The first thing I begin to feel again is the back on my head. It's throbbing but it doesn't hurt nearly as bad as it had when I passed out. Next I can feel my hands and feet and I wiggle them around a few times to make sure I've got full mobility of them again. I sigh in relief that I'm not paralyzed or anything due to the way that Katherine was throwing me around. The next thing I feel is what stumps me the most. Wind. A fierce yet warm wind is skipping over my cheeks and whipping my hair around slightly. I drag open my eyes, wondering what I may find.

"Emma?" A familiar voice coos as I try to gain focus in my vision. Feel myself smile as I realize to whom the voice belongs. I knew he'd be able to break through it if I let Katherine chew me up to do so. "Are you alright?" His face fuzzes into a clear picture and there he is, in all his handsome glory.

"I've been bumped around a little bit but the ring will have me back into full recovery by the time we get home." I say in a weaker voice than I initially expected. "Thank you for saving me Stefan." I say to the man who was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes. "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't gotten there in time and the ring revived me with her still there."

"You'd have been killed." Stefan admits petting my hair lovingly. "It doesn't matter though because we got there right after you blacked out. Katherine fled the moment we showed up…" He looks down at me with more news running through his head that he isn't telling me. "You gave us quite the scare with how you looked though. You were pale and lifeless. I swear my heart never pounded so hard in my life."

"Hey!" Elena protests whirling around in the front passenger seat and glaring back at Stefan. "What about all the times I got hurt Mister?" She teases with a joking frown.

"Well, you're just given." I say, saving Stefan's butt for himself. "He just assumed we all knew besides you." I smile and look around at my surroundings. I'm laid across the entire back seat with my head resting on Stefan's warm lap. In the passenger seat I spot Elena staring off into the plains that we are driving passed. I can't really see the driver all of too well due to his or her height. "Who's driving?"

"I am." I hear Bonnie's voice as we make eye contact into the rear view mirror. "Hi Emma." She says with a sweet, kind smile. Bonnie and I have never really been all that close because she hates Damon and I love him. None-the-less I find myself smiling back. That's when I notice the missing presence of a certain person.

"Where's Damon?" I finally ask the question they've been dreading. It gets so silent that I can hear the low buzzing of the radio that no one was really listening to. Stefan helps me sit up and we move into more of a position where I'm cradled in his arms like a baby.

"Look…when we found you…Katherine and Damon were…they were feeding off of you…savagely. They weren't treating you like a true human being, only a piece of meat that they could devour. Katherine fled and then we had to rip Damon off of you…" Stefan starts telling the story, wincing at the memory of it.

"I had to use my vampire torture spell to hold Damon off while Stefan got you out to the car." Bonnie explains, her eyes traveling from the mirror and the road. "Once I was able to get him under control again he was really broken up. He started to bawl his eyes out right in front of me. He dropped right to his knees and cried. That was a sight I never thought I'd see. I could sense a spell cast over him so I lifted it for him." She paused to look over at Elena briefly, only long enough for her to say to her: "Don't say I don't love you."

"Okay… so where is he then?" I ask, looking up into Stefan's eyes, knowing that he won't lie to me. "Just tell me, I can handle it. I'm a lot stronger than I look, trust me." Stefan sighs and rubs the back of his neck in indecision.

"He's left Emma." Stefan finally says after a long silence. I feel a gasp rise in my throat out of surprise more than heartache. I've lost him already, it's not like I'm losing him again. Just the hope that we could ever be together again. "He couldn't handle what he did to you so he's gone off into the woods to mull it over and try to forgive himself. He feels like it's all his fault that you were ever kidnapped in the first place so he's going to keep his distance to keep from hurting you. I don't think he's coming back to Mystic Falls Emma…"

"I can understand that." I say nodding my head, not a single tear pushing at my eyes. "He did hurt me and it was his fault I was kidnapped. If leaving me here with you guys to look after me is what he thinks is best than I won't question him. It wouldn't have worked out between us after what he did to me anyways." I pull myself out of Stefan's grip and inch over to the other side of the car, cradling myself into a tight ball. "He proved Katherine right." I mumble to myself, watching the southern sun start to dip down below the horizon of the yellow plains.

"What?" Elena asks peaking over her seat at me, glancing at Stefan quickly.

"Katherine told Damon that I wasn't as meaningful to him as he was trying to lead everyone on to believe. That I was nothing more than a fling. I'm only a puny little human which could never compare to their love. I thought it was all a bunch of bull shit until Damon ditched me for her. She was right and I was wrong." I explain in a mono-tone, not really wanting to talk anymore. "It's not important. I'll get over it eventually."

Silence follows my explination and I can feel them all looking at each other with worried glances. I know they think I'm taking this entirely too well but, I've prepared myself for this. I didn't exactly expect for me to wake up to find Damon right there and ready to take me back with open arms. I couldn't just take him back without any remorse. I can't just forget what he did to me and act as if nothing has changed, because a lot has changed.

