amaryllis | chapter one

dop·pel·gäng·er /ˈdäpəlˌɡaNGər/ (n.): and yet here you are, still living despite it all.

Monday, September 7, 2009 – The First Day of Junior Year

Early morning sunlight drifted through gauzy curtains and onto the sleeping face of Charity Gilbert, half hidden beneath a fluffy white duvet.

With a tired groan, she rolled away from the intruding sunlight, pulling her duvet over her head. For a confusing moment, she wondered why she couldn't hear the clinking of dishes as her mom made breakfast in the kitchen. Then she remembered her mother would never make them breakfast again. The thought made her chest ache.

Charity rolled out of her warm, comfortable bed, goosebumps rising on her arms as her bare feet landed on cold hardwood.

The soft ringing of her cell interrupted the peaceful morning quiet.

"Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty!" came the loud – and entirely too awake – voice of her best friend as soon as she answered.

"I'm awake, you heathen."

"Good! Because I need you to meet me at the Grill in like, half an hour!"

"Caroline, it's the first day of school, I need more than thirty minutes to get ready."

"Nope, 'cause I know for a fact that you planned your outfit a week ago! All you need to do is makeup. And don't worry about breakfast, because we're having it at the Grill!"

"Care-"

"Please? Pretty please?" Caroline needled. "I'm calling in a best friend favor!"

The things she did for her friends.

"I'll be there, babe."

"Yay! Love you, Char!"

"You better!" she laughed as she began the laborious endeavor of taming her bedhead. "Seen ya soon."

"See you!" Caroline chirped, hanging up.

ooooo

The Mystic Grill was almost entirely empty. The light clinking of glass and the soft murmur of idle conversations were the only sounds to break through the heavy silence that seemed to settle itself firmly on the bar early Monday morning. Warm sunlight streamed through the open blinds to fall on a worn wooden booth nestled in the corner of the room, where one Charity Gilbert sat across from her best friend (forever and ever, amen), Caroline Forbes.

"Oh, come on, Care," Charity laughed. "It's really not that serious."

"It is though! Matt's obviously still hung up over Elena, Tyler is bumping uglies with Vicki, and all the other guys in our class are just blah. If there's no new guys this year, I might have to take Pothead Pete to the Founder's Ball."

"I still don't see why you feel like you have to date a high school guy. In the words of the great Cher Horowitz, "searching for a boy in high school is as useless as searching for meaning in a Pauly Shore movie." You could do so much better."

"It's not like there's anyone else for us to date, Char! It's either slobbery high school guys or nothing."

They were interrupted as Moira, an elderly woman who had been waitressing at the Grill for as long as Charity could remember, set their steaming plates and giant mugs of coffee in front of them with a pleasant smile and a "Y'all enjoy!"

"Thanks, Mo!" Charity grinned, warming her stiff fingers on her coffee mug.

"You can't keep waiting for the perfect guy, Charity," Caroline said, returning to their conversation. "Your expectations are too high."

"He does have to perfect, just… more, I guess. Every time I start talking with a guy, it feels empty. Like, the only reason he's flirting with me at all is to get into my pants and then bounce."

"Well, duh. They're guys."

Charity could feel the tips of her ears burning. She knew Caroline meant well, but the girl always somehow made her feel like an idiot anytime they talked about guys – or 'typical teenage things' in general. Charity wasn't even super naïve or sheltered or anything – she just tended to overlook certain details about normal societal expectations for relationships. And no matter how popular her friendship with Caroline and her place on the cheer team made her, she always seemed to be out of the loop.

Caroline had dubbed her 'tragically oblivious' long ago.

"I guess I'm waiting on someone better, you know? I just have a feeling that there's someone I'm supposed to be waiting for."

"As long as you're okay with being single forever, I'm happy for you," Caroline said with a dramatic sigh.

