~*~
It was getting on towards midnight that night when Buffy managed to get some sleep. To be honest, it was napping more than sleeping. It was like that was all she could manage to do recently. No-one knew why and although she had tried everything she could think of she just could not sleep. Buffy hadn't had a good night's sleep in what seemed to be years but more accurately was about 4 months. Her chest rose and fell shallowly and Her eyelids flickered as she dreamt.
Buffy was walking though Sunnydale Park, slowly, with Xander and Willow. Willow was talking about an experiment that Tara and she had tried, and ended up with singed eyebrows, Buffy and Xander dropped their heads and laughed softly, imagining the image of Willow with little to no eyebrows. Just then Buffy's head snapped up and looked around, eyes narrowing. She felt like she was being watched. Looking round to see if Xander and Willow had noticed it too, they were nowhere in sight, they were gone...not in the distance, just GONE... Buffy looked around again, still having the dread feeling of unseen eyes watching her. She whet her lips and balled her hands into fists,. she started to edge along the path. She took a deep breath. "XANDER..." She called. "WILLOW???" She called again. There was no reply. Buffy Backed round a copse of trees and then she realizes that She'd never seen this part of the park before. It was dark, and the trees were twisted and distorted, the bark misshapen, when she looked at them closely, she could almost find faces in them, grinning evilly at her. Buffy shuddered and took a deep breath, then started to cough, the air was suddenly think with sulphur, no explanation as to why filling, it was filling her lungs. Her eyes began to water and then she heard a high-pitched agonized scream. Her Blonde hair trailed behind her as she ran, as she did, the trees seemed to try and stop her, lifting twisted roots and flailing branches in an attempt to trip or hit her. Vaulting and ducking to avoid those obstacles was no problem for Buffy, Giles had trained her well. She followed the sound of the second scream that emanated a little while after. Finally breaking though into the clearing, She skidded to a halt and her jaw dropped open at what she saw in front of her.
It was them. Xander and Willow. They were hung several feet in the air from a wall of the same, distorted, wood. Crucified. Their clothes were torn and their heads sagged lifelessly low. Buffy took hesitant steps towards the pair, for all she knew it might be a trap. Thousands of scenarios ran though her mind, but the worst of all still lingered in the back of her mind. Her friends were dead, but she fought that idea and pressed on.
When she reached them, she saw that each of their necks were smeared red with blood, from the puncture wounds found there. Bite Marks... a cold shiver ran the length of Buffy's spine, as if someone were walking over her grave. That worst scenario was true. She looked round swiftly, once again seeing nothing but blackness and trees. But feeling those eyes watching her made her nervous. After a short while she looked back to where her friends hung lifeless, she moved over to Willow and sniffed back the tears.
"Oh, Will..." she sniffed again. Buffy reached a quivering hand towards the puncture wounds in her friends' neck. But retracted her hand before she actually made contact, she lost the fight against the tears as they started to roll down her cheeks, she approached Xander's body, and it was then she saw the blood dripping wounds in her friends' hands' and feet. Stakes. Wooden stakes were being used to hold them up. Buffy's jaw set as her emotions switched gear, from sorrow, through fear and right on up into purest rage...something was going to die. Wooden stakes! Of all the mockeries! And her friends were dead, one just made the other worse. She span round and yelled "DAMN YOU! SHOW YOURSELF!!!!!...." She waited for a response. At that point the darkness was broken by the little pinpricks of red eyes, many hundreds of thousands of them, all watching her, the darkness gradually began to dissolve into nothingness, utter blackness. The red eyes grew more and more intense. The void growing closer, Buffy pressed her back up against the wall of wood that Willow and Xander hung from, as the darkness grew nearer and nearer. The darkness was almost on top of her when there was a high-pitched sound, like a siren.
~*~
Buffy's eyes fluttered open and she looked at her alarm clock, it was blaring away like a really noisy...thing. 'At least it's Wednesday ' She thought to herself.
