N: I was reading some fan-fiction here, trying to feel better after the last episode disappointed me and came up with this idea somehow. Hope you'll enjoy it!

Thank you Valerie (2serendipity) for your help!

Reality sets in

She opened her eyes and looked at the clock beside the bed. It was 7:30 am already. She usually woke up at 6:30 am. Damn, she'd be late, again. She turned around and watched Stefan sleep for a minute. He was not a morning person and she was, but she didn't mind. She slid out of bed slowly, so she wouldn't wake him, and disappeared behind the bathroom door.

After a quick shower, she headed downstairs, into the kitchen and made coffee. She poured herself a big cup and went into the living room to enjoy drinking it. She took a seat on the couch and looked around for a few minutes. It looked different…wrong, like something was missing.

"Good morning," she heard Stefan say before she had the chance to re-evaluate the room to establish what was wrong with it.

"Morning, I've made coffee," she said and he just nodded. "Well, I have to go. I'm late for school," she said and ran up the stairs.

Elena stuck a few books in her back-pack and left, waving at Stefan and telling him they'd talk later.

She found Bonnie in the bathroom at school half an hour later. There was something different about her friend too. 'What's with all the different things today?' she asked herself. It must be her hair.

"Did you do something with your hair?" she asked.

"No," Bonnie answered simply.

Elena raised her shoulders and they both left the little girl's room. Elena headed west and Bonnie headed in the opposite direction.

"Bonnie, where are you going? Don't we have history together?"

"I know that. The history lab is this way."

"That's strange. Alaric always said that going into the lab is a waste of time."

"Who's Alaric?" Bonnie asked, confusion written on her face.

"Hello? Alaric Saltzman? Our history teacher…" Elena answered, rolling her eyes.

"His name is William Tanner, not Alaric Seltzer or whatever you said."

"Saltzman…" Elena corrected her.

"Like I said. Whatever. I don't know whom you are talking about. The dude has been our teacher for two years, Elena, and you still don't know his name…?"

Now it was Elena's turn to look at her friend like she was crazy. Coach Tanner was dead. An animal…wait, make that Damon, killed him quite some time ago. He couldn't be… alive now.

"Elena, are you ok? You seem… a little bit off…" Bonnie asked, concerned.

"Yeah…no…I'm fine. Just tired, I guess. Where's Caroline? Considering that she can run from her house to…" she stopped in the middle of her sentence once she saw the shocked expression on her friend's face.

"What…what did I say?" Elena asked.

"What's wrong with you? Asking me if Caroline's coming to school, seriously?"

"Yeah…what's wrong with that?"

"Elena…you…Caroline is dead. I know you miss her, I do too, but we have to move forward."

"Bonnie… Look, I know you don't approve of her being a vampire and all, but don't you think you're taking this too far? I thought we were past that. Are you and Care fighting again?"

"Vampire…?" Bonnie asked confused. "Elena, your boyfriend is a vampire, the guy that attacked you that night was a vampire, your evil doppelganger is a vampire…Caroline is dead…as in dead, dead."

Elena's head started spinning and she could swear her feet were now made of rubber. Her friend was not dead, she couldn't be…Caroline was a vampire. She thought about Caroline being dead, Bonnie seemed pretty sure about it, but how was it possible? How did that happen, or when? And she didn't even remember. A vampire attacked her and she didn't remember that either. Something was not right here …

"How did Caroline die?" she asked. Maybe that would help her remember?

"Do you…at the Founder's day parade. She fainted; we took her to the emergency room. She had internal bleeding. The doctors did what they could, but…they…they couldn't save her."

Elena took a deep breath, in a failed attempt to calm herself and understand what was going on. At the Founder's day parade she had been preoccupied, saving Damon…and Stefan, or Stefan and Damon…whatever. She hadn't taken Caroline to the emergency room. She did remember that Caroline had been at the hospital, but not because she'd fainted… Damon had given her blood and made her all better. Why was Bonnie telling her a different story now? She wanted to ask her about it, but another question was already on her lips.

"What about the vampire that attacked me? When did that happen?"

"You really don't remember?" Bonnie asked.

