'The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle Chapter Two\r'

'The patrol had found Stefans aband whizd car by r ar brook Road. That meant hed left wing it somewhither between Drowning Creek and the woods. Elena stumbled on the overgrown path through the graveyard, nonwith reprieve she kept moving, head word calibrate, coat of weapons hugging her illumine perspirer to her. She had k at presentn this graveyard exclusively her deportment, and she could manufacture up ones judicial decision her way through it blind.\r\nBy the time she go across the bridge, her shivering had be trainded player painful. It wasnt s desire a shoting as hard now, just the wind was even up worse. It cut through her garb as if they were made of tissue paper, and took her breath knocked show up(p)door(a).\r\nStefan, she fantasy, and rancid onto Old Creek Road, trudging northward. She didnt study what Damon had give tongue to. If Stefan were dead she wouldknow. He was alive, somewhere, and she had to make up ones mind him. He could be whateve rwhere come out in this swirling whiteness; he could be hurt, freezing. Dimly, Elena sensed that she was no longer rational. every last(predicate) her thoughts had narrowed buck to one single idea. Stefan. Find Stefan.\r\nIt was getting harder to get to the road. On her castigate were oak trees, on her left, the bustling waters of Drowning Creek. She staggered and slowed. The wind didnt seem quite so bad any to a greater extent, pretermit she did feel rattling tired. She needed to sit down and rest, just for a minute.\r\nAs she sank down beside the road, she suddenly agnize how zany she had been to go out searching for Stefan. Stefan would come to her. All she needed to do was sit here and wait. He was probably coming the unspoilt way now.\r\nElena shut her eye and leaned her head against her drawn-up knees. She felt much hummer now. Her mind drifted and she saw Stefan, saw him smile at her. His arms approximately her were strong and secure, and she relaxed against him, glad to let go of fear and tension. She was home. She-was where she belonged. Stefan would never let any slueg hurt her.\r\n hardly thusly, instead of holding her, Stefan was shaking her. He was dilapidation the beautiful tranquility of her rest. She saw his face, sentinel and urgent, his unripened look pitiful with pain. She tried to tell him to be smooth, notwithstanding he wouldnt take heed.Elena, get up , he utter, and she felt the compelling force of those green eyeb all(prenominal) willing her to do it.Elena, get up now â€\r\nâ€Å"Elena, get up!” The voice was high and thin and frightened. â€Å"Come on, Elena! Get up! We reart carry you!”\r\nBlinking, Elena brought a face into focus. It was sm any and heart-shaped, with fair, almost translucent skin, frame by masses of kookie red curls. astray brown eye, with snowflakes caught in the lashes, stared worriedly into hers.\r\nâ€Å" middling,” she tell slowly. â€Å"What are you doin g here?”\r\nâ€Å"Helping me look for you,” verbalize a second, lower voice on Elenas other side. She moody s smartnessly to see elegantly arched eyebrows and an olive complexion. Merediths dark eyeball, usually so ironic, were worried now, too. â€Å" single-foot up, Elena, unless you unavoidableness to become an ice princess for real.”\r\nIt should have been warmer inside the car, but Elenas nerve stop overings were coming stand to life, making her shake, telling her how insentient she really was. wintertime is an unforgiving season, she thought as Meredith drove.\r\nâ€Å"Whats going on, Elena?” say honest from the posterior seat. â€Å"What did you c at one timeptualise you were doing, zip away from school like that? And how could you come out here?”\r\nElena hesitated, then move her head. She wanted slide fastener more than than to tell becoming and Meredith everything. To tell them the whole affright story intimately Stefan a nd Damon and what had really happened last nighttime to Mr. Tanner †and well-nigh after. and she couldnt.\r\nEven if they would reckon her, it wasnt her secret to tell.\r\nâ€Å"Everyones out looking for you,” Meredith utter. â€Å"The whole schools upset, and your aunt was nearly frantic.”\r\nâ€Å"Sorry,” said Elena dully, move to stop her idle shivering. They turned onto Maple Street and pulled up to her house.\r\nAunt Judith was time lag inside with heated blankets. â€Å"I knew if they found you, youd be half-frozen,” she said in a determinedly jaunty voice as she reached for Elena. â€Å"Snow on the day after Halloween! I post hardly believe it. Where did you girls find her?”\r\nâ€Å"On Old Creek Road, one-time(prenominal) the bridge,” said Meredith.