The bell rang and he saw Willow abruptly wake
up, a look of terror
crossing her face, and then relief. What was
she dreaming about?
Xander wondered. He had to get to the bottom
of this. Hopefully
Willow would be willing to talk to him.
Willow gathered her books from her desks. All
the students were
gone from class already. She was amazed that
none of her
teachers ever noticed when she was sleeping.
Although she did
think that Mr. Sandings was getting suspicious.
Willow couldn’t stand it. She rarely slept
at night, for fear of her
dreams, and so she ended up dozing in class,
having her
nightmares then. Exiting the classroom, she
gasped, surprised, as
Xander stood in her way. ‘You’re mad at him
Willow!’ her mind
reminded her. Giving him an icy glare, she
strode passed him.
"Willow, wait!" Xander called. He caught up
to her and continued
walking alongside. "Wills, I really have to
talk to you." She kept
ignoring him. Deciding to be blunt, Xander
said straight out, "Why
haven’t you been sleeping at night?"
She halted immediately and stared at him. "What?"
she asked
hoarsely. Xander patiently repeated his question.
Willow,
regaining her composure, snarled, "What, have
you been stalking
outside my window at night now?"
An expression of hurt crossed Xander’s face.
She had never been
so mean to him before. But the problem still
wasn’t solved.
"Please Willow," he tried again, "something’s
wrong, I know it."
She stopped again. "So what?" Willow answered.
"It’s been too
long. Xander, I can’t just talk--I can’t--"
She broke off and hurried
down the hall, then out of sight.
Willow was hiding under the teacher’s desk
again, shivering
despite her heavy sweater. She knew that he
could feel where
she was. She heard the door creak open and
inhaled sharply. In
less then a second he faced her again, his
smirk causing her teeth
to chatter.
Once again, his words rang out. "My darling,
my sweet, fresh
darling. Are you scared? It’s more fun when
you’re scared. Any
words, thoughts, ramblings? You know they
will be your last.
Come on, don’t you have anything to say?"
Willow didn’t even control her mouth, it spoke
without her doing
anything. "Please, don’t."
Angel chuckled again. "Come on, is that the
best you can do? Oh
well, too late."
She felt his fangs penetrate her soft skin
and opened her mouth,
shrieking.
Willow’s eyes whipped open. Usually she would
see that she was
in her bed, or at a desk in a classroom in
broad daylight, safe. But,
what? It wasn’t over! She was still in the
classroom, it was dark as
night, and silent. Oh god. Frantic, she ran
out, crying hysterically.
Xander watched horrified as Willow, screaming
and crying, ran out
of the class. He looked at Mr. Sandings, who
was turning off the
slides and turning on the lights, and the
teacher silently nodded
his permission to Xander. Xander jumped from
his chair and ran
as fast as he could out of the class.
He raced after her running body, down the corridor.
Normally
Willow was a fast runner, but she was half-blind
from her tears
and hysterical. Xander caught up quickly.
Grabbing her arm, he
forced her to stop. She turned around at his
hold, eyes confused
and terrified. She looked at him. "Xander?"
she panted, her frantic
voice expressing her confusion.
He pulled her shivering body to his, trying
to calm her down. "Shh,
I’m here, it’s okay. Everything’s okay."
Willow let herself be pulled to his embrace.
"It was dark, and still
real. It’s supposed to stop when I wake up,
but it was still real. He
was going to get me, Angel, he was still going
to get me."
Xander hugger her closer, realization dawning
on him at what his
friend’s plight was. "Shh," he continued to
calm her, stroking her
hair. "It’s not real. He’s not here. I’m here,
it’s okay."