I Will Never Leave You

Chapter One

Chapter One:

Dear Diary,

            Today will be different. It has to be. I will smile and it will be believable. My smile will say, “I’m fine. Thank you.” “Yes I feel much better.” I will no longer be that sad little girl who lost her parents. I will start fresh, be someone new. It’s the only way I’ll make it through.

            Elena Gilbert looked from the page in her diary, the pen in her hand still hovering uncertainly over the page. She never usually lost her train of thought like that while writing but for a moment there it felt like she was just waking up and her head was spinning.

            As the feeling faded she set the pen down and closed the small book gently. For a moment she just sat on her window seat and stared out at the street below. It was the first day of school, the day things really went back to the way they had been before or were supposed to anyways.

            Just the thought of things returning to normal without them made tears well up in her eyes. Determined not to cry she blinked the tears away and stood up. She grabbed her brush and began running it through her long brown hair as she stood in front of her mirror. Her eyes glanced past all the pictures that stood in frames and were taped to her wall.

            There were pictures of her with her brother Jeremy when they were little, pictures of her with her friends and then there were the ones with her parents. With her warm brown eyes she gazed firmly at her own reflection trying to make the grief disappear from her face. Once she was finally satisfied with her expression she grabbed her bag, swung it over her shoulder and went down to the kitchen.

            “Toast. I can make toast.” Jenna called as she opened the fridge and examined the contents with a panicked expression.

            “It’s all about the coffee Aunt Jenna,” Elena said her eyes trained on the steaming pot of coffee as she poured herself of full mug of the burning hot brown liquid.

            “Is there coffee?” Her younger brother Jeremy asked as he walked into the kitchen with a dazed expression. His hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed and he was wearing a dark hoodie over a t-shirt.

            Abandoning her search for a suitable breakfast Jenna contented herself with fluttering around the kitchen area, “your first day of school and I’m totally unprepared.” As if hit by sudden inspiration she snatched her purse from the table and as she pulled out a small wad of cash asked, “lunch money?”

            Elena shook her head and said, “I’m good,” as she poured another mug of coffee for Jeremy who snatched the money out of his aunts hand with another word.

            “Anything else? A number two pencil? What am I missing?”

            “Don’t you have a big presentation today?” Elena asked.

            “I’m meeting with my thesis advisor at...now. Crap!” Jenna gasped as she glanced at her watch and reached up to pull her hair free from its messy bun.

            As she tried to fix her hair that fell around her shoulders Elena just smiled at her aunt and said, “then go. We’ll be fine.”

            With one last sigh and backwards glance Jenna grabbed her purse and bag of books and made a beeline for the door. This left Elena alone with her brother in the kitchen.

            She looked at him concern filling her brown eyes, “are you okay?” she asked her voice filled with worry.

            Stopping only to grab his coffee Jeremy rolled his eyes as he walked past his older sister and sighed, “don’t start.”