1. My New Home
This was going to do me some good, I could just feel it. I needed this, I needed change. I needed to be away from home. Home…
Don’t think about home right now, I scolded myself as I kept my eyes on the endless highway in front of me. You’re not going home; you’re moving somewhere far away from home…well, not really far away. It was true, I wasn’t really moving far away from home. Really, it was about an hour or two drive to Virginia from Maryland.
Maryland had been my home for almost nineteen years. It had always seemed like a nice, harmless place, especially where I lived. Neighbors were friendly, so you didn’t have to worry about them keeping dark secrets from you or anything.
At least that’s what Maryland felt like to me for only fourteen years of my life. The last four years hadn’t felt so nice. The memory was too painful to be brought up again. For the sake of my sanity, safety, and others’ safety in other cars around me, I didn’t dare recall the memory. I could think about it when I’d get to Elena’s place.
I looked at the clock in my car. It read 3:25 pm. I had left around one, so I had to be getting off the highway soon and into a little town named Mystic Falls. That’s where my new home was now. I was going to be living with my cousin, Elena Gilbert. She never mentioned if Jeremy, her younger brother, was still living there with her. He probably was, she just probably forgot to mention him. I didn’t remember her mentioning Aunt Jenna either.
I tuned out the music that was playing in the car as I entered Virginia. This was going to be different. The residents in the state probably had an accent; I wouldn’t be able to adjust. It was okay if I heard the accent from one person, that’s how it had been in high school before I graduated—not being able to adjust. I wasn’t sure how I managed to get myself out of the house every day since that traumatic day back in freshman year. Graduating high school in light of the horrible event seemed like quite an accomplishment.
Once I was finally off the seemingly endless highway, fast food places, hotels, and gas stations were all over the place. As tiring as driving was, I couldn’t stop at a hotel. I had made prior arrangements, and I wasn’t about to turn them down. After all, how often was it that I got the chance to stay with my cousin who felt like a long lost sister to me?
Thank God I had the GPS telling me where to go and turn, because if I had a regular map with me, it would’ve taken me another two or three hours just to get to Virginia. I’m very bad at directions. I got that from my dad. Having a bad sense of direction can be hereditary.
As soon as I entered Mystic Falls, I immediately felt the presence of the small town hit me. It was a quaint little town, a perfect place for me. I didn’t need to go to high school anymore. Besides, it was August anyway, but the weather wasn’t exactly cooling off like I wished it would. I knew I’d be with Elena for a long time, so I packed practically my entire closet in my car.
Elena. The last time I saw her was four years ago, not too long after the tragedy happened. All family I knew of came down to support me. That time had been dark for me, and still to this day, I couldn’t thank my family enough for being there for me. I wasn’t sure what I would’ve done if they hadn’t been there for me.
I wondered how things were with Elena; I hadn’t really talked to her after she came to comfort me four years ago. Knowing her, she had probably fit into high school easily. She was that kind of girl who had the looks and personality that attracted lots of people, whether it was from guys wanting to date her or girls wanting to be her best friend. Yes, that how Elena was.
As for me, I wasn’t like that.
I used to be somewhat outgoing after adjusting to high school. I was still nervous around guys so I kept out of their way. At that time, that was the only problem with me: my shyness around guys. But when that horrible day happened…my life changed. I changed. I became more reserved around strangers, even people my friends tried to introduce me to. I couldn’t open up to them, because I didn’t want to.
I got the feeling that the only people I’d really get along with would be Elena and Jeremy during my time here at Mystic Falls.
When I glanced at the GPS, it indicated that my journey was almost over. I breathed a sigh of relief. I’d finally be able to get out of the car and move around a bit. My ass was getting a little sore from sitting in the driver’s seat for a few hours; I wasn’t sure how I withstood the aching for as long as I did.
When I finally found the driveway to the Gilberts’ residence, I could tell the house wasn’t brand new. It didn’t look weathered, but just the style of its exterior made me try to guess how old the house was. It was a bright white, looking as if it had just been painted not too long ago. The front porch was connected to the roof by columns. Shrubs made a small blockade in front of the porch in some places. Now I wondered just how big and old the house would look like on the inside.
