"Mystic Falls' seniors are going on their annual trip! This year they will be headed to...

Greensboro, South Carolina!

All seniors are to be assembled in the cafeteria Monday morning at 5:30 am.

Important to take..."

Caroline fumbles up the small paper, and sighs. " Great , another school trip. How lovely!"

Caroline has been having a rough time since she broke up with Damon. Actually, since Damon broke up with her. She didn't see that coming. She thought everything was going great. Sure, they had their flaws, but didn't every couple experience that? She really thought he was the one , like every 17 year old thinks when in love. Which made it all even worse. He had taken her out to dinner for her birthday, it was super-romantic, and she thought he had an amazing gift to give her. But instead, he dropped the bomb on her. " Caroline, I think we need to break up. I'm just not into you anymore." and that was it. He just left, leaving her behind, still having to pay the check.

She makes her way through the staring crowd, as usual, to her next class : math. Although she is used to the starring by now, it seemed different this time, and she could now see why.

Right before her nose, Damon and Elena were making out. Tears were waiting to fall down, but she won't let them. She has to stay strong. When they finally stopped and saw her standing there, a grin showed up on Elena's face. That...That...That...Urgh.

Finally, the bell rang. School never seems to end anymore. She made it out of there as quick as she could. Once outside, past the mass of students, she couldn't get home fast enough.

Her mother was already waiting for her, which was weird. Her mom was never home before she was. "Mom, why are you home already?What happened?" Caroline asked. Her mother turned around, and Caroline could see the worries on her mother's face. " Mom, seriously, what happened?" Caroline was getting worried now too.

"We found another body near the cemetery..."

"Another one? That's already the 7th one!"

"Don't worry Car, we will find this guy. Or girl... Anyways, you are going on yous schooltrip, so you'll be safe."

Great, now there was no way out of this trip, she had to go. How wonderful!

Next Monday, she caught herself staring at Damon and Elena as she waited in line to get on the bus. She took the strategic place in the back, from where she could overlook the entire bus, including Damon and Elena. Since it was still early in the morning, Elena had placed her head on Damon's shoulder, which sent a sharp pain through Caroline's heart. Once the principle explained the guidelines and general information, the trip could start. The bus started driving, and all Caroline could think was how much she hated this trip and this school. Every once in a while she could hear someone saying her name somewhere in the bus, followed by laughter. Or, the people who were sitting very close to her started to whisper, after which they secretly watched her, thinking she didn't notice.

She forced herself to put her iPod in and look out the window. Though, there wasn't much to see : landscapes and meadows filled with horses and cows, nothing else, not even a human being. Maybe she could write a sign, saying Help Me !, on a paper and hold it against the window. Maybe someone would somehow notice it, and send the cops. The bus would be pulled over, and a very, very handsome looking police officer would save her out of this horrible place. But she knew that was only going to happen in her fantasy, life didn't like her enough for that to happen.

After an hour, when the sun started to rise, Caroline fell asleep.

When she woke up , she felt a huge pain going through her body. She opened her eyes to see that there was no one left on the bus. She sat up straight, and felt something liquid running down her face. She touched her head, and found that her hands were covered in blood. She touched her head again to find a hole there as she looked at the shattered glass. There was smoke everywhere, making it hard for her to breathe. She got up, but didn't make it far. She fell down the aisle. She couldn't feel her legs, couldn't move them. A panic got hold of Caroline. She pulled her legs to her body, and started to hyperventilate. Why did they leave her? Wasn't she important enough? Did they not notice her? Not even Damon?

There was a short ticking noise, and Caroline saw someone crawling in from the broken window. Someone did come back for me! By now, she didn't even have the strength to talk. She watched this person coming closing, hoping it would be Damon. But it wasn't. It was someone she had never seen before.

" Don't worry, everything will be fine. Trust me. My name is Elijah. Nice to meet you." He had a very soft voice, speaking as if nobody my hear him. His eyes were... so … special...

"Everything will be fine. Trust you. No worries." she repeated him in her thoughts.