She peeled back the bed covers and swung her feet over the side of the bed, it was still raining. She could hear it on the windowpane. Buffy never really remembered her dreams, some of the things she had seen in life were stranger than fiction, So when she was in the shower and the sight of the crucified Willow flashed through her mind, it was like an electric shock. Her legs wavered and she felt really dizzy. She leant on the shower cubicle wall for some support. When she felt more prepared, she stepped uneasily out of the cubicle and grabbed a towel. Rapidly she dried off and threw on some clothes. She dropped down onto her bed and picked up her phone. She hit Willows speed dial. A few rings later, the phone was answered.
"Hello?" Said a Familiar Voice
"Will?" asked Buffy
"Yup. The one and only!!" cooed Willow softly "what's up Buff?"
"Oh...erm...no...nothing..." said Buffy, trying to sound normal yet relived all at once.
"That's good..." Willows voice showed that she suspected nothing.
"You wanna meet up somewhere, Will?" said Buffy offhandedly.
"Sure.um.Meet you in the park?"
"Erm, I'd rather not go to the park today."
"How's about the Mall then?" Willow offered, meekly.
"The mall is..." Before Buffy could finish her sentence, she heard a beeping noise in her ear. "...Will, I've got a call waiting...call you back soon okay?"
" 'Kay Buff."
Buffy changed lines and said "Summers Residence."
"Buffy?!" said the calming English tones of her watcher.
"Yes Giles..." Buffy replied.
"Can you and Willow come over and see me please? ...I need to speak to you." Giles' voice was more anxious that usual.
"What about Xander?" she asked, the dream of last night all but replaying in her head.
"He's...He's already here..." stammered Giles obviously not knowing what was running through his slayers Mind.. Xander could be heard in the background yelling his greeting.
"Alright Giles...see you two soon. Bye." They both hung up and Buffy dialed Willow again. As Buffy explained that Giles wanted to see them, she felt a shiver run down her spine, as if someone had walked over her grave. She slowly looked around, when she couldn't see anything, she went back to the phone call.
~*~
It licked it's contorted lips as it moved away from Buffy's window, its wings beating noisily, it looked down on all the humans walking though the streets, it flapped down to street level and started watching them closer... they weren't even acknowledging it. And it knew why...it couldn't help but laugh.
It was getting on towards midnight that night when Buffy managed to get some sleep. To be honest, it was napping more than sleeping. It was like that was all she could manage to do recently. No-one knew why and although she had tried everything she could think of she just could not sleep. Buffy hadn't had a good night's sleep in what seemed to be years but more accurately was about 4 months. Her chest rose and fell shallowly and Her eyelids flickered as she dreamt.
Buffy was walking though Sunnydale Park, slowly, with Xander and Willow. Willow was talking about an experiment that Tara and she had tried, and ended up with singed eyebrows, Buffy and Xander dropped their heads and laughed softly, imagining the image of Willow with little to no eyebrows. Just then Buffy's head snapped up and looked around, eyes narrowing. She felt like she was being watched. Looking round to see if Xander and Willow had noticed it too, they were nowhere in sight, they were gone...not in the distance, just GONE... Buffy looked around again, still having the dread feeling of unseen eyes watching her. She whet her lips and balled her hands into fists,. she started to edge along the path. She took a deep breath. "XANDER..." She called. "WILLOW???" She called again. There was no reply. Buffy Backed round a copse of trees and then she realizes that She'd never seen this part of the park before. It was dark, and the trees were twisted and distorted, the bark misshapen, when she looked at them closely, she could almost find faces in them, grinning evilly at her. Buffy shuddered and took a deep breath, then started to cough, the air was suddenly think with sulphur, no explanation as to why filling, it was filling her lungs. Her eyes began to water and then she heard a high-pitched agonized scream. Her Blonde hair trailed behind her as she ran, as she did, the trees seemed to try and stop her, lifting twisted roots and flailing branches in an attempt to trip or hit her. Vaulting and ducking to avoid those obstacles was no problem for Buffy, Giles had trained her well. She followed the sound of the second scream that emanated a little while after. Finally breaking though into the clearing, She skidded to a halt and her jaw dropped open at what she saw in front of her.
