I woke up early, feeling well rested and energetic. I showered quickly and dressed in one of the dresses in my wardrobe, running out of jeans to wear. It was light-blue with small white stripes on it. I bounded down the stairs after quickly running a brush through my hair.

I heard someone in the kitchen and found Klaus looking out the window facing the garden, staring at the newly risen sun. I stood, watching him, forgetting how his appearance gave me butterflies, and my breath caught in my throat. The sun sparkled warmly on his skin, his face had a serious intense.

I snapped out of it, and took a few steps further inside the kitchen, and cleared my throat. Klaus turned acknowledging my presence. He had a glass cup with blood in it. He looked me up and down, staring at me as if I was a piece of art. I cleared my throat once again, becoming uneasy under his scrutiny.

"Elena." he said a smile forming on his face, as he downed the last of the blood from his glass.

"Klaus." I said greeting him with nod, and I walked pass him, over to the sink, grabbing a glass and filling it with water. I gulped the drink down and told myself, Now or never.

"I want to go to school." I blurted out, turning to face Klaus. The words were out of my mouth before I could blink.

Klaus looked looked at me confused and said, "What?"

"I want to go to school." I repeated with more confidence. "I get bored here there's nothing for me to do."

He thought about it for a moment, and I waited anxiously for his reply, my hands twisting together nervously. "Okay, Elena. Here's the deal. I'll let you go to school, but If I give you something, you have to give me something in return."

"What?" I asked. Suddenly his arms wrapped around me tightly, locking me into a steel embrace.

"You." he said huskily, then his lips crushed mine eagerly.

I was caught off guard, his lips tasted so perfect. His arms kept me pressed against him tightly, and my hands locked around his neck, pulling him closer to me. He deepened the kiss, and I opened my mouth eagerly.

The taste of his lips and the way his tongue moved against mine made my heart race. Butterflies danced in my stomach, and every nerve in my body tingled. He backed me against the counter, one hand still keeping my body pressed against his, and the other one twisting into my hair.

I broke away quickly, managing to utter out, "Stop." in the most demanding tone I could. My voice came out shaky and my breathing was heavy. His grip was steel tight,and hi stared at me with smoldering eyes, full of hunger.

I looked up at him, pleading, "Let go, please?" I begged, my voice just above a whisper.

He let go, taking a step back, and then left in a blur. I sat don a the kitchen table, still dizzy from the kiss. I hate him, I thought angrily, hot tears thraetening to pour down my face. I wanted to leave, to run away, to leave this house, and leave Klaus behind. I wanted, more than anything, to forget about him and go back to my life, to my family and friends. I just want normalcy again.

I feel so alone here. I know, no matter what, Klaus will keep me here against my will, and I will never get to be happy. I can never have what I want. No matter how hard I try, I can only pretend to be strong in front of Klaus. He's so strong and powerful, and I am so weak in comparison, the only thing I have is control, and that is slowly slipping away.

I decided to go for a run. There was giant forest behind the garden, and I doubt Klaus would notice at the moment. Just to be sure I went up to Lacey's room, and knocked on the door. I was greeted with a confused Lacey. She looked up at me, registering who I was and said in a chipper voice, beaming up at me with a giant grin, "Hello, Elena."

"Hey, Lacey. Would you mine going on a run with me? I don't want to go alone. Or rather i'm not sure I could go alone." I looked down at her with a hopeful face.

"Sure. Just give me a second to get changed."

"Sure. I got to change too. So, I'll meet you downstairs?"

"Sure." she said giving me smile and closing the door behind her. I bounded off towards my room. I practically walked into someone. I looked up to see Klaus, he shut his door tightly behind him. He peered down at me, scrutinizing me.

I stood there, fuming in silence. I looked up at him, jutting my chin out and placing my hand on my hips. We both stared, daring to speak first.

Lacey bounded out then, wearing track shorts and a form-fitting white tank-top. "Ready?" She said looking over to me.

"Where do you two think are you going?" Klaus said, his voice condescending.

"We're going for a run." I said, standing my ground. We held our stare for a moment longer, neither one of us backing down. He simply nodded then, turning back into his room muttering something about things to do.

Lacey and I ran through the woods. Branches of trees whipped against my legs as I sped past, not letting anything stop me. Lacey had a hard time going slow at first but after awhile we were at a leisurely pace. After about a half an hour I stopped, my breathing ragged and sweat pouring off my face. We started walking back together.

