Disclaimer: I only own Martin Carroll, Kenneth Heights (where this story is set) and this story, while Ms. Smith owns Bonnie McCullough, Damon Salvatore and everyone and everything else mentioned in the Vampire Diaries. Oh, and I also own the bookstore that Martin and Bonnie own - it will be given a name later. . .When I feel like it. And the T-shirt that says "I would rather understand one cause than be the king of Persia" belongs to Kathryn Lasky - it's the shirt Grey gives Harper for Christmas. And The Nightwood and all its character belong to Robin Muller - they will appear in the story later. And yes, I am aware that The Nightwood is a picture book - but it's a god damn good picture book, and I had to use the idea for this story. Oh, and in my opinion The Nightwood idea would make an excellent young adult novel.

Comments: Seriously, if I was Lisa Jane Smith and owned Damon Salvatore, I would make him the star of his own series, not the brother of the main character's boyfriend - I mean, seriously. Then again, if I was Ms. Smith I wouldn't be posting my stories on fanfiction.net would I?

Author's Note: This takes place a couple months after the events of the Vampire Diaries 4: Dark Reunion. Bonnie moved away from Fell's Church after the events the VD4 to the medium-sized secluded town of Kenneth Heights.

Chapter One: Falling Off Ladders

Bonnie McCullough sighed as she heard a loud thump and some very colorful, muffled swearing from upstairs. Why couldn't Martin be more careful when climbing down from the bookshelves? The answer was more than a bit obvious: Because he was Martin. Martin fell down from the bookshelf ladders at least once a day and at least once more when fixing the shelves after a day of working. She then heard Martin's heavy footsteps descending down the stairs. As usual Martin was wearing loose blue jeans and a black T-shirt that said "I would rather understand one cause than be the king of Persia." He of course felt no shame in falling off a ladder several times a day and told her as much.

"Ready to close up shop for the day?" Martin Carroll asked as he noticed the clean floor.

"Yep," said Bonnie as she locked up the cash register and grabbed her bag and Martin's from behind the counter, while Martin headed out the door to lock the door. When Bonnie came out the shop, their bags in hand, Martin closed the door, got his bag from her and they both headed towards Martin's car.

~*~*~*~

Bonnie collapsed on the couch, located in the parlor to the old house she and Martin rented together. As Martin, made dinner - spaghetti - Bonnie thought about how she and Martin had met.

After Elena's resurrection Bonnie had left Fell's Church. She had tried to piece back her friendship with Elena, but it didn't work - mainly because there had been no friendship to begin with. In elementary Bonnie had been one of Elena's entourage to try to gain her own popularity. It had worked and bit by bit Bonnie had forgotten her cause and had become Elena. She had followed Elena through elementary and then through high school. In their last year Elena had got into some trouble concerning vampires that led to her death and Bonnie like a good little follower had fished her out. Bonnie had realized this a couple weeks after Elena's resurrection and hated herself for it - she had through-out the years lost her purpose as an individual and had became a follower.

Bonnie realized that Fell's Church held nothing for her - she couldn't stand being there. Elena and Stefan had headed back to Italy, while Meredith and Alaric had moved to Canada, Matt had gotten a football scholarship to a university in New York and Damon - well, who knew? Bonnie wanted her own future, a future that she ran by herself, a future where she was happy for who she was, a future where her friends accepted her for who she was and she didn't have to be someone else to appease them - a future without Fell's Church and anything associated with it.

This future was located in a large, but secluded town called Kenneth Heights. Bonnie had heard about it from a friend - an artist, who was also a psychic, like herself - and decided it would be the perfect place to settle down and attend university. Her decision proved right as she took a train to the town - she had loved it on first sight. It was cozy, yet still had a magical look to it. The citizens of Kenneth Heights were interesting enough - though not vampires. The main population of Kenneth Heights was college students, mixed in with middle-aged artists, poets and professors. But the best part was still to come.

Bonnie had found out about a middle-aged writer who lived in-town, but owned a large old house outside of town. Bonnie immediately phoned the man and found out that the house was divided into two, so two college students could live there, but have their own quarters. Not minding, she moved in and a week later so did the other tenant.

Bonnie liked Martin the moment she met him - which happened to be when she was sitting in front of the fire place, drinking a hot chocolate and watching an old Hitchhock movie, when she heard a crash from outside followed by a lot of colorful cursing. Martin had dropped one of his book bags - he had brought fifteen duffel bags filled with books of all sorts, when he found out that the house he was renting had built-in bookshelves and room enough for all his books - on his foot while climbing up the porch steps. They had become best friends in the next couple weeks before university started and decided to open a bookstore in town to make some extra money in-between courses - they had hired two other college friends to help when both had courses.

Although she and Martin had now only known each other for about two and a half months, they now acted like they were old friends and had known each other since childhood. She and Martin even sometimes finished each other sentences - but, then again Bonnie was a witch, so sometimes she accidentally read other peoples thoughts and could broadcast her thoughts to others, but that happened rarely, so Bonnie did believe that the reason her and Martin finished each others sentences was because of their closeness. Bonnie and Martin told each other practically everything; Martin had told her about his growing up and the son of a very rich business man, whose wife had died during childbirth and Bonnie in turn had told him about growing up in a small town called Fell's Church - though, for Martin's sake, she left out parts about Stefan, Damon, Katherine, Klaus and the death and rebirth of Elena.

"Dinner's ready," called Martin from the kitchen. Bonnie got up from her seat on the couch and headed towards the kitchen, where Martin was waiting for her - forgetting her earlier thoughts as Martin gave her a big serving of spaghetti - he was an excellent cook - and told her about the talk his literary professor had given that day about Dracula.

Note: Uh, that was short - please review. Oh, and chapter two will probably be up tomorrow.

And Damon will make his entrance soon - well, pretty soon anyways. And I would like to know: I am the only one who read the picture book The Nightwood as a child? If not, can you tell me. And I will repeat - begging sometimes works -: please review.