"Hello, may I help you?" I ask the young man standing in front of me.
He seems to not have been expecting the question because he jolts backward in surprise. When his eyes meet mine, he gives a sheepish smile. "Um, yes," he says, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm looking for a ring for my girlfriend. I'm planning on proposing to her tomorrow."
A smile spreads across my face, and a feeling of delight passes over me. No matter how many people walk into this jewelry store to buy wedding rings, the fluttery feeling I get in my stomach when I hear people talk about love never diminishes. I can't help but hope that I'll find love one day. In order for that to happen, though, my luck would really have to change.
"That's lovely," I say in answer to the man. "What type of wedding ring do you think your girlfriend would like? We do have rings with real diamonds. The rings with diamonds come in one carot or two carots. The bands come in silver or gold," I tell him all of the measurements and styles available.
"Um, well, I," the man stutters, making me think that I may have overwhelmed him a little bit.
"Does your girlfriend like more extravagant or simpler things?" I ask, attempting to make the decision easier for him.
"Simple, I suppose," the man responds after a few seconds, during which he looked to be deep in thought. "She was born on a farm."
I can feel my smile returning as I place a comforting hand on the man's back. "Well then, my friend, I think I know exactly what you need."
My feet move so fast that I fear I may trip on the rug as I race to the back of the store. When I reach my destination, my eyes immediately land on what I knew would be here. A beautiful wedding ring with a silver band and a one carot diamond is laying in the middle of a display cage. It even sparkles in the sun when I take it out and place it in a box.
"How about this one?" I ask the man, and I know it's the one when his face lights up.
"It's perfect!" he declares, and after checking the price, he hands me the correct amount of money.
As he leaves the store, I happily sigh. "Another satisfied customer," I say to myself. My attention suddenly snaps to the clock hanging on the wall, and I realize that it's already past three in the afternoon, which means that my shift is officially over.
Since the weather is beautiful today, I walked to my job this morning, which means that I get the pleasure of walking home as well. The main things that I notice on the walk back are that the flowers have completely bloomed and that there are a lot more birds than there have been in the past few months, indicating that summer has truly begun. A few puddles remain from the rainstorm a couple of days ago, but besides that, everything is completely dry thanks to the hot sun.
A small pond is located off to the the side of the road, which has been there for as long as I can remember. Since I grew up in Minnesota, I'm used to a lot of lakes and ponds. They only add to the
beautiful scenery.
As I pass the pond, my house comes into view. It's the most prominent house in the area because of its bright blue coat of paint and its large balcony. Whenever someone comes to visit, I always joke and tell them that they just have to look for the house that reminds them of a bluejay. I've never had anyone tell me that they had trouble finding my house after I gave them that description.
When I finally make it to my house, I grab my key, which I keep in my outdoor lamp, and unlock my door. I don't care what anyone says. Keeping your key in a potted plant or underneath a welcome mat is just plain obvious. The people who do that are practically waving the burglars over to their houses.
Millie, my fluffy white cat, immediately greets me as I enter the house, entwining herself around my feet. "Hey, girl," I talk to her, reaching down to stroke her back. I'm rewarded with the deep rich sound of her purring. "I bet you're hungry, huh?"
Millie waits patiently by my feet as I fill up her bowl with cat food. That's one of the things I love about her. She's very tolerant of my personality and overall quirkiness. She's also very friendly, loves to be pet, and never hisses or bites. "Hey, let's take your bowl into the living room, so you can eat while I watch my show," I suggest, and I smile when Millie simply follows me.
Making sure to take off my shoes as to not drag mud onto my furniture, I flop down onto the couch with a dramatic sigh. As much as I love my job, it can be tiring and painful since I have to stand all day. I grab the remote and scroll through Netflix until I find my all time favorite show: The Vampire Diaries. The Originals and Legacies are fantastic as well, but there's something about the original show that just hits differently. After debating for a straight five minutes about which episode I want to watch, I finally click on the first episode of season two because everyone knows that seasons two and three are the best.
I must have managed to get lost in my thoughts, which may or may not have been about a certain British hybrid, because when I snap out of my daydreaming, my TV screen is stuck on the loading screen. "Uh, seriously?" I whisper to myself in annoyance. That annoyance soon turns to fear when the cords connected to my TV suddenly spark, my entire TV goes black, and the lights to my house flicker off. "Ahh!" I give a quick shout, totally not expecting that to happen. After staring at the black screen in shock for a good few seconds, I make my ay of of the couch. "Damnit," I mutter as I leave my comfy place behind.
I'm not a mechanic or an electrician, but it makes sense to check the fuse box first, so I head to the basement. When I get down there, I notice immediately that something is wrong. The outside of the fuse box looks charred, almost like a lightening bolt hit it. Thankfully, the inside looks perfectly fine, and to my utter relief, when I flick the switch up, the lights turn back on.
"Well, that was weird," I mutter to myself. If anyone were to call me out on the fact that I'm going up the stairs faster than I came down, then I would deny it until death. It's not like I believe in ghosts, but after watching Supernatural twenty times, it's hard to not be a little paranoid.
"Meow!" the loud noise startles me when I reach the top of the wooden stairs. I glance over to see Millie watching me intently as if she can see into my soul.
"It's alright now, Millie," I gently assure her, reaching down to pick her up. She lies very compliant in my arms and allows me to move her without any problems. "The lights are back on, and we'll be able to watch our show without any further problems."