The leaves on the trees had just started turning orange and yellow. The cool air rustled the leaves quietly and the beginning of fall had started.

"It's beautiful out here." I said.

Lacey nodded and said, "I love the fall."

We walked for a few more minuets in silence. Then Lacey looked over at me and asked, "I don't mean to be rude, but I have a question to ask you."

"Ask away." I said.

"Is there something going on between you and Klaus? I saw you guys kissing this morning, and I just worry about you. Klaus is a bad guy and I just don'y want you hurt and-" she babbled on, stumbling over her words trying best to justify her question.

"Whoa. Slow down." I said, interrupting her. "I have absolutely no feeling s for Klaus. In-fact I hate him." I turned red at the memory of this morning.

"Then why did you kiss him?" She asked curiously, her big green eyes looking up at em earnestly.

"With Klaus it's all about control. He tries in every way to break me down when I stand up to him, to make me obey him completely. It's difficult or me to stay fearless, but I have to. It's how I fight back. I don't have the strength to fight off Klaus, so I show him that nothing he can do can break me. It's hard, sometimes I do break, I relinquish my control, but I always build myself back up. When he kisses me, he's using his charm to try and break me down in another way. Like I said, it's all about controlling me."

"Oh." said Lacey, frowning slightly. "Why don't your run away?"

"I can't he could go and hurt my family, we had a deal." I explained sadly.

"That must of been really hard for you." she said apologetically.

"At first I thought I was making this big sacrifice, leaving everything behind. But I'm not a hero, I'm a coward. I thought by giving myself over to Klaus I would be facing my problems, but really I ran away from my problems. I took the easy way out."

"I don't think there is an easy way out."She said laughing a sort of hollow laugh, hear voice sounding dark.

"You're probably right." I said. "What about you? I mean you had to leave everything behind too."

"I didn't have a lot to leave behind. I went from foster home to foster home when I was a child. I went to my first year of college last year, and dormed wiht this girl named Holly. She was my best friend, but she's gone now." She said sadly.

"l'm so sorry." I said.

"I'm a monster." she whispered, wiping a tear away from her face.

"No, Lacey your not a monster. Klaus is. It's his fault you lost control. It's all his fault." I said, I pulled Lacey into a hug. And she hugged me back tightly. She let out a few sobs.

"I am a monster. I almost killed you. I killed my best friend. The only person who ever cared about me. And the worst part is I enjoy it. I feel fast and strong and powerful, and I can never stop being thirsty, I always crave blood." She said, her voice filled with disgust and self-loathing.

We started walking again, the house came into view through the trees. "I care about you. I still don't think your a monster." I said, hoping to sound helpful.

"Thanks." she said, giving me a heart-warming smile. "You're a really great person, Elena."

We reached the house and I said, "I'm going upstairs to shower, okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine. I'll see you later."

I got upstairs peeling off my sweaty clothes and tossing them to the side. Is stepped into the shower the hot water pouring over me, almost burning my skin. I felt happy for the first time in days. I really appreciated Lacey begin here but she didn't deserve it.

I got out of the shower, wrapping myself up in a big fluffy towel. When I walked into my room there were some clothes laid out on the bed, with a note laying on top of it.

I left out clothes for you. Get dressed and come outside. I'll be waiting. -Klaus

I set down the note, and looked at the clothes. The dress was white with pink and yellow flowers on it, with a white sweater. With a gasp, I realized it was the dress from the dream.

Klaus is an idiot if he thinks I am going to wear that, I scoffed in my head. I waked over to teh wardrobe, opening the nig wood oak doors, reveling an empty closet.

I angrily threw on the dress and marched downstairs, fuming.

I waked outside and Klaus was leaning against his car. He was wearing black pants with a black v-neck t-shirt, and a black and white stripped cardigan, just what he was wearing in the dream.

"Nice outfit, love." he said with a seductive voice and a grin.

"Very funny, Klaus. Where are we going and why?" I demanded, crossing my arms across chest haughtily.

"That's a surprise sweetheart." he said with a dark laugh.

Thanks for reading! I'm so sorry this was late. I got stuck at my moms and she has no internet. But now school is starting so I'll be back on schedule! :) Review Please! (: Update soon!