sad beautiful tragic ~ elena gilbert

xi. damon salvatore

"What are you doing out here?" Jeremy asked as he caught eyes on Tyler Lockwood.

"Oh, I heard you, man. The car alarm. Besides, you're not the first one to come look at the famous window. We all did it and we all took our shot." Tyler explained to a grossed out Jeremy.

"Dude, Elena's dead. I'm sorry, but it's true. Nothing anyone did to her was any different than what happens to every girl at every high school. She just wanted attention and leaving those tapes... that's a fucked-up thing to do. No one deserves that. Except maybe that psycho." Tyler exclaimed.

"Tyler Down, that crazy kid who reminds you of Damon Salvatore, the one who left a couple of summers ago," Jeremy questioned.

"The same one. So, listen, take your shot and pass those things on, man. You'll feel better." Tyler said.

"Elena was my sister, not my girlfriend or lover. Get that in your head, dumb-ass. I didn't hold any feelings for her." Jeremy yelled. 

Not wanting to deal with Tyler's crap, Jeremy re-entered the Grill. A feeling of dread filling him. Yet, he was scared. Scared of what he was about to hear.

"Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to watch someone? To invade someone's privacy? Do you wonder what secrets you might uncover? What skeletons you might turn up? Well, for the next one, you are about to find out. A4 on your maps, kids. Now don't say you're too afraid or that you don't feel comfortable doing this kind of thing because guess what? Yes, you spy on people every day. We are always watching someone. Following someone. And being followed. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram: they've made us a society of stalkers and we love it."

"You're sister's officially lost it," Damon exclaimed. But deep inside he knew exactly what Elena was talking about. He just hoped he wouldn't have to explain it himself.

"Damon Salvatore, you're a lying piece of crap. Tyler Down, an aspiring photographer, a creep. You humiliated me, you ruined me. You didn't love me, I barely knew you. you claimed that you saw me, most people, you put a camera on them and they smile. They pose. They basically fake it. That you don't see them, you see their mask. Whenever your camera was on me, I was different. Like, real, and you fell in love with that. Real. So, yeah, you took pictures of me. You were my personal stalker, you would stand outside my window, your eyes lingering on me."

"Like I said, we're a society of stalkers. We're all guilty. We all look. We all think things we're ashamed of. The only difference is Tyler or Damon, whatever you prefer, you got caught. You made me paranoid, so now I'm giving that to you. Maybe I'll never know why you did what you did, but I can make you understand how it felt to be me. That's why I'm outside your window. And after people hear this, I bet I won't be the only one. Thing is even though you stopped coming around, I never stopped feeling afraid. So what could I do after that? First the school, then my house, even my own bedroom. Nowhere was safe. You took all that away."

You took all that away. The words ringing through Damon's ear. Elena was right. 

He was a monster.