Right so I know I should be working on the next chapters of several of my other stories but I've been suffering from a little writers block and so somehow found myself working on this new story instead. Let me know if you are enjoying it!

Okay so I realise that running away to practically the other side of the world is extreme… even for me its extreme but I was here now so I would just have to cope with it and get on with life. Let me explain a little, as a twenty eight year old teacher from London with a fiancé and a house I was pretty sure life was set. Everything was perfect, okay not perfect exactly but everything was going pretty well for me. I had a successful career, money in my own right, a man who I loved, and who loved me back and I was on the property ladder at last. So why you ask am I here, in Bon Temps, Louisiana? Well that is because three months ago my life was turned upside down and this is where I have escaped to.

It was three months ago today that I came home early from work, after a meeting had been cancelled, to find my fiancé in bed with my sister. It was three months ago today that I realised that I could see inside peoples heads and hear their thoughts. It was three months ago today that I found out that physical touch meant I could see images of peoples pasts, and their futures. So it was three months ago today that as he grabbed me to tell me it was a one off I saw the truth, they had been having an affair for nearly two years.

As soon as it happened I knew that everything had changed, the affair, the betrayal I could have coped with. He moved out and left me everything anyway it was really more to do with the fact that from that moment on I have been able to hear people's thoughts and every time I touch someone I see their lives flash before my eyes, I couldn't go back to work, far too many teenage thoughts and issues to cope with and so I left. I sold the house and looked for somewhere to escape to. Ever since vampires came out of the coffin, so to speak, I had heard that Louisiana had become a sort of hotspot for them and I wondered if I would get more peace there, less minds to accidentally find myself in, less memories to see, plus it was hot and I loved the sun.

I guess the rest as they say is history, I researched, found a small place to rent for a while, until I decided if I could stay there or not, packed up and left. I had nothing left in England for me really, because of Tom I had already pulled away from my friends, my parents were long since passed, an accident when I was twelve, and I clearly didn't have a sister anymore.

Putting my suitcases down in the corner of the bedroom, I sink heavily onto the bed and stair at the three cases, not much to show for an entire life but it was all I had left. I had sold everything else so that I would have enough money to tide me over for a few months. A sudden stab of pain in my head causes me to wince and so I slowly stand and draw the curtains before slumping down again and closing my eyes. The journey had been torture, so many thoughts and emotions, I really needed to get a control over whatever this was and soon, it is getting to the point that I can't tell the difference between thoughts and things said out loud which gets very uncomfortable if I answer a thought. My head was pounding and I soon found myself drifting into an uneasy sleep.

When I wake it is well into the next day and, after showering and dressing in a red summer dress, I brush out my long blonde hair and decide to head out and find some food. I take a breath as I exit the apartment and begin my walk along the dusty road, the tarmac shimmering in the afternoon heat and I felt a small smile spread across my face for the first time in a long time. It was peaceful and quiet here, a small country town is exactly what I needed, a far cry from the hustle and bustle of London. After a few minutes I see a sign to a restaurant/bar called Merlottes and seeing as there didn't seem to be much else out here I decided to head for it.

It is half an hour before I reach the driveway to the place and I am beginning to sweat, my feet aching slightly, I think I may have to get a car if I was going to stay here for long. The place looks, well, typically American and despite myself a little thrill of excitement rushes through me at the thought that I lived somewhere like this now, that this could be my local. Stepping through the door I take in the place and the people, the afternoon rush I guess, and I try to ignore the sudden hush whilst they all stare at the stranger amongst them, as I make my way to an empty booth.

"Hi, I'm Sookie what can I get y'all?" a young, pretty waitress with hair a very similar blonde to my own says. I look up at her and smile all the while thinking about whether I can ask her to make the men thinking dirty things about me leave and I am about to order a drink when I stop and stare. She had just thought that she wished she could.

"Can you…?" I croak out eventually, hardly knowing what to say and she slowly nods and unable to even speak she points at me and I can hear her asking the same question of me in her head and I nod.

"Do you know anyone else who…?" she stutters after a few minutes and I almost don't hear her over the thunderous beating of my heart. "Oh wow," she whispers slumping into the seat opposite me.

"I know," I say,

"Where you from?" she asks then and I smile a little nerves and adrenalin still washing through me.

"London, England," I answer,

"What you doing here?" I wince a little at this and she makes a face as if to say she is sorry for prying.

"Long story, I moved here," I say and she nods seeming to understand, "how do you work here?" I ask then and she raises an eyebrow at me.

"It's not that bad, might not be as posh as your London joints but…"

"No I don't mean that, I mean with all the voices," I clarify and she smiles,

"Sometimes its difficult but mostly I can block them out," she says glancing over to the bar and offering another smile to the man standing there looking mildly concerned.

"How?" I ask in awe,

"You mean you can't block it?" she asks now looking alarmed and I shake my head feeling my cheeks flush.

"It's all fairly new to me… all of this,"

"So its not something you've always been able to do?" she asks then and again I shake my head.

"Something happened… a while ago and it just started…" I explain trailing off before looking back up at her, "what about the memories?" I ask then and she looks confused.

"I'm sorry?"

"The flashes of people lives, their pasts and sometimes their futures when you touch their skin, how do you block it?" I ask and she sucks in a breath staring at me hard for a while. "Thats just me then," I say in a whisper as I see the look on her face and she nods.

"Listen, I'm going to get you a drink and some food and then when my shift is over I'll come back and we'll go somewhere to talk and get some answers," she smiles and I smile back at her in relief.

"Thanks Sookie," I sigh and she offers me a smile and I know that I shouldn't really trust someone that I've only just met but then again I can read her thoughts so I can't be fooled that easily anymore, I almost laugh at that, how useful this thing would have been two years ago when I met Tom.

"You're welcome…" she trails off and I realise that I hadn't even given her my name yet,

"Soraya," I reply before sinking back into the seat and feeling happier than I had in, well in three months.