Author Note: After Season 8, I know it was terrible but I'm taking my readers for a ride. Don't ask too many questions in the beginning, because the answers will come to you in the following chapters. Enjoy….

She Put a Spell on Me

T7S

Chapter 01 –Coming Home

December 1979

Thump. Thump. Boom. The manman drum had been beating steadily for the last hour. Thump. Thump. Boom. Boom. Every couple of minutes the bula and segond drums would strike a discordant beat and Eric Forman could feel his head slowly dropping. He was so sleepy and it was most likely from that mix of herbs, flowers and rum the Congo tribe leader, Prince Moudjibou, gave him to drink. The Prince loved his rum.

This was a going away celebration for the Americans who were teaching students in the far away villages. The Congo leader found that a party was the best way to thank those who taught the young children some of the New Ways of the World yet still kept them within the tribe.

The flames of the fire were hot and sparks glowed in the darkness. Eric could barely see the tools in his clumsy hands. He was trying to weave a strand of hemp around two sticks that crossed each other. The high priestess of the tribe, Saadiya, helped his awkward fingers turn the stick cross into a doll. Pelts and pieces from an aardvarks hide became the dolls hair and two dabs of coal dust were the eyes. She showed him her brilliant white teeth as she dipped the end of her braid into a small cup of blood and painted a mouth on the little voodoo doll.

The Congo leader grinned and said, "Jy is beskerm van die bose. Pasop vir die verlies van jou beskerming. Jy kan veroorsaak indien dit nie versigtig kwaad American. Pasop. "

The Prince looked at the puzzled expressions on the American's faces and repeated the mantra in English. "You are protected from evil. Beware of losing your protection. You can cause evil if not careful American. Beware."

Eric held up the blue cloth doll for the leader's tribal blessing and promptly passed out.

The last thing Eric remembered was being put on a plane. He was on the last flight to Point Place and it was New Year's Eve, 1979. He was going home.

T7S

Eric Forman was the classic dumbass, his dad's patience had worn thin and now he was forced to take a taxi home from the Kenosha airport. Fortunately, he had enough money on him to cover the fare. Donna was waiting in the driveway and although she kissed him and told him she loved him….there was anger there. He could feel it between her words.

He spent a nice half hour getting stoned with his friends before the next decade burst on the horizon. With his friends pretending to be happy and his mom pretty much toasted, Eric sat on the front porch watching the Wisconsin sunrise. It was so much colder than Africa and yet he almost missed the craziness he left behind. His dad came out with an extra cup of hot coffee and sat down next to him on the brick stoop. "Good to have you home son."

Eric looked at his dad. Did Red always look so frail or was it because he was gone for some time and hadn't seen his father everyday? "Thanks Dad."

"No mushiness or I'll pretend this little conversation never happened."

"I'm not saying a word." Eric replied looking at the soft pink and orange sky.

"Good." A few moments passed in companionable silence and Red commented, "You know your mother? She was really worried about you. Those dumbasses passed out in the basement? They never left!"

Red sighed. "Maybe if you get a job, I can get them out of my house." Red swallowed the last of his coffee and stood up. In a rare display of emotion, he put a hand on his son's shoulder. "Get some sleep – I expect you to be employed by the end of the week."

"I missed you too dad."

T7S

February 1980

Eric spent the first couple of days of the New Year adjusting to Central Standard Time. It was sort of difficult being seven hours ahead of the rest of the general population. He quickly found a part-time job bussing dishes at one of Point Place's finer eating establishments - but in reality, he wanted to get back to teaching.

After a month of menial labor, Eric found a tutor position available in a private school that paid reasonably yet still gave him time to look for a more permanent job. The flexible hours allowed him weekends off and time to reconnect with his old basement friends. But, sadly, some people never changed.

Hyde still slept on the cot in the back room but Eric had totally missed the whole stripper saga. (Thank God!) Kelso was a plastic badge security guard at Point Place Mall. Every other weekend, he would drive to Chicago and visit his baby girl while trying to woo Brooke back into his arms.

