It was a normal day in the town of Mystic Falls, Virginia.

The sun hung brightly in the hot, midday sky. The historic town square hummed with the quiet activity of the townspeople. The smell of fries and sizzling burger meat wafted from the Mystic Grill. And the rowdy Timberwolf jocks laughed and jaunted down the main street, cheerleaders on one arm and bags of food in the other.

But the most normal thing about today?

A pissed off Caroline Forbes-Salvatore.

"How the hell could you do this?!"

The Salvatore Boarding School For The Young and Gifted sat on the edge of town, tucked away in the forests like an old statue in a manor garden. Past it's enchanted iron gates and within it's burgundy, wooden walls sat the Headmaster's office. And within this office, Caroline was delivering one of her signature verbal thrashings.

The recipient? A mysterious benefactor of the school - a man who had almost no contact with Caroline or the school until a week ago.

Most of the school's contributors visited the school on occasion or even stayed in town as guests. But this benefactor didn't even set foot in the school.

No visit, no inspection, only a cheque for fifty-thousand dollars and one other item - a lapis-blue drawstring bag.

And then there was the third thing the donor left at the school - the reason why Caroline was so angry today.

"Are you even going to say goodbye?" Caroline asked, indicating to the hallway outside. "Or are you just going to dump him here like a piece of trash? Come on! He deserves a goodbye at le-"

Dial tone.

"Hello? Hello?! Dammit!"

Caroline groaned as she slammed the phone back onto the hook. But her frustration overtook her self-control, cracking the phone in half and knocking a photo frame over in the process.

"Oh, for f-!"

But she stopped the final word before it slipped out, her attention shifting to the toppled photograph.

Caroline sighed as she picked it up, dusting off the edge of the frame with a weak smile.

The photo held two subjects, Caroline in a pearl-white wedding dress and a handsome, dark-haired man in a suit.

Caroline sat on the man's lap in the photo, their wedding rings shining brightly in the sunlight and their smiles even brighter.

Stefan... Caroline thought sadly.

Memories bubbled to the surface as she closed her eyes; memories of one day in particular.

It was the first days of Caroline becoming a vampire, a day when she and Stefan had traded stories of their experiences.

He had told her about the tumultuous emotions that came with vampirism, that one's human traits were 'magnified'.

Caroline had been uneasy about her chances of becoming an over the top, vampiric drama queen. Stefan however, seemed amused by the fact.

But now, here she was - letting that drama queen show as she talked back to the school's newest donor, thinking she knew what it meant to be a headmistress or a people-person. All because she let her emotions get the better of her.

"Ughhh," Caroline groaned. "Why is Alaric never here to deal with this stuff?"

She sighed, clutching the photograph to her chest.

Oh, Stefan. What am I supposed to do?

The floorboards creaked outside the door.

Caroline gasped, putting the photograph back onto the desk as she peered through a crack in the door.

"...Who's there?" she asked.

Was someone there? Or were her heightened senses playing tricks on her again?

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A small hand crept into the doorway, nudging it open and allowing a young face to peer in.

It was a little boy's face, no more than six years old, with fair porcelain skin and ink-black hair. His features were soft and round - a doll-like face that betrayed a Japanese heritage.

Caroline breathed a sigh of relief.

"Nolan, sweetie, you startled me!"

The boy - Nolan - stopped in his tracks, his head bowed as his little hands bunched up the front of his shorts.

"Are you okay?" Caroline asked, her voice almost a whisper. "Are you hungry? Are the other kids being nice to you?"

Nolan stayed silent, his bright, round eyes watching Caroline intently.

Caroline felt her heart squeeze. He was so cute!

But her heart began to sink as Nolan's eyes fell upon the broken phone, his fingers tightening on his shorts.

"...Was that my Daddy?"

His question took Caroline by surprise, the vampiress pursing her lips as she searched for an answer.

"Um...yeah, it was! He was just calling to make sure you were doing okay!"

Nolan hung his head.

"Yeah!" Caroline repeated, putting on the most chipper voice she could. "We were talking about the school, all the exciting new classes you'll do, all the cool friends you're going to make, how long you'll be staying-"

"Forever." Nolan mumbled.

Caroline went silent.

"He wants me to stay here forever, doesn't he? Because he doesn't wanna see me again, right?"

His big eyes started to well with tears, causing Caroline's heart to sink

"I-I didn't mean to hurt them like that!" the boy exclaimed. "I-I didn't know! I p-promise I'll be good! Will Dad still want me if I promise to be good? I swear I-I will be!"

