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Three days had passed since the Founder's party.

Three days since Elena had discovered Caroline's bite marks.

Three days since I had seen Damon.

I didn't understand it. Yes, it was true that both Elena and I told him to stay away, but he didn't seem like the type to actually listen to such orders. And yet, after the Founder's party, he'd just vanished—and so had Stefan. Stefan's absence had Elena very worried, despite the vague text message he'd sent her about taking care of something. Whatever that 'something' may be.

Three days had passed, all without a single bad feeling.

The animal had been caught, Logan Fell from the news had said so. There were no more animal attacks, and no more bad feelings either, it seemed. And yet… As I lay in my bed, I felt a sudden rush of lightheadedness.

I hoped it was just a regular headache. I went to the bathroom to get aspirin from the medicine cabinet.

I was met with the unpleasant surprise of running into Vicki Donovan. I made a face of disgust. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Vicki rolled her eyes. "Nice to see you too, princess."

She had to be here because of Jeremy. My brother and I needed to have words about boundaries. But first Vicki and I needed to have words about what the hell she was doing. She was constantly with Tyler and insisting she'd never do anything else with Jeremy, and now she was in our bathroom? She needed to either commit fully to Jeremy or stop stringing him along.

Before I could voice any of this, I felt a sudden rush of weakness. I began to fall back but Vicki caught me and laid me down on the ground. I could feel her standing over me, but in my mind I was sitting in a beautiful, lush forest. It seemed endless and magical, like the kind of thing you'd see in a fairytale.

"Melanie." I heard someone whisper. I looked to my left but no one was there. "Melanie." I couldn't find where the voice was coming from. "Melanie!" I blinked, but when I opened my eyes again, I was back to reality.

Vicki looked uncomfortable. "Are you okay?"

I stared at her, feeling disbelief that that had just happened. "Peachy," I said sarcastically.

This wasn't supposed to happen. The animal was supposed to be caught, the bad feelings were supposed to stop… If you could even call whatever the hell that had been a 'bad feeling'. I didn't even know anymore. What the hell was going on with me?

I stood up. "Thanks for the help. As long as you're feeling generous, maybe you could stop breaking my brother's heart all the time."

She crossed her arms. "I'm here now, aren't I?"

"Yes, you are. Is Tyler's house your next stop once you get bored?"

Vicki scowled. "You're such a bitch."

"And you're no good for Jeremy," I said. "But you already know that, don't you?"

Vicki's jaw clenched. I left the bathroom. This was exactly why I always tried to avoid Vicki. I never could keep a lid on my temper around her.

In the hallway, I bumped into Elena.

"Oh! Hey." She smiled.

"I wouldn't," I told her when she was about to open the bathroom door. "Jeremy and Vicki had a sleepover."

Realization dawned on Elena's face as I went back to my room, not bothering to say anything else. Frustration was all I felt, and I wanted to kick something. Punch something.

I sat down on my bed and ran a hand through my uncombed hair, and I considered the facts.

I'd gotten a bad feeling when Vicki nearly died, and I'd gotten one when Tanner died. Those ones had been headaches and nausea, though. This one had been an otherworldly forest and an unfamiliar voice, but it still felt like a warning nonetheless.

Something bad was going to happen soon.

"Hey, Mel," Elena greeted me as I sat down next to Jenna.

"I assume you know about what's going on upstairs?" I asked.

"Yes I do," Jenna confirmed.

"She has no objection about it," Elena informed me. "She just said that Jer should make a better effort to sneak her in and out."

"I don't disagree," I said. Jeremy had done a pretty poor job of it.

Jenna gave Elena a smug look, before she seemed to remember something. "Oh, just so you two know, I won't be home for dinner."

"Mmm, so you're actually gonna do it. You're gonna go out with Logan." Elena sing-songed his name.

"I'm going to show up and torture him, yes," Jenna corrected, but she had a smile on her face.

"Or he'll torture you," I said. "What happened to staying away from him? You practically begged me to at the Founder's party."

"Well, maybe he's changed. I decided to give him one more chance," Jenna said. "We have history, you know."

I gave a smile. "Well, don't be surprised if you get an 'I told you' so from me when this turns out terribly."

"I see you're in a mood today," Jenna said. She had no idea. She turned to Elena. "Have you heard from Stefan?"

"No, not since he left that vague message three days ago: 'Hi, um, Elena, I, um, have something I have to do, I'll, uh, explain in a few days'," Elena mocked. I snorted at her Stefan impression.

"Haven't you called him?" asked Jenna.