Fez and Jackie never worked out. That midnight kiss at New Year's that Eric had the misfortune to witness, was the last kiss between the cheerleader and the foreign exchange student. Now they were merely friendly roommates and co-workers.

Donna still went on to college in Madison as planned. The only real change was his parents decided not to sell their house which was Bob's big retirement plan. So Bob decided to stay, but travel a lot so his "pumpkin" would have his car when she visited every other weekend. It was a plan that Bob liked plus he got to stay next door to his two best friends!

-o-

This just happened to be one of those weekends that Kelso was in town and Donna came down from Madison to hang out in the Forman basement. Donna and Jackie were lounging on the sofa. Hyde was sitting with his booted feet up on a stool and Fez was loving his Three Musketeers bar. Eric was balanced on the back of the sofa just listening to Donna praise her college professors and wonder why didn't the rest of you losers go to school?

Hyde was lamenting the lack of good "stuff" while Jackie was going on and on about cutting her hair. Kelso was playing with a Rubik's cube or trying to pull the stickers off, Eric wasn't sure. He just looked at the scene playing out before him and wondered why he bothered coming home at all.

His friends desire to continuously watch reruns on TV or just for a better word, laziness, was bothering Eric. Jackie's hair problem was also starting to bug the hell out of the younger Forman. Maybe because she was an easy target or maybe because she wasn't a close friend, Eric just let his irritation show.

Eric looked at the brunette and when she caught his eye, he said, "You know Jackie…you have no boyfriend, you work in a salon with your roommate, your best friend doesn't like you and your hair is an ugly shade of brown. What are you even doing down here?"

Jackie opened her mouth ready to deliver the best burn of all burns yet all that came out was a squeak. A tiny little squeak. She folded her arms across her chest and fumed silently.

Hyde nodded his head at the significant delivery of that special burn. Michael's mouth opened in surprise. Donna laughed out loud. Cracking up, Fez fell off his chair and onto the floor. Jackie was still fuming. While on the ground, Fez discovered Eric's rucksack next to the stereo.

"Eric. What is this?" Fez held the sack in one hand and his precious candy bar in the other. Eric smiled for the first time since he came down to the basement. "Hey….my souvenir bag from Africa! I wondered where that went."

He leaned forward and snagged the handle pulling the bag towards him and unfortunately, the contents spilled onto Jackie's lap. She looked down and spied the little straw doll clad in the denim fabric and Hyde snorted, "Hey Jackie, looks like you have a new friend."

She picked it up with her thumb and forefinger and said, "Ew…what is this?"

Donna laughed, "I don't know but it matches your jeans jacket."

Fez saw the doll and gasped, falling to the floor covering his eyes. "Aiiyyy! Take it away! Eric! It's bad!"

Eric chuckled. "That's my voodoo doll. It's made to ward off evil and protect me from the devil." He took the straw doll from Jackie's pinched fingers and said, "Wait a minute. You are evil. We think of you as the devil….Jackie; this doll is made to protect moi…." He pointed to his chest and then back at Jackie "…from you." He grinned and tossed it back in her lap,

Jackie screamed and jumped off the couch, the straw doll falling on the floor. "Eric Forman! You are mean and evil! How could you do that! And…and it's not…it's not even cute!"

Fez peered between his fingers. "Is it gone?"

Eric tossed the hemp doll back at Jackie who batted it towards Donna. The blonde laughed and tossed it to Hyde. He held it up to his nose. "Hey, I think I can smoke this!"

"Aiiyyy!" Fez saw the coal dust eyes staring at him, scrambled to his bewildered feet and ready to flee out the back door.

Jackie could see the blood red lips of the voodoo doll smiling at her, "STEVEN!"

"What?" he said while looking under the denim cloth at the hemp "body".

"Do something." She nearly cried.

"Jackie, I'm not your bitch anymore. If you can't play nice, get out of the basement."

Kelso nearly fell off the lawn chair laughing. "Hyde's a bitch." He caught the sun-glassed glare and quickly rephrased, "I mean Hyde's not a bitch."

With Eric's mocking laughter in the background, Jackie looked at the people she thought were her friends. They were all laughing and taunting her with the African straw doll. She couldn't take it anymore. Jackie turned and ran up the stairs calling for Mr. Forman.

