Starting over in Mystic Falls

Chapter 8

Ebony

I wake up to the brightest light shining directly into my eyes as i open them slowly, groaning when a pang of pain shoots though my entire body making me wince.

"What the-" I grumble this before my vision clears and i see a grinning Caroline standing at the foot of my...hospital bed....? "Where am i?" I grumble again, my throat feeling extremely sore on the inside and strangely on the outside.

"Your in the hospital!" She chirps, being way to happy for me to handle right now, i sigh sitting up. "Stefan kinda took a chunk out of you when he bit you, and Damon flatly refused to feed you his blood, and he said, and i quote, 'Knowing Ebony, she'd get herself killed and turned into a vampire'" As she says this she puts on a manly voice, that didn't at all sound like Damon, earning a sigh of annoyance to escape my dry lips. "What a jerk right? And i cant help but feel kinda responsible for happened to you because i didn't come with you, so now i just feel so guilty and i need you to make me feel better" She sighs dramatically and plonks herself onto my bed, with a pout on her face, but I'm so shocked that i just stare at her in disbelief, earning a confused glance from her. "What?" She asks me tilting her head.

"I'm lying in a hospital bed and your asking me to make you feel better because you feel bad..?" The shock and anger is clear in my voice i shock myself. "Your ridiculous!" I exclaim this, throwing my hands up in frustration.

"Your mad.." She trails of nervously.

"Well duh!" I exclaim, my voice breaking slightly making me wince and realize I'm actually still in the hospital. "I'm mad because you honestly thought that i was going to see Damon for some kind of booty a call right after he snapped your neck!" I snap this and as if just on cue the one and only Damon Salvatore walks into the room making me even more angry. "And you!" i yell pointing directly at him. "I wouldn't even be in this hospital bed if you where just straight up with me and told me the truth about the crazy, scary best friend eating vampire living with you!!" i take a deep breath, trying to calm myself a little before i blow a blood vessel or something.

"Oh, did i forget to mention that? My bad" Damon asks me, sarcasm and cockiness laced in his voice. Just before i go to say something more Caroline cuts in with a scoff at what Damon just said.

"Really?" She looks at him now, with the 'seriously' look on her face. "Your gonna be sarcastic right now?" Scoffing again she rolls her eyes at him and turns to face me. "Is he serious?" She asks pointing to him.

"If we are talking about being sarcastic here, you might want to sit this out Caroline..." I trail of rolling my eyes at her.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" She asks me, her voice filled with outrage but with a hint of jokeyness.

"Hmm, well does the name 'dodgy Damon' come to mind?" i ask smirking when she looks away embarrassed.

"Wait, dodgy Damon?" Damon asks confused.

"Shut up!!" Me and Caroline exclaim at the same time to Damon, who holds his hand up in surrender and walks out, muttering something about how he will never understand 'us women' leaving me and Caroline just looking at each other.

"This is all my fault, Ebony. I should of came with you" Caroline sighs again.

"Just stop Caroline..." I whisper. "Stop making this about you and just put yourself in my shoes" I say this softly, not at all wanting to upset her anymore. "My best friend, the man I thought would be the last person to ever want to hurt me, put me in the freaking hospital by drinking my blood. If that isn't messed up then i don't know what is" Sighing sadly, i look up to Caroline. "So don't feel bad for not being there, feel glad" Finishing, i wait for Caroline to say something but she doesn't, she just hugs me.

"I'm so sorry Ebony"

"Its fin-" but i get cut of, when a clearly angry dad slams the door and looks down at me breathing heavily as though he had just been running.

"Ebony Gilbert, you have a lot of explaining to do" He grumbles angrily, but sighing with relief as he sees me awake.

"I guess ill just leave you guys to it" Caroline speaks quietly as she leaves the room, leaving me with my dad.

"How could you have done this to me ebony?! After we've just lost your mother, your already back into the hospital!" He's shouting at me now, but i don't care about that, i care about what hes just said, that absolute asshole.

"How could i do this to you? Your unbelievable, do you honestly think i did this to myself?" I exclaim outraged when he nods. "I didn't do this" I spit the sentence out of my mouth still completely outraged that he thinks all this was my fault. "I would never do that to you again dad" I speak quieter now, not wanting everyone in the ward to know i tried to kill myself.

"How do i know you wont? I'm still grieving and your being so selfish, yet again!" But this time, when he speaks, his voice is slurred and slow.

Hes drunk.

He used to always do this to me. After my mom died it seemed as though that he would find his comfort by downing bottle after bottle of some kind of alcohol, and i was always the idiot left to clean up the mess. He always used to tell me that all the answers to his problems would be at the bottom of the bottle and when he opened another he would just look up at me sadly and say "It didn't have the answers i wanted.."

This town was supposed to help us, it was supposed to help him.

"Dad.." i trail off looking at my hands sadly. "I think you should leave Daddy, please" I piratically beg, sounding pathetic, even to myself.

"Leave? I decide when i leave!" I flinch at his powerfull and sharp tone and shrink back into the hospital bed in fear, before the beautiful Damon Salvatore bursts in, his face full of anger.

"Okay buddy, I'm sick of you talking to your daughter like crap" He talks quiet and threatening as he stands protectively at the bottom of my bed, hiding me from my Fathers painful gaze.

"Excuse me-" My dad starts to speak before Damon cuts him of abruptly.

"Go home, sober up, and try to be the best damn farther you can be" Damon compels him quickly, but i know that he wanted to do more than just compel him.

"Thank you" I whisper, so grateful that Damon was here for me.

"Its alright" He smirks, as he walks towards my bedside. "How you feeling?" He asks me his voice full of concern.

"Well, my head hurts, that's for damn sure" I chuckle quietly, rubbing my temples.

"You sure? You seem...distant?" Damon's blue eyes look deep into me, and the look forces me to sigh, knowing that I'm going to finally open up to what really happened the night my mother died.

"I've been keeping this bottled up inside of me since my mother died, but meeting you and Stefan showed me that i wasn't completely crazy..." Pausing, i look up to him, making sure i have his full attention before i carry on with my story. "I watched my mother get killed Damon... And i told everyone, the police, my dad, that it was an animal attack because i knew that if i told them the truth that they would have never believed me" I sigh again, not even believing i am saying this out loud.

"Whats the truth?" Damon asks me, his head tilted slightly as he listened carefully.

"The truth is that it wasn't a animal that killed my mom, It was a vampire" I state this looking up into Damon's blue eyes hard. "I want to find it and kill it, and your going to help me"