1,241Here's chapter 3. This chapter is somewhat small, but I promise that I'll keep adding more details with each chapter. This is my first fanfiction, and I'm still "learning" the ropes of it. Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read this! Célia
Sookie "Runaway"
It had been ten days since I had gone to Fangtasia and had last talked to Eric. True to his word, he hadn't called me or tried to contact me since that night.
Pam, on the other hand, showed up at my place first dark the next night (I had spent the day in my bedroom crying). She wanted to know what had happened because Eric wasn't his normal self. And I explained. I told her that I was afraid to be in their world and that I needed to be by myself for a while.
"I don't want to end up dead or undead Pam. And we both know that that's what's gonna happen to me if I don't leave. I just… I just need to leave for some time," I said. What I didn't tell her, was that "some time" probably meant a few years. At least!
She then started asking about Eric and our bond and our marriage. But I simply answered her that Eric was my friend and that, in that capacity, he had understood my needs and he had acquiesced (word of the day, sometime last summer) with my desire to be left alone. She insisted, obviously. She said that they could protect me and that I was needed there. After almost forty minutes though, Pam too understood that I wasn't going to change my mind. And after I had promised to keep in touch, to tell her my new address and to call the second I thought I was in trouble, she kissed me goodbye and left.
And then, for the second night in a row, I went to bed without dinner and cried myself to sleep.
The next day, however, I woke up feeling adventurous and somewhat happy that I was still going according to plan. I had my breakfast, dressed and went to Merlotte's. My conversation with Sam was hard, and I felt really sad when he told me that he wasn't just losing his best waitress but his best friend as well. Yet again, I explained that I needed to change my life and meet new people (new living people) and I promised to call often. I left Merlotte's with tears in my eyes and unable to talk to my ex-coworkers. I'd be back before I left though.
Next on my list was my brother. And so, that same day, I met him for lunch and I told him about my plan to just leave. Unpredictably, Jason agreed with me and told me that I was right leaving Bon Temps and all the mess in my life. And you know what? My big brother even said that he would take care of Gran's house for me, maybe even rent it and send me the money left from property taxes and insurance fees. "You deserve some peace sis. And I'll help you from here," he said. And after lunch, we kissed goodbye, and we said that we'd meet again for lunch at Gran's next Saturday. And right then and there, I decided that I would cook him all his favorite food.
After lunch, I met Tara at her shop and she was as supportive as Jason. After her Franklin-Mickey episode, she could only encourage me to leave "all those bloodsuckers" (as she called the vampires) behind and live my life. I left Tara's Togs at 4pm and I drove to Monroe because I had called Claudine that morning and we had agreed to meet at the mall there.
Half way through our meeting, both Claude and Niall showed up and it was obvious that they already knew my plans. Claudine had probably called them in some silent-secret-Fay-mental-telephone way. Or something. But even thought I was surprised to see them there, I was happy to be able to say goodbye to them both. I left almost two hours later thinking that it was really odd that neither Claude, Claudine nor Niall had tried to change my mind, like Pam had. And that neither of them had also said that it was the right call to leave, like Jason and Tara had. They just accepted it was my choice. And I was grateful for that. As others before, they made me promise to keep in touch.
I used the fact that I was at the mall to by a new suitcase and some other things that I'd need for my impending move. And so, when I got home later that day, it was already past sun-set and I wasn't surprised to see Bill at my doorstep. I asked him inside, offered him a True Blood and for the last time that awful day, I explained that I was leaving. Bill listened to me, wished me good luck and then asked for my forgiveness. I answered him that I had already forgiven him for "Lorena and everything" (meaning: all the lies and the time when he had almost drained me to death).
"No Sookie, that's not it, I'd like you to forgive me for the fact that I met you and introduced you to all these people you are running away from. I am really sorry I showed up at Merlotte's that first night," he said. I slowly moved into his direction and I kissed his cheek, right before I told him that everything was forgiven and forgotten. Bill then put his arm around me and we sort of hugged while I thanked him for the good friend that he was. As with everybody else, I promised to call often and then I properly hugged Bill with all my strength.
When he left, I walked with him to the cemetery so I could say goodbye to my grandmother as well. When we arrived at her tomb, Bill kissed my forehead, he said that he loved me still and then left me there with my lamp. I talked to my Gran for nearly an hour before I went home. I made a cheese grilled sandwich and I had dinner watching TV. And then something great happened because when I went to bed, I didn't cry. I just read a few chapters of my book and then I slept hugging my pillow.
I spent day number three AD (After Decision) boxing everything. There were a few boxes with things I wanted to keep with me (my Gran's quilt and some old bed linens, Gran's jewellery, old photo books, my clothes and a few other things like that). But most boxes were labelled "red cross" or "garbage" instead.
And that night, I didn't cry either.
The next day Amelia showed up. She had been staying at Tray's almost every night for the past month and she was actually shocked when I told her that I was leaving. An hour later, however, she was also packing her own stuff and saying that that was the "push" she needed to stay with Tray definitively. I insisted that she could stay there even without me, but she just answered that Tray really wanted her to move in with him. And in her mind, I also heard that she wanted that as well.
Amelia left my home on the next night with all her clothes, TV, computer and everything else packed in her trunk and back seat. She was excited to be officially moving in with Tray and I prayed that my friend would be happy in her new life. We hugged and we promised to stay in touch between smiles. However, after I waved Amelia down the driveway, the broad smile dropped from my face. And that was when I sat on the porch steps and I cried.
The next week was spent boxing my things and searching for a new home and job. I had decided that I would stay more or less close (I wouldn't be moving to Oregon or Washington, that was for sure) and so, Cleveland, Tennessee was my choice. Sam had a were friend there with a restaurant and I was already promised a job. Finding a place to live wasn't hard either and I managed to find a nice furnished one-bedroom apartment down town in the internet (at least, the photos were of a nice furnished one bedroom apartment down town).
Two days before my departure there was a Sookie's Farewell Party at Merlotte's and I was wished good-luck and managed to say goodbye to all my friends. Later that day, when it was dark, even a few vamps showed there: Bill and Pam, obviously, but also Dahlia and Clancy. I had wanted to ask Pam about Eric since that last night I had been to Fangtasia, and being with her was making it harder to not ask. But luckily, I managed to fight that compulsion, and I didn't even say his name.
And on the day after my Farewell Party, I managed to finish packing and then I put everything in my car. And later that day, I slept for the last night in my (now empty) home.
I left Bon Temps very early on the next morning. And even though the drive to Tennessee was hard and long, I managed it. And a week and a half after my talk with Eric, I was able to feel accomplished because I had achieved my goal.
Now I just had to forget him and start living again.
So? What did you think about this chapter? Next: Eric meets Ocella.
"Runaway" is a Bon Jovi song, written in 1980 and originally recorded in 1981.