FIC - Is That You?
title: Is That You?
pairing: None
Rating: PG
Prompt: Phantom Hitchhiker
Fandom: True Blood. Warning: SPOILERS for most of the series.
It had been one hell of a shift tonight. Rowdy assholes, it’s not like they didn’t already know I was a mind reading freak, couldn’t they keep that shit, I mean, crap, to themselves? Oh, I’ve got nice tits, like I’ve never “heard” that before. Whatever.
All I wanted was to get home and into bed and maybe watch a couple of Buffy reruns with a glass of wine. But about half a mile out from Merlotte’s, I saw a young girl walking alone on the side of the road. It was past midnight, what the hell? Hoping I wouldn’t scare her, I slowed down and leaned over to roll down the passenger side window.
“You all right, hon? Need a ride? A phone?”
“If you could take me up the road a ways, I’d be awfully grateful,” replied the woman, who was most definitely younger than me but not a kid, thank goodness. I told her to get in and kept heading in the same direction.
“Looks like you’ve had a tough night, I appreciate the ride.”
I wasn’t really sure what to say. It’s not like I was the kind of person to drive past a girl walking alone late at night and not offer to help.
“It’s no trouble, really. I’m Sookie, I don’t live far. Where you headed, honey?”
“Not sure, really. If you don’t mind me asking, and I know you’re tired and it looks like you just got off work, but…do you like your life?”
Seemed like an awfully personal question to be asked by a total stranger, but I couldn’t get anything out of her head, it was like a blank slate, and for some reason it didn’t bother me to answer her.
“Sure. Got a job, a house, a brother who loves me, good friends. Can’t complain, I guess.”
“Strange town, Bon Temps, seems like to me. You seem like a nice girl. Think you might find love here, sweetheart?”
I couldn’t explain why it seemed so natural to answer, but I did. “I thought I might have. Still think I might, maybe…it’s complicated. Like you said, strange town. But if I’m going to find love, it’s gonna be here. Not like I’m goin’ anywhere else.”
“Oh, you’ll find it, I know you will.”
We settled into an easy silence, and when I got to my turnoff, I turned to ask which way she was going. But she was gone. I was alone in the car and all of a sudden the only thing I wanted in the world was to be home in my bed.
Changing into my nightclothes, my eyes set upon a stack of old photo albums. I grabbed the one from the bottom of the pile and settled into bed to look through, see how far this one went back.
I only got about four pages in before I saw her. The girl who’d been in my car that night, there and gone within minutes, a black and white photo of her laughing and dipping her feet into a creek. Baffled, I slid the photo out of its plastic cover and turned it over.
It was taken in 1947.
Gran. It was Gran. But how…
I shook my head and put the book aside, suddenly feeling safe and comforted.
Like she said, strange town, Bon Temps. Never know what’s going to happen next.
pairing: None
Rating: PG
Prompt: Phantom Hitchhiker
Fandom: True Blood. Warning: SPOILERS for most of the series.
It had been one hell of a shift tonight. Rowdy assholes, it’s not like they didn’t already know I was a mind reading freak, couldn’t they keep that shit, I mean, crap, to themselves? Oh, I’ve got nice tits, like I’ve never “heard” that before. Whatever.
All I wanted was to get home and into bed and maybe watch a couple of Buffy reruns with a glass of wine. But about half a mile out from Merlotte’s, I saw a young girl walking alone on the side of the road. It was past midnight, what the hell? Hoping I wouldn’t scare her, I slowed down and leaned over to roll down the passenger side window.
“You all right, hon? Need a ride? A phone?”
“If you could take me up the road a ways, I’d be awfully grateful,” replied the woman, who was most definitely younger than me but not a kid, thank goodness. I told her to get in and kept heading in the same direction.
“Looks like you’ve had a tough night, I appreciate the ride.”
I wasn’t really sure what to say. It’s not like I was the kind of person to drive past a girl walking alone late at night and not offer to help.
“It’s no trouble, really. I’m Sookie, I don’t live far. Where you headed, honey?”
“Not sure, really. If you don’t mind me asking, and I know you’re tired and it looks like you just got off work, but…do you like your life?”
Seemed like an awfully personal question to be asked by a total stranger, but I couldn’t get anything out of her head, it was like a blank slate, and for some reason it didn’t bother me to answer her.
“Sure. Got a job, a house, a brother who loves me, good friends. Can’t complain, I guess.”
“Strange town, Bon Temps, seems like to me. You seem like a nice girl. Think you might find love here, sweetheart?”
I couldn’t explain why it seemed so natural to answer, but I did. “I thought I might have. Still think I might, maybe…it’s complicated. Like you said, strange town. But if I’m going to find love, it’s gonna be here. Not like I’m goin’ anywhere else.”
“Oh, you’ll find it, I know you will.”
We settled into an easy silence, and when I got to my turnoff, I turned to ask which way she was going. But she was gone. I was alone in the car and all of a sudden the only thing I wanted in the world was to be home in my bed.
Changing into my nightclothes, my eyes set upon a stack of old photo albums. I grabbed the one from the bottom of the pile and settled into bed to look through, see how far this one went back.
I only got about four pages in before I saw her. The girl who’d been in my car that night, there and gone within minutes, a black and white photo of her laughing and dipping her feet into a creek. Baffled, I slid the photo out of its plastic cover and turned it over.
It was taken in 1947.
Gran. It was Gran. But how…
I shook my head and put the book aside, suddenly feeling safe and comforted.
Like she said, strange town, Bon Temps. Never know what’s going to happen next.