The Owl Gilbert

1:5: Truth Revelation

I'm in the kitchen sitting next to Aunt Jenna as we see Elena come in, pointing her right index finger up in the air. "Are you two aware of what's going on upstairs?" She asks. "Uh huh." Jenna says. "What's going on upstairs?" I ask, confused, taking a bite of my cereal. "Jeremy and Vicki." Jenna says. "Ew." I say. "And you have no objection? At least Adam does." Elena says. "Jeremy could be craftier about it; at least make an effort to sneak her in and out." Jenna says as Elena grabs a bowl from the top shelf, and comes back, making herself some cereal. "Oh, and just so you two know, I won't be home for dinner." Jenna says, smiling. "Oh, so you're actually going to do it. You're gonna go out with Logan." I say, saying his name slowly, smiling. "I'm going to show up and torture him, yes." She says and Elena chuckles. "And have you heard from Stefan, Elena?" She asks. "Not since he left that very vague message three days ago." Elena says and imitates Stefan. "Hi, um, Elena, I, um, have something I have to do. I'll, uh, explain in a few days.'" She says. "Haven't you called him?" Jenna asks. "Nope. Not going to, either." Elena says. "And you're okay with everything?" Jenna asks. "No, I'm not ok with any of it. But I'm not gonna cry about it, either. You know, I was going to write in my diary this morning and then I thought, what am I going to write? Honestly, I'm not gonna be one of those pathetic girls whose world stops spinning because of some guy." Elena says. "Ok, then." I say. "I'll be fine." Elena says and walks off with her cereal.

I'm at school and walk over to Bonnie and Elena, and see Stefan walk over to us. "Hey." He says. "Hey. You know, I gotta go. Be somewhere right now." Bonnie says and walks off. "I'm so sorry I haven't called." Stefan says. "No worries. I'll live." Elena says, sighing. "I was dealing with Damon." He says. "And did you? Deal with Damon?" I ask as they both look at me and Stefan realizes that I know. "Yes." He says. "For four days?" Elena asks. "Elena." I say, sighing. "You have every right to be upset with me. But can I explain it all to you? Please." Stefan says. "Sure, when?" Elena asks. " I gotta be home after school, but The Grill, around four o'clock?" He asks. "Ok." She says. "Thanks." He says and Caroline walks over to us. "Stefan, where is Damon? He has some serious apologizing to do." She says. "He's gone, Caroline." Stefan says. "When's he coming back?" She asks. "He's not coming back, Caroline." I say and everyone looks at me, and Stefan walks off. "This is a good thing, Caroline." Elena says. "I know that." Caroline says.

I arrive to the Grill and walk over to Stefan and Elena as an old man is talking to them. "I know you." He says to Stefan. "My God." He says. "I'm sorry?" Stefan asks. "How can it be?" The old man asks. "I think you have the wrong person, sir." Stefan says. "You haven't aged a day." The old man says. "I'm sorry. Excuse me.  Hey, can we-- can I take you home and we can talk about it? Is that ok? I'll take you both home." Stefan says as we start walking to the door. "Wait, what was that?" Elena asks. "I-- I don't know. uh, nothing." Stefan says. "Right, nothing. Ok, um.. I gotta go, Stefan." She says and walks off, and Stefan looks at me. "How long have you known about me?" He asks. "I started my suspicion the day Matt told me and Elena that Vicki said it was a vampire. And then I watched and observed and come to the only logical conclusion. And I know about the daylight rings. Because it's clearly obvious. But Elena doesn't know anything. But I can't stop her from trying to figure it out. No one can." I say.

I'm at the car wash in a plain white shirt and jeans and walk over to Elena as I see Stefan with her. "Hi, guys." I say and smile at them both. "Hey." They say at the same time and Caroline approaches us. "The event is called sexy suds, you know." Caroline says, fake smiling at us. "And you do know there's a word that rhymes with witch? Oh, I do. It's called bitch." I say and she walks off, and I look at Elena and Stefan, as they have raised eyebrows. "What? Someone had to say it." I say and walk off to go clean a car with Bonnie.

