Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Elena closed her eyes and stifled a groan, each tick echoing loudly in her mind. It was nearly 5 and her will had started to waver. She was nearly positive she would be caught trying to leave, but there was still a strong, stubborn portion of her mind that held on tightly to the "what if?"

What if he's actually asleep?

What if he's left the house entirely?

What if this is the only time he's distracted?

What if the gate has been left open?

What if you really do get out this time?

What if this is your only chance?

That last thought determined her choice. What if this really is the last change I have? she thought. The last opportunity I have to get back to Jenna and Jeremy?

The clock struck 5 and she stood. I have to take the chance, she thought boldly. Grabbing her bag, she walked to the door and opened it quietly. The hallway before her was black. She listened for any movement, and when she determined there was none, she headed towards the stares, her feet making hardly any noise on the soft carpet.

Her mind was blank as she moved and her body felt numb. Her breathing was shallow and she could hear her heart thumping loudly due to the fear she felt.

Before she knew it, she was at the front door. Pride swelled within her at this first accomplishment.

She lifted her hand to the deadbolt on the door and saw that her hand was trembling. She pinched the cold lock with her thumb and index finger and slowly turned it. She inwardly cringed at the loud click. She then moved down and took hold of the brass doorknob. Her eyes closed as she pushed it down. The creaking of the door opening sounded like gunshots to Elena's ears. She opened it wide enough for her body to slide through, then she gently closed it back.

She continued to move slowly across the porch and down the steps, knowing his ears would probably hear her tennis shoes on the concrete.

As soon as she touched the soft grass, she slung the bag across her body diagonally and took of in a sprint.

By the time she reached the gate, her legs were burning and her breath was escaping her in short, uneven pants. Sweat coated her face and hair, but she didn't hesitate as she grabbed onto the bars and firmly planted her foot on the bottom curve of the 'S.' As she lifted herself up, she heard the only thing that would completely shatter her soul – his voice.

"Elena," he said in a scolding tone of voice.

She felt her body start to shake and tears sprang to her eyes. "No," she mouthed in exasperation, putting her forehead on the bars. She felt a pair of hands grab her hips and rip her away from the gate, spinning her around and pressing her back into the bars.

Her breath caught and her heart stuttered as she looked up into Damon's face not even an inch away. His cool breath flowed into her face.

"Why do you keep doing this?" he asked roughly, his eyes boring into hers. His hands were on either side of her, gripping the bars and not giving her any opportunity to get by him.

"I want to go home," she cried.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, "Elena, you've already been told this. You are required to be here by law."

She shook her head, doing her best to ignore the humming between their bodies that had returned. "No. That's not a good enough reason for me! I don't care who makes what laws! I don't want to be here! I want to go home!"

Abruptly, his lips were on hers and one of his hands dropped down to hold her jaw.

Elena furrowed her brow and felt her knees go weak as his mouth molded to hers. No! her mind screamed. She lifted her hands and pushed at his chest with as much strength as she had.

Damon broke the kiss and Elena saw his breathing was jagged.

"What are you doing?" she gasped, knocking his hand away from her face.

He turned around, his hands in his hair. "I don't know," he said almost too quietly for her to hear.

When he turned back around, Elena opened her mouth to scream. Nothing but air escaped her.

His face had changed drastically. His eyes were black and veins were all over his face. Two sharp teeth gleamed behind his lips.

She turned to run, but before she could take the first step, her back was on the cold, wet grass. Air whooshed out of her as she was slammed down.

Damon straddled her waist and gripped her wrists.

Elena writhed furiously beneath him. "Let me up!" she screamed.

Her eyes widened in horror as he leaned down. A shiver ran through her as his nose grazed her neck. She heard him inhale deeply and then pain lit up her throat. She screamed as the blood flowed out of her and he sucked on her skin. Her thrashing began to slow as she felt her body growing weaker. Spots of black and white began to enter her vision and her mind started to cloud over.

Just as she was sure she would go unconscious, he leaned away. She stared groggily at his red-tinged lips.

Softly, he stroked her hair, then stood up, his face returning to normal.

Elena's eyes fluttered close as she felt herself being lifted from the dewy grass. The rocking motion of his walking calmed her body and she could have sworn he whispered "I'm sorry," as she drifted to sleep.


The smell of eggs and bacon wafted past Elena's nose as she inhaled deeply. Her stomach rumbled and a small smile appeared on her lips as she rolled over and opened her eyes. She found the source of the smell on the bedside table. A tray had been set up with a plate full of scrambled eggs, strips of bacon, a biscuit, and a glass of orange juice.

She sat up and realized the television on the wall was playing. Her head snapped around to it and she saw the backs of blonde and brown hair on the couch. She cleared her throat and both Bonnie and Caroline turned to look at her.

"Good morning!" Bonnie said cheerfully.

"Did you guys bring me this?" Elena asked, motioning towards the breakfast.

"We figured you would need it after your rough night," Caroline said.

Elena looked down at the bed and felt her face grow hot with a blush. Had he talked about last nights'… incident? The mattress dented in front of her as both Bonnie and Caroline sat on it.

