Chapter 2
"Where could Buffy be? She's late." A tall, dark haired man, dressed in a hockey jersey and brown slack's, asked as he paced back and forth in an Occult Shop. He began to pound his fist into his hand. "God, this isn't like her."
"Zander, are you nuts? She's never on time, and if she was, there would be something wrong and she'd need help or something..." She paused breifly, to walk over to Zander, "you know that." She said, stopping him in his tracks, and wrapping her thin arms around him, as he wrapped his around her, kissing her before resting his head on her shoulder.
"Anya's right, Buffy's okay." A thin women, with red hair said, as she sat at a circle wood table, proceding to type on a laptop. With a sigh, Zander just shook his head, gripping Anya tighter. "I guess you guys are right. Enough worring about Buffy." He said as he gently pushed Anya away, just to reach for her face and kiss her again, on her moist lips.
"See, hunny. I'm right, the only thing Buffy couldn't handle would be one of those damned bunnies." She said smiling, as she put her soft hand on the side of Zander's face, just ever so slightly caressing his cheek. "Cause bunnies are just evil." She explained, as she turned herself around in Zander's arm, pulling him close.
"Geez, always the bunny thing with you, isn't Anya?" Said the red head as she, hovered her hands over the keyboard of the laptop, with her eye's closed. "Oh, just be quiet, Willow, if you only knew." Anya replied, with a half frown. Willow opened her eye's, and just stared up at Zander and Anya, just watching, as he held his arm's around Anya, Anya wore her velvet, satin slip over dress, with her blond hair being pulled back so that Zander could rest his head better on her shoulder, without pulling on the hair. The image of Zander and Anya, made her think back to when her and Terra were like that. "So Willow, how are you and Terra doing?" Zander paused for a second, thinking of the right words to say, "Do you think, you'll get back together?" He asked, trying to avoid any stare he might recieve. Willow just shrugged her shoulders, tilting her head to the side, "I'm not really sure." She said lowering her head into her black computer, avoiding the eyes of them both. Willow reached one of her hands over her head resting it there.
"Thats a little rude of you Zander," Anya said to him, "it's not easy for Willow" She finished saying as she left the comfort of Zander's arm, and walked over to Willow, around the table, to give Willow a reassuring hug. "Don't worring Willow, things will fix themselves, somehow." Anya continued, "Relationship just have to go through these little things, so they can become stronger, or some stuff like that." She finished letting out sighing, as Willow rested her head against, Anya's chest, as tears ran down her face. Then finally speacking, "I hope your right," Willow paused to wipe the tears off her face, "I really do."
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"No, leave me alone, no.... go away...., .....get..off.." Buffy screamed as she jumped out of her bed, falling to the floor, landing on her hands and knees. She quickly got up, and just stopped, stunned. She found herself in her own room. She thought about the event that had happened, the glowing eyes of the large monster, the the shadowy figure that saved her, could it have all been a dream. If it were, then it was one of the worst she had ever had. But it was so real, the pain, especialy the heat, the heat was too real. Buffy slowly looked down at her bed, noticing the large sweat stain, in the sheets. The bottom of her mouth dropped, she had never had a nightmare quiet this bad.
After pulling the blankets up on her bed, semi-making it, to hide the stain. She began walking towards the bathroom, as she walked, she could feel the dried sweat all over her body, it made her clothes stick to her body, clinging as if for dear life. She turned down the hallway, noticing that Dawn was already up, and out of bed, her room empty with the door open. Buffy just closed the door as she went by. Dawn must have already gone to school her thought to herself. "Thats weird." Buffy said puzzled as she continued down the hallway, letting her hand glide on the white wall, feeling out the little intricate bumps and groove's over the wall. When she reached the bathroom, it looked like someone had already, put a towel down on the closed laundry hamper for her. "Thats nice, thanks Dawn." She said to herself smiling, as she notice some new soaps aside the towel, with a note there, address to her.
Buffy reached for the note slowly shutting the door behind her, as Dawn came up the stair. Dawn saw her sister awake, aleast the man was right she thought. But what had happened to Buffy last night. All Dawn new was the man didn't tell her, he just bursted in through the door, with Buffy ragged and torn, nearly naked in his arms, asking where Buffy's room was, then he did a few thing and left just as quickly as he came in. Without saying another thing, did he save Buffy, or did he do that to her, she had to know, as she quickly walked over to the closing bathroom door. "Hey, Buffy what happened last night." Dawn asked before the door was completely closed.
