THE AMAZING ABSOLUTELY TRUE STORY OF
THE JOURNEY OF BUFFY SUMMERS:
Chapter 1: ‘The Decision’
It was January 17th; not a particularly exceptional date in history of course. Not particularly exceptional but for one thing…it was the evening of the day before Buffy Summers’ birthday. Her eighteenth birthday to be exact.
Buffy Summers sat in her usual seat, the one she had sat in at her family’s dining room table for the past umpteen years. She truly detested this seat; this dining room table and this room in general.
The biggest reason that Buffy detested this seat and table was, at this very moment, screaming at Buffy; Buffy and her mother, Joyce Summers.
His name was Hank…Hank Joseph Summers and he was, unfortunately, Joyce Summer’s husband, which made him Buffy’s father.
Fate could really suck at times, couldn’t it?
Hank Summers could be a real son-of-a-bitch at times; make that most of the time. Right now he was being an all out prick. At least to Buffy and her mom he was.
“I can’t believe you’re failing Science!” Hank’s shrill screech echoed through the house.
“I’m not failing Science,” Buffy replied, her voice barely audible over her father’s bellows.
“A ‘C’ is just barely passing,” Hank growled angrily as he slammed his fork down on the innocent table top.
“A ‘C’ is hardly failing Hank,” Joyce Summers offered hesitantly.
Buffy noticed that her mother’s blue eyes were focused on her plate, not any of the living beings in the house.
“It’s not a superior grade,” Hank hissed; he shot an angry look at his only child, then at his wife.
“I’m not a superior student in Science,” Buffy mumbled barely disguising the resentment in her voice.
“Are you being a smart ass?” Hank asked, obviously ‘trying’ to keep his tone at a a somewhat even level.
“No,” Buffy began, but her rebuff trailed off when she caught her mother’s ‘deer in the headlight’ look she gave her.
‘I’m sorry’ Buffy silently signaled back to her distressed mother.
“I don’t understand why a daughter of mine could be such a fucking moron!” Hank screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Hank, please,” Joyce began in that timid voice that Buffy had come to detest, almost as much as this fucking dining room, with it’s…..
“Why we ever came to this God forsaken hayseed town of Sunnydale is beyond me,” Hank groused. “It’s Goddamn 20th century in it’s academia and…”
“You know my mother needed me,” Joyce whispered sadly.
Grammy Nora O’Brien had been terribly ill a few years back when Joyce had insisted that everyone move from Los Angeles to Sunnydale. Unfortunately, after the entire Summers family had uprooted, Grammy passed on.
Once established in Sunnydale; Hank in his law practice and Joyce in the local art gallery, it was rather difficult to uproot and move again. So, they had stayed in Sunnydale, California, or Sunnyhell as Hank chose to call it.
Hank Summers had always resented the move to Sunnydale, well maybe not so much as it turned out. The Summers’ father figure had quickly found some solace in his comely secretary, Julia something or other.
When Joyce found out about Julia, Hank ended his affair and promised never, ever to do it again. Never ever eventually turned out to be after a while.
The affairs continued and to Buffy’s dismay, her mother seemed to gradually accept her husband’s disgusting behavior. It had become apparent that Joyce Summers was becoming a submissive, accepting partner in Hank’s infidelity.
Joyce herself, unknown to Buffy at first, had found some solace of her own; outside of her marriage that is. If that added to Joyce’s blasé attitude towards Hank’s unfaithfulness, then so be it.
Unfortunately, Buffy had been caught in the middle of her parent’s rather bizarre lifestyle. It had taken it’s toll, but the two elder Summers had failed to ‘notice’ anything amiss with their only child.
If they ever had, Joyce and Hank had not made it very apparent to Buffy or anyone else for that matter.
Now, it was pretty much too late to make it apparent to anyone at all. Therein lie the problem.
“I’m leaving,” Buffy suddenly blurted out unexpectedly in the middle of her latest bite of somewhat soggy peas.
“Like I was saying,” Hank continued as if he had not heard his daughter’s proclamation.
“What?” Joyce asked, her tone somewhat addled by her third glass of fairly well-priced cabernet sauvignon.
“Tomorrow,” Buffy quipped simply enough as she tried to ignore her mom’s confused expression.
“I’m gone, tomorrow,” Buffy repeated in her most steadfast, confident tone.
“What’s this about Elizabeth?” Hank asked, his own expression was comically confused, or hurt. Buffy couldn’t really be sure at this point in time.
“I said,” Buffy began quietly, “that tomorrow I’m leaving here. This house; this town and well, this whole entire fucking state,” she finished by slamming her fork down on the table.
“You can’t be serious!” Joyce gasped in shock.
“The hell you are!” Hank sputtered in even more shock.
“The hell I am!” Buffy barked back in defiance. “I’m going, tomorrow…out of this fucking town and away from you two worthless ‘role models’ that you pretend to be…”
“You are not going anywhere young lady,” Hank growled in his most lawyer-like measured tone.
“I am, Daddy dearest,” Buffy spat back defiantly even as she tried to hide her smirk. “I’ve got my bus ticket waiting for me at the Sunnydale Bus depot. There’s nothing either of you can do now,” she finished smugly.
Buffy glanced at her angry father and then her distraught mother. She was pleasantly surprised that both of her parents, for once, appeared to be shocked into total silence.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Please bear with me. My inner muse has completely fled where my other stories are concerned and I thought that if I wrote this one, I'd get some ideas for my other WIP's long enough to finish them.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Chapter End Notes:
This story is basically 'written' in my head from start to finish so I hope to post consistently here.