"Elena-Marie-Gilbert."
Elena rolled her eyes, bringing her feet up onto the leather seat, arms wrapping
around her legs. Head pulled back, avoiding her fathers scolding remarks, mind
clouded with alcohol. Stomach queasy as the car hit bumps in the road and she tried
to drown out all the sounds, eyes turning to peer out the window. Rain sounded, as
it hit against the car. Light pitter-patters turning into knocks. Dreary eyes watched
drops move with the speed of the car, imagining every inch of darkness around her
soaked in the acidic water that fell from the sky.
When everyone else had fled inside, running from the harmless act of nature,
she'd stayed. Her arms had swung open and she'd spun, hoping the drops against
her face would take away the memories of what happened that night. Take away the
look in Matt's eye when her words had ended up being so different from his own.
He'd wanted to fix it and she blurted out 'end it'. Chalk it up to the copious amounts
of alcohol to finally get her to admit that it just wasn't enough for her anymore.
"Don't think we won't be telling Caroline's mother."
"Grayson." Miranda moved to press her palm gently against her agitated husbands
shoulder, a light shake of her head, no.
Ha. Caroline. If her mother knew half of what happened when her daughter was
out and about. Caroline had run into the house before the rest of them, leaving Elena in
the silence of the rain. Spinning. Her lips parted to let the water dribble into her
mouth, steam rising from the heat of the earth. Strange, how peaceful life could
be. Everything had been so hectic lately that even under the influence, Elena was
still able to enjoy this quiet moment, only to have it interrupted by Matt. Her ex,
which was strange to even think about; the fact that her childhood friend, her
first boyfriend, was now her ex. He'd run over to her, Letterman jacket in tow and
wrapped it around her shoulders, urging her to come inside. In a rage of tipsy
emotion, she'd thrown it off, frowning at him and he'd stormed off, not bothering to
pick it up from the muddying ground. A curse muttered from under his breath, and
at first Elena wasn't sure if she'd heard it right, but then he'd turned around, looked
her dead in the eye and said it again.
Bitch.
She turned away from the window, burying her face against her jeans, fingers
pulling at the loose thread at the end of them. A light shiver as her damp clothes
shriveled against her skin, the warmth of the jacket her father had covered her in
losing its effect.
"What were you thinking? I'm so dis––"
"Don't." Miranda hushed him, shifting until she was facing her daughter, who looked
as small as ever, bringing a hand up to smooth back the long strands of Elena's hair,
before turning back.
"She deliberately disobeyed us." He retorted.
A nod in agreement, before she bobbed her head to the teenager in the
backseat. "Not tonight."
The buzz was wearing off, and Elena was overtaken with exhaustion, head starting
to throb. Legs stretched out in front of her, body starting to go restless, arms
weaving through the sleeves of her fathers jacket, before wrapping around herself,
in a hug like manner. She wished away the annoyance, the memories of this night.
She just wanted to be home; if she'd known he was going to get this upset over it
she would have done stupid family night. Boggle, scrabble, whatever. Excuse her for
being a teenager.
He sighed, hands drumming against the steering wheel and Elena couldn't
suppress the scoff that escaped her lips. Grayson turned to look at his daughter, a
disapproving shake of the head.
"I get…we get it. You're mad." Tone came out more annoyed than she'd meant it
to. "Can we just drop it, please? I'm tired."
"Elena." Concern spread on her mothers face, looking over her shoulder.
"Just, can we try and keep the talking to a minimum." Her eyes closed, head
pounding with each word that came out of her mouth.
"You do not take that tone of voice with your mother." His body shifted toward her,
and Elena couldn't tell if it was disappointment, shock or anger that came across his
face.
She wasn't a troubled teen. Elena loved her parents, she was happy to spend time
with them, with her brother. This wasn't a weekly occurrence, she was good, did her
homework, was always home by curfew. Could they not give her a break, just one little break?
Elena broke eye contact with him, slouching against her seat, cheek coming to rest
on her shoulder and eyes drifting off again. She could feel his eyes still boaring
into her back, but if she turned to face him now, he'd see tears in her eyes. Elena
couldn't lose this battle, not yet. The least they could do was give her till morning to
apologize.
"GRAYSON!" A yelp, and the last clear voice that she heard, before the car started to
swerve. It spun, like she had, in the rain, and the voices in the car jumbled together.
There was no making sense of what was what. She felt hands on her body, heard
her name being called. It felt as if the car was flying and Elena was waiting for it to
hit, waiting for a crash or a screech. Like what happened in the movies. The sounds
never came, instead there was silence, like someone had hit mute and nothing had
been slowed. It all happened in the blink of an eye, and before Elena could make
sense of any of it, darkness overcame her, sweeping her under, and taking her for
it's own.