Writer: Rebecca Rand Kirshner
Director : James A. Contner

Cast : Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Emma Caulfield as Anya, Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers, James Marsters as Spike, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg.

Main guest stars : Azura Skye as Cassie Newton, J. Barton as Mike, Zachery Bryan as Peter Nichols, Rick Gonzalez as Tomas, DB Woodside as Principal Wood.
Original broadcast date : October 15, 2002

My one-line description: Poor girl… I guess her heart just wasn’t in it.

In a funeral home, the body of a woman rests in a coffin as a relative commends the undertaker on the good job he did. Both leave, turning off the lights as they go. In the darkened room, two other coffins slowly open, revealing Buffy and Xander. As they climb out, a pounding comes from another closed coffin. They open it, freeing Dawn – who complains on getting the kid coffin. As they inspect the woman’s body, the three discuss latest events – Buffy’s counselling job, Willow being back but not yet in the gang, the looming Big Bad. Dawn comments that the dead woman looks peaceful. “I am not peaceful!” the new vampire protests. Stating she has a remedy for that, Buffy stakes her and comments that she always thought closed caskets were more tasteful anyway…

The next morning, Buffy nervously starts her counselling day. A girl, Amanda, comes in and explains that she was sent here because a boy was teasing her. Buffy puts on her empathy face.

“I don’t wanna talk to you, OK?” a boy standing in front of Buffy’s desk tells her. Buffy replies that it’s alright. “I’m serious, I’m not talking to you”, he repeats; but he doesn’t look as sure as the first time.

A third boy sits in front of Buffy, and she asks him what’s wrong – school, girls, parents? The boy replies that it’s his parents.

Amanda tells Buffy that the boy who teased her was cruel. Buffy replies that boys that age are… “Insecure”, Amanda fills in. “I’m tired of everyone being insecure”, she says.

The other boy – the one who doesn’t want to talk – stares at Buffy, who just stares back calmly.

Buffy tells the parents-boy that divorce can be tough – her own parents divorced. The kid says his parents are happily married… he’s just bored. Buffy strongly invites him to go back to class.

Buffy tells Amanda she shouldn’t let herself be bullied. Amanda is glad Buffy thinks so, because she beat the crap out of the guy – which is why she got sent here. Buffy gapes as the girl asks whether she should beat him up some more.

Xander and Willow stroll in a field, talking about various issues – Buffy’s lack of confidence in her counselling abilities, and of course the coming big bad. “From beneath, it devours”, Xander muses, noting that it’s not the prettiest jingle. Willow reflects that the coming months will be bad, and wonders if she’ll have enough control on her magic to be of some help. Xander draws an analogy to a hammer hitting a nail – if you use power, you get the job done faster, but you risk hitting your thumb; if you use control, you get the job done slower. Willow replies that it’s not hitting her thumb that’s the worry – it’s going all black-eyed and ”bewitching that hammer into cracking my friends’ skulls open like coconuts”… They stop, and Xander softly asks her if she’s ready. She nods, and goes forward into a cemetery, alone. She stops in front of a small tombstone.

TARA MACLAY
October 16th, 1980 – May 7th, 2002

“Hey”, she says, her voice breaking. Crouching down slowly, she traces the letters with her fingers. “It’s me”, she says, tears rolling down her face.

“I’m scared”, the non-talking boy finally tells Buffy. He explains that he’s worried his brother, who is joining the Marines, won’t be coming back. He’s tearful and embarrassed of his emotions, but Buffy tells him it’s OK to be worried. She tells him he should talk with his brother, tell him how he feels, but he doesn’t want to.

After dealing with a geek who’s come up with a plan to see if he’s homosexual (get her to go out on a date with him) Buffy deals with an unseen student who seems to think her sister is controlling and doesn’t let her make her own decisions. The troubled teen is none other than… Dawn – who adds that her sister borrows her clothes without asking.

The next client is Cassie, a sweet-looking blonde girl with purple streaks in her hair. Buffy chides her for not doing her homework, telling her about all the careers she could have. However, the girl says it doesn’t matter, since she’s not going to graduate – she’s going to die next Friday.

Buffy, at a loss for words, asks why Cassie would want to hurt herself, but Cassie says she’s not going to kill herself – she just knows she’s going to die next Friday, and there are going to be a lot of coins – weird coins - around her when she does. She also knows Buffy is going to go deep underground and try to help her. Buffy presses for details, but Cassie gets up to leave. Saying she likes Buffy’s shirt, she advises her to put a sweater over it so it doesn’t get stained…

Buffy seeks advice from Principal Wood, who tells her she did the right thing in reporting Cassie. He adds that kids talk big a lot of the time and say things they don’t mean; however, Buffy asks what they should do when it’s not just talk. Handing her a cup of coffee, Wood tells her they should do the usual things – inform teachers, search lockers. Buffy argues that she doesn’t often get a heads up before somebody dies. This gets her a questioning look from Wood, and she quickly explains that she just wants to DO something. As she speaks, she bumps into the principal’s desk, and spills some of her coffee on her shirt…

Dawn opens her locker and throws some books inside it; she closes the door, which reveals Buffy standing there. “I have a job for you”, she says.

