Home sweet...

[nikki_chase]

Oh who am I kidding?

I finally reached my place after the tortuous hike back from all the non-fun that happened outside the nightclub. Standing directly across the street from my house I looked up and down the deserted block.

No sign of Cordy’s car...and I’m surprised by this--why?I wasn’t. Not really. Ever since she’s been all...un-coma-fied she

Comments

[nikki_chase]

“Yeah, yeah...’magic bad’, with the...flaying and the veins and the bad hair. Don’t go all ‘Giles’ on me. It’s just a glamour...Dawn does ‘em all the time. Uh...unless Buffy asks, in that case I’ll have to deny what I just said.”

Taking his board away I set it down on the ground. Hopefully he wouldn’t need it anymore...

“Well, here goes nothing”

I inhaled an uneasy breath then proceeded to pour half the bottles content over his necklace. Once finished I turned the bottle around and read the incantation.

“Sight and sound, be now restored.
What’s been taken from this plane, return thy form.
Permit thy wearer to see beyond the seen and hear beyond the heard.
Body of the being. Volume of the word.”

Who writes this crap and what ever happened to a simple wand wave and ‘Hocus Pocus!’?

With that done I poured the rest of the sand over the necklace I held on to. The jar now empty, both pendents that hung from each silver chain began to glow a neon green color. The intensity of the glowing increased over the next minute and only came to an end after a quick brilliant flash of light. I looked the bottle over and frowned slightly.

“They should put a ‘sunglasses-to-protect-your-eyes-against-the-retina-burning-flash-of-light-not-included’ warning on this...”

Besides seeing spots and feeling a bit dizzy I was jazzed about the whole lack of fire! I did something right! Um...maybe. Still not sure if the spell worked, but hello! No fire! Once the necklace stopped glowing its creepy green glow I put it around my neck. Pulling the label off the glass jar I kept hold of the incantation and disposed of the tiny bottle.

“Okay, I’m pretty sure its safe... So, give it a go English. Put it on and...I don’t know...scream if you want.”

I lost my voice once. For a whole torturous three days. But I didn’t have a handy-dandy board...I was forced to impersonate a mime. I bet there’s an evil hell dimension where noone can talk...but on the flip side, I bet there’s a heavenly dimension with the same instance...

[wyndam_pryce7]

She took the things away from me, and I immediately missed my little whiteboard. It was irrational, I know, but I think I had grown attached to it. Her spell was cast...and luckily she wasn't hurt. Besides being immensely relieved, I considered the spell a success. She told me to put the necklace on, so I did. I noticed no change whatsoever.

"Uh...you look very pretty tonight Nicole. I'm glad your spell went well."

Picking up my whiteboard, I clung to the familiar.

"Can you hear me?"

[nikki_chase]

I managed to contain myself from doing Woody's little 'We did it! We did it!' dance from Toy Story.

"Uh-huh! And I can see you too. Were you always teal though? I think thats something I would have noticed..."

Smirking slightly, I stuffed my hands into my pockets.

"Just kidding. You're all...normal colored, but kind of see-through-able. Guess that's to be expected."

To bad this mojo didn't affect the perception of everyone in L.A. The being see-through and the ability to go through walls aside...it would be like he wasnt all--you know--former. Everyones got their problems...

[wyndam_pryce7]

"Teal...?"

My eyes went wide and I quickly looked at myself. I didn't look teal...was that how she perceived me? A teal ghostly Wesley?

"Oh."

I must look really stupid to her. I'm sure she was used to more relaxed persons.

"So this is what you wanted to do? You couldn't come up with anything funner?"

[nikki_chase]

I frowned slightly then shrugged.

"Sorry. You ever try holding a conversation with an invisible person? Sure it sounds neat...but the novelty is all gone, so it was just gettin’ creepy."

Phantom Dennis wasn’t creepy, but its 'cause that’s the only way I ever knew him... Wes was alive earlier...and I didn’t need a tacky piece of jewelry to see him before. He was treating the situation as if he had caught a cold...and it would pass. He was dead, yet finding something to ease his boredom was what he found most important? And people say I’ve got my priorities mixed up.

“No, on second thought...I’m really not.”

Being nice was getting me nowhere. He needed some sense slapped into him, and ordinarily I’d be more than happy to volunteer! But seeing as how my hand would just phase through him, I’d have settle for a verbal assault... Gotta love those.

“God damn it Wesley what the hell is the matter with you? You’ve spent how many years ‘helping the hopeless’ and now you can’t even help yourself? My bad, its 'won’t' isnt it? Not can’t.You lose your mind along with your pulse?”

[wyndam_pryce7]

"Yes, all the time," I answered.

