Damon wrenches his hand out of her own, pulling away. His back hits the wall with a loud thud. Ringing returns to his head to match the rattling. His body language resembles a caged animal (and isn't that ironic?).

"It was real." The sound is sharp edges and anger, but beneath it all, shakiness winds around it like a vine. "My own personal hell from decades ago dredged up and recreated by Wonderland, and for what?"

So Caroline could see that he too had been hurt before?

So he could make the right choice today when he didn't before, turning off his emotions to survive when he could have died in a fire instead? He still lives with the guilt of walking away.