My Soul to Keep.
The long awaited sequel to Into the Woods. Now I lay me down to sleep…
I own nothing.
A/N: This chapter is going to confuse the hell out of you, but I promise that answers will eventually be revealed, so long as you trust me and are patient. I don't know when I'll be able to update again, as I've got a lot of stuff on my plate, but I'll try to make it by next weekend at least.
Warning: This story is going to be very, very, very dark and will deal with things that might be considered uncomfortable by some. However, they are not done for mere shock value, and actually serve a purpose in the telling of this story.
The basement was oddly quiet for three o'clock on a Saturday afternoon. As Hyde made his way down to the basement to hang out, he noticed that the lights were turned out and both the TV and the stereo were off. He was also quick to notice that Eric, Donna and Fez were all sitting on the couch with their knees hugged against their chests. Neither of them spoke as Hyde continued to watch them from the steps. Just as he was about to let them know he was there he heard Donna sigh.
"How long has it been?" Donna asked Eric.
How long has it been since what? Hyde wondered.
"Fifteen minutes." Eric answered after taking a glance at his deputy dog watch. "Don't worry, she'll be here."
"What if she's not?" Fez finally said.
"Don't say that." Donna snapped. "Don't even think it, she'll come."
Hyde wanted to ask who they were talking about, or rather, if it was Jackie they were talking about, but was once again interrupted, this time by the basement door opening and Kelso walking in, followed by Jackie. Instantly the three sitting on the couch stood up and ran towards her. No one noticed Hyde as the five hugged each other. He studied their faces for a moment, trying to figure out what had happened, but the only conclusion he could make was that something bad at happened, but what? And then he saw Jackie reach into her purse and pull out a knife. "She said this will work."
Who was this she Jackie was talking about? What would work?
The others nodded and one by one, they sat in their usual spots in the circle, with Hyde's chair left empty. Jackie, still holding onto the knife, put it against her palm. Knowing what was about to happen, Hyde stepped forward to let them know he was there.
"So, what's up?" He asked, trying to be nonchalant. However he was ignored as Jackie cut both her palms and then handed the knife to Kelso. Hyde watched as his friend cut deep into his own palms, wincing in pain as he did so. One by one, they passed the knife around, cutting into their palms. The moment Fez handed the knife back to Jackie, placed the knife in the center of the circle and the five of them stood up. Jackie grabbed Kelso's hand, and then he grabbed Donna's, who took Eric's, who took Fez's, who finally took Jackie's other hand. Their faces were oddly stoic as Donna started to recite in Latin. He couldn't understand the words, but he understood the meaning behind them.
This wasn't your average best friends, blood brothers and sisters' ritual; this was deeper in both its meaning and context. Once again, Hyde tapped Kelso's shoulder, and once again, Kelso continued to ignore him.
"Okay you guys, this isn't funny anymore." Hyde said, trying to keep the worry out of his voice. "Jackie?"
Jackie however, had her eyes glued to the floor as she listened to Donna.
"What's next?" Eric asked softly after Donna finished.
"She said we wait." Jackie answered.
"That's it?" Eric squeaked, "We wait?"
Jackie nodded her head. "Sorry."
Eric shook his head apologetically. "No Jackie, don't be sorry." He walked over to her and put his bloody hands on hers. "I don't mind waiting, really."
Jackie looked up at Eric and smiled. "Thanks."
"God this hurts." Kelso said, clutching his palms together.
"Tell me about it." Fez replied, "Someone remembered bandages right?"
"They're in Hyde's room." Eric told him as he stood up. "I'll go get them."
"No." Donna interjected. "I'll get them."
Hyde followed Donna into his room where he watched her reach underneath his cot for the first aid kit. Instead of walking out however, Donna sat on the bed.
Hyde sat down next to her. "So, want to tell me what the hell is going on?"
"Shit." Donna muttered to herself. "What the hell did you do?"
"That's what I want to know!" Hyde shouted at Donna. She just stood up though and walked out of the room. Hyde started to follow her stopped when he noticed something very strange in the mirror.
His reflection was gone.
Okay, he thought as he sat in his chair, there was no need to panic. He watched his friends carry on as though nothing had happened, the only evidence of their earlier blood ritual were the knife still sitting on the coffee table and their hands covered in white gauze. The conversation however, was light and the stereo was now on. There was probably a perfectly logical explanation as to why he didn't have a reflection. There was also a perfectly logical explanation as to why his friends kept acting as though he wasn't there.
