Things had been going great for Cat. Making friends with Buffy Summers and Willow Rosenburg had been a good thing for her. It allowed her to be herself to explore the Wicca interests that Sophia had installed in her. She still went to the Labs for testing every week and saw Riley occasionally. They were working their way back to a friendship and she loved every minute of her new life.
Getting ready to go to the Lab for the latest batch of tests Cat glanced in the mirror on her way out the door. A cold chill ran over her body, she slowly and mechanically went to the phone and cancelled her plans with Willow. She was just about to call Professor Walsh as well and thought better of it. In a morbid moment of panic she went back over to the mirror and stared.....At nothing.
Hours passed and Cat hadn't moved the radio still blared in the background and night had fallen. Suddenly the words of a song snapped her out of it, "kinda faded but I feel all right...." Soul Decision never had a chance to finish as Cat tossed the radio across the room.
Riley knocked on the door, still no answer. He tried the handle, it opened. He motioned to Forrest to go around back, Graham went in with him but headed upstairs to search. What the commandos found was utter destruction, the house had been torn apart. Upstairs Graham turned off the water on an almost filled tub, Forrest carefully made his way through the broken glass in the kitchen and Riley found her in the living room, hand mirror in one hand and a stake in the other.
"She's in here" Riley informed the others
Forrest stayed back in the kitchen and called into Initiative Headquarters. Graham came downstairs and joined Forrest, both men wanted to respect Cat's need for privacy.
"Cat, you missed your appointment today" Riley wanted to keep things business as usual and try to find out what was wrong that way.
"I can't go back and I can't leave" Cat spoke in a whisper
"Sure, you can. Graham, Forrest and I we can give you a ride. Come on there is still time" Riley reached out to her.
"I can't ... I'm gone already" Even to herself she wasn't making any sense but that was exactly how she felt. Here but gone, understanding it but still it made no sense.
"Cat, come on. You aren't making any sense. You know you have to come with us" Riley motioned to Graham and Forrest to come in the room.
"I can't ...... I tried ....... " Cat drifted off into her own conversation. Finding out she no longer had a reflection broke something inside her, it scared her.
"Riley, you have to kill me!" and with that she held up the mirror to show them that she had been talking about. What she had meant by already gone, she was changing.
TBC