Dance With the Dead (BTVS, Book Six)

chapter 3 - Afterlife

Dawn led me toward a house that seemed familiar but yet so strange. "Home. See? You're back home. We're all okay now."

I looked at the house, still disheveled.

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Dawn led me inside, closing the door behind us.

I walked toward the living room.

Dawn turned on a light.

I winced at the sudden bright. "Ow." Dawn walked closer. I walked around the house, surveying everything. Dawn followed. "It's the same."

"Yeah," Dawn agreed. "Just how you left it. That's easier, right? That home's exactly the same from when you last saw it?"  The door opened. I turned to the door unsteadily. "It's okay. It's okay."

 Mom walked in. She looked at me, in shock. "Zoey."

I stepped away from Dawn, looking at Mom apprehensively.

"Yeah, uh... I called Mom," Dawn told me. "I told her what was going on, and see? She came right home." She looked at Mom. "Are you okay?"

Mom nodded, walking closer. "Yes, I'm fine. I've been worried about you."

Dawn looked at me. "Uh, remember how you were always watching me when Mom was at work? Well, since you were gone, someone else had to. Spike came over time to time to watch me, and it's a good thing that he did last night, because all of the demons." 

Mom didn't think it was funny.

I didn't react.

Mom looked over me. "We should get you cleaned up."

I looked over the black dress, the black high heels, my skin filthy with the dirt from the ground, my hair tangled in a mess. I looked at Dawn and Mom.

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I was clean, wearing a white button-down shirt that was unbuttoned with a camisole underneath, my hair pulled back neatly.

Mom was wetting out a face-cloth, turning off the faucet, turning to me, wiping my neck. "There you are. Knew you were under that dirt somewhere." She chuckled nervously. I looked into my reflection, not knowing what to make of all this yet. Mom looked nervous, putting down the cloth, turning to me. "You remember what I used to say? 'Either wash that neck or plant potatoes'." 

I looked at her. 

Dawn was standing in the door, shaking her head. "Yeah, I never thought it was funny, either." 

Mom indicated my shirt. "You want to button that, or, um..." I looked down at my hands that were still scratched and bleeding. Mom and Dawn noticed them for the first time. "Oh. Ow." Mom gently lifted my hands to look at them. "Um, we'll... take care of that after."

I pulled my hands away. "Okay."

We heard the door open, and a man from downstairs. "Dawn! Dawn! Are you there?"

"It--it's just Spike," Dawn told us. She called downstairs. "I'm here!"

Dawn walked downstairs.

Mom and I followed more slowly.

Spike looked at Dawn. "Thank God. You scared me half to death... or more to death. You--I could kill you."

Dawn walked closer slowly, giving him a look. "Spike."