"Nope, not going to, either," Elena replied curtly.

Jenna pushed, "Are you okay with it, then?"

"No, I'm not okay with any of it. But I'm not gonna cry about it either. You know, I was going to write in my diary this morning and then I thought, what am I going to write? Honestly, I'm not gonna be one of those pathetic girls whose world stops spinning because of some guy," Elena ranted, shoving a spoon full of cereal into her mouth like it was ice cream.

"Okay then," Jenna said after a small amount of silence.

"I'll be fine." Elena walked away to finish her breakfast somewhere else.

"She will not be fine," I declared as soon as she was gone.

"Oh, come on. Give your sister some credit."

"I'm just saying, she ate that cereal like it was ice cream," I pointed out while eating the last of my breakfast. "People eat ice cream to heal heartbreak. That's a known fact."

Jenna arched an eyebrow. "How do you know?"

Eating tons of post-breakup stracciatella after the Tyler ordeal…

"Science." I'm a scientist.

Jenna gave me a knowing look, which I ignored.

Dumping my plate in the sink, I said, "I'm gonna get ready for school. I'll see you later."

Me, Elena and Bonnie stood by my locker, waiting for the first bell to ring, when we saw Caroline, passing around flyers like nothing even happened.

"The sexy suds carwash is tomorrow. The football team and the band have comitted. Well, not all the band. Just the ones who could pull off the bikini. I want, in your face, sexy. I mean, it's a fundraiser for god's sake," Caroline told two cheerleaders as they handed out the flyers.

"Unbelievable. It's like nothing happened," Elena commented as she watched our friend with disbelief. I didn't think anyone could get over something like what happened that quickly, especially not sensitive Caroline.

She was probably just pretending.

Bonnie pursed her lips. "She's in denial." Or that.

"Hey," a familiar voice said behind us. We turned around to see Stefan, glancing at Elena nervously. This was his first appearance since his vague message three days ago. Knowing he and Elena had a lot to talk about, I walked away, assuming Bonnie would do the same.

I headed to Caroline, who was still handing out flyers. When I arrived, she shoved one into my hands. I flashed her a tentative smile. "Hey, Care."

"'Hey'? 'Hey'?" she repeated incredulously, widening her eyes. She was mad at me.

Caroline had secluded herself since the Founder's party and now she was walking around at school like everything was fine. Should I have persisted and been there for her, instead of giving her the space she had demanded? Was I a terrible friend?

"Where have you been? You're my co-captain, Mel. You're supposed to help me with organising this stuff."

Now I was the incredulous one. "This is about the fundraiser?"

"Uh, yeah." Caroline put her hand on her hip. "What else would it be about?"

I made a face, remembering Bonnie's words. Denial. Yep. "Nothing."

She brightened. "Well, since you offered, I need your help with the carwash tomorrow."

I didn't remember offering anything. "I didn't—"

"No, you don't have a choice," she cut me off, shaking her head at me. "You're coming."

"Okay, fine," I said. If me going to this fundraiser thing would make her feel better, that's what I would do. "But, Care, are you sure you're okay?"

She didn't meet my gaze, handing out another flyer instead. "Of course."

"Do you think we could talk about—"

"I'm gonna ask Elena if she's coming to the fundraiser," she said, cutting me off again. She started walking to my sister and her boyfriend, avoiding the subject of Damon completely. I sighed before following.

"Can I put you two down as volunteers for the carwash tomorrow?" Caroline asked Elena and Stefan. Both gave an awkward nod. It was clear she had interrupted something. "Where's Damon? He has some serious apologising to do."

Stefan hesitated, as if choosing his words carefully. "He's gone, Caroline."

Gone?

Caroline was still smiling. "When's he coming back?"

"He's not coming back. I'm sorry."

This was good. In fact, this was more than good, this was great. This way, none of us would ever be bothered by the bite mark leaving, relationship ruining loser ever again.

"This is a good thing, Caroline," Elena said. My thoughts exactly!

So why did never seeing him again bother me?

It was evening and I was holed up in my room, just like my siblings were. Elena had come home pissed after her meet up with Stefan at the Grill, and I could only assume it went badly, so that was why she was holed up in hers. Jeremy probably had Vicki over.

As for me, I was sitting on my bed, laptop on my lap, trying to use google to figure out what was going on with me. It was not going well. Disheartened, I put my laptop away, deciding to get started on homework after a quick snack.

I went downstairs for said snack when I heard a noise coming from the living room. Both my siblings were upstairs, and Jenna was currently out with Logan, which meant… Well, I wasn't sure what that meant. Was Jenna back early?

