Buffy's Back
Sunnydale, the world without shrimp 1998
Dear Diary,
We'd heard nothing for months. Just an endless Buffy silence. Then suddenly there was a knock at the door and mom was walking towards it. It was your average day, just a nothing really - I was watching TV. Mom opened the door slowly, maybe it was just the mailman or Willow or one of mom's friends. It could've been anyone, I didn't even look up from the TV screen. But the rush of air, the calm quiet, mom's silent face as the door swung open. It all illuded to the impossible.
Mom reached forward, her arms wrapping around a pair of shoulders without saying a word. I looked up because it was odd that she wasn't saying anything. I saw a familiar clump of blonde hair and stood up. It took me a minute to walk forward because I didn't know what she would look like. Was she still Buffy? I had no idea where she'd been, was she even okay? Mom pulled away and just looked at her for a while, just took in every detail of her face because it was surreal that this was happening. Every hope that she'd definitely be back and every doubt that she was truly gone, were fighting because the hope had won out. My stomach felt like butterflies.
Buffy walked slowly into the house, she looked okay. She didn't have any big cuts or bruises so she looked like herself, save for the broken look on her face. She held out her arms a little and looked at me. I speed forward and launched myself into her, she was here, she was back. She was alive. I saw the tears spring from mom's eyes and the look of relief on her face.
Buffy let go of me slowly, then turned around to look at mom. "I'm so sorry," she said, almost in a whisper. "I don't know how-" she was starting to cry too now. "I'm just so sorry." She leaned on mom's shoulder and wept. I wrapped my arms around both of them like we were in a sandwich. Summers hugs. We stood there like that for a long time. It didn't matter that dinner needed making, or that the sun was going down. We were all together again. And it was the best feeling in the world.
The next few days were slow. Buffy came back to us in pieces. At friend she was so restrained, not talking about anything other than to acknowledge us. There were more hugs, more moments of peace. More 'I'm sorrys' and I think we went through more cereal in a week than we ever have. Buffy was home, but her mind wasn't quite back yet. She didn't talk to me quite like she'd used to. Willow was avoiding her for a while because she was upset. Buffy had just waltzed back in like nothing had happened. Apparently she was acting differently at school. But that was a different altogether.
Dawn x