Eric and His Great Pumpkin One-shot Contest
Title: Left Behind
Your Pen name: Fairyfloss01
Characters: Eric, Sookie
Disclaimer: These characters belong to Charlaine Harris. I'm just borrowing them for my own gratification.
A hermit crab is crawling across the fluffy sand. It's totally oblivious to human presence on the beach or it simply doesn't care. I've been warned not to cross paths with the larger ones though; I heard they could take a good chunk off your toes if you're not careful. I sucked the salty air in as I turned on my back to start tanning my stomach. God, the tropical sun is fantastic! The sand is so white and reflective that I can still feel the sting with these sunglasses on.
"One more Margarita Meesees?"
Have I finished the one I've got already? Woops. Third one since noon. And the sun has no sign of setting.
"I'll have one more." I smiled. The heat dilutes the cocktail anyway right? It's almost lemon juice if you ask me...
Who would've thought? Sookie Stackhouse sitting on Champagne Beach in the tropical islands of Vanuatu! Where the sand is soft as flour and water as clear as crystal. There really aren't a lot of places like these left in the world. And I'll know, I've been travelling to all the beach and resort areas on God's green earth for the last couple of years. Just think. Lil' ole me who've never left Bon Temps until I was 25 and my first plane ride was only to Dallas! What a small world mine was until I got involved with vamps. Bill, my first love, first man and first heart break, who eventually lead me to Eric - the greatest story of my life. The event that unraveled that fateful New Year morning was just like an afternoon soap with a dash of the Rocky Horror Show. Our whirlwind romance ended when we won the Witches War and his memory returned. Mmmm... A smile curled up my lips as I dozed off to the memory of my #1 ranking best shower of all times...
A cool sting to my upper arms woke me up. It was deep dusk and the beach was empty. Goddamn it where is everyone?!
The islanders who manned the bars have left their stalls for their homes in the nearby villages. I grabbed my phone from my bag to see the time glow 8 pm, of course it has no reception here!
Drat drat DRAT! I've missed the last ferry outta here!
How could I have dozed off into such deep a slumber that I could be totally oblivious to the whole beach leaving without me?! Damn that fourth Margarita! How could these people leave a woman lying on the beach like that! Wouldn't they have at least checked for a pulse?! Ok. Calm down Sookie. You have been in situations ten times worse. Like the time in Rhodes when you and Barry had to get away. You were battered, worn out and penniless and you managed to get both Barry and yourself to safety, right? Yes. But you had Mr. Cataliades that time. Well things aren't half as bad now. Just try to figure things out.
This morning the concierge told me about the best beach of the Islands, his description of the place gave me an image of God's beach in heaven. He said getting there was as easy as pie, only if I didn't mind an hour ferry ride away from the resort. I thought to myself 'I wouldn't miss that for the world!' and after a 60 minute ferry ride I arrived in paradise. Now, with the chill of the ocean wind cutting across my bikini clad body, the roar of the ocean is deafening. By now the sun had set and the pin pricks of beautiful stars in the black velvet sky brought no comfort as the darkness was a thick veil over my eyes. It played tricks on my primal human instincts as any movement (most probably the hermit crabs) made my skin crawl.
Think Sookie think! Well you could crawl up to one of those crude huts that are make shift stands for the drink vendors during the day and spend the night. That sucks, but if there's no other choice... Someone else thought this place sucked too. While I was sun baking I remembered I caught an unusual train of thought amongst all the happy and relaxed ones on the beach today. A girl called Brandy was thinking what a stupid idea for her company to make them all come to a remote island for a team building exercise where there was no modern technology. No cell phones, laptops or any entertainment amenities at the "hotel", which was nothing more than huts with a nice bed and a bathroom in them. She hated that her boss's idea of R&R was lying at the beach doing nothing, she liked her porcelain skin and wondered if staying in the shade was enough to keep it that way. Maybe she could sneak back a little earlier and ask the concierge if there was a phone she could borrow, she needed to check on Stan's lying ass to make sure he's not at their neighbor Kimberly's again... and she thought of the trail leading back to the hotel.
