Hey Everyone! Back with a new story!
This is my second fanfic even though the first is still in progress. I took my inspiration from Alice in Wonderland a film created by Tim Burton and I mixed this story with The Vampire Diaries. I changed a lot of things to turn it into a romance story and to replace the characters by The Vampire Diaries' characters but I'm quite proud of the fruit of my effort.
The rating may change.
Let me know what you think of this story!
I will update again as soon as possible.
Diclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries (even though I hope I did)
Chapter 1: How to be a free Lady
Caroline sighed, she was already annoyed by the fact that everyone seemed to be hiding something from her but the horrible decoration placed by the so-called talented event's organizer hired by her parents was the final straw. This birthday celebration was catastrophic and pathetic at the same time. She would have thrown a better one but her parents insisted that she let them prepare everything. She agreed but regretted her decision the minute she saw the result. There were pink flowers everywhere, too much flower for her taste, it covered the garden. The tables were covered by white tablecloths and white flowers were covering the path that leads to their manor. Caroline found it too white; it almost looked like the decoration of a wedding ceremony.
She bowed when she saw Lord and Lady Stark coming toward her. "How are you Miss Caroline?" Lady Stark greeted while her husband remained silent. She didn't like the woman -in fact she disliked almost everyone here- but her husband was a really good friend and associate of her father so she had to be nice. "I'm fine. And you Lady Stark?" she replied with a fake smile on her face.
"Oh don't worry about me" Caroline felt the need to say that it wasn't the case but she chose against it. "How do you feel about today? Aren't you excited? I wish he chose one of my daughters… I hope you'll treasure your luck at least, because…" Her husband's elbow in her ribs kept her from saying whatever she wanted to say. Caroline found it suspicious but didn't mention it.
"Yeah I'm happy but it's only my birthday so I don't really see what I should be excited about. Well, excuse me I have to go now. Enjoy the party."
When she finally managed to get out of that woman's claws, Caroline sat at a table near the fountain -just in case, if the party turned out to be more horrible than it already was, she would drown herself in it- away from those people who wear gowns and tuxedos and have fake smiles on their faces. She let her gaze wander through the crowd. She saw her parents with the mayor and his wife, they were good friends and they were working together: her mother, Elizabeth Forbes was the head of the mayor's council and her father, Bill Forbes who was the richest man of the town was working on a renovation project with the mayor and his wife, Richard and Carol Lockwood. They had a son, Tyler, he and Caroline grew up together and they were friends until he became a true jerk and a womanizer who will jump on everything that has boobs. She couldn't stand him anymore, he was handsome but not dashing and he was so pretentious that she almost came to feel sorry for him. He slept with every single girl in town -except her of course, she wasn't lured by his attitude like the others. She has known him for her whole life and she knew he wasn't the nice guy he pretended to be before everyone- and he dumped them in the rudest way ever but they were still brown-nosing him like he was the only suitable man on Earth. Caroline was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't even notice Tyler coming toward her.
"May I have this dance" he asked holding his hand out.
She looked up startled and gave him the fake smile she had been displaying for hours. "Of course"
She let herself be dragged in the middle on the garden where a lot of couples were already dancing. She put her hand in his, she bows and they move along with the music.
"Happy birthday. I didn't find the time to talk to you earlier, I was… busy" she didn't buy it; she knew exactly what had kept him busy.
"It is not a big deal. I hope you're not too tired at least." She said as he seemed to be staring someone behind her and didn't hear what she said.
"Oh… Erm... Excuse me I have an urgent business to take care of. It won't take long, so can you wait for me in front of the manor, just at the end at the path, I have something to ask you" he didn't even let her the time to answer, he went behind the hedges and was soon followed by Vicki Donovan.
"Urgent business? I wonder if sleeping in the hedge with a high class prostitute is really that urgent. Well, whatever." She scoffed.
She went back to her her seat near the fountain but she found Lady Hollander sat on her seat. She disliked Ladies with their over-mannered ways but this woman in front of her didn't even have the courtesy to show a bit respect to her and her mother. Lady Hollander was supposed to marry Bill Forbes but because of an unfortunate event the wedding was cancelled and Bill married to Elizabeth. Since that day, this old hag made it her duty to make their life a living hell. Caroline took two step backward as quietly as possible but apparently she wasn't as quiet as she thought she was because Lady Hollander noticed her gestured her to come to her.
The Lady scrutinized her and scoffed. "You're less disgusting than usual. I suppose this feast is to celebrate this improvement more than celebrating the cursed day of your birth". Caroline clenched her fists and bit her lip.
"Thank you for your… compliment" she said bitterly. Then, with her brighter smile, she added "I hope someday I'll find something as nice to say about you. Well… It's not like I don't appreciate your company but I have to and greet my guest. I hope you won't feel too lonely in your corner." With that, she turned around and was ready to leave but she stopped to face Lady Hollander again." And Watch out for your wig, it's falling". Then she let an offended Lady and walked toward the manor.
