Fear

Chapter 1

They say fear can make the strongest people cower. They say fear is in all of us, but what if you couldn't escape that fear. What if it followed you?

This thought was in Elena Gilbert's head as she stared at the ceiling of her bedroom. Her husband Damon Salvatore slept peacefully next to her unaware of what she had just been through. She hadn't wanted to bother him earlier when it happened. After all it had seemed like nothing and she was fine afterwards. How could this have happened? And why had it happened to her?

It had all began earlier when she just barely got off of work. She was once again going over files and stories she didn't care about as she leaned back in her desk. She would never get the recognition she deserved for her novels if she kept writing about nonsense that no one ever seemed to care about. She sighed and pushed herself out of her chair grabbing her jacket in the process. The rain seemed to be coming down hard tonight and she always hated driving in the rain, but it was still something that she would have to get used to. Elena sighed as she pulled her jacket closer to her and switched off her desk side lamp. It was time to go home for the night back to her normal husband and her normal life. Just once she wished that something exciting would happen in her life.

She was just about to be out the door when her coworker and one of her very few best friends came up to her and smiled. On most days Elena was fine with Caroline Forbes, but today of all days she just wanted to punch her in her perfect face. Caroline Forbes always seemed to have a perfect life with the perfect husband and perfect family not to mention her books seemed to have bigger hype surrounding them then Elena's, after all who didn't love a good murder mystery, but sometimes Elena wished Caroline wasn't so perfect.. Maybe she would be more relateable that way.

"Going home for the night Elena?"

"Yep. As I do every night Care."

"Ah I wish I could say the same, but Klaus got us reservations at this cute little B&B out of town and we'll be spending all weekend there. I just hope that Cherry doesn't mind me taking off for the weekend."

"I'm sure she won't seeing as how you're her most prized author."

"Well of course I am. But that doesn't mean you can't be just as good."

Elena felt the rain in her hair as she turned narrowing her eyes slightly at Caroline. She was really getting tired of Caroline's obnoxiousness.

"I'm pretty sure one day I'll be better than you. After all there's only so many murder mystery novels a person can write before people think they've seen them all."

Caroline perfect smile flinched a little bit, but than she smiled even bigger.

"Well it'll be a lot more books than you could ever put out."

Before Elena could say anything, she felt a jolt of electricity hit her body. She hit the ground and started convulsing. What was happening to her? She hadn't even been near any electrical things. So why had she been electrified?

The last thing she heard was Caroline's voice before she fell into unconsciousness.

Elena gasped as rain drops hit her head. She looked up into Caroline's face as she looked over to see the paramedic on her left.

"What the hell is going on?" she said.

"You're one very lucky woman. I haven't seen a lot of people that survived getting struck by lightening."

"Wait what?"

"You got struck by lightening and survived without a scratch. Well except for a minor burns, but those should clear up in the next few weeks."

Elena nodded because it was the only thing she could do. She could hardly believe that that had just happened. She had heard of people getting struck by lightening, but if they had survived they just didn't have minor burns. Why had she been so lucky?

These thoughts were running through her mind as Caroline drove her home apologizing multiple times for what she had said before this had all happened, but Elena couldn't care less. She was still in shock. She said goodbye to Caroline as she walked up to her door and unlocked it. She was still sore from the lightening but it wasn't an excruciating pain.

She closed the door and went into the kitchen where Damon was cooking her dinner like he did every night. Usually she would just roll her eyes at the routine, but for right now she welcomed it with open arms. She had no clue what she looked like at this point, but it must not have been good considering what had just happened.

Her thoughts were confirmed when Damon turned around and dropped what he was holding as he rushed over to her checking everywhere he could on her body. It wasn't in a sexual way as much as a caring way. If that was one thing Elena wished Damon would give her more of was sex. Their sex had always been amazing but it had died down in recent years.

She smiled at him to assure him that she was okay. He didn't look so sure but released her anyway still giving her a worried look as he stared at her for a good couple of minutes until she had explained what had happened.

