Chapter Eleven
Author's Note: Okay guys, I updated this as fast as I could, because I know you are all dying to find out Donna's secret. I hope you'll all review this chapter and tell me what you think of the thing Donna has been hiding and how it sort of makes everything fall into place. And not because I'm addicted to attention as Kee said, but because I want to know how I can improve the story for you guys. You want a big blow up between Eric, Jackie, Donna and Hyde, so you're going to get one. But this chapter is dedicated to revealing Donna's secret. Donna is telling this story to Eric as she is remembering what happened five years ago.
Donna's POV
I was walking home from a baby-sitting job that night. Even though it was summer and the air was warm, I was in a hurry to get home and prepare for my date with Eric. We were going to go over the plans for our wedding more, something we never grew tired of. I admired the diamond ring on my finger and marveled at the fact I was marrying the person I had always been crazy about.
My home was still quite a walk away and I wished I had taken a car over to the house I was baby-sitting at. A car pulled up beside me and I recognized the driver as one of Kelso's friends from school. His name was Rick, although I had no idea what his last name was. He had rolled down the window to his car and smiled warmly at me.
"Hey, Donna." he said pleasantly, "How's it going?"
"Great!" I told him, "I'm just on my way home and then Eric's taking me out of dinner."
"Do you want a ride back home?" he asked.
My first instinct was to say no. I really didn't know him that well, and I had seen the way some of Kelso's friends acted and I didn't like them very much. Kelso was a sweetheart, but most of his friends were complete perverts.
"It's okay," I said back politely, "I'm getting lots of exercise."
"You don't need it." he looked me up and down appraisingly. I shivered a little, but I knew it wasn't from the cold. I hated it when guys looked at me like that. The only one I tolerated it from was Eric.
"I'm fine." I replied somewhat snappishly and quickened my pace. He continued driving next to me, slowly.
"Come on, Donna, it's fun in here." he grinned at me and gaze me a little puppy-dog look. I had to laugh despite myself. Even if I didn't care very much for Rick's personality, or at least what I had seen of it, he was very attractive, with his intense blue eyes and perfectly unkempt (a combination only he seemed to be able to pull off) dirty blond hair.
"All right." I finally consented and hopped inside. I was relieved I wouldn't have to walk the rest of the way. He turned up the music a little bit and I settled into the seat. I figured I wouldn't have to give him directions, since he had been to Forman's house once or twice before with Kelso. That was why I was so surprised when he drove right past the road Eric and I lived on.
"You missed my road." I told him and I felt a surge of horror when he just leered at me and continued driving. He turned the volume to the music up a notch higher. Infuriated, I turned it down.
"You missed my road." I said again.
"I'll get you home, Donna." he told me, turning up the music so he had to yell to be heard, "It just might be a little later than you want it to be."
He drove his car into a deserted alley and pushed himself on top of me. I tried to push him off me, but I was no match for his football player strength. He kissed me aggressively on the lips.
"Stop it." I tried to scream, but my voice felt weak and constricted from fear.
"You wanted this." he said fiercely, and I could see from his eyes that he was a seriously troubled person, "You never would have gotten into this car with me if you didn't."
After that, it was like an out of body experience. It felt like I was watching him as he ripped off my clothing and raped me. I could almost see myself, tears running down my cheeks, unable to scream, begging him as loudly as possible to stop. But he didn't stop. Finally he finished, zipped up his pants and smiled at me. He actually smiled. Like it hadn't been rape, like it had been consensual. He drove me home after that and as soon as I got home I called Eric.
He answered the phone after it rang a few times, "Hello?"
I tried to keep the shakiness out of my voice when I spoke, "Hey, Eric, it's Donna. I'm just calling to tell you that I can't make it to dinner tonight."
He sounded very disappointed, "What happened?"
"Something just came up." I lied, "And I really have to get off the phone now." I hung up and flung myself onto the bed. I cried myself to sleep, wanting to forget this night had ever happened.