Jackpot! It's going to be a little hard to find the trail back to the hotel in the dark, but how many crossroads can a remote island have! The prospect of sleeping in something that resembled a bed is far more appealing than shacking up in a alcohol soaked hut with hermit crabs and God knows what crawling around. I slapped my beach dress back on, wrapped my beach towel around my shoulders for additional warmth and headed off.
The trail wasn't hard to find. Since the white sand gave off an iridescent glow in the pitch darkness of an island with zero light pollution. A place like this is hard to find these days. I've read an article in Reader's Digest about how there are children in the large cities like New York who have never seen real stars and to them, stars are a shape they see in cartoons and cereal boxes. Looking up at the night sky I see no such dilemma here. In fact I have the opposite problem. The bright sky is so brilliant I can see the whole arm of the Milky Way. Stars and constellations so stunningly beautiful I suddenly find myself in awe of the universe. In fact all the stars were all so bright I can't even make out the Southern Cross to get my bearings. Not that I'm that good of a navigator to begin with anyway. I'll just have to keep following the trail. After going through some light shrubbery, I hit a large field of what should be a coconut plantation. The single trunk coconut trees were lined up perfectly neat rows as far as the eye could see and towering above me like lamp posts for a stretch in front of me at least two miles long. The plantation in Brandy's memory looked nowhere near this long. The perfectly aligned trees reminded me of military cemeteries. I guess it must be the dark that's making this trek seem very spooky and treacherous. "Snap out of it Sookie!" I said to give myself a confidence boost. It's just a long walk. Nothing but clean sheets and a hot shower is waiting for you after this! You've lived next to a cemetery AND dated dead guys for God's sake! Now move on! I felt a little braver after that small pep talk with myself.
I didn't get to be brave for more than 10 steps when all the sudden a large "Thwump!" on my left side startled me and I took a step back, my flip flops got caught on a large pebble and I fell backwards. My reflexes were fast enough that my right foot went out wide on the side to catch my balance and I found myself standing there like sumo wrestler about to charge his opponent. I'm so glad no-one was around to witness that. When I had my wits about me again I realized that the offending object was none other than a coconut of a tree, but the creature that was hanging off of it made my blood curdle. It looked like something out of a sci fi movie and definitely not on the friendly side and more on the take-over-your-settlement-and-eating-all-settlers-alive side. It was an arachnid looking crustacean around the size of a trash can lid. And I knew what it was. I had it for dinner the night I arrived the resort under strong recommendation of the maître. It's called a coconut crab - friendly enough name and tastes like cross between crab and lobster meat grown from a coconut. What I learned was that these creatures had pincers strong to crush the shell of a coconut and they were nocturnal. Meaning this place must be strewn with them by now. I had no idea how they interact with humans, but from my experience with the wild in Louisiana, I'd better not do anything to provoke them or any animal will attack. I did a mental check and I had nothing on me that will protect me from bone crushing pincers and I don't know if these creatures roamed alone or attacked in packs. I slowly turned and kept following the trail.
Now I felt like I was walking through a mine field. What if I unknowingly stepped on one of them? It looked like it had a pretty bad ass shell, I wonder if it would feel it? That thought alone led me to concentrate very had on following the white sand trail and not even step on anything that had a dark shadow, whether it was just a stick or leaf. After my encounter with the coconut crab I've come to the realization that the jungle around me full of weird and wonderful things and I have no idea how to handle any of this foreign wilderness. Happy thoughts Sookie, happy thoughts.
Like your wedding.
That always brought a smile to my face. I remember it like it was yesterday; worried about not being able to be married in a church as no church that I knew of would marry a human and a vampire. Even though the bill had been passed that vampires had the legal right to marry five years before our wedding, getting any religious institution to agree with that piece of legislation had been impossible. I may not have been the poster child for Christianity but I had always done the best I could and I remembered feeling cheated out of a church wedding. I went ahead with the planning anyway, (dress, invitations, hair, make-up, something old, new...) Tara and I had an absolute blast doing it. Eric had assured me he would take care of the rest.
Like with all things Eric. He took care of everything with flying colors.
