Part 2
"Mom?" Buffy called, rattling the door. Her key wasn't working, and she needed to take a shower and get dressedbefore school. She briefly considered climbing in her window, but that would only make her mother angrier, which was not what she needed at that moment. "Mom, it's me!" she called. "I'm sorry I didn't come home. Please let me in!" She rang the doorbell again, and tried her key for the fiftieth time. No luck there.
"Who is it?" a stranger's voice asked.
"Mom? It's me, Bufy. I know I should have called but–"
"Who?" Buffy blinked in disbelief. It definitely wasn't her mom's voice. But this was her house. The numbers were right. And it looked like her house.
"Buffy. Buffy Summers. I live here. Is my mom there? Is she mad at me?" The door opened a few inches, the chain still in place and an unfamiliar woman eyed her suspiciously.
"I don't know what you want from me, but I advise you to leave right now," the woman said. "I have a stake, and my husband's upstairs and he can hear if I yell."
"Okay, one–daylight! Two–I'm not a vampire! Witness point one. Three–what the hell is going on?" Buffy demanded.
"Some strange girl is knocking on my door and claiming she lives here!" the woman answered. Buffy took a deep breath and tried to calm down.
"Could you just tell me how long you've lived here?"
"Years," the woman said flatly. "I'm sorry, but you've got the wrong house. Then she slammed the door in Buffy's face. Buffy jumped a little and stared at the door in disbelief for a long moment before turning away and staring out at the familiar street for a while. Then she turned back. It was still her door. The numbers beside the door still said her address. What was going on?
Buffy glanced at her watch. It was almost time for school. She needed to go! Well, her clothes didn't look dirty or too wrinkled . . . her hair was another thing, but oh well . . . she had some stuff in the library that she could change in to anyway. Or she used to have stuff. Hopefully Giles hadn't moved it! With that in mind Buffy set off quickly for school, too tired and emotionally overwrought to notice any of the minute but consistent changes around her . . .
********************
"Willow!" Buffy called across the courtyard spotting her friend. Oz wasn't there, which was suprising—they were kind of unseparable lately. In fact, Xander wasn't there either. Just some guy she didn't recognize from the back. Willow looked different too . . . it wasn't until she got closer that Buffy realized the difference. Willow's hair was long. As long as it had been when she met Buffy. But she'd cut it above her shoulders over the summer! Hair didn't just grow back overnight! "Willow! What's up with your hair?" Buffy asked, coming up beside the guy and adressing her friend. Willow looked suprised and shrank back slightly. Buffy glanced at the young man beside her, then stopped. Totally stopped.
"Jesse?" she breathed. It couldn't be. It was totally and utterly impossible. He'd been killed. Xander had killed him after he'd been turned into a vampire. But here he was, standing in the sunlight in the high school courtyard, eyeing her suspiciously.
"Do I know you?" he asked.
"Buffy," she said. "Buffy Summers. But you-you-you're—Willow, what's going on?"
"What do you mean? How do you know my name?" The red head looked genuinely suprised and almost frightened. Buffy took a step back, looking from Willow to Jesse and back again.
"What's going on? Willow? Is this some kind of joke? I know you're mad at me, but pretending you don't know me is a little overboard, don't you think? Where's Xander? And where's Oz and Cordy?" Willow paled at the mention of Xander's name and Jesse took her hand, giving Buffy a threatening look.
"Why don't you just leave us alone? We don't know you!" he exclaimed. Buffy felt like it was a dream, a horrible horrible dream. Maybe it was. First Angel and then her house and now this . . . what was happening?
"You do know me," she said, then appealed to Willow. "I'm your best friend. Well I was anyway. And I know I did some things wrong and you've been distant, but please stop. I'm having the worst day! You can't even imagine! If you won't talk to me at least tell me where everyone else is, please?"
"I've never seen you before in my life," Willow said. Buffy felt like she was going to cry. In fact, the tears were beginning to well up. How could this be happening? What had she done? Well, besides the obvious of hurting everyone she loved.
"Okay. You know what, I'm going to go talk to Giles. I'm not going to freak out. If you see Xander, will you tell him I—"
"You're some kind of sick freak, aren't you?" Jesse lashed out. "Xander's been dead for two years!"
And that was the worst of it. That was like a blow to the stomach. Buffy felt like she'd been killed all over again. Xander was dead. Xander . . . But it was impossible! She'd seen him the night before! He couldn't be dead! Buffy looked at Willow with her long straight hair, and at Jesse whom she'd known for so short a time, and then turned and walked away, hoping it was a dream and she'd wake up soon.
