Twilight Zone Chronicles

Season: 1

Episode: 1

The Sunglasses

Rated: T

Main Genre: Supernatural

Death Count: That's up to the reader's interpretation.

Happy Halloween!

Very loosely based upon Dead Woman's Shoes in the '80s version of Twilight Zone.

starring Helen Mirren.

Introduction:

Announcer: "No, no, see I'm an original, a Warhol. You're just a print." The

rebellious Steven Hyde once said to his best friend, the follow-the-rules-type, Eric

Forman when Eric thought he was just like him. Now a new normal is about to begin

in The Twilight Zone.

MAY 1978

It was year since they lost him.

It was year that some random Midwestern drunk in a red Chevy Corvair killed Steven Hyde when he was on his way to

see Jackie after a late night shift at the Fotohut, when his stoned-out boss Leo put an ad in the paper for a midnight

madness special, where all things were marked for free. It was also a year that it took a piece of his best friend Eric

Forman with him. The accepted mythos was there to be shattered. Eric Forman did not get that surge of confidence

from neighbor girl eventually and yet predictably turned to actual girlfriend Donna Pinciotti. He would do or not do

anything regarding her being, if it meant getting into her panties. Eric returned to the stumbling, semi-stuttering

'dumbass' when dealing with his father as if the calendar flipped back to 1976. Kitty suggested to Eric who just

aimlessly lurked around the aisles of Pricemart burdened by a push broom until six months ago when Red fired him for

being too lethargic to be of useful service, to be the one to clean out Hyde's room. What wasn't to be saved or to

given away to the Salvation Army, where some of the things came from in the first place, could be gently tossed away.

Jackie, Hyde's girlfriend, did not want to rifle through his possessions; she just wanted to be left alone from the

well-meaning Forman's. She wanted to be left alone period. No cheerleading with cliquey backstabbing fake friends, no

trips to the mall looking for flawless cashmere and shiny sparkly lip gloss, and no direction, for there was no Hyde

around and he gave every single one of them direction. Donna spent most of her time writing for the school newspaper

and the yearbook. Kelso fucked the easily manipulated girls with the big racks, and Fez spent his days being stuffed

into lockers by strong and dumb jocks that wanted to teach the foreign exchange student a lesson when there wasn't

a bodyguard at the school to save him from such daily travesties. Eric put the pile of Mad and National Lampoon

magazines that were in a gray plastic milk crate on Hyde's cot; he figured he should keep them. It was wrong to throw

his possessions away like spoiled groceries. Maybe, he could read them while smoking a joint and he would be able to

think of his friend during those bouts of insomnia when sleep was not an option. Who was he kidding? Without Hyde

around, was he going to buy any "film"? He took the lean green bottle of Brut aftershave and tossed it in the trash.

Who'd want used cologne? Women might want used perfume, but guys? Nah. Same with the can of Barbasol Shave

Cream with its red and white barbers pole design around the metal can. Who'd want that? Who'd have use for that?

Then his sad eyes caught Hyde's spare pair of sunglasses.

Hyde always took solace in his shades, designed to keep the sun out and the emotions in. These were the ones that

had a slight blue tint on the lenses instead of the amber. The latter ones he wore when he died. He couldn't help but

want to put them on. With that, his back arched up in a confident pose. His lips turned upward in a non-smile as he

took the cologne and shaving cream out of the wastebasket. How did they get here? Who threw them away? And why

was he wearing Forman's clothes? He didn't wear gum striped t-shirts. He'd have to change later as there was

something more important that needed to be done. He walked back into the main basement area and picked up the

telephone and started dialing.

Jackie heavily sighed into the nothingness in front of her before picking up her sweet little pink princess phone on the

third ring. There was nothing else left to do, but wait for her own turn into the dark nothingness.

"Hello?"

"Hey, doll…It's me. I'll pick you up in fifteen minutes."

Jackie's eyes widened. Whose idea of a practical joke was this? It wasn't funny at all. All she could do was hang up the

phone and leave the receiver off the hook. Then she could go back to doing what she was doing before she was

interrupted and that was to lay in bed and stare at the ceiling. Who could be so cruel as to phone her pretending to be

her dead boyfriend?

"Eric," Kitty heard footsteps coming up from the basement, "Did you clean everything out of Steven's room already?"