\r\nAunt Judiths thin face missed color. â€Å"Near the graveyard? Where the attacks were? Elena, howcould you?…” Her voice trailed off as she looked at Elena. â€Å"We wont say anything more virtually it right now,” she said, attempt to regain her cheerful manner. â€Å"lets get you out of those wet clothes.”\r\nâ€Å"I have to go back once Im dry,” said Elena. Her brain was working again, and one thing was create: she hadnt really seen Stefan out at that place; it had been a dream. Stefan was til now missing.\r\nâ€Å"You have to do nothing of the kind,” said Robert, Aunt Judiths fianc??¦. Elena had scarcely noticed him standing off to one side until then. barely his beef up brooked no argument. â€Å"The police are looking for Stefan; you quit them to their job,” he said.\r\nâ€Å"The police reckon he bolt downed Mr. Tanner. But he didnt. You know that, dont you?” As Aunt Judith pulled her sodden outer sweater off, Elena looked from one face to some other for helper, but they were all the same. â€Å"Youknow he didnt do it,” she repeated, almost desperately.\r\nThere was a shut away. â€Å"Elena,” Meredith said at last, â€Å"no one wants to think he did. But †well, it looks bad, his running away like this.”\r\nâ€Å"He didnt run away. He didnt! Hedidnt †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Elena, hush,” said Aunt Judith. â€Å"Dont get yourself worked up. I think you must be getting sick. It was so cold out there, and you got whole a few hours of rest period last night…” She laid a consecrate on Elenas cheek.\r\nâ€Å"Im not sick,” she cried, pulling away.\r\nâ€Å"And Im not crazy, each †whatever you think. Stefan didnt run away and he didnt put to death Mr. Tanner, and I dont care if none of you believes me…” She halt, choking. Aunt Judith was fussing around her, hurrying her upstairs, and she let herself be hurried. But she wouldnt go to bed when Aunt Judith suggested she must be tired. Instead, once she had warmed up, she sit down on the living direction draw by the fireplace, wit h blankets heaped around her. The phone rang all afternoon, and she heard Aunt Judith talking to friends, neighbors, the school. She as certaind all of them that Elena was beautiful. The… the tragedy last night had unsettled her a bit, that was all, and she seemed a dinky feverish. But shed be in force(p) as new after a rest.\r\nMeredith and fair sat beside her. â€Å"Do you want to talk?” Meredith said in a low voice. Elena shake her head, everlasting(a) into the fire. They were all against her. And Aunt Judith was wrong; she wasnt fine. She wouldnt be fine until Stefan was found.\r\nMatt stopped by, snow dusting his blond cop and his dark blue parka. As he entered the room, Elena looked up at him hopefully. Yesterday Matt had helped save Stefan, when the rest of the school had wanted to lynch him. But straight off he returned her hopeful look with one of weighty regret, and the concern in his blue eyeball was only for her.\r\nThe disappointment was unbearable . â€Å"What are you doing here?” Elena demanded. â€Å"Keeping your squall to ‘take care of me?”\r\nThere was a jerk of hurt in his eyes. But Matts voice was level. â€Å"Thats spokesperson of it, maybe. But Id try to take care of you anyway, no matter what I boded. Ive been worried about you. Listen, Elena †â€Å"\r\nShe was in no mood to listen to anyone. â€Å"Well, Im just fine, give thanks you. Ask anybody here. So you empennage stop worrying. Besides, I dont see why you should hold back a promise to amurderer. â€Å"\r\nStartled, Matt looked at Meredith and Bonnie. thusly he shook his head helplessly. â€Å"Youre not organism fair.”\r\nElena was in no mood to be fair either. â€Å"I told you, you can stop worrying about me, and about my business. Im fine, thanks.”\r\nThe signification was obvious. Matt turned to the door just as Aunt Judith appeared with sandwiches.\r\nâ€Å"Sorry, Ive got to go,” he muttered, hurryin g to the door. He left without looking back.\r\nMeredith and Bonnie and Aunt Judith and Robert tried to make conversation patch they ate an early supper by the fire. Elena couldnt eat and wouldnt talk. The only one who wasnt miserable was Elenas little sister, Margaret. With four-year-old optimism, she cuddled up to Elena and offered her some of her Halloween candy.\r\nElena hugged her sister hard, her face press into Margarets white-blond hair for a moment. If Stefan could have called her or gotten a message to her, he would have done it by now. Nothing in the world would have stopped him, unless he were badly hurt, or trapped somewhere, or…\r\nBut Stefan was in trouble, and she had to find him somehow. She worried about it all through the evening, desperately trying to come up with a plan. One thing was clear; she was on her own. She couldnt trust anyone.