My story begins in the small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia. Actually, I should say our story because this story isn't just about me. It's about my family and friends and the way our lives changed forever. It's about the way we fought, loved, lost, and won. I have to tell our story otherwise it would seem like a really long dream, like none of it happened at all. Despite all the bad this change in our lives brought us, I don't think we would have survived otherwise. So this is my family's story, but it began with a terrible accident that would define our lives forever. This accident jump started our new life.
I've lived here my whole life with my twin sister Elena and our younger brother Jeremy. Our family has lived here since the town was founded in the 1800s. It's a small town, but it's nice enough. My name is Zoey Gilbert. I am a junior in high school and Elena and I just turned 17 a couple months ago. The same time our parents died in a car accident. It was at the beginning of the summer.
School starts today and I don't know how to feel normal again. Elena writes in her diary that Mom gave her when we were 10 and Jeremy has leaned to drowning out his sadness with drugs. Weed mostly, but he's only 15, a freshman. I don't want to see him ruin his life, but then I ask myself how any of us are going to go on. How are we supposed to live normal lives when our parents are dead? I've decided to tell my story as a way to cope I guess. It's not so interesting now; I led a pretty normal life, but now our lives are anything but normal.
Anyway, our mother's sister, our Aunt Jenna, has become our sole guardian and she's great. She doesn't really know what she's doing, but I can't blame her. It can't be easy getting thrown into raising three teenagers still reeling from their parent's death. She does her best though. She was freaking out our first day of school. She got up extra early to cook us breakfast, which was a very nice gesture. Jeremy, moody as ever, just left the house without eating. I'm sure he's off to his stoner pit to get high before the start of the day. Elena and I ate breakfast happily before heading out. We decided to walk to school that first day back just to get some air. Bonnie, our friend, usually drives us in her Prius, but we declined today.
"Are you going to be okay?" Elena asked me as we left the house. I was unsure how to answer. Do I say 'I'm fine', which is what I'm going to tell everyone at school today or do I tell her how I'm really feeling. I decided to go with the truth because honestly it's kind of hard to lie to your twin. "You know, I don't know. I'm not sure how to go about a normal life anymore. I mean our lives just got turned upside down and I don't know how to go back and worry about boys and cheerleading. I'm not sure I'll enjoy any of those things anymore." I told her. She looked at me with a small smile. "I know." That was all she said, but somehow it was comforting to hear.
I knew Elena understood exactly how I felt, she didn't have to say anything else. We walked the rest of the way in silence. We got to school and met up with our friends Bonnie and Caroline. "Oh my god, how are you guys?" Caroline asked the minute she saw us running up and choked us in a hug. "I'm fine." Elena and I said at the same time. We tried to make it believable and chances were Caroline bought it because although she's a good friend, she cares more about herself and things that pertain to her. Bonnie, however, looked at us hard. She knew we were lying.
Across the hall was Matt Donovan, Elena's ex-boyfriend. She broke up with him not long after Mom and Dad died. It was just easier that way because she wanted to be alone. I understood that. Matt started at her longingly before his friend Tyler Lockwood came up to him and pushed him toward first hour. At the same moment, we saw Jeremy going into the boy's bathroom. Elena followed him in and I stayed out. She rode him about the weed a lot more than I did. Apparently though, it didn't go well because Jeremy stormed out in a huff and not long after Elena. She ran right into a guy. I haven't seen him before so he must be new. Elena apologized and walked toward me with smile. "Who was that?" I asked. Elena shrugged. "I don't know. Some new guy I guess, but he was really cute." She replied. I laughed a little. "Come on. We're going to be late."
We got to our first hour class which turned out to be history. Our teacher was Mr. Tanner. He was a nightmare of a teacher, by far the worst in the school. The first thing I saw when I walked in was that mystery guy Elena ran into. It turns out his name is Stefan Salvatore. His family lived here before when he was younger and he recently moved back and is living with his uncle in the old Salvatore Boarding House that his family build years and years ago. It's been here since before 1950. He looked at Elena and me for a minute looking mildly confused. Elena and I are identical twins so maybe he did a double take. I don't know. I didn't really care either.
The day seemed to drag on forever. Eventually it ended and we started walking down the hall toward the exit. Caroline started naming off things she learned about Stefan. Since he was a new piece of meat naturally she had to learn every piece of information about him. No doubt she was going to be running after him trying to make him notice her. When she set her sights on someone, she tried her hardest to get them, but unfortunately for her it hardly ever worked. Caroline was a bit abrupt.
