Chapter Three: She Almost Made It
The evening winds down. We managed to cover a great deal this night. Every time we do this, this memorial, it is like some sort of therapy. What we survived, it is not something that you can talk to outsiders about. You only have those who were there, who already know. We remembered Theresa, danced around the topic of Maggie, but have yet to speak of Sharon. She was the last to fall, the one who almost survived the hellhole we come from.
Sharon was my best friend. I mean, all five of us were close, but I was closest to Sharon, just as Theresa and Linda were best friends. She lived across the street from me, and our moms had gone to college together, been roomies.
Sharon was the one by my side for swimming lessons (she sank like a rock); for bike riding (helmets optional); and my first date (and more importantly, first break-up). After Maggie and learning the truth about Sunnydale (vampires exist? care to mention that before my friends died?), Sharon was the first one I told.
When Graduation Day came, she was the one who convinced us to stay and fight. In retrospect, part of me wishes that she had not done such a good job.
Graduation Day. Most people view graduation as your typical ceremony -- emotional, oh-I-will-miss-you-we-are-the-future moments coupled with long moments of excruciatingly boring speeches. I think the only thing we got right was the excruciatingly boring speech (EVIL mayor -- he was gonna bore us, then kill us? How twisted is that?)
When we found out what was in store for us, Linda almost convinced us to bail on graduation.
"Running is an option. We have lost and lost, and I do NOT want you or me to be next! I don't want to die!"
"Then run! I am going to stay, and I am going to fight. You're right, we have lost friends. So has everyone else in this damn school. I for one am going to actually do something about it. All my life in this town I have been running from the hell it spawns, we all have. I am not going to run anymore. It's vampires that took our friends, and I sure as hell plan on taking some back!"
"Vengeance sounds cool, really, it does, Sharon. But, in this battle, some of us are gonna die. There is no way we can do this and live. You know that, right?"
"Then we watch each others backs."
All three of us swore up and down to watch out for one another. And within each promise made were the echoes of "This is for you, Theresa. This is for you, Maggie."
It was weird, sitting there for the Mayor's speech. I mean, normally, Sharon and I would be exchanging glances, making goofy faces and possibly passing notes, standard avoid-the-boredom tactics.
Instead, Sharon spent most of it looking down, gripping her stake and cross tightly, her lips silently moving in some sort of mantra. A promise? A prayer?
It was nerve wracking, sitting there and acting like everything was perfectly normal while waiting for the signal to attack to come from Buffy. Underneath my own graduation gown was a bow and quiver full of soon to be flaming arrows (thank you, Cordelia Chase).
The wait seemed to go on forever. And then the chaos began. Solar eclipse, demon mayor snake, and vampires out to join the party.
Shoot the Mayor. Shoot the vamps. Do not shoot the students. Those were my orders. Pretty basic. Had to be, given that this army.
I had won a couple archery contests -- one of the reasons I was on bows and not stakes. Take out the vamps. Focus, shoot, reload. Focus, shoot, reload. As each second passed, it became harder and harder to keep track of Sharon and Linda.
Soon it became obvious that even our collective attacks were not hurting the Mayor. The order to retreat was given.
I stayed out of the crowd, the better to pick my shots, make them count. By then, there were bodies on the ground, just as Linda had predicted. Larry. Snyder. My ex-boyfriend Jimmy. The girl who sat next to me in home room. And others too mangled to identify.
Focus, shoot, reload. Focus, shoot, re --
Wait a minute. Look who is open for a clear shot. Angel(us). Killer of Theresa, torturer of Maggie. The one vampire we really wanted vengeance on. At that thought everything seemed to fade away.
It crossed my mind, that if my arrow hit him, no one would know if it was intentional or not. Just another casualty of the battle. And maybe Theresa (figuratively) and Maggie (literally) would rest in peace. Just focus, and shoot --
His eyes met mine. He knew who I was, or at least, who my friends were. Who knows? Sometimes, when I think on that moment, I feel that if I had let that arrow fly, he would have let it strike true.
For how long our eyes met, I don't know. An hour? A second? An eternity? How tempting it was. A mere slip of the fingers and he would be gone. Dust. So easy. My fingers loosened their grip on the arrow ever so slightly.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sharon try to pull a vampire off of Linda. I turned in order to get a clear shot.
As the scene came fully into view, I saw the vampire strike Sharon, back handing her across the face. Her body fell to the ground, her head at a wrong angle. He turned to advance on Linda. My arrow dusted him.
The arrow that had been aimed at Angel moments before. Funny how life works, huh?
If I had spent more time keeping my promise and watching over Sharon and Linda, would Sharon have lived? I could not have been focused on Angel for more than a few seconds. Logically, the odds of it so seriously affecting the outcome are low. But part of me always will wonder, did I fail her?
Not long after that, I was forced to retreat. We were going to blow up the school, after all. Standing away at a safe distance, I saw Sunnydale High, my home away from home for four years, get blown to bits, Mayor pieces raining back down.
Our graduation had sixteen dead, not counting the principal and the Mayor. Sixteen students who had survived vampires, hellhounds, witches, and demons died that day. They almost made it. Sharon almost made it.
