1000 years after I had been born, I finally died. I had made a mistake of dating a vampire hunter which was something I found out too late, but I was happy with my life. Klaus was right when he saved me and told me that I could have 1000 birthdays if I wanted to and I did, I had a great life and got to know many amazing people. But now I was in this weird place, the voices talking to me say that it was the place between life and death, a limbo.

"Caroline what would you say, if we told you that we could give you another chance, to live your life again." One voice told me.

"What would I say? I would say, what's the catch?"

"There's no catch," the other voice told me.

"But what would you have to gain? I know supernatural beings enough to know that no one gifts anything without an ulterior motive."

"We can't tell you what to do once you get to the past, we just want you to live your life and be happy with it. You get another chance and you can do the necessary changes. I'm sure you have some regrets, right?"

"Of course I have regrets." Of course, most of them were somehow connected to the men in my life, especially Klaus Mikaelson. I had lived 1000 years and I had not met anyone like him. I also had understood that as much as I loved Stefan, he had that hero complex and I could never count on him to be there for me. Of course, Klaus also went to save his daughter. I thought I should stay clear of both of them in the future.

Yes, that's a thought that cumulates itself into a plan. I am going to avoid them both and choose something better for myself, knowing, what I know now.

"Indeed, so change what you need and let's hope it all works out the way it's suppose to."

"Okay, you cryptic witches, send me back, I'm ready."

"Well that was easy." One of the voices sounded cheerful.

"I just want to see my friends again." I told them and it was the truth.

"It's done, have a nice life, Caroline."

And then just blackness. Blackness until I opened my eyes and it was light, too light.

When I opened my eyes, the light was blinding at first. I had to close my eyes for a moment and when I opened my eyes again, I was able to see the room that I was in. I expected to wake up in my old bedroom at my own house that me and my mom lived in back in the day, but to my huge surprise, I recognized the room as Elena Gilbert's bedroom in her old house. In huge shock, I got to a sitting position and looked around to be certain that my first assessment was right and it was, I woke up in Elena's old bedroom, not mine's. I got out of the bed, with the intention to sack Elena's closet, put something on and investigate when and where I happened to wake up in.

Looking in the mirror, I looked good, better than I expected, but that was not what caught my eye right away. Elena used to have some photos of her family attached to her mirror and I just stared those photos now in disbelief. On them wasn't Elena with her parents, with Jeremy and with Jenna. No, instead of Elena's face, all the photos included my smiling face.

I grabbed one of the photos, one with me, Jeremy and Elena's parents and looked at it closer, it actually was me on that photo. Then i grabbed the hand bag I remembered Elena using during that time and I pulled out the wallet and found my driver license. It had all Elena's data, her name, her date of birth and so on, but the face on it was mine.

I was so shocked, I didn't make it to bed, I knelt down on the floor right there, staring at that photo and the driver's license.
Then I grabbed Elena's phone or my phone or whatever which was laying on the dresser below the mirror and it showed the date September 1st, 2009.

'So they sent to where it all began for Elena with the Salvatore brothers. Interesting.'

My thoughts were interrupted by Jenna knocking on the door, "Elena, can I come in?"

"No!" I said maybe too abruptly. Then I softened it up and maybe I sounded more like Elena. "I mean I'm indecent at the moment, Jenna. Could you wait like a minute or so?"

"I'll be downstairs making us some coffee. I just wanted to tell you that the dryer has finished and you can put on that red blouse you wanted to wear today."

"Um, yeah, thanks Jenna."

Then I heard Jenna going downstairs and I decided that I had better things to do than Iron that blouse Elena was wearing on her first day. Instead, I decided to put on something that was already in Elena's closet and ready to wear. But when I opened the closet, I was in for another shock - the clothes in there weren't Elena's, not the clothes she wore back then. No, they were the clothes I used to wear when I was 16, my colourful collection of clothes I used to wear, not Elena's wardrobe that consisted mostly of darker jeans and shirts and leather jackets she used to wear all the time.

Maybe it was logical, if my face took over Elena's identity somehow, then I should wear clothes that are right for my body and not Elena's. So I got over the clothing shock much faster than my initial shock of finding out that I was now playing the role of Elena Gilbert, something I would have killed for back in the day, but now it just seemed weird. Still, I decided, that until I get back to being me, I better play along as much as possible. If I had told them the truth, they would have sent me to the mental institution, so I didn't think that was the way to go or that the witches wanted me to do anything like that.

