ELENA

I knew it wasn't the most fitting thing to do before going to a party, but on late Friday morning, I went to the cemetery. Ever since I had come back to Mystic Falls, I came out here regularly, sat underneath the big willow near our family grave and wrote in my diary. I had never understood why so many people had an issue with cemeteries. It was the most peaceful place I could imagine. A place that remained mostly undisturbed from the hustle and bustle of every day life, almost unchanging, strangely out of time. And here I felt close to my family, even though I knew it was only their bodies lying here.

Even after four years, the tombstone of my parents seemed still fresh to me – especially in comparison to the one put up in memory of my brother, which was gray and mossy. I couldn't even remember his funeral clearly. But what stayed in my mind from then on was the constant, underlying pain that had never left us again after he was gone.

The years in Pennsylvania with Jenna and Jeremy had slowly pulled me out the dark black hole that I had fallen into after the second tragedy had hit. Coming back here when I started college last summer hadn't been so hard, either. I had picked up all the loose ends again, meeting with childhood acquaintances and renewing friendships, such as with Caroline, Bonnie and Matt. After three months of going out together with him though, we had both come to the conclusion that it wasn't going to work. There was friendship, yes, but nothing romantic.

I sometimes wondered if I was ever going to experience something like that at all. Even in Pennsylvania, there had never been anybody who interested me enough to start anything – which was a good thing, because there hadn't really been anybody signaling interest anyway. Most likely, my melancholy was scaring them off. Caroline often said that I seemed far too old for boys of my age to be attracted to me. What she meant was too serious, too somber, simply not fun to be with.

I guess she was right. No matter how much I tried to fit in, even participating in their activities and demonstrating interest, it never truly had worked out. The themes and topics seemed shallow to me, not really worthy to occupy oneself with, given that life was so short. But then, they hadn't been forced to come to that insight yet. It had been easier here – people knew me and my history, and as hard as it sometimes was to put up with their underlying pity, at least I didn't have to pretend to be someone I was not. That's why I wanted to come home every weekend, instead of staying in the dorm.

I sighed, not really knowing what had brought this heavy melancholy back that I had thought to have finally left behind. Maybe it was the gloomy atmosphere of the hotel that had somehow followed me here, the strange happenings of the night that had etched themselves into my memory. There was a strange sense of foreboding – like I knew something was about to change, turn my life upside down again soon. It was hard to shake off.

I decided that maybe the cemetery was not the best place to be given my current dark mood and got back to my feet. That's when I noted that something had indeed changed. It was not only that the sun had hidden itself behind clouds, that the wind had picked up pace and was whirling leaves and withered flower petals around. It felt as if death suddenly was a presence here – not the quiet, peaceful side of it, but the dark, lurking threat that came before. Out of the corner of my eyes I caught the glimpse of movement – a shadowy figure that was out of sight before I had clearly seen it. And then a crow flew up, shrieking, and an icy chill made my skin turn into goose flesh. My heart jumped into my throat, and all of a sudden I felt nothing but the urgent need to get out of there. I broke into a run, not looking back. In fact, I wasn't looking much at all, and that's why I tripped. My foot caught under the root of a big tree, making me fall down hard. I cursed, scrambling to get back on my feet, when suddenly a hand appeared out of nowhere.

"Are you okay?" My gaze flew up and met with a pair of dark eyes in the face of a darkly clad stranger. He was leaning over me, offering to help me up. Declining his outstretched hand, I pulled myself up and faced him. Wearing a slight look of embarrassment in his expression, he didn't look particularly threatening, yet I couldn't help wondering if it was a coincidence that he had suddenly appeared out of thin air.

"Have you been following me?" I asked suspiciously, frowning at him. My question obviously made him feel awkward. "Eh, no, I – I'm visiting. I have family here. I saw you fall..." His expression was only showing concern, making me realize that I was being paranoid and incredibly tactless.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... Just – there was this big, black bird back there, and it was all very Hitchcock for a second..." Realizing I was talking gibberish, I took a deep breath and decided to start anew, offering my hand after I had so impolitely refused his. "Hi. I'm Elena."

He accepted it with a kind smile. "I'm Stefan. Nice to meet you, Elena."