Later, in the brand-new library (Giles would approve) Dawn spies on Cassie talking to her friend Mike. He brings up a dance that’s being held on Friday evening, but Cassie says she already told him it was lame. Mike presses a little, but Dawn interrupts, asking Cassie about the homework in ceramics class. Mike grabs his things and excuses himself; as he leaves, Cassie tells him he’ll get a B on his paper, although he’s convinced he’ll get an A+. Dawn stays to chat with Cassie, who figures out that she’s the counsellor’s sister. She informs Dawn she went to see Buffy that morning, and Dawn innocently asks about what. Cassie’s smile fades, and Dawn quickly backtracks; instead, she gets Cassie to talk about Mike. Cassie tells her that he’s asked her out to the dance tons of times already.

At the house, Willow is on the laptop going through Cassie’s school records, as Xander and Buffy watch over her shoulder. They find that Cassie was a good student until suddenly her grades plummeted and depression appeared. Xander wonders if Cassie has psychic visions, which allow her to foretell her own death and Buffy’s stain; however, Willow thinks they may be looking for paranormal where there’s only depression. She asks whether they’ve Googled her, and enters a key word search. She comes up on Cassie’s own site – a very dark site with poetry about graves and death. Dawn comes in as Willow reads an excerpt. Xander thinks it’s really dark, but Willow says that teens often write angsty poems – she wrote a few melodramatic love poems in her time. Suddenly curious, he asks about those “love poems”; “I’m over you now, sweetie”, she quips.

Dawn reports that she has a good idea about what may be bothering Cassie; she tries to tell them about Mike and Cassie rejecting him, but they’re suddenly no longer paying attention when Willow stumbles upon another site – this one pertaining to Cassie’s father, a drunkard who was jailed a few times for disorderly conduct. As Dawn tries to continue her theory, the others simply up and leave…

Mr. Newton greets Buffy and Xander at his home, and asks if Cassie has screwed up her grades again. Buffy tells him that she’s actually here to ask whether his daughter’s problems may be related to his drinking. Offended, Mr. Newton protests that he doesn’t beat his daughter, that he’s a good father in the sole weekend per month he gets to see her. Buffy asks him what weekend he has her on, and he replies that he just had her the previous weekend – he won’t be seeing her next Friday. He asks them to leave, and they do.

Outside, Cassie informs Buffy and Xander that her father isn’t the problem. She thanks Buffy for trying, but it wasn’t worth it. Xander asks her if she’s thinking of killing herself, to which Cassie laughs. Then, when Buffy observes that it sounds like someone who doesn’t want to live, Cassie grows tearful and talks about all the things she’d like to do – go to the Winter Formal, graduate, backpack… but she won’t get to do those things. Buffy pleads with her to tell her what she knows, but Cassie can’t help – she just knows something will kill her.

Later that night in the school library, a group of figures in red robes chant and walk in a circle, holding candles. They dip their candles in the middle of the circle, ringed by old coins. A small fire starts; in the middle is a picture of Cassie…

