Chapter: 2
Now she was surrounded by plain white walls. There was a single window covered by very ugly curtains. She was dripping wet, head to toe. She was extremely hungry. Someone was holding her hand, gently. She looked over at the person holding it and knew she was alright. It was Stefan. All of it was a dream. There were no dead people trying to kill her. She felt so relieved.
He was staring at his hands with a sad, grim, and regretful look. There were tears in his eyes. Something was terribly wrong. She was about to ask him where she was and what was wrong but was interrupted.
Damon barged through the door followed by Meredith. His expression was much like Stefan's except for the regret part. It was weird because Elena had never seen Damon like this. He looked in pain and he looked angry. Damon looked very dangerous. When he saw Elena though his features softened a bit. They looked each other in the eyes for a long second. Elena remembered how she had told him she had chosen Stefan and maybe things would've been different if her and Damon had met first. He was most definitely in pain from her decision. She had made up her mind and it wasn't him. He shouldn't care if she was alive or not. Elena would've expected him to leave town and do some very stupid and reckless things. She expected him to shut his humanity side off and pretend he didn't care. But, Damon didn't do any of that because here he was looking at her so worriedly. His face showing how much he still cared for her.
"Elena..," he said softly. He walked over to the side of her that Stefan wasn't on. With his hand, he brushed her hair away from her face. His touch was so soft and so gentle. It was like she was a newborn baby that was so tiny and fragile that he was afraid of hurting. Then a memory popped up in her mind.
It was sophomore year and she was at the bonfire that Bonnie and Matt had practically drug her to. She had just asked her parents to come pick her up because she had just gotten into a fight with Matt. To get cell service, she had walked out to the road.
"Catherine." She looked up from her phone startled. She hadn't noticed someone else was out here. There was a tall guy with black hair and blue eyes standing in front of her. He was wearing a black t-shirt, black pants, and a black leather jacket. The guy looked so happy to see her but he had called her Catherine.
" Um…no." She looked around her, wondering if he was talking to someone else. There was nobody else around though. "I'm Elena," she said confused. He looked confused too and disappointed.
" Oh…you just look…I'm sorry. You just really remind me of someone I used to know. My name's Damon."
"Not to be rude or anything, Damon, but that's kind of creepy that you're out here in the middle of nowhere."
He shrugged. "You're one to talk," he said with a smile. "You're out here all by yourself."
" It's Mystic Falls. Nothing bad ever happens here."
He smiled and nodded like he knew this.
After a moment's pause she blurted out, " I got into a fight with my boyfriend," It wouldn't hurt to tell him. She would probably never see him again and she needed something to do until her parents got there.
" About what? If you don't mind me asking, that is."
She breathed in heavily. " Life. Future. He's got it all mapped out."
He looked at her curiously. " You don't want it?"
" I don't know what I want," she shrugged honestly.
" Well that's not true. You want what everybody wants." He said this as if it was obvious.
" What a mysterious stranger who has all the answers?" She shot him a flirtatious look.
He chuckled and looked away into the distance. "Let's just say I've been around for a long time. I've learned a few things." She studied him for a brief second. She wondered if he had ever gotten his heart broken before.
" So Damon? What is it that I want?" He stepped closer to her to where they were only a few inches apart. Her heart started beating fast.
" You want a love that consumes you. You want passion, adventure, and even a little danger." For a few seconds she forgot how to breathe. All she could do was look into his eyes and digest what he had just said. All the things he had said felt true.
" So what is it that you want?" He thought about this but then there was a car honk. She turned around to look. It was her parents.
" It's time for me to go." When she turned back around to say goodbye to him, he was standing even closer to her. The inches between them had disappeared. He looked her straight in the eyes and she couldn't help but stare back. His eyes were the most beautiful thing she'd ever saw. His pupils changed size and got smaller.
" I want you to get everything you're looking for. But, right now I want you to forget that this ever happened." Elena looked up at him with both wonder and amazement. She didn't want to forget about this guy she just met. She couldn't. He looked like he felt the same way too. His face filled with sadness after he said this. Then she closed her eyes.