Buffy stopped, in shock, she couldn't remember last night, the only thing she was able to remember was the dream. But before she was ready to answer, or see her little sister, she slamed the door hard, almost knocking Dawn down to the floor. Buffy locked the it, and turned around leaning against the door, looking at the letter addressed to her. The memories of the night began to return, the pain in her body began to sent itself back into her, making her slowly fall, toward the cold tile floor. And for the first time this morning she realized the coat that she wore, wasn't her's, it was much to large. She riped opened the letter pulling out the note, and began to read what it said. Her eye's just grew, as she went on through the reading, but before she could finish she threw the note to the floor as she tore off the the dark leather coat, dropping it to the ground, then found herself looking into the mirror.
It wasn't a nightmare, it happened, she thought just staring into the mirror. Her white blouse was torn and destroyed, much like the rest of her clothes. Tares and rip's were all over her shirt, she took it off slowly, along with her broken bra, watching her body, as she revealed the scar's acrossed her body, including the deep gash on her left arm. The pain was so much, soon after she pulled the last of the ruined clothing off of herself, she sat down next to the bath tub/shower, looking at the white porcelain. She gripped the edge with her right hand as she, leaned over to her right a bit, to turn the hot water on. After a few moments, of letting the water warm up, Buffy lifted herself up, flipping the swith, to make the bath into a shower, as she stepped in the scalding hot water closing the shower curtain.
As the water hit Buffy, she felt the burn. The water just swallowed up the pain she had from last night, with a new found pain from the scalding water. She squirmed a little from it, but just kept washing herself, watching the blood and dirt flow off her body, as she scrubbed herself, removing some of the sweat. She looked out of the shower, looking back to the soaps that were left on the side the towel. She timidly reached out of the shower to grab one, she slipped a little, but, kept her balance still, as she snatched one of them and pulled it back into the shower with her.
She smelled the soap, the soap had an unusual smell to it, but, as the hot water hit it, it gave off a sweet aroma, helping her forget that night. Without realizeing it, Buffy found herself scrubbing her body again, this time with the soap. The pain she felt, slowly slipped away, letting her muscle's relax. After cleaning everypart of her body, Buffy just let the soap drop, as she kneeled down and curled into a ball as she relived the nightmare. And though the water was extremely hot, Buffy just laid there under the water trembling. Just trembling, as she bit her lower lip and held it there.
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Dawn stood in front of the bathroom door, wondering, waiting, wanting to know what had happened last night. She could hear the water rushing in the shower, and thought about waiting, but, thought again. She couldn't afford to wait, she might be late for school, but the curiosity, was almost to overwhelming. "Hey Buffy, you almost done?" Dawn asked concerned for her sister. "Well, I'm going to school now..., I'll see you when I get home, okay?" She stood with her ear to the door waiting for an answer. But nothing came over the noise of the water. Dawn tried to open the door quietly, so she wouldn't be noticed by her sister, but, the door was locked. She looked down to the golden, round door handle, then looked back to the door. "Have a good day." Dawn said, as she turned away from the door, and proceeded to walk down the stairs.
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"Hey Terra," Willow said waving to her, as Terra walked into the occult shop, waving back to everyone. "So whatcha doing today?" Willow asked as she slowly made her way over to Terra. Terra just looked back to Willow smiling, "Nothing really, why?" Terra asked as she took off her long coat revealing, a blue dress that flowed from her shoulders all the way to her ankles, it had a low cut but wasn't revealing to much cleavage, the dress had long sleeve decarated with dark blue beeds and ruffles. Her hair was braided back into a single tail, and came over her right shoulder, as she played with it in her righ hand, walking over to the table.
Zander looked up to Terra, smiling, "Hey Terra, have you seen Buffy, she's later then normal?" He asked, as he felt a strong hand gripping his tighter. Anya had been telling him not to worry, but Zander just sat there at the table still wondering what had Buffy been up to. "Zander I told you, unless it's bunnies, she'll be okay." Anya comforted him.