When she saw the sight in front of her she dropped her golden yellow mug that contained coffee and it spilled all over

her usually pristine kitchen floor.

"That was you, Mrs. Forman?"

He gave her the roll of paper towels that were on the counter.

From the time he walked out of the basement and came into the kitchen, Eric was wearing Steven's clothes right down

to his boots. A white Led Zeppelin IV t-shirt and his comfortable worn jeans despite the boy's differences in height and

weight, they were a perfect fit. As if they were his clothes all along. Kitty's whole body shook on the inside. "What was

me…E — Steven?"

"Cleaning my room."

She concentrated on wiping up the spilled coffee.

"Yes. I thought it should be tidy?" Kitty nervously laughed as she balled up the pieces of paper towels.

"I promise to keep it clean." He kissed her on the cheek and grabbed the keys to the Vista Cruiser that were hanging

on the hook.

"Where are you going, dear?"

"To take Jackie out…" He took out his black wallet from his back jeans pocket. "I need to put gas in the Camino too."

"Okay, Steven…. come home for dinner?"

"Of course."

When Eric as Steven strutted in faux Steven Hyde movements to get to the Cruiser that he thought was the El Camino,

Kitty got up and ran to the phone. She had to warn Jackie.

She nervously dialed and kept getting busy signal after busy signal.

What was going on?

And yet…

Jackie had to get up out bed and was nervously brushing her hair in Marcia Brady increments instead of doing her

homework, when from the reflection in her round mirror she could see the walkway below and she saw Eric walking up

to her house. IT WAS ERIC! Why was he wearing Steven's clothes and pretending to be him on the phone? She was

aware that he along with her was taking the death of Steven Hyde pretty hard. She figured she better show some of

the compassion that her boyfriend, the real Steven Hyde brought out of her. She ran to all the windows and

pulled back the curtains even more to let the sunlight in. She didn't have time to change her into her PPH cheerleading

uniform so she sat at her desk and pretended to do her homework. The assignments that really needed to be done,

but didn't seem to matter anymore. Then she would see what was going on with Eric. When he walked into the room,

Jackie quickly scanned at him like an overwrought newlywed wife with a to-do list; he was like a figure, playing Steven

Hyde for dress up. His mannerisms of standing there and looking like the vulnerable tough guy were a far cry from the

real thing.

"Hey, Jackie."

"Hi, E — Steven…" She walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek, but he brought her to him, with a confidence

that was not Eric Forman, and kissed her on the lips. If she closed her eyes…. that'd have been so real…sitting on top

of her Father's Lincoln, kissing in the moonlight, while sharing a soda from a fast food paper cup. Jackie gently broke

free and in the process knocked the sunglasses off Eric's face.

"I need to change if we're going to the Hub."

What else could she say as she walked to her closet?

It changed in the blink of an eye, quicker than a gunshot or a pebble being thrown in the water for the ripple effect.

"W—what….? W-here?"

Jackie turned around to hear the low and unsure of himself voice that was clearly Eric Forman. The young man who lost

his confidence when his best friend, his mentor, and his former protector from all bad things, died.

"Er—ic?" Jackie said

"W-hy am I wearing Hyde's clothes?" His voice barely a whisper.

"I don't know. Would you like to talk about it? I know you miss him too…I'm not the bitch that you think I am – or was,

Eric…I am your friend…."

"All I remember is Mom making me clean Hyde's room…." Eric noticed Hyde's glasses being unattended to on Jackie's

plush white carpet and picked them up from the floor while Jackie's back was turned. They weren't garbage. They were

Hyde's. He put them back on.

Where they belonged.

"It's okay. Maybe, you can see someone. It's not bad if you need to talk to a professional…"

"What are you blabbering about? How long does it take you to pick out an outfit?"

Jackie instinctively turned around.

It was the glasses!

When she accidentally knocked them off the man in front of her was Eric Forman, when he put them back on he was

Steven Hyde.

What in the fuck? Was she going insane?

Jackie sighed, "You know, Steven, I'd like to go to your house for dinner. Would that be okay?"

"Sure."

She took a deep breath she was going to have to kiss him again and it felt like she was cheating on her boyfriend with

a flat imitation of him.

"If you'd like a snack before we leave, the maid picked up those peaches that you like."

He kissed her on the cheek and she sensed that there was something else deeper going on, but she couldn't quite

place what yet.