I cut off the engine, climbing out of the car, observing the house at a somewhat closer distance. I was going to have to get used to this image, because this was my new home. I headed for the trunk of my car when the creaking of the porch door made my head snap towards the porch.
“Faith!” Elena chirped, hopping down the stairs. She ran to me, practically tackling me onto the sidewalk in front of her house. She laughed as she squeezed me. I didn’t remember ever seeing Elena so happy in all my life.
When I pulled away, I could tell she grew over the years. She had the height advantage on me by two inches. Her hair stayed straight, near her elbows and still remained the same dark brown. I looked at her doe eyes—that’s what they looked like to me. She didn’t seem to gain any weight over the years, but I never expected her to. Elena didn’t seem like the kind of girl who would let herself go; it would take a lot for that to happen to a girl like her.
“Since when are you so surprised to see me?” I joked as I wiggled out of her grip. “You sounded a bit uneasy on the phone when I talked to you.”
It was true. When I had called Elena and asked if I could move in, she hesitated to give me permission to. At first, she wasn’t sure if it was a good idea, but she couldn’t resist me pleading to move in. After all, how often was it that a cousin she hadn’t seen in ages decided to call one day asking to move in with her? My grandparents kind of pushed me into going to Mystic Falls even though I felt bad about leaving them. At least I promised I’d visit them whenever I could find the time to.
“That was then. This is now,” she said smoothly. She looked me over. “You seem to have changed a bit.”
“It’s because I’m almost bones,” I sighed, slumping my shoulders. “I know.”
Ever since the incident, my eating habits changed. It wasn’t that I had been afraid to eat, I just never felt in the mood to eat anything. My grandparents didn’t realize I wasn’t eating for a long time until my grandmother caught me throwing away vegetables. Ever since then, they’d been watching me, making sure that I ate what I said I did. I couldn’t get away with lying to them.
“Now I’m determined to fix that,” Elena said. “But first, I think you need to get settled in.”
I opened the trunk of my car. Elena carried most of my baggage, which I didn’t feel to be really necessary, but she insisted. As I heaved my one duffel bag into the house, I was immediately face-to-face with a stairwell and a small hall that led to the kitchen. Upstairs was probably where all the bedrooms and bathrooms were.
“I don’t know what you lived in,” Elena called as she came behind me, “so sorry if it’s not top notch.”
“I think it’s perfect,” I said politely. In truth, it wasn’t really perfect, but it was good enough for me. After all, I wasn’t hoping to live in a mansion. I just wanted to get away from Maryland. “Where is everybody?”
“Jeremy’s upstairs still. I told him you were coming today.”
“What did you tell him to do? Clean his room?” I teased.
“Funny,” Jer’s voice rang out.
I would’ve run up the stairs to hug him, but he got to me first the moment he got down and off the bottom step. He made me drop my duffel bag on the floor as he spun me around.
“Okay, put me down,” I pleaded. Jeremy laughed and set me on my feet. For a kid who was only sixteen, he sure as hell didn’t look it. He looked as old as Elena and I. Jeremy and Elena could’ve easily been identical twins, only Jer was younger than her. Jeremy had the same dark hair and dark eyes as his sister. “One, two…where’s Aunt Jenna?” I scanned what I could of the house in search of her.
Elena and Jeremy exchanged a look. Something was up. They knew where Aunt Jenna was, and it didn’t seem like it was any place good.
“What?” I asked hesitantly. Elena looked at me softly, like she was about ready to tell me bad news. A knot formed in my stomach. I didn’t even stay here for five minutes and already I had bad news coming my way. “What happened to her?”
“I should’ve told you, but I didn’t want you to go through any more than you already were,” Elena said carefully, putting her hands in her back pockets of her jeans. “Jenna’s gone, Faith.”
“What do you mean ‘gone’?” My voice was a squeak. My heart thudded painfully against my ribs, waiting to take the bad news head on.
“She’s…dead.”
It was like I had been struck with a battering ram. I staggered to the stairs’ railing, having to support myself with it. My other hand ran through my wavy, dirty blonde hair.