Bonnie and Caroline asked Elena and I to hang out. Elena accepted. I'm sure she thought it would be a good way to take her mind off things. I declined. I just wanted to go home. Today was really hard on me and I needed to wallow in it some more. "I'll see you guys later." I told them trying to smile what I thought was a reassuring smile. By the looks they gave me, I didn't pull it off. I decided to walk home. On the way I saw a man. He was mysterious looking, dressed in black with dark hair. He stared at me for a long time. I felt kind of uneasy so I hurried home. I went to my room and took a nap.
Hours later, Elena got home and walked into my room. "Hey." She said. "Hi." I replied. "Why didn't you come with us today?" Elena asked concerned. "I don't know. I just didn't feel much like hanging out." Elena nodded. "Will you at least go to the back to school bonfire tonight?" I smiled. "Sure. Why not. It might be fun. Something I'm sorely lacking." I replied. Elena left me to change my clothes. I put on a knee-high dress and some sandals. I put a little jacket over and met Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline downstairs.
We got to the bonfire. The first thing I picked up was a beer. I saw Jeremy doing the same thing. I tried to motion for him to get out of sight so Elena wouldn't see him. Jeremy smiled appreciatively and walked away toward Vickie Donovan, Matt's older sister. She was a stoner. Not the best influence on Jeremy, but I was giving him a grace period. I saw Stefan too. As soon as Elena saw him, she smiled. He walked up to her and they started talking. Caroline looked murderous. I looked around and saw that strange man I saw earlier.
I walked toward him. "I saw you earlier today." I said. He looked at me. "I saw you too." He said. "Yeah, but you were staring at me." He was staring at me again. "You look like someone I used to know." He said drinking from a red Solo cup. "Is there anything stronger than beer here?" He asked. I looked at him. He looked a little old for high school. "You look a little too old to be at a high school bonfire." I said. "What's a high school party without someone a little too old for high school crashing it?" He replied. I smiled at him. "Well, have a good time." I said as I walked away.
The hours passed and I just sat there sipping on my beer. I watched everyone. I saw Elena talking to Stefan. They were smiling and laughing. That was a good sign. Elena deserved to feel happy again. I suppose I did too, but I just didn't know how. I could see glimpses of Jeremy drinking and smoking weed with Vickie Donovan. Bonnie was talking to Matt, who was looking over at Elena and Stefan. I saw the mystery guy wondering around. It looked like Stefan caught a glimpse of him and looking concerned. I wondered if Stefan knew him.
Then I saw Caroline walking, very determined, toward the mystery guy. She was smiling her sexy smile and flirting, at least with her body language. I laughed to myself as she practically threw herself at him. The mystery guy smiled slyly at her and it seemed to be the start of a one night stand. Everything seemed to be normal for a high school bonfire.
At that moment, everyone stopped what they were doing when a blood chilling scream filled the night air. Jeremy came running through the trees with blood on his shirt and hands. Elena and I immediately ran to him. "Jeremy are you okay?" Elena asked frantically. "It's not mine, it's Vickie. She's been attacked. It looks like some sort of animal." Jeremy panted. We all looked at each other and Matt ran over. "Show me where she is. Someone call an ambulance." Matt asked.
Jeremy and Matt ran to where Vickie laid. I took out my phone and call 911. They came not ten minutes later. Jeremy wanted to go to the hospital with Matt and I thought it was time to go home. Elena decided to come home with me, but she wanted to say goodbye to Stefan first. She searched for him, but he was nowhere to be found. I noticed the mystery guy was gone too.
Hours later, Jeremy finally came home. I was sitting on the couch when he walked in. "How's Vickie?" I asked. Jeremy looked sad. "She's okay. She'll recover, but she hasn't woken up yet. I'm going back to the hospital tomorrow to see if she's awake." I nodded and smiled a little. "Okay, night Jer." I said as I got up to go upstairs to my room. I got ready for bed and laid down. I looked up at my ceiling. What a day it's been. Now I just have to live through the rest of the days of my life. How hard could that be?
Eventually, I fell asleep. For once, I didn't have any nightmares about my parents or that night at all. I did dream about that mystery guy though. For some reason, I had a feeling me might be dangerous. I shook my head. It was a dream and I had literally spoken to him for less than five minutes. How was that supposed to be some kind of indicator as to whether he's dangerous or not.
That day at school, I went through the motions like the day before. Stefan apologized to Elena for disappearing on her last night and Caroline shared all the gory details of her night. As it turned out, the mystery guy's name was Damon Salvatore. As Stefan explained to Elena after Caroline told us about her night, Damon is Stefan's older brother. Makes sense that two people that good looking arriving in Mystic Falls at the same time are brothers.
The school day was thankfully over before it felt like it was dragging too much and the week continued much the same. Caroline had started spending a lot of time with Damon and she seemed more detached from the rest of us than normal. Elena had been spending a lot of time with Stefan. They were getting to know each other. Jeremy spent a lot of time with at the hospital with Matt. Vickie had finally woken up and seemed to be doing better.