"She's at home." Terra answered, "Dawn said she was taking a shower, when I picked her up to drop her off at school, why?" Terra paused looking at Zander. "Cause Zander has this bad feeling that, Buffy got into alot of trouble last night." Anya answering Terra for Zander, shaking her head, "Like Buffy ever gets into trouble like that," Anya paused for just a moment, "Well other then those few times, I mean." Anya just stopped talking, as Zander asked Terra, "So, Buffy's alright, right?"
"Yes, Zander." Terra answered, sitting down at the table, "O'yeah, Dawn also said, that someone dropped off Buffy last night, carrying her to her room" A look of dread came over Zanders face, is face turned pale, his eye's wide with fear.
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The hot water coming from the shower head slowly began to cool off, as Buffy still laid there curled up into a ball, gazing out looking around the bathroom, watching, waiting for something, anything to jump out. The chill of the water caused goosebumps to spread acrossed her smooth skin, the water was chilling her to the bone, but, she didn't care. What that thing had tried to do to her was worse then any kind of pain or discomfort she could ever receive. She thought about what she should do, should she tell her friends, no she answered herself in her thoughts, they wouldn't understand, shaking her head, but she had to tell somebody. Who? Who should she tell, there had to be someone out there in this crazy world she thought. To cold to think of who, she finally got up, standing huntch over, too cold to stand straight, as she grab the knobs, and turn the water off.
Buffy stood there watching the water at the bottom, swirling around draining down the pipe, like a little whirl pool. It kind of put her mind at ease, and she began to forget the tragedy. She reach out for the towel, and started to unfold it. She slowly dried herself off, begining with her hair. She slowly scruded her head with the towel, then wrapping the towel, around the rest of her long hair, squeezing, as she pulled the towel back, pushing some of the cold water away from her head. She then took the towel back in front of herself, as she starting wiping herself dry, pushing the towel all over her body, but, as she reached to scrub her arm, she remembered the gash, and paused. She looked at the gash, making sure it was clean, so that she wouldn't get an infection, but it was diffirent then before. The long, deep gash she had seen before, was now scabbed over, and about an inch shorter.
She took herself in front of the mirror, looking over her body, most of all the cut and scratches she had, were almost healed, leaving just little scar's from where they were. Her fear of what happened, the monster trying to do what it wanted to her, kind of faded to the recesses of her mind. She wrapped the towel around her body, tucking one end in so to keep the towel up, without her holding it, as she reached out for the note, and jacket. She looked at the letter again, not really reading it, but looking for a name, as to who it was from, but, nothing. She lifted the jacket to her face, smelling it. Even though she woar it for a while it still smelled good, she couldn't help it, but, to stand there for a bit as she closed her eye's and and inhaled it. She didn't know the smell from anywhere, the smell was like a mix of flowers, sweet foods, and everything else that she thought smelled good, but none of them could match the smell of the coat by themselves. She found the smell very arousing.
She slowly moved the jacket away from her face, opening her eyes. She slowly unlocked the door, and then opened it. Walking towards her room, so that she could get dressed. As she walked acrossed the hallway she could heard the door open. She could tell by the voives it was just some of her friends, but, didn't care. She just kept thinking about the man that saved her.
"BUFFY, you here." Zander yelled through the house, hoping for an answer, "BUFFY!" Willow said following Zander into the house, with Terra and Anya right behind them just shaking their heads. Zander started up the stairs, saying, "I'll see if Buffy's upstairs, why don't you guys check if she's down here," he paused for a moment thinking, "If you see her before me, find out what happened. Okay?" he paused again waiting for an answer, from the three non-beleivers. They all shook their heads agreeing with Zander, wishing he wasn't such a nut case about things like this. "Buffy?" He continued to ask, waiting for her voice, any word she might say would be good enough for him, as long as she was okay. When he got to the top of the stairs, he saw the open bathroom door, with a little water on the floor, as a door behind him closed. He jumped in shock, he turned around to Buffy's room, and walked over to it.
"Buffy are you in there?" Zander asked, waiting for the answer with his ear to the door, as he listened to the foot steps in the room. He could hear her closet opening, as well as a drawer opening and closing. "Buffy, its me, Zander." He stopped talking waiting again for an answer. "Buffy?" he asked again, this time, slightly knocking on the door.