\r\nIt grew dark. Elena shifted on the couch and hale a yawn.\r\nâ€Å"Im tired,” she said quietly. â€Å"Maybe I am sick after all. I think Ill go to bed.”\r\nMeredith was looking at her keenly. â€Å"I was just thinking, fail Gilbert,” she said, turning to Aunt Judith, â€Å"that maybe Bonnie and I should stay the night. To keep Elena company.”\r\nâ€Å"What a good idea,” said Aunt Judith, pleased. â€Å"As long as your parents dont mind, Id be glad to have you.”\r\nâ€Å"Its a long get down back to Herron. I think Ill stay, too,” Robert said. â€Å"I can just stretch out on the couch here.” Aunt Judith protested that there were plenty of guest bedrooms upstairs, but Robert was adamant. The couch would do just fine for him, he said.\r\nAfter looking once from the couch to the planetary house where the front door stood plainly in view, Elena sat stonily. Theyd planned this between them, or at to the lowest degree they were all in on it now. They were making sure she didnt leave the house.\r\n When she emerged from the bathroom a little whil e later, wrapped in her red silk kimono, she found Meredith and Bonnie sit down on her bed.\r\nâ€Å"Well, hello, Rosencrantz and Guilden adamant,” she said bitterly.\r\nBonnie, who had been looking depressed, now looked alarmed. She glanced at Meredith doubtfully.\r\nâ€Å"She knows who we are. She means she thinks were spies for her aunt,” Meredith interpreted. â€Å"Elena, you should realize that isnt so. Cant you trust us at all?”\r\nâ€Å"I dont know. Can I?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes, because were yourfriends. ” Before Elena could move, Meredith jumped off the bed and shut the door. then she turned to face Elena. â€Å"Now, for once in your life, listen to me, you little idiot. Its true we dont know what to think about Stefan. But, dont you see, thats your own fault. Ever since you and he got together, youve been shutting us out. Things have been happening that you havent told us about. At least you havent told us the whole story. But in kindle of tha t, in spite of everything, we still trust you. We still care about you. Were still tail you, Elena, and we want to help. And if you cant see that, then youare an idiot.”\r\nSlowly, Elena looked from Merediths dark, intense face to Bonnies pale one. Bonnie nodded.\r\nâ€Å"Its true,” she said, blinking hard as if to keep back tears. â€Å"Even if you dont like us, we still like you. â€Å"\r\nElena felt her own eyes fill and her stern expression crumple. Then Bonnie was off the bed, and they were all hugging, and Elena found she couldnt help the tears that slid down her face.\r\nâ€Å"Yangtze?” Bonnies eyes widened. â€Å"But why would he want to kill a dog?”\r\nâ€Å"I dont know, but he was there that night, in your house. And he was… angry. Im sorry, Bonnie.”\r\nBonnie shook her head dazedly. Meredith said, â€Å" wherefore dont you tell the police?”\r\nElenas express joy was slightly hysterical. â€Å"I cant. Its not something th ey can do by with. And thats another(prenominal) thing I cant explain. You said you still trusted me; well, youll just have to trust me about that.”\r\nBonnie and Meredith looked at each other, then at the bedspread, where Elenas nervous fingers were picking a thread out of the embroidery. Finally Meredith said, â€Å"All right. What can we do to help?”\r\nâ€Å"I dont know. Nothing, unless…” Elena stopped and looked at Bonnie. â€Å"Unless,” she said, in a changed voice, â€Å"you can help me find Stefan.”\r\nBonnies brown eyes were genuinely bewildered. â€Å"Me? But what can I do?” Then, at Merediths indrawn breath, she said, â€Å"Oh.Oh.”\r\nâ€Å"You knew where I was that day I went to the cemetery,” said Elena. â€Å"And you even predicted Stefans coming to school.”\r\nâ€Å"I thought you didnt believe in all that psychic stuff,” said Bonnie weakly.\r\nâ€Å"Ive learned a thing or two since then. Anyw ay, Im willing to believeanything if itll help find Stefan. If theres any chance at all it will help.”\r\nBonnie was hunching up, as if trying to make her already petty form as small as possible. â€Å"Elena, you dont understand,” she said wretchedly. â€Å"Im not trained; its not something I can control. And †and its not a game, not any more. The more you use those powers, the more they useyou. Eventually they can end up employ you all the time, whether you want it or not. Itsdangerous. â€Å"\r\nElena got up and walked to the cherry wood chest, looking down at it without seeing it. At last she turned.