A/N: All this emotion is killing me. Anyways . . . enjoy, enjoy. Please R&R if it isn't too much trouble. . .
(Chapter Three - - - - - - - - -)
Wesley awoke to the same darkness that there was when he had passed out. He tried to remember the reason for passing out and all he could recall was a pair of pulsating red eyes and feeling cold from the inside out like someone stuck icicles deep into his skin.
He pulled himself off the floor into a sitting a position and shook his head to clear it out. He was immediately dizzy afterwards and his head was swimming. He knew whatever he had seen and felt were real and he wished he was naïve enough to not believe that, but he did.
Wesley attempted to pick himself up and stand on his feet, but his attempt was hopeless as his knees shook and he crumpled into a heap on the floor.
"Wesley?" he faintly heard a hoarse voice calling his name which lead him to wonder how long he was out.
"Yes? Hello?" he answered back, surprised someone was still there. On the other side of the door, Buffy didn't hear anything as if a barrier wasn't allowing anything to get in, including sound. Wesley heard his name called again and he furrowed his eyebrows. "I can hear you, what is it?" This time there was no response from the other party.
Buffy had turned nervously to Xander whose hands were shoved in his pockets as far as they would go. It was cold, but as close as they were to the house, it had to be below zero.
"You don't think he's . . ." Xander started and Buffy interrupted impatiently.
"No. He is not dead. I refuse to even think that." Buffy rubbed her hands together, disappointed she wore the coat with tiny pocket space. Xander looked at his friend strangely and struggled not to smile.
"Actually I was going to ask if you thought he was hurt or if he's found another way out, but now that you brought it up . . ."
Buffy shook her head and pulled her hat down tighter on her head and zipped her coat all the way up. It was going to be a long night.
(--------)
Willow smashed through the high school doors, surprised they were unlocked and she prayed that Giles was still there. She nearly kicked the library door open and breathed to see Giles asleep among piles of books.
"Giles, wake up!" Willow yelled and ran over to shake him. Giles blinked and smiled to see Willow, but his smile disappeared when he saw the panic in his young friend's eyes.
"What's the matter? Is anyone hurt?" Giles immediately asked as he whipped his glasses onto his face and stood. Willow took a minute to catch her breath before speaking quickly, putting everything in one sentence and one breath.
"You told us to go to the haunted house so we did and we decided to play a prank on Wesley so he would get scared so we got him to into the house first and we closed the door on him and it worked but now we can't open it and Buffy tried to kick it and I tried magic and nothing worked and then the three of us were arguing and then the everything, including the wind, stopped moving, which is never a good sign, and then we heard Wesley scream and Buffy told me to get you."
Willow finished by taking a breath in and staring expectantly up at Giles. Being around fast talking teenagers trying to explain how they planned on finishing their paper in 45 minutes, Giles understood every word she said and moved behind the counter. He bent down and when he stood back up again, he had a large duffle bag filled to the brim with various objects.
"Let's take my car," was all Giles said as he ran out the door, not giving the unlocked door a second glance. Willow followed close behind glad she didn't have to do anymore running.
(---------)
Buffy and Xander turned excitedly when they heard what they assumed to be tire's heading in their direction. Headlights came into view and blinded the pair at the door, but they were quickly turned off when the car stopped and the doors flew open.
Giles practically threw himself at Buffy and he took a quick survey of the house before speaking.
"What do you know?"
"Hardly enough to matter. I'm sure Willow filled you in?" Buffy looked to Willow who nodded. Buffy turned her attention back to Giles. "I don't know what's going on. We can't open the doors or windows and we suddenly can't hear anything that's going on inside." Buffy crossed her arms and stared dead straight into Giles' eyes which disconcerted him, but only for a moment.
"Wesley?" Giles yelled loudly, his mouth up to the door as close as the mold would let him.
(-------)
Wesley looked up at the sound of a familiar person and cleared his tired voice. He too had been calling for someone for quite sometime.
"Mr. Giles? Can you hear me? Please?" he begged and got no answer back. Wesley felt on the verge of tears. He was about to call again when he heard the other voice again.
"Laissez-moi dedans. . ." it spoke and Wesley still was unsure of what the voice wanted to be let into. "Laissez-moi dedans. . ." the raspy, daunting voice repeated like a broken record. He jumped when he heard a tinkle that sounded like broken glass and for a moment his heart leapt as he hoped the window was open.
He stumbled to the window and saw there were no scratches in the glass besides the ones already there. Suddenly a ghostly, transparent hand only barely outlined by the full moonlight, reached out in Wesley's direction and he moved over, his eyes as wide as the moon outside.
The next time, the hand reached out again and Wesley didn't see it until too late. It attempted to grab Wesley's wrist but the hand disturbingly flew right through to the other side. Wesley sighed in practiced relief until he felt two freezing hands enter his chest. He yelped, but was too cold to say anything more as he was lifted off the ground. He went limp and the last thing he saw were a pair of pulsating red eyes.
The last thing he heard before blacking out again was:
"Laissez-moi dedans. . ."
(-------)
In the five minutes that had passed, Giles had made another trip back to the school library and this time returned with the best books about ghosts he could gather. The four of them then spent time reading books to find something, anything, useful.
They all took turns going to the door and calling to see if maybe, just maybe, they would be able to hear a response. They of course received nothing, which worried them more. Finally, Willow smiled.
"I found something!" she squealed. Everyone looked up and Xander walked to Willow's side away from the door. Eventually, Buffy and Giles crowded around her as well and Willow finally spoke again. "this book talks about how hundreds of years ago, a man and his wife moved a lot around the world before finally settling down in what is now Sunnydale.
"One day, another man broke into their house and stole items and murdered the man's wife. The burglar managed to escape and the man, by his wife's dead body, swore he would get revenge. He killed himself two days later and his ghost was permanently locked into the house. Only recently the ghost figured out that if he took over a corporeal body, he would pass as alive and get out." Willow closed the book and everyone looked at each other.
"This man still thinks the burglar is alive since he never got out of the house…" Giles began.
"… and we jut gave him a corporeal body to use to get out." Buffy finished weakly and collapsed down on the stair next to Willow. "Shit." Buffy didn't apologize for her language and Giles didn't even notice.
That was a little short, I know but the next one will be longer and center more around Wesley, I promise!