Chapter 5

Note: I worked really hard on this chapter! Hope you like it, if you did, please review and tell me what you think! Also, don't own any of these characters.

Damon had five minutes.

He flapped his hands around frantically, wondering what to do. He had to make the most of the time he had in the real world, before he returned to Dream Bonnie. He'd been trapped in the dream world with Bonnie twice now, and he was losing patience. Both times, she'd made him write letters to Bonnie and both times they had appeared in his hand when he woke up. Something was going on, he knew it. For some reason, though, he hated being around Dream Bonnie. As much as he missed Real Bonnie, and loved hearing her voice again, something about seeing Bonnie in his dreams made him uneasy. As if his mind was trying to tell him something he didn't want to hear.

BAM! In a second he was back in the dream world, this time in the woods.

Bonnie stood against a tree.

"Took you long enough," she said casually. "Now, where were we?" She handed him a piece of paper, the one he'd written his second letter on. He read through it.

Dear Bonnie,

This is the second letter I've written to nobody and yet, somehow, it's okay. In some way, it's okay that you'll never read this because I know that if you did it wouldn't make a difference. This does not even begin to clear my conscience and regret will never cease to flow through my veins. But, I've come to realise that I can't take back what I did. I can't take back the pain I caused you no matter how much I wish I can. Somehow, you're here with me, Bonnie. A figment of my imagination, but still, you're here. And the thing is, I know if it were really you, we would be out of here already.

Damon flinched at the sincerity of his words. He didn't even know he felt that way until he wrote it down.

"More letters?" he croaked.

"Not today," Bonnie said, observing the strange look on his face. "Let's just talk."

Talk?

"About what?" Damon asked, raising an eyebrow.

"About why I'm here," she said. "I'd like to know."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," she said, rolling her eyes. "Why am I here? Why me?"

"I feel like you know more than I do, Bonnie," he said, shrugging, seemingly carelessly. She crossed her legs and sat down, resting the back of her head against the tree.

"Okay," he said, sensing that she wasn't going to let him do anything unless he gave her an answer. "I guess you're here with me because you're my best friend."

The words tasted unfamiliar, even though he'd said them before. They felt wrong.

Bonnie tilted her head to the side, like she so often did. Damon couldn't help but crack a smile. It was something he'd barely paid attention to in the past, and yet, here he was, hallucinating it.

"Alaric's your best friend too," Bonnie said softly. "Stefan's your brother and Elena…" she trailed off. "Elena's the one you love."

Damon saw uncertainty in her eyes when she said the last bit. She was in his mind; his hallucination. Was he uncertain about that?

"I don't know," Damon said, unsure. "I don't know why you're here, Bonnie."

Bonnie sighed, looking him in the eyes. "I'm going to ask you the question I asked you three years ago when you left."

Damon nodded, knowing what was coming. The question hadn't left his mind since that day.

"Are we friends?" she asked. "No insults, no jokes. Are we friends?"

Damon hesitated. The look on her face mirrored his, uncertain and afraid.

"Yes."

"Wrong," she said, shaking her head. "Damon, are you friends with Alaric?"

"Yes," he said, truthfully.

"If his life was tied to Elena's like mine is, would you even think twice before killing him?"

Damon was taken aback. "I wouldn't do that." He forced his eyes to look elsewhere. At the tree, at the ground, anywhere but at her.
"Yes," Bonnie said, sadly. "You would. You're lying to a part of your mind, but I know the truth."

"What are you saying?"

"Damon," she said, grabbing his hand. "Look at me."

His piercing blue eyes turned to look at her brown ones. Suddenly, he knew.

"It –" He looked away, pulling his hand back. "It can't be."
"You broke my heart in more ways than I thought possible," she said. "But you saved me in even more ways than than that." Suddenly, she stood up. Her face was so close to his. Too close, but he didn't pull away. Jolts of electricity passed between them even though they didn't touch.

"I'll only ask one more time, Damon," Bonnie said, touching his fingers once more. "Are we friends?"

Damon didn't know the answer. He didn't want to know the answer. "Yes." He pulled away.

Bonnie looked disappointed. She peered into his eyes. "Damon, how many sessions have we had?"

He frowned. "Two."

She shook her head. "Try eighteen."

"How-?"

She handed him a stack of letters. He counted them. Seventeen; eighteen if you counted the one in his hand.

"Sixteen of those times, you erased the memory, somehow. Your mind blocked it out. But those memories are still there, beneath the surface. One day, your mind just started allowing them in. You're almost there."

