Always and Forever: a new life.

From the start.

‘blinding light, screaming, pain, golden, black’

Hope woke up, confusing rose in her chest as she tried to comprehend what just happened with, she has very little memory of how she got here but slowly and surely it was trickling back in…the first thing she could remember was the pain of it all, the feeling she was being ripped apart from the inside, then the grief that caused it, the harshness in her throat made her feel like she hadn’t spoken in years or maybe she had been screaming she didn’t know. It was nightfall already, that couldn’t be right, it was midday when she left the Salvatore boarding school, she wanted to leave forever, get out of their lives, the second she realised no one remembered her it felt like a new chapter, a new chance, but she couldn’t , she stuck around and now everything was a mess, because of her, again, that’s why she left. But now she was in the middle of a quarry she barely recognised next to a forest with no idea how she got here.

Half of her never wanted to get up, half of her knew she should go back, so she did. Getting up off the ground she could feel every bone in her body ace with pain like she had never known before  “where the hell am I ?’ she questioned out loud to nobody, sighing she started walking out of the forested area to look for the road.

After some time she found her way, the gleaming black sky shone on the pavement casting a glittering path ahead towards the town she knew as Mystic Falls. She was cold, she just realised she didn’t bring her jacket with her, or anything. “God. Damn it.” She huffed frustrated, and just then a police car drove up, “Hey, you shouldn’t be here out so late. Your parents must be worried.”
A blonde woman with spiky hair rolled down her window, her expressions showing concern “oh I’m okay, I just didn’t realise the time.” “Come on in, I’ll drop you off. I’ve got nothing better to do” she said kindly “oh no it’s fine really you don’t have to-” “Get in. I’ve got a kid your age and I would never let her walk almost forty miles back into town” she smiled.

With a little bit of thought weighing her options she said yes smiling back at the officer, she was cold she couldn’t help it, might as well take the better option than walking “thanks a lot you know I kinda got a little lost.” “oh it’s fine really, my names Elizabeth,” “I’m Hope.” She smiled “where should I drop you off hope?”
“I’m not sure yet to be honest,” “fought with your parents?” she laughed softly a little humored at that “its complicated” Hope couldn’t help but think of Alaric, her only sort of living guardian “You say it like you have experience in that department” she joked back lightly.

They were just now entering the town, Hope couldn’t help but feel it looked different “I do.” She chuckled “My daughter Caroline, she’s a lively one, I love her but you know kids get themselves in trouble sometimes. She makes me worry about her a lot but maybe that’s just because I’m a single mom.” “Oh? that’s sweet, I miss that, you know? my mother died a few years ago.” “Oh honey I’m so sorry,” Said the officer Elizabeth, but now that Hope looked closer she realised Elizabeth was wearing a Sheriff’s uniform. A confused look took on her face, from what she last remembered Sheriff Donovan was the town’s Sheriff. “Hey, Elizabeth-”

A crackle of radio cut her off “Medical emergency at the Gilbert residence, 2104 Maple Street, can anyone respond? The ambulance is already on its way” “that’s strange” she mumbled furrowing her eyebrows not having heard Hope say anything “Oh I’m so sorry honey, I need to take this. Is that okay?" Elizabeth said, eyes widening with regret “Yeah no, it’s no problem, my home is close by I can walk from here.” “Are you sure? I can pass you off to one of my deputies, they’ll drop you off.” “No it’s fine.” “Well, go home straight away it’s dark.” Elizabeth looked like she lost a battle she was having in her head seeming unsure of leaving hope here like this, Hope smiled “Its okay Sheriff, I’ll be fine.” “Call me Liz.” The woman smiled back ‘Liz?’ Hope wondered, this day was getting stranger and stranger.

As she drove off Hope’s confusion took hold of her again, ‘Elizabeth’ ‘Liz’ ‘the Gilbert residence?’ Jeremy Gilbert didn’t live in Mystic falls anymore but the street Liz drove off to was the old Gilbert family residence, only it was now the ‘Salvatore family residence’ ever since Damon and Elena Salvatore moved there. It could be a Malivore related thing, or supernatural, nothing strange is ever an accident in this town, Hope thought to herself, there was only one way to know….

Upon arrival at Maple Street, Hope kept a safe distance from the home she was spying on, watching from a distance. Her feet hitting the gravel lightly making a rough sound, flashes of red and blue lights illuminated the dark road. The ambulance had already arrived, so had Liz and a couple of her deputies, she saw someone being carted out of the home covered in blood and Elena Salvatore tearful running behind the medics, she looked panicked with her phone still in her hand, and in that moment Hope realised she also looked a lot younger than before. Just as she was taking in this revelation she gasped in disbelief.

What she saw next, she couldn't accept, paralysed in shock Hope watched, a man with blond hair and tall stature run up to her pulling her in an embrace, a man she knew to be dead, someone who founded the same school was going back to, the same person she saw in her textbook and on plaques around the school, who’s diaries she read….

Hope saw Stefan Salvatore alive and well, holding Elena Gilbert as the medics lifted up John Gilbert into the ambulance.