WARNING: I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU GO BACK AND READ THE PREVIOUS CHAPTERS BEFORE YOU READ THIS ONE. THIS STORY IS PAINFULLY CONFUSING AND COMPLEX (sorry!) AND IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE I'VE UPDATED. YOU MAY WANT TO REFRESH YOUR MEMORY.
*DISCAIMER* I don't own anything.
Well, hello there! Long time no see!
I'm gonna cut right to it. This may be your favorite chapter, this may be your least favorite chapter. I know there will be a lot of opinions on how these events played out. All I want to say is that it might be a little shocking. I don't think it's too bad though.
WARNING 2: It was hard for me to write, and so it may be hard for you to read.
Rated M: A LOT of violence, A LOT of swearing.
The name of Chapter 17 is based off of "This Is It" by Michael Jackson. The title of the chapter has a much sadder meaning to it than Jackson's song!
Enjoy.
Jackie stood up and walked over to Eric, hot tears still stinging her eyes. She was relieved. Everything-especially the confusion of why Eric did what he did-all made sense.
Jackie felt like she could jump in Eric's arms, despite the pain still being present between her legs and in her heart.
The PCP did it all. That night at Anthony's party, Eric had too many doses of PCP.
According to the nurse, a large intake of the drug brings out a side of people they've never shown before.
It was a mistake.
Jackie wiped her face and stood up. She walked right in front of Eric, who was sitting on the bed. "Eric, listen to me. Listen to me very clearly."
Eric looked into Jackie's eyes. The guilt was so much more intense now, if that was even possible. She couldn't have kids? The damage was that severe? For the first time, he literally just wanted to die.
But, he looked into Jackie Beulah Burkhart's eyes and saw something he never expected to see again:
Hope.
So he wiped his pathetic tears off his face. He straightened up and listened to Jackie because he loved her. He loved this girl more than anyone in the world, it seemed.
Jackie took a deep breath. "I overheard Michael, Fez, and Steven talking about the PCP they gave you. Steven, being Steven, told Michael to put 2 shots of it in your drink. Michael, being Michael," Jackie laughed a little as she wiped more tears, "accidentally put 8."
Eric looked surprised. PCP was...dangerous. He looked at his scrawny arms and gave a mental shrug as he realized he was still alive.
But he didn't understand. Why was Jackie happy about this? "So what?" he asked, being so careful to make sure he treated Jackie like a princess, that it was starting to become habit to use the nicest tone possible in everything he said to her.
Jackie looked overwhelmed, and more tears finally rushed down her face. Eric felt his heart warm up. It was the Jackie he knew. The Jackie who acted like this when she would buy a new pair of heels or win beauty competitions. She was so excited, she was crying.
"Don't you get it?" Jackie yelled excitedly. "It's not your fault! I always knew it wasn't your fault!" She broke down into sobs. "I always knew."
She wiped her face and tried to calm herself. Between hiccups she said, "the nurse I just talked to said PCP causes violence and other bad things. Things that wouldn't normally be in people. She said some people try to jump off buildings during it. You had no sense of reality at the time. I'm surprised you even remembered what happened. It wasn't you Eric. That person that night wasn't you."
Eric had tears well up in his eyes. He still hated himself, God knew he still did.
But he had always questioned how he would have the heart to do it.
And, shit, the things it did to him to know he never did have it.
He was having nightmares.
He hadn't had them since he was 17, when his mom had left him. But these nightmares were so much worse. Jackie was bleeding and crying, and the guy was raping her. Then, the guy killed her.
He would then hear Jackie's ghost as he walked all over town as a ghost of his own, listening to her say "Why didn't you save me, Steven? Why didn't you take care of it?" Hyde would then wake up in a sweat, feeling like he wanted to scream.
He had been forced to stop himself twice from calling the police department, the phone in his hand, a few numbers actually dialed. He felt guilty, worried, angry, vengeful. But he knew the call would make everything worse. He had to wait to find something, something.
Hyde was now walking into the kitchen. He rubbed his head. Damn, his headache was getting so much worse. He looked up and saw Red at the kitchen table mimicking his motions in a similar way, rubbing his temples with a look of agony on his face.
Red looked up and grimaced even more. Another dumbass in the building.
He liked this one, though.
Red pulled out a chair a patted it, motioning Hyde to come sit.
Hyde looked side to side, sarcastically signifying he was trying to see if Red was motioning for someone else. He mockingly made his face look shocked. "Me?"
Red rolled his eyes. "Sit before I kick your ass." He turned around in his chair, picked up a beer from the cooler behind him, and swiftly threw it at his son. Hyde caught it and walked over to the table.
"How's hell?"
Red looked to the side at Hyde, mid-drink of his beer, with a smirk. "Worse than usual."
Hyde nodded his head and leaned forward, opening his beer. "Yeah, I feel you. At least Forman's back, eh?"
"I don't want him here, you know that." Red cringed on his face and slapped himself mentally. Goddamnit! He was constantly forgetting that Kitty was telling him not to tell the kids what happened.