"Oh, shut up!" Charity laughed, throwing a piece of bacon at her friend in mock anger. "Now hurry up and eat, we're gonna be late."

ooooo

Charity shut the front door behind her, the sound echoing through the otherwise quiet house. She dropped her backpack to the floor with a relieved sighed and headed for the kitchen, where her Aunt Jenna was (attempting, at least) to bake something.

"Hey, how was school?"

"I was not prepared for this, Aunt Jenna," Charity huffed. "I thought I wanted school to start back but oh my god."

"It's your Junior year, of course it's going to be more difficult."

"It's not the work, it's the people."

"Ooh, drama! Tell me everything," Jenna said, turning away from the stove.

"Wow, Aunt Jenna, aren't you supposed to be an adult?" Charity huffed at her aunt before dropping her head onto her hands with an overly dramatic sigh. "There's a new boy-toy, and everyone and their mother seems determined to snatch him up. Except he's creepily attached to Elena already, which is pissing Caroline off, which means I have to hear about it for the next month and a half."

"Poor, poor Charity…" her aunt smirked. "But is he hot?"

"Aunt Jenna!"

"I'm just asking!"

"I regret telling you already."

"Don't be like that-"

"Aunt Jenna," Charity interrupted.

"I-"

"Aunt Jenna. Supper's on fire."

"What!?"

ooooo

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 – The Bonfire

"So…?" Charity sing-songed with a grin in Caroline's direction, dropping down onto the blonde's bed and throwing her backpack on the floor. Caroline rolled her eyes with a small grin of her own as she shut her bedroom door, feigning ignorance.

"So, what?"

"So, what's our plan to bag you the new hottie?"

Caroline laughed at Charity's antics, joining her on the bed.

"Maybe I don't have a plan."

Charity scoffed, "Caroline, you've had both our lives planned out since we were six years old. In detail, with contingency plans A to Z."

"Okay, okay," her best friend finally gave in. "He's going to be at the bonfire tonight, right?"

"Right."

"Well…" Caroline turned her puppy eyes onto Charity. "Pretty please keep Elena away long enough for me to make my move?"

"Don't!" Charity agreed, bouncing off the bed. She headed to Caroline's vanity and began pulling out products. "But if you're gonna make your move tonight, we've got to turn you into goddess."

ooooo

"Something exciting is going to happen tonight, Charity!" Caroline smiled as she slid out of the car to join her waiting friend. "Just you wait!"

Charity shook her head with a huff of laughter.

"It's just the Back-to-School Bonfire, Care, I sincerely doubt anything unusual is gonna happen."

ooooo

Charity watched nervously as Caroline approached Stefan. In her head she knew that her best friend was good at this – she was practically a dating fiend – but she still worried. Caroline could be fragile, more so than you'd think.

Luckily, she didn't have to distract Elena at all – her sister hadn't even noticed Stefan had arrived.

"Hey, you made it!" she thought she heard her friend say. Their voices faded into the background music as she moved away.

Charity swiped a beer from the cooler and took a small sip. To be completely honest, she hated everything about it, but this was a party. One would end up in her hand by the end of the night, anyway.

ooooo

Sometime later, after a few more drinks, Charity found herself steering her teary best friend away from the party, a comforting arm around her shoulder. She hadn't seen it happen – she'd been too busy chatting with her friend Matt, bonding over being the ones left behind when their besties went off to flirt.

#WingmenForLife

Or is that wingwomen?

Either way, before she knew it, she had an armful of tipsy cheerleader in her arms, sadly hiccuping out the story of stupid Stefan Salvatore rejecting her for Elena.

What a dick.

Even in her hazy state, Charity knew her best friend (forever and ever, amen) wouldn't want the rest of the school to see her like this, so she led her into the quiet woods.

And Charity knew, like she knew that the sky is blue, that they saw nothing in those woods, that she and Caroline decided to head back to the bonfire on their own, and that everything was going to be okay. Still, she wondered how she got the dirty scrapes on her hands and knees, and why she doesn't remember it happening.

ooooo

Charity and her friends sat slumped over their mugs of coffee at the Mystic Grill – mostly unneeded. Seeing her brother carrying a wounded, bloody Vicki out of the woods had sobered her up quickly.