Stefan – that truly was an unusual name around here, one that I had heard only once before. "Then you must be Alys' foster-brother..." I correctly deduced, for he nodded at that. "She mentioned you. Nice to meet you, Stefan. Alys said you are going enroll in Greenville College, too?"

"Yes. I – had planned on that." He suddenly seemed to be getting uncomfortable, paling, if that was possible, given that he had the same light complexion as Alys. "Did you hurt yourself?" he asked, frowning.

His question took me by surprise. I hadn't realized until he mentioned it that there was in fact a throbbing pain at my ankle. "I don't know," I said, confused, and put my foot on a nearby bench to roll my jeans up. Indeed. I had scratched myself on falling, probably on a sharp stone. It wasn't too bad, just bleeding a little. "Oh – would you look at that..." I muttered, fishing for a tissue in my pocket. I half expected him to offer me one, as surely any good-mannered person would do in a situation like this. Except he wasn't. On looking up, I found that he wasn't there at all anymore. How very weird. He had disappeared, as unseen as when he had first come along. There was something uncanny about it. Unnerved, I rolled down my trousers again and headed for the exit.

*'*'*'*'*

Fortunately, the weather was still holding up for the evening. When Caroline and I arrived at the city park and the festival ground, there was already a crowd of people. We found Bonnie amidst a group of other old high-school acquaintances, among them Matt, Tyler and even Jeremy. I was surprised to see him there – despite being only one and a half year apart in age, we usually did not hang out together. Jeremy was in his last year of high school, but still stuck in puberty, according to Jenna. At the moment, he was in rebellion against Jenna, who, as a hard-working, single parent, had her hands full with getting her own life into grips.

In my opinion, Jeremy was just the average 17 year old who still had figure out who he was – or rather, who he wanted to be. The only reason for concern was that he seemed to be hanging around with the wrong kind of people lately, one of them being Vicky, Matt's elder sister. She was older than Jeremy by three years, which did not prevent him from having a strong crush on her. Vicky, despite playing around with him, did not really take him seriously, which only seemed to increase Jeremy's trouble.

Most likely, he had come to the party because of her. Vicky was not in college. She had been taking on a couple of jobs after high school, so undecided about what she wanted to do with herself that she hadn't stuck longer than half a year with any of them. I knew Matt was as concerned for her as I was for Jeremy, which – according to Bonnie – made us sound like a couple of worried parents, sometimes.

We didn't have much chance to discuss any of this today, though. Conversation was rather clipped, probably because of the alcohol everybody had been consuming. It soon got to a point where the general mood drifted from relaxed to exuberantly cheerful. There was a lot of silly banter and laughter, the latter more and more overtaking the talk. Besides, with the music being so loud, it was impossible to have a conversation at all – not that it was the time and place for conversation anyway. Given that everybody was holding a glass in their hands, I signaled Caroline and Bonnie that I was going to get a refill, and made out for the gazebo.

With the music numbing my ears, I hadn't been aware of someone coming up behind me. When all of a sudden I heard my name being called almost into my ear, it made me jump. Startled, I turned around and found myself looking into Stefan's contrite face. "I'm sorry! I did it again, didn't I?"

"Stefan – hi! No, it's okay – I was just surprised..." I stuttered, still slightly befuddled. "I hadn't expected to run into you here..." Which was stupid, as I realized immediately. If he was going to enroll in college and was living in Mystic Falls, it was completely legitimate for him to be attending this party. It was just that after the weird appearing and disappearing of him in the cemetery, a small piece of my mind had wondered if he had even been real.

"Well, I'm usually not one to attend parties...", Stefan said, conceding to a point I had never intended to make.

"No, I'm sorry – that's not what I what I meant to say... I'm usually not that tactless."

"I'm the one who has to apologize for being tactless. I left you all by yourself in the cemetery... that was unforgivable. It's just that I..." He paused, obviously not knowing if he should tell me.

"You get squeamish at the sight of blood?" I offered helpfully.

"I guess that's a way to put it..." His voice trailed off, probably because he felt embarrassed about it.

"Don't worry. I know the feeling. I'm usually a little squeamish about blood myself. Anyway, it wasn't bad. I made it home all right."

