You built up a world of magic, because you're real life is tragic.
She often dreamt of a boy. A boy with eyes as dark as hyacinth, with shoulder-length hair to match, he protected her and challenged her in every way he possibly could and mostly importantly, he protected her.
It wasn't until her third dream that she finally whispered his name and it was as dark and mysterious as he was, his name was Damon Salvatore.
Elena's eyelids fluttered open and the image of Damon's face succumbed as she blinked and was instead left staring up at the cracks that had formed in her ceiling. She took a moment to rest her aching body, before she dragged the heavy blankets off of her and sat up. Great, Elena thought to herself, the first day back to school since her parents had died and her little brother had turned to the comfort of alcohol and low-class drugs. Nevertheless, she slipped from the safety of her bed and desperately tried to find a pair of clothes. Even then, she could tell that her day was going to be anything but not normal.
Elena kept her chocolate brown eyes glued to the tiled floor as she walked down the corridor of Mystical Falls High, but from all around her she could hear the whispered words as they surrounded her, even so, she tried as hard as she could to block them out, not to let them bother her but the truth was they did.
Distract yourself, Elena's mind told her and she did as it had said and tried to find which floor tile had the dirtiest surface.
"Elena!" Bonnie's voice called after her and Elena's tranquil bubble of loneliness was well and truly popped.
"Hey Bonnie," Elena replied, weakly. It wasn't as though she looked tired, but emotionally and mentally she was drained of all her energy.
"Are you okay?" She asked as she placed a hand on Elena's shoulder in a comforting manner. Elena nodded in reply. "And is Jeremy okay?" Bonnie's voice raised a few pitches as though she were pained by mentioning his name.
Sure, Jeremy was a naïve young boy, mixed up in the wrong crowd who 'rewarded' their strength of dealing with grief with vodka and marijuana but underneath he was a kind, intelligent man. All Elena had to focus on was bringing that particular Jeremy to the surface.
"Poor boy, he's been caught up in so many deaths." Bonnie muttered and shook her head, her mahogany ringlets of hair wriggled around her heart-shaped face as she did.
"Do they even know how Vicki died?" Elena questioned and glanced around, she had been searching for Matt all morning to console him or at least pay her respects to his sister.
"Animal attack," Bonnie answered, her tone clipped and hurried.
"An animal attack…" Elena repeated, suspicion twisting a knot in her stomach. "The only animals we have here that could kill something are a rare case of a killer badger." Elena continued, a slight smile curling up on her pale lips.
Bonnie laughed and the sound was as light patter as a soft rainfall spurting against the ground.
"Listen, Elena, I've got to go and call my Gram. But I do have some good news for you!" She practically exclaimed and her face lit up with joy.
"There's a new boy in school and I hear he's a bad-boy who is utterly gorgeous – and if that doesn't make you the least bit excited, I don't know what will." Bonnie winked and a playful smirk lingered on her lips as she walked away.
A bad-boy, who's utterly gorgeous, sounds like Damon. Elena thought cheerily to herself. Damon was a figure of her imagination, a deep-dark secret that she kept to herself – she hadn't even told her mother when she was alive. Damon visited her regularly in her dreams, and he chased away the nightmares that she had – before she had dreamt of a boy, with fair, tousled hair and emerald green eyes that sparkled but something happened… Elena couldn't remember what exactly, but she knew he had been taken away from her by an older man, who introduced himself to her once in her dreams. It was something elegant, Elena knew that and then it struck her like a bolt of lighting – Klaus. His name had been Klaus; even now it sent shivers down shuddering down her spine.
Pushing aside her fantasy world, Elena continued down into the hallway until she reached her classroom and just as she placed a foot inside, the bell rang shrilly.
