The New Nightmare of Springwood – Chapter 1

"How the hell did I get stuck down here?!"

"I don't know, but my partners and I are very upset."

"You're upset? How the fuck do you think I feel?!"

"Well you got yourself down here. Not us."

"How do I get out?"

"That's for you to figure out."

"I'm already working on a plan. Fellow called Vorhees."

"I don't even want to know."

"Good because I'm not gonna tell you."

"But I do have to tell you something."

"What?"

"About our agreement."

"What about it? I'm dead. What else do I need to know?"

"That you get to pass on our gift to the person of your choosing."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. How else do you think you got the job?"

"Not sure. Never really thought about it."

"Well there you go."

"Is this for real?"

"Absolutely. Do you have anyone in mind?"

"Actually, yeah. I do."

The mornings are always the worst for Wesley Burroughs. Not because he hates the morning, but because he knows it's the start of another day.

As he stands in the shower and lets the hot water flow around his body he anticipates the cruel comments and remarks from the other kids at school. He's only a freshman but that doesn't matter to the seniors. To them, he is simply fresh meat. Another target for their jokes and pranks.

He takes it on the outside but on the inside he burns with rage even though he can't fight back. It's not because of his size, he is fairly strong for a kid his age, it's not because there are too many of them, he is always up for a challenge, it's simply because its not who he is. He was not raised a fighter. His favorite class is art and he loves poetry. When do those kids ever get into fights? Never. So he puts up with the tormenting because he thinks that it's his place in the world.

He steps out of the shower and gets ready for breakfast. While he is eating his cereal his mother comes down and taps him on the shoulder. "Hey, honey. How are you feeling?"

"Fine, mom."

"Good."

She sits down on the table but doesn't even look at him. She looks at papers and files in a folder from work. She has been obsessed with her job ever since her husband died a year ago. "Wes, you promise to have a good day today?"

He looks at her while she talks to him but her face is still completely buried in her work. "Yeah. Whatever."

"Good. That's what I want to hear. Well I gotta run. Can you take your bike to school today? Good. See ya this afternoon. Bye, baby."

She runs out the door without looking at him even once throughout the entire conversation. He sarcastically waves at her while she is already long gone. "Yeah. Bye, mom."

During the break between third and fourth period, Wes walks down the halls of Springwood High with his head down. So far everything has been going good. He hasn't seen anyone that would give him a problem and he might just get through the day without an incident. But just when he gets his hopes up he sees Paul Byron walking down the hall with his crew.

Byron is the classic jock: hot cheerleader girlfriend, captain quarterback of the football team, popular senior. He has it all and loves to rub it in Wes's face.

Wes sees him and braces himself right before Paul grabs him by the collar and throws him up against a locker. "Hey, Wesley. How's it going, buddy?"

"Just fine, Paul."

Wes looks behind Byron and sees his usually group of friends standing there. Paul's best friend is Chris Taint. He's a little nicer than Byron, but never stops him so Taint is just as guilty.

Holding onto Chris's arm is his girlfriend, Valerie Monroe. Valerie was a sweet girl. She hates what they do to Wes but is always too shy to do anything about it.

On the other side of Paul is his girlfriend, Laurie Simms. She's the captain of the cheerleader squad and gorgeous as well. But as pretty as she is, she's more of a bitch; always full of herself and never cares for others.

Standing behind everyone (but still trying to act like he is part of the group) is Curtis Manlow. Curtis is on the football team with Paul, but as lineman. Curtis is a little fat and never really felt like a true member of the group but Paul always let him hang around.

That's the clique that's pretty inseparable. They did everything together. Go to class, party, and especially pick on Wes.

Paul holds the boy up higher on the lockers. "I've been looking for you all day, Wes."

"Why is that, Byron?"

"Because I thought it was time for a little reconciliation."

Chris simply nods his head. "Yeah. We want to make up for all the shit we put you through this year."

Paul drops Wes and the boy falls to the floor. "Really?"

Paul leans over him. "Yeah. Just you and us. No one else. We're gonna head down to the fields just to hang out tonight and we want you to come. You can can't you? It is Friday after all."

Curtis tries to act like he is in on the conversation. "Yeah! We can get really fucked up."

Paul puts his hand on Wes's shoulder. "It'll be a way to make amends."

Laurie walks over to her boyfriend. "Come on, little Wesley. It will be fun."

Wes stands up. "Ok."

Paul brushes off the wrinkles he caused in Wesley's collar. "Cool we are gonna pick you up around nine. Be ready."

"Awesome. I gotta get to class. See ya guys later."

Wes runs down the hall to his class with a smile on his face.