"I know. I was at your house, a little earlier, just to make sure and to apologize for leaving you like this, but you weren't in."

"We seem to be apologizing an awful lot to each other..."

He grinned. "Yes. Sorry for that!" he offered, and I smiled, appreciating his humor. He didn't seem to smile very much, but when he did, it made his face even more handsome. "The truth is," Stefan added, "that I hadn't come round just for that. I also I wanted to drop off a book that you must have forgotten at the cemetery. I found it close to your family grave, so I figured it must be yours... a green binding and cover that fastens with a magnetic clip?"

"My diary! I must have dropped it when I fell... Strange – I hadn't even realized that I had lost it! Thank you for bringing it back!"

"Well, actually, since that's what I thought it was, and given that you weren't in, I didn't know if it was okay to give it to your aunt, so I still have it. Don't worry, I didn't look into it."

"Well, thanks again, then. Most people would have..."

"I wouldn't want anybody to read mine."

"You're keeping a journal, too?" I looked at him with renewed interest. How unusual. Caroline had often said that the fact I was keeping a diary proved that I was basically an inward person. Maybe he was, too.

"I have been for a while. It's helping me not to forget – memories are important."

"Yes. Sometimes they're all there is."

"Alys has told me about your parents," Stefan said. "I'm really sorry." It actually sounded like he really was – not just like the polite thing to say. "I can only imagine how hard that must have been on you... how hard it still is."

I responded reflexively by saying what was asked for. "It was a long while ago."

"But you're still sad." It wasn't a question. He seemed matter-of-fact about it, which made me answer truthfully. "I am," I admitted. "But it's not something you normally say when people ask."

"Then what do you tell them?"

I shrugged. "That I'm fine." Again, his eyes seemed to look right through me. "Do you ever mean it?" he asked earnestly.

"Sometimes. But like I said – it's been five years. People expect you to get over it and move on. And for most of the time, that's what I've been doing. But no matter what they say about time healing all the wounds – it's not true. Some wounds never heal. People just don't want to know that."

"Yes. I know exactly what you mean." Somehow I knew that he really did. I looked at him with curiosity. There was something to him – I couldn't quite put my finger to it. A familiarity. As if he was a kindred spirit. Maybe he had suffered losses, too. That's why I found myself almost believing him when he quietly added: "You won't be sad forever, Elena."

I smiled, grateful for his understanding and his attempt to offer comfort. Still, realizing that our conversation had become way too serious in light of the occasion and the shortness of our acquaintance, I was feeling slightly guilty. "Well, that's kind of heavy talk for a party..."

"I'm not usually good at party chit chat." Again, he replied with simple honesty, making it easy for me to admit to my own shortcomings in this area. "Neither am I. Caroline keeps reminding me of that."

"Caroline – your friend? The blond, cheery and attractive one?"

"That's her."

"And the dark haired one next to her is Bonnie, right?" Alys must have briefed him well. I wondered if he had asked for the information. "I met her at the library the other day."

"Yes, that's her. She's the best friend I could wish for! Do you want me to introduce you to my friends?"

"Maybe later. We'd be back to small talk, otherwise, and I was just getting comfortable without it... That is if you don't mind..."

"No, not at all. Would you like to walk a little bit? It's a little too loud and crowded here for my taste..."

"I'd love to." Stefan smiled. He had a nice smile, kind and honest. I was surprised how much I reacted to it.

"You know..." I said, as we wandered amiably down the less crowded paths of the festival ground towards the little bridge that spanned Mystic Creek, "you're all the talk in town."

"Am I?"

"Mhm. Mysterious new guy..."

"Mysterious... Why is that?"

"Well, simply because no one knows you or your family – which makes you a rarity in a place where almost everybody is related or at least befriended with each other from childhood. Nobody knows anything about you, like where you come from, what brought you here..." I leaned against the railing, looking into the black water below. The festival site was still visible, but a least, it was a little more quiet here.

"It's not very mysterious. I lived in Chicago, up to now. With distant relatives of Elijah, Dr. Daniels, I mean. I've been with them as long as I can remember – a nice couple, trying to their best to be surrogate parents."

"What about your birth parents?"