"How do you feel?" Bonnie asked quietly.

She cringed slightly as she thought of Damon's face before he fed on her. She lifted a hand to her neck.

"Don't worry," Caroline started, "you can hardly see the marks."

"By tonight they'll be practically invisible," Bonnie finished.

Elena looked back up. "How do you know about last night?"

"Damon brought you to us last night to get you into bed and stuff," Bonnie answered.

"He didn't tell us what happened," Caroline said. "But we kind of figured, seeing as you had blood on your neck and a bag full of clothes."

Elena nodded slightly – that was understandable.

Bonnie lent over to grab the tray and sat it on Elena's lap. "So, eat," she smiled.

As she returned the smile, Elena lifted the fork. "So, how long have you guys been here?" She stopped before she put eggs into her mouth to clarify, "At this place, I mean, not in my room."

"I've been here a little over 8 months," Bonnie said.

"1 year, 2 months," Caroline said next.

Elena felt her chest grow heavy at the thought of being there that long. She stared down at her plate. "Haven't you tried leaving?" she asked quietly.

Caroline shook her head. "I haven't. To be honest, I like it here. Damon gets us whatever we want."

Shallow, Elena thought. She looked up to Bonnie. "And you?"

Bonnie fidgeted with her fingers nervously and shrugged. "Twice. When I first got here."

"You don't think about trying again?" Elena questioned as she picked up a piece of bacon.

"Sometimes," Bonnie answered. "But it's no use… He will always catch you."

Elena glanced up, not missing how she had used the word "you" instead of "me." She bit into the bacon and chewed in silence for a moment. "What about your families?"

"I talk to mine everyday," Bonnie smiled.

"It's only my mom," Caroline said. "I call her every other week or so."

"How can you stand being in this house all the time?" Elena asked, looking around her room.

"But we're not here all the time. He let's us go out," Caroline said.

Elena's eyes shot to them. "What?" she choked on the eggs she had just put into her mouth.

Caroline nodded. "Yeah. If we want to go to the movies or actually go out and shop, he lets us."

Elena's mouth hung slack for a moment. "Why don't you just run away then?"

"Because the only reason he lets us out is because he trusts us, Elena," Caroline said, standing to walk back to the couch. "He would catch us trying to leave and then we'd just be in trouble. What's the point in that?" She flopped back down on the catch and picked up the remote, her signal that she was now out of the conversation.

Elena looked back to Bonnie and Bonnie just nodded.

"He's always around somewhere," Bonnie said softly. "It's just not worth it for us to lose his trust."

Elena resumed eating, absolutely flabbergasted that they hadn't at least tried. I will try, she thought with resolution, if I'm ever given the chance. She stored that bit of knowledge about him letting them out if he trusted them in the back of her mind and decided to go on to new topics. "So who is Katherine?"

Bonnie laid on her back in front of Elena and sighed. "Damon's…long, lost love, I suppose."

Elena furrowed her brows. "Care to elaborate?"

"Well, I suppose she's not 'long, lost' anymore," Bonnie started, "considering he knows where she is now, but she's the vampire that turned him and he was in love with."

"Was?"

Bonnie turned on her side and propped her elbow on the mattress and her head on her hand. "Yeah. Okay, so, here's the story. Katherine was…dating? I guess would be the right word, Damon and his brother, Stefan –"

"He has a brother?" Elena interrupted, a feeling of dread washing over her from the fact that there was someone else like Damon out in the world.

"Yes," Bonnie said, "I'm getting there. Anyway, she was with both of them, but they didn't know it, and she ended up turning them. Damon and his brother hated each other – though Stefan comes around more often than I would think he would considering they don't like each other – but that's besides the point. They hated each other because they were both with Katherine. Well, after they were turned, Damon chose to be a regular vampire. Stefan just drinks from animals and – "

"From animals?"

Bonnie faked an exasperated sigh. "Stop interrupting," she scolded with a small laugh. "Yes, from animals. He doesn't have three humans like all the other vampires. He just feeds from animals. Anyway, then Katherine disappeared. They thought she had killed herself and that made them hate each other more – they both loved her and blamed each other for her suicide. Well, she showed up about a month after I got here. She faked her suicide, thinking it would stop Damon and Stefan from being mad at each other. She was obviously very, very wrong. She came around for a while after that, but Damon said she was different. She was really mean and…I just know I didn't really like her very much. Caroline and I are kind of scared of her. But she just stopped showing up a few months ago. No one knows why. Damon hasn't heard from her since."

"He's sad about that?"

"Kind of, I guess," Bonnie sighed, rolling again onto her back, "And you look pretty much identical to Katherine, hence why we first bowed to you. That's probably why he's so mad at you for trying to leave. I mean, when I tried to leave, he was really nice about bringing me back in and explaining to me why I couldn't go…or rather telling me that I couldn't go. But, he seems to get, like, super pissed off whenever he brings you back."

Elena stared at Bonnie with her mouth hanging open slightly. "Oh," was her only response. She remembered Damon kissing her and the look he had in his eyes before he had done it. He's comparing me to Katherine, she thought slowly. "I'm not Katherine," she blurted.

