The silence in the Burkhart home was eerie and made Jackie shiver.
It was more than the normal solitude and depression the mansion held.
She shut the front door and kicked her clogs onto the mat in front of the door. She hung her jacket on a hook and then turned around to see a man with a mask staring at her.
She screamed but for a moment until he grabbed her, covered her mouth and dragged her into the living room.
There, her mother, her father, Christopher, and three other guests she had never seen in her life were shot dead.
She could not have made a sound if she wanted to from the shock.
And she knew right then, that there was no escaping.
.i.i.i.
Hyde sat in the circle with Donna, Eric, and Kelso. Fez had run off screaming about some candy sale at the drug store because it was after Valentines Day. Hyde smiled thoughtfully when he remembered that day only a week before.
Valentine's Day…"Steven!" he heard Jackie's voice yell through his room.
"I'm in here." He yelled back.
She walked in and smiled at him. "So, are you gonna take me out or what?"
"I was thinking we would stay in." He said.
She frowned, "Why won't you ever take me anywhere?"
"Because I have something else planned here." He said.
She jumped on the bed and hugged him. "You're actually going to do something for me for Valentine's Day? You're most hated government holiday? Oh Steven, that's best gift you could have ever given me." He noticed the sparkle in her eyes through his rose tinted glasses. Her grateful grin was enough to convince him that succumbing to another government inspired holiday was all right as long as a smile was on her face.
He kissed her cheek and got up off the bed. "I'll be right back, okay?"
She nodded and then fell back on his bed grabbing the latest issue of Rolling Stone that he had been reading.
He walked upstairs into the kitchen where he found what he was looking for sitting safely on the kitchen table. He sighed in relief that Eric or Mrs. Forman had not been home since he had come home that afternoon. Grabbing the item off the table, he walked back down the stairs to the basement.
In his room, there she laid, her raven curls sprawled across his pillow. Her porcelain skin glistened against the candle incenses he was burning, just for her.
"Here." He said.
Her aqua-marine pools grew larger than he had ever seen them. "Irises? Oh my god, Steven, how did you know?" she whispered in excitement.
"I just did."
She ran up to him and kissed him gently.
"Thanks for celebrating Valentine's Day." She whispered.
He gave her a small smile and set the irises down on his dresser before falling on top of her onto his bed…
"Hyde!" Kelso shouted.
"What man? God, don't be so loud, were in the circle." Hyde said back.
"Dude, you've been zoned out for like five minutes, I wanted to make sure you didn't fall asleep with your eyes open or something."
Hyde rolled his eyes. He loved Kelso like his brother, but man, he seemed to be getting stupider by the day. "No, I didn't fall asleep."
"Good, because we're gonna play have you ever… with alcohol." Kelso said with a goofy grin on his face producing a bottle of vodka.
Hyde looked at Donna. "Man, why did you let him think we're gonna play this."
"Look, I told him if he won rock, paper, scissors shoot then we would play and well, he won." Donna stared at her hands. "Wow, look at my hands, they're like, woah!" Then she burst out giggling.
Hyde inhaled on his joint once more. "Fine, but I get to go first!"
"Yeah man!" Kelso exclaimed with joy.
Hyde poured them all shots and then sat for a moment. "Oh, I've got a good one." He said with a smirk on his face. "I've never been caught by anyone in the bathroom doing anything except going to the bathroom."
He stared directly at Eric who's faced turned crimson red. "Come on man!" Eric shouted.
Kelso burst out laughing and Donna punched his Eric's arm.
"What was that for?" Eric asked.
"You're an idiot, my hot body and our steamy sex should be enough!"
Eric grabbed his shot glass and downed his first shot of vodka. He shook his head, "Look, maybe we should mix this with something, this game will be over quickly if we keep doing it like this."
Hyde gave him a dirty look and Kelso looked puzzled. "Oh you're right, I'll go grabbed some orange juice!" Kelso bolted up the stairs.
Hyde reached across the table and punched Eric in the arm. "Nice going dumbass, now we're going to have to play this game longer."
Kelso ran back downstairs and they resumed the game, it was his turn next. He looked at Hyde and then winked. They knew it was more fun if they ganged up on one person and made them drunk off their ass. "Okay, I've never had sex with in anyone sitting here." Eric groaned and took a drink and so did Donna. Hyde moved to grab his glass too.
"What the hell Hyde? You and Donna?" He saw Eric's face becoming angry like Red whenever Red was mad. Then he began to laugh and gave Donna a high five.
