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Bonnie arrived at the school solo once again. Gwendoyln said that she still needed to go through some things... unpack some of her things... the same reason she's been giving since Bonnie went back to school.

But, Bonnie understands, she does. She just wishes Gwendolyn was by her side at school again. And Caroline. And Bryce. She loved Elena, of course, but she missed her other girls.

"No Gwendolyn?" Elena asked, sympathetically when Bonnie met her to help with the carnival. Bonnie only shook her head no, saying Gwendolyn said she wasn't ready yet, but would be soon...

But the girls moved on to another prominent topic of conversation...

"I mean, Katherine looked just like you. It was freakish." Bonnie stresses to Elena.

Elena sighs. "She is my ancestor." She frown at the clipboard before looking up. "Hey, I moved the student booth into the cafeteria."

"Your vampire ancestor." Bonnie doesn't let her move on from the subject so easily. "And she didn't just resemble you like a family member would, or even Bryce and Caroline. She was you."

They move to a booth as Elena carries a bag of prizes over. "I don't-I don't know. I can't explain it, okay?" She shrugs. "It's creepy. It's all I got."

Bonnie frowns. "Well, how do you know she's not still out there pretending to be you? Gwendolyn's the only who noticed almost right away."

"I don't, but I could sit here and be tortured by not the knowing, and not having Gwendolyn around to know, or I could get these prizes to the ring toss." Elena declares, moving further down the booth.

Bonnie asks Elena about Damon 'killing' Jeremy before Elena snippily tells she doesn't want to talk about him, or anything vampire related, shoving prizes into Bonnie's chest.

"Copy that." Bonnie smiles tightly.

"I'm human." Elena exhales. "And I have to do human stuff. Otherwise, I'm gonna go crazy." She grabs another bag of prizes.

"Okay." Bonnie says gently, nodding. "I'm sorry. I'll focus." Her smile brightens. "We have to make Caroline proud or she will kill us." Bonnie not-so jokingly claims. "I don't know how she does this all the time. Or how Bryce did it all the time before..." She trails off. Before she broke.

"Well, because they're not human obviously." Elena cracks, trying to lighten the conversation, knowing the Bryce she knew is not the same Bryce that returned a couple days ago. Bonnie told her she looked like a shell of a person she used to be... and that was with her asleep.

"Obviously." Bonnie chuckles before they take off.

ཀ ཀ ཀ

Bryce let the warm water kiss her skin as she stood under the shower head. Liz wanted her to come home, but Bryce refused to without Caroline, especially after she said she didn't want to left alone this morning.

Bryce actually felt a bit sick with relief when Caroline was awake when she awoke earlier. Maybe she was crazy... insane! Mental! The voices in her head whispered in the back of mind. It was simply just a dream...

But the car accident... the- Bryce starts choking as water splutters in and out of her nose. She had been hyperventilating, ingesting the water without even noticing. She blinks, looking down at her hand to find some strands of blonde hair wrapped in between her fingers.

Her hair was once thick. Healthy. But now it was thin. From the stress, lack of food, yanking and pulling and ripping at her scalp, trying to get it to stop. The voices, the nightmares, everything she saw was just... too much.

The hospital allowed her to use one their showers after Liz agreed to let her stay until Caroline was released. Liz at least felt comfortable knowing Bryce was at a hospital... if anything happened. A nurse was supposed to check on Bryce in thirty minutes to make sure she was doing okay, and per Dr. Linley's request they run a quick check up before letting her go, her vitals, her body, make sure there weren't any signs of harm.

Bryce shakily pulls the wet strands of loose hair stuck to her hand off and lets them go down the drain. She swallows, hoping it wasn't noticeable enough during her check up. Dr. Linley and Liz both knew it would be best, especially with the aftermath of what happened to Caroline. She's okay, she's okay. She's in her room, in the hospital bed, she's alive, she's breathing Bryce coaxes herself, slowly breathing in, and out, as she screws her eyes shut, a tear slipping down her cheek.

When was it ever going to stop? When would the God awful dread that she was going to lose her twin go away? The terrifying pit that's settled in her stomach that she was back home now...

She'd almost rather go back than have to... return to her life as it once was. Because it wasn't. It wasn't the same, she wasn't the same. Caroline was the same. Maybe a little less energetic at the moment, but she was still her bubbly self. Her mother was still the same. Worried. But strong. And she found comfort in the fact that they neither of them changed while she had been gone. But what about everyone else? What about everything else? Surely the town couldn't have changed that much while she had been away, as it hadn't altered much for the past century from what she's been told her entire life growing up, and from what she remembers from school. Mystic Falls prides itself on the charm of tradition and honoring the past. She wasn't sure if found comfort in that too, but at least she could count of her greasy fries and strawberry cream milkshake to taste the same at The Grill. At least she hoped.