"Where could Buffy be? She's late." A tall, dark haired man, dressed in a hockey jersey and brown slack's, asked as he paced back and forth in an Occult Shop. He began to pound his fist into his hand. "God, this isn't like her."
"Zander, are you nuts? She's never on time, and if she was, there would be something wrong and she'd need help or something..." She paused breifly, to walk over to Zander, "you know that." She said, stopping him in his tracks, and wrapping her thin arms around him, as he wrapped his around her, kissing her before resting his head on her shoulder.
"Anya's right, Buffy's okay." A thin women, with red hair said, as she sat at a circle wood table, proceding to type on a laptop. With a sigh, Zander just shook his head, gripping Anya tighter. "I guess you guys are right. Enough worring about Buffy." He said as he gently pushed Anya away, just to reach for her face and kiss her again, on her moist lips.
"See, hunny. I'm right, the only thing Buffy couldn't handle would be one of those damned bunnies." She said smiling, as she put her soft hand on the side of Zander's face, just ever so slightly caressing his cheek. "Cause bunnies are just evil." She explained, as she turned herself around in Zander's arm, pulling him close.
"Geez, always the bunny thing with you, isn't Anya?" Said the red head as she, hovered her hands over the keyboard of the laptop, with her eye's closed. "Oh, just be quiet, Willow, if you only knew." Anya replied, with a half frown. Willow opened her eye's, and just stared up at Zander and Anya, just watching, as he held his arm's around Anya, Anya wore her velvet, satin slip over dress, with her blond hair being pulled back so that Zander could rest his head better on her shoulder, without pulling on the hair. The image of Zander and Anya, made her think back to when her and Terra were like that. "So Willow, how are you and Terra doing?" Zander paused for a second, thinking of the right words to say, "Do you think, you'll get back together?" He asked, trying to avoid any stare he might recieve. Willow just shrugged her shoulders, tilting her head to the side, "I'm not really sure." She said lowering her head into her black computer, avoiding the eyes of them both. Willow reached one of her hands over her head resting it there.
"Thats a little rude of you Zander," Anya said to him, "it's not easy for Willow" She finished saying as she left the comfort of Zander's arm, and walked over to Willow, around the table, to give Willow a reassuring hug. "Don't worring Willow, things will fix themselves, somehow." Anya continued, "Relationship just have to go through these little things, so they can become stronger, or some stuff like that." She finished letting out sighing, as Willow rested her head against, Anya's chest, as tears ran down her face. Then finally speacking, "I hope your right," Willow paused to wipe the tears off her face, "I really do."
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"No, leave me alone, no.... go away...., .....get..off.." Buffy screamed as she jumped out of her bed, falling to the floor, landing on her hands and knees. She quickly got up, and just stopped, stunned. She found herself in her own room. She thought about the event that had happened, the glowing eyes of the large monster, the the shadowy figure that saved her, could it have all been a dream. If it were, then it was one of the worst she had ever had. But it was so real, the pain, especialy the heat, the heat was too real. Buffy slowly looked down at her bed, noticing the large sweat stain, in the sheets. The bottom of her mouth dropped, she had never had a nightmare quiet this bad.
After pulling the blankets up on her bed, semi-making it, to hide the stain. She began walking towards the bathroom, as she walked, she could feel the dried sweat all over her body, it made her clothes stick to her body, clinging as if for dear life. She turned down the hallway, noticing that Dawn was already up, and out of bed, her room empty with the door open. Buffy just closed the door as she went by. Dawn must have already gone to school her thought to herself. "Thats weird." Buffy said puzzled as she continued down the hallway, letting her hand glide on the white wall, feeling out the little intricate bumps and groove's over the wall. When she reached the bathroom, it looked like someone had already, put a towel down on the closed laundry hamper for her. "Thats nice, thanks Dawn." She said to herself smiling, as she notice some new soaps aside the towel, with a note there, address to her.
Buffy reached for the note slowly shutting the door behind her, as Dawn came up the stair. Dawn saw her sister awake, aleast the man was right she thought. But what had happened to Buffy last night. All Dawn new was the man didn't tell her, he just bursted in through the door, with Buffy ragged and torn, nearly naked in his arms, asking where Buffy's room was, then he did a few thing and left just as quickly as he came in. Without saying another thing, did he save Buffy, or did he do that to her, she had to know, as she quickly walked over to the closing bathroom door. "Hey, Buffy what happened last night." Dawn asked before the door was completely closed.
