Back
at the hospital Charlotte found a box with her clothes in it
underneath her bed. She slowly began getting dressed. Was this
Ellophusium (she told Charlotte to call her Ellen) person a lunatic,
or something? Was she just walking into a trap of child molesters who
prey on weak girls who have just come out of comas? She felt strong,
though, stronger than before, and stronger than she should be in her
state. After putting her Capri army print pants and black and grey
striped socks on , she found she had lost weight, and could fit
almost comfortably in her clothes.
"How
long was I in here?" Charlotte said
aloud, not expecting an answer.
"Two
years, one month, and twelve days." Ellen
chirped.
"Two years!"
Charlotte pulled her black tank top on, and her thick black boots.
She shook her head, messing up her hair, which she had found to have
grown considerably, with her fingers. She wanted a mirror, badly.
"So, Ellen, what's
your deal?" She walked out from behind
the screen she changed behind and looked down at Ellen, who was
sitting on the bed, dangling her feet. She looked up at Charlotte,
and shrugged. "Come on, there's
gotta' be something…I
mean, do you look for Slayers as a job? Pretty tough for a kid…"
"I am no child!"
Ellen said, in a very low voice, and looked at Charlotte with daggers
in her eyes. "I am older than you can or
shall ever comprehend." Charlotte's
smile faded and she looked to the ground.
"Uh…sorry,
then." She then looked straight into
Ellen's eyes. "Who
are you?"
"I
am a Geminitrium demon." she said coldly,
folding her arms in front of her chest.
"Alright…and
what is a Gummy-petrium demon?" Charlotte
folded her arms in the same fashion as Ellen. Ellen sighed, and
hopped off the bed.
"There's
not time. We need to go." She grabbed
Charlotte's arm and pulled her towards
the door. Ellen seemed to have gotten taller than when she first saw
her. She tried pulling her arm out of Ellen's
grasp but she kept a firm grip on her.
"Where
are we going?" Charlotte again tried to
free herself, but to no avail.
"You'll
see when we get there."
"OW!
Stop it! You're hurting my arm."
"See how you like it…"
Ellen mumbled, as she pulled Charlotte out of the door.
The business called show thrived in New York, the bright lights
flashing the names of Broadway stars about big theatres. Even small
joints, where wannabe singers and stand up comedians go to make it
big, though years after, end up sitting in the same bar. Dawn stopped
in front of a small bar at the end of a long, dark street. The
outside was worse for wear, the shingles falling off the sloping
roof, the bricks painted black, and a broken sign above the wooden
door that read, "Mandy's
Place". Dawn smirked as she stopped in
front of the door, then pushed it open into a small dark room, lit by
many candles, and a few cigarettes of the patrons inside. A small
stage took up the end, it's curtains were
once, Dawn suspected, purple, but after many years of accumulated
dust, were now grey. Slowly, Dawn walked over to the bar on the other
end of the room. She leaned onto the counter, as the bar tender, a
demon with floppy ears and flabby skin, was happily mixing a martini
for a customer. He poured it into a glass, and handed it to the demon
standing on front of him. The demon, a grey, human looking creature,
put the glass beneath a long, string like thing hanging from his
neck, a loud slurping noise emitting from his throat. As he walked
away, Dawn cleared her throat. The bar tender turned around, and
smiled.
"And how may I help you,
little lady--" he stopped, and his mouth
dropped open. "Dawn?"
Dawn smiled, and nodded.
"Hey,
Clem."
"Oh
golly! This is terrific! Dawn! DAWN? I can't
believe it! How ya doin'? How's
your sister!" Clem began bouncing on his
heels, and many demons in the bar turned to look at him, including
the one onstage, who was making an odd gurgling noise from his nose.
Dawn just grabbed Clem's shoulder and
pulled him down.
"Calm down."
"Right…right."
Clem let out a breath and smiled widely. "Come
on…let's go
somewhere else." He moved towards the end
of the counter, and opened the gate. Putting his arm around Dawn, he
steered her towards a small room at the back, the doorway draped in
blue beads. Inside, Clem sat Dawn down at a scrubbed wooden table. He
hovered near the table, quivering with excitement. "Nice
jacket, there. Can I get you something? A coke, a chocolate milk?"
He smacked his forehead, "Oh, you're
too old for that…uh…a
beer?" Dawn shook her head.
"No
thanks, Clem." Clem let out a sigh of
relief.
"Good, 'cause
I wouldn't feel right giving you booze."
He sat at the table across from her, and smiled again. "So.
How are ya? Your sis'? Everybody else?"
"Buffy
is good. Everyone's good. Well, we moved
to Italy after…" Dawn cut off, looking
at her hands. "Well, you know."
"Yeah, I heard. Whole town got sucked
in, eh?" He stopped smiling, and took
one of Dawn's hands. "I'm
sorry to hear about Anya and," he
hesitated, "Spike."
Dawn looked up quickly. "New travels fast
in the demon world. Everyone knows."
"Well not that fast, then. Spike came
back." Dawn saw the puzzled look on
Clem's face, "A
long story with a amulet and Angel. But, he came back in L.A. We
didn't even know."
"Oh…the
L.A. scene. Na-sty. The apocalypse and all. How'd
that go for Angel and them?" Dawn
shrugged slightly, and looked up to Clem.
"Not
really sure. Just heard a few things. No details. Angel was hurt…bad.
And Spike…he…"
Dawn subconsciously started fiddling with the collar of her coat.
Clem tilted his head to the side and frowned.
"Oh…not
again?"
"Yeah.
Angel sent this, with a note explaining everything that happened
before." She gestured to the coat. Clem
nodded and leaned back on his chair.
"So…what
can I do ya for? I don't think you came
all the way here for a chocolate milk and chat with Clem."
"Yeah…sorry,
Clem, but I have work to do. You can do something for me though. I
need to find someone. Tall, green, red eyes, hangs around karaoke
bars. Seen him 'round?"
