The Wish Factory

Chapter 5

Ryleigh got to the front door and flung it open as she tried to get to her car in vain. She knew that the vampires could run so much faster than her, but her fear was genuine. She hadn't even realized she was doing anything, but it was evident that she'd been the one hurting Damon. Not that she wasn't happy that he'd been stopped because he'd been a second away from ripping into her. She made it halfway to her car when strong arms circled her waist and stopped her. She shrieked and began to fight, trying to free herself. The arms around her were strong and held her in place. She was crying freely now; this was not what she'd expected at all, though it should have been. Damon was one of her favorite characters, but the guy really had no qualms killing anyone if he thought they were a threat to his family. She continued to struggle when she finally registered that someone was speaking to her; it was Matt.

"Ryleigh, calm down, I'm not going to hurt you!" His words finally penetrated her foggy mind, and she sagged into him, a sob escaping. He turned her around to face him and enveloped her in a tight embrace, making her feel safe. He stroked her hair and whispered to her that she was going to be okay. She was shaking with fear, and when she saw Stefan cautiously approaching them, she jumped back, but Matt held her steady. Stefan held his hands up in surrender, showing that he meant her no harm.

"Ryleigh, I am so sorry for my brother, he really doesn't think things through before he acts. Please, come back inside, and we'll explain everything to you." Matt gently pulled her back and looked at her with a warm smile.

"Come back inside, they're not going to hurt you, I promise." She couldn't believe that even Matt was trying to get her to go back into that house. There was no way she was stepping foot over that threshold again. She was going straight back to her house and using the fob to go back home. She'd expected a fun adventure in Mystic Falls, but there was angst, drama, and murderous intentions towards her and she didn't want anything to do with it. She pushed Matt away from her and began to back up towards her car.

"Like hell, I'm going back in there, you can forget it. I'm going home; I don't want any part of any of this, so you just stay back!" Bonnie, Elena, and Caroline were outside now too, and they came to a stop beside Matt, causing her to step back several more steps, her arms outstretched in an effort to keep them back. Elena stayed where she was, and when she spoke, she sounded on the verge of tears.

"Rye, please come in and let us explain, don't leave it like this." Ryleigh scoffed as she finally reached her car and ran to the driver side.

"Back off, I'm going home, and you can't stop me." After making her bold statement, she quickly reached for the door but realized that she'd left her purse inside the house. She groaned in frustration and decided it wasn't worth it and began running down the driveway towards the road. She made it to the side road and realized that she was incredibly foolish. The Salvatore's lived at least 15 miles outside of the town, but she couldn't make herself stop. She screamed again and came to a skidding stop, almost falling when Damon was suddenly in front of her. He gave her a pensive look, held his hands up, and didn't move towards her.

"Okay that was totally my bad, I'll admit it. Your arrival is a little suspicious, but Bonnie told me that you didn't even believe it until I attacked you. Look, please come back, the vampires will stay on a different side of the room, and we won't try to touch you, I promise." Ryleigh had the feeling like she was going to faint, she couldn't catch her breath, and her vision was tunneling. She tried to speak but started to wobble. She had a sense of falling but couldn't stay awake as everything went black.

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Ryleigh wasn't out very long, but when she came to, she was lying on the couch in the boarding house living room with a cold rag lying on her forehead. She slowly started to come out of it, but when she realized where she was, she jerked herself up to a sitting position. She felt Matt's arms encircle her, but she pushed him away, not wanting to be touched. She saw that Damon had kept his word and the vampires and Tyler were sitting in chairs across the room leaving Bonnie, Elena, Jeremy, Matt, and Alaric on her side. Staring at Tyler across the room with them confused her. She knew that she should be aware of why he was over there with them, but she couldn't put her finger on why. Elena's eyes were red as she looked at her and Matt looked hurt that she'd pushed him away. She couldn't worry about any of that at the moment; she just wanted to get the hell away so she could go back to her reality. She frantically looked around the room but couldn't remember where she'd sat her purse down. Shoving the throw off her, she sat up completely and placed her feet on the ground, eyeing Tyler once more.