When Tyler finally arrived where he told her to stay, he was disheveled and his bow tie was MIA. He knelt before Caroline, before she could come out with any comment about his state; he pulled out a velvet box. Caroline wasn't surprised, she knew that their parents wanted them marry in order to finally reunite their two families into a big and powerful one but she hoped it would have been as late as possible. She wanted to marry someone she'll love deeply but love wasn't really what she felt for Tyler. She didn't want an arranged marriage like her parents. She knew they didn't love but still stayed together and kept the appearance of a happy and infatuated couple in front of her and the others. She didn't want to live that kind life.
Tyler took her hand and placed a kiss on it and opened the box, showing a magnificent silver ring with flower patterns and a huge diamond. At this moment, she freaked out because she knew what was coming after this and she knew she couldn't refuse him because it would shame her parents and their relationship with the Lockwoods would be ruined, she would be considered undisciplined by everyone and no one will ever want to marry her. Her life would be ruined by a simple word and it terrorized her.
"Caroline Elizabeth Forbes, would you be my wife?" Tyler finally asked.
She noticed that everyone's eyes were on them and they were all waiting for her answer: her parents and Tyler's parents were looking at them with pride in their eyes, the Lord and the Ladies seemed happy for them and the girls were glaring at her as if they wanted to stab her. It made her freak out even more, she stopped breathing, she suffocated, she felt everything spinning around her and finally she fainted because of the lack of oxygen. When everything went black, she only heard screams and steps.
When Caroline woke up, she saw her mother's face; she was sitting next to her and was stroking her cheek.
"I know you were surprised but you know you, there are other ways to show happiness" her mother joked. Caroline chuckled; her mother had always the word to comfort her. She didn't want to be a burden to her parents or to disappoint them.
"I was so shocked that I held my breath and… I fainted"
"I can't believe my baby will be married soon, but I know Tyler is a gentleman, he'll take care of you and you will be happy." Caroline had to use all of her willpower to keep herself from laughing her guts out when her mother called Tyler a gentleman.
"Yeah I'm sure he will" she pulled out her fake smile once more.
"I'll let you rest a bit; I'll come to see you later. And don't worry about Tyler, he said he'll propose again tomorrow" Elizabeth said kissing Caroline's forehead and leaving the room.
She was sick of always having to smile even when she didn't want to; always having to act like the perfect lady her mother wanted her to be. She wanted to learn fencing. She wanted to walk, jump and dance freely, not as if she had a metallic ball hanged on her ankle; but with those long and bulky gowns it was absolutely impossible to do anything without staining it. She wanted to be able to laugh without having to worry about anyone finding it unpleasant. She wanted to be free.
She was self pitying when a black rabbit suddenly ran across her room and pass throw the closed door. She checked the door and the windows but they were closed.
"Am I hallucinating? How did it manage to come in and to get out?" she wondered
This rabbit excited her curiosity so decided to follow it. She opened the door and she saw it at the end of the corridor. The rabbit ran behind the manor toward the woods and Caroline followed it. She stumbled on a rock and fell. When she stood up, she saw that the rabbit was waiting for her.
"This is definitely strange." When she took a step toward it, it began to run again.
She reached the edge of the woods, she wanted to follow the rabbit which went in it but she remembered the scary stories people told her about these woods: some said it was haunted by ghosts of burned witches, others that there were the wildest and the most dangerous beast there. Moreover, her parents forbad her to approach it but she thought that since it could be the last time she did something forbidden, she should do to while she still could. It was just a forest, nothing to be afraid of.
The forest was definitely scarier than she thought it would be. There were huge trees which were covering the sky, it was 4p.m outside but here, it looked like the sun was already set. She could hear hooting of owls and something akin to voices but she couldn't tell if she was dreaming it up because of her fear or if she was clearly hearing it.
She had been running after this damn rabbit for hours and now she was lost in this never-ending forest and additionally, she lost its the track. She was exhausted so she decided to sit under a tree nearby. When she sat, she felt herself fall into what seems to be a rabbit hole.
She tried to grab the roots of the tree to stop her fall but they broke when she touched them. In her fall which seemed to be endless, there were books and drawings of her all around her, she heard chanting voices, she look around her to see if the people who were chanting could help her but there was no one, just her, books, drawing and...a huge rock that was coming straight toward her, she screamed but she the rock didn't touch her, it stopped just a few inches from her. All those things seemed to be floating around her without touching her.
She falls hard on the floor of a small room; there were five doors and a glass table in the middle of the room. Caroline looked up to see if she can go back but there is no hole anymore, just the ceiling. She was disoriented and was increasingly worried about her sanity, she didn't know if it was real -since it was really realistic and she still felt a pain caused by the fall in her shoulder- or if she fell asleep just after her mother left the room and she was dreaming.
She got up and tried to open each door but they are all locked. She looked around and noticed the key on the glass table; she tried to open the doors, in vain. It was truly not her day: she got bored at her own birthday celebration: she met Lady Hollander and her snake tongue, Tyler proposed and now she was lock in a room and she didn't even know if it was real. How could her day be worse than it already was?
