Title: Stand in the Rain
Author: Chantel
Rating: T
Summary: Dawn is grieving
Authors Note:
****Quote and title from "Stand in the Rain" by Superchic(k)
Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy. I don't own the song. I'm just borrowing them. Also, I'm not making any money off of them. Wheee.
****"She won't turn around.
The shadows are long and she fears if she cries that first tear,
The tears will not stop raining down"
It was raining the first time Dawn visited her. She looked down and a wave of emotion crashed into her, she fell to her knees. Her heart slammed against her rib cage as drops of water hammered against her skin.
With each beat and each drop, the wall of indifference she had constructed wavered- until finally, it tumbled. A tidal wave emerged and Dawn was swept away. Her hands gripped the grass ferociously, anchoring herself against the consuming storm.
Tears streamed down her face, burning a path against her cool skin.
Her hair matted and clung to her face.
Her muscles became tight. Something was happening inside of her.
The silence of the graveyard became overbearing then. Clenching her eyes, the young girl opened her jaws and howled.
Her strangled cry pierced through the rain, the air and the atmosphere.
Her body quivered with grief, surged with anger, and hummed with hate. But her cry? Her cry resonated across the stones of the dead, hissing only loneliness.
Dawn stayed that way for a long time.
She screamed until there was no breath left in her lungs.
Cried until she had no more tears.
And then she began to pound the earth beneath her until her knuckles were bloody and her energy had drained.
The rain softened and Dawn's whisper filled the silence louder than gun shot ever could, "You said you'd never leave me.."
Her gaze flickered from the now muddy ground before her to the tombstone.
The cold grey stone remained quiet.
"You said it would be okay"
Whether she had failed to notice before or not, Dawn would never remember for sure, but the rain stopped fully.
The air was damp in her lungs, heavy. She traced the words etched in the stone carefully. Her fingers trailed over the letters and numbers, gliding over the glossy surface repeatedly.
"You lied, Tara.." she had whispered finally.
Dawn stood then, her posture rigid and her eyes hard.
"You lied and I hate you for that.."
Water droplets made a course down the front of the tombstone and Dawn couldn't help but liken them to the blondes tears.
The words hung in the air as the brunette turned and walked away.
Dawn refused to look back the entire walk home.
tbc