A new day was all I could hope for. I wish I could wake up and pretend everything is normal, when I know it's not. I don't think anything will ever be the same again for Elena and me. Every time I close my eyes, I see his face. And it's not the handsome face that so many women probably fall for. No, I see the beast that's always hidden behind a striking face. It haunts me to no end. All I pray for is for the memories to somehow become locked away and stay there; and hopefully never come out. Though I know in my heart, it's too good to be true.

"Hey, Liz!" a voice called out. My thoughts stopped and I turned my head.

"Yeah?" I answered back.

"Come on, breakfast is ready," I figured it was Jenna calling me since she's the only one not distracted by all the mayhem around us.

"Alright, be right down," I called back.

I sighed and turned towards my mirror. I had slight bags under my eyes and my hair was a mess. I didn't even feel like fixing anything though. It's almost as if I've given up on the littlest things; I felt trapped and no one can help me.

I ran a brush through my hair, smoothing it down. I plastered a fake smile upon my lips and covered my neck. The bites were beginning to fade, but better to feel safe than sorry later on.

Once downstairs, I immediately was hit with the smell of breakfast. It made me smile for some reason, I guess it reminded me of the old days when my parents were alive.

"Morning," I said to Jenna.

"Good morning," she smiled, cup of coffee in her hand.

I smiled too and took a seat, "You're in a good mood today; what's got you all giddy?" I asked as I poured myself some juice.

"Can't I be in a god mood?"

I looked at her skeptically as I took a sip. "If I recall correctly, you were screaming and cursing at the TV last night." I remind her, her eyes grew wide and I smirked. "It was because of a certain TV news broadcast man by the name of Logan Fell," her face grew red and I laughed. I got up and began to serve myself.

"Well, th-, that's because I, I…." she stuttered out. This only made me laugh more.

"If I were you, I'd just stop talking right now," I shook my head and sat back down at the table.

She soon joined me and began to speak, "What if I told you that I'm not going to be home tonight because of a little get-together I'm going to,"

My eyes widened and I smirked. "You mean you got a date," I said slyly.

"I never said anything about a date," she said quickly. I could see the denial written all over her face.

"Oh come on Jenna, you and I both know you're a horrible liar so don't try to cover up," I warned her.

She sighed and finally said, "Alright fine, I am going on a date tonight, she announced proudly.

"With Logan Fell?" I guessed. At the moment she took a sip of coffee and then, lucky I and my big mouth became the victim of a spray of coffee.

"What makes you think it's with him?" she coughed out. I gave her a disgusted look first, while looking down at my use to be green shirt.

"Well the cursing and the screaming for starters, the constant name calling and the phone calls," I listed off, "shall I continue?" I asked her.

"I think that's enough," she said while getting up.

I continued to eat my breakfast, making occasional small talk with Jenna about her date.

"So how'd you like the food?" she asked with a hint of hope in her voice.

"Well the food was good, I can't say much about the coffee though," I looked down at my shirt again. Splatters of coffee were everywhere, staining my shirt with brown everywhere.

"Yeah, sorry about that," she apologized.

"Eh, it happens." I stated. "It just gives me another spare shirt to paint in,"

She smiled and than a look of realization crossed her face. "I so totally forgot to tell you this and I can't believe I'm remembering now,"

"What is it?"

"There's going to be an art show downtown today, it's called 'Visions of the youth' or something like that; I can't remember the name right now. Anyway, it's for anyone with an artistic or created mind; and I think you should enter." She smiled widely at me.

"Uh thanks, but I don't think so," I said as I began to walk out of the kitchen.

I saw the smile drop from her face and quickly heard footsteps behind me.

"What'd you mean, you don't think so? Liz, you love art and you and everyone else knows that," she stated, even though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I do love art. It's my escape to paradise. But things change, and so do people.

"Yeah I know, but art to me is more of an escape than anything else. I mean, I only do it because it usually takes my mind off of things. I don't need to win a contest just to prove I can draw or paint. I mean, I know I'm good and so do the people in my life who're important to me do too. Isn't that's what's important anyway?"

"Yes, of course it is. But the people who do know you're great want to see you even do better things with your talents." Jenna came up to me and then hugged me. Feeling the moment, I hugged her back. "All we want is for you to be happy; and if painting or drawing is what makes you happy, then do it for the reasons you want to. But you shouldn't let your talents got to waste, the world deserves to know what you can do." with that she smiled and released me from her grip.

Her words began to sink in. I loved making people happy, but does my work really bring out the happiness in people? I shook my head and headed back up to my room. I changed my shirt and began to pace around. Jenna did have a point though: talents shouldn't go to waste, they deserved to be known.

But are my talents good enough to compete against? Surely there are other artists out there who are more than likely better than me.

I ran my hands through my hair. I quickly through it into a ponytail and went over to my closet. There, I took out a poster board sized canvas and an easel. I set them up near my bed and then went over to one of my drawers and pulled out my painting kit.

Once everything was set up, I began to come to life. I let mind soar with imagination, while my hand did the work. I completely lost myself within the painting. I didn't even know what the contest was looking for; I just did what I pleased.

After about half an hour, I was done. I sat back and looked at the picture in front of me. The sky was swirling with white and blue, the grass a luscious green; each blade of grass blowing in the wind. The silhouette of a young woman stood in the middle of the field. Her chestnut hair blowing with the wind, a pale white dress she wore. On her neck was a silver locket. In her hand, was a blood red rose. If you looked closely though, you could see little droplets of red.

"Bleeding rose," I whispered to myself. I smiled slightly, this is what the painting will be called.

