The Chase
DG32173
Sarah: here's Chapter 2. Chapter 1 was written back in early 2017 and I just made sure it was as good as I could get it the day I posted it. Anyways, here's the chapter. Starts with Elena but may have some Damon viewpoints in it.
REVIEWS
amazing Aisha: you're a new name among my reviewers. Glad you enjoyed the first chapter so much. Here's Chapter 2.
MOUHEY DOLL 4: another new name among my reviewers. Glad you enjoyed it so much. I figured the first chapter would draw tears from at least a few people, because I had tears in my eyes as I wrote it. Here's Chapter 2.
Satoru Ryoma: yes, I was holding in a lot of the same sentiments from the time frame this story takes place in so I decided to vent them in story form.
Guest 1 of Chapter 1: I wish you had left a name to differentiate you from my other guests. I'm not asking you to join Fanfiction or sign in, just to leave something for me to call you other than guest. Glad you enjoyed it. As I said to MOUHEY DOLL 4, I figured I'd leave some people in tears as I was in tears my self writing the first chapter. I agree that Damon's letter to Elena is a tear-jerker. Glad you enjoyed so far.
Guest 2 of Chapter 1 (aka HoneySexy): glad you enjoyed it so much that you're impatient for Chapter 2. How come this doesn't have more reviews? No clue. Here's Chapter 2. Hope you enjoy it as much as you enjoyed Chapter 1.
Chapter 2
The First Dream Together
Exhausted to the point of my eyes closing on their own, I pull into a Super 8 parking lot around 5am. I can't drive any further, not without risk of being in or causing an accident. I closed the gap somewhat but Damon has no need to sleep so he's probably going to pull ahead again while I get some rest. I pull my roadmap over into my lap and turn on one of the overhead lights. I slip the locket off my neck and hang it over the map, concentrating on Damon.
The locket slowly begins circling outwards until it comes to a stop in Maryland, near the Pennsylvania border. I watch it for a few moments but it shows no sign of moving onwards. So Damon's stopped. I wonder why and how long he's going to be stopped.
With a sigh, I put my locket back on, fold up the map and get out. I head into the front office of the Super 8 and soon leave with a key to a first floor room. It takes just few minutes to drive my car down to outside my room and get my bags inside. I barely have enough consciousness left to strip down to my underwear and crawl underneath the covers of the queen-sized bed. I'm asleep as soon as my head touches the pillows.
I look around the forest clearing in surprise. I never dream so vividly. "What are you doing here, Elena?" a familiar voice asks from behind me.
I turn around and see Damon leaning against a tree at the edge of the clearing. "Damon," I breathe, my heart in my throat. "I don't know how I got here."
He looks at me for a moment. "Must be the damn jewelry," he mutters, the slight breeze carrying his words to me.
I reach up to my throat and am surprised to find the locket he had given me had followed me into the dream. I study him and see a chain identical to the one my locket is hanging from peeking through his shirt collar. "Damon, why wouldn't you let me answer you?" I ask softly, knowing he'll hear the pain in my voice.
"Because I currently don't give a damn what you have to say. There's no excuse good enough to be counted as a valid reason for not being a real friend to me when I needed you most," he snaps, the wind rising with his temper until I can barely hold my ground against it.
I feel tears flood my eyes and a heavy rain starts falling, the raging wind turning it into a tempest. It seems this dreamscape, however it came into being, is strongly affected by our emotions. "Stefan set me free," I tell him.
"Do I look like I care?" he demands.
"I'm coming after you," I try again.
"I'm not going back," he snaps, the wind strengthening with his fury.
"I didn't say you had to," I say, as the rain falls harder with the rising hurt. It seems almost as if, even without either of us moving, the distance between us is becoming greater. "Don't leave me behind, Damon."
"I already did. This is just a dream, Elena," he says.
"It doesn't feel like a dream. It feels like we're connecting on a deeper level than we ever had before, or even could have."
"I really don't care," he says.
"Don't start lying to me now, Damon," I snap, thunder booming in the sky as my anger mounts.
"Who says I'm lying?" he demands.
"I know you better than that," I snap, lightning lighting up the entire forest and thunder shaking the ground. "You've never lied to me before. Don't start now. You can lie to yourself all you want, just don't lie to me."
"Fine, I'll rephrase that: right now, I really don't care. One day, I might, but not right now," he snarls, the wind nearly knocking me off my feet.
"You're so stubborn!" I snap, lightning striking the ground between us and nearly blinding me and the thunder loud enough to nearly cause an earthquake.
"One of my better qualities," he retorts.
Before I can retort, the dreamscape fades away and I feel myself waking up.
I wake up without any of the phases of grogginess I usually suffer from, which means I'm wide awake when I open my eyes. I leap out of bed and quickly set about my morning routine, knowing that if Damon woke up at the same time I did, I don't have much time before he's on the road again. I don't want to lose any of the ground I gained last night so as soon as my morning routine is complete, I rush to check out and hit the road. Unfortunately, being so close to final checkout time, I have to wait in a line of people waiting to check out, costing me valuable time.
As soon as I'm back in my car, I use the locket to locate Damon and discover he's already in Pennsylvania and heading further north, but also slightly east. I put my locket back on and quickly make my way to the interstate. There's no time to waste.
