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Chapter one: Figment of the imagination
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Emily Gilbert knew a lot of things. Being a History nerd with a GPA of 4.7, there wasn't much you could ask the girl that she didn't have the answer to. The only thing that didn't come so easily to Emily Gilbert was grieving her parents death.

Everyone expresses there grief in different ways, like her sister, who writes in the diary their mother gifted her, or doing drugs, something her younger brother undertakes. Emily on the other hand was unfamiliar with how she was supposed to feel or deal with her emotions, she was focusing too hard on what was right, because she always had to be perfect. The pressure of doing this the right way flooded her mind. Especially when it came to her parents and their death. So here she was walking down the empty road, almost about to reach her destination. The girl stopped and picked a few flowers that grew on the side of the road before continuing her path. If people knew what was going on in Emily's head they might say that she was crazy. A perfectionist gone psycho. She sometimes felt that way too, like how every footstep she took made her feel more accomplished. It honestly screwed with her, the thought that she was treating her parents death like some town event she's planning.

Emily exhaled into the night sky, as she came across Wickery bridge. There were already dead flowers laid on the concrete gravel. Placed by Caroline Forbes in her attempt to be sympathetic. She threw the old bouquet over the other end of the bridge before taking out her own flowers. Emily leaned over the railing, plucking off the petals and tossing them into the water below. Her mind found peace in the way the flower petals glided down into the water, the contrast of the white petals to the dark water was satisfying. This sense of tranquility was rare for Emily, she embraced every moment, knowing it would be gone by tomorrow.

The peace was interrupted when Emily saw another figure walking upon the old bridge. Emily panicked, but her outside demeanor remained calm, she let the last petal fall into the river, before walking in the direction she came from. Emily's paranoia kicked in with the eerie feeling that the figure was picking up their pace in walking... so she picked up a stick.

When she went to look at the man, he was gone. She sighed and cursed herself for thinking Maybe he jumped because life sucks.

After taking another sigh of relief she turned back around, now being face to face with an unfamiliar man, which only scared her more considering everybody knew everybody in Mystic falls and out of nowhere a strange man appears. Emily held up her stick ready to attack and the man raised both his hands in defense. "My godmothers the sheriff of this town, so if you're thinking of murdering me... don't."

"I don't mean you any harm." He spoke, but the stranger could not withhold his laugh at the girls attempts to be intimidating. Her perfect posture and constantly readjusting stern facial expressions.

Emily stood even more straight up to make herself seem even more intimidating as she observed the guy. He had golden blonde hair, dark blue eyes and he wore a fancy polyester coat. Hot. The teen internally thought to herself, but then she thought of the movie American Psycho she watched with Jeremy two weeks ago and panic surged through her yet again. "Why are you following me? Are you some psychopath who takes walks at night to kill people?"

"I wasn't following you and I'm not a stalking psychopath."

     To Emily that sounded like something a psychopath would say when he's being called out for being a psychopath. "So you just take walks after midnight? Suspicious."

"You're taking a walk after midnight as well, how do I know you're not some stalking psychopath?"

"Hmm deflecting back onto me, signs of a psychopath." Emily responded trying not to take defeat and ignoring her hypocrisy.

     He chuckles and Emily watches his breath get caught in the cold air. "My names Vincent Salvatore."

"Salvatore, like Zach Salvatore?" Emily questioned lowering her stick.

"Yeah, Zach's my uncle."

"Okay Mr. Salvatore, what are you doing taking a stroll outside past midnight?"

"Had a fight with my brother, needed to clear my head." Emily hummed in response. "May I ask what you're doing taking a stroll past midnight? On a bridge if I might add?"

"I'd rather not say."

"Well I want you to know that you're not alone and your life mat-"

"I'm not going to jump! I'm way too proud of my life to end it." Emily stated.

A moment of silence passed by before the two broke out into laughter. This had been the strangest encounter Emily Gilbert has had in her lifetime and it was in no doubt to her that it was Vincent's as well. Even though they were strangers and he didn't even know her name, Emily felt like she'd known him for years. It reached the point where Emily thought she had finally lost it and this handsome guy standing in front of her was some figment of her imagination.

"I should get going, It's a school night for me."

Vincent nodded a bit disappointed. "Alright, hope you have a good night, or morning however you'd like to clarify it as."

As Emily began walking back to her house, she'd turn around to see Vincent walking the other direction, which was strange to her considering before he'd been walking the same direction of her. When she turned back for the last time he was nowhere in sight, like he'd vanished into thin air.

Maybe he was just a figment of her imagination.

A/n: First chapter, which really should've been the prologue.