We had decided on getting married on the 31st October. First of all it was a Saturday and secondly what better day to marry a vampire than on All Hallows Eve? That day I had all morning to prepare for the evening ceremony, I was still running around flushed as any other October bride. Thank God for Amelia who was my maid of honor. She and Tara did a lot of the organizing. I had always suspected because Tara missed out on going through the whole doo-hah with JB she was compensating with my wedding, and boy was I grateful for that! When we were choosing the dress we had some fun throwing ideas around on how to make the perfect Vampire-Human Wedding. We had loads of fun picking out a corset top with body hugging mermaid finish dresses to fit with the whole vampire image and we also threw around the idea of wearing a ruby red gown that was new vogue with our type of wedding. In the end, I decided that it was a vampire human wedding so I'll be the human and Eric will be all the vampire we need. I chose a classic ivory white strapless gown with a flat neckline, fitted bodice that accentuated my assets in a tasteful way. It had a heavily layered tulle skirt that was beautifully ornamented with lace. The tulle was embellished with pearls and blue beads that were the exact same color as Eric's eyes. It also doubled as my something blue. Amelia did my hair up in an elegant knot and when she placed the tiara on my head I was ready. For the first time in my life, I felt like a princess.
The doorbell rang and Amelia dashed out in her super organized and effective mode to answer it, all of the sudden I found myself alone in my grandmother's room. I felt so overwhelmed with the wish that she was here with me. I missed her so much. When she was alive, we had thought this day may never come. I imagined what her reaction would've been like when I told her that I'm going to marry a vampire. Even though she was glad I was finally dating someone when I was with Bill, I don't think she would've been over the hill with me marrying one. After all, she would worry that we couldn't give her great grandchildren, and she wouldn't want me to miss out that experience for the world. "Well that's ok", I would say to her "Jason could make up for my shortcomings in that area." We would laugh and I could almost hear her asking me "Do you love him? Does he make you happy?"
"Yes." I answered out loud and a tear welled up in my eye.
"Sookie! Don't you dare ruin that whole hour of make up! Amelia exclaimed when she caught me having my imaginary conversation with Gran and saw my red-rimmed eyes. "This'll cheer you up! Guess who's here?"
In walked a very pregnant Halleigh Bellefleur! We screamed with delight and she waddled over to give me a hug. Like I've said before, I don't have a lot of friends even less are girlfriends and less one who could walk around during the day. With such a large discount, my bridal party was pretty pathetic. Halleigh showing up made all the difference.
We had our girl time with more preparations and champagne (soda water for Halleigh) and before we knew it, sunset would be in an hour. Jason arrived in a big shiny 1960's model Cadillac convertible to pick me up. Amelia and Tara jumped in, only Halleigh opted out of attending the ceremony because she still had her doubts about vampires and being doubly careful since she was pregnant. I got that from her head, her official line was that Andy didn't want her staying out late and wearing herself out. The fact that she cared enough to come help was good enough, it didn't bother me one bit. Nothing was going to ruin my day.
I was totally astonished when Jason pulled up in front of the Methodist Church, the one I've attended my whole life.
"No way! Jason! Reverend Collins would never - "
"Don't you worry about that lil' sis, I'll fill you in later. Are you ready to go in?" Jason offered his arm and prepared to go into the chapel and walk me down the aisle. I wish Niall could have been here, he would've loved it. I took comfort in the thought that somehow in his magical fairy realm, he would know.
When the chapel doors opened I was transfixed on the sight before me. Eric looked magnificent in his full tux, double breasted with peak lapels. The whole outfit, including his shoes, the vest, bow tie and pocket square were all in a magnificent white. His hair sat neatly in a golden sheaf on his shoulders and in contrast to him being a vampire, he just looked like a guardian angel. I know the groom was supposed to be hypnotized by the bride in these scenes and I had no idea what everyone thought of me because all I could see, hear and breathe was the vampire before me. I couldn't wait to start the rest of my life as Mrs. Northman.
