I do not own any characters in the Whedon Buffyverse.

I still remember that day like yesterday. 2003.

I was up at bat . Seventh inning. The pitcher was winding up. It was a fast ball headed right for my sweet spot. The bat connected and I started running for first when I heard a scream from the stands. Then both teams started screaming as the coaches and some parents rushed the field. I stood there, frozen, not knowing what was going on.

Through the crowd surrounding the picther I could see him laying flat on the ground. Through the chaos I could hear sirens from the nearby fire station. My parents had come to stand beside me. They tried to make me leave the field.

" Mamma, what happened to Tommy?"

Her eyes were filled with tears. " Let's go Allana."

" But what's happening?"

" The ball hit Tommy, he's hurt really bad."

I broke down as my parents guided me to their car. The only sound inside the vehicle was my sobs. We drove straight home. Once there I ran to my room slamming the door. It sounded like a bodybuilder had slammed it and the wall shook.

My mom came in to see me. She sat there rubbing my back trying to calm me down. When my tears had subsided into hiccups, I asked her if she knew how he was doing. She sat silently for a few minutes.

" The last we heard we was headinginto surgery. The ball hit him in the head and they have to release pressure on his brain. They aren't sure why its so bad. He had a hard cap on."

Fortunately he pulled through, although he was never the same. The adults didnt blame me, well his parents might have. The other kids, especially his friends. Constantly whispering until I came close, then the conversation stopping. I dont really blame them now, but as a ten year old it was hard. Sure he'd always been a jerk, but I hadn't done it purpose. I thanked God the school year was almost over, but something else happened over the summer.

Tommy had a lot of brain damage from the hit. His best friend Matthew was really angry, especially at me. During the last month of school he followed me around, whispering threats. When summer break began he started riding past my house alot. I told my parents what was going on and they spoke to his, but they told me to do my best to avoid him. Different world then.

It came to a head that July. It was the hottest day of summer. I was at the city pool with my friends. It was the first time I had been on my on that summer. Along with the fallout from the game, I was trying to adjust to how strong I suddenly was. Play wrestling with my dad I was able to break his hold. It took us both a while to get over that shock. Any way, Matthew was there. At the noon pool time out he backed me in a corner with some of his friends shielding us and a couple distracting the lifeguards. He told me I was gonna pay for what i had done. He drew back to punch me and I reached out to defend myself, and broke his arm.

No one understood how it had happened. Matthew was a lot bigger than me. I didnt get off lightly. There was an inquiry into it and they knew Matthew was the instigator, but after that even my friends started to avoid me. I begged my parents to let me transfer schools , but they wouldnt let me. They insisted I "tuff" it out. By high school I was almost always alone. The only sports I played were no contact and I was tired of being a pariah.

After a gymnastics meet I didnt go home one night. I wandered down to a waterfront park. There were a few homeless scattered around sleeping bundled up on some park benches , but I ignored them. I gravitated towards a shadowy area to watch the waves rolling in. About 50 feet away a couple was making out. Or at least thats what I thought, until she suddenly threw the guy to the ground.

Her face was was monstrous with a mouth full of fangs.She wiped her mouth and grinned at me. She spoke with thick Italian accent, " Its dangerous after dark little one." The , well now I know she was a vampire, ran towards me. Looking around for something to defend my self with a I saw a tree branch and grabbed it, thinking it was better than nothing.

As she came for me I swung that branch like it was a baseball bat. Knocked her on her ass. I'm not sure which one of us was more surprised. Getting up she growled," Slayer. I thought you were in Cleveland and older." I had no clue what she was talking about. She came at me again. I lucked out and she ended up impaling herself . I ran like a bat out of hell to get home. Thundering up the stairs and locking my bedroom door. I didn't sleep much that night, or the next few to be honest.

I tried to find out what a Slayer was, most of the info was about a old timey band. Not much help. Monsters started showing up. It was hard to hide my injuries and my grades started dropping.

About a month after the vampire a guy dressed in black and a guy wearing a eye patch started hanging around my school. After a few days I noticed them following me, not creepy at all right?

One night after some slimey thing came after me these two showed up and shot it with a crossbow. They had my attention. Eye patch grinned at me and held out his hand, " Sorry about that. We lost you for a few minutes on 7th St. I'm Xander Harris, this is Andrew."

He dropped his hand and smile when I just kept staring. They looked at each other uncomfortably. The one called Andrew finally spoke," Is there somewhere we can talk?"

I jerked my head towards the end of the alley and they followed me to a all night diner.

They started a long story about slayers, vampires, hellmouths and a awaking spell. They said they had started looking for all the awoken slayers. The local news reports had led them to me.

I sat staring at them. Six years, six years I had lived with this with no help.

I glared at them," What

took you so long?"