Aunt Jenna was—was dead? When did this happen? How did this happen? How come nobody bothered to tell me before? Did my grandparents know and not say anything to me to try and not hurt me more, like Elena had attempted to?
“Faith,” Jeremy murmured. I was so stuck in shock that I hadn’t even heard him come to my side. “I think you better sit down.”
Jer guided me onto the closest step I could sit on. My body quaked and I buried into Jeremy. How many more relatives were going to die? Was Elena or Jeremy next? Was I?
“H-how come you didn’t tell me this before?” I looked at Elena, horrorstruck by the news.
“I was debating on whether or not to, but I didn’t want you to freak out.” She bit her bottom lip nervously.
“I am now!” I buried my head into my hands. Tears spilled over my eyes. So far, the visit to Mystic Falls wasn’t what I hoped it to be.
“I’m really sorry,” Elena whimpered.
“What happened to her?” I sniffed, peering up at my cousin.
“She was walking late at night in the woods. There was a hunter nearby who thought he heard an animal. He shot at her without even thinking to look.”
“How stupid can you get?” I snarled lowly.
“He’s serving a lot of years for it, if it makes you feel any better.”
“It really doesn’t. It can’t bring her back.” I hugged myself, sniffing up snot. Jeremy held me, trying to soothe me—it wasn’t working really well. “How long ago was this?”
“Almost a year ago,” Elena sighed. She shifted uncomfortably. She probably never wanted to be the one to tell me that Aunt Jenna got killed. Now I wished I had never asked. Then again, how could I not ask when I saw that Aunt Jenna wasn’t in the house?
“So it’s just you and Jeremy living here?”
“Yeah. But we manage.” I scooted over since Elena occupied my other side. “I know it’s a rough thing to throw at you since you just got here, but think of it this way: it’s better you know now than later, right?”
“I guess.” I shrugged.
“Do you want me to make you something to eat?”
“Do you really think eating is going to help me feel better?” I rubbed my blue-green eyes.
“It might, you never know.” Elena tried to smile. She looked over my head. “Mind getting her bags upstairs?”
“Wait, where are you going to have him put them?” I asked her.
“I was thinking my room for now. I was going to have you stay in Jenna’s room…”
“I can take the couch, really,” I said quickly. I would rather sleep on the couch than be in my dead aunt’s bed. “You don’t have to give up your bed for me, Elena.”
“Faith, don’t be stubborn,” she said gently, rubbing my leg. “We want you to be as comfortable as possible. Besides, I’ve slept on the couch before. I can deal with it. Now, come on, I’ll make you something.”
Elena slowly coaxed me off the stairs while Jeremy took all of my things to Elena’s room. I followed Elena into the kitchen and leaned over the counter while she made me a sandwich. I kept drying my eyes and face. I had time to cry over Aunt Jenna. I needed more time to mourn her, of course, but I didn’t feel up to crying over her anymore. What a way to kick off a great move-in, I thought sourly.
Once Elena gave me the food, I nibbled lightly. I wasn’t really hungry; being upset made me lose my appetite a bit. Since I wasn’t eating much, Elena gently pressed that I should since she’d be keeping a close eye on me. It took some time, but I was able to eat most of what she gave me and catch up with her.
“So high school is all said and done for you now?” I asked as I wiped off the chip grease off my fingers.
“Mhm,” Elena sang.
“So what’s next? I can’t assume college since you’re still here in Mystic Falls.”
“I don’t know what I want to do next to be honest, Faith. A lot has happened in the past few years that I don’t know what my future is going to be like.”
“Does this mean you have a boyfriend?” I wiggled my eyebrows. Elena rolled her eyes playfully at me. “Come on! Do you or don’t you?”
“I do.” She gave a cheeky grin.
I snickered. “I thought so,” I boasted. This was definitely improving my mood. “Who’s the guy? We haven’t talked in four years, so I want details.”
Elena didn’t hesitate to go into detail: she had an on and off relationship with him, they were currently on. He had been a new student at the high school, catching everybody’s attention, including hers. I could tell Elena was getting dramatic when she said she thought it was fate that they started talking and got together. But, she said that getting involved with him brought a lot of drama to her life that sometimes overwhelmed her. I kept silent, trying to not voice my opinions until the end of her story; I wanted to be a good listener since I doubted she got to tell the entire story to anybody for a long time.