Bonnie's head rolled over to the side to look at her. "Of course you're not," she said with her brow furrowed. "You just look like her, is all. I didn't mean like you were her."

Elena felt her mouth going try and she took a sip of the orange juice. She shook her head slightly. "No, you know that, but I'm wondering if he does."

Bonnie sat up slowly. "What do you mean?"

Elena glanced over at Caroline, not really feeling as comfortable with her as she was with Bonnie, and leaned forward slightly. "He kissed me," she whispered.

Bonnie's jaw dropped and her eyes grew wide. "What?" she gasped.

"Last night," Elena nodded. "Before he…" she lifted a hand to her neck, "you know…"

"What are you going to do?" Bonnie whispered.

Elena shrugged. "I have no idea. I guess just flat out tell him I'm not Katherine."

Bonnie looked down at her hands. "Are you going to try and leave again?"

A pang of sadness went through Elena as she watched Bonnie. It had been 8 months since Bonnie had hung out with anyone other than Caroline – and that probably got tiring. She shook her head. "No. Well, I mean, not any time soon. He'll be watching too closely right now."

A small smile played at Bonnie's lips as she looked back up. "Thanks," she said quietly.

Elena just nodded and finished eating the food. She pushed the tray to the side and stretched. "Thanks, you guys," she said loud enough for Caroline to hear. "The food was amazing. I really appreciate it."

"Not a problem," Bonnie smiled.

As Bonnie stood to pick the tray up off the bed, the bedroom door started to open and all three girls turned toward it. Damon stepped inside the room.

"Bonnie, Caroline, I need to speak to Elena alone, please."

Caroline quickly pressed the off button on the remote and jumped off the couch. Bonnie grabbed the rest of the breakfast stuff, then they both left.

Damon shut the door behind them and turned back to Elena, his eyes hard. He crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back against the door. "So…" he said.

Elena cast her eyes down to her comforter. "So?" she retorted quietly.

"Care to explain what last night was?"

Elena thought for a moment. "My feeble attempt at holding on to hope."

A short, humorless chuckle came from Damon. "Let's not be so dramatic, shall we?"

Elena looked back up at him, her eyes narrowed. "I'm not."

Damon pushed off the door and walked towards her. "Elena, last night will have been the last time we played that game."

Elena's mouth pressed into a hard line and she looked back down, her face growing hot with anger as he spoke to her like a child.

"Do you understand?"

She felt the mattress move slightly as he sat down at the foot of the bed.

"Elena," he said a bit more loudly, clearly enunciating each word, "Do. You. Understand?"

"I'm not Katherine," she said quietly through clenched teeth.

Damon's brow furrowed. "What?"

Elena looked back up and met his perplexed gaze. "I. Am. Not. Katherine," she repeated, using his method of stressing each word to get the point across.

Damon stood and started walking towards the door. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I know why you want to keep me here, Damon. But I'm not her and I can't be her. I can't replace her."

Damon spun around, his eyes going soft for a split second before he folded his arms again and the hardness returned. "I'm keeping you here because I am a vampire. Vampires are selfish creatures, as we have already discussed. I am assigned three humans to feed upon. You are the third. Why would I agree to let my food just walk away? You, Elena, are nothing more than a meal to me."

Elena's mouth fell slightly slack and her breath caught. The way he spoke about her completely disregarded the fact that she was a living, breathing, intelligent creature, and although she knew vampires thought very poorly of humans, she didn't think they would belittle them that much.

Damon turned and started back for the door. "You are not to leave this room, Elena," he said over his shoulder. "Bonnie and Caroline will bring your food to you. I will see you in two days when the rotation gets back to you." He opened the door, then slammed it shut behind him. A quiet "click" followed his exit.

Elena stared at the closed door, her mind not able to fully comprehend the situation. He's…locking me in? she thought slowly. I can't leave this room? She felt her chest getting heavy and she started gasping for air, tears springing to her eyes.


Elena laid on the bed and cried for a long time. Eventually, her eyes dried and breathing became even, leaving her to stare into space blankly.

Slowly, she lifted herself off the bed and walked over to the vanity where the purse she had tried escaping with was sitting. She rummaged through it until she found her diary.

Grabbing a pen from the vanity, she walked back to the bed and sat down. She flipped to the next available, blank page and began to write:

Dear Diary,

Day 1 of being held captive.


Authors Note: Hhhhhh, finalllly a chapter 3! Lol. I know some of you guys were dying. ;P But knowing that makes me happy. I know it took me a while to turn out this chapter - little things in life kept popping up and distracting me from my writing.

I hope you guys liked the chapter. If you're confused about why in this story Katherine committed fake suicide instead of the whole, she got trapped in a tomb thing, I was pulling from the book here because it fit my story better, instead of using the TV shows explanation of where Katherine was. If you haven't read the books, you should.

Anyway, leave lots of reviews. I love them. And I heart you guys.

See you next chapter!

P.S. If anyone knows how I can change the font to make the text bigger (because I've gotten many e-mails about that), please let me know, because I have no idea how to.