After a while, I meet up with Elena at the money station. "Hey, we're out of towels and those shimmy things." Elena says. "I'll go get some more. You two, mind the money." She says as we sit down and she walks off. "She can be such a handful at times." I say. "Tell me about it." She says and someone approaches us. "That'll be twenty dollars." Elena says and we look up to see the old man from the Grill, and hands her a twenty with his right hand. "I saw you last night. You were talking to a friend of ours. At the Grill?" Elena asks. "Well, I.. I thought it was somebody I knew." He says. "Stefan Salvatore." I say. "Nah, it can't be. It's just my mind playing tricks on me." He says. "Where do you think you'd seen him before?" Elena asks. "When I first moved here, I stayed at the Salvatore boarding house." He says. "Oh." Elena says. "Stefan was just passing through to visit his uncle. I mean, none of us knew he was even here until the attack." He says. "The attack?" I ask. "His uncle got killed. Mauled by an animal in the woods." He says. "His uncle, Zach?" Elena asks. "Nah, Joseph." He says. "I'm sorry, sir. I don't think either of us are familar with the story. And I know a lot of things." I say. "Oh, how could you? I mean, this happened years ago." He says and Tiki walks over to us. "Grandpa, you gotta go. Mom wants you home." She says. "Ah." He says and she looks at us. "He wasn't bugging you, was he? He's a little alzy-heimer. " She asks and Elena and I both stand up. "No, he was sweet." Elena says and we run over to him and step in front of him. "Hey, sir, I'm sorry. Um, are you sure that the man that you saw, that you knew, his name was Stefan Salvatore?" Elena asks. "Yes. I remember his ring and his brother--" He says and I interrupt him. "Damon?" I ask. "Yeah. Stefan and Damon Salvatore." He says. "When was this?" Elena asks. "It was early June, nineteen fifty-three. Yeah. June, nineteen fifty-three." He says and Elena and I look at each other.

Elena and I soon meet up with Jenna. "Your car was done an hour ago." Elena says. "You're saying that out loud why?" Jenna asks, standing up from the bench and Logan Fell walks over to us. "Hi. Elena, Adam, right? I think I met you once when you were nine and seven." He says and we shake hands with him. "Oh." Elena says. "Your emotional maturity level when we were together." Jenna says as we look at her. "Ouch. Here I thought we were making progress." He says and Jenna smiles. "Is he enough in your good graces that I can ask him for a favor?" Elena asks, as we look at Logan, and he looks at Jenna. "If I do her a favor, will I get back in your good graces?" He asks. "Uh, a very reluctant maybe to both." Jenna says. "Done. Wait. One condition. Dinner, tonight, your house." He says and we smile at Jenna. "Fine. But you're eating leftovers." She says. "Ooh." He says and looks back at us, and Elena and I both chuckle. "What do you need?" He asks, smiling at us. "Do you have access to old news stories, say, fifties?" I ask. "Yeah, at the station. Between the archives and the Internet, we pretty much have everything." He says. " I have this report way past due. It'd be a life saver." She says. "Heading there now. Let's go." He says and walks off, and we look at Jenna. "If anyone asks, you don't know where we went. We don't want Caroline to know that I left." I say.

We're sitting down in front of the station computer as Logan is talking with us. "We digitized all our archives last year. You can pull all the remote footage right up on screen. What is it exactly you're looking for?" He asks. "An incident from nineteen fifty-three If it even happened-- at the old Salvatore boarding house." Elena says and his phone rings. "Sorry, one second." He says and answers it. "Yeah? Fire? All right, be right there." He says and hangs up. "I gotta go. You believe there's actual news to cover in this town? All right, use keywords to search the database. It's pretty easy to navigate. And Brady down in tech will help you out with anything you need." He says. "Ok." I say. "All right? Oh, hey. Could you two put in a good word for me with Jenna?" He asks. "You got it." We say, smiling at him and he smiles back. "All right. Good luck." He says and walks off and Elena starts researching.

She types in Joseph Salvatore plus animal attack and there's one match found which is a video in black and white and she clicks on it. "This is Franklin Fell reporting to you from the Salvatore Boarding House, where a brutal animal attack has ended in tragedy. Ok, they're bringing out the bodies." Michael Fell says and we see the body being carried away. "See if you can get closer. Is that the nephew?" He asks and Elena zooms in to see it's Stefan. "Oh, my God." She says. "Elena." I say, sighing and she looks at me. "Did you.. did you know about this?" She asks and I give a small nod. "I figured it out from the night of the football game after I found Tanner's body. It's Damon, Elena. He's the bad one." I say.

It's late at night as we arrive to the Salvatore Boarding House and the door opens with Stefan holding a wooden stake in his left hand, and Elena breathes heavily. "What are you?" She asks.