Mystic Falls – Late Evening

The town had a way of swallowing people whole. April Young had learned that the hard way.

For weeks—maybe even months—she had been nothing more than a pawn in a game she didn’t even know she was playing. The lies, the mind control, the constant feeling that something was off—it all made sense now. Every warm smile, every concerned glance, all of it was tainted by the knowledge that she had never really had a choice. They had taken that from her.

She pressed her fingers against the vervain bracelet Jeremy had given her, grounding herself with the cold metal. The one thing standing between her and being another forgotten casualty in Mystic Falls.

After everything—the compulsion, the chaos, the hunter madness—April thought she had someone in Rebekah. A friend. But vampires didn’t change, not really. Rebekah had been distracted, and then she had simply… forgotten. Just like everyone else.

That’s why April was here. That’s why, out of everyone, she had turned to you.

She knocked once, then again, more insistent this time. She wasn’t leaving without answers.

When the door swung open, her breath hitched. She hadn’t let herself stop and feel everything that had happened, not yet. But standing here, looking at someone who hadn’t used her, who hadn’t erased her memories when things got inconvenient, it all hit her at once.

Her voice was quiet, but firm. “Tell me the truth. All of it.”