This is a prologue to my prologue in Who Knew. You don't need to read that to understand this though. One shot.
Time period: Midseason 3, three years post Homecoming
Characters: Elena, Damon, Ashley
Ashley is Elena's college roommate and friend. That's all you need to know to understand this.
"Elena," a voice, soft and comforting whispered to me from somewhere behind me. I turned, only to see nothing there, just an empty field. Frowning, I walked forward. "Elena."
This time, I took off running towards the voice. It was familiar, but at the same time, I raised the stake I held in my hand. The chances were, it was a vampire trying to get to me. I knew I might not be strong enough to take down a vampire by myself, but maybe I could stake him or throw the vervain water on them and run for it. I'd make it out of here.
"Find me, Elena."
"Who are you?" I cried out, frustrated.
The wind was the only answer I received. It blew all around me, like I was at the eye of a hurricane and everything around me was moving, spinning faster and faster. The oxygen seemed to be leaving the very air I was breathing, as if the storm was sucking it out and up, far away from me. It was as quick as it had began, everything just became as calm as could be. There was no wind, no storm, nothing but that strange empty field. I slowly rotated around, checking my surroundings.
"Damon..." his name felt foreign on my lips I gazed up into the eyes of the handsome blue-eyed vampire. He gave me that half smirk thing that he always gave me when he knew something I didn't. I reached out to him, to touch his face, to cradle his smooth cheek in one hand, to pull him towards me and never let him go. I needed him to know how much I needed him, how much I- "I miss you so much."
"Then find me, Elena."
My brow furrowed in confusion as I stared at him to try to make sense of his words. "Find you? But you're right here." As my hand settled on his cheek, it went right through it. The image of the man before me began to dissolve into fine grains of sand or dirt or... ash. The storm suddenly picked up again and the ash carried out onto a current, riding it up and disappearing. He was gone. He'd never be here. Maybe he never was.
The grass scratched at my knees, the cuts and blood that came from them told me I was still alive, that I still felt, that I was still real. Except for one little problem, I didn't want to feel. I hated feeling. I hated being so helpless, so foolishly human. It was disgusting, sickening. I clawed at my arms, trying to break the skin with no success, trying to ascend above such a silly mortal and human thing like feeling.
"Elena!" a new voice, distinct and feminine, called in the distance. The voice was breathy, but I could hardly hear it over the sound of my heartbeat and the feel of the wet, hot tears streaming down my cheeks and messily dripping off my chin and onto my clothes and the ground. "Elena, thank God you're okay!" a tiny blonde pixie exclaimed, throwing her arms around me, "You've got to stop running away. I was freaked when I saw your phone on the counter and your stuff by the door." She spotted the tracks running down the length of my face and grabbed my chin, studying my swollen eyes, the grimace on my lips, the feverish flush of my cheeks. "My God, you had another episode, didn't you? You can't go on like this. It's not healthy, 'Lena. You need some professional help and I'm not kidding or threatening you. I'm honestly scared for you."
I jerked my head away, brushed angrily at my tears with my grim covered hands, "No."
"Well then this needs to stop. You need to let him go, if for no other reason, then to live for something. If you stop this-"
"He needs my help, Ash," I whispered, "He needs me to find him. He kept telling me that."
"Then that's what you live for. But don't do this to yourself, Elena. You're wasting away and so there'll be nothing that can be done to help you. And I can't have that happen. You're the only family I have." Her voice wavered as she finished her last words. When I looked up into her eyes, I could see unshed tears beginning to form. "Please stop doing this to yourself. Please Elena... I'm begging you, please."
Perhaps there are no happy endings in stories like ours. He was gone, plain and simple. I would cherish our memories forever, his last soft kiss to my forehead as I drifted to sleep, the feel of his strong arms wrapped around me.
As Ashley guided me back home, I looked around me. I could see the happiness of the people surround me, the people at school, on the way home, the hearts of Valentine's day already strung over doors and windows, and people soliciting flowers and cards and fancy chocolate packages. I didn't fit in here or anywhere. I knew this. It was then I knew, I needed a way out of this world. I never had been suicidal, though the Salvatore brothers may have disagreed if either of them hadn't had such a strong case of Missing in Action or more like Hiding from Elena.
I don't know what the answer to my problem is, that perfect solution that makes all parties involved happy. Maybe one day I will. Or maybe I'll just have to do what right for me.
I hoped you liked it.
Just to be clear, none of this was a dream. Elena is hallucinating. Damon is gone, disappeared, missing, and Stefan is who knows where, with Klaus' siblings in their coffins with the exception of Rebekah.
So, tell me what you thought. :)