On the inside, Red sometimes loathed Kitty for her defense of their son. However, he knew her well.
He knew her extremely well.
She loved those kids, especially, especially Eric. She liked to push things and make them go away, which explained all the alcohol the past few years.
And yet, despite this, there was more meat to Kitty's tragic bone than that: he knew that Kitty's logic would run right past her love, and she would give in and call the cops.
But he had to be careful until then.
Hyde and Red heard the basement door opening, then listened to Fez and Kelso enter as they talked to Donna, Eric, and Jackie, who were already downstairs.
Hyde raised his eyebrow. "Your hatred seems a little more intense than before. He took a beer from you or something before he left?" Despite Hyde's worries, he still knew how to play the sarcasm game extremely well.
Red shook his head. "Shut up."
Hyde smirked. "But, I know how it is, Red. It's getting to the point where I don't want to even be by Jackie any more. Her temper is just...shit, man."
Red looked up as he swallowed another sip of beer. "People change. I mean, look at Eric. I never thought the dumbass would rape a girl." Red's pain in his heart was quickly replaced by fear. Uh-oh.
Hyde squinted. Rape?
Then everything clicked for Hyde.
Then he saw red.
As Jackie, Donna, and Eric stood in the basement, all crying, Jackie felt thankful because all three people were in a position they hadn't been in in a long time.
Sure, all three of them were still definitely talking to each other in a hostile way. The excitement of the revelation was gone, and now it was boiling down to seriousness.
But all three of them were noticeably happier. At one point Donna grabbed both Eric and Jackie's hands and squeezed them, tears falling down her face.
Eric and Donna listened as Jackie talked. "There is absolutely no reason to tell any authorities whatsoever. You give a pope PCP, and they could have done something so much worse." She turned to Eric, who had an obvious grimace on his face, probably remembering his actions. She wouldn't be surprised if he never forgived himself, even with the new revelation.
Donna piped in as she tried to pat her eyes with a tissue. "I just can't believe it. None of it made sense, and now it all does."
Donna had told Jackie, explained to her everything. She told her that if she had known that Jackie was being raped when she saw Eric and Jackie together, she would have called the police right away. She just didn't know.
Eric looked down and put his hands in his pockets. "Whatever you want, Jackie. Whatever makes you happy." He pulled out an envelope. "Read it later," he said.
Jackie looked at the white envelope curiously, then nodded and put it in her jacket pocket. "Thank you. So we all agree?"
Donna and Eric both nodded, then looked at each other. "I'm sorry for ever doubting you."
Eric immediately began to feel tears in his eyes after Donna's comment. Shit, he had never cried so much after this year. He looked at Donna and Jackie. "And I'm sorry. Y'know," he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "For everything."
Fez and Kelso walked in, bringing with them a blast of cold air. "Whew! Ay curumba. It sure is cold."
"Nothing is ever too cold with my new weenie warmer," Kelso said. "Why are you guys all crying?"
They all paused as they heard running down the basement steps.
Hyde ran down and saw Eric. The look on Steven Hyde's face was something none of them had ever seen before, and something they would never forget. It was a look of insanity and a look of rage. Hyde looked like he had never looked before.
He didn't even bother to take off his glasses as he jumped on Eric. He began to punch him ruthlessly, unforgiveably.
Hyde screamed louder than he ever had. "You son of a bitch! You motherfucking goddamn son of a bitch! I am going to kill you. I swear to god I'm going to kill you!" He kept punching and kicking as Eric fought helplessly. Kelso, Fez, Jackie, and Donna all tried to stop him, but Hyde was unstoppable.
He pummeled his face and there was blood everywhere. Eric's youthful face was a mush, and he was crying in pain.
Eric was screaming, Jackie, Donna, everyone was screaming.
Red ran down the stairs after Hyde and joined Kelso and Fez. Red was stronger than them both combined, but not as young as Steven.
Soon Kitty heard the commotion, ran downstairs, and began screaming, sobbing. She reached in and tried to put a hand in.
"Kitty, get the fuck away!" Red said.
Kitty was crying, she understood perfectly what was going on. As she sobbed, she cried, "Steven, please! Steven please I am begging you for the sake of God! Please Steven!" She collapsed on the floor. "Please." she sobbed.
Jackie was yelling the loudest. "Steven he didn't do anything, it wasn't his fault! Just stop it!" She was also in agony with Kitty, and Donna was just as bad. They were scared. They were all terrified, sobbing messes.
It was a huge commotion, it was a nightmare.
Everyone almost stopped pulling Hyde off of Eric as they saw Hyde begin to do something he had never done before.
Steven Hyde was sobbing.
As he cried, he kept yelling, his words muffled. "I trusted you." He sobbed as he punched Eric a few more times, got up, and put his head on the washer. "I trusted you."