I found out later that Eric and Pam glamoured Reverend Collins into believing that he was performing in a Halloween play and we were just actors. That explains why only close friends and family attended the ceremony. The only people there were Jason, Amelia, Tara, Sam, Pam and Bill. Does it still count when the officiate thinks he's not doing it for real? Too late to do anything about it, I know the certificate we signed was real and I'll take what I can get, no matter how quaint. Of course with all things Eric, there's always something up his sleeve. Just when I thought I was going to be whisked away in the Cadillac, I found we were on our way to Shreveport and heading towards Fangtasia.
"Why are we going to Fangtasia?" I asked indignantly. After all, we should be on our way to our honeymoon, not heading back to his office!
"Halloween is a busy time for us at the bar, there are some things I need to check up on before we leave".
"Fine." I huffed. Of course Eric knew that a female "fine" meant anything but. He leaned over and gave me a quick kiss and assured me it shouldn't take too long.
When we approached the parking lot, all hell broke loose.
Everyone and I mean everyone I knew were there; from Holly, Danielle, Terry Bellefleur to Alcide, the Shreveport pack, Calvin Norris, a few others from Hotshot and all the vamps I've come to know in the last few years, even Quinn and his sister came. The Fangtasia parking lot was sealed off, carpeted with red carpet and covered with a large marquis. It looked like an Oscar party. Eric and I danced the night away. I didn't even need to worry about my human friends among vampires as Eric had already requested all the weres present (whether it be wolf, tiger or panther) to keep an eye on the humans so they won't be glamoured off into being unwilling 'donors'. Even though most of the people there were there to curry up Eric's favor or went for the Halloween party, I don't care. I've never had so much fun my life.
See how effective positive thinking is? I'm nearly at the end of the coconut field. All toes intact. From what I recall of Brandy's memory I should just take a left and…
Shit
The offending odor hit me like a bus. The smell of a wild boar was unmistakable - and pungent. I saw the wild animal on the other side of the clearing, grunting and gnashing at his (maybe her) catch of the night. I guess they like coconut crabs just like the rest of us. I stayed perfectly still. I know nothing about this animal or what it could do, but I know well enough not to disturb any animal while it's eating. Even tame house pets can turn on you if you disturb them in the middle of a meal. There's nothing to do but for me to stare at my gluttonous obstacle and take mental notes of its appearance. Maybe I'll look it up later on to see how big of a boob I was to be afraid of an animal that was so friendly it could babysit your kids for you. After closer inspection, I didn't think so. The wild boar looked more like a wild pig. It didn't have the big ears and strong fur, rather it was more rounded and smooth like a pig. If you ignored the curled tusks it has. The pig in front of me has one that's long and loops back to its lips, and the one on the other side of its snout is broken off. Which means this thing fights. Okay. More staying still until it finishes eating.
My knees began to ache and I thought I could risk crouching down while I wait for the pig to move along. Big Mistake. Just then a small-er coconut crab chose to scuttle by me, I was startled and yelped. Smelly wild pig didn't like that one bit. Just when I was about to kick off my flip flops and run. The pig disappeared. Literally. One minute he was there and the next minute he wasn't. What the...
I let my guard down just to check and sure enough there was a void in the vicinity. I can't be certain if I knew this vamp but I'm pretty certain which vamp would behave like this around me.
"Eric Northman is that you? You might as well show yourself!"
Out from the edges of the rainforest, emerged my ex-husband. Looking as magnificent as the day I saw him on his throne in Fangtasia. My guardian angel as I walked down the aisle. After all these years, I still just want to jump him. Sex was never a problem in our marriage.
We were in marital bliss for as long as I could remember. Of course there was the odd adventure here and there, like that time when Jason's son was kidnapped by his ex-wife, or the war between the Nevada and Texas vamps, but Eric handled these issues with such high handed guidance that it was only upon reflection that I realized what big problems they would've been if I had to handle them myself.
No, the problem with our marriage crept up upon us slowly. Like being at the beach approaching high tide, barely noticing the gentle waves lapping in and out, you know the shoreline is creeping up, you simply move back when the water is at your ankles and continue sun baking. Before you know it the beach is swallowed by the tide and you're stranded.