It was them. Xander and Willow. They were hung several feet in the air from a wall of the same, distorted, wood. Crucified. Their clothes were torn and their heads sagged lifelessly low. Buffy took hesitant steps towards the pair, for all she knew it might be a trap. Thousands of scenarios ran though her mind, but the worst of all still lingered in the back of her mind. Her friends were dead, but she fought that idea and pressed on.
When she reached them, she saw that each of their necks were smeared red with blood, from the puncture wounds found there. Bite Marks... a cold shiver ran the length of Buffy's spine, as if someone were walking over her grave. That worst scenario was true. She looked round swiftly, once again seeing nothing but blackness and trees. But feeling those eyes watching her made her nervous. After a short while she looked back to where her friends hung lifeless, she moved over to Willow and sniffed back the tears.
"Oh, Will..." she sniffed again. Buffy reached a quivering hand towards the puncture wounds in her friends' neck. But retracted her hand before she actually made contact, she lost the fight against the tears as they started to roll down her cheeks, she approached Xander's body, and it was then she saw the blood dripping wounds in her friends' hands' and feet. Stakes. Wooden stakes were being used to hold them up. Buffy's jaw set as her emotions switched gear, from sorrow, through fear and right on up into purest rage...something was going to die. Wooden stakes! Of all the mockeries! And her friends were dead, one just made the other worse. She span round and yelled "DAMN YOU! SHOW YOURSELF!!!!!...." She waited for a response. At that point the darkness was broken by the little pinpricks of red eyes, many hundreds of thousands of them, all watching her, the darkness gradually began to dissolve into nothingness, utter blackness. The red eyes grew more and more intense. The void growing closer, Buffy pressed her back up against the wall of wood that Willow and Xander hung from, as the darkness grew nearer and nearer. The darkness was almost on top of her when there was a high-pitched sound, like a siren.
~*~
Buffy's eyes fluttered open and she looked at her alarm clock, it was blaring away like a really noisy...thing. 'At least it's Wednesday ' She thought to herself.
She peeled back the bed covers and swung her feet over the side of the bed, it was still raining. She could hear it on the windowpane. Buffy never really remembered her dreams, some of the things she had seen in life were stranger than fiction, So when she was in the shower and the sight of the crucified Willow flashed through her mind, it was like an electric shock. Her legs wavered and she felt really dizzy. She leant on the shower cubicle wall for some support. When she felt more prepared, she stepped uneasily out of the cubicle and grabbed a towel. Rapidly she dried off and threw on some clothes. She dropped down onto her bed and picked up her phone. She hit Willows speed dial. A few rings later, the phone was answered.
"Hello?" Said a Familiar Voice
"Will?" asked Buffy
"Yup. The one and only!!" cooed Willow softly "what's up Buff?"
"Oh...erm...no...nothing..." said Buffy, trying to sound normal yet relived all at once.
"That's good..." Willows voice showed that she suspected nothing.
"You wanna meet up somewhere, Will?" said Buffy offhandedly.
"Sure.um.Meet you in the park?"
"Erm, I'd rather not go to the park today."
"How's about the Mall then?" Willow offered, meekly.
"The mall is..." Before Buffy could finish her sentence, she heard a beeping noise in her ear. "...Will, I've got a call waiting...call you back soon okay?"
" 'Kay Buff."
Buffy changed lines and said "Summers Residence."
"Buffy?!" said the calming English tones of her watcher.
"Yes Giles..." Buffy replied.
"Can you and Willow come over and see me please? ...I need to speak to you." Giles' voice was more anxious that usual.
"What about Xander?" she asked, the dream of last night all but replaying in her head.
"He's...He's already here..." stammered Giles obviously not knowing what was running through his slayers Mind.. Xander could be heard in the background yelling his greeting.
"Alright Giles...see you two soon. Bye." They both hung up and Buffy dialed Willow again. As Buffy explained that Giles wanted to see them, she felt a shiver run down her spine, as if someone had walked over her grave. She slowly looked around, when she couldn't see anything, she went back to the phone call.
~*~
It licked it's contorted lips as it moved away from Buffy's window, its wings beating noisily, it looked down on all the humans walking though the streets, it flapped down to street level and started watching them closer... they weren't even acknowledging it. And it knew why...it couldn't help but laugh.