She certainly hoped that Mrs. Forman would know what to do.

When Hyde kept his promise to straighten up his room for Mrs. Forman that was when Jackie told her what happened

earlier. It was not unnoticed by her that, that was the first time she had left the house to go someplace other than

school since her boyfriend's funeral.

"It's the sunglasses?" Kitty asked hanging on to any glimmer of hope, no matter how far from the realm of reality this

all might have been.

"Yes! When they fell off, he went back to being Eric! But as soon as he put them on, he "turned into" Steven again."

"I'm glad Red is working overtime. He'd never believe this. I don't even believe it, but I don't doubt you, honey…I have

to get started on the mashed potatoes. Can he take the glasses off?"

"I accidentally knocked them off his face when we were kissing…"

"Then you'll have to do it again…"

Jackie made a face. "All right. I'll do it. If only for the memory of the real Steven."

Kitty gave Jackie a loving look as she headed back to the kitchen as the nervous obsessive side of her personality

started to come to the service like when Red's wretched mother passed away. She needed to bake a pie…She needed

to bake a pie…She needed to bake a pie!

Eric was sitting in Hyde's kitchen chair mindlessly watching TV when Jackie came down the stairs with two bottles of

Coke. "Finish cleaning your room?"

"Yeah. Thanks, doll."

Jackie sat on Eric's lap. It hurt her deeply to her core to lose her first real love. Her real, her only love was Steven

Hyde, and not Michael Kelso. Kelso may have been her first sexual experience and her first official boyfriend, but he was

not her first love and to Jackie there was a world of difference. She put her bottle of soda on the floor.

"Do you want to make out?"

Steven, please forgive me.

There were no words as Eric put his lips to hers and kissed her with a passion that was not how Donna described how

Eric kissed. This was different from the kiss in her bedroom not two hours ago. She pretended to knock off his

sunglasses, but they wouldn't fall of his face.

No.

He firmly reached for her wrist.

The internal battle had begun.

"What do you think you are doing? My sunglasses always stay on."

"Nothing. It was just an accident, baby…. I promise." She tried to kiss him on the cheek.

"Accident," he did an about face and pushed her off him. The old beige couch was there to stop her from falling on the

cement floor, "You mean the accident that KILLED ME? When I was on my way from the Fotohut to see you? THE

ACCIDENT THAT YOU CAUSED?"

"Steven, what accident? You're standing right here in front of me, honey." She thought why not use logic in an illogical

situation?

"I'm here in front of you because only ONE person LOVED ME enough to give me a second chance. Where were you? In

your room listening to lame Donny Osmond records and dream about getting married to a man that may or not be ME?"

"Steven, I want(ed) to marry YOU! There was no one else. Christ! Are you going to accuse me of fucking Michael

again?"

"Jackie, it's OVER. Go home. You were LITERALLY THE DEATH OF ME and thankfully, HE STEPPED UP TO THE PLATE TO

MAKE SURE I REALIZED THAT."

While the man in front of her was NOT her Steven, the wet and heavy tears of rejection were still streaming down her

face as if he was. "And who was that?"

"ERIC FORMAN! HE'S MINE! AND YOU KNOW THAT, JACKIE! He put his life on the line for me, while you can only think

of me as that lifeless corpse in the coffin. HE GAVE ME A BRAND NEW LIFE!"

Jackie's eyes did a double take as Eric's hair started to curl up and sideburns became less Jedi and more wicked. Kitty

was on the stairs and walked down them in determined strides. Her mind trying to process the information that she

just witnessed.

"What's going on?" She went to reach for Jackie's hand, but the younger girl pushed it away.

"Mrs. Forman," Steven/Eric sighed, his voice going in and out of Zen, "Your son is dead. I hope that you and Red can

accept it. He gave me a chance at a second life. A life that sees Jackie Burkhart for the man-killing soul that she is. I'm

sorry, but I need to get out of here. There's a place I need to be." While the two souls fought within for the use of the

body.

"F-fine, dear."

"Thank you." He kissed Mrs. Forman/Mom on the cheek. "Jackie, it's been really nice while it lasted…"

When Steven/Eric opened the back basement door to go up the stairs and to the car that was not the El Camino, but

the Vista Cruiser, Jackie sat on the sofa and cried.

