TITLE: Thoughts in the Dark

PAIRING: None really.

RATING: K.

SPOILERS: Up through "Wrecked"

SUMMARY: She's all alone in the dark.. thinking about it all.

DISCLAIMER: Buffy and everything I use in this fic belong to my god Joss. *sigh* And like Fox, Mutant Enemy, UPN and anyone else.

Notes: Thanks to The Walking Happy Meal for Beta reading this for me

She glanced down at her cast while she let out a deep sigh, she looked around the nearly dark room, only illuminated by the moon shining through her window.

'How could I have been so stupid. She didn't wanna hang out with me. She just wanted her fix.. No one wants me anymore'

It was all too true to her. She sat alone in her dark room, talking to herself. A tear slid down the brunette's face and she wiped it away quickly.

'Buffy doesn't want me anymore, she just patrols and sleeps. Spike doesn't want me, he's probably out smoking and trying so hard to be bad'

More tears formed in her eyes and she tried to blink them away.

'He used to play with me, spend time... before... Buffy. She came back and she messed it all up'

Dawn reached down to pull the covers over her and winced in pain as the soft blanket hit her hurt arm.

'I wish I had mom, she'd tuck me in and tell me everything will be alright. She'd help me and love me and not stake vampires... but she's gone too'

She leaned back against the pillows and sighed once again as her thoughts drifted back to her friends.

'Giles is gone too. He used to talk to me, sometimes Buffy would have to bring me over to his house whenever she went after some baddie and needed a baby sitter. He would talk to me like I was an adult... a real person. But Im not, Im still the key. Right? I don't know whether I'm still all glowy key thing or if Im human. Argh. My arm hurts.'

She pushed the covers off of her and slipped out of bed, standing in front of the mirror to study herself. Her brown silky hair, her face, the cast. The same rumpled clothes she had on when she had been attacked. Buffy didn't come in to check on her and Willow didn't dare step into her room after what had happened.

'Is the girl before me in the mirror real? Is any of my life real? I don't think so... Buffy wouldn't have missed me if I had jumped in there. None of them would. I bet some spell would have been revoked and they wouldn't know the difference. They'd probably party and laugh while I was in some dimension being tortured by pigs with horns'

She chuckled at her own joke and looked down at her feet. She glanced back up and let the tears fall this time.

'They don't need or want me. Why am I still here? They probably won't even notice that Im missing. It'll be hours before they check in here and notice me and my stuff gone'

She sighed and went for her closet. Her sadness and pain turning into anger and hatred. With her good arm she grabbed an empty backpack and went for her dresser. She pulled out a few t-shirts, some underwear and socks. Struggling a bit to carry the increasingly heavy bag, she trudged over to her hamper and pulled out some jeans and shoved them into her bag.

As she surveyed her room wondering what else her journey would need. Dawn set down her backpack as she went to her nightstand and opened up the drawer. She pulled out a few bills and shoved them into the pocket of her pants. Sighing as she reached for the zipper of the bag, she slid the zipper closed and picked it up with her good arm.

Dawn flung the backpack over her shoulder and cringed when it hit her shoulder and jolted her hurt arm. She opened her bedroom door, quietly creeping down the hall and bounding down the steps.

She turned back, looking up at the steps hoping for someone to come running down them and sweep her up into their arms, telling her that they loved her so much and never wanted her to leave.

Seconds passed. No one came for her. She could hear the clock ticking, time slipping away just like the tears upon her cheeks. Running her slim fingers along the knob, she opened up the door quietly and slipped out into the lonely night.

And the girl who had held so much pain was gone.

Just another shadow in the dark.