The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon as the Greyhound bus rolled past the ‘You Are Now Leaving Sunnydale’ sign and Buffy scrunched down in her seat as she watched it. There was even a slight turning of her head to give it one last glance before she pulled her knees up to her chest and leaned her face against the coolness of the window letting her eyes flutter close. It was hard to believe she had actually done it. She had left home. It couldn’t technically be called running away because she was eighteen and a high school graduate now. The only thing that was similar was that she hadn’t told anyone of her plans just a note resting on her bed. They wouldn’t care anyway. That was obvious with the events that had happened since they had blown up the high school.

First it was her mother telling her that it was best if she go east to college. She had never accepted Buffy’s life as a Slayer and wanted her as far away from it as possible. Then there was the blasé announcement that if she didn’t follow her mother’s plans then there would no help from her parents to finance her education. It didn’t seem to matter that Buffy had already picked out classes with Willow’s help and was looking forward to going to Sunnydale U with her friends. Joyce wanted her to be normal. Whatever that was.

Then Giles announced he was going back to England. It wasn’t because her mother wanted to send her across the country to college but because he felt that he couldn’t help her anymore. Her Watcher said that there was nothing else to teach her just when Buffy was ready to tackle the role chosen for her with total eagerness. It had taken a long time for her to get to this point but when she defeated the Mayor she had felt a pride in getting the job done and like she had told her mom this was something she could do better than anyone else.

The uncomfortable feeling between Watcher and Slayer had never fully recovered from the fiasco of her eighteenth birthday. A working relationship had been what they compromised on even though Buffy still thought of him as her father. He just wouldn’t let himself relax around her anymore. Travers had given him that one last chance to prove that he was the Watcher they wanted him to be but it left the Slayer without the guidance she needed on the killing fields or in her personal life.

Personal life. There wasn’t one anymore. Thanks to Angel. At first she had thought he was waiting to make love to her until she turned eighteen but it hadn’t happened. Next she thought it would be after Prom but still nothing more than the heated kisses and hands over clothes they had shared since early in their relationship. Graduation was the only thing left and she had even gone to buy new underwear to surprise him on the ‘special date’ that Angel had arranged. Yeah, special in the fact that he dumped her.

His words were ‘I love you but you need more than me. You need someone who will take you into the light and be normal with”. It wasn’t until she was screaming her heartbreak at him that she learned the truth. The gypsy curse prevented him from having a moment of true happiness so there could never be sex between them. To her it was a ludicrous reason for breaking up but not to her boyfriend. Angel said that it was better for her this way. If he left town then she could find a new boyfriend, one that was human. The vampire was her first love though and she would have compromised to stay with him. She figured that logically you couldn’t miss what you never had.

The three most important people in her life had dumped her all in one week leaving her emotionally devastated. When she had tried to turn to her friends Willow and Xander but they were both busy with their own lives and the relationships they were involved in and didn’t give her the support she needed. Never feeling so alone in her life she planned this escape. If they didn’t want her then she didn’t need them. In a way she knew it was being selfish just disappearing but a small part of her wanted them to hurt like she did. Plus she knew if she told them what she was doing and actually tried to plan a move they would run roughshod over her and it would never happen. Buffy wanted to stretch her wings and see if she could do it without them and without Buffy.

Her mom had said go east so east was where she was headed, to Daytona Beach, FL, the world’s most famous beach and runaway capital of the world. But Buffy knew she was smart enough not to get caught in the traps that so easily ensnared many. It was picked as her destination because it was so far away from home and it would be a totally different atmosphere. She had always wanted to go on Spring Break but Slayer duties always prevented her. Now it was going to be home.

Yeah, it was time to build a new life and Anne was going to do just fine.

TBC