Steven…. oh…the real Steven…. fuck…I love you…that SPIRIT in Eric is NOT you…. NOT in a million years is it you. I don't

care if the voice sticks, that's still NOT you.

Kitty did what she hadn't done in a long time and went upstairs to pour herself a cocktail (or two) while she finished

dinner. There was another death on the horizon and it felt as natural as the sun rising every morning. She also needed

to make a cake to go with the pie. And pot roast for tomorrow and lemon squares for her knitting circle.

She NEEDED

SHE NEEDED

SHE NEEDED FOR EVERYTHING TO BE BACK TO NORMAL

Donna was in the library of Point Place High School. The school stayed open late on Wednesday nights so that the

students could use the school resources. She was working on a nice tribute for Hyde in the senior yearbook. It amazed

her how much of everything was glossed over when you were six feet under. The teachers and administration that

hated him, that had self-fulfilling prophecies over his future were the first ones jump up and announce for the whole

world to hear what a "good kid" he was from Coach Ferguson to Principal Pridewell. Slutty cliquey girls like Kat

Peterson were the first of the student set to say, "What a sweet guy he was." Donna dismissed that, the only people's

words that counted were the words of those who actually cared for Hyde from the start. She stretched in the wooden

chair. She needed to take a break and wanted to get a drink from the orange water fountain down the hall. She

stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Eric? Eric dressed as Hyde with his one boot heel pressed against the wall.

What was with the curly hair and full-out sideburns?

And those sunglasses.

"Er—ic?"

"Donna, Forman told me that I'm free to claim you…."

"Wh—at?" Donna asked in disbelief

His voice. Donna couldn't get over how every so often Hyde's inflections would come out of his mouth. She

didn't even have time to form a full reply when she heard the clicking of designer boots on the speckled linoleum floor.

Jackie appeared in the scene out of breath, "Donna! Donna!"

"I thought I broke up with YOU!"

"Steven wouldn't want Donna…. yeah, there was that time long ago…. but that was before you fell in love with me,

Steven, ME! ME! ME!" Her arms flapping while she talked.

"Care to explain?"

"It'll take too long. Eric is fighting for his soul back! I figured it out as I ran to warn you!"

"I TOLD YOU! FORMAN GAVE ME HIS BODY!"

"So you'll have a place for your soul? Here's the catch, Steven? That soul would NOT want Donna! ERIC is probably

scared! LET HIM GO!"

Donna pulled Jackie's arm. "I would like to know what's going on?"

"Fine. Have your little girl talk. I'll be in Coach Ferguson's office lighting up." When Hyde was down the hall and out of

earshot that was when Donna spoke.

"Explain." She said to her younger friend with her hands on her hips. And yet she realized with internal fear that there

was no rise of panic or dread in her voice. This whole thing seemed so goddamn ordinary for something so

extraordinary.

"…. And that's when I came by to warn you…."

"Fuck…."

"Don't you see? Steven saying I caused that accident? They were Eric's thoughts. Donna, those very thoughts that

were eating him up for the whole year, because he was too afraid to confront me on his real feelings and carried that

rage on the inside. Eric thought I was the reason for Steven's accident. Because if Steven only returned home after a

late shift instead of driving the extra distance to see me, there may have never been an accident. If Steven's soul is in

Eric's body and that body is forcing himself to morph into Steven and those sunglasses won't come off like Dorothy's

ruby slippers…why, no offense, Donna, okay? Why would he want you? Steven would want me. Eric is not Steven.

And those glasses…. need to be taken off…. somehow…."

Donna twisted her silver bracelet that Eric got her from some holiday long gone.

"If I didn't see this, Jackie, I wouldn't believe it. Okay. You need to go. He won't be receptive to anything I say as long

as you are here…. you know…. bringing Eric back means that Hyde is still…."

"Gone…I know…but he'll be able to rest in peace and that's what I would like…he didn't have a restful life…even Edna

and Bud did not come to his funeral…. I just want my Steven to rest in peace and know that he was loved. I'll go back

to the Forman's and keep Mrs. Forman company." Jackie let the tears fall down her face. She missed him so much.

The only man that she ever loved.

The two girls hugged each other goodbye.

Donna walked into a smoke filled Coach Ferguson's office with Steven/Eric's legs stretched out and propped up on his

desk.

"Did that annoying twit go home?"

"Yeah. She's gone, Hyde."