"Are you sober yet?" Bonnie asked Caroline, who somehow was still drunk, even after all the drama.

Next time, Charity was definitely monitoring her friend's drinking.

"No," Caroline moped.

"Keep drinking. I gotta get you home. I gotta get me home."

"Don't worry, Bonnie, I've got Caroline if you need-"

"Why didn't he go for me?" Caroline sobbed, interrupting her. "You know, how come the guys that I want never want me?"

Bonnie sat back in her seat, "I'm not touching that."

Charity shot a glare at her friend. Why did Bonnie always, always have to take Elena's side?

"What are you talking about, Care? Guys love you, Stefan's just an outlier – and an idiot for not wanting you."

"I'm inappropriate. I always say the wrong thing. And… Elena always says the right thing. She doesn't even try! And he just picks her. And she's always the one the everyone picks, for everything. And I try so hard, Charity – I try so hard, and… I'm never the one."

"Oh, Care."

"It's not a competition, Caroline," Bonnie sighed, frustrated.

"Yeah, it is."

Bonnie shook her head and stood up from her seat.

"You've got this, Char?"

"Yeah," Charity sighed, "Yeah, I've got this."

With a nod, Bonnie grabbed her purse and left.

"You're going to be fine, Caroline," Charity said, squeezing her best friend's hand. "One day, someone is going to come along who'll be absolutely perfect for you. Just you wait."

"I think I see him now," Caroline whispered, a flirty smile forming on her face. "Look behind you."

Charity glanced over her left shoulder, eyes catching on the stereotypical tall-dark-handsome man brooding alone in a leather jacket behind her. Charity choked on her drink.

"Oh my god, Care, no! He's way too old for you! And you, you heathen, are way too drunk for any shenanigans!"

"Ugh, fiiiiine, Mom. But no guarantees if I see him around town again."

Charity shook her head fondly.

"Whatever, Care. Let's just get you home."

ooooo

Charity slammed the front door, dropping her purse on the side table as she marched up the stairs.

"Elena!" she growled, hammering on her sister's bedroom door.

Elena opened the door, a confused look of her face as she took in her twin's angry expression.

"What's going on, Char?"

"What's going on is you and Bonnie! I know y'all are the "Mean Girls" of Mystic Falls High or whatever, but since when did that extend to your friends?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Ever since the school year started, you and Bonnie have been treating Care like trash – laughing at her behind her back, treating her like some annoying sycophant, like she's an idiot. Oh, and let's not forget tonight, when you decided cozy up to a stranger, right after he'd been so completely awful to one of you supposed 'best friends.' Or like how Bonnie refused to comfort her tonight when she was feeling bad about a humiliating rejection? What the hell is wrong with you two, Elena?"

"Caroline's just jealous, Charity, she'll get over it. Stefan came to the bonfire to see me, not her. Why are you acting like it's my fault?"

Charity's chin dropped open in shock.

"Because it is, Elena! Maybe not for Stefan's actions, but you damn well know how to treat your friends."

"Why do you always blame me for everything!?"

"Maybe if you would take responsibility for your actions, I wouldn't!"

"Is that what this is about? Me being responsible for our parent's deaths?"

"No, Elena, this is about everything you did afterwards! Our parents just died, Elena! I needed you, Jeremy needed you! You're our big sister, you were supposed to take care of us, but you abandoned us!"

Elena's face dropped, a hint of guilt creeping into her expression.

"Char-"

"No! Just go back to leaving us alone! That's all you're good at, anyway," Charity growled, running to her room and slamming the door.

ooooo

Thursday, September 10th, 2009 – The Comet Festival

"I still don't get your fascination with that guy, Caroline," Charity said as they arrived at the candle booth. She shivered a little in the cool night air, grabbing four candles off the table with numb fingers. "He looks like a creepy perv."

