anyway."

"When is it ever right?"

"I'm not ready, Bonnie."

"Who is?"

"At least I put myself out there." Elena cut in, defensively.

"Is that what you're calling it?"

The girls stopped walking and Elena turn to fully face Bonnie, "What do you mean?"

"All I'm hearing is reasons why you can't."

Silence fell over the girls as Elena mulled the statement over.

⋅.˳˳.⋅ॱ˙˙ॱ⋅.˳˳.⋅ॱ˙˙ॱᐧ.˳˳.⋅

Lois was trailing Jeremy like a lost puppy. Thankfully, her twin hadn't said a thing and was letting her clutch the material of his hoodie sleeve. It was nice, he supposed, as she didn't like anyone to touch her after the accident. Clearly her twin was an exception, somewhat. 

Noticing Vicki, he moved them both over to her, "Vicki, what are you doing here?"

Vicki sighed frustratedly, "Fighting with Robert about my schedule. You'd think getting ripped up by a rabid animal would merit an extra sick day."

Lori cringed, her throat immediately aching. She pushed all of the feelings and emotions deep down, turning away from Vicki's aura. It was pulsating and swirling and Lois felt like she'd just stepped off a rollercoaster just by looking at it. 

Jeremy paused, noticing Lois' internal struggle, his aura flashing with worry, "Are you feeling okay?"

Lois wasn't sure if he was speaking to her or Vicki, but Vicki answered, "I hurt."

"Well, the doctor gave you something, right?" Jeremy asked, his attention back on Vicki as concern laced his tone.

"The kid stuff. Nothing with an "o" in it. I think they were on to me," Vicki joked, looking over at Lois. "Bet you got the good stuff, huh?"

Lois pressed her lips together as Vicki laughed. 

Jeremy reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an orange medication container, "Here. Knock yourself out, literally."

Vicki looked at him gratefully, and Lois could see the tension leave her shoulders, "Thanks, Jer."

Lois guessed that she must have been in more pain then she let on, or maybe she had said how much it hurt but got brushed off as a drug addict. 

Jeremy's voice interrupted her thoughts, "So you gonna, uh, watch the comet later?"

"I hadn't really thought about it," Vicki mused. "But I could be talked into it. I'll meet you out there in a few?"

The three teens were then approached by Tyler Lockwood. Tyler ignored the Gilbert twins, immediately focusing on Vicki, "Hey, Vic. How you feeling?"

Vicki scoffed, "Like you care."

Vicki moved away swiftly, leaving Tyler alone with the twins who were watching him. Jeremy oozed smugness whereas Lois just felt uncomfortable.

"What are you lookin' at, Gilbert?" Tyler gruffed, pushing past them both. 

Unfortunately for Lois, his hand made contact with her and sent her reeling as her mind was flooded with visions and thoughts and memories and feelings that weren't her own. She let out a shuddering gasp, her stomach rolling with nausea. 

"Don't touch her, dick!" Jeremy seethed, shoving Tyler harshly.

Lois took the opportunity to slip away into the chaos of the Grill. She hoped she could splash her face with some water and that would force the feeling to leave her sooner. 

Vicki noticed the small red head moving past a booth and raced over to her, "Lois! Hey."

Lois glanced up at Vicki's sudden appearance, still slightly disorientated, "Um, hey."

"Do you..." Vicki trailed off, huffing at herself in frustration. "Do you recognise that guy? Over by the bar?"

Lois followed where Vicki's finger was pointing to and felt like she would be sick. 

Stumbling away from the older girl, Lois fled to the bathroom that she was heading for originally. She clutched the cool porcelain of the sink and she emptied the contents of her stomach into it. 

"Oh, Jesus. Are you okay?" Vicki asked, swooping Lois' hair away from her face. 

"It's the meds," Lois heaved. "I'm fine, I'm fine."

Vicki looked at her sceptically, "You knew his face too, didn't you?"

Lois shook her head vehemently in denial. 

But Vicki was pushing, again and again.

"He was in the woods, wasn't he? There's all these stupid gaps in my memory, but that face. I know that face. But his eyes... they were red." Vicki babbled and Lois felt herself growing sick again. 

"From what I heard," Lois gasped, taking a step back from the sink. "You lost a lot of blood, okay, Vicki? So maybe you should get some rest." 

Lois tried to spin on her heel and begin walking away from the frazzled brunette, as honestly, her aura was still giving Lois a headache. The sooner she got home the better, no auras, no hospitals, no dead people.

"Hey, wait!" Vicki exclaimed in disbelief. 

Lois didn't have time to dodge Vicki's grip as her hand encircled around Lois' wrist. Lois felt her eyes un-focus as all of her senses were overloading with memories, Vicki's memories. The flashing images made Lois sick and she felt herself feebly trying to pull away. There were the memories she'd seen before, from Tyler, but from a different perspective. She didn't want to see them again, trying to force her mind to something else. She could never control it before, but she was desperate.

Blood.

Lois could see the attack now. Feel Vicki's emotions as she realised she could not avoid the man approaching her. Then, she's being gripped tightly and panic begins to swell in her chest.

Vicki released her wrist and Lois felt herself stumble as she regained her own senses.

"Hey! I-I'm sorry, I, uh, didn't-" Vicki looked startled at Lois' reaction.

"Just," Lois gasped, waiting for the pulsing to leave her body as she stumbled again. "Just leave me alone, Vicki? Please."

"We're in this together, you know." Vicki spoke quietly, her tone scared and Lois met her eyes in the mirror above the sink. 

"Hmm," Another voice joined them. "You sure are."

Lois felt her blood run cold and she tried to run, but something pushed her against the bathroom sinks so hard her head connected with the ceramic. Vicki's screams were cut short and Lois lost sight of reality, fading into darkness. 

____

AURA COLOUR CHART

red: energy, strength, anger, lust, passion, ego

orange: self control, ambition, thoughtfulness, courage

yellow: optimistic, happy, intellectual, naive

light green: peaceful, healing, compassion

dark green: deceitful, jealousy, moody

light blue: fear, indecisive, sensitive, skepticism

dark blue: spiritual, loyal, creative, kind

violet: wisdom, intuition, highly spiritual

indigo: benevolence, highly intuitive, seeker

pink: love, sincerity, friendship

grey: depression, sadness, exhaustion, low energy, skepticism

brown: greed, self-involvement, opinionated

black: lacking energy, illness, imminent death

white: perfect balance