"Jesus!" I exclaimed when I entered the kitchen, startled by the unexpected sight of Stefan Salvatore.

"No, it's just me," Stefan said, giving me a smile.

I laughed. This was unexpected. "How did you get in?"

"Jeremy," he explained. He got food out of bags. He was clearly planning on cooking something.

"What are you making?"

"Chicken parmesan."

My eyebrows raised. "Very nice. I approve."

"I want to make it up to Elena," he said. "Give her a chance to get to know me."

"You mean this is not for the whole family? I'm disappointed," I teased.

He smiled. "I'll save some for you."

Aww. He was so sweet. And he was making such an effort with Elena.

"I'm really glad you're dating my sister," I told him, smiling warmly.

His smile widened, adding a happy glint to his green eyes. "Thank you, Melanie. That means a lot."

"I'll go get Elena for you."

I went upstairs, satisfied that Elena was going to have a romantic dinner with her boyfriend.

The next day was the day of the sexy suds carwash. I originally wore a t-shirt and shorts to the thing, but as soon as I arrived Caroline scolded me and made me take off the t-shirt. This left me with the bikini top I'd been wearing underneath. The sun was shining pretty harshly though, so I didn't really mind.

I was washing a car with Bonnie and Matt, and the two were joking around with each other. I refrained from joining because I wasn't exactly on friendly terms with Matt. It would just make things awkward.

Wanting to focus on something else, I looked over at Stefan and Elena in the distance, and what I saw brought a smile to my face. It appeared Stefan's grand romantic gesture had worked. They weren't fighting anymore.

"Ah, ah, no. None of that tortured pining stuff," Bonnie spoke, causing me to look back and see Matt, staring at them.

He snapped his gaze away from them. "I was just observing."

"Sure you were," I said with a disbelieving smile. Matt looked at me, so I looked away.

Beside us, a cheerleader called Tiki started to complain after Bonnie assigned her a car. "Why do I always get the homely ones?" She then told the car's owner: "Just to be clear, your car is a P.O.S. I mean, we can wash it, but it's still a P.O.S."

"You don't have to be rude," Bonnie told her with a frown.

Continuing her bitchiness, Tiki replied, "Rude is uglying up the road with that junk." She walked over and put the hose into the bucket. The owner of the car walked away with an offended look on his face. I didn't blame him.

I focused on finishing up the car, but not before rolling my eyes at Tiki. She wasn't a car saleswoman. She just had to wash them.

A minute later, though, I heard a scream.

I whipped around, fearing something bad was going to happen like my bad feeling had warned me it would. However, I instantly relaxed when I took in the sight of the water bucket Tiki had been filling splashing up into her face. It wasn't a real emergency.

Maybe the bad feeling from yesterday had been a fluke. Maybe everything would be fine.

Tiki pulled the hose out of the bucket. Matt tried to help her but the thing was going wild. Matt eventually managed to get the hose away from her and it turned off, but it was too late. Tiki was soaked.

"Wet and wild, Tik!" Matt laughed, and so did everyone around him, me included. She'd deserved that one.

I looked at Bonnie, but she wasn't laughing. She was staring at the hose with…satisfaction? That was weird. Eventually, though, Bonnie snapped out of it, and turned her attention back to our assigned car.

"That was funny," I told Matt, avoiding his gaze by working on the car. "What you said to Tiki, I mean."

"…Thanks?"

I looked up and stared into his deep blue eyes. I read his mind. 'Doesn't she hate me?'

I let out a sigh. Why was this so hard? "Look, the compliment was just me trying to show you that… I'm willing to bury to bury the hatchet. Are you?"

"Yeah." Surprise flickered in his eyes. "I didn't know you wanted to."

"Yeah, well." I made a noise of disinterest, focusing on the car again. "Let's not start being sappy, alright?"

"Alright." He focused back on the car with a smile, not pressing it like I requested.

I walked up to Jenna when I spotted her standing by the news van, because I needed to talk to her. She was, sadly, talking to Logan Fell.

"Hey, Jenna," I interrupted, forcing a smile.

"Hey, Mel."

"Hi, I'm Logan Fell." Logan held out his hand. I stared at it with disgust. I heard the story about what happened between him and my aunt, so I wasn't exactly his biggest fan. And now, meeting him—something about him just rubbed me the wrong way.

"Melanie Gilbert," I introduced myself, not bothering to shake his hand. I turned to Jenna. "Is it okay if I come home late tonight? I'm having dinner at Bonnie's."

