Quick Note: I'm only going to say this once, here at the beginning: much to my dismay, I do NOT own anything related to TVD.
Also, after many weeks of lurking around, this is my first attempt at writing. Please offer any constructive criticism, just be tactful. Thanks!

Elena was sitting in the cemetery as she so often did these days, writing in her journal; this was where she felt closest to her parents and therefore, rather ironically, most alive. She had made it through her first day back at school - but just barely. And now she was gathering her thoughts and chronicling the experience. Walking the halls and seeing how cheery and normal everyone else seemed had left Elena feeling further alienated from her peers. It wasn't just the first day of the school year, but it was her first day back after tragically losing her parents in a car accident that she blamed herself for. Every single thing that she did day-to-day reminded her that her parents weren't there anymore; on the first day of school each year since kindergarten her mother had made her blueberry pancakes and her father had driven her to school, even well after she had her license. Waking up that morning to a PopTart and riding to school with her best friend, Bonnie, had made the reality that they were gone sink in once again.

Elena noted in her diary that she had seen, and shamefully avoided facing her former boyfriend Matt Donovan. He was her childhood best friend, turned high school sweetheart. Together they were crowned homecoming Prince and Princess once and voted Best Couple each of their first three years at Mystic Falls High. They had been the "it" couple, but soon after her parents died so did their relationship; just one more thing she had to mourn, even though she was the one who broke it off. It was pretty evident that Matt was still hurt, pain radiated from his eyes when they locked with hers, and as she turned back after she began walking in the other direction his face had fallen and he looked as if he could cry – right there in front of everyone. It broke her heart that she had broken his, but she just wasn't fit to be in a relationship. She couldn't love herself right now, much less anyone else.

She began to write about the new student that she and Bonnie had seen registering at the beginning of the day; he was tall, thin, and handsome with a wild and intense look about him. He had light brown hair and shining emerald eyes that kept catching her stealing glances across their History classroom at him. Unbeknownst to Elena those weren't the only eyes that saw her looking at him; Matt was watching her watch this new guy with a twinge of jealousy. As she wrote about the strange way that he had looked at her, as if she was the most curious thing he'd ever seen, a deep fog began rolling between the graves and surrounded her; along with the fog a sinister feeling of being watched swept over her. Elena grabbed her bag and stood, not sure anymore which direction the gate was in; she heard a crow cawing in the distance, her terror climaxed, and she began to run in the opposite direction. She began to run imploring to her internal compass that it not let her down now. Suddenly her foot smashed into a grave marker, causing her ankle to twist and splaying her onto the ground.

The searing pain in her foot added a new dimension of fear to the experience, and just as tears were about to start spilling over her lashes she felt a hand on her shoulder. Immediately she jerked away, and turned to face what she was sure was her attacker; she was met instead, by the most beautiful pair of impossibly blue eyes she had ever seen, and they were full of concern. "Are you okay?" asked the astonishingly attractive owner of those eyes. "I-I think so. I feel so stupid, first there was this fog and then I heard a bird; in my head it felt like a Hitchcock movie and…" she looked around, and there was no fog, it was as if it had never even been there at all. She laughed at herself "…and I sound like a crazy person, I'm sorry." She sucked in a deep breath and took in her rescuer; he had dark black hair that looked purposefully tousled, thick but dignified eyebrows perched atop the sapphire pools he had for eyes, and a perfectly chiseled jaw. "You're…" She breathed, "Damon. Salvatore." he finished, keeping her from saying 'beautiful,' much to her relief. "And you my damsel in distress?" he queried, "Elena Gilbert" she replied. "Well, Elena, how about I get you out of here and check you out?" Damon said with the tiniest hint of a smirk "It looks like you might have twisted or even sprained your ankle." "Oh," she replied "yeah, of course. It's really starting to throb now. I'm just glad I didn't get cut, I don't handle the sight of blood very well." "Yeah, me either." Damon drawled emphatically and then chuckled to himself.

He picked her up with little warning, causing her to squeal slightly, he smiled and carried her to his classic midnight blue Camaro parked just outside the gates. "I better give you a ride, just in case; I'll bring you back after I'm sure you can use that foot to drive." A voice in her head that sounded a lot like Bonnie was screaming "NO! Don't hop into a car with a stranger, are you crazy?" but this man didn't feel like a stranger to Elena. He shifted her in his arms so that he could open the car door, and he gently slid her onto the passenger seat. As they started down the road Elena began to think; she didn't know exactly what it was she felt, but certainly not fear; it was strange and powerful, it was almost as if she felt safe and right.

"Penny for your thoughts, Ms. Elena?" Damon asked as he turned onto a road heading to the outskirts of the town. "Uhh, 'where are we going?' comes to mind," she retorted. "To my house, of course" he quipped, which instead of frightening her, felt exhilarating. "So what were you doing in the cemetery?" she asked him. "Visiting" he replied with a sad tone, "my mother passed away years ago, but sometimes I like to stop in and catch her up on my life. Especially when things get crazy." "I'm sorry," she said, though it was barely a whisper "I lost my parents recently, and sometimes it's like it just hasn't sunken in yet." "It takes time" he agreed "but eventually things go back to normal. I promise." She couldn't help but smile, it felt like everyone she knew had assured her a hundred times over that it gets better, but this was the first time she actually believed it. After driving for what seemed like an incredibly long time he pulled up at an enormous old manor at the very edge of town that, according to local legend, was purportedly haunted or used by a satanic cult or something. "You live here?" she gaped. "This place is so eerie!" "Just how I like it," he joked "dark and mysterious; it keeps away unwanted guests and solicitors." He slid out of his seat and walked around to Elena's door "M'lady" he said as he bent down to help her stand, he slung her arm over his shoulder and held her around the waist for support. "Let's get you inside and fixed up, shall we?"