"Something happened – that made it impossible for me to stay with them any longer." He obviously didn't want to go into details, so I didn't push it.

"Do you have siblings?"

"None that I've spoken to in years." He said that with regret, and I felt my heart go out to him. Here I was still grieving for the losses that I suffered, sometimes thinking why destiny had to be so unfair that I had to lose every one of my family. Yet I had forgotten that there were people who were far worse off than me. Never having had a family at all, never having felt loved or wanted as I had for half of my life. And even now, I there was Jenna, who was doing her best to make me feel at home – not really as a mother, but as a friend. And I was lucky to have Caroline and Bonnie. Friends became all the more important when there were no relatives left.

"But you have Alys..." I said, meaning to lessen the hurt. "She says you're like a brother to her."

"Yes. She has come to mean very much to me."

"You two have grown up together?"

"We've been living in the same foster family for almost 10 years – before she moved here, actually. Alys was less lucky than I have been so far. She had to change foster families a few times for various reasons, which is always difficult. We went to high school together, before she came to live with Dr. Daniels, four years ago. We've always been very close and stayed in contact ever since. Now that she's in college I figured it would be nice to be close to my sister again, and that's why I came here."

Stefan asked me what I was studying and we discussed our choice of subjects. We asked each other about our hobbies and interests, talked about favorite books, sports and the music we liked. We found that we had a lot in common. He even had read 'Wuthering Heights' which was one of my favorites, and that was not exactly a common bedside read.

Without noticing, we ended up talking for hours, until a furtive glance at my watch made me realize just how late it was. It's not that Jenna was very strict about our curfew, but I know that she wouldn't sleep until we were safely home, and now was a time she had reason to expect us back. I was getting a little tired myself, and my throat was hurting from all the talking. Not that I regretted it – it had been a most pleasurable evening and I had really enjoyed his company.

"I think I had better go back and see what became of Bonnie and Caroline..." I suggested, not really wanting to, but with a slightly guilty conscience. I definitively had neglected my friends pitifully this evening.

"You're right. They'll be wondering what happened to you." We headed back to the center of the party, where the music was still playing loudly. The dance floor had thinned out slightly, but not enough to call it an evening.

"It doesn't look like we missed anything..." I said, almost feeling as if I had come back from some timeless alternate universe.

"I know for sure that I haven't missed anything", Stefan agreed, smiling again. "On the contrary: I very much enjoyed this evening. Are you going to be in tomorrow? I still need to return the diary – I could come by your place and drop it off..."

"Actually, I was going to see Alys in the morning, anyway – that would save you the trouble of coming by."

"It wouldn't be trouble at all. I won't be in until much later, though – I promised Elijah to run some errands for him. But I suppose I could leave the journal in my room so Alys can give it to you." The prospect of not seeing him again tomorrow actually displeased me.

"You know what – I was going to try to get Alys to join us for the evening. On Saturdays, we always meet some friends at the Grill. Why don't you come along, later on? I haven't had a chance to introduce you to my friends yet, and they'll all be there, too."

"I'm not sure when I'll be back, but if I am, I'd very much like to."

"At eight, then. I hope you can make it. I'll give you my cell phone number, just in case. Do you have your phone so you can punch it in?"

"Sure." We exchanged numbers, and said goodbye. "Tomorrow at eight, then. I'll be looking forward to it."

Right after he had left, I went searching for Caroline and Bonnie. I felt a little giddy about the turn of events, and was really looking forward to seeing Stefan again. Caroline would have a ball.

It took a while before I found at least Bonnie near the pavilion. She was in the company of some other girls from our old school. Matt, Tyler and Jeremy were there, too.

"Elena!" she greeted me with relief. "Where have you been? I was starting to get worried..."

"Wandering around, mostly. I met Alys' brother – we tried to be where the music isn't quite as loud."

"Stefan?" she asked with a small frown. "I haven't even seen him here..."

"You were right about him: He's really nice. We had a good time. What about you?"

"Perfect! I think I had a little too much to drink, though. Are you going to sit down with us?"

"Actually, I was getting ready to go home. I'm starting to get tired. Where did Caroline take off to?"

Bonnie briefly looked around, shrugging. "I don't know. She was over there a while ago – talking to some attractive, dark haired guy and apparently having lots of fun. Maybe they went dancing."