He gave her a hug as sternly as possible as if not to break her. If they had a lack of sex life before they sure were gonna have one now that she had been hurt. She sighed pulling away and giving him a reassuring smile.

"I promise I'll be okay. I'm just gonna take a quick bath and than go to bed."

"You should probably eat something first. I made chicken Alfredo for us."

"I'm not really hungry, but I swear I'll be fine."

Damon nodded and made himself a plate knowing that this discussion was over. He promised to save her a plate for later as she climbed up the stairs and went into the bathroom. She looked at her reflection in their mirror as she waited for the bathtub to fill. She had a few bruises on her face and some burns on her shoulders and of course her hair was fried, but other than that she was perfectly alright.

She sighed and climbed in the tub soaking up the water until she felt better. She stepped out of the tub and grabbed some clothes from their closet as she looked upon her sleeping husband. She wished things were better between them, but she knew she would be lying if she said they were. They were losing that special something between them and that always hurt. She just wished they would just get better or else she wasn't sure what was going to happen to them.

Elena laid on the bed as she drifted off to sleep. She expected her dreams to be just as they always had been, but for some reason this dream felt different like it hadn't been hers to begin with. She was standing in her living room feeling translucent as she stared upon Damon. Liquor bottles surrounded him as he stared at a picutre of something. It felt like just seconds until she was right beside him looking down on the photo with him. It was of both of them on their wedding day. She remembered it fondly and it brought a smile to her face. It was a time she was actually happy.

Before she knew it Damon smashed the picture down making the frame crack into a bunch of different pieces as he threw a liquor bottle to the wall shattering it into a million pieces. Footsteps rushed down the stairs as his brother Stefan appeared in front of him.

Elena eyebrows stitched in confusion as Stefan gathered Damon in his arms as he cried. That was weird. Damon was never really close to Stefan. Why was he here? And what was wrong with her husband?

"Damon. You have to stop this. None of this will bring Elena back."

"She's dead Stefan. I could have stopped it. I never knew he could do such a thing to her. Why had he- Why Elena?"

"You can't blame yourself Damon. It's not helping anything. And all we can do is hope that We'll get justice for her death."

Damon nodded as Stefan unwrapped him from his arms and picked up the photo looking down at it in dismay.

"We'll get a new frame for this okay?"

Damon nodded as a shriek came from upstairs reminding her of a baby. Stefan was about to get up to get whatever was making that scream when Damon grabbed his arm and got up of the floor.

"No I'll get her. She should se her dad at least a couple of times a day you know."

Stefan nodded as Elena stared at Damon in shock. What had happened to her? Couldn't he tell that she was right there beside him?

She exhaled as she ran up the stairs following Damon until he was in a pink room with a small crib in the corner. A little baby girl was in there and outstretched her arms towards Damon giving him a small smile through her tears.

He picked her up as Elena stared at them. She smiled through her tears as she saw how loving Damon was with that little girl. It put a smile on his face as the little girl looked at him lovingly.

"I'm sorry Madison. I swear daddy will try better. I just really miss you mommy today."

A tear spilled down her cheek as she moved towards Damon a put a hand on his shoulder. He flinched and looked up at her shocked. What the hell had just happened?

"Elena? How-How are you here? I-I thought you were dead."

"Damon-"

"No, He- he killed you. You're-You'e not real."

"Damon-"

"No-No!"

Before Elena could do anything she was thrusted out of the dream as she looked into Damon's bewildered eyes.

"Bad dream?" She said touching his face.

"Yeah, It was a real nightmare."

He toughed her face and looked deep into her eyes.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"I'm sorry just after that horrible dream I just don't want to lose you ever."

"You won't. Wait what was your dream?"

"You-You died and Stefan was there and I was taking care of a newborn baby. Our baby I'm guessing and than you just appeared out of nowhere. I just hope I never have that dream again."

A sense of surprise and dread filled Elena. How was it possible that they were having the same dream?

"I'm just glad that you're here with me."

"Yeah me too."

He gave her a kiss than cuddled her as she stared at the ceiling. What the hell was going on with her? And why had she been in his dream? She only knew one thing for sure. She had to find out.