Redemption

Prologue

It will be fun, she said. You deserve to have a good time, she said. We'll have a blast, she said. Don't be a stick in the mud, she said.

Why I decided to believe that bullshit is beyond me. I should've just stayed in my dorm room, wallowing in self pity as I curl up on my bed in old sweats while watching the vampire diaries. Shitty show, I know, but all the mindless drama was a good way to make you forget your own problems.

But no. I let stupid Heather convince me to come to a stupid party. Again. She said it would be a fun girls day. She said she missed hanging out, just the two of us. Like old times. Only to ditch me moments after entering the frat house. Typical Heather.

She always did this. She always begs me to go out, saying stuff like she misses me, but ditches me moments later. She always made promises she never kept. And I always let her get away with it. Stupid me.

Why did I have to be such a goddamn pushover?! Why couldn't I push back?! Why did I always let others dictate the way I live my life?! Like Katherine.

Sighing, I make my way through the sweaty crowd of drunk college kids towards the bathroom. How could I compare myself to Katherine?

She's a bitch who chose herself over everyone else. Granted Klaus practically took her life away when he tried to kill her for a curse then forced her into hiding when he put a bounty on her head when she turned. Oh, now I see where that came from.

Our lives were torn away from us before we even got the chance to live them. Her by Klaus and me by my overbearing parents who do nothing but tear me down in hopes of making me stronger.

If only Katherine and I could meet, I'm sure we'd be able to tell each other exactly how to handle our situations. I could teach her how to not make such dumb decisions - honestly, I'm suprised she survived as long as she did - and she could teach me how to get away with and deal with all my problems. I wanted to be a survivor too, but alas, all I could ever seem to do was drown.

Drown in parental pressures. Drown in my studies. Drown in social pressures. Drown in fantasies. Drown in self pity.

I push my way into the tiny bathroom, metaphorically gasping for air. Once inside I lock the door behind me. I make my way over to the sink, turning on the water. I gently splash the water on my face, hoping it will somehow help me get out of my own head and back to the real world.

I slowly look up into the mirror and gasp. It wasn't me staring back at me. Through the glass, I saw Nina Dobrev in some 1800s nightgown get up. Behind her was a cute little Victorian style room. Creepy.

I blink and she blinks right back. I touch my cheek, she touches hers. I flick my hair off my shoulder, she does too. Great, now I'm drowning in delusions too. Maybe I should get tested for schizophrenia.

I turn to leave the bathroom and leave this craziness behind me, but when I turn from the mirror my jaw drops. I'm not in some dingy little bathroom anymore.

What the actual hell?! I turn back to the mirror and Nia Dobrev's face is still looking back at me. This time instead of turning to look at the room I only saw through the mirror moments ago, I look down at my feet. It takes every fiber of my being not to scream.

I'm wearing a nightgown! I lift up my hands and now they are no longer a sickly pale color, they are now slim tan fingers like those belonging to the women who played the Petrova doppelgängers.

I look back up and examine myself. I look down, noticing the necklace around my neck. I reached up and clutched it with my right hand. It looked...exactly like Katherine's daylight necklace back in 1864. The one Emily Bennett had made for her.

When I said I thought Katherine and I should meet... this isn't what I had in mind.