Old Soul (A True Blood Fan Fiction)

Chapter Two: A New Friend

Chapter Two: A New Friend

I woke up gasping for breath. Sweat dripped from every pore making the sheets cling onto me like a second skin. I tried to wrestle my way out of the sheets but it was extremely difficult. I ended up on the floor. Ray was already on his feet trying to help me up. My arms and legs felt like jelly as I tried to pick myself off the floor. I stumbled towards the door when I finally had enough strength to get up. Using hallway walls to keep me up, I staggered to the bathroom. Just as I opened the bathroom door I fell onto the linoleum tiles. It knocked the breath out of me, leaving me gasping like a fish out of water. I dragged myself up to my elbows, crawling towards the tub. With great difficulty I heaved myself into the tub and kicked the nozzle up, not caring if it was hot or cold, just wanting to feel the water rush across my skin. I rested my head on the back of the tub and rested as the water began to fill the tub. I was already starting to breathe normally.

A wet tongue licked my cheek, startling me. I glanced over to see Ray watching me with a peculiar expression. I gave his head a rub before I dunked my head under the freezing water. The water kept rising and rising while I relaxed in the bath.

My dream kept running through my mind. It played like a movie behind my closed eyelids. I could hear my screams and feel the leather belt slash across my back. I remembered how they regarded me from a distance, but I could see the loathing flash through their eyes. My dreams always contained some bad memory of those people. Those people called me their daughter and sister to everyone. But they lied. I didn’t even share a drop of their blood in my veins. Just the thought of them made me want gag.

Suddenly a hand broke through the surface, grabbing me out of the water. It happened so fast that I was left breathless. I sputtered out some water that had gotten into my mouth. My vision was still blurred with water so I couldn’t see who was pulling me out of the tub. I blinked my eyes to see Jason gawking at me with concern.

We stared at each other for a few seconds before I crumpled into his arms. Tears streamed down my face. I haven’t cried in a long time. I had plenty of reasons to cry before, but it was never the right time. I don’t have a reason to at the moment, but it sure was the perfect time. Sobs raked my body as I clung to Jason like he was my life raft in the middle of the ocean. I was glad he wasn’t patting my head awkwardly; he actually stroked my hair like he knew exactly what to do. I was still sopping water in my pajamas but he didn’t mind. Jason pulled me up into his arms and carried me out of the bathroom and down the hall back to my bedroom. He laid us both gently onto the bed. My head fit perfectly in the crook of his neck. I wasn’t sobbing anymore, but the tears just kept coming. I was pretty sure the bed was soaked along with Jason’s shorts. Jason held me until all the tears I had held in for months dried up. When my sniffling ceased he finally pulled us up into a sitting position, me in his lap, and pulled my damp hair out of my face.

A smile tugged at the corners of my lips. “You don’t want to do that. My face gets really ugly when I cry. Seriously my face is the definition of red and puffy when I cry.”

That made him laugh, loudly. His laugh was infectious; I couldn’t help but laugh with him. Our laughs made Ray excited so he started barking with a playful expression on his face. Jason leaned over me to scratch his chin. Ray was in heaven. I could tell by how he leaned into Jason’s hand and had his eyes shut.

I was definitely staying here for a while.

I didn’t go back to sleep that night. The dreams were just going to come back and I definitely did not want that to happen. I had changed out of my sopping pajamas and took them down to the basement to put them in the washer. As I traveled through the house I noticed that it was pretty messy. Dirty clothes and trash were strewn all over the place. Jason had went back to his bedroom to go back to sleep. Maybe I could surprise him when he woke back up.