Where Are You?
Sunnydale, the world without shrimp 1999
Dear Diary,
The house was empty. When I got home from school mom wasn't there. At first I thought she probably just went to get groceries. But after a few hours, she didn't come back. And Buffy didn't come back either. I watched tv for so long I think my eyes went square. Then I actually did my homework. I plodded round the house, my feet taking ginormous steps, loud footsteps. But nothing happened. It was started to get dark and still there was nothing.
I grabbed frozen pizza from the freezer. I ate slice after slice on my bed waiting for someone to come back. Were they gone? Were they just going to leave me forever? Were they ever coming back? Had something super bad happened to mom? Or to Buffy? Something to do with the demons and the vampires. Were they dead? I started to cry when I thought about that. I knew there were bad things out there in the dark. Things that could get you on the street when you were walking home. I'd heard about people going missing in town. I knew all the stories.
My tears kept coming thick and fast until all the pizza was gone and I had nothing left to stress eat. I tried to ring the gallery where mom works but they said she hadn't been in all day. That just made everything worse. I thought about going and looking for them, but I was too scared to move from my bed. I sat with my knees against my chest until I had no more tears to cry.
It was the middle of the night when I heard the door banging. It was so dark, being January and all. I hadn't remembered it was Buffy's birthday because everything was so off. We were supposed to have a birthday tea, mom bought party food and balloons. I know her friends wanted to do something, but we had to too. A fresh wave of tears came over me as the door opened. Fear and sadness gripped me wholly, every thought making me cry harder. It was so unfair how the day was ruined. How plans spoilt and everything could fall apart so quickly. I learnt that. We had a lot of near misses when I was younger.
There were voices wading through the house, soft and familiar. There was another bang, and then my door was opening. I didn't move, I couldn't. Everything was so cold. Then mom's arms were around me. She sounded hoarse and tired but she just held me. Eventually I melted into her, putting my head on her shoulder. Letting her comfort me. "I'm here Dawnie, I'm so so sorry for leaving you." It wasn't her fault. It was never her fault. I was told what'd really happened later, but at the time mom knew she had to protect me. Mom put me above anyone else.
Dawn x