Nolan's tears finally began to fall, filling Caroline with panic. She gasped and ran towards him, holding the boy in her arms.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no!" she hushed. "It's not like that at all!"

But her words did nothing to soothe Nolan's cries. The boy clung to her sleeves, crying into the crook of her neck.

Caroline felt a pang of anger as she held Nolan, rubbing her hand up and down the child's back.

How could Nolan's father be so heartless? How could he just abandon him like this? Without even calling to say goodbye?

Nolan kept crying, hiccups rattling out from his parched throat.

Loss. Confusion. Frustration. Inadequacy. Sadness. If Caroline had a dollar for every time she experienced these emotions, she could practically trademark them.

"No, sweetie." she sighed, holding the boy close. "Your dad loves you, I know it. It's just...complicated."

Nolan made a small sniffling sound, his fingers clutching Caroline's jacket sleeves.

"C-Compcated?" he asked, drawing away from the embrace.

Caroline stifled a giggle. "Complicated." she corrected. "It means...it means something that's hard to talk about. With a really tricky answer."

Nolan sniffed again, wiping his runny nose and puffy eyes with the back of his sleeve.

"C'mon, sweetie." Caroline smiled, tousling his hair. "No tears, okay?"

Nolan nodded, wiping the rest of his tears away. As he calmed down, two children appeared in the doorway.

They looked about Nolan's age, except they were both girls - one blonde and the other brunette. Both of them wore the same Salvatore uniform - blue skirts, blazers and white knee-high socks, each emblazoned with the school logo.

The girls looked at Caroline with expectant eyes but turned their gazes towards Nolan, the blonde girl wrinkling her nose.

"Who're you?"

Nolan whimpered and hid behind Caroline as the little girl glared at him, prompting Caroline to stand upright with pursed lips.

"Lizzie!" she frowned. "Manners!"

The blonde girl - Lizzie? - shirked back, taking the brunette girl's hand as if shielding herself from Caroline's ire.

But Caroline smiled at them and knelt down beside Nolan, putting her hands on the boy's shoulders.

"Girls,'' she beamed. "This is Nolan. He'll be staying with us here at the school. Be nice to him, okay?"

"Okay." the girls said in unison.

As the girls smiled at Nolan, Caroline patted him on the back, nudging him towards the girls with a bright smile.

"Go on, Nolan." she whispered. "It's okay."

Nolan shook his head, scampering back behind Caroline like a frightened animal.

"Nolan." Caroline repeated. "Come on."

But Nolan still wouldn't budge, the boy clinging onto Caroline's knee for dear life.

Caroline put her hands on her hips, giving Nolan a look. But before she could speak, the brunette girl stepped forward, stopping before Nolan's eyes.

"C'mon." she insisted, holding out her hand. "Me an' Lizzie can show you the school!"

Nolan leaned the slightest bit away from Caroline.

"My name's Josie." the girl grinned. "Do you wanna be my friend?"

Nolan stepped away from Caroline, blushing as he looked at the girl's smiling face.

...Her eyes are pretty.

Trembling, the boy took her hand, letting her lead him away from Caroline and into the hallway outside.

"Stay inside and don't wander off, okay?" Caroline called out. "I love you, girls!"

"We love you too, Mommy!" the girls called back.

Caroline sighed with relief as the three left the room, Lizzie and Josie each taking one of Nolan's hands.

When she was certain the children were out of earshot, Caroline turned her attention back to the silk bag on her desk.

She picked it up and held it in her hands, looking at it with trepidation. But her trepidation turned into curiosity, however, when she felt something rolling around inside the bag.

Caroline threw away her caution and drew the bag open, the object in question clattering onto the desk.

"What the heck?"

It was a ball, no larger than a small plum, wrapped up in a thin golden chain.

It's surface was smoother than marble and tepid to the touch, with an opaque, dull-grey core.

Caroline narrowed her eyes.

But as she stared deeper into it, Caroline could have sworn that there was something inside it - a swirling shape like the eye of a hurricane or a ball of fire.

What was this thing? Was it enchanted? Some kind of witch thing? It looked valuable - important. Why would Nolan's father abandon him but leave him with something this precious? It didn't make sense!

But that was par for the course around here. As normal as could be.

Caroline slumped back in her chair. 

It was a normal day in Mystic Falls. But as she stared deeper into the ball's misty-grey core, an unsettling feeling crept up Caroline's back.

Like this was the last normal day the town was going to have for a very long time.