The guy, Damon or something, had stared at them all night when they were at the Grill on Tuesday. Then he apparently ran into Caroline by accident at the park yesterday. Maybe he really was just super interested in Caroline, but he gave Charity the heebie-jeebies.

Caroline shrugged, a small frown pulling at the corners of her mouth. "Can't you just be happy for me, Char? You were the one who said to date older guys. Besides, I finally got a guy to notice me, and you're kinda being a downer."

"I'm just worried about yo-"

"Hey, we got some candles!" Caroline cut her off mid-sentence, bounding up to Elena and Bonnie.

Charity sighed and shook her head. One day, she thought, that girl is gonna get herself into some real trouble.

Charity handed the candles to her friends with an exasperated smile on her face. Elena smiled back at her, a little unsure after their fight the night before, but turned to light Matt's candle when Charity responded with a small frown.

She'd forgive Elena eventually, but not tonight.

Charity turned as well, lighting the candle of a young, dark-haired girl.

"Hey, I don't think I've seen you around town before. I'm Charity."

The girl smiled down at her.

"I'm Anna, Anna Zhu. It's nice to meet you."

"You, too! Enjoy the festival!" Charity said, moving on with a little wave.

ooooo

The night was slowly winding to an end. Families with children had already left and almost all the teenagers present were slowly migrating to the Mystic Grill.

"Hey, Charity!" Matt Donovan's voice rang out across the square. Charity turned to see the blonde football player jogging up to her. "Have you seen Vicki around?"

"No, I haven't. Is everything okay?"

"She's missing. Bonnie and I are looking for her, but so far, nothing."

"Here, I'll help," Charity said, her brow wrinkling in concern. "She's gotta be around her somewhere."

"Thanks, Char. I've got the square, and Bonnie's looking behind the Grill. Can you check Main Street, or something? See if she's lurking in one of the alleys."

"Sure, Matt. We'll find her, don't worry."

ooooo

Main Street was deserted this time of night. The only place open was the Grill, and most people were already at home.

Charity shivered as a cold breeze whipped through the street. It was kinda creepy. The tall old buildings threw the street into shadow, and she could almost feel eyes on the back of her neck, watching her from the darkened store fronts.

"No!" The scream echoed around her, making her jump, the hair on the back of her arms standing up straight.

Vicki?

"No, no, no!" A man's voice this time, coming from up above her.

Charity glanced up.

On the roof above her was three figures. Vicki Donovan, cornered by two men – Stefan Salvatore and that creep from the other night, Damon. Charity didn't even want to think of what they were planning on doing to Vicki. Sure, Stefan seemed like he was nice enough, but she'd seen the way he treated Caroline at the back-to-school party. The guy had a cruel side, no matter how much he tried to hide it.

With a split-second decision, Charity headed down the alleyway beside the building to find the fire escape.

Which did not look sturdy at all.

Charity let out a quiet groan as she looked up at the rickety red ladder. If she fell and died while trying to save Matt's sister, she was gonna haunt the hell outta that boy for the rest of his life.

With a final angry huff, Charity started to climb as the three on the roof continued arguing.

Luckily, the ladder did fall apart, but she was stopped short at the top by the scene in front of her.

Something was wrong. Something worse than Vicki getting assaulted by a couple of perverts.

Stefan was holding Vicki, trying to shield her from Damon as she whimpered in fear. Damon himself stalked towards them, a twisted smirk on his face.

"What's happening?" Vicki asked quietly, her voice wavering in distress.

"I don't need her to be dead, but you might," Damon taunted Stefan, before turning back to Vicki. "What attacked you the other night?"

Charity froze in fright, her limbs locking up as her entire body told her to run. This guy, who creeped on underaged girls, who looked positively excited by the thought of murdering Vicki, was dangerous. Too dangerous. Though her mind screamed at her to do something, to stop this from happening, Charity couldn't make herself move.

For a moment, all she could hear was the sound of her own blood roaring in her ears, her heart pounding in fear, but then Vicki's voice broke through.

