Over the past two days Elena has been kicked out of Klaus's house after having an interaction with Elijah, attended a Mystic Falls event, been shunned by all her old friends, been ignored by Klaus who followed her home, and now been in an accident, most likely intentional, while leaving her hometown. Yeah just another day in the life of Elena Gilbert.
In all the chaos Elena heard sirens, and screams. She felt people moving her body with care. She sensed the pass of time if only she could rewind. Elena knew the consequences. She heard voices and knew she was at a hospital. Her eyes remained shut as she felt herself being lifted only a bed. Her mind in a daze unable to respond to her own chaos. Her own feeling of being alone. Her eyelids began to separate as she made out a picture. She was back in the same town she just tried to flee. The town in which all that remains is a past she longed for. A past in which she knows she could never take back. It's been almost thirteen years. Thirteen years since junior year of highs cool. Back in 2009 anything was normal. Thirteen years ago she watched the mysterious man get out of his car. The man she flirted with so intensively. Thirteen years ago was a different world. Normal. Thirteen years ago Elena's life was filled with pom pom's and small town events. Thirteen years ago she would sit on her bed with her two best friends and discuss boys or their fellow classmates. Where her aunt was trying so desperately to raise her and Jermey. A world where life seemed so full. Where her only worry was homework and only fear was a bridge. A bridge was her greatest threat. A simple bridge she was thrusted off. She longed for it. A world without the Mikaelson's. A world where the Salvatores where some forgotten founding family. A world where vampires and ghosts were bizarre. One where witches were only seen on Halloween or werewolves were only heard of in some cheesy movie. Where the only thing she knew about the undead were in this huge teen heartthrob movie set in Forks, Washington. A time where the supernatural was myth and not a reality.
Elena lied in the hospital not sure if recovery was the best. What for? She had no one. She had herself. Elena was oblivious to the pain in her body. She forgot why it mattered, why she was here.
Her entire life has been about survival. About making it to see the next sunrise. She fought for thirteen years, and now she's not sure if any fight is left in her.
The doctors left Elena after a while. She was moved to a bed where no one visited. Time passed, two weeks to be precise. Two weeks of the only seeing nurses and doctors. Of recovering in such emptiness. Two weeks of solidarity.
Elena was almost good enough to be released. Her accident will eventually be forgotten by everyone but her. Some could say it was a moment of clarity- others a stage of deep depression. To Elena it was her life and it's not a moment or a stage but a check on where she is at.
About 2 O'clock the nurse stopped by. She spoke to the wounded warrior. "You have a visitor."
The words were unfamiliar to Elena. She checked in under a false name. She doesn't need the doctors discovering her body doesn't match an almost thirty year old women.
A man entered the room. One she thought was lost to her. One she sure was glad to see.
Tyler walked to the bed. A man of such fight. A man she has tortured for years. He took a seat beside her and sat. He sat with watery eyes for a descent amount of time.
"Elena, what happened?" Tyler asked.
"An accident," Elena responded with such literal meaning.
"A false name, nobody knew you were here," Tyler pointed out.
Elena sighed, "that was the purpose of it, but somehow you knew I was here."
Tyler watched his once friend in a stat of pitifulness, a state of nothing. "I volunteer here, and well you were in a bed and I brought you food one time. Asleep you lied. Elena, are you okay?"
The question was a good one. It's meaning could be seen in multiple ways. It's response, well that was a task.
"What do you know?" She asked the wolf, trying to decide on where to begin. She didn't need to be told what Tyler wanted to hear. Tyler was here to make Elena feel fine. Elena just knew he wanted to hear so he could help her. Maybe she wasn't as alone as she felt.
"I know you left, you didn't come here when you woke up. I know you were supposedly taken but then not taken. I know that there's a reason that you deserve to explain everything. So I'm here to listen. I'm here to be here." Tyler explained.
His response was everything she needed. And to think Tyler cared enough over the others and it was only Tyler. They didn't have some ultra bond of love or friendship. They had a trust and care for another and yet he's willing to listen. He's willing to be optimistic of her.
"I woke up and found Klaus. O was frightened. He figured out how to wake me up, of course it was for his own personal agenda. He assured all of you were happy, well as happy as you could be with the past. Over time, I grew less and less useful. I was the human so i was good for entering houses and stuff like that. What he needed from me as the doppleganger was done. Over time I grew close to them, Elijah and Rebecca. Klaus took a bit longer. But it was different. It was like he opened up, like his wall were broken down. I saw the man who was tortured by his farther, entrapped by a curse meant to protect them. I saw a family destroyed but still standing. After a while I was allowed to leave," Elena said.
Tyler listened, soaking in every detail as she blurted her soul.
"I couldn't come back. I couldn't explain. I was awake but I thought returning would bring nothing but misery to you guys. I have been like a magnet for disaster. I thought everyone moved on and everyone found some sort of sanctuary. I believed that coming home would draw some crazy threat and everyone's lives would be ruined, if they still had their life. Moving on was somethings everyone did, and I needed to face that, not break it. As time passed I thought how could I return. I began to grow happy. I began to feel things."
Elena continued. She told Tyler everything. Matt, Elijah, Kol, and every detail in between. The story took almost two hours to tell. When she was done, Elena was crying and Tyler was just holding her hand. A gesture Elena was beyond grateful for.
Tyler absorbed all the information like a sponge in a pool of water. He understood her process and he forgave her for not being there.
"One question," Tyler reported. Elena nodded saying that was alright. "Why not tell Klaus you love him?"
The question that struck a nerve. One she was unaware of the problem. Elena knows she had some feelings for Klaus. She knew she wanted him but love? Love to a man who tortured, kidnapped, and drained her blood. One who destroyed Stefan, taking him. The man who killed her aunt. The one haunted her through high school. Love? She never thought possible.
"I don't love him," Elena said. She believed it, because she didn't know any better.
Tyler grinned. "Elena, you stayed with him. I get why you didn't return home but there's a world you could of thrived in. Yet you remained in some mansion with him and his crazy siblings. Ones you befriended. You and Elijah broke him. You're denying it, but come on, admit it. You're in love with Klaus Mikaelson. As much as you don't want to come to that sort of conclusion. You're so far, like over a cliff, in love with him," Tyler informed.
In that moment Elena realized, she was in love with Klaus.