School is over for the day, and it's before the day of graduation in Mystic Falls High School.
Elena Gilbert is now outside ready to go home when her cellphone suddenly rings. She looked at to see it's an unknown number.
"Who would want to call me at a time like this?" she asked herself before deciding to answer the call. "Hello?"
"Don't even think about leaving that spot," the caller said in a creepy monotone, and it sounded male.
"Who is this?" she demanded. "You got the wrong number, pal."
"Oh, no, no, no, I got the right number, Elena Gilbert."
"You called me by my first and last names. Who are you, really?"
"Just someone who represents your conscience," the voice respond. "In fact, I'm aiming at you right now."
"Huh?" Elena looked around her surroundings to search for this person, but she found nothing. Even her vampiric senses doesn't detect this person.
"Search all you want, Elena, but you won't find me. I used vervain to mask my scent. Do you think that I don't know you're a vampire?"
This hit a nerve on her as she looks shocked by this statement.
"I thought so," the voice from her cellphone said.
"What do you want?" Elena demanded.
"Before I tell you, I should warn you. If you think about hanging up, I will kill you."
"What are you going to do if you're just going to look at me with a telescope?"
"I never said I'll be looking at you with a telescope. I have a highly magnified telescopic image of you. Now, what kind of device has a telescopic sight mounted on it?"
"You mean, you're using a sniper rifle?" Elena realized with horror on her face.
"That's right. I use an Accuracy International Arctic Warfare Magnum, and it's built in with a state-of-the-art Hensoldt tactical scope. And it's staring straight at you. At this range, chances for an exit would be about five percent," the voice explained. "Go ahead and try using your vampiric speed to get out of this, but I'm fast enough to make a shot at you if you try doing that."
"Yeah, right..." she said with disbelief.
That is, until she heard a gun cocked from the receiver, making her realize he's not joking about carrying a sniper rifle.
"Now doesn't that just torque your jaw? I love that," the voice continued while she tried looking around her surroundings of his whereabouts, but she couldn't find him, not even her vampiric senses could detect him. Unbeknownst to her, a sniper rifle is being pointed at her through its scope. "You know like in the movies just as the good guy is about to kill the bad guy, he cocks his gun. Now why didn't he have it cocked? Because that sound is scary. It's cool, isn't it?"
"Okay, enough with the games!" Elena shouted. "What do you want?!"
"Before I tell you, I want you to look at the guy on your right," the monotone voice ordered, and she did looked at the guy on her. She saw a groundskeeper mowing the grass. In fact, the scope is now aimed at him. "Good. You saw a groundskeeper mowing the grass. In fact, I'm going to kill him."
"What?! Don't do it!" she begged.
Despite her begging, the groundskeeper got shot on the head, but with the shot being quiet as he drops dead to the ground, indicating there's a suppressor on it.
"Why did you kill him?" Elena looks horrified on the murder.
"To prove my point," the caller responds from the receiver before explaining something important to her and the scope is aimed at her again. "I'm afraid I had no choice but to kill him. I figured if I didn't kill at least one person, you wouldn't believe me. That guy was a criminal; he was a rapist who was repeatedly charged for his crime, but he managed to avoid conviction every time due to a lack of evidence. He was a menace to society. He got what he deserved. If you still think that I'm joking, I can kill more people around you. Go ahead and choose someone if you want."
"Don't do it. I believe you. You're holding me hostage with a sniper rifle. I get it," she understood the situation she's in. "What do you want?"
"I want you to apologize. That's what I want," was the response.
Hearing the word 'apologize' shocked a nerve on Elena. She couldn't believe what the caller wants her to do.
"A-Apologize?" she asked while looking nervous.
"Yes, apologize," was the response. "If you wondering to who, does the name Caroline ring any bells?"
Elena understood what it's all about. She is taken as a hostage with a sniper rifle pointed at her to confess her wrongdoings and apologize to Caroline for those wrongdoings involving when her humanity was turned off.
She thought about what she said to her at the bar.
"If you're waiting for an apology, you're not gonna get one. I can't let myself feel bad, because if I feel bad, then I feel everything, and... we've all seen how well I handle that."
As she goes back to reality...
"Listen, buddy. I now know the reason you've taken me as a hostage, but you don't understand," she tries to refuse the caller's demands gently with the impression that she is being threatened by a sniper rifle aimed at her, even if she doesn't know it. "If I apologize, then I will feel bad about everything I did to her while my humanity was turned off, and I won't recover from all this the next time it happens!"
