Chapter Text
January 1970
Steven Hyde walked through the dark streets of Point Place alone. Mr. Forman’s brother from Chicago got hurt, and the whole Forman clan went to see him for the weekend, which means that Hyde had nowhere to go.
He stayed with Kelso and Donna for a big chunk of the day, but Bob doesn’t like when Donna has boys over after it was dark out, so he and Kelso had to take off.
He walked Kelso to his home, because Hyde was not in a hurry to get to his own house. It was a Saturday, and Edna tends to go a little crazy on Saturdays, that’s why he would often sleep over at the Forman’s.
He was lucky Bob and Midge made them snacks too, because Edna rarely buys any food for the weekends. She tends to spend the little money they have on booze and drugs.
He spent as much time as possible walking around, trying to avoid going home to Edna, but there wasn’t much he could do, it was very cold outside, and he didn’t have a nice jacket to keep him warm, he needed to go home. It was trashy, but at least there was heat. He hoped Edna would be passed out by now, but he doubted, it was still early.
The minute he reached his block, he sighed. He could already hear the sounds of beer bottles clinking and the voices of his mom’s stoner friends. She definitely was not asleep, crap.
Someone threw a beer bottle in his direction, and the glass shattered all over the shitty pavement. He glanced in the direction the bottle came from and saw his mother’s laughing figure sitting on the porch. Fucking fantastic.
“Home already, kiddo?” She asked, slurring with her words and blowing the smoke from the cigarette in her hand.
“It’s cold” He shrugged and tried to get inside the house before his mother would start with her usual drunken ramblings, which usually ended up with her blaming him for her shitty life.
His mother grabbed his arm to stop him and he sighed in frustration.
“You couldn’t have stayed with your friend today?” She asked bitterly
“He’s outta town with his folks” He answered, hoping she would drop it and let him go to his room.
“It wasn’t enough for you to ruin my career, now you have to ruin my weekend too?” She said, puffing out another cloud of smoke
“Believe me, I wouldn’t be here if I had somewhere else to go” Hyde answered
“Aren’t you a smartass?” Edna taunted him and laughed slyly.
“I want to go inside, it’s cold,” Hyde said simply. If he learned something from all of his 11 miserable years with Edna, is that there was no use in arguing with her.
“I know something that will warm you up in a second” She slurred out and laughed, forcefully grabbing his right hand on her bony fingers and putting out her cigarette on his skin.
He felt his skin burning and tried to pull his hand off her tight grip, the pain brought tears into his eyes and it was almost unbearable. But she held on tighter, pressing the burnt stub onto his skin as she laughed.
"Tears?" Edna mocked at the sight of Hyde's teary eyes "Aren't you supposed to be a tough guy?"
He held himself back. He wanted to tell her to fuck off so badly, but he knew better. If he did, he would have to spend the night wandering the streets, and he wasn't in the mood to freeze to death.
She flicked the bud onto the snow, and finally let go of his hand. The pain didn't go away though, in fact, it got worse. He thanked a God he wasn't so sure he believed in for making Wisconsin winters so cold. He would be able to hide the burn by wearing gloves and ease the pain by shoving his hand onto the snow that probably accumulated by his bedroom's dingy window.
Hyde glanced one last time at his stoned and drunk pathetic excuse of a mother and headed inside the house, holding his right hand on his left one.
Sometimes he wished the soulmate thing wasn't real. He doesn't like the thought of an innocent girl suffering all the pain his mother puts him through.
But he knew better, the universe never cared about his wishes, otherwise, he would have a different mother. He just hoped that the girl who had the bad luck of being his soulmate had a strong support system or whatever, because his shitty reality isn't changing anytime soon.
Meanwhile, in Point Place's community theater…
10 year old Jackie anxiously tried to peek through the closed blinds. Today was probably one of the most exciting days of her life, she was about to play on her first piano recital ever! She was trying her hardest to not be nervous, because she’s a Burkhart, and Burkhart’s excel on absolutely everything they do – according to her mother. She practiced every day for hours, she wanted to be perfect, because both of her parents promised they’d watch her play today.
“Miss Burkhart, it’s almost time, are you ready?”
“Yes I am, Mrs. Crawford! I have my sheet here with me – even though I don’t need it, just as a precaution” Jackie said excitedly, and her music teacher smiled
“You’re going to do great, Jackie,” She said with a small smile “Go wait over there, you’re up next”
Jackie nodded and went to wait where her teacher indicated. Her heart was beating so fast, and she couldn’t keep the smile off her face. She couldn’t wait to be praised by her parents.
They already missed her dance recital, and neither of them was there when she won the trophy for “Prettiest Ballerina”, but they promised they would attend her piano recital, that’s why she decided she would play one of the hardest songs, so she could impress them.
She knew none of her colleagues had the ability to play this song; most of them were playing “Fur Elise” or “Ode to Joy”. She wanted to be the best, so she chose “Clair de Lune” by Debussy, one of her father’s favorites songs. He likes to listen to it when he’s smoking his cigars, so she made sure to learn just to make him proud.
When she heard Mrs. Crawford calling her name, she’d put on her stage smile, the one her mother taught her so long ago. When she entered the stage, she glanced at the audience, trying to find the familiar faces of her parents. She didn’t see either of them, and she had to repress the urge to cry.
They bailed on her, again. They promised they would make it!
She took a deep breath and saw Martina’s familiar face. She was giving her a sad smile, and Jackie sighed. She likes Martina, but she would never fill the hole left by her mother. It’s not like Martina wants to be there anyway, she only went because she’s paid to do so.
Jackie quickly forced a smile and went to sit at the piano bench. If her parents didn’t want to be there, that’s their loss. There was a good amount of LOPP’s mothers there, she hoped they would tell her mother later how she played beautifully, and her mother better feel bad.
She stretched her fingers the way Mrs. Crawford taught her and placed the music sheet in its proper place. The second her fingers touched the piano keys, she felt herself relaxing a bit, and when she started to play, she genuinely smiled. The first couple of minutes of the song went smoothly, some people even clapped when she mastered the transition from the slow part of the song to the slightly faster one.
Then she stopped playing, and not because the song was over.
Out of nowhere, she felt a blinding pain in her hand. She whimpered in pain and held her right hand with her left one, tears involuntarily falling from her eyes.
Mrs. Crawford quickly ran to see what was going on with her best student, and she sighed when she saw a black peony appearing on the girl’s hand.
“It’s burning, Mrs. Crawford” Jackie cried, and the older woman placed her hand on her shoulder.
“I know honey, you know what that means, right?” She said, and Jackie nodded.
That means that her soulmate was hurting. Again.
Last week Jackie got a new flower on her shoulder, and the week before that, she felt like someone was slapping her on her face.
Thank God that bruises on the face don’t leave flower marks, otherwise, people would see her as a freak, because she feels like she’s being slapped or punched on at least once a week.
Mrs. Crawford guided her out of the stage and made her sit on a small bench near the dressing rooms. Jackie carefully rubbed her hand, the pain was starting to subside a little, the black peony marking the exact place where it was hurting.
“Do you want to go back and start again, Jackie?” The woman gently asked, and Jackie shook her head.
All she wanted to do was go back home and pray for her soulmate to get the help he needs. She doesn’t know why he gets hurt so often, but she wanted it to stop. For both of their sakes.
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