Chapter 16
Goodbye
Point Place, Wisconsin
May 4, 1977 (Wednesday)
Eric thought he was going to faint in the Vista Cruiser.
His father had to drive, His mother sat next to him, of course. Midge and Bob were crying over the loss of their
daughter and Red must have said something to Hyde last night because there was no reason for him to be
here. He was with Donna before she was killed. Did he notice anyone suspicious outside after their love fest?
Jackie held his hand and sobbed into her silk handkerchief. Donna was dead and not many people gave Eric the
respect a boyfriend deserved. His mother hugged and kissed him, well Red was Red and he tried to say
something comforting, and that was it. He supposed it had to be all about Bob and Midge, losing a child was
more horrible of an event than losing a girlfriend.
A girlfriend who apparently loved his best friend.
Neighbors and friends sent much food to the Forman house, but that didn't stop Kitty from overly baking and
cooking as a defense mechanism. Three kids* that called the Forman house their home and Kitty the unofficial
mother of the group were all dead.
Who was the person or persons responsible for these murders?
How come the police had no leads? The reception was going to be held at Bob and Midge's. Red asked for Eric
and Hyde's help in bringing some of the food over from their house to the Pinciotti's. Kitty would comfort Bob and
Midge along with the swarms of relatives, friends, and acquaintances. Donna's death brought out more people
than Kelso and the foreign kid's.
John Kelso and his wife packed up their house and left Point Place with their minor children and moved to an
unknown location. Eric didn't feel like fighting with his father, he'd help with everything that he asked for and
then he was going to up to his room where he felt the most safe.
"Steven, I'm glad Eric left, I'd like to talk to you."
Red said as they finished setting up the long collapsible table in the Pinciotti dining room**. He wanted to do
this before all of the mourners came in for their lunch.
"About?"
"I think I owe you an apology, son."
"For?"
"You're not Eric. I shouldn't put those same rules on you as I do to him. You can handle
yourself in this world, Eric well, he's my son, I love him, but he still needs guidance especially during
this trying time."
The twin could feel that Red was setting a trap. He didn't know what the elder Forman
knew or if he even was aware of anything in particular, but this wasn't normal conversation.
"And?"
"You said you were with Jackie the night of Donna's….." He couldn't finish it. Donna
was someone's daughter and Red genuinely felt bad for Bob and Midge. If anything
similar happened to Laurie he didn't think he would survive long in this world. Kitty tried
to get her on the phone last night, but to no avail.
"Yeah. I didn't like her being at that sleepover and that was before we knew about
Donna…" He kept his voice on an even keel.
"You have good instincts, son."
"You got that right, Mr. Forman. Is that all? I'd like to check on Jackie…."
"Of course." Red replied as he made his mental notes.
Before Eric could leave unnoticed Bob went up to him when Kitty was trying to get
Midge to eat something.
"Eric, Why don't you stay awhile?"
Was someone other than his parents acknowledging him? Hyde didn't offer any
condolences. It was different with Fez and Kelso. This was about Donna; he was close
friends with her, and apparently they had unresolved romantic feelings for each other. He
was the last one to see Donna alive. A little "I'm sorry" would have been nice. It wouldn't have
brought her back, but it would have been a decent thing for Hyde to do.
"Mr. Pinciotti, if it's all the same to you, I'd rather just go to bed. Again, I'm sorry for everything."
Eric was surprised when Bob hugged Eric and offered condolences to him. It didn't matter. Donna was dead and
nothing was going to bring her back. He had to get out of the claustrophobic room and into the security of his.
Eric Forman was beginning to fear the world.
1 Week Later
May 11, 1977 (Wednesday)
The nightmares started for Eric Forman.
It was so hard to find the will to live anymore.
He wished that Donna was dead and after her one night stand with Hyde, Bob was
dealt a double blow when Midge left for California 1 day after the funeral and reception,
and despite Kitty's best efforts, he sat alone in the house waiting to die.
Red sat in the kitchen drinking a coffee trying to get his son to eat at least a bowl of cereal.
The kid was naturally skinny enough.
"…And Hyde still hasn't said a word to me about Donna! He was the last one to see her
alive."
Red tried to not scare his son with his normal yelling ways.
"You're just telling me this Now!" Red tried not to blow his top; this had to be very
difficult for Eric.
It was complex for Red to put the puzzle together without worrying anyone or putting
everyone who was still left in danger.
It was a good thing that Kitty started her shift at the hospital.
"Where is Steven now?" Red asked
"At the Fotohut."
"Steven was at Donna's the night she died?" Red tried to make it sound as much of a
generalization as possible.
"I was going to surprise her after work and I heard her tell Hyde that she loved him!
HIM! No wonder he can't say anything to me!" It was a good thing his father wasn't
giving him a hard time over crying and not being an unrealistic macho man that kept everything in. "Then I ran
off….Dad…this is all my fault! I wished that she was dead that night."
"Eric," Red held his son's hand under the circumstances, "It's not your fault."
Bless Eric for not being able to connect the dots.
Red had one more thing to do.
It was small, but it was the only thing he could think of.