I tried probing further into the drama that came with her boyfriend, but Elena wasn’t giving it. She told me that I’d know eventually, just not now. Naturally, this made me even more curious and anxious to know what sort of drama she went through. Hey, I never encountered that sort of thing directly when I was in high school; I avoided it all and heard about it.
* * *
For most of the day, Elena, Jeremy, and I stayed inside the house. Elena made dinner, though she didn’t eat any of it. She claimed that she wasn’t really hungry and that she didn’t eat much since she got full easily. I wasn’t entirely convinced of that but I didn’t bother to question her on it.
When night started to set, I decided to go digging through my bags and organizing everything. It was weird, being able to sleep in Elena’s room. I kept everything in her room until I would feel good enough to move my things into Aunt Jenna’s room. I could handle sleeping in Elena’s bed, but I wasn’t about to steal her closet and dresser from her.
I changed into a loose, deep purple tank top and the usual gray sweats for bed. I never wore anything fancy since I definitely wasn’t like that. I didn’t expect Elena would either.
“Trying to get the full impact of living here?” Elena cooed.
I jumped, nearly smacking into the window in her room. She chuckled, already dressed in a deep red camisole and shorts. She and I had the same style sort of. When it wasn’t tank tops for bed, it was camisoles.
“Yeah. It’s different than Maryland, I’ll say that much,” I admitted.
“But you’re okay, right?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Faith, don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not.” I noticed Elena’s ring. “Did your boyfriend get you that?”
“Hmm?”
“The ring.”
“Oh!” Elena crossed the room to show it to me. “No. Actually, one of my girlfriends gave it to me.”
“It’s beautiful.” I tentatively touched the polished blue rock on her finger.
“Hey, do you think you’ll be good enough to go out tomorrow?” Elena asked. I looked up at her. It was such a sudden question, not to mention slightly random as well. “I know today was…rough, but I think getting out of the house might help you.”
“Are you sure about that?” I asked uneasily.
“Positive. Did you expect to only stay here for the rest of your life?” She laughed. “You need to get out and socialize.”
“I don’t know, Elena…”
“Oh. Right. You’ve got a thing with trusting people. I forgot. Sorry.” She rubbed my arm. “It’ll take some time, but I think you’ll learn to like it here. There are great people here in Mystic Falls—you just have to go out and hope that you meet them.”
Elena’s eyes snapped to the window. I looked over my shoulder.
“What?” I asked her.
“Nothing.” She strolled over to the window to pull the blinds down over it.
Did Elena see something that I couldn’t? Was she that paranoid about people looking into the windows at night? Personally, I would’ve done what she had if I had thought about it earlier. I had become paranoid about people looking inside windows near me since the incident.
“Is crime a popular thing here?” I asked nervously, now a little wary from Elena’s actions.
“No. I mean, there will be some fights on occasion, but it’s rare you hear of robberies or homicides here. Mystic Falls is a pretty quiet town.”
“And you would know that,” I said.
“Mhm, I’ve been living here for almost all my life.” She grinned. “I should let you get to bed now.”
Elena squeezed me into a hug before leaving me to her bedroom. I made sure she was gone before peeking past the blinds. Elena had to have seen something. But whatever she saw wasn’t there anymore. Maybe I was getting worked up about nothing. Maybe Elena just saw an animal run by or something. No big deal.
Despite the mattress and sheets feeling welcoming, I was squirming in the bed. I couldn’t get comfortable. My body knew this was unfamiliar territory. This is my new home now; I’ve got to learn to adjust. I’ll be in Aunt Jenna’s room…eventually. Why was I worrying anyway? I moved to get away from the crazy things in Maryland. And besides, Elena said not much happened here in Mystic Falls.
So why was I worrying?
**So, it's been ages since I've actually looked at this story. I'm going through it to tweak it, since I know it probably has a few errors and such. I vaguely remember what season elements I used in this, but this will not follow any episodes. This plot is my own creation.**