Frowning, I wondered what her problem was. I thought she enjoyed having fun and playing pranks? When did she suddenly grow up? Or did I grow down? She began to launch a verbal offensive against me, and I could feel myself getting angry.

"So what? Don't I deserve a vacation? It's not like I was doing anyone any good anyways. You know what my biggest accomplishments were lately? Being cab driver to you, Dawn and Willow then recorporealizing Anya. The last might sound big, but it was an accident that ended up killing me!"

Taking a step closer to her, I glared down at her. She continued to be all smug and know it all, just like Cordelia. It was infuriating...

"You don't know how hard it is! You know how lonely it is in your house? How hard it is to get through every night being alone? Well try having to live like that for most of your damn life! Watch as every person you care about leaves or is beyond your grasp! See how you feel when everyone thinks of you as a stuck-up British man with no life who is either despised or ridiculed!"

[nikki_chase]

"A vacation? That's what you're calling it now? Dude! You're dead! A vacation is paying insanely high prices at Disney to see some guy dressed in a giant mouse costume,...not this."

I narrowed my eyes slightly, giving him a harsh look over as he stepped closer. Is he seriously trying to be intimidating here?

"I think it's safe to say no one will ever think of me as a stuck-up 'British-guy'."

Wrong time for humor...

"And I do know what it's like to have everyone I've ever cared about taken from me...in some way or another. No, I haven't had to deal with it as long as you have...got the rest of my life to look forward to that though. You've got some serious issues Pryce.

I shook my head slightly as I glared at him. Why did he have to be so damn stubborn?

"Did you have some sort of visit from a paranoia demon?" Trust me...that not all that far-fetched. "You've got Angel, Fred, Gunn... You even have Cordy more then I do! Yet here you are...feeling sorry for yourself? Having second thoughts on whether or not you mattered? So this is gonna be your existence?"

[wyndam_pryce7]

"Yes! I'm dead! So I should be able to rest in peace! You shouldn't expect me to be all on board to be alive again...just so I can die again."

She was stubborn...too damn stubborn. I actually felt...warm rather then cold arguing with her. I grew even angrier as she began cracking jokes.

"I know...so why aren't you more understanding? If you died, would you be eager to go back to all that? To spending every night alone for the rest of your life? Yes, I have issues. So do you...everyone does. Big frickin' deal."

Meeting her glare, I glared back at her. I wasn't going to budge anymore...wasn't going to bend to everyone else's wishes and expectations for me. I was dead...no one should expect anything from me.

"No...and how do I have them? I have hardly seen any of them...anyone for that matter...in weeks. Angel...where is he? I have no idea, he's gone. So I don't have him. Fred? Do you see her anywhere? Has she come rushing to me to comfort poor ghostly Wesley? No! She has Gunn...and Gunn has her. Cordy...she isn't here either. You know how she reacted when she found out that I died? She didn't care that I was dead! She was worried that I had been in a car crash and killed you! She cares more about you then me...so don't say I have her more then you!"

Taking another step closer, I loomed over her...

"So don't you say that I have anyone, because I don't! If I had anyone, they'd be here right now, trying to help me. But no one is here! Look around! No one is broken up by my death...no one really cared, not even you. It's just another odd little thing in your lifes...something to garner amusement from. Well, laugh all you want. I'm finished."

Stepping back, I took off the necklace and let it fall to the ground. Turning, I began to walk away...just another fallen ghost shouldering his own personal ghosts.

[nikki_chase]

“Ya know what, you’re right. You should be able to rest in peace...so why aren’t you? ‘Peace’ sure looks a hell of a lot like boredom, with a side of ‘oh-hey-I’m-still-alone’. The normal kind of loneliness any different from this kind? You know...with the added invisibility and being mute thing.”

Staring at the necklace on the ground I was partially happy. See, kindness doesn’t always pay. He told me more in his rage than he did in his...well, I wasn’t exactly sure what that other emotion was. Indifference maybe? Sure, pissed off Wesley was a regular chatter box...but I’ve never been yelled at by him before.

Bending down to pick up the necklace, I was suddenly aware of the 15 or so people who had stopped to watch the show. Great, ‘cause that’s what my day was missing: being looked at like I was insane. My day is now complete...

“Have a nice afterlife, Wes...”

The once again eerie floating board was already on the move. I didn’t really care if he heard the last thing or not. Pocketing the necklace I turned around and started back the way I had come. I could feel the gazes of the gawkers burning through my back as I went. Good thing I didn’t plan on showing my face around here ever again. Not that I cared what these people thought...much.

Ugh...I need caffeine...or sugar. Hell, maybe both!