'You look so tired and unhappy

Bring down the government

They don't, they don't speak for us

I'll take a quiet life

A handshake of carbon monoxide

No alarms and no surprises…'

That's what she came to, now. She, being me. Me being some depressed, saddened, teenage girl with a bad case of the Bends.

"You don't want to do this."

"I have to."

"Why? Because of your ego? Because you think by ditching me here, in this godforsaken town, you're protecting me? You're not."

"I can't just go around putting you in danger."

I threw my hands in the air, frustrated at the idiot.

"YES, YOU CAN. You most certainly can. Where's my choice? Where did I sign up for 'Oh, looks like things are gonna be bad, better ditch the friend.'?"

"Now you're being-"

"Don't you dare say unreasonable."

"I wasn't going to say reasonable."

"Yes, you were, don't lie." I didn't like uncomfortable silences. Who the fuck did? Uncomfortable silences were tactics used by liars, and cowards. They couldn't be bothered to tell the truth, so they opted for saying nothing. And that was annoying as hell.

"Look, I'm sorry. I have to go."

"To fight all the monsters, right?"

"…yes."

"Why can't I do the same thing…with you?" I sighed. "Don't give me that look. I'm not going to fall for that, again. You know why I want to come. Why I've always wanted to fly around in that blue box of yours with you."

"It's dangerous. The people who travel with me usually…It doesn't end well for them."

I snorted.

"What?"

"It never ends well for anyone. We all die eventually. And while yolo itself is an atrociously ridiculous term, it does have some truth to it. I'm never going to live again. You are, but I'm not. So why shouldn't I fill my life with excitement, and wonder, and danger?"

"Because that kind of life can kill you."

"But at least I'll have lived! Isn't that the point?"

The idiot remained silent. Stubborn git.

"Fine. But you'll regret this. And I won't be here waiting for you. I'm not going to be that girl."

"Eve…"

"No. Go. Fly away in your box. Go. I don't need you. GO."

He looked at me with those sad eyes of his, nodded once, and whirled around in his heel, walking back to his box. He closed the doors without looking back once, and a few seconds later I heard the unmistakeable whirring noise of the said box.

I stood there, shivering from the night chill, and glanced back at the house behind me. Fuck.

Words were stupid. Why did they have to stick? Why couldn't I take them back?

I laid face down on the pillow. What was it? September second? I'd missed my first day of my senior year. I'd have to go down to the office tomorrow morning, and fill out all the necessary enrolment forms.

I lifted my head briefly to check the time. Two thirty. Okay. Not tomorrow. I'd have to be up in five hours.

Sighing, I plopped my face back in the pillow, groaning.

I managed to sleep for another few hours, before something woke me.

That was when Wicked Witch of the East called me.

"I called your friend." Time: Seven forty eight.

"What? Why did you do that? You didn't heckle her for money, did you?" My rubbed my bleary eyes, half-understanding the full weight of my mum's words. Friend?

"Of course I didn't," Mum yelled from a floor below. "But I did tell her you were back."

"Why did you do that for?"

"Thought I was doing you a favor."

"No, you didn't." I rubbed my temple, frustrated, and annoyed with my mum. "You hate Elena."

"You're right. I do. You wouldn't believe how many times she came over here just to ask about my 'well-being' and your whereabouts."

"Hopefully not in that order…"

"Don't even start with me today Eve…You should get your butt to school."

"So you don't have to put up with me all day, right?"

"Exactly. Oh, and be ready."

I shook my head, and sighed.

"What for?"

"Elena's coming over."

"WHAT?" There was some muffled laughter below. Elena was coming over. Elena Gilbert. My best friend…my only friend in Mystic Falls….the one I ditched for all of space and time…

I hid my face in my pillow again, and let out a strangled yell. There was no doubt about it-she was going to kill me.

…

I heard a vehicle pull up in our drive way outside. I peeked through the curtains, and saw, with a certain degree of trepidation, Elena get out of her car, the door slamming behind her with a short burst of noise.

Her hair was still just as long, and just as brown as I remembered. She still had that dopey look about her-the 'doe-eyed' Bambi look she'd give everyone, because that was just the type of person she was.

That dopey look was what had glued us together in the first place.

The corners of my lips lifted. God, I'd forgotten how much I missed that look.

A knock on the front door. Mum answering.

"She's upstairs."

"Thank you, Mrs. Laurence."

"I keep telling you to call me Helen."

"Sorry," Elena laughed, the sound of it like a fresh breeze in the spring. Elena had always been generally happy. But…I wasn't sure if it was just me, or if it was just subtle enough for everyone else to not notice, and I was usually right about these things, but…if I hadn't been away for as long as I was, I could've sworn there was a hint of…sadness, no, grief in that laugh.

"I'm just used to calling all my friend's parents by their last names…"

"No worries. She's just upstairs. And Elena…" Footsteps froze. "I'm sorry about your parents."

Her voice was quieter this time, more deliberate, with the words somewhat forced.

"Thank you, that's very kind of you to say. Eve's just upstairs?"

"Yes."

"Okay, thank you, Helen."

Approaching footsteps on the stairs. Thump. Thump. Thump.

They paused just outside her door.

"Eve?" Her whisper was like a thunderclap in the small hallway. "You there?"

"…Yeah."