"Oh, yeah, sure thing."

"Okay. Thanks." I smiled at her. My smile turned into a frown when I glanced at Fell, and then I left.

I returned to the parking lot. Matt was still there but Bonnie was washing another car in the distance.

"Hey," I said. He returned the greeting. We walked toward the first car we saw that wasn't already being washed by other kids.

We started washing the car in crazy awkward silence. I wasn't sure what to do.

"Uh… so… tell me about yourself. Something I don't already know," I said. Matt lifted an eyebrow. "…Like…what's your preferred study method?"

"Coffee and tears," he said, smiling wryly. I let out a laugh, but then silence engulfed us again. Ugh. "…What's yours?"

"I'm sorry." I sighed, unable to take the awkwardness anymore. "This is weird, right? I just, I thought, you know, burying the hatchet, maybe we could become friends. Get to know each other, I don't know."

"I get it," he said, before I could turn around in shame and run for the hills. "But you're right, it is a little weird."

I nodded. "I know I've always been a bitch to you. And to Vicki."

"I get why," he offered.

"Doesn't make it okay. Well, the way I've been acting to you. I'm not gonna apologize for Vicki." I shook my head. "But… The way I acted to you, it was uncalled for."

"Apology accepted, Melanie," he told me. The warm, pleasant feeling spreading through me was because of the heat of the sun, not his words.

"Ugh, no sappiness, remember?" I chucked a towel at him, breaking the moment. He grinned, and started hosing the car to get rid of the soap. "My preferred study method is starting on time and memorizing, by the way, like a normal person."

"What?!" He shook his head. "Coffee and tears is normal. You're just weird."

I gasped in mock offense. "Wow, showing your true colors, right after I apologized, too."

We both laughed after a short silence. I looked around. Most of the cars around us were already done, which meant the carwash was coming to a close. I'd say today was a sucess. It had been fun, and for a good cause. Nothing bad had happened, either. Everything was fine.

Of course, that was the moment when a bunch of screams echoed through the parking lot.

Matt dropped the hose. We both looked up and stared at what was causing the screams: fire. There were flames, trailing a line to a car, growing higher and higher. When the flames reached the car, the vehicle caught on fire.

People were yelling to call for the fire department, and others were throwing water on the car. I didn't pay attention to them.

Because just across the line of flames stood Bonnie. And she wasn't moving away. It was like she was in a trance. She was just…staring. At the flames, weirdly relaxed for someone who was about to be burned alive.

"Bonnie!" I shouted. She didn't answer. Without another thought, I began to approach the fire, determined to get Bonnie away from there.

Except I couldn't, because Matt grabbed my arm and held me back. "Melanie, no!"

"Let go," I protested, but he was simply stronger. Stupid jock.

That was when I noticed Stefan approaching Bonnie, shaking her out of her trance.

I stopped struggling with Matt when I saw that Bonnie was okay, but suddenly, the fire stopped, too. Literally, as soon as Bonnie was out of it, the fire ceased, too.

What the hell?

The carwash was over, the sun was setting. I had put my shirt back on and I was walking towards my car, contemplating the fire.

Ever since the first day of school, Bonnie had been acting strange. She'd been talking witches, bad feelings, premonitions, the whole business. And I knew the impossible could be possible sometimes, I was a mind reader after all. But never before did I have some sort of proof of the fact that Bonnie's freaky stuff could be real, too.

Until now.

I unlocked the car and got in.

I didn't even know for sure what had happpened. Did Bonnie start the fire? Did she stop it? Did she start and stop it? She could actually be a witch.

"This is crazy," I murmured to myself as I fumbled with the car keys.

I was ready to go home, curl up on the couch, and forget this day ever happened.

Except there was one tiny complication with that wonderful plan.

I couldn't breathe.

As I sat in my car, I was gasping for air. I was overcome with dread, again, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that I was having another bad feeling.

"Melanie?"

Oh no. That was Stefan's voice from a distance. I didn't want to be seen like this. I tried to remain quiet, but I didn't succeed.

"Melanie, hey," Stefan said, as soon as he caught sight of me. "Hey, you're okay. You're okay, just breathe with me."

He started breathing in an exaggerated way, and I tried to copy him.

Eventually, I could feel the dread in my stomach disappearing, and after it did, my breathing evened out, too. The bad feeling had passed. Stefan stopped his over the top breathing. He was probably thinking this was a panic attack. It irked me again that I couldn't read his mind.

"I'm fine," I said shakily.