"It's time." Eric said, breaking Hyde's thoughts. He and the others stood up to follow him out of the basement. Hyde watched as they walked in a line out of the door. Jackie however, stopped at the door and then ran to get the knife. "Almost forgot." She said to no one in particular. At the door, she looked around again, this time; tears were running down her face. All Hyde wanted to do was go to her and hold her until she stopped, but something kept him from doing so. Even though Jackie was only three feet away from him, she felt like she was miles away.
"Come on Jackie." Fez said, putting his hand on Jackie's shoulder. "We need to go."
Jackie nodded, but said nothing as she followed Fez out the door. Hyde quickly made his way to follow them, running out the door before Jackie could shut it. He made a vow to himself to never let Jackie out of his sight. He barely noticed it was pitch black outside until he got to the car. Looking up, he saw that the Forman's front porch light was on, and the sky was dark. How long had they been sitting in that basement?
"Did you remember to leave a note for your mom and dad?" Donna was asking Eric.
Forman nodded. "Yeah, I left it on the kitchen table; you left a note for Bob?"
Donna smiled sadly. "I can't believe this."
Eric put his arm around Donna. "Hey, it'll be okay." He placed a kiss on the top of her head. "You'll see."
"Do we have everything?" Jackie asked them as Eric got into the drivers seat. Hyde instinctively got into the back seat, not wanting to be left behind by his friends.
"Jackie, that's the twelfth time you've asked that question." Donna replied.
"I know, I just don't want to leave and then find out we forgot something."
"How about someone?" Hyde interjected sarcastically, knowing he wasn't going to be answered.
"I triple checked everything." Donna said to Jackie, "We're good."
Jackie nodded and then put her hands on the Vista Cruiser along with everyone else to push the car out of the driveway. He breathed a sigh of relief when it was Jackie who sat next to him, and not Fez or Kelso. They all sat in pointed silence as Eric drove.
Hyde was more than a little shocked when Eric stopped the car on the side of the road in front of Jackie's house.
Eric turned around to Kelso.
"Be quick." He ordered.
"Gotcha." Kelso answered as he opened the car door. He turned to Jackie who was looking through her window at her house.
"Are you sure about this?" Kelso asked.
Jackie didn't look at him as she answered. "Yeah, it needs to be done."
Kelso shrugged at the others and then got out of the car. Hyde watched him run into the house and then turned his attention back on Jackie. Oddly enough, she wasn't crying, or trying to be Zen. No, she was smiling.
Donna turned around in her seat to look at Jackie. "How are you doing?"
Jackie shook her head. "I'm okay."
Donna however, continued to frown at her best friend. "Are you sure? How are you doing on pain killers?"
Jackie closed her eyes in thought. "I think I've got enough for a while. We might have to get some more soon though."
Donna nodded. "We'll get you more, I promise, and some vitamins."
Jackie reached over and took Donna's hand. "Thanks."
Hyde knew that Jackie wasn't thanking Donna just for the offer to get her more pain killers, and from the smile on Donna's face, he knew she understood that as well.
"Jackie, I know we had this conversation before but…"
"I know." Jackie interjected; squeezing Donna's bandaged hand with her own.
"You know?" Donna asked.
"I know." Jackie answered.
The conversation would have gone on if it hadn't been for the sight of red and yellow flames coming from the living room window and Kelso running out the front door. Eric started the car again as Kelso jumped inside.
"Go!" Kelso shouted as he slammed the door. The tires squealed as Eric pushed down on the gas peddle. There was no time to watch as Jackie's childhood home burned to the ground.
"I set fires in each room." Kelso told them after Eric had turned the corner.
Jackie nodded in approval. "Hopefully they'll think I was in there."
Fez pursed his lips together. "Girl drowns wakes up from coma only to die in a fire."
The others, including Jackie, all laughed.
"It is rather ironic, isn't it?" She said.
"That reminds me, are we supposed to take the knife back?" Donna asked.
Jackie shook her head. "She said we could keep it. Actually what she said was we need it more than her."
"That's for sure." Eric coughed.
Again, Hyde wondered, who was this she they all kept referring to?
After awhile, Eric reached over and turned on the stereo. Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here played.
"Eric, turn it." Donna ordered.
Eric started to reach over to turn the dial but Jackie interrupted. "It's okay, leave it."
"You sure?" Donna asked her best friend.
"I'm sure." Jackie answered.
The song continued to play; Fez was singing softly to himself, Kelso was holding up his lighter, waving it front of his own face. Jackie was staring out of the window, a soft smile on her beautiful face. Hyde ached to be able to reach over and brush the strand of hair out of her eyes. Instead, Jackie reached up and put the strand of loose hair behind her ear.