"-vampire," she was saying.

"Who did this to you?" Damon demanded.

"You did!"

"Wrong!"

"Don't," Stefan protested.

"It was Stefan."

"Don't," Stefan tried again.

Damon sneered at him, grabbing on to Vicki's head and turning her to meet his eyes. "Stefan Salvatore did this to you."

"Stefan Salvatore did this to me," Vicki repeated in a monotone voice, hypnotized by Damon's eyes.

Charity gasped in shock. What the hell was going on?

"He's a vampire," Damon continued. "A vicious, murderous monster."

"Please, Damon. Please don't do this," Stefan begged.

"If you couldn't fix it before, I don't know what you can do now," Damon said, pulling off Vicki's bandage and throwing it to Stefan as Vicki cried out in pain.

Stefan turned his head away from them, away from Vicki's bleeding wound and towards where Charity hung on the fire escape, barely peeking over the edge of the roof. Something- something weird was happening to Stefan's face. The whites of his eyes had turned red, and his eyes… for a second Charity thought he was bleeding from his eyes, but then she realized it was his veins, squirming beneath his skin.

Oh, my god.

Damon had continued talking while Charity was freaking out about Stefan's eyes.

"Your choice of lifestyle has made you weak. A couple of vampire parlor tricks is nothing compared to the power that you could have, that you now need. But you can change that. Human blood gives you that."

"No!" Vicki sobbed as she realized what Damon was implying.

"You have two choices. You can feed and make her forget. Or you can let her run, screaming 'vampire' through the town square."

"That's what this is about?" Stefan demanded. "You want to expose me?"

"No! I want you to remember who you are!"

Stefan scoffed, "Why? So what, so I'll feed? So I'll kill? So I'll remember what it's like to be brothers again? You know what, let her go. Let her tell everyone that vampires have returned to Mystic Falls. Let them chain me up, and let them drive a stake through my heart, because at least I'll be free of you."

Stefan and Damon were brothers? Stefan and Damon were vampire brothers?

What the fuck was her life?

"Wow," Damon shook his head. "Come here, sweetheart."

"No!" Vicki cried, struggling as Damon whispered something into her ear. Whatever it was, it made Vicki suddenly stop struggling.

"What happened? Where am I?" Vicki asked, confused and a little dazed. "Oh, I ripped my stitches open. Ugh."

Charity stared, wide-eyed in disbelief. Had Vicki really just… forgotten what had happened?

"You okay?" Stefan asked gently.

"I took some pills, man. I'm good."

Vicki stood, stumbling towards the fire escape. The movement shook Charity out of her stupor, and she scrambled down the ladder before Vicki could see her and give her away to the two crazy guys up top.

She reached the bottom, just as Vicki was beginning to climb down, and started running, not stopping until she was standing safely in the warm light outside the Grill, one hand on her heart to keep it from pounding right out of her chest.

"What the hell?"

ooooo

September 11th, 2009

Charity yawned as she shelved another book in the Mystic Falls Library. She really should have called in sick today, especially after staying up all last night trying to understand what she had seen. At least work was a good excuse to miss cheer practice. She definitely would not be on top of her game today, and Caroline was much more of a dictatorial than her boss. Luckily, her boss had assigned her to the very back of library, which was only ever disturbed by desperate students and old fuddy-duddies, the only people who actually cared about the history of Mystic Falls.

Her peace and quiet was disturbed as a familiar face rounded the corner, hands clutching a small stack of books.

"Hey! Anna, right?" "Um, yeah."

"Did you just move here? I've never seen you around town before."

Anna nodded, "Nope. I'm homeschooled, actually. I come here to study. It's… nice. What about you, have you lived here long?"

"My family has lived here forever," she laughed. "They're actually kinda obnoxious about it."

Charity shelved a couple more books as they talked, moving slowly down the aisle.

At her words, Anna perked up and hurried after her, asking curiously, "Your family is one of the Founding Families then, right? Which one?"

