Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me.

Warnings: Child abuse, spanking, blood, and violence. Rated M for a good reason.

Summary: AU Elena was raised by her biological parents Isobel and John, who treated her badly until she met Damon. Now, it's time for revenge.

This story is in Elena's point of view.

Excuses, Lies, and Broken Promises

Chapter 1

Memories

They say that just before you die your life flashes before your eyes. It must be true, because when I automatically swerved my car to avoid hitting a deer that ran into the road, I hit a tree and my head exploded in pain, and memories of my life ran through my head as I lost consciousness.

I remember the first tiny bit at the beginning. I was five and my Mom Isobel yanked my arm so hard I felt like it would come out of it's socket. My feet actually left the ground. I had said something that made her mad.

I was no longer a cute little baby. I had a mind and ideas of my own, and Mom had grown tired of mothering me, so I was tossed aside like a toy she'd gotten tired of playing with. My father John mostly took care of me from then on.

Mom was rough with everything she did. If she brushed my hair, she yanked it. If she clipped my nails, she pinched the skin around them. When she washed my hair she put my little head under the tub faucet and ran it full blast to rinse it. It hurt and the sounds terrified me. Almost everything she did to me caused pain. She acted like I was just a nuisance she had to put up with.

I learned at a young age to go to Dad for whatever I needed. I quickly learned not to ask Mom to help me with my homework because she would angry if I didn't understand it right away and scream at me and treat me like I was stupid.

Once when we were at church for some occasion I was getting over being sick and couldn't sing with everyone though she ordered me to. My throat was just too sore. She took me out of the room and slapped my face for disobeying.

She was more of a bullying big sister than my mother. Sometimes when I was punished I didn't know if she just lost her temper or if I'd really done something wrong. She certainly didn't explain the reason. She'd just grab me, swat me hard a few times then send me to my room. If I made her angry enough I got my face slapped. I soon learned to fear and hate her.

I got yelled at a lot, and if something bad happened she'd take it out on me, whether I had anything to do with it or not. I wasn't allowed to stand up for myself or show any anger. If I said something wasn't fair she said it was talking back and spanked me for it. She also spanked me if I slammed a door. Never mind that she did it all the time.

She'd call me names, swear at me, threaten me, and make me feel stupid, unloved, and worthless.

Dad would physically put himself in front of me when he was afraid she'd go too far, but then he'd always make excuses for her behavior. She had a bad day at work, she was tired, etc. I got just as angry at him sometimes as I was at her for that.

Dad wasn't always nice either. Once I accidently broke one of my glass dog collection and he took a hammer and smashed the rest in front of me with a hammer while I cried and begged for him to stop.

My cousin's Jeremy's parents had blamed me for what happened to me when I tried to tell them. Acted like I was a bad girl and deserved it. When they died in a car crash, all I could think of was that it served them right.

I didn't dare tell him or Aunt Jenna, who he now lived with, what went on at home. I couldn't bare it if they blamed me too.

When I became twelve I was finally big enough to physically defend myself and the physical punishments stopped, but Mom still kept up the verbal and emotional abuse.

She wasn't just cruel to me, but to animals as well. When we took in a dog when I was six years old it ended up having puppies, and she took them all to the vet and had them put to sleep. I cried so much. Killed just for being born... I cried even more when the dog, who had become my best buddy, had to be put to sleep later from being sick, and she didn't even let me say good bye.

She yelled at me for rescuing a bird with a broken wing, and did other things as well. Things that I didn't even want to think about.

She would make a promise to take me somewhere nice then change her mind at the last minute. I was sick and tired of excuses, lies, and broken promises. I was sick and tired of being hurt.

Little did I know how quickly everything was about to change...

To Be Continued...