Witch Bitch Juju
She had tried everything. Every single lucid dream technique she researched and still nothing! El didn’t understand how it wasn’t working. She’d technically lucid dream when talking with Tessa, but it seems Mikael, if it was even the real him, thought about everything before he started haunting the doppelganger from another world and it was starting to piss her off.
At this point, the dark circle under her eyes had become a permanent residence on the witch’s face. “I might as well try melatonin gummies.” She mumbled as she looked in the mirror. “At least that way I’d get at least some sleep.”
“Why don’t you just do a sleep spell on yourself?” Jenna walked in the teen’s room.
Having seen her aunt walk in through the mirror, she didn’t jump from her sudden appearance. “I don’t trust it.”
“You don’t trust it? How can you not trust it?” The strawberry blonde sat down on the edge of El’s bed.
Sighing, El walked over to where Jenna was sitting and took a seat next to her. “I’m exhausted. Which means I’m running low on witch Juju and if I ignore that, who knows what would happen to me. So magic’s a no-go.”
“Maybe…” Jenna looked uncertain. “Maybe I should set you up with a therapist.” When El scoffed, she tried explaining herself. “I mean, you’re having nightmares and having trouble sleeping and I think it’ll help.”
“Therapy isn’t going to fix this, Jenna.” She told her. “This isn't something that can be shared, I mean, I’m being haunted by a thousand year old vampire that I killed. I took a stake to his heart and watched him burn.” The witch fiddled with the necklace that was around her neck at the reminder of the white oak.
Her aunt stood up and began pacing. “Well El, I’m not seeing any other options here.”
She sucked in a breath and clicked her tongue at the thought that popped in her head. “There is one. I need to talk to another witch.”
“But there is no other witch in Mystic Falls-” Jenna stopped talking once she saw the look on her niece’s face. “There’s another witch in Mystic Falls?”
“...yeah.” El looked up at the ceiling before her eyes landed on her aunt once more. “But she’s very…judgy and once I got my powers, I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to have a conversation with her.”
“Well, who is it?”
“Sheila Bennett.”
—-------
Putting off with speaking to the Bennett witch till later that day, the doppelganger headed to school. As she walked into the building she could see Caroline bossing her cheerleaders around about the car wash. “The sexy suds car wash is tomorrow. The football team and the band have committed. Well, not all the band. Just the ones who could pull off the bikini. I want, in your face, sexy. I mean, it's a fundraiser, for god's sake.”
“Hey.” Bonnie said as she took a spot next to Elena.
El looked down at her friend. “Hey.”
Bonnie took in her appearance, noticing how tired she looked. “You okay, you look tired?”
Already knowing what she looked like, the witch waved off her concerns. “It’s just been a long couple of days, don’t worry about it.”
“I believe it.” Bonnie nodded before changing the topic. “Hey, what’s up with you and Caroline?”
“Why? Did she say something?” El questioned as she snuck a peak at Care at the lockers.
“No, but you’ve been calling her ‘Princess’, and I know she acts like one sometimes, but it’s a little weird.”
“Weird?” Elena wanted to ask what she meant by that, but was interrupted by a certain vampire wanting to talk.
“Hey.” Stefan said, taking a place next to the girls.
Bonnie, sensing the awkward tension between the two, started taking small steps backwards. “Hey. You know, I gotta go. Be somewhere right now.”
“We need to talk.”
“Why is it everytime you say those words, it usually has to do with Damon?”
He stretched the back of his neck. “I’m starting to realize that too.”
“So…Damon?”
“Yes. Yeah. I-he’s gone. Damon’s not going to hurt anyone else.”
Even if she knew he wasn’t going to be locked up forever, the witch did appreciate it. “Okay. Thank you. I mean, I know that he’s your brother, but seriously, thank you.”
