Alan (Leave Me To Dream)

Chapter 4

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Dan ran through a darkened field. More and more small, stone structures began appearing in the field as he ran. He looked over at one. The stone had been carved into a thick cross and a name was engraved across it. WHOOSH!! BANG!!!

Dan looked up. The night sky, sparkling with stars, took up a rectangle in his vision. The rest was damp dirt, barely visible in the dim light. A shadow moved on the earth above him, nearing the hole he had fallen into. A mangled face appeared above him. The moonlight highlighting a set of sharp teeth grinning down at it's next meal. Dan started panicking, searching around him to find anything he could use as a weapon. Nothing but an empty grave - his grave. The vampire began to laugh maniacally, the sound growing louder and louder until, poof, he was nothing but a pile of dust.

Dan coughed, waving the dust particles out of his face. The last thing he needed was to be inhaling the undead, gross. He stood up, relieved to be alive, and began searching for a way up and out of the hole. He spun round to check the other side, only to be met with an arm reaching down to help him. He followed the arm up to a strangely familiar pair of blue eyes beaming down at him.

"Hey! It's you...Ph....Phil!" Dan pointed, a little shocked at the man standing above him. "What are you doing here??"

"Hey, Dan isn't it?" Dan nodded. "I'm out on patrol with Buffy." A petite blonde with a cute button nose smiled down at Dan and waved. He was lost for words, what on earth was going on? "Are you going to get out of that grave, my arm's getting sore." Dan grabbed onto the outstretched arm and, with Phil's assistance, climbed out of the grave.

Dan got to his feet and looked around. The three of them now stood in a warmly lit house. A polished wooden table was covered in a mound of musty old books and behind it stood a middle aged librarian, Giles.

"Hey Giles! Just finished our slay-i-ness for the day. How's research on squishy demon guy going?" Buffy bounced over to the dining table and looked at Giles quizzically.

"It's the principal." Dan had no idea how he knew this, he just did. The fundamental core in his brain was just telling him that it was the principal, it had to be the principal. And Dan accepted this, no logical explanation required, it just was.

"Well that takes the mystery out of it all." Phil sighed, a little disappointed in the abrupt ending to his adventure.

Suddenly the principal was there, standing outside the window, his semi-bald head increasing in shine as he slowly transformed into a slimy, green blob monster. Dan panicked, immediately pulling Phil behind a large piano that emerged from the far wall. They crouched behind the piano in fear as the blob monster smashed it's way through the window, knocking Giles to the floor. It ran towards the piano, punching holes clear through the instrument right above Dan and Phil's heads. Buffy pulled the monster back from the piano, throwing it across the room in the process. She ran towards the monster, shooting a quick punch into its abdomen. Her hand went straight through. She tried hitting it again, and again, and again, each punch going clean through the monster.

"Giles! How do I kill it!" Buffy yelled, but to no avail, as Giles lay unconscious in a children's paddle pool.

Buffy continued her assault on the blob monster, attempting to use different materials from around the house to stake it. "Nothing's working!" At this Phil ran across the room, diving out of the way of a strike from the creature and rolling under the table. He grabbed the book Giles had been reading from the table, quickly scanning the page that it was open to.

"I found it! You need to-

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The scene quickly faded from Dan's mind and he opened his eyes, slowly focusing on his bedroom around him. His dry mouth and the light throbbing in his head quickly reminded him of the night before. He sat up, waiting a moment for the dizzy spell to pass, before attempting to stand and move to the toilet. After relieving his bladder Dan made his way to the kitchen, where PJ already stood making scrambled eggs and toast for himself. Dan gulped down two glasses of water before filling a third and sitting at the counter with it, taking slow occasional sips as he chatted to PJ.

"How did you sleep?" PJ asked, buttering his toast far too generously.

"Yeah ok, had a weird dream about Buffy and Blob Monster Principals though. It was kind of freaky actually, stuff kept attacking me, but it's mostly funny now I'm awake."

"Hmmm interesting. Well I just had a dream I was eating breakfast. Needless to say I woke up starving." Dan chuckled and looked over at Louise who was still fast asleep on the pull out bed.

"Should we wake her?"

"Nah, it's only eight, she'll probably kill us if we wake her up this early."

"It's only eight! No wonder I'm so tired!" Dan complained. But he knew it was useless trying to go back to sleep now. He was already awake and just hungover enough to have a serious struggle getting back to sleep. He'd just have to have a lazy day to make up for it. "PJ, what do you say to having a Lord of the Rings Marathon today?"

"My mild hangover and inner nerd are telling me that is the best idea you've had all week."