A/N: Hello! This is an idea I have had for a while and I have finally written the first chapter. I love True Blood but I own nothing of it except my original character, Valerie Winfield, who is basically just the niece of Sarah Newlin. Enjoy and please review!
Valerie and her mother sing loudly in unison to the Hotel California that blasts on the car radio. They both wear huge smiles as their horribly off tune voices fill the vehicle. In the back seat Valerie's little sister, Lisa, laughs at their silliness so hard that her face begins to turn pink. The song reaches an end and Valerie and her mother join Lisa in her laughter. Valerie stops laughing and hunches over slightly to cough, her throat hoarse from her previous screaming. Her mother takes one hand off the wheel to pat her daughters back gently. Valerie looks up with a smile that quickly falls off her face at the sight of headlights rushing towards her mother's door. Valerie doesn't have time to even open her mouth before the car slams into them.
Valerie sees her mother's head lurch forward before her own head is flung into the window next to her, smashing the glass. The sounds of her families screaming are drowned out by the sounds of crunching metal and breaking glass. As the car rolls violently downhill, everyone inside is tossed around mercilessly. The tumbling finally ends when the car crashes into a thick tree, halting it immediately. Valerie blinks once slowly before slipping into unconsciousness.
Valerie wakes up to find herself strapped at the wrists and ankles to a gurney. Around her are many police cars and ambulances, the bright flashing sirens light up the dark road. Valerie turns and her eyes go wide at the sight of her sister's bloody form in a gurney being lifted into the back of an ambulance. Lisa's face and arms are covered in raw swollen gashes and her left eye is extremely swollen and bruised. Despite her mangled appearance, her face looks tranquil.
Valerie spots her mother being led off on a gurney just like her sister. As her mother is wheeled in front of Valerie she notices her shallow but steady breathing and she is filled with hope. Valerie closes her eyes and silently prays that this isn't real, that the two people who mean the most to her in the world are okay. Valerie opens her eyes as her gurney is lifted into the ambulance and the doors are slammed closed behind her.
Valerie shoots upright with a sharp gasp, stirred out of her sleep by the nightmare, or more by her memory. It had been almost a year since the tragic passing of her mother and sister yet Valerie is still constantly woken up at night, remembering the accident that changed her life forever. She is haunted by the image of Lisa's frail seven year old body that had been crushed in the impact and she had been dead before the car had come to a stop. Her mother had survived the initial crash but her lungs had filled with blood on the way to the hospital and she too had died that night.
Valerie forces herself to get out of bed, knowing from past experience that she will not be able to get back to sleep. She trudges into the bathroom attached to her room and groggily washes her face, successfully waking herself up. She looks in the mirror and takes in her reflection with disdain. She is wearing a loose black shirt that shows her lean shoulders and a pair of tight workout shorts. Her dark brown eyes have heavy bags under them and her fluffy brown hair looks a mess but she can't be bothered to fix it.
She decides to head to the kitchen, hoping that a late night snack will take her mind off her vivid memories. As she is walking down the dark hallway she notices that Sarah and Steve's normally locked bedroom door is slightly ajar. Curious, Valerie soundlessly pushes open the door enough to stick her head in. She has never seen the inside of their room before and now she realizes why they are so secretive about it. Valerie is shocked to see Sarah and Steve sleeping in two separate parallel twin beds. Sarah's face is covered in a green cream and she has a pink silk mask over her eyes. Steve is wearing a mint green striped pajama suit topped off with a ridiculous hat with a fluffy ball at the tip of it.
"What the hell?" Valerie wonders at the bizarre sight, "What is this, the 1950's?" Valerie shakes her head and silently closes the door, continuing on her way. She creeps down to the kitchen and makes herself a bowl of frosted flakes. She is about to go back upstairs to her room when Valerie hears the faint sound of a television playing. She follows the noise to the recreation room where a young man reclines on the couch, watching the screen with tired eyes. He notices her standing there with a bowl of cereal and smiles awkwardly.
"Sorry, did I wake you?" He asks. Valerie smiles and shakes her head in response.
"Nah I was already up," She tells him as she sits cross legged on the small sofa adjacent to the couch he is on. They both eye each other curiously and Valerie notices how cute this guy is. He has scraggy blonde hair and a stubbly face. He is sporting a Fellowship of the Sun t shirt and gray sweatpants.
"Couldn't sleep?" He asks her, running his hand through his hair. Valerie can tell that he only does this so that he can discreetly flex his arm, causing her to chuckle.
"You could say that," Valerie answers him vaguely. She eats a spoonful of her cereal and watches the football game that is playing on the television.
"I'm Jason Stackhouse by the way," He introduces himself with a nod.
"I know, I've seen you around," She tells him through a full mouth, "plus Sarah and Steve talk about you all the time. They really like you."
"Really?" He asks with an excited grin.
"Really," Valerie answers with sarcastic happiness. Jason's smile fades away at that and she immediately regrets her abrasiveness towards Jason. "My name's Valerie."
"Oh everyone around here knows who you are," Jason tells her as if she doesn't already know. She mutters something illegible in response.
"What?" Jason asks, leaning forward to hear the young girl better.
"I said oh yeah," she replies, speaking up this time.
"Oh," He responds plainly, relaxing back into the couch. An awkward silence ensues until Jason speaks up. "Hey, um Sarah told me about what happened to your mama and your sister. I lost my parents in a flood when I was real young so I know what it's like to lose the people closest to you."
"Thanks," Valerie says quietly, not sure of what else to say. Jason nods in understanding and Valerie smiles at him. She finishes her cereal and places it gently in the table next to her. Surprisingly, Valerie falls back to sleep, something that has never happened to her before after one of her nightmares. Maybe Jason's kindness had actually distracted her from the haunting images that always flood her mind.