At school, Principal Wood comes over while Buffy studies one of Cassie’s poems on her computer screen. She starts to read it aloud, and her voice is slowly replaced by Cassie’s. As the teenager recites the poem off-screen, the camera shows Cassie, Dawn and Mike enjoying themselves at lunchtime; Dawn, Buffy, Xander and Willow going through Cassie’s files for clues; and finally Cassie sitting in her bed, writing in a notebook. “When I am but a memory/A laugh in the trees of time.I sit alone and try to love them/I sit alone, a snake/I sit alone and try to love them/I sit alone and laugh.”
Buffy goes to the school basement to find Spike, and she does indeed find him, sitting still and staring off into the distance. He tells her that if he doesn’t move, he won’t hear the voices. She asks him whether he knows anything about the girl, Cassie, and if there’s something evil in the basement. Pounding his fists on the wall, he says that there is evil down here: “I’m a bad man. William is a bad man. I hurt the girl.” Buffy grabs his fists to stop him, but he repeats that he hurt her and he will pay. She softly tells him this isn’t about her, but about Cassie. Spike finally makes it clear he doesn’t know anything, and she starts to leave. He pleads with her to stay with him, that it’ll keep him quiet; “It’s worse when I’m here”, she tells him calmly as she leaves.
In the school hallway, Buffy stops Mike on his way to class. She asks him if he’s upset or mad, and he tells her he got a B on his paper. Buffy rephrases her question, asking him if he’s upset that he can’t get a date to the dance. Mike says that yeah, he did get rejected by this girl, but it happens – she’s a girl. He adds that he may ask Dawn – who he knows is Buffy’s sister – instead. Buffy is startled, then peeved that Dawn would be his second choice (I mean, the nerve!).
Behind them, some coins clatter to the ground, and Buffy goes over to the locker they’ve clattered out of – currently being investigated by Principal Wood.
A few minutes later, Buffy, seated at her desk, confronts the owner of locker 281. She wants to know what relationship there is between the coins and Cassie, and the boy – a teen not unlike Tucker, Andrew’s brother – spills the beans, saying that he knows some guys who want to “mess” with Cassie’s mind.
Cassie and Dawn walks down the school’s front steps together after class, and Cassie says goodbye. However, Dawn doesn’t want to leave her. Cassie tells her she knows Buffy probably told her sister to follow her, and Dawn admits it – however, she adds, she’s not pretending to be Cassie’s friend. Cassie knows, and tells Dawn she’s her friend too.
Suddenly, a guy looking somewhat like a jock calls to Dawn. As Dawn turns, Cassie tells her to remember she’s not responsible for what happens now. The guy, Peter, asks Dawn if she has a date to the Winter Formal, and she shyly answers that she doesn’t. Peter smiles, and tells her… he was just doing a poll. He walks away, and Dawn turns around – but Cassie is nowhere to be found.
Later, at night, the group of red-robed figures sit in a circle outside the circle of coins, each one of them holding a candle. Peter pulls off his hood, and asks if the fire exits have been booby-trapped; another guy replies that they have – no one can get in or out. Peter gets up, and pulls Cassie, bound and gagged, from behind a bookcase. He picks up a meat cleaver and holds it to her throat, preparing to sacrifice her – apparently, they’ve chosen her because she has this “weird death vibe” and no one will really miss her. He orders the others to extinguish their candles, and he begins the incantation to call the demon Avilas, who will grant them endless riches in exchange for the sacrifice.
“OK, that is going on your permanent record”, Buffy announces, taking off her hood. Peter threatens her with the cleaver (fool!) but she kicks the crap out of him. Buffy mouths off at the group, telling them how lame this all is, their effort to raise some lame demon… “Like that lame demon?” Peter says. Buffy turns around and sees… Avilas, a huge demon with horns (hmm, isn’t that Skip from Angel?). The demon steps forward towards Cassie, but Buffy picks up the meat cleaver and throws it at him. It gets the demon in the shoulder, but he easily pulls it out. Buffy tackles him and the two fight, with the demon rapidly gaining the upper hand while Peter grabs Cassie once again and prepares to kill her. Just when things are looking dire for Buffy, the demon howls in pain and lets her go. Behind him is Spike, holding a torch and saying he’s here to help.
Buffy orders him to help Cassie while she uses his torch to fend off Avilas. Spike grabs Peter and knocks him to the ground, and then punches him repeatedly, despite the pain from the chip. With Peter unconscious, he grabs the cleaver and cuts Cassie’s bonds. Meanwhile, Buffy manages to jam the torch in Avilas’ chest, and he begins to burn, finally collapsing in a charred mess.
Cassie looks at Spike as he tears the duct tape away from her mouth. “She’ll tell you. Someday she’ll tell you”, she promises softly. Buffy runs to Cassie as a confused and shocked Spike backs away and leaves. Meanwhile, a dying Avilas stumbles over to Peter and bites him. Peter screams as Avilas finally collapses dead, and calls for help. As she leaves with Cassie, Buffy sardonically informs him that her office hours are 10 to 4.

As Cassie and Buffy leave the library, a crossbow suddenly fires at them – Peter’s booby trap – and Buffy easily stops the bolt inches from Cassie’s head. “See? You can make a difference”, Buffy tells her, snapping the bolt in two. “And you will”, Cassie replies softly, reaching up to touch Buffy’s face. Suddenly, she gasps for breath and her eyes go round as she collapses to the floor. Buffy kneels down and does CPR on her, but it’s too late…

Buffy, Willow, Dawn and Xander are sitting in the living room, all looking very somber. Buffy reports Cassie’s mom told her there was a history of heart irregularities in the family, but she’d never told Cassie. Buffy thinks she failed the teenager, but Dawn, now in tears, tells her that she didn’t fail – she listened and she tried. “She died because of her heart, not because of you”, Dawn continues. “I guess sometimes you can’t help”. Staring off, Buffy wonders what you do then, when you know that you can’t help…

In her office, Buffy shuffles some papers, then pauses in thought for a moment.

Special thanks to www.leoffonline.com