I blanch in complete shock when I cross the threshold into the living room. I'm totally appalled to find that the TV is indeed playing The Vampire Diaries, but the scenes are going way too fast, and they're all wacky, almost as if all of the episodes are playing at once. What really surprises me, though, is when the TV screen starts spinning so fast that it seems like it's coming out of the TV. "Hang on, Millie. I've got you," I declare, clutching her tighter to my chest. My vision starts turning blurry, and then all I see is black.
I must have lost consciousness at some point because the next thing I know, I'm waking up to Millie licking my face. Since I'm still a little disoriented, I slowly sit up and immediately notice that we're in a grassy field. What the hell?! Did someone drug and kidnap me? Okay, don't panic! I take a few calming breaths before glancing around to see if I can find anything that might indicate where we are.
At first, all I see are trees and grass. There are a few colorful flowers scattered across the bright green grass, a couple of birds, and a road close by, but none of this helps tell me where I am. The sun is mercilessly beating down, and I'm half convinced that I'm going to pass out again. Just when I'm about to give up hope and lie down in the grass to await my death, the sun reflects off of something in the distance.
From my place in the grass, it looks like a piece of metal. "Come on, girl," I say, calling Millie over and picking her up. "Let's go check that out." As I walk toward the metal thing, I realize that most of the grass is moist. I can tell because my once white socks are now a combination of brown and green.
The piece of metal is slowly gaining a shape as I trudge closer and closer to it. Eventually, I can make out that it's a sign. Great, that must mean that there's a town near here! Maybe I can grab some food. I instinctively reach toward my pocket to grab my wallet, and a sinking feeling forms in my stomach when my hand wraps around thin air. I left my wallet on the counter at home! Now what am I supposed to do?
"Meow!" Millie suddenly jumps out of my arms and races ahead, keeping near to the side of the road. She stops in front of the sign. "What is it, girl?" I ask, approaching the place where she's clawing at the sign.
I glance up thinking that the sign will say a speed limit or how many miles away the closest town is. Instead, by whole body tenses up when I read what's on it. Located right in front of me is a sign that says: Welcome to Mystic Falls Virginia.
This can't be happening! This has to be a dream! My first thought is to pinch myself, and when that fails to wake me up, I slap myself across the face. A stinging pain immediately spreads across my face. Okay, so not a dream. Maybe one of my friends is playing a prank on me. This would be one hell of a prank, though. I don't even think there's a place to hide cameras out here.
I'm startled out of my thoughts when a police car suddenly comes driving up. To my utter shock, it comes to a stop right next to me, and a woman exits the vehicle. She sort of looks familiar, but that's impossible since I've obviously never been here before.
"Ariana, there you are! I've been looking for you everywhere! Jenna has been worried sick!" the woman states in a firm voice as she continues to approach me. My mouth drops open in shock once she's finally close enough for me to get a good view of her. Standing in front of me is none other than Marguerite MacIntyre. Okay, now I know for sure this is a prank!
"Wow, I can't believe I'm actually meeting you!" I exclaim, walking up to her. "I'm a huge fan!"
"Um, are you okay, Ariana?" Marguerite asks, looking genuinely confused, which makes me confused as well. A look of recognition crosses over her features, and she sighs. "Are you on drugs?"
"What?! Of course not!" I'm completely aghast! Why in the world would she think I'm on drugs? Also, how come she doesn't recognize her own name? Unless... "Elizabeth Forbes?" I tentatively ask.
"Are you alright, Ariana? Perhaps I should take you to the hospital," Liz suggests.
I just continue to stand still and stare at her until I realize how much of a creep I must look like. "Um, no, I'm okay. Could you just drop me off home?" I question, finally coming out of my stupor. I figure that since she seems to know me pretty well, despite whether this is real or not, I must live somewhere in Mystic Falls.
"Sure, sweetheart, jump in," she says, indicating toward her police car. I make sure to grab Millie before climbing in behind her. I catch Liz watching me in the car mirror, but when I look up, she simply acts as if she was looking at the road.
The car ride is quiet and super awkward. The entire time I'm going through possibilities of what might be happening, but there's only one answer that actually makes sense. After about a ten minute drive, Liz pulls up in front of a very familiar looking house. I recognize it the moment I step out of the car. "Thank you for the ride," I tell Liz, who gives a brief nod before driving away.
"Ariana!" a woman's voice suddenly calls out to me. I turn around just in time to catch a glimpse of a look-alike Aunt Jenna before the woman is engulfing me in a hug. "Don't you ever do that again!" she harshly reprimands, slightly pulling away from the embrace.
"Uh, I'm sorry... Aunt Jenna. I went for a walk and lost track of time," I quickly come up with a suitable lie.
"For two days?!" she exclaims.
"Um, I fell asleep outside?" I try to say, but it comes out as a question.
Jenna shakes her head in disappointment. "If you're going to lie, at least do it well. Where did this cutie come from?" she asks, noticing Millie for the first time.
"Oh, uh, I found her on the side of the road. She must be a stray. I thought that I could keep her as my pet," I lie again. At least this one is more believable. I've never been happier that Millie isn't wearing her collar.
"Okay," Jenna says after a moment of contemplation," you can keep the cat, but only if you promise to take care of it and to never run off again." I quickly shake my head in agreement. "Alright, then. Don't think we're done talking about your behavior, missy!" she continues, and I gulp in fear. "That can wait, though. I'm sure Elena and Jeremy are dying to know that you're safe," she says, beginning to lead me into the house.
I follow her, albeit still in complete shock. There's no doubt in my mind now. Millie and I have somehow been transported into The Vampire Diaries. I'm now Ariana Gilbert, Elena and Jeremy's nonexistent sister. Well, I guess I'm going to have to start believing in ghosts.