Someone once said; time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back. That is what I would say our divorce was all about. I once made Eric promise me he'll never bring me over, I never wanted to be vampire. I want to grow old , live my life and not be suspended in it. Eric and I never discussed the topic again. However, as time went on, the elephant in the room just got bigger and bigger. Don't get me wrong, I always looked good, what I did have naturally helped but having Eric's thousand year old vampire blood as part of my diet kept me looking young way beyond my years. I looked in my twenties when I was forty, I looked thirty in my fifties but when I was in my sixties, inevitably it started to show I was older than Eric. It didn't bother me at first, I just batted those comments away from my mind with my happiness. I learnt to put up better shields so I won't hear peoples' thoughts and with thirty years of practice I became darn good at it.
Things slowly got progressively worse. The whispers were getting louder, the snide remarks cruel, the cruel remarks were just mean. I began to see the disdain on peoples' faces and we were hearing comments out loud, but I kept it at bay. "That's what you get for marrying a vampire, suck it up." I'd say to myself. Eric didn't think anything of it. Everything is the same according to him. That's what I loved about him, he always had the right reaction to make me feel better. Until one evening we were outside by the Santa Monica board walk celebrating our anniversary when a trick or treating child pointed at us and said "Would grandma ever kiss me like that? Yucky!" After the parent of the boy apologized and scuttled their child away from the big bad seething vampire next to me, I caught my reflection in a mirror off of the photo booth and I paid attention to myself in a way I haven't in years. My sun baking habits have finally caught up with me and my skin was leathery and loose. The good old Southern favorite of sweet tea and biscuits found their way to my hips and though my hair was still long and blonde it was showing signs of becoming sparse, dry and lifeless. If it weren't for my push up bra, the prize assets that were my boobs looked like they would fall to my knees. I may have been harsh on myself but that's what I saw. I looked like an old pumpkin. An innocent child's disapproval was all it took. That was the straw that broke the camel's back and I had a total breakdown.
Eric insisted it made no difference to him and that if I were a vampire I would see it his way too. I knew what he implied.
I dug deep into my soul and still found I didn't want to be a vampire. It's no reason to surrender your humanity for vanity. It just wasn't right. In my mind it was too late anyway. Even if I were to be suspended in time, I would be suspended my present form. This defeats the purpose of the whole exercise, if you ask me. I fell into a whirlpool of depression and wouldn't leave the house. To make matters worse, Jason died from a stroke. Mortality hit me like a ton of bricks and I was consummately crushed into a million pieces. I tried to take my life time and again but Eric was always there to stop me. He hired were bodyguards to watch me during the day when he wasn't around and anything I tried was futile. Worse thing was, because of all the regular vampire blood I'd ingested though out the past few decades, I was as healthy as a horse. Doctors told me my number wouldn't be up for a long time yet. Just great. Things took a turn for the worse, when I started to hate Eric. To me he was the source of all my problems, I would be in a happier place if it weren't for him and now I know why people said vampires were minions of Satan. One evening when Eric thwarted another one of my attempts to take my own life, I retaliated and told him every vindictive, spiteful thought on my mind.
That was the first time I saw Eric cry. One bloody tear was oozing from the corner of his right eye. All because of me. I had really hurt his feelings because a moment ago, I meant every word I'd said.
"Lover, you have to stop torturing yourself. This madness has to stop! You've had my blood, don't you know I'm going through the same emotional turmoil with you?" Eric said as he wiped the tear with his index finger, smearing his alabaster skin.
It never dawned on me that Eric was feeling my anguish. I was so caught up in my own black hole of self pity and hate, it never occurred to me that the all powerful, immortal and forever beautiful Viking would be affected by anything in this world, let alone get hurt by my fickle feelings. At that moment it became clear; a light at the end of the tunnel. It's not fair for me to drag him into this. I knew what I must do.
"You have to let me go Eric." I plead, "I can't put us both through this anymore. Divorce me and let me go."
"No." He said calmly.
"You have to. I need space away from you and myself, I need to get away. Please. This can't be any good for you either."
"But I vowed to be by your side till death do us part... what if you turn around and try to kill yourself the first chance you get? I can't. I WON"T let you!"
"You can't keep me here against my will for your honor, if you love me like you say you do, you have to let me figure out a reason to make my life work. At this moment, the answer is not here. Not with you."