"You were right," he said, "his face did turn bright red."
"Okay, fine asshole." Eric said. He thought for a moment and then turned to Kelso with a grin. "I've never done it with Jackie."
Hyde's whole body immediately became frozen and he knew Donna was looking at him out of the corner of her eye. He watched Kelso down some of his drink and then Hyde did something he never would have expected himself to do, he took his drink and did the same thing.
Eric and Kelso's eyes become large and confused. "Hyde, man, did you hear me? I said Jack-ie."
"Yeah I know what you said Forman." Hyde replied back smoothly.
"You've slept with Jackie?" Kelso asked angrily.
"What do you care man, you guys broke up like three years ago."
"But I love her!" Kelso shouted.
"No you don't." Hyde said.
Kelso paused for a moment and then began to laugh, "Yeah, you're right, I don't. Man, that was funny though, the whole, 'But I love her." Ha, god why am I so freaking hilarious?" he paused for a minute, but then remember what he had been talking about.
"Wait, wait, wait. You, slept with Jackie?" he asked again.
"Sleeping with!" Donna corrected.
Hyde shot her a glare but then she pointed to the joint in front of her. "You can't blame me, I'm in the circle!"
"Look guys, it's not a big deal, we sleep together. So what, we've been doing it for awhile and none of you idiots have figured it out, it doesn't change anything." He felt a pain in the pit of his stomach; he knew it was a big deal. He knew it was more than the sex.
"You knew and didn't tell me Donna?" Eric asked with an upset tone.
"Oh shut up, I found you in the bathroom pleasuring yourself!"
Hyde stood up from the circle and pulled out a cigarette and walked outside. He lit it up and exhaled away his worries, his confusion. The door creaked open a skinny figure appeared and sat down next him on the steps.
"Dude, it's like 20 degrees out here."
"Then go back inside." Hyde said.
"She's engaged Hyde." Eric said.
"I know."
"Do you get it though, she's supposed to be getting married. Married, man. What are you going to do then? I mean how long have you guys been sleeping together?"
Hyde leaned backed against the wall and took another drag of his cigarette. "Man, I feel like I just had this same exact conversation in this same exact place yesterday. Oh wait, I did." He said deadpanned.
Eric stood up, "Look, I'm just telling you to think about what you're doing. You're setting yourself up to be abandoned."
Hyde looked up at him as Eric walked back inside and then smacked his head against the wall. Here he was again, contemplating the same thing he always was contemplating. He thought back to that day only a few months back when everything changed.
A few months ago…The basement door slammed shut and Hyde looked up and saw her tear stained face. He immediately pulled off his glasses in concern as she ran over to him and fell into his arms sobbing.
He gently rubbed her back, he had never been much good with comforting girls, anyone for that matter. Somehow with Jackie he was able to, maybe because she never expected him to say anything, do anything; just be sitting there with her while she cried seemed to always be enough.
"What happened?" he whispered into her ear as her sobbing began to die down and just a few tears wear still running down her cheeks.
She lifted her left hand and revealed the sparkling gem that lay on her ring finger.
He took a deep breath, he had been preparing himself for this day for a few weeks now, he knew it was coming.
She hid her hand away and he stroked her hair gently, "Look, we talked about this and we decided it would just be to complicated if you said no." he said softly.
"I know." She whispered back. "I just, I don't ever want my wedding day to come." She said sadly.
He looked at her and placed a kiss on her soft lips, and then held her tightly again. "I know, me either."
His cigarette tasted particularly good on that frigid day. He was rather unpleased when he heard Donna yell for him.
"Hyde, get the hell in here!"
He stomped on his cigarette and walked back in. "What?" he asked annoyed.
They all looked like deer in headlights and Donna just pointed to the TV.
"This is Elizabeth Dawes reporting from in front of Mayor Burkhart's house. There has been a massive homicide here today… "
And Hyde felt his heart drop to the floor.
.i.i.i.
Thank you so much to everyone who keeps reviewing, you really don't know how much I appreciate all of your support. I'm hoping that I'm still keeping this interesting and you're not becoming bored with it. I'm trying to make the chapters sort of long. I promise, promise, promise that despite the large gap there might be between updates, I will not abandon this fic, so please stay with me! I hate it when author's abandon fics, and I don't want to do that to my readers.
Thanks again guys, you're the greatest and please keep reviewing, you don't know how happy it makes me to see those 'reviewer alerts' in my inbox :)