She almost made it.
The evening winds down. We managed to cover a great deal this night. Every time we do this, this memorial, it is like some sort of therapy. What we survived, it is not something that you can talk to outsiders about. You only have those who were there, who already know. We remembered Theresa, danced around the topic of Maggie, but have yet to speak of Sharon. She was the last to fall, the one who almost survived the hellhole we come from.
Sharon was my best friend. I mean, all five of us were close, but I was closest to Sharon, just as Theresa and Linda were best friends. She lived across the street from me, and our moms had gone to college together, been roomies.
Sharon was the one by my side for swimming lessons (she sank like a rock); for bike riding (helmets optional); and my first date (and more importantly, first break-up). After Maggie and learning the truth about Sunnydale (vampires exist? care to mention that before my friends died?), Sharon was the first one I told.
When Graduation Day came, she was the one who convinced us to stay and fight. In retrospect, part of me wishes that she had not done such a good job.
Graduation Day. Most people view graduation as your typical ceremony -- emotional, oh-I-will-miss-you-we-are-the-future moments coupled with long moments of excruciatingly boring speeches. I think the only thing we got right was the excruciatingly boring speech (EVIL mayor -- he was gonna bore us, then kill us? How twisted is that?)
When we found out what was in store for us, Linda almost convinced us to bail on graduation.
"Running is an option. We have lost and lost, and I do NOT want you or me to be next! I don't want to die!"
"Then run! I am going to stay, and I am going to fight. You're right, we have lost friends. So has everyone else in this damn school. I for one am going to actually do something about it. All my life in this town I have been running from the hell it spawns, we all have. I am not going to run anymore. It's vampires that took our friends, and I sure as hell plan on taking some back!"
"Vengeance sounds cool, really, it does, Sharon. But, in this battle, some of us are gonna die. There is no way we can do this and live. You know that, right?"
"Then we watch each others backs."
All three of us swore up and down to watch out for one another. And within each promise made were the echoes of "This is for you, Theresa. This is for you, Maggie."
It was weird, sitting there for the Mayor's speech. I mean, normally, Sharon and I would be exchanging glances, making goofy faces and possibly passing notes, standard avoid-the-boredom tactics.
Instead, Sharon spent most of it looking down, gripping her stake and cross tightly, her lips silently moving in some sort of mantra. A promise? A prayer?
It was nerve wracking, sitting there and acting like everything was perfectly normal while waiting for the signal to attack to come from Buffy. Underneath my own graduation gown was a bow and quiver full of soon to be flaming arrows (thank you, Cordelia Chase).
The wait seemed to go on forever. And then the chaos began. Solar eclipse, demon mayor snake, and vampires out to join the party.
Shoot the Mayor. Shoot the vamps. Do not shoot the students. Those were my orders. Pretty basic. Had to be, given that this army.
I had won a couple archery contests -- one of the reasons I was on bows and not stakes. Take out the vamps. Focus, shoot, reload. Focus, shoot, reload. As each second passed, it became harder and harder to keep track of Sharon and Linda.
Soon it became obvious that even our collective attacks were not hurting the Mayor. The order to retreat was given.
I stayed out of the crowd, the better to pick my shots, make them count. By then, there were bodies on the ground, just as Linda had predicted. Larry. Snyder. My ex-boyfriend Jimmy. The girl who sat next to me in home room. And others too mangled to identify.
Focus, shoot, reload. Focus, shoot, re --
Wait a minute. Look who is open for a clear shot. Angel(us). Killer of Theresa, torturer of Maggie. The one vampire we really wanted vengeance on. At that thought everything seemed to fade away.
It crossed my mind, that if my arrow hit him, no one would know if it was intentional or not. Just another casualty of the battle. And maybe Theresa (figuratively) and Maggie (literally) would rest in peace. Just focus, and shoot --
His eyes met mine. He knew who I was, or at least, who my friends were. Who knows? Sometimes, when I think on that moment, I feel that if I had let that arrow fly, he would have let it strike true.
For how long our eyes met, I don't know. An hour? A second? An eternity? How tempting it was. A mere slip of the fingers and he would be gone. Dust. So easy. My fingers loosened their grip on the arrow ever so slightly.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sharon try to pull a vampire off of Linda. I turned in order to get a clear shot.
As the scene came fully into view, I saw the vampire strike Sharon, back handing her across the face. Her body fell to the ground, her head at a wrong angle. He turned to advance on Linda. My arrow dusted him.
The arrow that had been aimed at Angel moments before. Funny how life works, huh?
If I had spent more time keeping my promise and watching over Sharon and Linda, would Sharon have lived? I could not have been focused on Angel for more than a few seconds. Logically, the odds of it so seriously affecting the outcome are low. But part of me always will wonder, did I fail her?
Not long after that, I was forced to retreat. We were going to blow up the school, after all. Standing away at a safe distance, I saw Sunnydale High, my home away from home for four years, get blown to bits, Mayor pieces raining back down.
Our graduation had sixteen dead, not counting the principal and the Mayor. Sixteen students who had survived vampires, hellhounds, witches, and demons died that day. They almost made it. Sharon almost made it.
She almost made it.