Elena took her place and glanced around, still trying to spot Matt but instead found Tyler's eyes glued to her face and a sympathetic smile shaped his lips. She silently nodded a 'thank you' his way and hid her eyes behind a curtain of her mahogany-coloured hair. She accepted the comfort, apologises and the best wishes that people gave her but Elena just wished for it to stop, for everything to go back to normal and for her mother to be stood in the kitchen when she got home, with dinner ready and her father to be sat in the living room, watching some kind of sports that she never paid any attention to.
But then again, none of the wishes she had ever made had come true.
"Class," Elena's head snapped up as their teacher's feminine voice distracted the soft chatter of every student – every student except Elena, that was.
"I have someone I would like you to meet…" Ms. Tanner paused and her eyes scanned over the crowd of irritated, inpatient students.
"He's a new student and we're lucky enough to have him in our class," she giggled and Elena's eyes rolled at it, she sounded like an aroused school girl. Her hand slid over her peach-coloured top and she tried to brush out the creases, Elena had to say, the top looked awkwardly tight around the bust and it appeared as if Ms. Tanner was breathing in drastically.
"Getting back on subject?" One of the students called out, and it sounded a lot like Tyler's husky, deep voice.
Ms. Tanner shot him an icy-cold glare which looked as though she wanted to send a bunch of sharp daggers his way.
"So class, give a warm, Mystical Falls welcome to Damon Salvatore!" She clapped enthusiastically.
Elena's body froze and grew uncomfortably rigid. DamonSalvatore? It couldn't be… He was in her imagination, a person she had made up for her own pleasure and comfort. The dark stranger wondered into the classroom, his large boots clacking along the ground as he did. His dark hair fell in front of his seemingly black eyes. He wore a leather jacket around his well-built upper-torso and a pair of black jeans around his similarly muscular legs.
It was definitely him. Her Damon was real and he had been enrolled into her school. Elena immediately tried pinching herself, but nothing happened, she stared at Damon's face and his eyes locked onto hers – almost as though he was looking straight into her or through her, she couldn't determine which it was.
Elena's mind went into over-drive, wondering what to do next. Instead of thinking rationally, her body took over and her arms shovelled up her pile of books and her unsteady, wavering legs forced her to stand up and she did so, clumsily. She slung her backpack around her shoulder and calmly wondered to the front of the classroom, not daring to meet anyone's eyes.
"Ms. Tanner, can I please be excused? I'm not feeling too well," Elena asked, keeping her tone as un-alarmed and polite as she could force.
"Of course, Elena, I hope you feel better." She replied a soft smile on her face as she did.
"Thank you," Elena muttered as she walked past Ms. Tanner and Damon. For a fleeting moment, her eyes flickered up to his and she found a one of his trademark seductive smirks waiting for her. Elena gritted her teeth; she wanted to either kiss or slap it from his lips but contained herself and strolled as normally as she could to the nurse's office.
See, Elena's mind told her, we knew today was going to be anything but normal.
In her mind, she almost sounded smug about her brilliant hypothesis.
Elena pushed the door to the nurse's office open and was greeted by the sound of wheezing coughs, sneezing and low, sick groans. It wasn't the perfect place to relax, but it would have to do.
"Elena, what are you doing here? It's been over a year since I've seen you in here." Nurse Jackson looked around, a slight cringe forming on her lips.
"I know, Mrs. Jackson." Elena nodded slightly; she knew Nurse Jackson liked Elena to call her Mrs. Jackson as her husband and she were friends of her parents. "I just… needed some time alone," Elena explained as much as she could.
"Oh, I understand, Elena, stay as long as you need!" Nurse Jackson told her, sensitively.
"Thanks," Elena said as Nurse Jackson beckoned her towards an empty cubicle. She stepped into it and it seemed like her temporary private sanctuary, Elena turned around and pulled the crisp white sheet around to give herself some privacy.
Elena took a seat on the bed that was stood in the middle of the cubicle. After a moment of once again listening to the sounds that surrounded her, Elena laid back. She wriggled around until she was comfortable and her eyelids fluttered closed.