Sookie Stackhouse: Telepath Extraordinaire for Hire

Tired of being a waitress and tired of being ashamed of her gift, Sookie has had enough. She is going to take control of her life. She finally realizes that she deserves better. She deserves more. She hires out her gift and it takes her life in a totally new and unexpected direction; especially when she meets the vampire king: Eric Northman.

That bitch is as crazy as a shithouse rat. Just look at her standing there! Bring me my fucking beers, you fucking freak!

All of the Stackhouses were nuts. That's what my granny said and it doesn't look like the nut gene skips a generation either.

I'd fuck her. I'd bet that her lips would wrap perfectly around my dick. He smiled. I could really fuck start her head.

Her life has been so hard.

She is an odd girl but she's pretty and she seems smart. She's just a little odd.

I look around the room at the people that I've known most of my life and I feel nothing but contempt and distaste for them. I'm so tired of the ridicule and the nasty thoughts. Look at them. Sneering at me. Laughing at me in their tiny minds. Degrading me and making me feel worthless. Always calling me Crazy Sookie. Bombarding me with their nasty and cruel thoughts. I'll show them crazy.

I slam the tray of beers on the floor.

Every eye in the bar is now on me. Here's my chance and I'll be damned if I'm going to pass up this opportunity to put these drunk bastards in their place.

"I'm so sick and tired of you people." I throw my hands in the air and repeat it. "I'm so sick and tired of you mean people. You jerks are forever passing judgment on me and my family. You say that you pity us. You pity me but why? Please, tell me why? What have we done to deserve your pity?"

No one said anything. Surprisingly, even their minds are empty now.

"You," I said as I pointed to the man that thinks that I'm crazy.

He looked around the room and then at me. He has the gall to look as if he has no idea why I'd call him out.

"I'm crazier than a shithouse rat, am I? Isn't that what you said?"

His mouth fell open from surprise. I didn't say that out loud. How did she know that …?

I remained calm and stared at the man. "I'm a telepath, you moron. That's how I know. That's how I know what you all think of me and my family. I can read your minds. I can hear your ugly and hurtful thoughts. I can hear all of the mean and awful things that you say about me and my family. I know how you all feel about us Stackhouses. I know everything."

"Fucking nut," a man mumbled.

His wife giggled.

I marched over to where they are sitting and I laugh. I laughed at him and I laughed at her. "I'm the nut? You two are so stupid that you don't even know that you're having an affair with the same person." I pointed at them and laughed even louder. "You're having an affair with the same man that your husband is sleeping with and I'm the nut?"

"You're gay?" his wife asked.

"You're sleeping with Leon?" her husband asked.

Everyone in the bar began pointing and whispering. Some of them were wondering who this Leon is that the husband and wife are sharing. Some of them were shocked. Some of them hurriedly stood up from their meals and dropped their money on the table and left. I guess they wanted to keep their secrets secret. Little did they know, it is already too late. I already know their secrets.

"And you," I said to the young man that had the thoughts of sleeping with me. "It's never going to happen. I wouldn't give you the time of day. As far as I'm concerned, you're disgusting. You will never have to concern yourself with any of my body parts because you'll never enjoy them. You're beneath me."

He opened and closed his mouth several times as he tried to think of comeback and couldn't.

"Jackass."

Maxine Fortenberry looked at me and shook her head. Adele would be so ashamed of how you're acting right now. Needless to say, she kept the thoughts to herself. She didn't dare say them out loud but she may as well have.

"Gran would be proud of me, Maxine. If anything, she'd be proud that I'm finally standing up for myself and anyway, who gives a rat's ass what you think? You have always been a backstabber. I've always known what you really thought of Gran. You hated that she was the president of the DGD. You hated that the members loved and respected her. You've always been jealous of her because you could never be her."

Maxine's eyes almost bugged out of her head.

