Gabriella Gilbert || Vampire Diaries

Chapter Twenty - Five

Edited

    "Come on, Gabby!" says five-year-old Caroline.

    "Hold on! I've got to get my shoes on!" I reply. My small legs run down the stairs to grab my shoes.

    "I want to be first in all the lines at the carnival now. Let's go!" She yells. I run outside and give my bestie a hug, which she returns.

    "Beat you there!" I yell and start running.

    "No fair!" She yells from behind me. I hear her footsteps get closer so I run faster.

    I trip on a crack in the sidewalk and fall. I flip over, tears already streaming down my cheeks. Caroline runs up to me. She looks at the cut in my knee.

    "It's okay, Gabby. It will be alright." She takes on more look at my cut. All of the sudden we're both seventeen year olds. "It will be alright," she says. Her veins pop out and her eyes turn red.

    "Caroline? What's wrong?" I ask backing up.

    "It will be fine," she repeats. She lets out a hiss before lunging at me.

    I scream then she's gone. I no longer feel a pain in my neck. I open my eyes and see I'm in the woods.

    "It's okay, Gabby," Damon's voice calms me down. "It's over now." Damon's arms around suddenly wrapped around me. I snuggle against him.

    "You're safe," He reassures. "Close your eyes and go to sleep." I obey and close my eyes and start drifting to sleep.

My eyes open, my heart rate feeling calm and normal. I let out a yawn, sitting up off of Damon's shoulder. Elena and Stefan stare at me, both worried and confused.

"Are we still waiting for Ric?" I mumble.

Stefan eyes me before saying, "He's supposed to be here soon."

"Um..." Elena begins, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I ask, raising an eyebrow at them.

"You kept squirming."

"Oh," I reply lamely "It was just a nightmare."

    The doorbell rings, pressing the 'pause' button in our conversation. Damon gets up to let Ric inside.

    "Can I get you something to drink?" Damon offers, "Bourbon? Coffee? Bourbon in your coffee?" He sits down beside me, letting my lean my head on his shoulder.

"Elena mentioned you needed my help," Ric says, getting to the point.

"Yeah," Stefan agrees, nodding his head, "We were hoping you could shed some light on the Lockwood family."

"Now, why would I know anything about the Lockwoods?" Ric asks, clearly annoyed with us.

"Well, you wouldn't, but your dead-not dead vampire wife might," Damon says. I wince a little when he mentions Isobel.