It was a week later and I had been doing my best to avoid my friends. I didn't want to face them and I really didn't want to face my family or anyone else for that matter. I was already late for my period, and it scared the shit out of me. I could be pregnant. Or worse, who knew what kind of diseases I could get from a slime like Rick.
I made a doctor's appointment which I had to go to the next day. I was so scared and I really didn't want to go alone. I didn't know which of my friends to go with though. I didn't want Eric to find out and definitely not Kelso, since Rick was his friend. Fez was too naive about these kinds of things to bring him into it and for some reason I didn't want Jackie to know either. Maybe because Hyde hadn't proposed to her yet and I didn't want her to think my love life was anything less than perfect. I sometimes felt like I was forever competing with Jackie over certain things. That only left one person.
I called Hyde up and asked him to come over. He agreed and soon we were up in my bedroom. For the first time in around a week, I changed out of my pajamas and into a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt.
"So, what's up?" he asked, looking at me in concern. I was aware of the dark circles under my eyes and my disheveled appearance.
"Something happened." I began, not knowing how to spit out the words I had to say.
"We all figured as much," Hyde said, referring to himself and the rest of my close friends, "You've kind of been avoiding us the past week."
"Do you remember Kelso's friend, Rick?" I asked him and he nodded, "He offered to give me a ride home Saturday and then he raped me."
Hyde stared at me in disbelief for a moment before replying, "You have got to tell Forman." he said finally.
I shook my head and felt tears spilling out of my eyes, "I can't. And I need you to come with me to the doctor's tomorrow. My period is late and it's almost never late."
Hyde scratched his head and seemed at a loss of words. Then he spoke, "I'm sorry this happened to you, Donna. And, of course I'll go with you."
"And you won't tell Eric?" I asked.
"I won't tell Forman." he told me and at that moment I was very glad he was my friend.
The next day I was waiting for the results in the waiting room of the doctor's office. The doctor came out, carrying a folder filled with papers.
"Well, you certainly aren't pregnant and we can't find any traces of an STD." I sighed with relief and began to speak, but she held up her hand for silence.
"But something got messed up." I had told her the whole story and she knew what happened, "We don't know exactly how it happened, though."
"What do you mean, something go messed up?" Hyde asked in confusion, "What could possibly be wrong?"
The doctor eyed me sympathetically, "I'm sorry, Ms. Pinciotti, but you're never going to be able to have children."
Eric's POV
My mouth dropped open in shock at the last bit of Donna's story and I saw tears had started to fall from her eyes.
"I know, it's insane isn't it?" she said through tears, "I didn't want to believe it, but it's true. I can never make those red-headed girls and brown-haired boys you've always wanted."
"Is that why you left?" I asked as everything began to fall into place.
She nodded, "Hyde went with me. He was scared of being with Jackie, because he didn't want to end up the way his dad had. He told me."
"Why did you leave me? I could have helped you through that." I told her.
"No," she wailed, "I knew I couldn't be the wife you wanted me to be. You wanted babies so badly and I thought if you knew the truth, you wouldn't love me anymore."
"That's crazy." I said, "I know now. And I still love you, Donna."
"I felt like a filthy whore after that happened," she admitted, "My instinct was that I shouldn't have gone with him. But I did anyway."
"It wasn't your fault." I told her, reaching out to hold her hand, "You can't blame yourself."
"I spent so much time with Hyde and eventually I became more Zen and he become more softhearted. We rubbed off on each other and we're both somewhere in the middle now. But I shouldn't have taken Jackie's boyfriend away from her. I did it with Kelso when I took him with me to California and I took Hyde away too. And now I'm trying to take her husband away. Some friend I am." she stood up and look ready to make a break for the door.
"Donna, don't leave." I begged her but he didn't seem to hear me. She ran blindly for the door and took off in her car before I had time to recover and go after her.