Chapter 1:
Elena Gilbert looked around herself. The last thing she remembered was Matt driving off of the Wickery Bridge. Then Stefan was there trying to save her instead of Matt. She couldn't allow him to do that though. Nobody else was going to die because of her. Stefan knew this too and he knew that if saved Elena first, she would never forgive him. As Elena's lungs filled with water, Stefan dragged Matt to safety. It was like she was experiencing a case of déjà vu.
A couple years ago, her parents had come to pick her up from a party, and on the way home, they drove off of the same bridge. Stefan saved her then but it had been too late for her parents. Unlike the last time, nobody else was going to die. She would be the one to die.
Stefan would be back any second, she kept telling herself. She tried to hold on as long as she could. The water was so dark and cold. Her lungs burned so much. Images of Stefan flowed through her mind. Sweet, loving, protective Stefan. She still wondered if she'd made the right choice in choosing him.
Of course she had, she told herself. She must be delusional from the lack of oxygen. Damon had hurt her too many times. He didn't care about her nearly as much as Stefan. Then an image of Damon came across her mind. Him looking at her with his beautiful blue eyes. So much compassion filled them. So much longing. Damon had always had to sit by and watch as the woman he loved, loved another man. No matter how much he loved her, in the end he never won.
Then in the dark water, a figure floated towards her. It was blindingly bright and glowing. She thought it had to be Stefan but as the figure got closer she realized it wasn't Stefan. It was her mother. That was impossible though, her mother was dead. Elena had watched as they lowered her body into the ground. However, there was no mistaking it. It was her mother.
Her mom looked at her sadly and caringly. She waved for Elena to come to her. Elena couldn't get out of the car though, she had to wait for Stefan. Then a voice whispered in her ear. "I love you, Elena." It was her mother's voice. The voice she had longed for, for so long after the accident. She tried to get herself free and swim towards her mother but she couldn't . Then her mother vanished and so did everything else.
When she woke up, she was confused. She was in her house. The same house she'd lived in her whole life. She was laying on her comfortable bed. There were the pictures of her and her friends on her desk top, the drawling of a horse she'd got from yard sale years ago, above her bed, and her cheval mirror by the door.
Had she not died in Matt's truck? Had Stefan saved her? She didn't know but something felt off. When she woke up she had this weird vibe.
If she was alive, there was probably a ton of her friends downstairs. She couldn't wait to see if Matt was okay and to see how Caroline was holding up after Tyler dying. In the mirror, she checked to see if she looked okay. She smoothed down her hair and wiped the sleep from her eyes.
When she walked outside her bedroom she covered her nose from the rotting smell that greeted her. She walked toward the staircase, but before she got there she saw a person sitting on the top step. It was her biological father, John Gilbert.
She ran up to him and covered her mouth. He was dead. Of course, she knew he was dead. He died a while ago but it was shocking to see him again. Also, it was strange. The only person she knew saw dead people was Jeremy. That was because Bonnie had brought him back when he had died.
Then a horrible though occurred to her. She did die that night but Bonnie had brought her back. Bonnie shouldn't have used that kind of power for her. Elena would rather be dead than have had Bonnie done that for her.
But, no. When Jeremy saw dead people they seemed to be alive. Not dead. This was driving her crazy. She had to know what was going on.
When she stepped over John's body to get to the stairs, she cringed. No matter how bad of a father he had been, he was still her father and he had loved her. She walked down the rest of the stairs, but there was another body. This one was slumped against the front door. She swallowed hard and walked closer to this one. It was her aunt, Jenna. Tears began to fall from her eyes. She leaned against the wall so she wouldn't fall down.
When her parents had died, Jenna had taken care of them. Unfortunately, she had gotten caught up, innocently, in Klaus's heinous plan to free himself of the moon curse and access his wolf side. Klaus had turned her into a vampire and then used her as a sacrifice.