He kept sobbing and sobbing, mumbling things like "You were supposed to be the one I could count on! I thought you were my brother." His cries almost sounded like puppy whimpers, and everything was quiet except that and Eric's cries as he clutched his face.
Eric was in unbearable pain, he could tell.
Suddenly, Hyde got up, raced towards Eric, and started kicking him in the ribs. He pointed a hand in Jackie's general direction. "Look what you did to her! Look at how FUCKED UP all our lives are!"
As Hyde was yelling and crying, Red and Kelso were both screaming as they tried to pull Hyde off of Eric, yelling "What the fuck? What the fuck?" Fez, however, had moved back at this point. He was not dumb. Everything made sense to him. His eyes were wide and in a daze. Eric raped Jackie.
Eric raped Jackie.
Red was frustrated. "Call an ambulance, someone for the love of God!" Kitty ran for the telephone as she continued crying.
Jackie and Donna were both crying, as Kelso and Red looked confused and tried to continue pulling Hyde off. Red got a good hold of Hyde, and knocked the wind out of him. Kelso quickly took out a pair of handcuffs and put them on Hyde's struggling hands.
Hyde gave up and fell to the floor, still crying. He laid his head on the ground and took deep, staggering breaths. His voice trembled, as the most hateful words yet spewed out of his mouth like venom. "I hope you fuckin' die and burn in hell, man. I hope you get everything you deserve." He rocked back and forth. It all made sense. Everything that happened with Jackie, Eric moving away, every dirty glance between Donna and Jackie...it all made sense.
"What the hell, man?" Kelso said, out of breath. He also looked very frightened. He knew what Hyde could've done to Eric.
Red also look scared. And that was the scariest part of all. Hyde's wailing was something that would ring in all of their ears forever.
Hyde continued to rock and sob on the floor. Kitty rushed as fear and tears were in her eyes. She crouched down next to Eric and soothed him.
His face was brutally damaged, with bruising on his eyes already starting to form and bleeding from his nose and mouth. What Kitty was most concerned about, however, was his ribs. He was clutching his stomach and screaming in pain-Hyde's kicks were forceful and brutal.
"Please make it stop. He broke them all. Please...I can't take this."
Kitty's voice shook. "It's okay, honey...they're coming." She closed her eyes and breathed deep. "We're gonna make you better." She was trying to be brave for her son, and yet she was the most frightened.
Red looked at his wife, bewilderment in his face. He looked like he was going to say something to Kitty, then turned towards Donna and Jackie who were both crying. Donna had a scratch on her face from trying to pull off Hyde from her ex-boyfriend. "You guys need to shut the fuck up right now, okay? We don't have time for this right now."
He turned back to Kitty. He was really out of breath. "What the hell is going on?"
Kitty looked down at Eric as tears went down her face. She didn't answer.
"Kitty? I'm asking you a goddamn question!"
Fez walked up to Red, his face full of fear. "Your son raped Jackie. But you have to understand, Mr. Forman, it's really not what you would think because-"
Red's eyes went wide. He looked at Jackie, then at his son. "That's the girl he fucking raped?! He raped Jackie? You're fucking telling me that this motherfucker did this to Jackie?!" Red look as insane as Hyde just did.
Kelso also looked incredulous. "Eric's the guy that raped Jackie?"
Jackie started yelling. "You guys need to understand something." She sounded very nervous. "That night Eric took PCP."
"I don't give a fuck what he took!" Red screamed. Kelso, on the other hand, was looking down at Eric's bleeding figure, a look of disgust and fear on his face.
Kitty looked up. She started looking all around the room. She need to explain. "Red, you need to understand. Eric was given 8 doses. One dose of PCP causes a lot of things. Eric was given 8. Even if he went on trial, his case would be defended very easily." Tears were still streaming down her face.
Hyde looked up. He did this. He knew he had something to do with this. The pain was amplified 10 times more. He gave the fucking kid a drug that fucked everything up.
Red took deep breaths, and put his head in his hands as he paced the basement. He was obviously trying to sound calm as he said, "So you're telling me that our son took 8 doses of a fucking drug, a drug with side effects, one of the side effects being rape?" He sounded extremely angry.
Kelso looked mournful. "We...we gave it to him Mr. Forman. It was a joke. I was supposed to give him two...and I accidentally gave him 8."
He looked at Fez, then Kitty. "Is Eric gonna go to jail? Are we gonna go to jail?"
Everyone looked exhausted. Donna sat on the couch with her head on her hands. Jackie had a hand over her mouth as she kept looking between Eric and her boyfriend.
Fez had also started crying silently at this point, not making one sound.
Kitty looked at Kelso, a small smile on her face as more tears streamed down her face. She talked quietly, ad she was obviously trying to keep composure in her voice. "I don't know what's going to happen, honey." She was still on the ground next to Eric.
Suddenly, the basement door was forced open. "Police! Eric Forman is under arrest!"
This is a very important chapter to me. Please give your opinions on how it went!
EXPECT NEW CHAPTER BY TOMORROW, EVEN TONIGHT.