The Beginning

Free

Elena: 

I groan, as consciousness takes over my body. My hand immediately flies up to my head as I begin to wake up. I groan once more, as I sit up in my bed. My body feels sore, and I've got a pounding headache. I'm unsure if it's the drinks I had, or the events that took place after the drinks that are causing this. Quite frankly, I'm starting to assume it's a mixture of both. As I swing my legs over my bed, I place my hand over my neck. My thoughts go back to Dean's face as he worked, so delicately on my wounds last night. How set his green eyes were on my wound, and how his jaw would clench each time he made me flinch from the stinging, hydrogen peroxide. I'll admit, I felt a little flustered as he worked on me, but also good. It felt good.  

Perhaps it's just the fact that when I was with Stefan and Damon, whenever I was injured, they'd just give me some of their blood to heal my wounds. It's been awhile that I've been taken care of like this. It was almost an alien-type feeling I got, but it felt nice to be tended to like this.  

I push myself off my bed, and make my way to the bathroom. I place both my hands on the sink and look at my reflection. My face looks exhausted. I have some bags under my eyes and a hint of redness from the crying I did after I got back to my motel room. My hair was piled up high in a messy bun at the top of my head. I turn the faucet on and splash some cold water on my face to finish waking me up.  

Once I'm fully awake, I head back to the room and go for my bag. I reach in to find some clean clothes. I pull out my last pair of clean pants, and a clean t-shirt. I sigh at the realization that I've been cooped up in this motel room for about a month now. For the last year, I've been in and out of different motel rooms. The first couple months I did it to cover my tracks, because I knew my friends back in Mystic Falls would be searching for me, after I just up and disappeared. After the first couple months I finally had the courage to call home. So, I called Alaric, to let him know that I was  alive and well, but I wanted them to stop searching for me. He was more than happy to cooperate as long as I promised to keep in contact at least once a month. 

I agreed to his term and we spoke once every month from then on. I know Alaric only agreed to stop searching for me, because he figured it would give me a chance to settle down and start a new "normal" life. So, whenever we did talk, I would tell little lies, as to what I was doing with my life to avoid raising any alarm. He asked me if I had a home, I didn't lie at first. I told him I was living in a motel, but then I also added "because I want to save money to get my own place." When he asked me if I had a job, I simply twisted the truth. I told him I worked in a bar, which was partially true. After years with Damon and Stefan, I learned how to play pool and darts back in Mystic Falls, so I used those skills to my advantage. The barflies would always doubt my skills, and I simply proved them wrong earning me a big wad of cash most nights.  

I change into my last set of clean clothes and begin to pick up my items. I decide it's time for me to check and ditch this town. This has been the longest i've stayed in one town, this year. I'll admit I may have developed a few bad habits this past year, but what can I say? For the first time, in a long time. I feel free. Free to do whatever I want, be who I want.  Did I feel bad for hustling old, cocky men at the bar? The old me, would probably say, "Yes.", but I don't anymore. If anything, they got what they deserved. They shouldn't have doubted me. 

I'm almost done packing my bag, when I hear a knock on the door. My heart immediately sinks. I walk slowly and quietly to the door, once I reach it, I look through the peephole. It's Dean. My heart now picks up its pace at the sight of him. I release my hair from the messy bun I had, and run my fingers through it, trying my best to get any knots out. I take a deep breath and let it out before I finally open the door.