"I'll see if I can find her. Unknown, attractive guy, hm? I Hope she doesn't do anything stupid..."

"At least she's never been one to regret any of her stupidities. I'll be waiting for you two over at the buffet. Come by again before you head home, okay?"

"Okay." I left Bonnie and started to tour the premises again, searching for Caroline's golden head in the crowd. When I thought I had caught a glimpse of her, it was over on the opposite site of the festival ground, just disappearing around the corner of the antiques shop towards the less frequented area of the park. Quickly, I pushed my way through the middle of the people, trying to catch up. When I reached the cabin, I couldn't see her anymore.

The park was swallowed up in darkness, even more so since the area behind me was lit by so many light chains and lampoons. I hesitated. Most likely, Caroline had not strolled off into the park all by herself and might not appreciate my coming after her.

I was still lingering undecided when I thought I heard her cry out. It wasn't a loud scream, more a startled gasp that carried a moment of panic in it. It was hushed immediately. Without thinking, I ran towards the source the sound. Had I given it some thought, I might have called Matt and Tyler first. But here I was, running all by myself to the rescue of my friend from a possible rapist. The stupidity of it only hit me when I saw them.

The guy was standing behind her, holding her in his grip, his face hidden in the hollow of her neck. Caroline's head was bent to the side, her eyes closed. She wasn't moving at all. There was something very dark and threatening about the whole scene, something sinister that escaped words. All of a sudden, there was a loud, animalistic scream and with it, a huge, black crow flew up from the tree on my right. I flinched and ducked as it crossed my head and disappeared into the darkness. When I turned my eyes back to Caroline, the guy was gone, too.

Caroline readjusted her slightly disheveled neckline and looked at me with a reproachful scorn. "Now, what was that for, sneaking up on us like that? You scared him away!"

"Scared him away?" I repeated, dumbfounded. "Goodness, Caroline, I was almost scared to death when I saw you both... I thought he was attacking you!"

"Just why would you think that? We were kissing, for heaven's sake, as if you'd never seen that before!"

"I heard you cry out."

"I did not cry out! Well, if I did, it sure wasn't because I was under attack! God, this guy was so unbelievably hot... You should've seen his eyes... I wasn't able to even look away from them."

"Just looking at the top of his head scared the hell out of me. Who was he?"

"He never gave me his name... although he sure must have!" Caroline wrinkled her forehead in bemusement. "Maybe I've forgotten..."

"Caroline!" I exclaimed, aghast. "You don't even know the guy's name and yet you walk alone with him for a tryst in the park? Are you out of your mind?"

She sighed. "Admittedly, I was. A little. He was so gorgeous... good looking, charming, very witty. I wish I knew his name, though. How am I ever going to find him now?"

"Well, he can't have been so scared of me that he ran all the way home, now, can he? He probably went back to the party and is waiting for you."

"You're right. Let's go back and find him." Caroline took my arm and, with a determined look, steered us back to the festival grounds. I still tried to figure out what exactly had happened a minute ago. The situation I had just witnessed had an eerie feeling to it – a lot like this afternoon at the cemetery. With a frown, I remembered the bird that had scared me then. It had looked a lot like the one I had just seen now – a crow. Or was it a raven? Just like the bird that had flown into my room at the hotel, two nights ago. What was wrong with those birds that they suddenly seemed to appear everywhere around me? A shiver went down my back. Hitchcock, indeed.

I was immensely relieved that Caroline failed to find the mysterious guy that had vanished so suddenly, although it made her even more sullen. She kept on endlessly lamenting about my interference, not in the least perturbed by his obviously erratic behavior. Well, I was. It was the second time that someone had mysteriously disappeared from my sight before I had been able to get a glimpse of him – and that was not counting Stefan's sudden disappearance on the cemetery, which at least had been explained.

Trying to mollify Caroline by staying for another hour – just in case he showed up again – I sat down with Bonnie and Matt, without partaking in their amiable chatter. I was too occupied with thinking of Stefan, of crows and the nebulous threat that I felt forming like a dark cloud on the horizon. Something was brewing, and I had no idea what to protect myself from.