Lone star

A southern vampire mysteries story.

By Chloe Gabrielle

Not an alternative universe, just Sookie, orphan an living with her grand-mother, lonely star… going to the Lone Star state! Meet 15-years-old Sookie, her headaches, her surprises, her heart aches… and her fabulous trip to Dallas (coming up).

I do not own Sookie Stackhouse or any other characters apart from those I invented; I do not participate in the writing of the Southern Vampire Mysteries books; nor do I participate in the writing or conception of the HBO series TrueBlood. I do not seek remuneration or any other reward from this story. I however enjoy very much the series and the books and hope you will equally enjoy this little token for what it is, a small try at a fun and original story, with a few of the caracters from the Southern Vampire Mysteries, without the vampires (they haven't "come out") and only based on a few recollection of Sookie's in the books, and on my own imagination. I hope you like it!

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"Happy birthday Sookie!" said my grandmother, Adele Stackhouse, with a bright smile over what looked like a delicious chocolate cake. The icing looked glossy but I knew it had to be home-made. I looked fondly at my grandmother and prepared to blow the candles, when my best friend Marianne told me to make a wish. What could I wish for, I thought? Not to hear her think that her own wish had been to meet the boy of her dreams this Junior year of high school? Or hear my brother Jason wishing impatiently that I blow the damn candles so that he could eat? (my brother is seventeen and seems to be anxious about eating anything that will pass under his reach. He can manage it though, slim and handsome as he is). I wished the voices would stop, I wished I could shut them all out, I wished I could be normal. Then I blew the candles. It was a sort of empty wish though. Because I know they won't stop no matter what I do. I can't be normal.

If I said to anyone else I didn't feel normal they wouldn't see why I was so surprised. After all I am a 15 years old girl who lost both her parents before she turned eight, barely manages High School and lives with her grandmother and older brother in a neck-of-the-woods in northern Louisiana. Actually, people would think I'm pretty normal, or at least, a little dumb. But it's not true. I read a lot. I have a really hard time concentrating in school, but I read, especially Bon Temps library books and the papers at school when I can, so I consider myself less dumb than I look.

What I am, since I'm not normal, is telepathic. Not a lot of people know that, actually no one really know that. My closest suspect it in a way, my brother and grandmother and Marianne sort-of hint at it somehow when I answer what they didn't say or when I know something I shouldn't. But I try to hide it a lot. And sometimes, if I concentrate real hard, I can almost block some people out. Well, the weak broadcasters anyway. Because for most people, if I'm around it's blah-blah-blah-blah… I can hardly concentrate. School is hard for me. Even though I try to get close to the teachers, so many kids in the same room who are all going through changes and lots of heavier stuff that uneducated teenagers unfortunately sometimes have to worry about is real hard on me and I just drift off.

My grandmother had just finished clearing the cake of the little candles and I came back from the kitchen with some forks and clean plates. "So Sookie", asked Marianne, "are you excited that summer is here?" It is after all the first of July and I don't have to be in High School for another month and a half. "Sure I say!" I am a summer person. I love summer. I love the warm air, the hot sun, even in the hell-like warmth of northern Louisiana. All better than staying locked inside a class room with hormones-filled teenagers, I think. "What are you up to, Marianne?" I reply instead. I don't really want her to think I would rather be alone and not even finish school, after all she is my best friend and since my grandmother is still here and she is the one putting up with me (putting me up, too) I can't complain at all. Not that I'd want to. After all it's a great day and I have yet a few calm days before I need to be back at school. Maybe I could try to train to shut people out of my brain in the meantime? "Oh, I am going to spend some time with friends in Monroe, maybe even go all the way down to New Orleans! Wouldn't you like to see the sea Sookie?" Marianne exclaims! I smile nicely. I'd love to, I think, but it's quiet hard to imagine my grandmother would let me leave at age 15 with people she hardly knew, and without thinking it a good way-over a few times.

"Come on girls", Adele adds, as if she can hear what I think, "eat the cake before Jason finishes it all off!" Surely Jason will choke on his food some day, because he's already done the first slice that I haven't started, and passes that with a great glass of sweet tea. "I am thinking on working for the road crew again this year", he tells us. That's a good fit. Jason always looked to me like an outside kind of guy. Everyone think he's a bit short on the brains, but I think he's just living an uncomplicated life. I believe he really wants to go to college, even for a short track (after all, it's not like we have enough money to send him to Texas A&M…). Since our parents have died, Jason has had to work a few summers to help Adele even if our parents left us a little oil well outside of the house they lived in. I spend most of my summers tanning and doing small work in the house (cleaning, doing the garden, doing the laundry…). I wish I could work a bit more but it's not like I have a lot of skills, and I don't really live in a busy area, either. I can't wait next year to be able to drive and have my own car though. I know Adele thinks about it when she has to run an errand, that I am not very mobile on my own. I add learning to drive to my (short) list of tasks for the summer. Jason can surely drive me for the moment being –when he's not hanging around with a fling of the moment.