'Deam, I'm back to having my life revolve around Elena Gilbert.'

I thought that maybe it was a nightmare, just a nightmare I would wake up from. I tried to pinch myself and nothing, it all felt very real. So I put on the clothes I wore to the first day of Sophomore year and went downstairs.

"Hey, you really took your time this morning." Jenna said, sipping coffee.

"What do you mean?"

'I have been Elena Gilbert only less than an hour and already I am messing up?'

"No, I just meant that you are usually downstairs at the same time as me, but it doesn't matter, as long as you get to school in time."

"Yeah, how will I get to school today?"

"Bonnie, at least last night you said Bonnie will pick you up as I'm late as it is."

"Right, right, of course Bonnie would come and save the day," I kicked myself in my mind, I was being too sarcastic, too Caroline Forbes. But luckily Jenna didn't notice.

"So what do you want for breakfast? Toast, I can make toast."

"No, thanks, I'll just get a cup of coffee." Luckily, I remembered that Elena wasn't big on breakfast, especially at that time.

"Is there coffee?"

"Jeremy!?" I squeaked. I had totally forgotten that there was Jeremy too in Elena's life at the time.

Jeremy looked at me weirdly as Jenna was rambling about not being prepared for our first day of school.

"Lunch money," Jenna asked as she held two twenty-dollar bills in her hand and I was about to take one, when Jeremy grabbed both of them.

'Thanks, brother'

"Anything else? A number two pencil? What am I missing?"

"Definitely not number two pencil," I joked and now both Jenna and Jeremy looked at me funnily.

"Okay, guys, I'm meeting my thesis advisor today and I'm late as it is, so I'm gonna go. You two just get to school in time okay?"

Saying the last part she looked at Jeremy and then I remembered that Jeremy had that druggie-period still going on when the school started up.

I just looked at Jeremy with worried expression and he was completely annoyed. "Don't start," was all he said and went up the stairs.

'Hey, delinquent, shouldn't you go to school right about now?'

Then I noticed Bonnie's car arriving in front of the house and then I followed Jenna out of the door.

"Grams is telling me I'm psychic. Our ancestors were from Salem, witches and all that…" Bonnie was rambling about being psychic when we all know that she was much more than that. I couldn't help but think what was going to happen once the Salvatores entered the picture. I wasn't sure if I could be with Stefan and lie to him about who I was and in that moment I really hated the witches who did this to me. Had I known I was going to be Elena Gilbert, I wouldn't have agreed to go through it, but now I was stuck, playing the role of Elena Gilbert, maybe forever.

'Omg, this is nightmare!' I finally concluded.

"Elena! Back in the car!" Bonnie brought me out of my thoughts and I was happy for it. Being with Bonnie, that was maybe the best part of being back in the past or so I thought.

"Yeah, sorry, I heard you, you're a witch with psychic abilities."

"So, you did hear me?"
"Yeah, yeah, I actually did."

"Well—" But then a crow flew against the windshield and it startled Bonnie so much that she lost control of the car for a moment.

"What was that?!"

'That would be Damon Salvatore at his worst'

"Oh, my god! Elena, are you okay?" She was freaked because Elena was in the car when her parents died.

"I'm fine, don't worry about it, Bonnie."

"Really? Because it was just some bird."

"Yeah, I saw, like I said, don't worry about it."

"Okay, I want to believe you, I do, but you know that you can tell when you are not okay. You know that, right?"

I hugged her then, "You are a real gem, Bonnie Bennet."

She hugged me back and didn't say anything, but I felt her relax, so I hoped she wouldn't make an issue out of me lying that I was okay. Elena at the time wasn't okay and I definitely was not okay in this predicament I had found myself in.

"…coin a phrase. It's a busy year." Bonnie mumbled something as I just stared at Elena freaking Gilbert coming my way from a far. And I just stared at her in horror when she came over and hugged me.

"Elena. Oh, my god. How are you? Oh, it's so good to see you."

When she pulled away, she turned to Bonnie and talked to her like I wasn't there.

'Omg, what a mess I was back then'

"Elena, I mean, Caroline, I'm right here. And I'm fine."

"Really" And then she hugged me again saying, "Oh, you poor thing."

'Omg, awkward, no wonder they barely could stand me back then.'

And then it happened, me meeting my husband for the first time again and he saw me as Elena Gilbert.