"The Gilberts, actually. I guess we're less obnoxious than the Lockwoods, but we've been around a while."

Anna shrugged, "I'm doing some research on the mythology surrounding Mystic Falls… You know, I'm actually here to try to find some journals written by a Gilbert-"

"Journals?" Charity interrupted. The only old Gilbert journals she had heard about where her ancestor Jonathan Gilbert's journals. She had never read them, but she knew they were a bit of a family secret, or at least a Founding Families secret, considering Jonathan had apparently gone mad half-way through and started ranting about –

Vampires!

How had Anna learned about them, and why did she seem so interested?

Did she know something about what Charity had seen last night?

"Where'd you hear about any journals?" Charity asked warily.

"Oh, I, uh," Anna stuttered, apparently noticing Charity's suspicions. "Actually, forget about it! I have to go. Homework, you know?"

Anna clutched her books tighter and hurried away before Charity had the chance to stop her.

The Gilbert journals, huh? Maybe her ancestor wasn't as crazy as he seemed.

ooooo

Later that night, Charity hid herself away in the attic, on the hunt for Jonathan Gilbert's journals. Her sister was having Stefan Salvatore over for supper, and if there was one person she definitely did not want to see, it was him.

She could hear them downstairs, the soft murmur of conversation drifting through the floor as she sorted through boxes. Most were Christmas decorations, or childhood toys.

She moved another stack of decorations to the side, sucking in a breath of air at what hid behind them.

The newest boxes in the attic – her parents' things. She hadn't seen this stuff since the funeral, all those months ago.

That was the second worst day of her life, coming home from burying her parents only to have to pack up their belongings and shove them in a dark corner of the attic, as if they never existed.

The first worst day of her life, of course, was the day she became an orphan.

Charity opened the box nearest her with trembling hands and watery eyes.

It was mostly filled with her father's medical books, but on top lay an old photo album. The album's edges were torn and bent, and some of the pages inside were wrinkled with age and water damage. Charity flipped it open, skimming through the pages. The photos inside were as old and damaged as the album. She came to a stop on a page about halfway through, where a young man stood in a Confederate uniform, rifle tucked beneath one arm.

The Civil War… the same time Jonathan Gilbert had been alive.

Charity pulled out the album, tucking it under her arm and closing the box.

A few feet away, she finally found the boxes of family heirlooms. It took a few tries, but she eventually found her however-many-greats grandfather's journals tucked beneath an antique jewelry box. She pulled them out, stacking them on top of the album and climbing back down the ladder.

As she carried the stack of books back to her room, she heard the doorbell ring.

Just how many people had Elena invited?

Charity was glad when she finally made it back to her room, locking the door and spreading Jonathan's journals out on her bed.

From the very first page, the man sounded insane. He wrote about vampires lurking in every shadow, demons behind the kind faces of his neighbors.

But there was one thing Charity couldn't dismiss as insanity, at least, not without calling herself insane as well.

Jonathan Gilbert described the very thing that she had seen on the roof – eyes turning red, veins coming alive under skin, hypnotized victims doing whatever the monsters said.

Charity was so absorbed in the journals that she almost didn't hear the knock at her door.

"Charity Gilbert!"

The annoyed voice of her best friend startled her out of reverie.

"Caroline?" She wasn't supposed to be here.

Charity opened the door to find her best friend standing in a huff in the hall.

"I come all this way to see you, and you won't even come downstairs?"

Charity stepped out into the hall, closing her door securely behind her.

"Sorry, Care. I didn't know you were here," she said cheerfully, linking her arm with Caroline's and leading her downstairs, away from her room and the journals laying open on her bed.

The vampires would have to wait for another day.

Charity froze in shock as they reached the living room. Sitting innocently on the couch, chatting with her older sister, was Damon Salvatore.

Oh, hell.

Charity sat down in an armchair as far away from Damon as possible. Caroline pouted a little but didn't push it – Charity had made her opinion of him clear.