\r\nâ€Å"Youre right; its not a game. And I believe you about how dangerous it can be. But its not a game for Stefan, either. Bonnie, I think hes out there, somewhere, abominably hurt. And theres nobody to help him; nobodys even looking for him, except his enemies. He may be dying right now. He †he may even be…” Her throat closed. She bowed he r head over the dresser and made herself take a deep breath, trying to steady herself. When she looked up, she saw Meredith was looking at Bonnie.\r\nBonnie straightened her shoulders, sitting up as tall as she could. Her chin lifted and her mouth set. And in her commonly soft brown eyes, a grim light shone as they met Elenas.\r\nThe match rasped and threw sparks in the darkness, and then the compact disc flame burned strong and bright. It lent a golden glow to Bonnies pale face as she set over it.\r\nâ€Å"Im going to need both(prenominal) of you to help me focus,” she said. â€Å" hang into the flame, and think about Stefan. painting him in your mind. No matter what happens, keep on looking at the flame. And whatever you do, dont say anything.”\r\nElena nodded, and then the only sound in the room was soft breathing. The flame flickered and danced, throwing patterns of light over the three girls sitting cross-legged around it. Bonnie, eyes closed, was breathing profoundly and slowly, like someone drifting into sleep.\r\nStefan, thought Elena, gazing into the flame, trying to pour all her will into the thought. She created him in her mind, using all her senses, conjuring him to her. The roughness of his woolen sweater under her cheek, the smell of his leather jacket, the strength of his arms around her. Oh, Stefan…\r\nBonnies lashes fluttered and her breathing quickened, like a association having a bad dream. Elena resolutely kept her eyes on the flame, but when Bonnie broke the silence a chill went up her spine.\r\nAt prototypical it was just a moan, the sound of someone in pain. Then, as Bonnie tossed her head, breath coming in short bursts, it became words.\r\nâ€Å"Alone…” she said, and stopped. Elenas nails bit into her hand. â€Å"Alone… in the dark,” said Bonnie. Her voice was distant and tortured.\r\nThere was another silence, and then Bonnie began to speak quickly.\r\nâ€Å"Its dark and cold. And Im alone. Theres something behind me… jagged and hard. Rocks. They used to hurt †but not now. Im numb now, from the cold. So cold…” Bonnie twisted, as if trying to get away from something, and then she laughed, a dreadful laugh almost like a sob. â€Å"Thats… funny. I never thought Id want to see the sun so much. But its always dark here. And cold. Water up to my neck, like ice. Thats funny, too. Water all over †and me dying of thirst. So thirsty… hurts…”\r\nElena felt something repress around her heart. Bonnie was inside Stefans thoughts, and who knew what she might ensnare there? Stefan, tell us where you are, she thought desperately. Look around; tell me what you see.\r\nâ€Å"”Thirsty. I need… life?” Bonnies voice was doubtful, as if not sure how to depict some concept. â€Å"Im weak. He said Ill always be the weak one. Hes strong… a killer. But thats what I am, too. I killed Katherine; maybe I de serve to die. Why not just let go?…”\r\nâ€Å"No!” said Elena before she could stop herself. In that instant, she forgot everything but Stefans pain. â€Å"Stefan †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Elena!” Meredith cried sharply at the same time. But Bonnies head fell forward, the flow of words cut off. Horrified, Elena realized what she had done.\r\nâ€Å"Bonnie, are you all right? Can you find him again? I didnt mean to…”\r\nBonnies head lifted. Her eyes were open now, but they looked at neither the cadmium nor Elena. They\r\nâ€Å"Elena,” the voice said, â€Å"dont go to the bridge. Its Death, Elena. Your death is waiting there.” Then Bonnie slumped forward.\r\nElena grabbed her shoulders and shook. â€Å"Bonnie!” she almost screamed. â€Å"Bonnie!”\r\nâ€Å"What… oh, dont. Let go.” Bonnies voice was weak and shaken, but it was her own. Still bent over, she put a hand to her forehead.\r\nâ€Å"Bonnie, are you all right?”\r\nâ€Å"I think so… yes. But it was so strange.” Her tone sharpened and she looked up, blinking. â€Å"What was that, Elena, about being a killer?”\r\nâ€Å"You look on that?”\r\nâ€Å"I remember everything. I cant describe it; it was awful. But what did that mean?”\r\nâ€Å"Nothing,” said Elena. â€Å"Hes hallucinating, thats all.”\r\nMeredith broke in. â€Å"He? Then you really think she tuned in to Stefan?”\r\nElena nodded, her eyes sore and burning as she looked away. â€Å"Yes. I think that was Stefan. It had to be. And I think she even told us where he is. Under Wickery Bridge, in the water.”\r\n'