Me and Bonnie, we watched as Stefan was dealing with his paperwork at the school's office. He was standing there with his back turned towards us and we waited patiently for him to turn around.

And then he did and he smiled at me. But I knew that of course he would as he thought I was Elena.

"Hey, can you point me to where Mr Tanner's classroom is?" He asked us then, looking shamelessly at me.

"Um…come with me, I'm gonna show you." I offered, "I'm Car-er—My name is Elena, Elena Gilbert."

He nodded, "I'm Stefan, Stefan Salvatore."

"Yeah, I know."

Both Stefan and Bonnie were startled and I quickly added, "You are the only new student here, so…"

'Omg, I have to learn my name, or otherwise I'm gonna mess up big time at the worst time.'

"For a small town school, it's rather big school, so I thought I'd escort you myself, hope you don't mind." I tried to get the conversation going with him.

"No, not at all."

'I bet.' I so wanted him to see me as myself and not as Elena, but at the same time I knew I couldn't change the past. Not when it didn't feel completely right, and this now definitely didn't.

When we got to the classroom, he thanked me, "Thank you, Elena, for doing this."

After school I wasn't sure what I should be doing. Elena at the time was a bit of a loner, so I thought I wouldn't go to the Grill, instead I went home. But later Bonnie called me and told me to get my ass to the Grill, that they were waiting for me there.

When I got to the Grill, Bonnie and were talking alone and Elena- I mean my past self was talking to Tyler and for some reason they were all staring at me. When I heard Stefan's voice behind my, I finally understood why.

"Hey, nice to see you here, Elena."

I turned around and decided that for now I was gonna do things that Elena did, until I figured out what to do with myself with Elena's identity.

"Hey, come on, I'll introduce you to my friends." I told Stefan as I remembered that that time at the Grill actually was the time everyone met Stefan officially.

He nodded and smiled and, god, it was so good to be the centre of his attention. As close as I got with Stefan in the end, he never looked at me like he looked at Elena back then. It was like she was the sun and he was just merely orbiting around her. SO, yeah, I enjoyed it and decided that it wouldn't be bad to enjoy it for a while.

"So, Stefan, if you're new, then you don't know about the party tomorrow." My past self with Elena's face asked Stefan after the interrogation about Stefan's life was done.

"It's a back to school thing at the falls."

Stefan turned his cute face at me and asked, "Are you going."

Before I could say anything, Bonnie answered for me, "Of course she is." And I looked as Stefan's face beamed ever more than before. Yeah, it was something else, being Elena Gilbert for a while. SO I just smiled back and hoped for the best.

After talking to Bonnie about her psychic abilities, Stefan finally showed up. We went to the bridge overlooking the waterfall and talked more about Elena.

"So, Elena, you are a bit of a mystery to me. You are a bit puzzled whenever we have talked. You are cheerful and as I heard about the accident you went through in the spring, I get the feeling you are trying to be someone you are not, this cheerful person who has gotten over her parents' death but you and I know that that's not true."

I was surprised that I had been so transparent, I should have been more sad like Elena was at the time and he was already noticing that I don't feel particularly good in my new role.

"Oh, wow, you read me quite well. You are right, I put on a good face, when Inside I'm slowly dying. I am still traumatized by what happened to E-me."

Stefan nodded, "I thought so. But Elena, you won't be sad forever."

Later I was talking with Stefan, surprisingly about me, my bast self acting like an insecure ho-ho. After a little while Jeremy came out with Vicky's lifeless body and I had to play the worried sister.

Later, I was at home and I read Elena's diary to learn more about her thoughts so I could embody her better and then I saw Stefan outside and went straight to the front door and asked him, right away, "Stefan, what are you doing here?" I asked with a little surprise smile. I had totally forgotten that he and Elena had spent that night talking in Elena's home. But I wasn't gonna do that.

"I just wanted to know If you were alright, and your brother too ofcourse."

"We're both fine, don't worry about it Stefan," I said with a smile.

"Good, good, that's all I needed to know."

Stefan clearly hesitated about what he was supposed to do now but then decided against trying for more. Fortunately. "So, I'll see you tomorrow at school, them."

"Definitely." I continued to smile and he nodded and turned to leave. I closed the door and said to no one, "I'm sorry, Stefan."

I just wasn't ready embody Elena so well that I could pretend to he for a whole night.