Author's Note:

First of all,

I'm so sorry for the slow update. I'm not even going to give out excuses for this. I can't promise I'll update faster, but I know I won't be abandoning this story.

And,

When I first wrote this, I never expected to get such a response. So I would like to thank everyone who has been reading, following, and putting this story to their favorites. I am thankful and I do appreciate you all!

Now, this one is also quite short. But I do hope you will enjoy it.

.

.

if what they say is true, you are a shadow in fourth dimension

II.

...

"Hi, it's Tyler. I'm not around at the time, so please leave your message—"

Again. The same sentences repeated for what could be the hundredth time for the day alone. Caroline didn't know for sure. She had lost count of just how many times she had tried to contact Tyler and failed.

She cursed herself as she felt the tension building within her, putting an unbearable weight on her chest. She couldn't help either as it bubbled up to the surface, eliciting sobs she had tried so hard to prevent. It had been two days. Two days since Tyler had to leave town to get away from Klaus, two days since she last heard of him. Of course she missed him. They weren't that type of couple that had to meet everyday, but they always kept in touch with each other in some forms; texts, phone calls, email, anything to let one know that the other was at least, okay. Okay, as in, still alive and breathing and not killed by Klaus or his minions. Caroline had no idea where Tyler was or if he was alive at all, and that's what left her distressed.

She wouldn't be Caroline if she wasn't stubborn, so as she wiped the tears that flowed uncontrollably down her cheeks, she picked up her phone and dialed Tyler's number once again. She finally lost it when she was once again directed straight to voicemail.

"No, no, no! Pick up the damn phone! I am worried about you! At least give me some sign that you're still alive, somewhere," she said hopelessly, before ending the call. She fell back onto her bed carelessly, all the emotional events from the past few days had been draining the life (or what was left of it) out of her.

It was when she was wallowing in a pool of self pity, curling up into a ball in the comfort of her bed, that she felt his presence. She didn't have to turn around too check—she knew. She just knew for a fact that he was standing by her vanity table, frowning down at her as he readied himself to make another one of her day a living hell. As if it wasn't already bad to begin with.

And no, it wasn't the sudden feeling of cold air tingling along her neck that gave it away, like how it always happened in the horror stories. She just knew. If she was about to put it Kol's way, she'd say it's as if they had some sort of connection. But they didn't, of course. They barely knew each other. It must be because she was a vampire and her senses were heightened and she could detect things humans couldn't.

She reached for a pillow, bringing it to her head to cover it and, efficiently, also to cover her ears so that she wouldn't have to hear his stupid voice and the stupid things he had to say again.

"Oh, come on," he said. There it is! That's the voice she dreaded to hear.

She pressed the pillow harder against her head, so that maybe—just maybe—the force would probably kill her brain cells and turn off her senses, including her hearing.

"It's a lost cause, you know. You're a vampire, Caroline. No matter how you cover your ears, like it or not, you'd still hear me," he added, still using the same sing-song voice like he did the day before, and the day before that.

He sounded condescending and smug, and there was nothing Caroline hated more than the combination of those two things.

"Go away, Kol!" she hissed, throwing the pillow in his direction. But of course, it went through him like he wasn't there at all and ended up hitting the vanity mirror, leaving a dent and a small crack there.

"My, my," Kol shook his head lightly in disapproval, arching his eyebrow at Caroline. "Aggressive, aren't we today?"

Caroline groaned in frustration. She was really, really tired. Pulling the duvet up all the way to her head, she mumbled, "Why can't you just go away? I can't deal with you right now."

She swore she heard him sigh, almost in defeat, and it wasn't even a split second later that he was hovering above her, in the bed. Well, not like that. It was more like he was floating in the air, like a genie or something.

"I'm sure it will all be alright," he said when she pulled down the duvet, uncovering her face. She thought she saw sympathy in his eyes, but she could be seeing it wrong because her eyes were still burning after all the crying and it kind of blurred her vision.

There was a pregnant pause between them, and as the silence consumed her all Caroline could do was to stare at the man in front of her. When she saw the slight reflection of Klaus—the very man who had caused her misery—in him, Kol, she could feel the anger coming, but then she realized that Kol wasn't his brother.

The next time she spoke, her voice was small, but he could feel the venom lacing in her every word. "It's all your brother's fault," she said, "I hate him."

"I know," he replied softly.

She seemed to have given up on trying to shoo him away (as he was apparently as hardheaded as she was and was having none of it), and resolved to watch silently as he moved (or floated?) to the window. He stared at it, looking like he was concentrating really, really hard. It was as if he was hoping to blow it with the power of his mind. She was about to mock him when suddenly, the window opened. A gush of air filled the room, blowing the crème-colored curtains. Caroline blinked at the sight before her, gaping at how odd it was.

"O...kay," she nodded. "It was a coincidence, wasn't it? The air was just blowing so hard that it forced the window open. It wasn't you opening it with your newfound magical power," she rationalized. Kol pouted in annoyance.

"It's not magic," he insisted. But then he thought about it for a second and shrugged. "Well, I don't exactly know what it is. But I am a ghost!" he elaborated, like it was the most obvious thing ever. He looked almost too happy about the whole thing, like a child that had just discovered his house had a secret passageway that could possibly contain a mystery and provide him a thrilling adventure.

He flashed over to her, making Caroline feel a little uncomfortable with the close proximity. "I mean, you know in those movies where the ghosts can make things move without even touching them?"

"But that's in movies," Caroline pointed out.

Kol clasped his hands together, then he leaned closer to her and said, "Suspend your disbelief, Caroline!" he said excitedly, waving his hands wildly in the air in a random motion.

When he still received the skeptic look from the blonde vampire, Kol looked around the room and decided to find an object that could help him turn Caroline into a believer. His eyes landed on the stack of papers on Caroline's desk. Once he locked his sight on it, he started to concentrate and soon the papers were flying in the air. He directed the flying papers toward the window, sending them out of the room. Caroline stared with her mouth agape, shaken because 1) Kol Mikaelson just did some serious telekinesis, and 2) the items he sent out of the window were her English papers that were due the next day!

She dashed towards the window, looking out of it to see where her papers had landed. She sighed in relieve when she saw them lying on the front lawn, still clean and intact.

She turned to face Kol, glaring daggers at him. "That was my homework!" she yelled angrily.

He only smiled at her sheepishly. "Sorry," he apologized. "But that was cool, right?"

Caroline rolled her eyes at this. Noticing that she looked unimpressed, Kol decided he should give her another demonstration.

"Oh, look! That's Mr. Hudson!" he exclaimed, pointing to Caroline's middle-aged neighbor who was taking the trash away outside. A woman came passing the street, and he ogled her. Caroline cringed at the sight. As Mr. Hudson stared after the woman's retreating form (no doubt he was checking her butt), his dark hair (or should we say, wig?) mysteriously fell off, revealing his bald head. Both Caroline and Kol laughed at the old pervert's bewildered look.

"You got to admit, that was pretty fun, wasn't it?"

Caroline just nodded in agreement, bursting in another fit of laughter as Kol begin to 'fly' Mr. Hudson's wig around and the man so helplessly tried to chase it.

Kol turned to Caroline. "So, want to go downtown and have even more laugh?" he offered.

"Oh, yes. Absolutely," she nodded eagerly.

They looked at each other; both already had visions of their next 'targets.' At this, they snorted and simultaneously roared in laughter. They might sound evil, but then again, neither of them had really been an angel at the very beginning. Caroline could feel her cheeks starting to hurt by the amount of time she had retracted the muscles while she laughed, but she could care less. It didn't go unnoticed by her too, that it was also the first time she had laughed, in two days.