Unknown Factors (Book One)

Ch.18: Is what I want to see

  At Buffy's house for the first time, I sat on the stairs with Willow. The place was nice and it had a comforting air and smell to it. Joyce, Buffy's mom, seemed like an amazing and kind woman with how easily she let me into her home and treated me like just another friend.

  "Dinner is served." Xander said with his mouth full as he came in with a bowl full of popcorn. Riley was saying his goodbyes to Buffy, and Xander held the bowl out to us. "And my very own recipe."

  "Ooh! You push the button on the microwave that says 'Popcorn'?" Willow asked while grabbing a handful.

  "Actually, I pushed defrost, but, um, Joyce was there in the clinch." He smiled while leaning against the stair rails.

  "Well, you guys have fun tonight." Riley smiled at us. "It was very nice meeting you." He said while shaking Joyce's hand.

  "It was nice meeting you. Finally." She smiled. He said goodbye to Buffy and vice versa before he left, and the door was shut. "Did you notice how pointedly I said finally?" Joyce gave Buffy a look.

  "No." Buffy walked away to the living room. Getting up from the stairs, we all followed the Slayer.

  "Let the vid-fest begin." Xander said.

  "You sure you won't join us?" Pops asked while taking popcorn from the bowl Joyce was holding.

  "No. You guys have your fun. I'm tired. I can't believe you're not exhausted." She looked at us as we all sat down. "Have you even slept since...." Joyce trailed off.

  "Still feel a little bit too wired." Pops told her.

  "Mmm. Yeah, that spell- that was-that was powerful." Willow said.

  "Don't think I could sleep." Buffy added.

  "Well, we got plenty of vid. And I'm puttin' in a preemptive bid for Apocalypse Now, huh?" Xander picked up a VHS from the pile.

  "Did you get anything less heart-of-darkness-y?" Willow asked while getting comfortable on the couch.

  "Apocalypse Now is a gay romp. It's the feel-good movie of whatever year it was." Xander was trying to persuade us to watch it first.

  "What else?" Buffy asked.

  "Don't worry." Xander sighed while putting the movie down. "Got plenty of chick and British-guy flicks, too." He said as Joyce left, and Pops sat down. "These puppies should last us all night." And not even past the first twenty minutes of the first movie, we were all passed out.

~

  Walking through the graveyard, I looked around and saw that there wasn't a soul in sight and everything was deathly silent. Shrugging my shoulders, I hopped up onto a gravestone while balancing on one foot.

  "Come now, good balance means good posture." Glancing over, I saw a member from the Watchers Council who had taught my etiquette classes.

  "I never liked you." I told the old man. "You always smelt weird." The man nodded and walked away without another word. Looking forward, I skipped around on the headstones and grave statues like a small child. "The ground is lava." I chuckled.

  Suddenly, I saw a small, orange light floating up ahead. It danced around a bit, wanting me to follow it. Hopping onto the grass, I walked over with my hands behind my back. The little light flitted about, leading me towards a crypt. Walking inside, I saw the little, orange ball stop.

  "Why did you bring me here?" I asked before hearing crunching. Turning around, I saw Pops and Spike sitting down in reclining chairs while watching TV. There were boxes of crackers everywhere- Pops was eating them while Spike was crumbling them up into his mug of blood. "What are you watching?" I questioned while walking to where I could see the screen.