Because somethings never change...

And she wishes she hadn't.

ཀ ཀ ཀ

Caroline has changed. Only over the course of 24 hours, but as she reaches her hand out to the stream of sunlight she burns herself once again. She groans, thankful Bryce had awoke while it was still dark and left as the sun was coming up to shower. What would she tell her? What would her sister think of her?!

Matt enters with a tray of food as Caroline clutches her hand. "You mom said you're not eating. And neither is Bryce." He says to her as he sets the tray down, the door clicking shut behind him.

"That's gross." Caroline sits up straighter.

"It's hospital food. It's supposed to be gross." Matt breaks it to her.

"I think Bryce ate a banana this morning." Caroline says, though she only saw her take a couple bites, slowly chewing before she couldn't bring herself to eat anymore.

"The banana that's mostly still in the peel over there." Matt juts his head over before leaning down to kiss her.

Caroline leans forward before freezing just before she reaches the light. She turns away, coughing awkwardly.

Matt raises back up, moving on. "You mom also said you're getting released tomorrow morning. And that Bryce was staying with you until then."

"Morning?" Caroline repeats, immediately panicking. Matt nods. "Uh, I need to get out tonight." She declares.

"No. The carnival's gonna happen without you, Caroline. Bryce will be here to keep you company." Matt tells her. "I-I know it's hard for your neurotic control freak personality-" He motions. "To process but Bonnie and Elena have it."

"I'm not neurotic." She argues with a chuckle.

"Yeah, you are." Matt smiles in disagreement. "But it's cute, so..."

Caroline glances at the window in thought. "Look, it's not about the carnival." She swears. "Okay? It's just that this place is just really depressing. And Bryce doesn't need that either." She realizes her choice of words may not have been the best, but at least Bryce wasn't in here at the moment. And she imagines she'd like to leave here, too... having a hard time and history with hospitals, Caroline knows Bryce would like to get out of there as soon as they could.

"That's 'cause you're sitting in the dark." Matt points out, moving over to the curtains he pulls them apart.

"No, don't!" Caroline shouts, before speeding out of bed and clinging to the wall, head turned away. "Just close it, please." WHAT would Bryce even be thinking of her right now if she was in here?!  She didn't even know what to think of herself right now... What was she going to do when Bryce came back?! At least Bryce didn't mind the darkened room.

"What's wrong with you?" Matt questions, not a clue as to why she was acting so strange.

"Close it." Caroline snaps, looking directly at him.

Matt stares at her surprised before pulling the curtains back to. Caroline exhales.

"Okay." Matt holds his hands up innocently, turning back to her. "I'll just come back later, okay?"

Caroline bites her lip, nodding and he heads towards the door, glancing back at her as he leaves. Caroline throws her head back against the wall as the door shuts, sliding down the wall to the floor as she begins to cry.

She needed her sister. Immediately.

ཀ ཀ ཀ

𝟶ʙᴜᴛᴛᴇʀʙɪsᴄᴜɪᴛ𝟽 sᴘᴇᴀᴋs!

Hey guysss!! Welcome backkk!! Sorry it's been a couple weeks... I've been working my way out of my slump I had just started getting over when I updated last, & truthfully I've just been updating some other books over the past couple weeks!!

But ugh I missed this book so much, & we're backkk!! Ugh, my Forbes girlsss :( they just cannot catch a break right nowww... and both Gwendolyn & Bryce aren't readyyy to back to their old lives yet :(

I know this chapter had quite a bit of  scenes that didn't include Bryce or Gwendolyn, but I like writing scenes that they're mentioned in & showing the others talk about them!! We're slowly but surely uncovering things ;) And it's only gonna get worse & crazier from here...

Anywaysss, I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter!! And happy 4 months to this bookkk!! (4 months alreadyyy?! Whattt?!) I also keep forgetting to mention this!! But last month I finally took King, Bryce, & Gwendolyn's zodiac sign tests!! I'm still deciding on their signs & birthdays & still need to take Sebastian's, but just wanted to share for fun!!

Don't be afraid to comment your thoughts, questions, & reactionsss, & until next timee!! Mwahhh!! <3333