The house seemed empty when Dawn arrived home from school that day. Nobody

responded when she called. Of course. They were too busy for her. They always had

been. Dawn was just the annoying little sister. She tossed her leather jacket onto the

banister and headed up the stairs to her rooms. She dropped her totebag onto her bed and

switched on her cd player. Whiskey Lullaby began pouring through the speakers and

Dawn hummed along with it. It was then that she noticed the cool October breeze.

Instinctively she crossed to the window, but it was shut tightly. One of the other girls

must have left a window open. She went to Buffy's room first. Her sister had been rather

forgetful lately and this would be like her. But both of the windows in her sister's room

were also shut.

She put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger

Finally drank away his memory

Life is short but this time is was bigger

Than the strength she had to get up off her knees

With two other options left, Dawn entered Willow and Tara's room. It was dark, some

light cast by the moon spilled into the room, casting a deathly pall over everything it

touched. Wanting to get out of the room as quickly as possible Dawn strode across the

room to the window. It too was shut tightly, except for a small round hole in the middle.

Dawn's mind raced through the possibilities of what could have made the hole. The

neighbor's baseball maybe? No. The hole was too small. Maybe it was a bird. No, again

too small. She pulled the curtains shut to cut off some of the air flow. She spun around

to leave, but as she was walking out the door she noticed it. On the floor at the corner of

the bed was a hand. Being the slayer's sister Dawn had seen her fair share of

dismembered creatures but this was different. It was still attached.

They found her with her face down in the pillow

Clinging to his picture for dear life

Dawn rounded the bed. Not so much wanting to see what was there, but needing to

know. What was revealed brought her to her knees. The young witch, Tara MacClay lay

lifeless on the floor. A small round hole in her chest. Red bleeding into the blue of her

shirt. "No." Dawn moaned. "No! Wake up! Wake up!" She began pounding on the floor

hoping desperately that this wasn't real. That it was all just a dream.

But it wasn't a dream. The only person who hadn't minded spending time with Dawn,

the only person who'd truly helped her after Joyce Summers' death, was gone. Dawn let

the tears flow down her face. She moved away from the body felt her back pressing

against the wall. She didn't want to be near it. It was no longer beautiful and vibrant as

the life that had inhabited it. It was shallow and empty. A cruel mockery of life. But

neither could she bring herself to leave it. Dawn was left alone to hold a silent vigil.

They laid her next to him beneath the willow

And the angels sang a whiskey lullaby

It wasn't long before the music stopped and Dawn was left along. Silence enveloping

her. And she cried. For herself. For her mother. And for the empty gaze of her fallen

friend.