Calling

I don’t understand some things. Like toaster ovens. Use a microwave or a toaster. Or book jackets. They always fall off or get ripped so what’s the point? But there are a few more important things that I generally do not understand like if you sign off on the death penalty for a murderer does that make you a murderer or a good guy? If you fall and don’t get back up again does that make you smart or a wimp? Maybe both. But the biggest thing I don’t understand right now is how I am in Colorado.

Yeah, that’s right. Colorado. The Centennial State. How I know that I also do not know. Call it the randomness that is my brain. But Colorado. I don’t remember anything from the past day.

I came out of the shaft on the side of a mountain. There didn’t seem to be anyone around so I took off down the hill. The only thing I came upon was a high as hell fence but it didn’t stop me. The pain almost did, but only almost. I could tell I was a bit out of town by the lack of lights and general townness but there was a road and where there is a road there are cars. Where there are cars, there are hitchhikers. Which is what I did.

It was an SUV. Simple, blue. That’s how I knew it wasn’t government. They hate everything but black. It was a nice elderly woman who thought I just got into a scrap of trouble. I didn’t correct her. No use lying if I didn’t have to. She told me I was in Colorado Springs. Huh. So now I’m standing at the nice youth shelter she dropped me.

It was kind of grimey. But good grimey. Well-used is what normal people would call it. I call it grimey. It’s not that I’m against teen shelters but, I’m just against teen shelters. Don’t fault me for it though, cause its definitely Buffy’s fault. She told me about the deal with the hell dimension and well… me and dimension stuff just don’t get along.

So where to go? I walked along the street. The rest of the stores around here were grimy like the shelter. Old Mom-and-Pop stores that aren’t quite standing the test of time. I walked past most of them until I got to a bar. Hmm. Interesting. People will generally leave you alone in bars if you ignore them. And as young as I look still, well, I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to kick me out. I may be eighteen years old but I still look damn young. So I’m going back to that lovely method. Puppy dog eyes.

I walked into the bar making myself as small as I could without looking awkward. I know I looked like crap so I wasn’t expecting too many people to check me out but when people just stared it was weird. I ignored it though, hoping it was just me not having a coat or something in the cold. Yeah, I’d noticed, it was just a little nippy outside. I was freezing and the heat of the bar was very welcome on my cold skin.

I took small steps to the bartender. I could feel him watching me. It made my skin itch, but hey, that could have been the blood that I couldn’t get washed off. At least I was bandaged up by the crazy military doctor. Maybe I should check for chips though. Hmm. It wasn’t hard to find a place to sit, there were maybe two dozen people in the building and most were at the booths surrounding the walls. I sidled up to an empty stool and hopped on.

“Um, hi,” I started, trying to sound innocent. “Can I use the phone, I, uh need to call my sister.” I gave him my best puppy dog eyes but he just looked confused.

“Yeah, okay. No problem. Just give me a minute, someone’s using it.” The bewildered look didn’t leave his face as he went to a back room but I didn’t think too much of it. He can’t do much damage could he? He came back a few minutes later and said it would be about ten minutes. I asked him for water but he gave me some apple cider. I didn’t complain. It’s my favorite drink in the cold weather.

While I waited for the phone I watched the people in the bar. I was surprised at how little the number was but after finding out from Rich, the bartender, that it was only 6 on a Thursday I wasn’t so surprised as annoyed at the days that had gone by. I lost three days.

I looked around at some of the people. The Springs must be a major military city cause this place was crawling with them. But a few weren’t. There was a couple sitting in one of the booths across from one another holding hands on the table. I wonder if they’ll last. A man sat alone in the far end at the bar itself. He was staring at me. I couldn’t help it, I fidgeted and he grinned. I took a look at the mirror behind the bar and saw him just fine but his eyes flashed at me and that was all it took for me.

I jumped up off the stool and walked right up to Rich. “Phone. Now.” I guess he got it because he just pointed to the back room. I took off towards the phone on a desk in the back corner. I dialed the houses number first. Some Williamson residence. Magic Box, nonexistent number. Xander. Willow. Giles. Everyone had either other people or no number.

I couldn’t breathe. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the wall. I had to use mediation again to stave off a panic attack. I was getting too panicky. I can’t do anything when I panic. Stop it, Dawn. Breathe.

Oomph. If there is anything worse than a panic attack, it’s getting the wind knocked out of you when you are trying to calm yourself down. When it already feels like you’re drowning, someone goes and pushes you back under. Thankfully, I had had enough rest that I could hit back.

Whoever hit me expected me to stay down, so I did. I waited until he did the typical thing and try to kick me in the ribs. Idiot. I grabbed his leg before he could hit me and yanked it up from underneath him. It may have been dirty but I’m following Rule Number One. From the floor I dropped into his sternum with an elbow and while something cracked it didn’t slow him down. He grabbed me and threw me. Really threw me. Into a wall. That sucks as much as getting the wind knocked out of me.

He moved in on me and went to punch me. I moved faster and landed a punch into his stomach as I ducked. I rolled with my momentum and came out behind him. I know I can’t fight worth a shit against this guy so I did the only thing I could against someone bigger and stronger than me. I invoked Rule Number 2- Run when you can’t beat ‘em. So I ran.

Right into Jack.