“I appreciate the thanks, but you don’t have to. I kind of owe you this.” The vampire said, thinking back about how he outed her as a witch. El pulled her lips together, the side of her mouth curved up a bit as she gave him a nod, not really knowing what else to say. “Also, I know you’re not my biggest fan, but-um, I’m hoping one day we can-uh-put that behind us. And be…friends?”
Elena thought about it. “Sure. I will agree to ‘one day’.” She stuck out her hand. “Until then?”
The vampire smiled as he shook the girl’s hand. “Until then.”
It was at this moment, Care came up next to them causing the two to let go of one another's hands. “El! And Stefan.”
“Hey Caroline.” He looked back to El, ducking his head slightly. “I will leave you two alone.” Without looking back, Stefan walked down the halls of the school towards his next class.
“What was that about?” Caroline asked, a sudden urge of jealousy cursed through her body.
El hiked her bag up her shoulder. “He was just telling me about Damon and that he took care of it.”
“Oh! Well, good.” She felt better. “No more danger.”
“For now at least.” The doppelganger gave a cheeky smile, knocking shoulders with the blonde.
“If you say so.” Care said before grabbing her friend's arm. “Hey, so…I was hoping we could hang out tonight and talk about-” She gestured between the two of them. “-this. If you want.”
El grimminced. “I’m sorry Princess, I’m working then I have business to take care of.” But she quickly added to her sentence when she saw the disappointment on Caroline's face. “But I’m free tomorrow!”
The blonde’s face lit up. “Great! Tomorrow then.”
“Tomorrow.” The doppelganger's face matched.
—-------
After school, El headed right to the Grill for work. Walking into the back, she placed her bag in her locker after she was done changing into the work uniform. Armed with an order booklet and a pencil, the doppelganger headed to where the ‘clock in’ system was located.
As she punched in her code, Brent took a spot next to her. “There’s my favorite employee!”
“You say that to everyone, Brent.” She rolled her eyes with a smile.
“Yeah.” The owner of the Grill nodded, before offering the teenager a wink, playing along. “But with you I mean it.”
“Sure you do, Boss.” The witch snorted before patting him on the shoulder as she passed him. “What section am I?”
“Three and Four.” Brent caught up, walking in stride with El.
“Three and Four?” She repeated. Normally she’s only given one section. “Why two?”
Brent pulled a face as he shrugged. “We had a no show.”
“I wonder who it was?” Of course, she knew who it was and Brent knew that she knew. It was becoming a common occurrence ever since El took the job. Vicki was still bitter that she broke her poor little brother's heart that she would rather not make money. It was sad, really. Not waiting for an answer, the witch walked onto the floor and began gathering orders from the customers.
A little over an hour of time had passed when Matt walked into the Grill to see El placing dirty cups on her tray from a table that had only left a few minutes beforehand. “Hey, Elena.” He said as he made a bee-line for her.
Rolling her eyes, she turned on her heel to look at the ex boyfriend. “Matt. I would ask what you’re doing here, but it’s the Grill so…”
“Yeah. I just wanted to play some pool.” He glazed over to the many pool tables in the restaurant. “Do you want to join?”
She blinked once, twice, thrice. “Matt. I’m working.”
He didn’t let up, almost like he didn’t care. “Come on. We haven’t played in forever. I’ll let you brick.”
Even if El wasn’t working, she had never played pool in her life. Just because she became Elena Gilbert, didn’t mean she got her memories, but she didn’t even bother bringing that up. “Do you know I am working two sections today, mmh? Because your sister, Vicki, didn’t show. So I am very busy, so please. Take the hint.”
Not expecting her to decline his offer, Matt grabbed onto her arm, keeping her still. “Elena-”
She looked down at his hand, jerking it out of his hold. “Take a hint, Matthew.” She repeated, slowly losing her patients.
“What’s going on with you!” Matt blurted, causing a few tables to glance over at the two teenagers.
“Excuse me?” It took all of El’s self control to not throw the serving tray she held at his face as she was starting to lose her patients.
Not noticing how El’s jaw clenched, he took a step forward. “We were together for two years before you dumped me, but before that we were friends.”