Buffy stopped, in shock, she couldn't remember last night, the only thing she was able to remember was the dream. But before she was ready to answer, or see her little sister, she slamed the door hard, almost knocking Dawn down to the floor. Buffy locked the it, and turned around leaning against the door, looking at the letter addressed to her. The memories of the night began to return, the pain in her body began to sent itself back into her, making her slowly fall, toward the cold tile floor. And for the first time this morning she realized the coat that she wore, wasn't her's, it was much to large. She riped opened the letter pulling out the note, and began to read what it said. Her eye's just grew, as she went on through the reading, but before she could finish she threw the note to the floor as she tore off the the dark leather coat, dropping it to the ground, then found herself looking into the mirror.
It wasn't a nightmare, it happened, she thought just staring into the mirror. Her white blouse was torn and destroyed, much like the rest of her clothes. Tares and rip's were all over her shirt, she took it off slowly, along with her broken bra, watching her body, as she revealed the scar's acrossed her body, including the deep gash on her left arm. The pain was so much, soon after she pulled the last of the ruined clothing off of herself, she sat down next to the bath tub/shower, looking at the white porcelain. She gripped the edge with her right hand as she, leaned over to her right a bit, to turn the hot water on. After a few moments, of letting the water warm up, Buffy lifted herself up, flipping the swith, to make the bath into a shower, as she stepped in the scalding hot water closing the shower curtain.
As the water hit Buffy, she felt the burn. The water just swallowed up the pain she had from last night, with a new found pain from the scalding water. She squirmed a little from it, but just kept washing herself, watching the blood and dirt flow off her body, as she scrubbed herself, removing some of the sweat. She looked out of the shower, looking back to the soaps that were left on the side the towel. She timidly reached out of the shower to grab one, she slipped a little, but, kept her balance still, as she snatched one of them and pulled it back into the shower with her.
She smelled the soap, the soap had an unusual smell to it, but, as the hot water hit it, it gave off a sweet aroma, helping her forget that night. Without realizeing it, Buffy found herself scrubbing her body again, this time with the soap. The pain she felt, slowly slipped away, letting her muscle's relax. After cleaning everypart of her body, Buffy just let the soap drop, as she kneeled down and curled into a ball as she relived the nightmare. And though the water was extremely hot, Buffy just laid there under the water trembling. Just trembling, as she bit her lower lip and held it there.
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Dawn stood in front of the bathroom door, wondering, waiting, wanting to know what had happened last night. She could hear the water rushing in the shower, and thought about waiting, but, thought again. She couldn't afford to wait, she might be late for school, but the curiosity, was almost to overwhelming. "Hey Buffy, you almost done?" Dawn asked concerned for her sister. "Well, I'm going to school now..., I'll see you when I get home, okay?" She stood with her ear to the door waiting for an answer. But nothing came over the noise of the water. Dawn tried to open the door quietly, so she wouldn't be noticed by her sister, but, the door was locked. She looked down to the golden, round door handle, then looked back to the door. "Have a good day." Dawn said, as she turned away from the door, and proceeded to walk down the stairs.
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"Hey Terra," Willow said waving to her, as Terra walked into the occult shop, waving back to everyone. "So whatcha doing today?" Willow asked as she slowly made her way over to Terra. Terra just looked back to Willow smiling, "Nothing really, why?" Terra asked as she took off her long coat revealing, a blue dress that flowed from her shoulders all the way to her ankles, it had a low cut but wasn't revealing to much cleavage, the dress had long sleeve decarated with dark blue beeds and ruffles. Her hair was braided back into a single tail, and came over her right shoulder, as she played with it in her righ hand, walking over to the table.
Zander looked up to Terra, smiling, "Hey Terra, have you seen Buffy, she's later then normal?" He asked, as he felt a strong hand gripping his tighter. Anya had been telling him not to worry, but Zander just sat there at the table still wondering what had Buffy been up to. "Zander I told you, unless it's bunnies, she'll be okay." Anya comforted him.