Instinctively, Donna went to sit on his lap. "You're very sexy."

"I know…" He stopped her hands from reaching for the sunglasses, "NO! They stay on…"

"Come on…. I want to look into your eyes…."

"Fine." He held her hands tight as not only the smoke hastily evaporated from the room, but also the tint from the

glasses were slowly fading. Jackie was right! His eyes flashed from blue to green from green to blue like the broken

traffic light on Sherman that constantly blinked yellow annoying drivers and pedestrians alike. Because everyone

needed direction and Steven Hyde was the only one it seemed who could provide that to his friends.

"You're sexy…" She said as the tint on the glasses returned.

"So are you, baby." He kissed her tenderly on the lips and remembered that he had to keep a promise to someone and

resisted the adolescent urge to take off her shirt and undo her bra, "Listen, it's getting late. I'll take you home. I doubt

your father cooked, so would like to come over for dinner?"

She didn't know how she was going to get her Eric back, but after she closed up shop at the library was when she

called Kitty from the office phone while Steven/Eric took a whiz in the 3rd floor bathroom, Kitty spoke in a sort of

quivering, yet firm voice, as Donna had to talk over the sound of the Kitchen Aid mixer.

"I know what we need to do."

Donna swallowed the bile in her throat, "I don't want to lose my boyfriend. I know he's your son, but he's my

boyfriend…" And yet, the way this one kissed her made the deepest recesses of her heart and mind smile. Kitty didn't

have time for Donna playing the hierarchy game of who had more claim to Eric as if he weren't an individual.

"Bye, Donna." The two ladies ended their phone conversation.

"Are you ready, doll?"

"Yeah…" They walked out of the school arm-in-arm.

Donna didn't know what could possibly be done when she saw with her very own eyes the Vista Cruiser morph into

the El Camino. The El Camino that was destroyed upon impact with the Corvair.

As they drove to the All-American house numbered #416, Donna put a layer of plain Chapstick on her lips before she

spoke.

"If Eric gave you the vessel, why aren't you just Eric?" Donna asked in pure journalistic mode.

He smiled. "Why would a king be content to live out the rest of his days as a prince?"

She couldn't argue with that assessment and didn't say a word for the rest of the way to the Forman house.

She was beginning to see what needed to be done.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Kitty asked, while Red sat in his soothing pea soup green chair. He couldn't deal with

the boy he loved like a son being killed in a car accident in his prime, what happened afterwards, he just couldn't

believe that Steven was gone. And like many bargaining chips in the foxholes of Korea he was going to have silently

barter that his son, that lovable, hardly a 'dumbass', space toy loving, smart mouthed, Eric would return to

him and Kitty.

Jackie sensing the tension in the living room spoke, "It'll be all right, Mr. and Mrs. Forman. You see there is a spark and

a fire that happens only with me. I can deal with it. If Eric blames me for Steven's death I can handle it. Just send him

upstairs and I'll do my best."

Jackie went to embrace Mr. Forman and for once he didn't fight it. This family needed to stay together. He did love all of

those kids and he loved her like a daughter. Why couldn't everything go back to like it was? Where his wife did not

overly cook, bake, and drink to compensate for the loss of…

Red almost dropped his beer can on his dinner plate when he saw Steven/Eric walk into the dining room and almost

ready to sit at his place at the table.

"Steven, before you eat, can you do me a favor and get me Red's antacids. He hides them and I don't want him to deal

with stomach pain after dinner."

"In the back of your bathroom cabinet, right? Sure, Mrs. Forman." He kissed her on the cheek.

Donna couldn't shake the image of Hyde and Eric's eyes doing battle for the body. She hoped that this plan worked.

And yet…

When Steven/Eric put the pack of antacids in his back jeans pocket and closed the master bathroom door that was

when Jackie made her entrance to try and make this right once and for all.

"Eric, may we talk?"

"FOR THE LAST TIME! MY NAME IS HYDE NOT ERIC! And I thought I sent you home?"

"I want you to finish your thoughts about the car accident…"

If only Eric had lashed out at her from the start then none of this would be happening. Yes, she'd have been hurt by

those kinds of remarks, but she would have been able to deal with that chain of events. Instead it was all this, a war

for the body and soul.

Jackie's legs were shaking too damn much for her to stand up comfortably so she sat on Kitty's vanity chair.