Elena looked around her. She forgot how long she'd been standing there. It was like she had fallen into some kind of a trance. A car honked behind her. She turned around and there were her parents waiting to take her home.
Back in the room with Damon, Stefan, and Meredith, she gasped. She looked up into Damon's face. She looked at his beautiful eyes. The same eyes that had made her forget how she had first met him, how she had felt that night.
"Damon…" He looked back at her concerned. She shook her head and looked at Stefan. How could he compel her to forget that night? How could he make her forget her feelings for him? She was back exactly where she started. Damon or Stefan?
Damon seemed to realize at that moment that she remembered also. He lifted is hand away from Elena and stepped away from her bed. Stefan never once looked up from his hands the whole time, not even when she squeezed his hand hard. Strangely it felt like she was crushing his hand.
Elena looked away from Stefan and up at Meredith who was still in the room watching all of them like science experiments. There was a scent that filled the room. It was coming straight from Meredith. The scent smelled delicious and appetizing. Elena felt something sharp poke through in her gums. She felt herself getting up from the operation table she was laying on and walk towards Meredith. Meredith looked back at her frightened. She looked up at Damon and started to back towards the door. Meredith put her hand on the knob and Elena lunged at her.
She didn't get very far though, because Damon had grabbed her and flung her against the wall. Taking her eye off Meredith, Elena focused in on Damon. This time she lunged at him. However, he had, easily, moved out of her way. Meredith had already fled the room. Stefan, was still staring at his hands, seeming not to notice. While she was looking at Stefan, Damon took his opportunity, He tackled her to the ground and held her hands behind her back.
Jerking her around like crazy, Damon got her out the door and eventually out of the hospital they were in. She tried to get free but he was had a pretty good hold on her. Once they were outside, he held her arms for a little while longer until he assumed she had calmed down. When he did, she walked up to the hospital's brick wall and leaned against it, her head to the sky. It was pitch black outside. The moon took the form of a crescent that night. A sorrowful feeling overcame her. This was the last thing she wanted to happen to her. She didn't want this. She never wanted to live forever as a monster, killing people.
"I'm a…a vampire," she said quietly. She looked at Damon. He was watching her come to this realization. He didn't look at her pityingly like she thought he might; he just looked at her like he knew how she felt, like he knew what she was going through. And, he did. Damon hadn't wanted to be a vampire either. He had wanted to let himself die instead. When he was going through the transition, before he could let himself die, Stefan had coaxed him into feeding. Unlike them though, she wasn't going to complete the transition. She wasn't going to become this monster. Elena would rather die.
Then Damon told her how she had this had happened. He told her how, earlier that day, when she was in the hospital, Meredith had given her vampire blood to help her. The blood was still in her system when she died.
"I won't complete the transition. I can't," she announced. He just looked down at the ground. Elena thought again of the memory she had remembered. When she told Damon about not choosing him, she had told him things might have been different if they had met first. At the time she hadn't known. She hadn't known that they had met first.
"I remember, Damon." He looked up at her. "Why did you make me forget? Things might've been different." He just shook his head.
They looked at each other for a few seconds and then he said, "Nothing would've been different, Elena. You love Stefan."
"But I love you too!" Again he shook his head.
"You already made your choice and I understand that it will always be him. I don't even know why I came here…"
"Yes you do." They just stared at each other, nobody saying anything.
"Whatever choice you choose to make about the transition, Stefan can help you." These next words seemed like the hardest thing he'd ever had to do. "Goodbye, Elena."
Then he was gone. She knew she would lose him once she chose Stefan. Actually, Elena hadn't planned on seeing him ever again.
The hospital door opened and Stefan walked out. He was staring down at the ground. Stefan probably felt terrible for what happened to her.
"Stefan!" He looked up at her, sadly. She walked over to stand in front of him. "Stefan, this isn't your fault."
The only thing he said was, "I'm so sorry Elena." Then he just kept walking. It seemed as if he was dead. Elena felt the tears begin to fall again. She had to go home. All she wanted to do was crawl into her bed and forget everything that was happening. Maybe she would wakeup and find out that all of this was a bad nightmare.