I'm not a virgin anymore

I've been exposed to another half of our world that I believed was all fairy tales

I've become stronger through a captive situation

I've been tortured

I've been left alone for over a week straight without any other human contact

I've been bit by a vampire

I've died…twice

I've fallen in Love

I've had my heart torn open.

If you were to tell me that all this was going to happen to me when I moved to mystic falls I would have called you insane. Only a few months ago, none of this existed. I was just an average teenager whose biggest issue was what I'd wear to school the next day or if I'd heard the latest gossip. Now I've been through a crisis where I've had to worry about when I was going to be killed and how long it'd be until help came. I'm going to be in so much trouble when I get home and my mother gets a hold of me.

"Don't worry, Damon and Stefan left a note before we left at you house. Telling your mom that we went on a camping trip and would be back in a few days." Bonnie says, almost as if she read my mind. "I know it's been longer than a few days but a quick compulsion from Stefan will fix that."

"That's good news." I laugh halfheartedly. It may be a little while before I can laugh and truly feel happy when doing so. "How long until we are home by the way?"

"Maybe like…fifteen minutes." Bonnie says looking at her speed dial and then the road.

"Don't worry Emma. Once we get back home, your life will turn right back to normal. No more compulsion, no more vampires out to eat you, no more witches casting spells on you, and no more secrets." Stefan assures me, examining my body language with pain-filled eyes. I could almost hear him screaming 'I can't believe we did this! You were a perfectly innocent girl that could have lived a happy life, ignorant to the dangers lurking in the shadows!'

"I don't know if it can be." I admit, un-folding myself and turning to the rest of the car. "Remember when we were in the old church Stefan?" I pause and wait for him to nod back at me. "Remember how I was able look into your past?" Another nod with a perk up from Bonnie in her seat. "Well…it happened to me again. Today, right before you sent me the note with my instructions on it. I was able to see Damon and Katherine in a different room of the house. I was able to watch their conversations, as if I was there with them. But, they couldn't see me."

"Really?" Elena gapes in shock. "Does this mean she's a witch?"

"No." Bonnie says shaking her head in amazement. "When you're a witch you'll know it right away as an instinct. Once I hit my powers, something inside of me just told me that I was a witch."

"What could this be then?" I ask turning to Stefan for an answer.

"I think…it seems impossible but…I've only ever met three of them in my life time…" Stefan mutters to himself, trying to decide what it is that I am. "Emma…I think you might be…call me crazy but…a psychic. A real one, not the ones that people pay money to go to. People like you like to keep their abilities on the down low."

"It would make sense." Bonnie nods. "I mean she has all the signs of it. Psychics are generally attracted to the supernatural which may be why you connected with us so easily. I know this stuff because I thought I was one at first, before I started to get my powers."

"Wow…I'm a psychic guys!" I giggle, feeling happy for the first time in a few hours. They all smile and we get into a long discussion about what I should do with my new found abilities. The lottery is my most favored idea. I wouldn't mind becoming rich and forcing my mom to quit her second job so that we can live the lifestyle that we're used to living and then some.

"You're home." Bonnie sighs pulling into my driveway.

"Wow guys, I don't know how I'll ever repay you for what you've done for me!" I soothe, feeling guilty for having to put them all through all of this. "You guys all saved me life!"

"Save it girl. We're friends, it's what we do." Elena smiles, signaling Stefan to go into my house with me. "Make sure to get her good Stefan, we don't want her mom to be mad at her over this. We'd never get to see her again if we didn't."

I don't have to wait another second to see my mother because she comes hurling out of my front door and sprints across the lawn to me. I embrace her in my arms and I feel tears push at them. I never thought I'd ever be able to see this woman ever again. She means the most to me out of anything on this planet and I almost had to leave her without saying good bye. "Where have you been?" She screeches in a voice of happiness, mixed with shock, mixed with fury. "I've been worried sick about you! I almost called the cops!"

"Mrs. Reeves…" Stefan says pulling her out of hour hug and taking her by the shoulders and gazing deeply into her eyes. "Emma has just returned from a vacation with my family. You have given her permission to go on this trip. She has returned exactly when she said we'd be back and you're very happy to see her. The shell necklace you are wearing is the souvenir that she bought for you."

My mother twitches slightly and then she is back to normal, looking at us with a smiling face. "Thank you so much for taking care of my daughter Stefan." My mother gives him a big hug. "You're a fine young man and tell you parents that they are doing an excellent job with you."

"Of course Ma'am. Have a good night. I'll see you at school tomorrow, right Emma?"

"Yeah Damon of course you will." I say with a smile. Stefan pauses and looks over his shoulder and looks at me with concern. I flinch at the realization that I just called him Damon. "Sorry, I meant Stefan. I get you two mixed up so much." I laugh nervously and walk with my mom into my house.