Taking a deep breath, I opened the door, and was immediately met with an onslaught of arms, and hair swinging in my face. Brushing the hair aside, I returned the hug.

"It's nice to see you again…"

She pushed me back, something like fury behind her eyes.

"Seriously? You're gone for four months, and the first thing you say is 'It's nice to see you again?' Do you have any idea how messed up that is?"

I wasn't very good with words in the first place, so it wasn't very surprising when words failed me now.

"And you don't call, you don't bother checking up on anyone, not even your mother-"

"No, hang on. My mum was the one who kicked me out in the first place."

Elena laughed. "No, she didn't. She told me you ran away. Which I don't find that hard to believe, considering how you always used to tell me how much you wanted to get out of this town. And you did. Why did you even bother coming back?"

"Look, whatever lie my mum told you…it's just that: a lie. You don't know her like I do. She loves to lie, and she loves to mess with me. And…I came back because…" Because I was dropped off, and ditched by my only ticket out. Somehow, that didn't sound quite right, or appropriate to tell my angry best friend.

"Because?"

"Because…I missed you." That bit was true. "I came back because I missed you too much."

Elena still looked dubious, but the fury in her eyes had softened again into that doe-eyed look I loved so much.

"You don't know what happened, do you?"

"No. What did I miss? Caroline finally popping her cherrie?"

Elena glared at me, and went back into being angry with me again.

"No. My parents are dead."

"Oh my god. I didn't-"

"No, you didn't know, because you were gone."

"I'm so sorry, Elena." I went over to wrap my arms around her, but she shook her head. I stopped moving towards her.

"Yeah, well…so is everyone else in this town."

"What happened?"

A pained, grief-stricken expression crossed her face. Tears met her eyes, and again, I had the urge to go over and hug her.

"It happened last spring. They picked me up from this party, and I on our way back, the car swerved off Wickery bridge… You know, the one we used to go, and throw rocks over?"

I nodded, wondering how I could've just left Elena to deal with something like this alone. I was an idiot.

"Well, we ended up going over, and…I don't even remember how I got out alive…I should've died…"

"Don't say that," This time, regardless of how upset she was with me about leaving, I went over, and enveloped her in a hug. She didn't think twice about it when she put her own arms around me.

"But it's true. I should've died…"

"But if you had, there would've been no one to take care of Jeremy."

"Jenna would have."

"But he wouldn't have had his older sister to at least help him through it."

Elena's laugh was harsh, and bitter.

"You've been away for too long… Jeremy's smoking pot, and I think… I don't know, but he's hooked on sleeping pills."

"What?"

"We only gave them to him at first when he had trouble sleeping after…well, you know, and…Now…he's a wreck, Eve."

"I'm sorry for leaving."

"Well…you're back now. You won't believe how much I missed you. How much Bonnie missed you." Something seemed to click then between us. There were still unresolved issues between us, issues that I was sure would take time to deal with, but we were at least on equal footing here.

Bonnie Bennett. My other…sort of, best friend. Bonnie and I…well, we weren't exactly best friends, but we were close enough.

"How is Bonnie, anyway?"

"She's okay. You know, she was my rock when my parents died. If she hadn't been there, I'd probably still be a mess." Elena wiped the tears from her eyes, blinking to get rid of them all.

"Oh."

"I don't mean to rub it in your face…"

"Yeah. You do." I smiled, something like pensiveness hitting me then.

"Yeah, a little bit. But we should go."

"I…kinda don't have any school supplies."

"What about a notebook and a pen? That's all you need, right?"

I shook my head.

"Nope. Nothing."

"Well, you can borrow one of my notebooks until you get your own…"

"Thanks."

"But seriously…we should go. I promised Bonnie I'd pick her up."

"Okay…let me just grab my bag, and then we'll leave."

After a few agonizing minutes of throwing everything in my room about in search of my purple bag with the odd-looking flower embroidered onto the front, I finally found it-underneath a pile of clothes of all places-and followed Elena out the house and into her car.

I sat shot-gun.

My mum promised to come and sign the enrolment papers later on in the day, but since I knew she wouldn't actually show, I was prepared to do my best Helen Laurence imitation, at least for the signature.

We both rode in silence, the radio on to stifle the uncomfortable weirdness between us. She was still upset. And I was still feeling guilty, and like an idiot for leaving.

God, there had been a lot I'd missed. Closing my eyes, and listening to the music playing on the radio-a Radiohead song was on-I thought about how the day would turn out. There were people I'd haveto catch up with…school to sort over with from my missed classes…Rekindle my friendship with Elena and Bonnie… Say hi to Elena's boyfriend Matt... Were they still together?

"Elena…Are you and Matt still together?"

She tensed on the steering wheel, staring straight ahead.

"No."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Sorry."

There was so much to catch up on…And once again, that thought repeated itself in my head-the same one I had thinking over and over again since Elena had come to pick me up. I should never have left.

But since there was no point in wishing for things that would never have happened, or thinking about things that regardless of what I knew about time and space, wouldn't change, I had to let go of all of that and focus on what was happening today. Namely, that my best friend was upset with me, and would continue to be so for a while, her parents dead, and no longer having a boyfriend to share her grief with…

'I'll take a quiet life

A handshake of carbon monoxide

No alarms and no surprises…'

Yeah, this day was going to suck.