"I don't get what is so difficult to understand, Jackie! You caused the accident. MY ACCIDENT! YOU SAY YOU LOVED

ME but still expected me to see you after the OVERNIGHT SHIFT as Leo had the Fotohut opened until MIDNIGHT…. YOU

KNEW I WAS EXAUSTED! BUT YOU ARE A…."

"Yes, Er — Steven," She figured to play along for a bit, "I am a what?"

"A BITCH WHO doesn't think about others…ONLY HERSELF! SO YOU sit in your dark room and grieve, but there was

ONLY ONE PERSON WHO COULD - WOULD OFFER a vessel for my SOUL. ERIC! I WAS Eric, but NOW I'm Steven

Hyde…"

"A Steven Hyde would NOT want Donna Pinciotti! Not after he told Jackie Burkhart that HE LOVED HER!"

A-ha!

Jackie gasped when Steven appeared to be in pain and fell to his knees. "No. You're right…" A smile fell upon his face

as it was up to the mysterious and faceless universe to remedy the situation. Jackie knew what was about to happen.

It backfired in her face. She shared in the knowledge; there was no stepping to the plate and a best friend sacrificing

his body for the other one. Eric's shell was taken from him! And now she knew the same thing was going to happen to

her and she knew exactly why.

Jackie could only be with Steven and Eric could only be with Donna.

"No…no…"

"You didn't see that one coming…"

The change of voice was now complete.

Jackie started to hyperventilate and wound up on her knees as well…

"S—te—even….stop….please…let …." She started to cough as she felt her chest constricting. "I - only-ww-w-ant t-

t-o b-be w-w-it-h t-th-e r-r-r-eal y-you."

"Red, go upstairs and check on them…" Kitty said nervously adding a fourth teaspoon of sugar to her teacup. They

should have all done this together as a family.

And yet…

"I'll go upstairs…." Donna said feeling the hairs on the back of her head stand up.

He wanted her….

And she wanted him.

Announcer: Sometimes in The Twilight Zone you don't get the happy ending you expect. A best friend died so

that another chance at life could be had. Sometimes you lose the battle to save your soul, when you give your

life to another. And sometimes there is collateral damage to fit the rest of the pieces in place. Even if there was

no choice in the matter…Kelso said casually once that he didn't even use his, but yet it all comes down to who

owns your soul?

Donna walked up the stairs and with a sense of detachment over her once reluctant best friend dying in front of her,

while Hyde stood above them and watched. She instinctively laid down on the floor next to a fading Jackie. This

needed to be done and there was no sense in prolonging it. She held her hand and tightly closed her eyes so the

switch would be complete. Steven Hyde smiled when Red and Kitty walked up the steps to see Donna (Jackie) dead

clutching at her heart.

All she wanted to do was join Steven in Heaven.

"What happened?" Kitty asked, feeling useless that she couldn't use her nurses training to save the girl and hated

herself for not feeling the panic over what was happening in front of her.

"She had a heart attack."

The little cheerleader was right. Steven Hyde would never choose Donna Pinciotti.

Red used the phone to call for an ambulance and when Kitty paid attention she noticed that Steven (Eric?) was not

wearing his sunglasses. The conflict was lost as his blue eyes blinked back at her.

"I was the son the two of you preferred, so don't be crying any rivers. For—your Eric, sacrificed himself so I could rise

again. It's very Biblical if you believe in that sort of thing."

Kitty put a hand over her mouth…."Donna?" Who had morphed into the tiny brunette.

"I'm Jackie now so it'll make sense for all you…."

"You think you all can shut it and help me move her to the bed?" Red stated. This figure of a man in front of him was

not Hyde and he WASN'T Eric, either…. he wasn't a mix of the best of them…. he was a mix of the worst of them. Both of

his sons were dead and it hurt more than any kind of shrapnel lodged in his bones.

"You don't have to be angry, Red. You should be grateful of the gift I have been given. THE GIFT THAT YOUR SON

GAVE TO ME."

"I have a lot of phone calls to make! We have to retract and maybe, we can make a yearbook spread for Eric?" Jackie

(Donna) went to Hold Hyde's (Eric's) hand.

"Whatever, doll. That's your department." He kissed her on the cheek.

"Where are your sunglasses?" Kitty asked. This was it. If he could be Hyde without them, if Jackie went to join the love

of her life to the journey to The Other Side, then that was that.