********************
"Giles?" she called, entering the library. Giles had to know her. He had to. "Giles, do you still have my extra clothes?" She glanced around the library. There was something odd about it, but she couldn't say exactly. It was just . . . different.
"Excuse me, can I help you?" the librarian asked, emerging from his office. Buffy smiled with relief. Giles looked exactly the same. Well of course he did, he was Giles. He didn't change.
"Hey. I got locked out of my house this morning and I was wondering if you still had those clothes I left here in case of emergencies?" Buffy asked. He looked confused and took of his glasses. Uh-oh.
"Do I know you?" he asked. Buffy felt her world crashing down around her.
"Yesterday you forget to train with me. Today you forget my existence. This is great. This is just . . . peachy! Can you please tell me what the hell is wrong with this world?" she demanded. The confusion and fear she'd felt at first was rapidly turning in to anger. Things didn't just change like this! People didn't just forget other people!
"If there's anything I can . . . can get for you, I'd be happy to—" Giles began, but she cut him off.
"Unless you happen to know of one of your books that tells about why everyone suddenly has amnesia, I don't think there is!" Buffy exclaimed. "Is Faith around here? I hardly knew her, so maybe she'll remember me."
"Faith?" Giles asked faintly.
"Please don't tell me she's dead too," Buffy said. "She's not my favorite person, I'll admit that, but she's a Slayer, and we gotta have a sisterhood thing going."
"A Slayer?" Giles repeated.
"Yeah, you know, a few martial arts moves, good with stakes and crosses and holy water. One girl in all the world. Except there are two now, but that's thanks to Xander. Who supposedly has been dead for years even though I saw him last night at the Bronze."
"The Bronze."
"The Bronze. Remember, big club, music, teenagers?" Buffy prompted.
"How do you know about Slayers?" Buffy regarded him, still unable to comprehend that he really didn't know who she was. Though she was beginning to get there.
"I am one. Buffy. Buffy Summers. You're kidding right? This is some big practical joke you guys are playing on me. Ha. Ha ha. You can stop now."
"Fascinating," Giles murmured. Buffy rolled her eyes.
"Fascinating? Not exactly! This is my life Giles! At least tell me what happened on patrol last night, since Faith seemed able to handle it so well," Buffy said.
"Patrol?"
"You're really loving the repeating my words in question form thing, aren't you? Because I'm not too fond of it myself. Do you want to hear what happened to me last night?"
"Who are you?" Giles asked, seeminly at his wits end.
"The Vampire Slayer! You're my Watcher! You have been for years!" She got no response . . . not one worthy of the title anyway. "You know what, I've had enough! I'm going now! So there!" Buffy turned on her heel and stomped out of the library, confused and angry and with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. What had happened? What was wrong with the world?
********************
Buffy had found the one good thing about whatever reality she was currently in—Snyder had no idea who she was. Unfortunately that seemed to be the only good thing and even it was kind of depressing. She wasn't on the roll sheets of any of her clasess, the office didn't have her in the computer, and no one seemed to know who she was. Not a good feeling.
The halls were full at lunch as Buffy wondered around aimlessly, trying to think of what to do. Usually she'd go to Giles for help, but he didn't know her anymore than anyone else. Was it possible for an entire school to have the same selective amnesia? Somehow Buffy doubted it.
Which was when she glanced into the computer lab. And stopped. Because Jenny Calendar was inside, sitting at her desk.
Two seconds later Buffy had the computer teacher up against the wall.
"You're dead!" Buffy exclaimed.
"Not yet," Ms. Calendar replied. "Though at this rate it could be soon."
"I saw you! He broke your neck!"
"No, though if you keep working at it, you might be able to get there," she said. "And who are we discussing anyway?"
"Angel. He broke your neck to step you from performing the curse!"
"Did you just say Angel?" Ms. Calendar asked. Buffy eyed her suspiciously. This was one person she wasn't giving the benefit of a doubt.
"You heard me," Buffy said coldly. "Because you didn't warn us he turned evil and killed you. And how am I standing here telling you how you died?"
"I don't know, but I'm willing to discuss it if you let me down." Warily, Buffy did so, stepping away slowly. "Okay, repeat what you just said. You're talking about Angelus right?"
"No. I mean yes, but Angelus makes me think of bad Angel and I was talking about good Angel. Until I wasn't."
"You okay?" Ms. Calendar asked.
"No," Buffy said definitely. She didn't know a lot right then, but she knew she wasn't all right.
"Let's start from the beginning. Tell me who you are and what you know about Angelus—or Angel," Ms. Calendar instructed, guiding Buffy to a seat. Buffy sat down and took a deep breath before she began.
