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❛ Dear Diary,

S̶o̶m̶e̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶w̶f̶u̶l̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶g̶o̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶h̶a̶p̶p̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶o̶d̶a̶y̶.̶ ❜

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The blonde teenager immediately scowled, crossing out the sentence she had just written on the blank page of her diary. She had no reason to write that, yet there she was at 5:30 in the morning awake and scared. She tried to excuse her anxiety as a side effect being jet-lagged, she did only come back from France the day before yesterday after all.

When Aunt Jenna dropped her off with a 'home sweet home!', she had never felt so utterly and completely lost.

❛ Home. I'm home, why does that sound like a lie? ❜

She paused, her pen hovering over the page in her diary.

❛ I've got to see the crowd today. We're supposed to meet in the parking lot before school. Is that why I'm scared? Am I frightened of them? ❜

The blonde scowled again, repeating her previous actions in crossing out the last two lines in her diary. Since when had she, Elle Morrow-Gilbert, been scared of anything?

But things were different now.

After all, Elle was pretty sure that her family was cursed.

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Elle Morrow-Gilbert didn't really know her birth mother, the original Elizabeth Morrow. Her namesake had died shortly after Elle was born. 

Her father, Grayson Gilbert, was understandably heartbroken at the loss of his young wife.

Elle often wondered if it was his weak will and his inability to deal with emotional pain that led to him falling so quickly for Miranda Sommers.

Not long after, Elle became a big sister to Elena Gilbert. Miranda loved how similar the name was to Elle's chosen nickname and wanted the two girls to be connected to each other always. 

Later, both girls became big sisters to Jeremy Gilbert, and then to little Margaret Gilbert just four years ago.

But nothing good ever lasts.

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In the summer of 2009, Elle and Elena Gilbert ditched family night and snuck out to attend the end of school bonfire party in the woods.

Unlike her younger sister, Elle felt no guilt about ditching family night and so when she found out Elena had phoned their parents and asked to be picked up, she was understandably annoyed. 

This was the last party before Elle went into senior year, and it was embarrassing to be seen leaving the party so early.

Both girls were in the backseat of Miranda and Grayson's car when it hit the barrier of Wickery Bridge and plunged into the icy water below. 

Miranda had died instantly, but Grayson held on just long enough to tell his daughters that he loved them.

She remembered everything. 

The bridge, the rushing water. 

The terror as the air left her lungs and there was nothing but liquid to breathe. 

The way it had hurt. 

And the final instant when it had stopped hurting, when everything had stopped. 

When everything... stopped.

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Somehow, Elena and Elle had survived.

They didn't remember being saved.

Elena was the last person in the car to lose consciousness, and she used the last of her energy time to wrap herself around her older sister.

It was speculated that this was how the two girls survived, that Elena must have had another last burst of adrenaline that allowed her to pull herself and Elle from the vehicle. 

Neither girl could confirm this theory, nor did they want to.

How had they walked away from an accident that claimed the lives of their parents with only a few scratches and bruises? 

Okay, they both had broken a few ribs from the initial collision... but acknowledging that meant that Elle had to give up cheerleading and that was not an option.

Elena's friend, Caroline Forbes, had already been on their backs about not going to cheerleading camp in the summer. 

Elle wasn't sure why the blonde was complaining, Elle being absent meant that Caroline could steal the spot of Cheer Captain.

Shaking her head, Elle absently twisted a strand of blonde hair around her finger. 

She couldn't entirely blame the other blonde, as it was Elle herself who had taught the younger girl to be opportunistic.

── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

"Elle?" A voice called from downstairs.

Standing up and moving towards the door, Elle called out, "Yeah?"

"Do you want some, uh... toast or something?" The frazzled voice of her Aunt Jenna called back.

Elle scoffed good-naturedly. She didn't bother to glance at the mirror above her dresser before she moved down the stairs towards the kitchen. She knew what she'd see in the mirror.

Elle Morrow-Gilbert, cool and blonde and slender, the fashion trendsetter, the high school senior, the girl every boy wanted and every girl wanted to be.

"You know it's all about the coffee, Aunt Jenna." Elle's sister, Elena, replied whilst pouring herself a cup.

Jenna went to reply but it was practically drowned out by the sound of Jeremy Gilbert thumping down the stairs to join them in the kitchen.

"Is there coffee?" He asked tiredly, walking into the room and taking the freshly poured coffee mug straight out of his sister's hands.

Elena frowned, turning to pour herself a new cup.

"It's your first day of school and I'm totally unprepared," Jenna sighed dejectedly, rifling around in her bag for her purse. "Lunch money?"

"I'm good." Elena told her whilst Jeremy reached out and grabbed the money from Jenna's outstretched hand.

"Anything else? A number two pencil?" Jenna joked, moving across the kitchen to place things in her bag. "What am I missing?"

"You're going to be late for your presentation." Elle reminded her scatterbrained aunt.

Jenna shook her head in denial, "I have time, right? I'm meeting with my thesis advisor at..."

Elle raised a pale eyebrow as Jenna checked her watch.

"... Now. Crap!" Jenna groaned, pulling the hair tie from her ponytail and letting her hair fall around her shoulders.

"Then go. We'll be fine." Elena reassured her.

Jenna shot her a relieved smile as she disappeared from the room.

Elena's gaze wondered over to her younger brother.

She eyed him warily, asking, "You okay?"

Jeremy glared at her, "Don't start."

"Don't be a dick," Elle scolded him. "I've got to drop Margaret off at school, so I'll see you all later."

Four-year-old Margaret had finished eating her cereal at the kitchen table and was waiting patiently at the front door for her big sister.

Elle grabbed the hairbrush off of the kitchen counter and ran the brush one more time through her silky hair before pulling it back with a deep rose ribbon. 

She repeated the action with Margaret's own blonde hair and fixed the matching ribbon with a smile.

As soon as the blonde stepped on the porch with her little sister, she froze.

All of the bad feelings from the morning rushed over her again.

The anxiety, the fear... and the certainty that something terrible was going to happen.

Something was watching her.

The air was stifling, despite it being September, and Elle felt sure that there were eyes on her. Well, apart from little Margaret's who was gazing at her curiously.

Glancing around, Elle caught sight of a crow in the branches of the old quince tree at front of the house.

"Why is that big crow looking at us?" Margaret asked curiously, following her big sister's gaze.

Elle wanted to tell her to not be so silly, but it really was the biggest crow she had ever seen. Its body was plump and sleek, covered in black feathers that reflected rainbows. 

Before she even comprehended what she was doing, she dropped both her's and Margaret's backpack to pick up a stone from the driveway.

"Go on! Shoo!" 

With the last word, she threw the stone at the bird watching as it soared up into the air unharmed in an explosion of leaves. 

Both girls crouched instinctively as the huge bird flapped directly over their heads, its huge winds ruffling their blonde hair. 

Elle glanced around self-consciously as she straightened up. Margaret let out an nervous giggle, as if she couldn't quite believe what her big sister had just done. 

But with the bird gone, Elle left like she could breathe again. 

Elle smiled at Margaret, and took another breath, relief sweeping through her like sunlight. How could she have been so silly? This was a beautiful day, full of promise, and nothing bad was going to happen.

Nothing bad was going to happen— except that she was going to be late getting to school. The whole crowd would be waiting for her in the parking lot.

Without a backward glance at the quince tree, she took Margaret's hand and began walking as quickly as they could down the street.