"Yeah, I know. I'm a telepath, remember? I never told her, your so called best friend, what you really thought of her. It would have killed her. Even in her death, you're being a hypocrite, Maxine. So don't tell me that Gran would be ashamed of me. She would have been anything but. Even when no one else made me feel good about being me, she did. So shut up about my gran."

Tears rolled down her wrinkled old face. When the patrons of Merlotte's saw that, they really looked down on me but I didn't care. I turned around and looked at all of the familiar faces. Maybe one or two of them have treated me nicely on occasion but all of them have hurt my feelings. All of them have made me feel as if I didn't belong.

I sighed and stood in the middle of the floor. I tried being strong but I broke. Silent tears began to fall. "What I have I ever done to you …to any of you? I've only ever been polite. I've given you my smiles when you didn't deserve them and you've only given me frowns in return. I've given you kindness when you've treated me with hostility. Why?" I asked as my voice trembled. "Why do you hate me so much? What have I ever done to any of you?" I yelled.

No one said a word. Their thoughts were finally blank. Their eyes were either on the floor or focused on their hands. Shame seemed to have washed over everyone all at once.

I shook my head no as I took off my apron and put it on the back of a vacant chair. "I won't take your abuse any longer. I'm better than that." I looked at them and then I looked around the bar. "I'm better than this."

"Sookie?" Sam called out from behind me. He placed his hand on my shoulder. "What happened?"

I turned around and looked at him; tears still in my eyes. "I can't do this anymore, Sam. I can't and I won't."

He looked out at the patrons in his bar. His anger is more than evident. "What the fuck did you all do to her?" He then looked at me and asked, "What did they do to you?"

I looked at him and then leaned forward and kissed him on his cheek. "It doesn't matter." I looked down at the floor. Broken glass and wasted beer was spilled out around our feet. "I apologize for the mess. I'll clean it up before I leave."

He placed both hands on my shoulders and looked in my eyes. I've always known that Sam is in love with me. He's never been good at hiding it but he's always been very professional. Now he's projecting his feelings at me. He's hoping that his feelings for me will be enough to make me stay. He's afraid that once I leave, I'll never come back.

He's right.

"Fuck the mess, Sookie. I don't care about the mess. Let's go in my office and talk. We can sit down and talk things over. You don't have to quit. I'll do what I can to protect you from them."

I chuckled and swiped at my eyes with the back of my hand. "How Sam? How can you protect me from them? You can't protect me from their thoughts. I can't even protect me from their thoughts."

Sam was becoming desperate. He took my hand in his. "Please, just talk come with me to my office and talk to me. You don't have to quit."

"I do," I answered. "If I don't quit, I'll be here forever and I deserve better than this. Jason's moved away. Gran's dead and I'm living in a big empty house on a dead end road all alone. I'm alone, Sam and I don't want to live like this anymore. I don't want to be around people that hate me."

I looked around the room and for the first time, I realized that I have no real friends here; no one but Sam but he's not enough. I need more.

"This life is not for me. I want to be happy and I want a real smile to be on my face for a change. I want to have friends and I can't get what I need if I stay here. These people, they've already decided that I'm not worth knowing. Isn't that right?" I asked them as I glanced over my shoulder.

No one said a word.

No random thoughts invaded my mind.

They were finally seeing and feeling just as they've always made me feel.

"You don't have to do this," Sam whispered. Tears were threatening to fall from his eyes.

I looked at Sam and smiled. "I love you, Sam. You've always been a good friend to me but I have to go. I can't stay here. I deserve a better life. I deserve to be happy. So yeah, I have to do this."

Sam pulled me into his arms and held me. Over and over in his mind, he continued to tell me how much he loves me and that couldn't bear the thought of not having me in his life. He is going to miss and that his life is never going to be the same.

I kissed his cheek and whispered in his ear. "You'll be just fine."

I stepped out his arms and walked around him. Every eye in the bar was on me as I walked to the back of Merlotte's. I went into Sam's office and grabbed my purse and car keys. I suddenly started laughing. This is the first time I've never finished a shift.

"Good," I said. "It's the perfect time for me to start my new life."