There was a winter holiday event happening in town today, so I went to the grill. I talked to Matt for a little, then I saw a painting.

"Klaus." I say turning my head, knowing he was staring at me. "Here to steal tiny Tim's crutches?"

"Dickens was a dark man. You would have liked him." Klaus smiles.

"Nice snowflake, by the way." I say, looking at the painting he painted.

"Is my work really that literal?" Klaus asks.

"I'm not kidding. The black all around it makes it lonely." I explain.

"I'm gonna take that as a compliment." Klaus said which makes me laugh. "Can you paint?" Klaus asks.

"Definitely not. I'm as good as a child

Painting a flower. But I do like looking at paintings." I point out.

"Are you planning on staying here?" Klaus asks and I nod. "Ok, then you might want to pick out a table."

"You're going to stay? Don't you have other things to do than flirt with me?" I ask and Klaus smirks.

"Do you it want me to stay here and flirt with you?" Klaus asks.

"I never said I didn't want you to flirt." I smile and we sit at a table.

—

Everyone was outside. I found Stefan and Klaus was talking to Hayley. Well, Stefan caught me staring.

"Are you jealous?" Stefan says.

"No. Why would I be jealous?" I ask.

"Because your man is talking to your old friend, looks like they're flirting." Stefan says.

"Can you not?" I ask.

"Your stubbornness exposed your jealously." Stefan laughs and i roll my eyes.

"She doesn't like me much." Klaus walks over to us. "Where have you been all day?" Klaus asks.

"I've been around."

"I'm not interested in vagaries, Stefan. You've been dodgy and Ashley hasn't been in the loop since she's been with me, but point is she has no clue in what is happening, which I've come to recognize when she doesn't know what her friends are up to, it has something to do with me." Klaus explains.

"I broke into your safe to look for the sword." Stefan honestly says.

"Why?" Klaus asks.

"Because I don't trust you." Stefan responds.

"I showed you the sword. I explained its value. I've been on your side the entire time. What do you want from me— a secret brotherhood handshake?" Klaus says which makes me chuckle.

"I found the letters. You have a few pen pals over the centuries?" Stefan asks which makes me furrow my eyebrows.

"Well, is keeping my victims' letters really so different from writing their names on a wall, like you did, ripper?" Klaus laughs than sees Adrian, which makes him walk away.

Stefan gets a call from Caroline, and I was drop.

"What plan?" I ask.

"You have to get out of here, it's not safe." Stefan says.

"No, tell me what's happening!" I shout.

"Tyler had a plan to take Klaus down, but Hayley ruined it and all of them are dying. Find Tyler, keep him safe." Stefan tells me and I nod running off.

—

🎵

I run around town. I couldn't find Tyler anywhere, but I did spot Klaus drowning someone, it was Tyler's mom.

"Klaus, no!" i shout and he looks at me. He had blood all over his suit and all over his face. And he look murdery .

"No, no, no, no." I run up to Tyler's mom but he stops me. He holds me up by holding my neck, making it hard to breathe.

"I can't breathe." I shout but I could tell at least in the moment he didn't care. I kick and I did scream but there was nobody out here.

"You're gonna die, think." Madeline appears. "Think of what you can do."

My eyes turn the blue/amber yellow color and I was able to get out of the position Klaus had me in. The blood that was on him was now all over me.

I pull Carol out of the water and start doing cpr.

"She's already gone." Madeline says, still watching over me.

"No, no!" I shout, still trying to restart her heart. "She can't die."

"Ashley!" Madeline shouts. "Find a heartbeat." Madeline says. I go to find one but I can't.

"She can't be dead!" I shout, tears coming down my face but there's no heartbeat and there's no way I can restart it. Klaus is already gone.

"What do I do?" I ask.

"Get in your car and get home. If they see you with her they will start to ask questions and you have blood all over you. Go home and tell Tyler tomorrow." Madeline said and I nod and drive home.

—

I'm in the driveway, hysterically crying. Carol was always so nice, especially when I lived there when I was a kid, she was like... she was family.

"Ok, I have to go in." I tell myself and nobody was home, and I needed comfort, so I headed to the boarding house, where Stefan and Caroline was.

I walk in and Caroline and Stefan froze, seeing me covered in blood and tear stains on my face.

"What happened?" Stefan asks.

"I was trying to find Stefan, but I found Klaus covered in blood. He tried to kill me, and he killed Tyler's mom. I tried to do cpr but her heart already stopped before I got there. Klaus, he was holding me by the neck, I couldn't breathe, I was— I'm scared. I'm scared of Tyler being mad, I'm scared for Tyler, and I'm scared of Klaus."

"It's okay Ash, you're ok, you're safe." Stefan says hugging me and I break, start sobbing.

"I'll stay. Take a shower and I'll stay here with you." Caroline says and I nod.