Stefan gave me a doubtful look, but thankfully didn't comment on my lie. "Does this happen often?"

"Um, no," I lied. "Not really."

He frowned at me.

I needed to make sure my family was safe. After bad feelings, bad things happen. I had one yesterday, and now this one… What if someone was gonna die again? Like Tanner?

I let out a shaky breath. "Have you seen Elena?"

Stefan seemed confused with the sudden change in subject but he answered me anyway. "Uh, I think she went to the news station with Logan Fell."

"What, why?"

"Research for a school project, I believe."

"Oh." I ran a hand through my hair. "What about my aunt? Did you see her?"

"I saw her leave, Melanie, what's going on?"

"Nothing." I sighed. "I just, uh…" Jeremy. What about Jeremy? "I really need to find my brother. So if you'll excuse me."

I got out of the car, closed the door, then locked it.

I eventually found Matt, and apparently, I looked as bad as I felt, because his eyes widened as soon as he saw me. "Whoa, Melanie. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, everything's fine," I dismissed. I ran a hand through my hair. "Have you seen my brother?"

"No, but I think he's probably hanging out with Vick." He shook his head. "There's special place by the graveyard she likes to go to. They're probably over there."

Jer was probably fine. He was just hanging out with Vicki …In a graveyard. While the sun was setting—it would be dark soon. And they were probably doing drugs. I sighed. "Guess I'm going to the graveyard."

"What, like this?" Matt lifted an eyebrow. "You're clearly still shaken up from the fire, I don't think it's a good idea to go by yourself." Right. The fire. The fire Bonnie may or may not have caused. "I can come wi—"

"No! No." What if I get another bad feeling, but in front of Matt? Yeah, no thanks. Stefan witnessing it was bad enough. "I'll be fine. Thanks, though, Matt."

I hurried away before he could reply. I just needed to make sure Jer was alright.

When I got to the graveyard, I could hear music, and I followed the sound. I found five stoners, surrounded by bottles of beers. I shivered, hating to be at a graveyard at night. How did Jeremy do it? Actually, Jeremy seemed to be nowhere in sight. Was I here for nothing? Or... had something already happened?

"Vicki!" I called out. "Have you seen Jeremy?"

Vicki's eyes narrowed when she caught sight of me. "How'd you know I was here?"

"Matt told me."

"Didn't realize you two were buddies," she sneered. I let out a sigh at her dramatics. I really didn't have energy for this. "Jeremy left an hour ago."

"Wonderful," I muttered. So I was here for nothing. The music that was playing stopped.

"Not it." Everyone started to call out.

"Ha, Vicki."

Vicki got up to put the music back on with a sigh. I followed. "Do you know where he was going?"

"No." She rolled her eyes. "Home, I guess." She stopped walking. I followed her gaze and saw a man, bended over. I couldn't see his face, it was too dark. "Hey man, you okay?"

"Come here," he croaked. "Come here…"

"You don't look good," Vicki said, walking towards him. I stared at them warily. Did Vicki know this guy? Was he another stoner?

"I have something…" He coughed. "I need to tell you."

I was getting more and more weirded out, and started to consider just leaving, when I began to feel dread in the pit of my stomach—a familiar feeling, and all I could thing was: another one? This was the third.

Something was going to happen. But what? And to who?

"Whoa, I got you," Vicki said when the man fell into her arms.

My vision was starting to get hazy, but I could still make out the man's face in the light of the car. "Damon?"

His eyes met mine. My breath caught. My mind was screaming at me to run for the hills.

So I did.

Except, as soon as I did, Vicki started screaming. I turned around, right in time to see Vicki's body fall on the ground. My mouth fell open. No sound came out. I stared at Vicki's neck—blood was flowing out of it at a quick pace. Something bit her. Except… The only other living being in proximity…

I looked up from Vicki's body and saw blood dripping from Damon's mouth.

Realization hit me like a freight train.

I started running again, except he was suddenly right in front of me. He grabbed my wrists. He looked so weak, but as much as I struggled, I was unable to get out of his grasp. He was actually really strong.

"Let go of me!" I yelled. I was wrong. My family wasn't in danger, like I'd thought. I was the one in trouble. I hit him, I hit him as hard as I could, but nothing I did seemed to affect him. "What are you?!"

He grinned, and I gasped when I saw fangs. He had veins under his reddish eyes and he had fangs.

"Guess."

He didn't give me time to guess. His fangs tore into my neck. I cried out as he sucked the blood from my body. Every drop he took, I grew weaker. I tried to hang on, I really did, but eventually, everything went dark.