I looked at the clock and silently cursed to myself. It was almost one in the afternoon and I didn't bother to ask Jenna when the show started. I quickly changed into something decent. And by decent, I mean a pair of jeans and a long sleeved black top. I let my hair down as I grabbed the painting and made my way downstairs.

On the way down, I nearly knocked Elena down. "Hey where're you going in such a hurry?" she asked, confused.

"Uh, there's an art show today at town hall, and I thought I'd see what's there," I answered as I began to tie up my shoes.

"Right, that's why you're carrying a painting around, and ironically you're on your way to an art show," she smirked.

"Alright fine, I'm going to put one of mine of display and see what people think," I huffed in annoyance as I made a grab for my keys. But before I could get to them, Elena snatched them from me. "Hey, give," I said with my hand outstretched.

"Nope, I'm going with you," she smiled and opened the door, letting herself out.

"Say what?" I asked, shocked. Elena usually never went to these things, even though I'm her sister and all.

When I got outside, she was already in the front seat of our car. Yes, we shared. When I got in the passenger's side, I still looked at her confused.

"Sis, I love you and all; but you really hate these things and you and I both know it," I pointed out as she backed out and pulled onto the street.

"Oh come on, you're my sister and this is important to you; and what kind of sister would I be if I wasn't there to support you?" I looked at her skeptically.

"Let me guess, this is a distraction for you isn't it?"

She was silent for a few moments before she nodded. "I need to stop thinking about him Liz, and I want to spend time with you because I feel like an awful sister for not being there for you, especially after what happened to you."

"You're not an awful sister, trust me. And besides, you got your share of weirdness and possible scarring for life too from Stefan; don't forget that. " I cut in.

"Thanks," she smiled, "But I was serious about the spending time part,"

"I know," I answered simply.

We arrived at town hall and there were already dozens of people setting up. Suddenly, I became very nervous. My hands started to shake as I unbuckled myself. Obviously, this didn't go unnoticed.

"Liz, you'll be great; I know you will. If anyone can make a statement with a painting it's you," Elena reached out and touched my arm, in a comforting way. I gave her a weak smile as I got out of the car.

The two of us made are way to the registration table. There, I signed myself up and the person gave me a section to put my painting on display. I wanted to run when I found out it would be in the center of the entire show.

Once we got there, I began to set up everything I needed. "Do you want anything to drink? I was gonna go get something," Elena asked.

I shook my head, I was too nervous to eat anything. Elena left, leaving me alone. I wrote down what the title of the painting was on a card that was given to me upon registration. After I finished setting up, I began to walk around.

I was amazed at all the artwork around me, everything was spectacular. From paintings to sculptures, I felt like I was in my own personal heaven right now. I went back to where my art was set up, and noticed a small crowd of people gathered around.

Curious, I made my way over to hear what people were saying.

"This is amazing,"

"Such detail in every brush stroke,"

"I wonder who the woman is in the center."

These comments made me grin widely. So people do like my work? Even if I don't know them, they still think it's good. I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I was so nervous of what people would think of my art. Normally, I don't care what people think of me; but when it comes to my creations, I do care.

"Nice painting you got there,"

My heart froze. My skin shivered. I knew that voice anywhere. It was the voice that taunted me and that took things away from me. I didn't want to look at him. I couldn't look at him. After everything he did to me, I wanted to hate him. I wanted to never see him again. But there was a small part inside of me, which yearned to see his eyes one more time. They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul, I feel like every time he looks at me, he's looking into my soul. But, now I feel like he only looks at me with hunger; and a part of me knows I'm right.

"What do you want Damon?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"Just came by to enjoy the show, you got a nice thing going on here you know that?"

I rolled my eyes, "What're you really doing here?"

"I mean seriously, there is so much depth right there that you have to look at it for a long time to see the hidden message," he examined my painting closer, a thoughtful look on his face. I knew though, that he was only pretending to be interested.

"And what message would that be?" I asked, deciding to play along. If I wanted to get rid of him, I had to play his game.

"Everyone is searching for something, and they will do anything to find it," he looked me in the eyes and I swear my heart jumped out of my body. He smirked, hearing the beat of my heart. Stupid vampire hearing.

"I don't think that's the message," I said and crossed my arms.

Damon began to walk away. I should've been happy, he was leaving me alone. But instead of staying where I was, I followed him.

"Oh, and what would the message be then, Liz?" he asked sarcastically.

"There is no message. Plain and simple," I said matter-of-factly.

"Ha, wrong," he began to walk faster and I had to pace myself to keep up with him.

"Oh, you think you know something I don't about the painting that I created?" I asked skeptically. Truth be told, I wanted to hear what he had to say. Not just cause I was curious but because I wanted to prove him wrong.

"Yes, I do. That painting represents how you feel," I stopped dead in my tracks and Damon strode right up to me. He began circling me, like I was his pray or something. "You feel lost and scarred after what happened. You don't know who to talk to other than your sister and even she doesn't know how you feel because she got the Stefan experience. No one knows what you went through, no one.

"You can't get what I did to you out of your mind. You want to forget but you know you never can. No one can take away or change what I did. And I don't regret it, I'm glad I drank from you. Because now, I know who to go for when I'm hungry," the last part he whispered in my ear.

I didn't move, I couldn't move. I was paralyzed with fear. Damon came down to the side of my head. I thought he was going to knock me out, take me somewhere where he could feed on me or possibly kill me. But nothing happened. In the last few moments, I could've sworn I felt him kiss the side of my head. But before I could last out at him, he was gone.

Hey everyone, sorry it took awhile to update, but I wanted this chapter to be long for you guys. I hoped you enjoyed it and don't forget to review please, I want to know what you guys thought of this chapter and if I get more reviews I'll update faster:D I promise.

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