He stayed silent for the longest time, staring past the windows into the night sky, his royal blue eyes transfixed on some constellation.
"Where will you go?" He finally said.
"Anywhere but staying here watching the people I love change, grow old and die. Watch myself slowly deteriorate while you remain perfect."
"I'm not."
"To me you are."
"Just because I divorce you it doesn't mean our blood bond will be severed. I could summon you to come back if I wanted to."
"I know you won't do it unless it's for a good reason, you won't insult me on purpose."
"Will I see you again?"
"When I'm ready you will."
We had our last conversation 10 years ago and I've been chasing every sun loving holiday destination since, I even went to Guam before it went under water like Atlantis. We humans are still paying for being environmentally irresponsible to this day. Since I have nothing to lose I could tan all I want. Though I had specifically asked Eric not to, he gave me a massive divorce settlement which funded my activities with the interest on the principal amount alone. I had already drawn up a will to give it all back to him when I die. God knows when that'll be. I'm already an octogenarian with the health and physique of someone in their sixties. No-one can ever guess my age. But what does it matter? Grandma is grandma right?
Human vampire pairings are a lot more common around the world in recent years, especially Northern Europe. I've met multiple necrosexual couples (I know it sounds rude, but that's what they're calling them these days) in my travels. Many of them have told me about seeing therapists to work through the problems of their different mortality. They told me that we have to understand vampires don't see age through human eyes. Sure, vampires notice beauty like the rest of us but just as we don't stop loving our pet dogs or cats just because they age, our vampire partners have no reason to stop loving us either. Of course there are exceptions, but the human partner would have to understand that vampires have a different perspective.
I guess Eric and I were just ahead of our time and such vast research study about the vampire human relationships just weren't available. People in general just weren't as understanding as they are now. Regardless, I still haven't come to terms with my own issues. I'm not brave enough to go back to Shreveport to see Eric, I'm afraid of what I might feel when I see him. This brings me back to my present situation.
"What are you doing here Eric?"
"Seems to me, you needed my help."
"Thanks but I think I would've been able to handle it." I answered in my coldest tone, I'm still suspect as to why he's shown up halfway around the world.
"It's been 10 years since I last saw you."
"A drop in the ocean for someone your age."
"Do you know what day it is today?"
What a funny question. It's so hard to keep track of days of the week when you're forever living at holiday destinations, the seasons also since there's only one. Let me see. The date stamp at the hotel yesterday was October 30th ... Oh Shit. It's our...
"It's our Golden Jubilee, lover. I had to find you. I wanted to see you"
"Does it still count even when we're divorced?" I added gloomily. I'm not sure if I'm ready for this conversation.
"You will always be my lover."
As he took a step closer I felt the tingly happiness I felt whenever he came close. My feelings for him came flooding back like the fateful day he stepped into the shower with me. My emotions erupted like a volcano.
"Eric…" I managed to breathe.
He sealed my lips with his and we floated slowly into the brilliant night sky. I don't know what they say about sex after eighty, but lust surged into my nether regions so fast that my inner thigh felt tight and my bikini bottom was already wet. Softly Eric landed us back on the beach. Surprisingly, the wind has changed and the beach was quiet, with soft crashing of waves in the background and a star spangled backdrop of the night sky. The beach that was all unfriendly and threatening is quite a scene of romantic serenity.
Eric's hand slipped up my dress and into my bikini bottom. As his fingers ran slowly and deeply into me and my knees buckled under the sheer pleasure, I had to hold onto his shoulders for support. He held me up with his other arm and his hand started a slow and steady pace. My legs could no longer support me and Eric guided my legs to wrap around his waist as his skillful fingers quickened its pace. I was riding on such a high I didn't even notice my beach dress and bikini top were already discarded on the sand. I flung my arms around him and kissed him with my whole heart and soul. For tonight, on our fiftieth anniversary I'm going to let go of my chains and just love the being in front of me. Just at this moment Eric pressed his gracious plenty into me and he moved me at a speed that only vampires can and I came like a pyrotechnics show fit for New Years Eve.
As we collapsed on the beach I whispered "Happy Halloween Eric, your great pumpkin is so glad you came this year."