Elena looked away from the body. She couldn't stand to look at her aunt's dead body. In the living room, things weren't much better. There was another body laying on the floor and another one laying on the couch. The one on the floor was Rose, a vampire who was killed by a werewolf bite. On the couch was Bonnie's grandmother. She had died after performing a very difficult spell. The spell had took all she had in her.
Elena couldn't take it. This had to be some sort of nightmare. She ran out of the living room into the kitchen. Once in the doorway, she leaned her head against the wall and let out a sob. All these people she had been close with. They were all dead though. Why were they in her house? It was like someone was playing a really bad prank and any minute they would jump out and yell, " GOTCHA!"
After a minute, she decided she needed something to drink to clear her head. She started over to the sink but stopped immediately. This room was the worst one yet. There were four bodies in this one. All dead. She crumbled to the floor.
In this room were, her mother, father, biological mother, Isobel, and Alaric, her guardian after Jenna died. She tried to peel her eyes away from all of them but she couldn't. Never, did she want any of these people to die. It was because of her that they were all in this situation. Maybe this was her hell? Maybe for the rest of eternity, she will have to sit here and be tortured by the site of all of her dead loved ones?
She laid her head on her knees and rocked back and forth. She would do anything to be away from here. Again, she thought of how each of these people had died. It made her cry even harder.
A creak in the floorboards, made her snap her head up. There was the sound of foot steps behind her. She stood up quickly and turned around.
Coming from the living room was a group of four people. The all walked rather slowly and seemed to be focused on only one thing. Elena. The four people were, John, Jenna, Rose and, Bonnie's grandmother. She quickly backed away from them, keeping her eyes fixed on them. It was extremely creepy and frightening. Elena could hear her heart pounding in her chest. She didn't understand what was happening.
She continued to back up until she bumped into something soft behind her. She abruptly turned around and shrieked at what she saw. Behind her, the four dead bodies in the kitchen had formed a semi circle around her. They too were staring intently at Elena and just Elena.
She felt a chilling cold breath on the back of her neck. She spun back around only to come face to face with the dead Rose. Elena gasped in fear. She did a full circle around herself looking for a way out. There wasn't one. They had her trapped. She looked from each face of her dead friends and family. Why were they doing this to her? She had never meant for them to die. A soft, unnerving, whispery voice made her freeze. "You killed us." The voice had come from Isobel.
"I-I'm sorry," Elena said in a quiet, desperate voice. It was true. She had killed them. All of them were dead trying to help and protect her. If she hadn't let all of these people get involved with her trouble, they would all be alive. It was her fault they were dead.
All of the dead people started to chant, " You killed us. You killed us. You killed us." Tears started to pour down Elena's face again. They all hated her. All of these people she loved and missed so much, hated her.
" Please, please, please," she kept pleading over and over again. They just kept chanting," You killed us." Slowly, they started to walk closer to her. They were now merely inches away from her. Still, they didn't stop their accusatory chants. The rotting smell nearly made her hurl when they were so close.
" Please. I'm sorry," she repeated. Either they didn't hear what she said or they didn't care. Then they all reached out at her and started grabbing her viciously. They dug their nails into her arms, scratched at her face, pulled at her hair, and reached for her neck. Now she was bleeding all over the place and she was pulled to the floor. She was screaming so much that her voice became hoarse. Her face was dripping with tears. Their faces were all a blur because she was crying so hard.
One of the people finally got a grip around her neck and started strangling her. She tried to catch her breath but this person had such a strong grip on her neck. Her arms and legs were being held down by the others.
Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She didn't have the strength to fight back anymore. Her body fell limp and she could see the black spots beginning to cloud her vision. Then, oddly, the dead people let go of her. No longer, was she unable to breathe, or unable to move her arms and legs.
She gasped for breath. Her throat wasn't sore; she wasn't bleeding anymore. It was like nothing ever happened. Then the dead bodies faded away. Her house faded away. She was no longer there.