Chapter 1: Saying Goodbye

Thursday, January 25th, 2001

(Faith's POV)

Me, the guys, and Josie are hanging out at this club just outside of Sunnydale called Night Owl. Weird name, yeah, but it's a pretty cool scene anyway.

Josie and I are sitting at the bar, sipping at some Cokes.

"I'm gonna miss you, Josie," I say.

My best friend twirls around and smiles at me.

"I'm gonna miss you too, Faith," she says. "A lot more than those bozos."

She jerks her thumb in the direction of Mike and Kenny, two of the guys who work with me on Xan-man's construction crew.

Josie's an architect on Xander's crew. Me, Mike, and Kenny are just some of the "privileged" ones who get to lug around heavy material and use really big power tools.

Nah, don't be fooled. I do take my job pretty seriously. I've got to. B has a part time job, but she's still in school, and we need the money to pay rent on our apartment. Plus, her mom's been in and out of the hospital...It's not really money problems there. More like stress problems on all of us, but especially B and Dawnie.

"Don't lie," I tease. "You know you're gonna miss them. Mike especially."

Josie blushes.

Josie and Mike have been a lot closer lately than they had been the last year and a half I'd known them. Kenny and I think we have a good idea of what had been going on, but nothing's been confirmed. Until now.

I grin like a Cheshire cat and feel a bit like B when I drag Josie over to a nearby couch and say:

"Spill."

Josie seems to think it's weird too because she gets on me about it immediately.

"Whoa, Faith. Who knew you could be such a girl?"

"Buffy, apparently. She keeps telling me I can be really girly when I want to be," I say. "But seriously, details. Has there been any sex?"

"Y'know, that's what I love about you," Josie says. "The first thing out of your mouth whenever it comes to one of my relationships are 'has there been any sex?' How would you like it if I asked you how the sex with Buffy is?"

"I'd probably tell you about it, but with more detail than you'd want."

Josie rolls her eyes.

"Well, in answer to your question, yes. There's been...some sex."

I shake my head.

"And you're not gonna miss him at all?" I ask.

"Maybe. A little. But we never agreed that we were exclusive."

"Did you break up with him?"

"Not yet. I'm not gonna right now. Maybe we can try the long-distance thing for a little while, I don't know."

Josie's always like this with her relationships. She can jump into one with a guy she likes, no problem. But when it comes to breaking up with them, she has serious problems. I swear she has a fear of breaking up with men.

"Faith! What time is your girl expecting you back?" Kenny asks.

I glance at my watch.

It's almost eleven o'clock. Man, B's gonna be pissed!

"Probably about twenty minutes ago. We had some plans tonight I had to reschedule and I said I'd be home kinda early."

"Then we better go," Josie says quietly.

She looks so sad...

"Josie. You know how much I love you," I say quietly. "But B and I...I can't break any promises to her or she will kick my butt."

"I understand," Josie says.

She grabs my arms and drags me out to the car.

I guess we're all a little buzzed because we're all laughing over nothing.

We're on our way back into town and the roads basically deserted. It's only one lane so we can't get past the slow driver in front of us.

Josie's getting a little impatient. After I told them I had to be home, she decided to take advantage of the early bedtime and get some extra sleep before her flight in the morning. I want to feel bad for her because I know her temper is really short, but Kenny's laughter is totally contagious.

"Oh God..."

Josie pulls quickly over to the side.

"Josie, what the hell?"

"There's some guy coming up behind us. He's going kind of fast," Josie explains. "I was just trying to get out of their way before--"

The car in front of speeds up a bit and so does Josie, letting out a relieved sigh.

Something's going to happen here. I can sense it. It's unusual, but I just know something bad is going to happen.

I take out my cell phone, type out a text message as fast as I can, and hit send.

A loud crashing noise echoes through the car and we smash into the car in front of us.

Then, everything goes black.