Damon stared at her, in shock. "Enough," he said. "Enough riddles. Tell me how this is helping me escape."

Bonnie sighed but nodded. "The monster that possesses you sends your soul to this dream - like world. There's only one loophole – only one way to escape. Love. Two sessions ago, when you stopped forgetting me, the ice began to thaw. I'm sure you noticed that you started to get more time in your body."

Damon raised an eyebrow.

"That's because whether you like it or not, whether you accept it or not, Bonnie Bennett is the only person, supernatural or human, alive or dead, or – hell – in a sleeping beauty coma, that can bring you back. No matter how far you travel away from the real you, no matter what heinous crimes your unconcious self commits, she can bring you back."

Damon was speechless. "I love Elena," was all he could manage to say.

"I know you do," said Dream Bonnie with a sad smile. "I'm sorry I had to bring all of this up. You couldn't possibly understand."

He was more confused than he'd ever been in his life.

"Bye, Damon," She said, and walked off into the sunset without looking back.

"Wha- Bonnie?" He began following her, but before he knew it, she was vapour. Gone. Just like that.

He thought he would feel relieved that he no longer had to confront his 'feelings', now that she was gone. But he wasn't. Somehow, her leaving didn't change a thing. She was now replaced by a little voice in his head, repeating her words over and over.

"Are we friends?"

He let himself fall limp against the tree as he ripped open a random letter in the stack she'd given him. It was numbered, 'session 4'.

Dear Bonnie,

You never forgave me. Not really. In some sick way, that makes me happy. I'm glad you never did. I didn't deserve it. I swear to god, though, Bonnie, if I ever get out of here, I will earn your forgiveness. I promise.

He pulled out another one.

'Session 10'

Dear Bonnie,

I don't know why you're here with me, but you are. At least I'm hallucinating you. By the way, my hallucination of you is EXTREMELY annoying. Anyway, today's our first 'session' as she calls it and apparently there's going to be plenty more. I'm not sure what she wants me to write. 'Feelings,' did she say?

I guess I'm angry because I'm trapped here,

Sad because I miss everyone (except the whiny blonde one),

And annoyed because Dream Bonnie insulted my pancakes.

The change between the two letters was insane. Evidently, some days he was 'Depressing Damon' and other days he was 'Real Damon.'

Damon then pulled out the last letter in the stack, curious to see what had happened in 'session 16'.

He frowned when he saw the beginning of the letter. It was addressed to him.

Dear Damon,

If you're reading this, Dream Bonnie gave you the letters – again. It's supposedly session 16, but I feel like it's session 1 and that's probably how you feel, too. I think Bonnie finally lost patience and decided to tell me what was going on. Now that I know, I feel… different. I don't know how I feel. I'm not going to remember this. You're not going to remember this. Bonnie – Real Bonnie is how we're getting out of here. Dream Bonnie didn't tell me anything, but I think I figured that much out from the letters. It's up to you now, Damon of the future. Get us out of here. I don't care how. I don't care if you have to meditate for 80 hours straight. Don't be stubborn. Find a way. Please.

Damon sighed as he read it. Past Damon didn't know how to get out. Present Damon did, and yet, neither could do it. Damon sifted through the letters until he found one piece of paper unlike the others.

A list of your moods in each session:

Session 1: Angry

Session 2: Angry

Session 3: Sad

Session 4: Sad

Session 5: Angry

Session 6: Scared

Session 7: Angry

Session 8: Angrier than usual

Session 9: Annoyingly Sarcastic and Angry

Session 10: Annoyingly Saracastic and Angry

Session 11: Sadder than usual

Session 12: Angry

Session 13: Suicidal

Session 14: Angry, Sad, Scared

Session 15: Happy?

Session 16: More understanding than usual (I showed you the letters)

Session 17: Angry

Session 18: Sad

Session 19: Hopefully our last session. Either way, I don't need to be here anymore.

Damon read the last line and screamed out loud in frustration. She did need to be here. He couldn't figure this out on his own. He couldn't!

He threw the papers all around the woods. He wanted to destroy the sunset. How dare it be so calm when he was the opposite?

"Bonnie!" he yelled his lungs out. "I need you!" He collapsed, realising with a painful jerk to the gut how alone he was now.

Note for next chapter: Next chapter will be following Bonnie. Prepare yourselves to be INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATED. Thanks for reading, hope you reviewed!