His eyes suddenly changed colors though, and his teeth? What was happening to them? Caroline wasn't granted much time to think about this. She felt a huge pain as Elijah tore her veins and drank her blood. In less than a minute, he was gone again, leaving her behind.

Was that a vampire? It can't be. Vampires don't exist! But his eyes...and his teeth? He drank my blood... How did he find me? We're in the middle of nowhere? She touched her head again, feeling the blood. Of course...

A few miles from where the accident happened, the other seniors gathered. The could still see the bus, as there are only meadows surrounding them, although it resembled a toy car from this distance. The principal, who always went along on school trips, started counting. Everybody sat down, tired, thinking about how lucky they had been, but also worrying about getting home. Some girls were crying, others hyperventilating. But most of all, there was staring, and absolute silence, apart from the counting from the principal.

"Oh no. I must have made a mistake. Everybody, stand still ! I have to recount!" There was a slight panic in his voice.

"We are missing one person! Who is not here ?!" Chocked as everybody was, no one seemed to move or look around. Had they really forgotten someone on the bus?

"Caroline!" shouted someone in the back. Damon's eyes widened, and felt paniced.

"We have to go get her!" He called out. Nobody moved. " We can't just leave her there !"

Still no movement, just some staring faces. Damon started to run to the bus, but was stopped by Elena and the principal.

"Damon, it's too late. There is nothing we can do, it's too dangerous to go back there." The prinipal has bowed his head and was now saying a prayer. Elena just looked at him, suspiciously. Or was she mad at him for going after Caroline? Who knows? Who cares?

Caroline realized that the entire time she had been laying here on the floor, which was super-dirty, there was a small sizzling sound. The longer she was laying there, the louder and sharper the noise became. Somehow, she was more annoyed about the dirty floor she was laying on, getting her clothes filthy, than the noise ringing in her ears.

Caroline started to loose her grip on reality, due to the blood that kept flowing out of her head and neck. She thought back to her life, from her childhood to this moment. She has had a great childhood, a great youth, but she felt as if there was always something missing. When she met Damon she felt complete for the first time in her life. Her perfect lovestory, as Damon was the perfect boyfriend, didn't last long. There was a lot of jealousy, Damon was the prettiest and most wanted guy of the school, so everyone envied her for dating him. Then one day, this new girl shows up at her school, and that's when things started to change between them. Damon seemed more distracted, wasn't as gentle as he used to be, didn't bring her gifts anymore. He became less affectionate, didn't kiss her with the same amount of love, the hugs started to fade away. He started to hang out with this new girl Elena more. And she was left behind. She hadn't quite made friends by dating Damon , only enemies; even the friends she did have before dating him abandoned her. Or maybe she abandoned them?

Caroline opened her eyes in agony as the noise has now become unbearable. She covered her ears and started screaming , as if somehow that would help. She rocked herself back and forth, and continued doing this for quite some time. And then, all of a sudden, it was done, the noise had gone away, and Caroline thought she was going to be fine.

For the first time since she fell on the floor, she got up and stumbled to the door in the middle of the bus. It was closed. As hard as he pushed and kicked the doors, they just didn't open. So she tried to stumble to the other doors, but never made it there. She had lost all the strength she had inside her, and once again, fell on the floor. It never occurred to her that she could just crawl through the broken windows, just like Elijah.

Laying on the floor, Caroline was convinced she was going to die unloved. No one would miss her, after all, they didn't care to take her out of the bus. Was there anyone else hurt? Damon maybe?

She didn't get much time to think about this.

Suddenly and without warning, there was a loud noise. BANG!

Caroline was blinded with pain as she was buried under the remains of the bus, and as she felt the heat of the flames enclosing her.

So this is it, this is the end? Not quite how I thought it would be. Caroline's mind went black.

Damon stood there with the rest of the Mystic Falls' seniors, watching the explosion happen, followed by the burning of the remains.

Holding Elena in his arms, watching the flames go higher and higher, all Damon could think of , trying to hold back his tears was how he let the love of his life slip away.