Mourning Part 1
"No pets, no prostitutes, no drugs, no parties, no overdue rent, no harassing your neighbors, no loud noises in the night." The lady took a drag of her cigarette and continued with the rules. "If you don't give me the money when the money is due, I double it." The lady took another huff of her cancer stick and blew it towards my direction. I cringed. I've never been a major fan of cigarette smoke.
"You understand my rules?" she asked. Spike nodded.
"I think I got it," he replied with his jaw clenched.
"Good. This is the key to your room." The lady took a key out of a metal case on her desk and handed it to Spike. "And this is a spare key incase you lose that one," she continued as she took out an identical key. "Your room is number 184, don't forget it. Welcome to the sweet town of Matington."
We hurried to our apartment room, finding it dusty and dank. My nose scrunched up at the smell. The air was so thick that I entered a series of spasmodic coughs, holding my chest in agony.
"You okay?" Spike asked with his scarred eyebrow raised. I nodded, not saying anything, yet I looked around the room with a repelled look plastered on my face. There were cobwebs in every corner, and the large bed was covered in thick, endless dust.
"Don't worry; we're not going to stay here for long. Just until I get a proper job," Spike said, carrying a bag of items to the bed. Neither of us spoke with a hint of happiness in our voices; just sadness. Mostly in whispers, because even though it happened a week ago, we were still in shock.
Spike continued talking, but I frowned, thinking about Sunnydale, barely listening to Spike's words. I don't know how I'm ever going to start a new life. I don't think I can. Just one little thing reminds me of Anya or Xander or…B--.
"This isn't real," I whispered. Spike stopped talking and turned around to face me, not saying anything. "This is just a dream, right? The past couple days…all a dream. God this can't be real." I started to cry so hard my chest hurt. Why? Why them? They were the saviors of the world, my friends…my family.
"This is my nightmare…or a hallucination. Or…maybe I'm just in a coma, right? Some demon knocked me out…God this can't be real!" I screamed. Spike stood there, watching my legs collapse from under me as the tears kept on coming. He didn't move, just stared as I sobbed alone.
* * * *
The sharp metallic tickled her skin, revealing drops of her precious blood. She looked down at her chest, watching the blood spill off her and onto the ground.
"No more pain," she whispered and looked at me, wonder in her eyes. My eyes were shocked, afraid, crying inside. Yet the tears wouldn't poor out.
"Buffy…you don't…you don't have to do this," I yelled.
She looked back at the line of blood on her chest. "Yes…I do Dawnie…" I shook my head. Feeling like I couldn't control this…feeling useless, like I could do nothing whatsoever to stop her.
"B-Buffy…what about me? What am I going to do without you?" I tried to reason with her, yet she her mind didn't budge.
"You'll be okay, Dawnie…" Buffy smiled and caressed my face.
"I-I don't understand…" I pressed my face against her palm, feeling the feathery feeling of her skin against mine.
"You will…" she replied. Then her eyes turned deep black, my own eyes getting wide. "Every slayer has a death wish."
* * * *
I woke up in a panic, sweat streaming off my body. My breathing was heavy and unbridled, as I slowly started to control it. I turned slowly, seeing Spike lying down on the bed next to me, watching me.
"You were shaking," he whispered.
"W-Where am I?" my voice rasped. I didn't sit up, just looked at the unfamiliar ceiling. The images flooded back. Oh god, I knew exactly where I was. And that wasn't a good thing. My face twisted, trying to hold back the tears.
"We're in a--"
"I know," I said, cutting Spike off.
He looked at me with a blank stare, and for a second there I didn't know who he was. I blinked, effacing the thought.
"You hungry?" he asked. I sat up on my elbows and looked stared down at him, nodding.
* * * *
"What'd you dream about?" Spike asked me as we walked the streets of the small town, Matington. It was like Sunnydale; well, without the hellmouth mayhem.
I bit my lip. The dream was so…real. Yet it didn't happen like that. Buffy's last words in my dreams stuck to me like glue. 'Every slayer has a death wish,' I thought.
"Dawn?" Spike called. I snapped out of my reverie and looked at his pale face.
"Sorry," I mumbled, holding my hands, walking more briskly than before. "I don't know…I can't remember." I lied. He nodded, looking at me again. He didn't say anything, although I knew he wanted to. A couple minutes passed without any of us talking.
"The Liquid Scene," Spike said out of the blue.
"Huh?" I asked as he pointed to a club across the street. My mouth moved into an 'O' shape as I studied the glowing letters of the sign.
"Wanna take a look?" Spike asked.
"Sure," I replied, walking with Spike to the club.
Rave lights shown through everyone, like ghosts. The music was so mesmerizing that people seemed to act like slaves to it. It was different than the Bronze; I didn't have to worry about vampires hiding in the crowds, waiting to take a bite of your precious neck and suck all the blood from your body, leaving you in a coma that you will never ever get out of…also known as Death.
Spike and I started walking through the crowds, pushing them out of the way so we could find an empty table. The people seemed to keep on coming, which got so frustrating. I reached for Spike's hand so I wouldn't lose him. I forgot how cold it was; it felt like pure ice against mine. A huge amount of people came towards us, pushing and shoving Spike and I out of the way. I didn't know what happened, but I let go of his hand as the crowd smothered me.
TBC