"No…" she whispered.

"I don't know many details about that. You didn't…or don't, talk about it…. And you've been scared of Stefan for months. You wouldn't let him near you or near me for that matter. You had been so scared…I was afraid it wouldn't pass, but it finally did a few weeks ago. Thank God, I was beginning to believe I'd lost you. Caroline was going crazy over it, especially since she didn't know it had been a vampire that attacked you. She yelled at her mom for not catching the culprit over and over again."

"So it happened before Caroline died?"

"Yes, some time before…"

"Bonnie…" I started crying; at this point I was close to braking down "I…something's wrong, Bonnie…I don't remember any of this…. It's like it never happened, or actually…I remember it happening differently."

"Come on, I'll take you home!" Bonnie said and grabbed Elena's hand, pulling her towards the exit. "It's going to be ok, just breathe deeply, it's going to be ok!"

Bonnie kept whispering soft encouraging words to Elena all the way to the Boarding House, although it didn't really help Elena calm down. Her world had just been turned upside-down. People she knew to be dead were alive and people she knew to be alive (well, hypothetically speaking, since Caroline was a vampire, and thus technically dead) were dead. Her friend was talking about some kind of attack that she didn't remember at all. It was bad…very bad. Probably she had finally lost it and gone crazy. It was to be expected. After all, how much could one person take? With all the doppelganger sacrifice and all her loved ones in danger 24/7…who could blame her? But this looked even worse than crazy…

In less than ten minutes they were at the Boarding House. Elena was seated in an arm-chair and Bonnie and Stefan were standing just a few steps away from her.

"I don't know, Bonnie, she seemed ok this morning. She made coffee and left for school…nothing unusual." Stefan said, frowning.

"Well, Stefan, something is definitely wrong. She asked me when Caroline would come to school! She doesn't remember some things and confuses others. I told her about the accident and she really doesn't seem to remember it happening. You and I both know how much that marked her, how could she forget something like that?"

"Hello, people. I'm standing right here. You should stop talking like I'm not in the room!" Elena protested.

"She keeps asking me about a guy named Damon, like I'm supposed to know him." Bonnie continued, ignoring Elena's cries.

Stefan turned around and walked to Elena. He kneeled down in front of her and put a reassuring hand on her knee. The gesture disturbed her more than reassured her, but she didn't pull away.

"Elena…who's Damon? If I remember correctly, you murmured his name a few times in your sleep last night too…" he asked softly.

"Ok, you're kidding, right?" she saw the perplex look on Stefan's face and she knew that he wasn't joking. He didn't know what she was talking about. This was getting ridiculous.

"Damon…as in, your brother Damon?" she answered, getting a bit frustrated. For some reason she felt like they were playing a bad, bad joke on her.

"Brother? What are you…Elena, I was an only child. I already told you this."

Elena jumped up from the armchair as soon as she realized what was missing from the room this morning. She ignored the questions in Stefan's eyes and walked over to the liquor cabinet. It was almost empty, except for a bottle of water and one can of Coke. No multiple sorts of bourbon, no blood bottles, no tequila bottles and no half empty glass by the edge of the table…this was missing…his touch was missing…his smell was missing…he was missing…

Without thinking twice about it, she ran upstairs, straight to what she knew to be Damon's room. She turned the handle and pushed the door open. She stepped inside and looked around. The room looked like no one had ever lived there. It was just a cold, empty room, with a ridiculously huge bed in the middle of it.

She walked towards the closet and opened it. It was as empty as the room…. No John Varvatos shirts, no low-rise dark jeans, no leather jackets…just an empty space…

She felt herself go hot and then cold …her heart was beating faster than a drum and her hands started shaking in what she recognized to be a 'panic attack', as the realization hit her.

"No, no…I can't…I can't be living in a world where Damon Salvatore doesn't exist!" Elena mumbled to herself, although she wasn't the only one listening to those words…

N: Here you go. I know the first chapter is a bit confusing, but that's kind of the point, lol. Anyway, I have the second chapter already written and the beginning of the 3th one, so I'll probably post it anyway, but please tell me if it's bullshit!