I don't even want to think what life Jason is living, because I know that even though he sometimes comes with me to church (which I attend every week, even though I've started to have great wonders on what 'stands' above), Jason is not the type of guy who'll wait. And if you ask me, maybe it's better to have a little (protected) fun than marrying too young and having unwanted kids. But maybe it's just little telepatic&traumatised me talking, and it's actually better to get impregnated teenagers like we get every other year at Bon Temps High…

"I am going to the woods tonight", says Jason surprisingly, "do you girls want to join?".

I over-pass the fact that Marianne went a little pinker, and I shrug. "I guess we'll call on Tara, JB and Benedict to know what they're up to".

- Oh, you know, maybe we could call Dennis, too" adds Marianne.

- Dennis whom?

- Nah girl, you know! Dennis Engelbright. He's a sophomore, too…

- Well, fine, let's call Dennis if you want." Then turning to Jason "who are you going to call?

- I don't know, Hoyt? Chloe and Holly Cleary, why not?

- The more, the merrier", I simply say. But inside I'm trying to calculate. JB won't be too hard to be around, he's silent as can be, and a real sweetheart. I've been carrying a torch for JB for a while. After all, he's not too much of a broadcaster, and prettier than a covermodel. As for the others… I hope Benedict won't be too wasted, because he kinda tends to do that, although we're not supposed to drink at all. I guess if there is something to do and a warm summer breeze, their thoughts won't be too much on me to bear.

"Are you done?" my grandmother asks, and immediately I feel a surge to take her in my arms, and excuse myself of the night out to stay with her. But I can't just shelter myself from the world, no matter how much I wish I was in bed reading a romance novel right now… I can't, I decide. I have to try on a small crowd, to see if I can shield people's thoughts away for good. Until I find a way to be around people I can't hear, I hope.

Not like that would happen.

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The night is clear and warm and the fire is dying slowing on its own. The boys managed a good nice fire with some dry wood we gathered from around, and we are all curled together around the fire like down-right red-necks drinking would-be-bud (that a friend of Jason's bought at wall-mart for us) and chatting about our summer plans. Someone has made a trip to the nearest drug store and a rest of almost empty bag of marshmallows is lying on the ground. The crackers and chocolate we used to make smores are long gone but I still feel pretty full from all the sweats I've been eating today. We ate enough of chocolate and sugar to last me until my next birthday, I think. But I'm glad to be here with some friends and take in the night and the calm and the fact that for once, I don't even want to shield anybody out I feel so serene.

The whole gang is there, me and Marianne and Dennis (who definitely has something for her), and Jason and some friend of his and the friends I called to meet us here. JB is sitting next to me, and has spent most of his night talking softly to me or paying me complements on my complexion (I have been taking the sun almost every day since school ended) and my dress (completely inappropriate for the occasion, but I like the soft yellow-and-white flower cotton dress that I'm wearing with white sandals). His mother sure taught that boy good about the way to talk to a woman. Even as a girl with no experience (and a bit romance novel reader, a bit of a romantic), I can appreciate the nice and well-put compliment.

My cousin Hadley Hale is here too, suggestion of grandma to try to keep her around a bit (apparently she's been haging around a wrong crowd or something). Hadley is so beautiful she's been elected Miss Bon Temps this year, the kind of popular, pretty and successful cheerleader I won't ever have a chance to be. (Not that I'd want to be a cheerleader, mind me). I've always thought Hadley was a bit fragile, too, though. I've hard to grow up pretty fast myself, having lost my parents early and having had that "gift" bestowed upon me even earlier, so I sometimes don't really understand people's fragilities like I should as a good Christian. But everyone had their own problems, so I can't be expected to take everyone's inner troubles either…

The wind carries a soft chill and I shimmer. JB sees that and come closer to me, asking me if he can take me in his arms. A quick look shows me that Jason has a girl I don't know in his arms and most people are too tired or tipsy to notice anyway. I accept and as JB pulls me close to his warm chest, I think, this might be a jolly good summer after all…

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Read and Review!

I want to take this to a real story with new characters, trips, action and maybe even talk a bit about Junior year for Sookie Stackhouse! What do y'all think?