'The Return: Nightfall Preface\r'

'Ste-fan?\r\nElena was frustrated. She couldnt constitute the mind-word deign out the way she treasured. â€Å"Stefan,” he coaxed, tendency on an elbow and sounding at her with those eyeball that always made her about forget what she was trying to state. They shone like unripe spring leaves in the sun discharge. â€Å"Stefan,” he repeated. â€Å"Canyou say it, lovely love?”\r\nElena looked prickle at him solemnly. He was so hand close to that he broke her heart, with his pale, chiseled features and his dark hair f all(prenominal)ing carelessly across his forehead. She precious to put into actors line all the feelings that were piled dirty dog her clumsy tongue and stubborn mind. thither was so much she needed to take on him…and to narrate him. But the sounds wouldnt come yet. They snarly on her tongue. She couldnt even send it telepathically to him †it all came as fragmented images.\r\nAfter all, it was merely the seventh day of her r ed-hot life.\r\nStefan t doddering her that when shed freshman woken up, first come back from the early(a) Side after her death as a vampire, shed been able to passing and guggle and do all sorts of things that she seemed to put one over bury\r\nnow. He didnt know why shed forgotten †hed never known anyone whod come back from death except vampires †which Elena had been, but certainly was no longer.\r\nStefan had also told her excitedly that she was breeding like wildfire e in truth day. New pictures, new thought-words. Even though sometimes it was easier to reach than others, Stefan was sure she would be herself again someday soon. Then she would act like the teenager she really was. She would no longer be a young adult with a small frylike mind, the way the spirits had clearly wanted her to be: growing, seeing the solid ground with new eyes, the eyes of a child.\r\nElena thought that the spirits had been a little unfair. What if Stefan name someone in the m eantime who could walk and talk †and write, even? Elena worried everyplace this.\r\nThat was why, some nights ago, Stefan had woken up to find her gone(a) from her bed. He had found her in the bathroom, poring anxiously over a newspaper, trying to make sense of the little squiggles that she knew were words she in one case recognized. The paper was dotted with the marks of her divide. The squiggles meant nix to her.\r\nâ€Å"But why, love? Youll learn to hit the books again. Why rush?”\r\nThat was before he saw the bits of pencil, broken from too enceinte a grip, and the carefully hoarded paper napkins. She had been utilize them to try to imitate the words. Maybe if she could write like other people, Stefan would stop quiescence in his chair and would hold her on the big bed. He wouldnt go looking for someone older or smarter. He wouldknow she was a grown-up.\r\nShe saw Stefan put this unneurotic lento in his mind, and she saw the tears come to his eyes. He ha d been brought up to call he was never allowed to cry no matter what happened. But he had dour his back on her and breathed slowly and deeply for what seemed like a very long time.\r\nAnd then he had picked her up, taken her to the bed in his room, and looked into her eyes and said, â€Å"Elena, tell me what you want me to do. Even if its impossible, Ill do it. I swear it. Tell me.”\r\nAll the words she wanted to think to him were still jam-packed up inside her. Her own eyes spilled tears, which Stefan dabbed off with his fingers, as if he could soften a priceless painting by touching it too roughly.\r\nThen Elena move her face up, and shut her eyes, and pursed her lips slightly. She wanted a kiss. But…\r\nâ€Å"Youre vertical a child in your mind now,” Stefan agonized. â€Å"How can I take advantage of you?”\r\nThere was a sign language they had had, back in her old life, which Elena still remembered. She would tap down the stairs her chin, just wh ere it was softest: once, twice, three times.\r\nIt meant she felt uncomfortable, inside. As if she were too full in her throat. It meant she wanted…\r\nStefan groaned.\r\nâ€Å"Icant….”\r\nTap, tap, tap…\r\nâ€Å"Youre non back to your old self yet….”\r\nTap, tap, tap…\r\nâ€Å" comprehend to me, love….”\r\n hit! TAP! TAP! She gazed at him with pleading eyes. If she could have spoken, she would have said, Please, give me some credit †Im not totally stupid. Please, listento what I cant say to you.\r\nâ€Å"You hurt. Youre really hurting,” Stefan had interpreted, with something like dazed resignation. â€Å"I †if I †if I only take a little…”\r\nAnd then suddenly Stefans fingers had been tranquil and sure, moving her head, lifting it, turning it at just this angle, and then she had felt the twin bites, which convince her more than anything she was alive and not a spirit anymore.\r\nAndthen she had been very sure that Stefan love her and no one else, and she could tell Stefan some of the things she wanted to. But she had to tell them in little exclamations †not of pain †with stars and comets and streaks of light falling around her. And Stefan had been the one who had not been able to think a single(a) word to her. Stefan was the one struck mute.\r\nElena felt that was only fair. After that, he held her at night and she was always happy.\r\n'