The Escape – Chapter 6 – The Mayfair

Angel's POV

Angel awoke to find Buffy gently kissing him. It was something he had greatly missed and as he kissed her back he tried to tell her so much, in that one kiss. How much he had missed her, how much her cared and how afraid he had been when he discovered what had been done to her. Pulling back, she smiled lazily at him as he caressed her face.

"I love you, I know I never say it enough but I do" he whispered and his eyes showed her, she could see the pain and the worry, all because of her.

"I'm sorry for everything" she whispered "It's ok, believe me, I'm just glad you came back"

They lay for some time, both enjoying the presence of the other.

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Shana was terrified, if Keenan had hurt Buffy then would he hurt her aswell. She felt as if Keenan was going to run through the door any minute and attack her. She had spoken to Buffy on the phone a little while ago and was relieved to hear her friend was ok.

Sitting down on Buffy's sofa, she flickered through the TV channels, unable to find anything worth watching, she curled up and after a while, she was fast asleep.

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Buffy's POV

6 weeks later……

Buffy had never been more happy. She and Angel were better than ever, she had amazing friends and if anything, she realised maybe Keenan had done her some good. She still hated him but her couple of months hanging around with him had made her appreciate her friends and Angel more and she couldn't forget her new friends, Shana and Errol who had finally got together.

When Buffy first met Errol he was a shy, kind man but the more she had gotten to know him she had seen a different side. Errol was a lot like Angel in some ways. He seemed troubled and constantly brooded, sometimes vanishing for a couple of days before contacting Shana again. Nobody knew what bothered him but he was a good friend to everyone. The Vampires of Sunnydale it appeared where in isolation. The only vampire Buffy had seen was Angel. They were inseparable now and it was torture for them both when he had to return home for the day. The day before The May Fair had come to Sunnydale. She, Angel, Shana and Errol had agreed to meet up there but she and Angel were going an hour later to give Shana and Errol some time alone.

Errol's POV

Errol knew people worried about him, Shana especially but he hated the thought of them knowing. Knowing what he once was and what he had done. His younger brother Levi had been worrying him the most. He had been hanging around Keenan far more than he liked. He had seen all the usual signs, Keenan had given Levi a pair of very expensive shoes, Levi would hang around at that old abandoned warehouse that Keenan used as base. Levi had dragged Errol to the fair 1 hour before he was meant to meet Shana so that he wouldn't have to go alone. Errol knew Levi didn't have many friends and that even those friends picked on him constantly.

Levi had been going on and on at how amazing Keenan was for the last 10 minutes.

"You know Levi, he's not what you think" Errol knew that this conversation would probably upset Levi but it had to be said, Levi was 11 years old and already he was part of Keenan's gang or so Errol suspected.

"He is, I know he can be a bad person, I know he has done some bad stuff but he's my friend"

"What, so your part of Keenan's crew now?"

"You're in his crew" Levi was looking at him with a hopeful look.

"No plural, WAS, in his crew, not anymore cause I saw him for what he was" Errol hated what he had done in the past but there was nothing he could do about that now. He would make sure Levi didn't go along the same path as him; he wanted Levi to have a good successful life, not 3 years in a young offender's institution.

Looking at his watch Errol realised he was 5 minutes late for meeting Shana. Grabbing Levi's arm he dragged the younger boy through the large crowd but when reaching the gate, Shana was no were to be seen.

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Shana left her house, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her mother had screamed at her for the last 10 minutes. She had called her irresponsible and a devil child. Her father was the vicar of the local church and many had commented how Shana was far from the traditional vicar's daughter. She remembered how once she had stumbled into the church, drunk and had began yelling at her father that God wasn't real. She and her father had barely spoken from that day onward but Shana didn't care. Her family had always made it clear she was unplanned. Her oldest brother, Jamie always said that she came with an apology letter from Durex. Shana was the youngest child of 6. Before her was Maria,, Catherine, Harry, Peter and Jamie. Jamie was fighting in the war in Iraq and was the obvious favourite. When her mother was yelling at her Jamie was sneering at her or occasionally joining in, saying she wasn't part of the family anymore and why didn't she just leave. Her father just sat and read, not even caring. Maria stood up for her; they had always been close. The others just remained silent. As she turned the street corner, a hooded man was leaning on the wall ahead of her. Itchy Ritchie. Looking round at her, he smirked and as she sped walked past him, he followed. He followed her all the way to the fair even when she crossed the road he was still 10 steps behind her. Looking at her watch she realised she was 10 minutes early before she had to meet Errol. Looking behind her, Itchy stood was still walking behind her. As she reached the edge of the May Fair, she sped quickly down between 2 rides but Itchy was still following her. Looking round she quickly paid and walked to a carriage, hopefully by the time this was over, it would be time to meet Errol. As she pulled herself halfway up into the carriage, she felt a presence behind her and suddenly a sharp pain in her back. She fell onto her seat, her back throbbing and she quickly pulled her shirt up and realised she had been stabbed by a long piece of metal, shoved into her back. Seeing the wound, her vision swam before coming back into focus. She needed to get to a hospital and fast!

A loud claxon sounded and as Shana made to stand the safety bar shot in place holding her in her seat.

She shook the bar but it wouldn't budge. At first she was calm but now she was panicking as the ride began to slowly move. Shoving all her wait on the bar and screaming for help as the ride moved faster and faster. The bar suddenly flew forward and Shana flew from her seat and smashed into a safety barrier.

She was in agony, all she could her were people screaming. The bright fair lights were fading and she knew, in that moment, that she was going to die.