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DISCLAIMER: Joss.
SUMMARY: Oh Willow, Willow...
WORDCOUNT: 798
RATING: R, for imagery
NIGHTMARES
by Leni
Willow sat alone in the classroom. Her watch told her that the class was about to begin,
why was noone here yet?
The bell rang.
She knew that Xander and Jesse tended to be dilatory, but shouldn't at least the teacher
be here already?
Turning her head, Willow checked the places at her sides. Yes, her bag was at her right
while her Biology books sat quietly at her left. She smiled, even if they were too late,
her friends would still have their places separated.
When she turned back a small plate was in front of her. Had it been there before? It was
covered by a cloth and a small note rested on it: Assignment.
Willow unveiled the object to discover her most hated enemy: a frog's body.
She blinked.
Suddenly the room was bustling with life, it seemed that her fellow students had arrived
together and she could hear Mr. Withmore's voice in the background. With a sigh of relief,
Willow thought happily that the boys could handled it. Both Jesse and Xander loved taking
the frogs out of her hands.
But they were not with her.
Nobody came to her aid.
"Will you begin already?" the teacher's voice came directly from behind her.
With a growing sense of apprehension Willow realised that she was alone in this. She
approached her table warily. The frog still lay there.
Taking the scalpel she decided to do it quickly.
Just as the scalpel touched its skin, its eyes flew open and stared directly into hers.
Willow stared, a hand on her mouth. Absently she noticed that she was alone again.
The frog didn't move.
Suddenly everything seemed to focus on the little body on the table.
Then the table disappeared into nothing and only Willow remained, half-ready to scream and
run, too scared to do either and deep within, too curious to step aside.
Something nagged at her... this wasn't right.
"You hate me."
Willow didn't try to rationalise it. The frog had spoken and that was it.
She nodded slowly.
"I never did anything to you."
That was true, somehow Willow knew that no harm had come to her directly from that small
animal. Not directly. But she was wounded, scarred for life even though she couldn't
remember why.
"If you hate me that much, take that scalpel."
She did.
"You know what comes next, don't you?"
A nod.
"Then do it."
Something tugged at her mind... This wasn't her first time in this room.
It wasn't the Biology classroom, she realised. That must had blown up years ago... where
was this?
"Do it!"
Why couldn't she remember? She'd been here before... at some point... when? WHEN?
"Do it..." The pause was what made it all click. She wasn't fifteen. Jesse was
dead. The school was no more. She didn't fear frogs anymore, because she'd learned far
worse things were out there.
But she feared this room. And she feared the little voice... she took the scalpel and
grazed it against the frog's skin. It was so quiet, so quiet... shouldn't it be screaming?
"Tiny piece of metal, can you feel it now?" she heard herself say.
Silence met her.
She worked with the scalpel as she'd been taught by Mr. Withmore. Small incisions,
small... small. First do the important cuts, you don't want to hit the veins.
Silence.
The cuts were shallow, never getting deeper than its skin.
The voice didn't bug her anymore. The silence wasn't uncomfortable, but it made her think
too much. If this was her assignment they should have asked for something else, she didn't
like it. The scalpel in her hand felt warm, almost alive as it cut trough the tiny layers
of skin... The cuts were always precise, exact and so very... dull.
"Bored now."
She took the scalpel into a more horizontal position, held it at the exact position. Jesse
had always been the one doing this, even Xander was too grossed out at the idea. Slowly -
oh so very slowly - she began separating the skin from the flesh. In highschool she had
always turned away while Jesse teased her, he'd be proud now, wouldn't he?
The little voice appeared away, seeming to speak from every uncovered pore. "Do you
really want this?"
Willow didn't smile, just lifted the scalpel because she had found a more vulnerable point
from which to start anew. The shiny scalpel took her interest for a second. "Mirror
mirror on the wall..." she murmured as she held the instrument so she could see her
reflection.
"One down," someone said.
Willow dropped the scalpel but she knew who the voice belonged to.
It was the woman in the scalpel, smiling at her cruelly while her black eyes shone like
the brightest night.
The End
01/02/04
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