A/N: Thank you so much for each and every review! It means so much to me! As usual, True Blood belongs to HBO and Alan Ball.
(p.s. The first line of the story is supposed to be all together with no spaces, but FF won't let me do that for some reason!)
Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod whathaveIdone? whathaveIdone? whathaveIdone?
"Go. Get out of here!" Andy's rough drawl woke me from my stupor and I just followed his order without even thinking. I was used to that sort of thing-following orders and not thinking. In fact, not thinking was kind of a Jason Stackhouse trademark.
So why couldn't I stop thinking right now?
A bloodcurdling scream rang out through the woods and my heart just about stopped. I knew that scream. That was the scream of Gran when she learned her son was dead. That was the scream of Hadley when her mama passed of cancer. It was the scream of a woman who would never be right again because of what she'd lost.
And I was the reason Tara was screaming.
A sob broke free from my chest and my legs stopped working. The top of my body still had some momentum so I ended up collapsing forward, falling to my knees in the gravel. Hot tears streamed down my face and I tried to stop the attack of thoughts on my mind. It was as though Bon Temps High was playing Texas A&M but instead of making a play, their entire defensive line decided to tackle me-even after I'd snapped the ball. It just wouldn't stop.
"You're going to go to hell, Jason Stackhouse," Steve Newlin's voice rang out clearly in my brain.
"Do you ever think, just for one second, Jason?" Sookie's voice asked.
"I can't believe you actually thought I'd protect you!" Andy's voice mocked.
"Do you actually think you'll get away with this?" Sam's voice questioned.
"You're going to burn, Jason," Hoyt's voice declared.
"I am going to fuck you up, Jason Stackhouse, and ain't nobody ever going to forgive you for what you did," Tara's voice cried out viciously.
I heard ambulance sirens approaching and fear took over my body. I sprinted into the woods and started the three mile run back to my home. I imagined that running fast enough would let me travel back in time-back to before my finger curled around the trigger and pulled back. Kind of like that Star Wars flick where the spaceship went fast enough around the sun so it could go back in time and kill off all the whales. Except… I was no Hans Solo. And time wasn't reversing itself. I could still hear the echo of Tara's screams and a shudder ran down my spine.
When I got home, I opened the fridge out of routine but the first thing I laid eyes on was a plate of sweet and sour chicken leftovers from before I even left for Dallas. The thick, bright red sauce reminded me of what came out of the back of Eggs' head and the whole thing flashed before my eyes again. I grabbed the nearest heavy thing and flung it across my home, smashing my mom's favorite lamp in the process.
I didn't even have to look down at my hands, I knew they were shaking.
"Get a hold of yourself, Jason Stackhouse," I gritted my teeth and willed my tears to stay with my eyeballs. The voices started overwhelming me again, this time Gran's and mom and dad's voices were in there too.
"Nnnnnnyyyyaaaaaahhhhh!" the sound roared from my throat as I grabbed my keys, and headed to my truck, slamming the house door shut behind me so hard the door frame shook. I was headed to the only place on earth I knew I could always find comfort: Kappa Alpha Zeta's sorority house.
It was about ten days and more than twice as many girls later. This time the gal I was hooking up with wanted to do it outside. Kinky, I know, but I was up for it. Sometimes good sex meant getting dirty… literally. I didn't mind a little roughhousing and this gal was much stronger than she looked, which was actually pretty hot.
After throwing me to the ground and straddling me, she suddenly pulled back. "We can't. It's too dangerous."
You don't just get a guy's engine revved up like that and just stop all of a sudden. Most of my blood was far away from my brain as I asked, "Dangerous? Why?"
A/N - Short chapter this time. Please review and let me know what you think! The Star Wars/Star Trek confusion was completely on purpose. In case you missed the reference, Jason was thinking of Star Trek IV, where the Enterprise goes back in time to save the whales... not kill them. Personally, I'm a huge Trekkie. :)
Did anyone else see the general HBO promo that ran before the True Blood rerun last night? If you missed it, I have a link to the new general promo in my profile.