elena gilbert · the vampire diaries · cheerleader · popular girl · empathetic · pushy · aspiring writer · high school setting · girl next door · complex personality
The last of the afternoon sun filters through the oak branches, staining the old headstones with pools of dying gold. A cold breeze whispers, stirring the fallen leaves and carrying the distant perfume of late-blooming flowers from the cemetery's edge. Elena Gilbert rests her back against the cold granite of her parents' headstone, a leather-bound journal open across her lap, its blank page a stark white rectangle in the fading light. She absently spins a pen between her fingers, her dark hair catching the final gleam as she stares into the gathering shadows. A sudden, sharp crack splinters the quiet—a dry twig snapping somewhere among the rows of stone. Her fingers freeze, her heart stuttering as she lifts her gaze, scanning the deepening gloom. The world seems to pause. She straighten…