"Eric, do you mind stopping?" Jackie asked as they passed the now leaving Point Place sign.
Eric sighed but quickly relented at Donna's glare.
"Yeah, okay." He said pulling over to the side of the road. Jackie quickly got out the car, followed by Donna who ran after her into the woods. Taking a quick look at his three male friends who were remaining inside the car, Hyde followed the girls.
He found them sitting on log with Donna's arm around Jackie's shoulders.
"I thought this would be easier." Jackie confessed.
"Me too, I thought I'd just be able to get up and go." Donna agreed.
"You know, I thought I'd never want to see this place again." Jackie said gesturing around her. "But this is the place where my life changed forever, you know?"
Once again, Donna agreed with her. "I think all of our lives changed that day."
Hyde took a look around. While it looked different, it certainly felt the same. The same eerie dread that filled him up the last time he was there threatened to over take him again. Not wanting to relive the memories, he walked back to the car to wait for Jackie and Donna to return.
"I keep thinking we're forgetting something." Eric was saying.
"Your wallet?" Kelso suggested.
"No, got that." Eric replied.
"Uh, your hair brush?" Fez asked.
Eric turned around and glared at Fez. "My hairbrush?"
Fez shrugged. "What, you don't want you hair to look bad."
Eric nodded. "Yeah, out of everything, that's what I'm mostly worried about, my hair looking good." He turned back towards the front.
"I'm still forgetting something though." Eric said. The other two were oddly quiet, unable to come up with any more suggestions.
"Oh wait." Kelso exclaimed, "Did you tell Leo?"
"Leo!" Eric hit the steering wheel. "That's what I forgot."
Kelso bit back a laugh. "Dude, you forgot to tell Leo?"
"You guys, they're coming back!" Fez hissed. The other two stopped arguing as Donna and Jackie got back into the car.
"Find what you were looking for?" Eric asked.
"No Eric, we weren't able to find your balls." Jackie replied.
Instead of following with a burn of his own, Eric simply grinned at Jackie, who grinned back.
"We've got a bit of a problem." Eric told them.
"He forgot to tell Leo we were leaving." Kelso blurted out.
"Kelso!" Eric yelled.
"Well, we can't go back." Donna stated. "We'll just have to call him in the morning."
"Maybe we shouldn't." Jackie said softly.
The others, except for Eric whose eyes were on the road in front of them, turned to her.
"What do you mean?" Donna asked. "Leo deserves to know that we're gone."
Jackie shrugged. "I know, it's just… what if he tells the Formans?"
The others sighed, knowing Jackie was right.
"Damn, he might not remember that we told him not to tell." Kelso added.
"So what do we do?" Fez pondered.
"Look," Donna said, "We'll call him, but we won't tell him that Jackie is with us, and we won't tell him where we're going." She looked at Jackie, "Is that okay?"
Jackie nodded. "Yeah, that's okay."
Hyde watched as Jackie tapped Donna on the shoulder.
"I need to replace my bandages." She said.
"Me too." Kelso agreed.
"Me three." Fez added.
Donna nodded as she bent over to retrieve the box in front of her. "Pull over to the next rest stop and we'll change your bandages." She told Eric who nodded his consent.
Silently, Donna took off her own bandages. She gasped as she looked at her hands.
"What is it?" Eric asked frantically.
"They're gone." Donna said.
"What do you mean they're gone?" Jackie asked quizzically.
Donna held up her palms to show the others. Both palms were perfectly healed, which was impossible. Quickly, the others removed their own bandages to see the same thing on their own hands. It was then that Hyde noticed the white gold band on Jackie's hand.
She was married? When had that happened? Nervously, he looked down at his own hand and breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted the similar white gold band on his own finger. It was strangely comforting to know that he and Jackie were married. Taking another glance at her, he noticed the small bump of her usually flat stomach, and Jackie's other hand resting protectively over it. She was going to have his baby. Hyde put his hand on top of hers, hoping that she would be able to feel it.
"It must have been the knife." Donna said slowly.
The others nodded, except for Eric.
"This doesn't mean we he have to do it again does it?" Eric asked worriedly.
Jackie shook her head. "No, it worked."
They all fell into silence as they drove away from Point Place. Questions filled Hyde's head, where were they going? Why did they want it to look like Jackie was dead? When had they gotten married? But most importantly, what had happened to him?
If you want answers, you know what to do.