“Your point?” The witch raised her brows, the tray smackdown sounding more and more appealing.
“I just want to know what happened?” He pleaded. “We were good, we were great.”
“I don’t owe you an explanation.”
“I feel like you do. At least tell me why you don’t want to be friends.”
“Dear god, do you ever give up?” Not feeling like getting an assault charge, she channeled her annoyance into slamming the tray down on a nearby table. “I just told you I didn’t want nor need to. For once, except that your little fantasy world where we get back together is that, a fantasy!” With a huff, she picked it back up. “Now if you would excuse me, I am very busy and I don’t have enough energy to waste on you. Leave. Me. Alone.” She walked away mumbling to herself. “I hate being the protagonist.”
Matt stood there dumbfounded. Suddenly realizing all the eyes that were all pointed at him. Quickly, the teenager rushed out of the Grill, passing a certain vampire who had witnessed the whole thing.
—-------
Pulling up to Sheila Bennett’s house was more nerve racking than El thought it was going to be. She knew how the older witch felt about vampires as they were ‘Nature’s Abominations’ while witches were 'Servants of Nature’ and since the Gilbert girl was a witch herself now, she no doubt was going to push that view onto her.
Taking off her helmet, she sat it on the seat and stepped up to the door. Raising her first, she held it up, hesitating for a brief moment. Shutting her eyes, she brought her first down to knock. Not even a second later, almost like the old woman knew, the door opened.
Plastering the brightest smile that the doppelganger could, she began to speak. “Hi Ms. Sheila-”
“I’ve been waiting for you to show up.” Sheila cut her off. “About time.” She sidestepped out of the way, giving enough room for El to walk in. “You want some tea?”
“No thanks, I’m okay.” El walked into the living room, turning around once the Bennett witch shut the door. “But I do need some help.” When the older woman gave her the go ahead, the doppelganger continued to talk. “I was hoping you could make me…sometype of sleep potion, remedy type thing. Something that makes me not dream, just for a handful of days.”
“Why?”
She glanced away, pushing her lips together. “I’m being haunted…by Mikael.” She didn’t need to look at the woman to notice the surprise that coated her features. “And I need it to stop.”
Sheila took a step forward. “How’d you know about Mikael?”
“How does one know anything?” She said, not wanting to spill all her cards.
“Answer the question child.” She wasn’t amused with her retort.
El clicked her tongue. “You and I both know in this world you can’t put all your eggs in one basket. So no, I’m not answering that.”
“If you want my help, you will.” Sheila crossed her arms over her chest.
“Seriously?”
“You and I both know in this world if you want something, you give something in return.” The Bennett witch quoted the teenager’s words back to her. She really should have seen that coming. “So, are you going to tell me, cause it really looks like you need it.”
She was right, the doppelganger witch really did need that stupid potion. “Let’s just say, we have a mutual friend.” It wasn’t entirely wrong.
The Bennett woman rolled her eyes. “How forthcoming of you.”
“You wanted an answer, I gave you an answer.” El held out her hands, emphasizing the point. “So…” Her arms dropped. “...are you gonna help me? Please.”
Sheila looked her up and down, going over the pros and cons of helping the poor girl. Sighing, she walked out of the room only to walk back in a few minutes later with a small bag in her hands. “This will help with the nightmares.” El went to take it only for it to get yoinked back. “Keep this from Bonnie. She doesn’t need to know about this world just yet.” Gently, she placed the sack into the doppelganger’s hands.
El brought the bag to her chest. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.” The Bennett witch’s tone turned dark as she ushered the other witch out. “You have no idea what’s in store for you.” The door shut once El was back on the porch.
“Trust me, I know more than you think.”
—-------
Back at home, the doppelganger witch took the substance the other one gave her. Once her head hit the pillow she was welcomed with nothing. Jamie Parker, after weeks of running off little sleep, finally got the full nights rest she deserved.