I ran through the woods until I was at the back of the memorable boarding house.

Home at last. I thought to myself.

I stood staring at the back of the house, remembering all that happened.

I ran fast to the side of the house facing the woods. I jumped up and grabbed onto the windowsill pulling my self up. With one hand I shoved the window up and jumped in.

There was a light thud as my feet hit the floor.

I looked around the room. There were bookcases filled with old books and journals. The set up somewhat pointed to knowledge.

This was Stefan's room.

I heard footsteps coming down the hall.

When he entered the room he was looking down at a book.

He looked up and his mouth dropped. His eyes showed hate and he frowned.

"Damon." He said flatly.

"Hello Brother." I said.

He sure knew how to welcome someone.

I smiled.

He looked pist.

I ran over to the bed and plopped down on it heavily making the covers fluff up everywhere creating a mess. He would just love that.

"Place hasn't changed much." I commented with a smirk.

His jaw line tightened.

"What are you doing here?" he spat.

"I see you have a couple new novels to your collection." I ignored him.

He huffed.

"What are you doing here?" he repeated angrily.

"Oh just passing through." I said. "But you know I saw the most interesting girl."

He shifted his weight to his other foot.

" She's a dead ringer for Katherine."

I could tell he was getting aggravated.

"At first I thought it was her until I realized she was human."

"That's Elena Gilbert." He said, not changing his tone of voice.

"Elena." I repeated. "Sounds foxy." I raised my eyebrows.

He rolled his eyes.

"How do you know her?" I asked.

"It's a small town." He said.

I huffed. Mystic Falls was definitely small, but held many secrets.

"Have you spoken to her?" I asked trying to find more about her.

"No." he said. "But I noticed the resemblance."

I raised my eyebrows.

Stefan hadn't made a move to talk to this girl, but I would.

"How long are you staying?" he asked quickly changing the subject back to the whole "I hate my brother and I just want to live my life in sorrow without his fabulous presence". Well he didn't think my presence was fabulous but deep down inside he did.

"You know." I said, standing up. "I think I just might stay awhile." I walked out of the room feeling his burning stare on my back.

I smiled.

It was good to be back.

After I looked through most of the house, realizing nothing had changed, I headed up to my room. I opened the door and was surprised to see multiple boxes everywhere. So they kept every room in this house the same except mine. Huh?

I rolled my eyes shoving the last of the boxes off of my bed and into the corner of the room.

I lay down and rested my head on the lumpy pillow. I grabbed the red diary from my jacket and opened it. I was expecting hearts and a classic "do not enter" sign.

But it was very different from that.

The pages were a light ivory color and her neat handwriting was scribbled on the pages.

On the inside cover of the book was her name written in a perfect script.

Elena Gilbert

I flipped through the rest of the pages, realizing that the handwriting was different from on the cover. Maybe someone else wrote her name.

I turned to the back of the book to read the last entry.

Dear Diary,

I feel so alone. It's like I have lost a part of me. Every day seems like a challenge to wake up and pretend that I am okay when I'm falling apart on the inside. When people asked are you okay, is there anything I can do? I just nod my head and say that I'm okay when I'm not. I put up a strong face and smile here and there letting people know that I'm the same old me, even though I'm not. I feel that everything has been taken from me. Like it was a punishment for my rebellious years. I can't handle everything at once. I couldn't handle Jeremy and his drug issues on top of everything else. But as I said I will make a promise that for the rest of the day and week, I will smile when someone asks if I am okay, I will nod my head and try to join conversation. I will try to no longer be an outsider, I will be who I was. Elena Gilbert.

- Elena

I closed the diary shut and thought about what I had read. She clearly had something that was upsetting her, something that was killing her on the inside but she couldn't show it on the outside. Whoever Jeremy was had a drug problem. Poor girl. I have read one page of her diary and found a whole mess of depression. But something told me that she wasn't depressed all the time, something was bothering her.

I lay the book onto the dusty side table.

I took off my leather jacket and threw it on an old chair.

I headed down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" I asked, as I saw Stefan trying to slip out the door.

"Hunting." He replied.

"Oh I'm guessing you're not on the human stuff." I said. "I would go with you, but I need something stronger than a bunny to fill me up." I said rubbing my stomach.

He rolled his eyes.

"At lest when I hunt I don't leave someone dead in the end." He said slamming the door.

"Enjoy your bunnies." I shouted from the house knowing he could hear me. It was a good thing he was gone for a while, it left me time to get to know this Elena better.