Donna wiped tears from her eyes, "God, Eric that was the best burn I've ever heard. I don't think we'll see Jackie for a while."

Hyde sighed, "If only I had one of these a year and a half ago!"

Eric grabbed the voodoo doll and stuck it back in the bag. "Hyde, I'd hate to think that this thing could have changed your life."

Eric heard Red yelling from the kitchen. "Oh great. Little Miss Devil Woman tattled on me." He exhaled resignedly. "If I come back with a boot in my ass, you'll know why."

-o-

"….and she's a girl!" Kitty said in a scolding voice. Red wagged his finger in his son's face. "Of all your friends, she's the only tolerable one and you chased her away."

Kitty leaned forward, "You made a girl cry Eric. A girl! Shame on you!"

Eric held up his hands. "Okay, nice try. You're not going to make me feel bad about chasing away Jackie, but she's not my friend. Not really. She's Fez's roommate. She's Kelso's ex-girlfriend. If you want to get detailed, she's Hyde's ex-girlfriend and Donna never really even liked her. She is just …in the way."

Red narrowed his eyes. "She paid for your engagement ring for the wedding that never happened."

Kitty added, "She took you shopping for a tuxedo for a wedding that never happened."

Red leaned forward, "She called to tell your sorry ass goodbye from Chicago. These are things friends do. Maybe she wasn't your friend, but she thought of you as one of hers."

"…And you chased her away!" Kitty said scathingly. "She got my brownies on television. Maybe she got the name wrong but Jackie Burkhart tried so hard to be a good friend to you and you just couldn't see it."

Red snarled, "So just trot downstairs to your real friends and see which one of them helps you out when you really need it."

T7S

Jackie stopped at her Lincoln and fumbled through her purse to find the car keys. A light snow had started falling and normally she would have just smiled and let the fresh flakes melt on her tongue, but instead, hot tears scalded her cheeks.

How could Eric Forman be so coldhearted? Sure, in years back, they teased each other but there was an unspoken friendship there. Steven wouldn't even help her and Michael! They all laughed at her like she was Carrie in that Steven King movie!

She didn't want to go home; Fez would be there so Jackie turned onto the street and headed east. She'd drive to Salem or Silver Lake and stay in a motel – anywhere was preferable to Point Place and Eric Forman now! Jackie Burkhart had money in her pocket and a pain in her heart. She just needed to get away.

-o-

Eric skipped down the stairs and his friends barely acknowledged that he was back. Okay….so the repeat of Charlie's Angels was THAT good….maybe. He sat on the vacated cushion next to Donna. With Jackie gone, maybe this relationship could be salvaged. The blonde head turned and looked at him. "You know Eric….you were rather harsh. Normally, I wouldn't say anything, but you haven't been around Jackie in the last few months. She's grown up more than you think."

Eric scoffed. "You are defending her?"

Hyde swiveled in his chair. "Forman, as much as I love a good burn…and that was a damn good one too…you may have gone a little overboard. I think you should consider apologizing. If Jackie doesn't come back, we'll have no one to pick on."

Kelso laughed, "Yeah…and…and I won't get to see boobs on the weekends that Donna's not here."

Donna reached out and frogged Kelso on the arm. "You idiot, I don't show you my boobs now….how does this make any difference?"

Kelso rubbed his arm, "You hit hard for a girl!" Kelso went on to explain, "Jackie's okay - she's just different and that's why we like her. Eric, you were brutal and I admire that but…what Hyde said."

Donna stood up, "I'm going home. Dad's making something weird for dinner and being down here is a bummer."

Eric watched his chance of reconnecting with Donna slip away. Hyde and Kelso disapproved of the burn of the century and suddenly, Eric Forman was the bad guy?

"Why don't you go too Kelso?" Eric suggested slightly pissed off. "I think its Hyde's beddy-bye time."

"Get bent Forman." Hyde snapped. He stood up and tipped over his chair and strode across the basement floor slamming the door to his bedroom. Kelso shrugged and left through the basement door.

Eric Forman was alone.

Friendless.

And in a basement.

This so sucked.

T7S