They all failed. This was the new reality.

"Oh, I don't need them anymore," he sensed her tension, "But thank you for always caring about me, Mrs. Forman, it

means a lot." He kissed her on the cheek leaving the faux Jackie to pout perfectly as she waited for Mr. Forman to get

off the telephone. She had many phone calls to make. HER STEVEN WAS BACK! It was all that she ever wanted.

She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her eyes were flashing between blue to mismatch. FROM DONNA TO

JACKIE…From ERIC TO STEVEN…. Until the final death knell was reached.

She belonged to him now.

She was his doll.

RETRACTION OF OBITUARY IN THE POINT PLACE CHRONICLE: Steven J. Hyde is alive and well and living with his

foster family, Red and Kitty Forman. The Point Place Chronicle regrets the error.

YEARBOOK: Rest in peace and tributes to our Sci-Fi loving, A-V member, Eric. A. Forman and newspaper staff and

yearbook club Editor, Donna Pinciotti who also was Eric's girlfriend. True Love Never Dies. Thank you Eric and Donna for

helping us out. Love, J.B. & S.H.

It was two years since their world changed. It was two years since the accident that took Steven Hyde's life and one

year since Eric's body gave homage to Steven's soul. And one year since Jackie selflessly did the same thing to

Donna's. Thus giving one couple a new lease on life. It was difficult for Red and Kitty, but they moved on, and like many

families in the 1970's that dealt with abrupt changes they too learned to accept their new normal. They sat in the

basement watching TV like any other day in the Forman basement, while Kitty came down with a big yellow bowl of

popcorn and two bottles of Coke.

"Thank you, Mrs. Forman." Jackie (Donna) said

"Steven, Mr. Forman would like you to clean the gutters tomorrow."

What could he say?

"No problem, Mrs. Forman." Hyde (Eric) replied as he took a handful of popcorn.

"That was nice of you." Jackie (Donna) put her head on his shoulder.

"They took me in and gave me a home, it's the least I can do, doll. How are you adjusting?"

"Good. She stopped fighting inside of me."

Bob finally stopped coming over to inquire about her. It took many hours of talking from Red to explain the situation to

him. The elder Forman who hated talking about feelings that were meant to stay inside of you until the day you died.

But maybe if he encouraged both of his sons to emote from the start none of this would have ever happened.

Donna as he knew her was gone. Bob's baby girl gave up her body up so that Jackie Burkhart could be with Steven

Hyde.

"Him too. I do miss him though."

"I miss her too…I thought I was the only one to feel that way…."

"You aren't…", He lifted his bottle of soda into the air, "To Forman and Donna…."

"To Forman and Donna…." She said as they clicked their bottles.

The world was fine as it continued to spin on its axis once more now that Hyde and Jackie were reunited. The vessels

were different, but their spirits were sort of the same, if not slightly altered, a whiter shade of pale. All of this

happened because a grief-stricken and an internally anger-ridden Eric felt compelled to put on the sunglasses of his

deceased best friend. And by doing so gave his friend and girlfriend their futures back. Eric Forman and Donna Pinciotti

made the biggest sacrifice of all – themselves…so that their friends could live. Steven Hyde (Eric) and Jackie Burkhart

(Donna) would never forget their best friend's kind gestures.

The two lovers wound up on the couch and under the surface where only the Angels could hear them were two

hushed whispers in the darkness just below the light.

I love you, Donna…

I love you, too, Eric….

"I love you, Jackie…."

"I love you, too, Steven…."

None of those kids had a choice. They only did the best they could under a set of unnatural circumstances. Jackie fell

into slumber and rested her head comfortably on Hyde's chest. The noise from the wind hitting the door outside made

him open up his eyes. One eye flashed to green and then to blue – and then back to green — he wasn't really Steven

Hyde, just as she really wasn't Jackie Burkhart…they knew this.

And so did they.

They were just the prints.

FADE OUT.

Announcer: When it is time for your loved ones to pass on to the next level…. let them go gracefully…or you

just may wind up to be the one to live out in the new normal in The Twilight Zone.

The End

Author's Note: Thanks to all. But especially to Lisa (MMH) who frequently asked me for status updates regarding

this story, giving me the kick that I needed to actually finish this.

Last and final revision: October 23, 2011