She shifted in her seat, uncomfortable being this close to the man. Besides that, she still wasn't sure what to think about this vampire business – was it true, or was she just as insane as her ancestor, and was now feeding off of his delusions?

Part of Charity didn't want to know, either way.

"I cannot believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team," Caroline said, drawing Charity from her thoughts. "Tyler must be seething. But good for you. Go for it."

"You made the team, Stefan? Congrats, I didn't even know you were trying out," Charity said. Fake it 'til you make it, right? At least Stefan didn't seem as bad as Caroline's new boyfriend.

Caroline laughed, "Yeah, well, Elena wasn't so lucky today. It's only because she missed summer camp. God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routines."

"I'll work with her," Bonnie interjected, her voice tense as she tried not to show her annoyance. "She'll get it."

Charity was glad Bonnie had volunteered. She knew she should've, Elena was her sister, after all, but she wasn't sure how to approach her after their argument. She wasn't sure she wanted to, honestly. Elena had been a bitch to her all summer, and then had the nerve to act like she was the bad guy for pointing it out.

Well, Charity definitely wasn't going to be the first one to apologize. Though with her sister's current "holier-than-thou" attitude, she wasn't sure Elena would, either.

"I guess we can put her in the back," Caroline conceded.

"You know," Damon said. "You just don't seem like the cheerleader type, Elena."

"Oh, it's just because her parents died. Yeah, I mean, she's just totally going through a blah phase. She used to be way more-"

"Caroline!" Charity interrupted, voice hard. "Can I talk to you? Upstairs, maybe?"

Charity stood up and left the room, trusting her friend to follow. She could hear the others continuing the conversation as she headed for the stairs.

"What the fuck, Care?" Charity growled as soon as the door to her room shut behind them.

"Look, maybe that was a little insensitive, but-"

"Insensitive? Wow, Caroline. I mean, I knew you could be a bitch sometimes, but you've never been cruel before. Did you forget, they were my parents, too? What is with you these days? You've been acting weird ever since the bonfire."

"Oh, fuck you, Charity. You know, maybe I have problems, too. It's like, ever since your parents died, you're the only one allowed to have issues. I'm sick of it! It's not like you even liked them, anyways. I don't get why you're so wound up over it!"

"Care!"

"No!" the blonde yelled. "I'm going home. Just leave me alone, Charity."

Caroline stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Charity moved to follow her but stopped at the doorway, unsure. She could still hear Caroline stomping down the stairs, yelling at Damon to hurry up so they could leave.

"Good job, Charity," she thought to herself. "You've successfully pushed away everyone who cares about you."

ooooo

September 13th, 2009

Charity lay on her bed, early morning sunlight shining on the journal in her hands. For the last few pages, her ancestor had been ranting about finally finding proof of vampires living in Mystic Falls, about his plan to capture them with a compass he had created and burn them alive on holy ground – the old Fell church.

Charity flipped through the next few pages, where Jonathan had sketched the faces of townspeople who he suspected to be vampires.

She turned to the last page of drawings and gasped. Sketched in detail on one side of the page was Anna Zhu, her dark hair tucked neatly under a bonnet, and on the other was-

Elena?

[AN: no beta we die like illiterates

-I apologize for the long wait, I started a new job and then school started back (and college is killer, my friends).

-I've made some very minor artistic changes to the story, mostly for readability, because sometimes it's difficult to translate tv actions into writing actions, but also things like the Gilbert journals being in the attic instead of her parent's old room, as well as including sketches that weren't there in the show. Just assume things like that are differences caused by a new character being inserted into the plot, if you need justification.

- Finally, thank you so much to all who followed, faved, and reviewed. I've never gotten such a great response to my writing before, so it means a lot! And a special shout-out to BrookeWorm3 and Riddicks-gurl1988 for being my first reviewers! I appreciate your comments so much and they really drove me to get this chapter written and published!

Much love and appreciation, Bohemian Bird]