"She's at home." Terra answered, "Dawn said she was taking a shower, when I picked her up to drop her off at school, why?" Terra paused looking at Zander. "Cause Zander has this bad feeling that, Buffy got into alot of trouble last night." Anya answering Terra for Zander, shaking her head, "Like Buffy ever gets into trouble like that," Anya paused for just a moment, "Well other then those few times, I mean." Anya just stopped talking, as Zander asked Terra, "So, Buffy's alright, right?"
"Yes, Zander." Terra answered, sitting down at the table, "O'yeah, Dawn also said, that someone dropped off Buffy last night, carrying her to her room" A look of dread came over Zanders face, is face turned pale, his eye's wide with fear.
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The hot water coming from the shower head slowly began to cool off, as Buffy still laid there curled up into a ball, gazing out looking around the bathroom, watching, waiting for something, anything to jump out. The chill of the water caused goosebumps to spread acrossed her smooth skin, the water was chilling her to the bone, but, she didn't care. What that thing had tried to do to her was worse then any kind of pain or discomfort she could ever receive. She thought about what she should do, should she tell her friends, no she answered herself in her thoughts, they wouldn't understand, shaking her head, but she had to tell somebody. Who? Who should she tell, there had to be someone out there in this crazy world she thought. To cold to think of who, she finally got up, standing huntch over, too cold to stand straight, as she grab the knobs, and turn the water off.
Buffy stood there watching the water at the bottom, swirling around draining down the pipe, like a little whirl pool. It kind of put her mind at ease, and she began to forget the tragedy. She reach out for the towel, and started to unfold it. She slowly dried herself off, begining with her hair. She slowly scruded her head with the towel, then wrapping the towel, around the rest of her long hair, squeezing, as she pulled the towel back, pushing some of the cold water away from her head. She then took the towel back in front of herself, as she starting wiping herself dry, pushing the towel all over her body, but, as she reached to scrub her arm, she remembered the gash, and paused. She looked at the gash, making sure it was clean, so that she wouldn't get an infection, but it was diffirent then before. The long, deep gash she had seen before, was now scabbed over, and about an inch shorter.
She took herself in front of the mirror, looking over her body, most of all the cut and scratches she had, were almost healed, leaving just little scar's from where they were. Her fear of what happened, the monster trying to do what it wanted to her, kind of faded to the recesses of her mind. She wrapped the towel around her body, tucking one end in so to keep the towel up, without her holding it, as she reached out for the note, and jacket. She looked at the letter again, not really reading it, but looking for a name, as to who it was from, but, nothing. She lifted the jacket to her face, smelling it. Even though she woar it for a while it still smelled good, she couldn't help it, but, to stand there for a bit as she closed her eye's and and inhaled it. She didn't know the smell from anywhere, the smell was like a mix of flowers, sweet foods, and everything else that she thought smelled good, but none of them could match the smell of the coat by themselves. She found the smell very arousing.
She slowly moved the jacket away from her face, opening her eyes. She slowly unlocked the door, and then opened it. Walking towards her room, so that she could get dressed. As she walked acrossed the hallway she could heard the door open. She could tell by the voives it was just some of her friends, but, didn't care. She just kept thinking about the man that saved her.
"BUFFY, you here." Zander yelled through the house, hoping for an answer, "BUFFY!" Willow said following Zander into the house, with Terra and Anya right behind them just shaking their heads. Zander started up the stairs, saying, "I'll see if Buffy's upstairs, why don't you guys check if she's down here," he paused for a moment thinking, "If you see her before me, find out what happened. Okay?" he paused again waiting for an answer, from the three non-beleivers. They all shook their heads agreeing with Zander, wishing he wasn't such a nut case about things like this. "Buffy?" He continued to ask, waiting for her voice, any word she might say would be good enough for him, as long as she was okay. When he got to the top of the stairs, he saw the open bathroom door, with a little water on the floor, as a door behind him closed. He jumped in shock, he turned around to Buffy's room, and walked over to it.
"Buffy are you in there?" Zander asked, waiting for the answer with his ear to the door, as he listened to the foot steps in the room. He could hear her closet opening, as well as a drawer opening and closing. "Buffy, its me, Zander." He stopped talking waiting again for an answer. "Buffy?" he asked again, this time, slightly knocking on the door.
