Living my Dream (a Vampire Diaries fan-fiction)

The trip of a lifetime

Written 2012 by VeGirl

First of all, let me send a great thank you to Lisa Jane Smith for the books with this unlikely story, but more to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson, the cast and crew for really bringing this story to life for us.

I just borrowed their story and characters to play with for a while. Now, let's get on with the story.

* * * * * * * * * *

Hi, my name is Emma, and I had been a fan of the Vampire Diaries for a couple of years when me and my friend decided to do this trip. We planned to fly over the sea together to see the locations where they shoot our favorite show. It was a dream come true.

My friend Anna and I were supposed to go together but sadly enough she suddenly got sick, and had to have her appendix removed, so I had to make this journey by myself.

It wasn't like I was totally helpless on my own; I had made trips on my own before, like when I studied English at Oxford for a year. You learn not to be afraid of the unknown and that's a good thing when you're 25 years of age.

Anna was devastated and would have done anything if she hadn't been in the hospital. We were supposed to go to Atlanta to check out the locations for the Vampire Diaries, and we had done extensive research before it was time to go all the way across the Atlantic Ocean.

It sucked that I had to go alone, but it was too good to miss.

The flight was smooth though and the hotel Anna and I had booked looked great. My whole body had tingled with excitement as the plane landed in Atlanta. It had been a long journey from Sweden but I was so excited when I now finally was here.

Jetlagged after the flight, I had hit the bed even if it had been noon when I arrived. My body couldn't  really handle the long trip and since it was night time at home, I needed sleep. Luckily it didn't take a long nap, before I was energized again. Hurriedly I got in the shower to get some energy back, freshened up my make-up on and brushed my long blond curls, anxious to see the town.

That first day in Covington I tried just to get to know the town. Anna and I had booked a tour with something called the Vampire Stalkers, but it wasn't until our second day here, and until then I wanted to learn as much as I could about this town.

I was checking out the town church when I saw a poster for a tour where you could check out old houses and their gardens. I immediately recognized "the Salvatore Boarding-house" from my favourite show; even though the poster claimed it to be Glenridge Hall.

It seemed like a really nice tour where you were given certain destinations to chose from, where you could wander around the gardens with your camera. The one thing that allured me was of course the big mysterious looking boarding house; I got excited just by catching it on picture, and I decided to join, even if it was already that afternoon.

I found something to eat quickly and jittery hit the starting point.

The people who joined that garden tour was mostly elders with a strong garden interest, but there were a few younger people who were rather looking at the buildings, like me. We took our own cars, or in my case, the rental, to get around in the small towns and villages around Covington. I didn't go to all the gardens, but a few allured me architectural wise. Glenridge Hall was extra interesting because the architecture was so different from the Scandinavian design I was used to. I was of course mostly fascinated because I had seen it so many times on my TV at home. This was the Salvatore Boardinghouse.

My whole body tingled with excitement as I walked up the driveway and caught eye of the big brown house with bond timber details and all its angles. The intellectual part of me knew it was just a beautiful house, but the emotional part rejoiced.

It felt amazing to walk around this garden, along with a bunch of people that was mostly interested in the green scrubs and plants. On this sunny day the fragrance from the flowers was exquisite. It was amazing to find all these people, walking around or sitting in garden furniture, talking and taking pictures of themselves and the surroundings. Everyone were really friendly and a younger couple stopped to discuss architecture with me. They were easy to talk to and had a lot of interesting opinions, and we got a few laughs together. It got especially interesting when a man named Joseph came out and started to tell us more about the architecture. He turned out to be the owner of the house and knew obviously everything about it.

When we left this magic place I turned around for a last glance over my shoulder at this amazing building. A movement in one of the windows upstairs caught my attention; the curtain was cautiously drawn to the side and a man watched us leave. A darkhaired man I recognized. A chill went through my body.

It couldn't have been Ian Somerhalder, but it sure looked like him.

I smiled at my imagination running amok, turned around and left the estate with the rest of the group. I guess my friends were right, I was a little too obsessed with the Vampire Diaries. I needed to get a grip!

It was evening when I got back to the hotel, so I had myself something to eat in the hotel restaurant before I got up to my room and got ready for bed.

I picked up the remote and started flipping through channels; CW showed my favourite show, so I snuggled up in bed and watched it. It was a rerun of the second season and I was glad, since Sweden was a little behind in episodes. I was halfway into the third season myself. I didn't want any spoilers to ruin the story.

~~ Authors note ~~

Thank you for finding interest in my story!

This first chapter is a bit slow, but the story is just about to kick in, bear with me. I hope you will enjoy the rest of my amazing trip! / Emma.

~~~~~~~~~~~