"Well I don't know what you know about vampires, but you obviously know they exist because you know about Angel, and well, in every generation there's one girl born that has super-strength and can fight them called the Slayer. I'm her."
"You're the Slayer?" Ms. Calendar asked.
"Yeah. My name's Buffy Summers and the librarian, Giles—"
"My boyfriend."
"Oh, yeah, I should have figured that. Anyway, he's my Watcher. Or he was. Or he should be, or something. Well when I moved to Sunnydale I met this man, Angel. I kind of . . . fell in love with him, even though I didn't know I was at first. The first time we kissed he showed his game face and I found out who he really was—Angelus, a vampire that had been cursed with a soul by the Romani tribes. Your people. We tried to stay apart, but we eventually started dating and got closer and closer. And you stood there and watched. You knew about the curse and you never said a word. And then it happened . . . we made love and he lost his soul. One moment of true happiness. You couldn't have warned us?" Buffy appealed, tears building in her eyes. The computer science teacher looked stricken.
"I didn't know. I didn't know there was—is—a clause on the curse. I'm just supposed to watch him and make sure he stays miserable," she breathed. Buffy took a deep breath and blinked back tears.
"He was horrible. He killed one of my friends and he threatened me and came into my house at night, leaving pictures so I'd know he'd been there. He wanted to hurt me. And then you translated the curse, I guess. You didn't say anything, and we didn't know until later, but he killed you. He broke your neck and left you on Giles' bed. But you're here, and you're alive."
"What happened next?" Ms. Calendar asked.
"We found a copy of the curse on disk. Willow—"
"Willow Rosenburg?"
"Yeah. She's my best friend. Or she was. I don't know anymore, and now she doesn't even know who I am . . . Anyway, she tried to perform the curse, but Drusilla killed Kendra, the other Slayer and put Willow in a coma andcaptured Giles. Angel was trying to bring forth Acathla, this demon to swallow the world and he didn't know how to make the ritual work. He tortured Giles and I guess . . . I guess Giles gave in. I went to stop him, but it was too late. We fought. I was about to kill him, and then he changed. He got his soul back. I don't know how . . . Willow must have performed the curse again but I couldn't ask or they'd know what happened and I couldn't tell them that. Acathla's mouth was opening and the only way to stop him was to kill Angel. So I did. Or . . . I guess I didn't kill him. I stabbed him through the stomach and he went to Hell. I left Sunnydale, because I couldn't face them, and when I came back there was a new Slayer, Faith, and everything was different. All my friends were distant and had different lives I didn't know about. And last night I went back to the mansion where I sent Angel to Hell and he . . . he came back. I don't know how, but he did. He was so hurt . . . I stayed there all night and when I went home there were different locks and someone else lived there. And I came to school and Willow doesn't know me and Jesse's alive and Giles doesn't know me and you're alive! How can you be alive?" Buffy demanded. Ms. Calendar looked troubled. Very, very troubled.
"Poor girl. I don't know what's going on, but I want to help. It sounds like you live in an alternate universe or something and somehow you landed here. Let me look you up on the computer and see what it says about you. Maybe we can find your home. What's your middle name?" Ms. Calendar asked.
"Anne," Buffy replied.
"Age?"
"Seventeen."
"Grade?"
"Junior."
"Place of birth?"
"L.A." Ms. Calendar sat at her computer and typed away. She hit a button and waited a moment. There was an error beep.
"Not found," she murmured.
"What do you mean?" Buffy demanded, standing up and walking over to eye the computer from over her shoulder.
"You don't exist," Ms. Calendar said.
"I exist! See! Here I am!" Buffy exclaimed, getting a major wiggins. Well, worse than the one she already had.
"It's like you were never born," the computer science teacher said, frowning. Buffy froze. I wish I was never born.
"Oh God," she whispered.
"What?" Ms. Calendar asked, turning to her.
"I wished. I wished but wishes aren't supposed to come true," Buffy said softly.
"What did you wish?" Ms. Calendar asked.
"That I was never born. I only hurt everyone. So I wished I'd never been born."
"And now you haven't been." Buffy groped for a chair and sat down. She didn't exist. She had never been born. It was It's a Wonderful Life all over again. Except no Jimmy Stewart. No guardian angel. And maybe the world was better off this way. Ms. Calendar was alive. Jesse was alive.
"Tell me about here," Buffy said. "Tell me what it's like. Tell me it's better here. It has to be better here."
"I can't tell you that," Ms. Calendar said softly. "You have to find it out for yourself." Buffy nodded slowly and forced herself to her feet.
"Okay," she said. "I will." And before the teacher could say anything else, she walked out of the computer lab, into the sunny halls of the high school she didn't exist at.