Spiders
The doppelganger wasn't at the Fotohut, he was at the exotic pet store in Madison buying
4 tarantulas. He let the one they called "Moe" crawl up his arm, would Eric Forman have
a heart attack? It was an amusing scenario to ponder. "Larry", "Curly", and "Shemp" were in their
dry aquarium. He couldn't wait to tell Hyde about his plans, he thought about buying a
scorpion, but he didn't have enough money. Red was now giving him weird looks at the
dinner table, after he disposed of the kids; he was going to have to find away to rid the
Earth of the nosy Forman parents. May they regret the day they took Steven Hyde in.
He paid for his spiders and headed for Mommy's house.
Edna's
When Hyde saw the dry aquarium filled with 4 tarantulas his heart sank further down into his chest.
The twin wasn't going to do the easy thing and just kill Eric, no he was going to make him suffer. Forman hated
little garden spiders; He was even afraid of plastic toy spiders; these big, hairy ones were going to
drive him mad, with the tape temporarily off his mouth, he wasn't afraid to speak, it was getting too close to
Jackie and Mrs. Forman being next.
"If you're going to kill him, just do it - you know he's going to freak out..." It took all of the energy he had to get
that sentence out.
Forman was probably on his last nerve after losing Donna.
"By the way, Eric knows you slept with Donna before her untimely death…too bad."
2 days later
May 13, 1977 (Friday)
Today was easy.
His brother cut class all the time; no one would expect anything less. He just had to get out of Jackie's annoying
thumb. She was like a virus that wouldn't go away. Steven this. Steven that. He really wanted to strangle her in
the cafeteria. Kitty, ever his champion, was working, Eric obviously a zoned out robot at school, and Red at
Pricemart. He wanted to know where he kept it. His closet seemed like a good place to start, it was where most
of the disgusting middle class Americans kept their secrets. Wasn't Kitty a good little wife making sure
everything was ironed and hung on neat wooden hangers? All that was on the floor were some shoes, hidden
presents for the next holiday, and some old umbrellas. He was certain Red would have kept it in here. He closed
the closet door.
In the garage? Why would he be dumb enough to keep it outside? And he was supposed to be the stern yet
smart father? Maybe under the bed? He made his way to the floor and searched under the bed, there wasn't
even a dust bunny to be found let alone what he was searching for. Come on. He supposed he would try the
garage. No other room made sense. He made sure everything was how he found it and headed outside towards
the garage. What do you know? The long black case stood out like a sore thumb it was in the back hidden by
Kitty's dress form.
Key?
Red probably had one attached to his key chain and probably the spare was hanging from the nail on the tool
shelf.
He was semi-shocked when it opened and there was Red's hunting rifle. He had a revolver, but there was
something sexy about a long rifle. He let his fingers caress the body of the gun.
"Would you like tell me what the fuck you think you are doing?"
Exposed.
But that was part of the fun. He could test it here or at the very least whack the elder
Forman with it, but it wasn't the time for that. He turned around.
"Mr. Forman, I thought you were at work?"
He took the hunting rifle out of his hands, "Steven Hyde you have 2 seconds to give your
dumbass explanation to me…"
This proved Red was lying about giving him more independence than the Wimp.
He knew something.
He was testing him.
Not Steven only needed 1 excuse.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Forman. I knew you'd say no, that's why I skipped class. I'm doing
research for a school paper…I wasn't going to do anything…." At that moment he
wished Kelso was around, "Honest….."
"You have no right to touch my things. How about we go back to giving you
punishment?"
"Whatever."
Mr. Forman never came home for lunch when Mrs. Forman wasn't there, he was on to
him. Why did he come home? It was so obvious. The twin was running out of time to
finish them off and he knew it.
"I suggest you go back to school….better yet, get in my car and I'll drop you off there."
"Yes, Sir. You aren't going to tell Mrs. Forman are you?"
"That's not your concern, dumbass."
After 5 minutes into the ride Red spoke again.
"Did you eat lunch today?"
"No."
Red pulled into a gas station parking lot; there was a vending machine by the air pump.
"I wouldn't want Mrs. Forman to think you didn't have anything to eat." He gave Hyde a
stack of quarters, "Get me something too."
He noticed the contents of the vending machine when he filled up the Toyota's tank yesterday
and the guy who filled up the machines was there and he requested that he put some bags
of popcorn in front of the stale zero candy bars which nobody liked.
It was luck.
He hated what his mind was telling him.
He just didn't have the complete piece.
Red rolled down the driver side window as Hyde gave him the red can of regular soda and a bag of chips as he
walked to the passenger side door to enter the car.
"You got yourself a cherry pop?"
"Why? Did you want to switch?"
He could kill the old man right here and no one would notice. It would be cool to murder one of these
motherfucker's in broad daylight.
"Oh no. Too much sugar compared to the regular. Kitty would have my head on a platter."
Red watched as the foil bag was opened and Hyde ate without any reservation from the bag of caramel popcorn
as the car drove on to Point Place High.
Son of a Bitch.
Author's Note: *3 Kids: They still don't know about Laurie.
**I know we didn't see the dining room in the Pinciotti house (or the actual stairs to the 2nd level), but
it's implied.
Thanks to Marla's Lost for researching spiders for me so I didn't have to. (more coming in a future
chapter).