"Is that so?" the caller said. "You know, I was in the bar when you refused Caroline's request for an apology. This is why you're being threatened right here and now just like my previous victim, Stu Shepard."
"So you won't let me go until I apologize to her?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Oh, god..." Elena started to sob at this predicament she got herself into. "You're insane."
"And you are guilty of inhumanity to your common man. Even to your own kind," the caller said in a monotone.
"You can't do this to me," she said quietly before shouting in anger, refusing to give in to his demands. "You can't do this to me! You hear me?!"
"Oh yes, I can do this to you, Elena," the voice said maliciously. "And I won't stop."
The scope is now aimed near her left shoulder and a shot is taken as she screamed in pain from the injury. After trying to withstand it, she reaches for her cellphone to continue the conversation.
"You shot me!" she yelled. "Are you out of your mind?!"
"I can do this all day," the caller said in a smug tone. "Now, isn't your injury having a hard time healing? It's because I laced the bullet with vervain."
"Oh, god..."
"You bought all this to yourself because you won't apologize to one of your two best friends for all that you did when your humanity was turned off. I could say that's karma for you. You're getting what you deserved."
Just then, Caroline enters the fray as she noticed Elena is just standing around with an injury near her left shoulder, not to mention the dead groundskeeper near her. She attempts to approach, and Elena noticed her.
"Isn't it touching? She still cares for you, even if you won't apologize to her," the voice continued as the scope is now aimed at the blonde girl. "You know what, I changed my mind. I won't kill you. Instead, I'll kill her."
"You can't do that!" Elena exclaimed with worry.
"Oh, I can, and I will. If you really care about her, then you should apologize to her for all that you did to her when your humanity was turned off. I'm counting to three. If it reaches to three, I will shoot her head with a vervain-laced bullet, and you will live with this pain for the rest of your life. This is my way of making you feel... everything."
Elena just couldn't take it anymore as she started to break down from the situation she's in. She also heard the gun cocked, realizing he meant to kill Caroline if she doesn't apologize to her.
"1... 2..."
"Alright, alright! You win, you win!" she bawled loudly, finally giving in to his demands. "I'll apologize to her, right now!"
"Good. That's what I wanted to hear from you," the caller said in satisfaction and the scope is aimed at her again. "Just to be sure, you stay on that spot and don't hang up. I'm aiming at you to be sure you follow those conditions. I wanna see and hear you apologize to her. Understand?"
"Yes, I understand..."
"Elena?" Caroline approached her and saw her face filled with tears coming out from her eyes while facing her sadly. "Elena? Is everything okay?"
"I'm sorry..." her friend whispered.
"What?"
"I'm sorry, Caroline!"
Caroline was taken aback from this. Is she apologizing to her at a time like this?
She realizes what the apology is about, and she needs to be sure of that.
"For what?" she asked.
"For everything I did to you while my humanity was turned off!" Elena responded while sobbing. "You're right! I should have apologized to you back there at the bar! To be honest, I didn't want to apologize to you not because I didn't want to feel bad about everything I did, but it's because I was afraid you wouldn't forgive me easily if I tried to apologize!"
"Is that so?" Caroline asked her and she nodded. She can tell that's the truth, so she smiled. "Then why didn't you say so? How could I understand you if you didn't tell me this?"
"I wasn't thinking clearly. I'm so sorry, Caroline. Can you ever forgive me?"
As Elena apologized, Caroline responded with a hug.
"I forgive you, Elena," she is happy that she apologized, despite being unaware of the situation she got herself into, and Elena returns the hug. Of course, this moment is being watched by the scope of the sniper rifle. After a few seconds, they let go of the hug.
"Best friends?" Elena extends her hand.
"Best friends," Caroline grabs her hand in response.
At long last, the two vampire girls have reconciled and regained their friendship. It felt good to Elena to apologize to Caroline, although it took being threatened by the caller wielding a sniper rifle to get her to apologize.
"Now will you let me go?" the brunette asked to the caller.
"Yes, I will let you go," was the response. "Goodbye."
The call ends and Elena collapsed on Caroline's feet out of relief to be free at last from the caller's grip.
"Elena? Elena!" Caroline tried to wake her up, but she is not responding. "I better call my mom."