"Maybe looking for Caroline with Matt and Tequila wasn't the best idea," Elena thought as she made her way through the dark woods as she called out Caroline's name.
"Caro-" Matt was cut off when yelling her name. His abrupt silence was followed by a thud from where something threw him into the old building that they were previously enjoying themselves in.
Elena didn't have time to scream as she was grabbed. A massive hand prevented any sound from escaping her mouth.
When the moonlight gave her a view of her attacker, she froze with big doe eyes as if she were a deer caught in a speeding car's headlights.
Stefan…
The next thing she knew, she was being carried off in his arms all while his hand was around her mouth. She would've thought it to be a heroic thing if he wasn't the one who attacked her in the first place, or besides the fact that his cold demeanor refused to change even when he threw her into his little red classic car.
When he entered the driver's side, she began speaking.
"Stefan, what are you doing?" she asked, uneasy. Her fear was tangible to Stefan.
…And it's only going to become greater, he thought to himself.
He started the car with vampiric speed and slammed his foot on the gas pedal. The car took off in a racing speed, and Elena's eyes only became bigger - if that was even possible - with the fear of crashing and death.
"Let me out of the car, Stefan!" she screamed over and over in a futile attempt to at least make him ease up on the gas.
Just as she was about to say something else, her phone rang.
The caller ID was the one person she wanted to talk to, and as she went to answer it, her savior's voice was out of earshot when Stefan snatched the phone out of her hands within the blink of an eye.
"Hello Damon," Stefan said with an evil twinkle in his eye.
Elena didn't want to hear what was happening, so she only listened to key words he was saying…and what she came up with was that Stefan was off his rocker.
He even threw her phone out of his window.
"Stefan, stop!" she screamed. "You're scaring me. What are you going to do, kill me?"
"Or I could turn you into a vampire," was his simple reply.
He didn't say much as he took out his phone and dialed Klaus, putting the device on speaker, for Elena to hear.
Again, Elena wanted no part in the conversation, so she tuned it out.
"…drive her off of Wickery Bridge," Stefan said. Now, that, she heard.
Just as she was about to protest or try to escape, Stefan bit his wrist and held his warm coppery blood up to Elena's mouth, giving her the choice of drinking it, or suffocation until she did.
Her cries of panic and fear did nothing to Stefan. If anything, it made him increase his speed.
When she caught sight of the bridge, memories and fear began to take over.
"No, Stefan, please stop!" she cried one last time. Her tears ran down her face like waterfalls. If he didn't stop, those tears would soon mix with the rubble and water at the bottom of the bridge where they'd crash.
"Fine, Stefan, you win!" Klaus said over the phone.
He also mentioned something about stopping, but Elena figured he was too far gone to listen, so all she did was cry herself tired and hold her breath in hopes that the water wouldn't be as cold as it usually was and that if anything, it'd cushion their fall.
With a few more words, Stefan slammed on his brakes and the squealing of the tires against the sudden friction was one of the best sounds Elena had ever heard in her life.
Though, she was happy to be alive, the memories were too much to bear, and the tears dried, but the rage and anger came through.
Her fury took her out of Stefan's car and near the edge of the road where the land met the bridge.
"Get back in the car, Elena," she heard Stefan say from behind her, and her blinding rage made her want to test out her recent fighting skills with Stefan as the punching bag, but instead she seethed at him.
"How dare you?" she screamed at him. "What were you planning to do, Stefan, huh?"
"Elena, it's fine," he replied. "Klaus accepted, and I won."
"And if he didn't accept your terms, Stefan?" she asked, enraged at her weakness and even more at how casual he spoke.
"He did, Elena," came his simple reply.
"And if he didn't?" she screamed at him the loudest she could go before she had to choke back tears.
"He did, Elena, alright?" Stefan screamed back. "That's all that matters."
"You put me on a personal ride to Hell all for beating Klaus?" she said. "What the hell is wrong with you? What do you mean, 'that's all that matters'."
"It's all I have, Elena," he replied.
The mixed emotions sent Elena on a rollercoaster ride and she couldn't take it anymore.
"You have me!" she cried as she allowed the tears to run down her face like she was the rock of the Niagara Falls.
"I lost you the moment I left for the summer," Stefan quietly replied, but still loud enough for Elena to hear.
"So you're trying to make me hate you?" she screamed. "Stefan, you know how much I hate this bridge! You know that my parents were killed here, and you know how much I'm terrified of it…YOU KNOW! Yet, you threaten to drive us over it to prove a point. Why does reciprocation matter so much to you?"
"He took from me," Stefan answered. "It was important, and he took it from me."
"What did he take from you that was so important?" she yelled as she strode up to him and stared him down. "He took a summer from you, Stefan! What is one little summer compared to hundreds more? It's not like your days are numbered! You'll have plenty more! I know you enough to know that taking your summer wasn't that important. I also know it couldn't be your humanity, because you turn that on and off when you please. So tell me: what the hell was so important that he took from you?"
She was metaphorically slicing him up inside with the venom of her words, and she didn't even know it.
"You!" Stefan yelled back despite the close proximity. "He took you away from me, Elena! My life was perfect - you were the perfection. I loved you, and he took you away from me! I can't let that go unpunished!"
"Quite contradicting, don't you think?" she asked him. "You're punishing Klaus for the one thing he took away from you that you wanted, and now that you can have it back, you don't want it. You call me a martyr, but you seem pretty blind for a vampire with perfect vision!"
"I don't care what you think of me anymore, Elena," he replied. "Like I said - revenge is the only thing I have left."
Though he regretted everything he'd done to make her upset, and knew that it wasn't right to do it now, Stefan cupped Elena's face in his hands and planted a soft lingering peck on her lips before getting into his car and driving off.
That kiss only left her more conflicted, especially when Damon came and got her to take her home.