In her despair, she noticed a small door behind the curtains. At first, she thought it was impossible for her to pass through this door but she still tried the key on it.
"I have nothing to lose; it won't hurt me to try since I am already cornered in this room." She said, pushing the key in the keyhole. To her surprise, the door opened letting he see a glimpse of a magnificent garden.
She sat in a corner not knowing what to do to get out of this place. She looked around her and noticed a small bottle
"It comes at the right time, I was thirsty" She said while scrutinizing the bottle, she noticed that a small paper on which 'Drink me' was written was hanged on the bottle. Caroline shrugged and credulously took it as an invitation. "It is a bit small to quench my thirst but I'll content myself with that".
She drank the contents of the bottle but she suddenly felt weird. She felt herself getting smaller and smaller and smaller, her clothes were at present too big for her so she was completely naked. She ran toward the door and tried to open it, in vain, it was locked once more and she needed the key to pen it. Caroline remembered that she let the key on the table and it was at present out of reach for her. She was desperate and tired. She sat at the foot of the table and noted a small cake on which 'eat me' was written.
"If the water made me get smaller maybe this cake will make me grow up". She said eating it. She felt weird again but this time, she felt herself getting bigger and bigger and bigger; but she is so big that she reached the ceiling. She took the key and drank the rest of the water in the bottle to get smaller. She rushed to the small door and open it.
When Caroline felt a cold breeze hit her, she finally became aware of her nakedness. She ripped a small piece of her dress, wrapped it around herself and did a knot to keep it from falling. She went out of the room and the door closed just behind her. She looked at it and noted that there was no wall around it. She contemplated the garden: there were huge plants and flowers with faces, the yard wasn't really colored, in fact there were only a few flowers but their colors seemed to be faded. It was beautiful but dark and scary at the same time. She was crossing a gigantic black gate whew two dragonflies flew upon her; she stopped to admire the fight between these two strange dragonflies.
"I'm glad you didn't get lost. Hi, my name is…" She heard someone say behind her. Afraid, she turned around and kicked him before he could finish his sentence.
She tried to run as far away as possible but before she could take two steps, the man was already in front of her. He was smiling at her and his grey eyes were scrutinizing her as if she was the most amusing thing he had ever seen. He was quite handsome in his black tuxedo; he had short black hair, a large jaw and he seemed to be around her age.
"Calm down. I don't plan to hurt you" he said blocking her path.
"That's exactly what the Big Bad Wolf said to the Red Riding Hood, she believed him and we all know what happened to her after that. You won't trick me so easily." Caroline retorted taking a step backward.
"Trust me; I was the one who brought you here. I made you see this rabbit to draw you here. You have to follow me now."
"Are you out of your mind? You drew me here like a serial killer draw his victims and you want me to follow you like an obedient little girl?" she scoffed. "You know what? I'll just find a way to go home and let you here with your crazy world." She prepared herself to run in the opposite direction to where the door which leads her here was, but she bumped into someone's chest and fell once more. She looked up and saw another man who looked a lot like the first one and was also wearing a tuxedo; he had baby blue eyes, his hair were longer and he seemed to be older than the first man she met here. He was staring at her with a smirk on his face.
"She is prettier that I thought she'll be and feistier too." He looked at the other man who rolled his eyes and he added "when you were designated to go in the human world and find a human girl, to be honest, I thought that you'll bring us an ugly old hag with more hair on her chin than on her head. But you did well Stefan. I'm proud of you." While saying that, he placed his hand on the other man's shoulder. He continued "but making her follow a simple and boring little rabbit was kinda rubbish, seriously Stefan if it was me I would've made her see something funnier like…erm…a dodo bird."
She tried to scarper while they weren't paying attention to her but she was stopped by the blue-eyed man who violently caught her hand. She let out a squeal and her let go of her hand.
"You're frightening her Damon. And would you please stop acting like a douche bag." The first man said taking a step toward her; noticing her fear, he knelt and added "I'm Stefan and this guy is my brother, Damon. We won't harm you, you have my word."
She thought about it for a moment and replied "I still don't trust you but seeing that I don't have the choice… I'm Caroline." She tried to stand up but her leg where still weak due to the wave of emotions that overwhelmed her.
"Let me help you." Stefan helped her to get on her feet with a bright smile.
"What a perfect gentleman! Now can we go find the others" Damon said annoyed
The others? What are you talking about? Weren't you supposed to help me to go home?"
"Yeah I will but you have to follow me first" Stefan said taking her hand and leading her further in the garden.
"Where are we going?" Caroline asked confused.
"In a place where the time has stopped" They both replied at the same time.
That was my first chapter; it was an introduction, just to know a bit more about Caroline's situation before she fell into the rabbit hole. It was long but necessary.
I'd like to read your thoughts about it so review please.
In the next chapter, there will be more TVD's characters and more action.
Do I have your interest piqued? If I don't have you yet...wait for the next chapter. I'm sure I'll get you then.
The next chapter is entitled: 'Down the Rabbit Hole'
I will update as soon as possible.