Wes runs into the house still smiling and immediately runs into the kitchen to make himself a sandwich. A minute later his mom walks in on her cell phone. "No, Denise! Tommy isn't supposed to have that much to eat. Yes I know he was hungry but the meds he is on…yes, yes. Ok. I will be there as soon as I can."

Wes turns around and sees his mom. "Mom! Guess what happened today?!"

"I can't talk now, baby. It is a really busy day down at the youth shelter and I just came home to get some papers."

"Mom, this will take two seconds."

"Wesley, I can't."

"Mother!"

"Wes I told you, I'm late as it is."

"Why don't you just adopt one of those fucking kids, you will pay more attention to him than you do to me."

"What did you say?"

"You heard me. Ever since dad died its like I don't exist."

"That's not true."

"It's not?! Look at yourself, mom!"

"Now is not the time for this. We will talk about this later tonight."

"See! Whatever."

She runs out the door and he runs up the stairs and into his room to get ready for the night.

Paul pulls up to Wes's house in his pickup with Curtis in the bed of the truck and Laurie following behind them in her own car. Paul honks the horn and Wes comes running out of the house wearing jeans and a grey hoodie. He jumps into the back of the truck with Curtis. "Hey."

"What's up, Wes. You gonna get wasted tonight? I have enough shit here to fuck up an army."

Wesley doesn't answer. He simply smiles as the truck drives off.

The stereo of the car is blasting as the six kids drink to their heart's content in the middle of the woods. Curtis somehow convinces Wesley to get high with him and the rest of the group. After smoking a joint and drinking a lot of hard alcohol the world becomes a complete blur.

Wesley can barely walk straight and the other kids laugh at his stupidity. Wesley walks off into the woods and comes across a huge hole in the ground he runs back to the group to tell the others. "Guys! Guys! I found something! You gotta check this out!"

Paul stumbles over to him. "What is it, little Wesley?"

"It's this huge hole! You gotta come see."

"I know."

"You know?"

"Yeah. We put it there."

Very intoxicated, Chris and Curtis walk over to Paul and they form a circle around Wes. Curtis pushes him lightly. "You didn't think we would actually let you hang with us did you?"

"What?"

Then Chris pushes him. "This is the part where we tell you that you are going to die, and that hole is for you."

Wes tries to turn and run but he stumbles and falls forward. Laurie laughs right in Wes's muddy face. "Haha! Kid can't even walk straight."

Paul takes out a switchblade. "This is gonna be fun."

Wesley turns over and his face is covered in mud and tears. "Please. I just didn't want to be picked on. I just wanted to have some friends. Please don't do this."

Valerie steps in front of the boys. "Ok. This is enough. We were just going to scare him and that's it. I think hes scared enough already so lets cut this out."

Paul pushes her aside. "No. This is way past scaring him. He is worthless garbage. And you know what we do with garbage."

Paul turns and looks at Curtis and they say together. "Landfill."

Wesley pushes backwards on his hands and feet. "No. No. No. Please God no."

Valerie screams for them to stop. "Stop this! It isn't right!"

Paul turns to his friend. "Chris, control your woman!"

Chris walks over to Valerie to calm her down. "Relax, baby. He is just gonna rough him up a little. It's fine."

Curtis picks Wesley up and throws him deeper into the woods. Wesley hits a tree and falls to the ground. Curtis continues by kicking and punching him while Laurie and Paul follow them deeper into the woods.

When Curtis is done with his assault, he stands up off of Wes. Wesley lies on his back and spits up blood. The blood lands on his face and Laurie shakes her head in disgust. "Ewww. That's disgusting. Punish him, Paulie."

"I will."

Paul leans down on top of Wes and waves the blades slowly in front of his eyes while he taunts him. "Wes, Wes, Wes. You probably want to know why. Why would we do this? Well its simple. Nature. It's simply human nature. We are better than you and you are below us. You are less than us and we can do whatever we want to you. You are ours. You are garbage and filth that plagues. And what do we do to plagues? We bury them."

Wes cries out as the tears continue to pour from his eyes. "No. Please don't."

"I'm gonna be honest with you kid: this is gonna hurt you a lot more than it's gonna hurt me."

Paul takes the blade and makes four long, diagonal slices across Wes's face from top to bottom: one down across his forehead, another down across his eyes, one down across his mouth and the last across his chin. Wes lets out a horrific scream in pain.

When he is done, Paul stands up and looks down at what he had done. Wes lays in front of the hole in his muddy jeans and sweatshirt. His face is covered in blood and tears. With the cuts slashed across his face it looks like he was mauled by an animal. In some ways, he was.

Laurie, Curtis and Paul all look at each other in awe as to what has just happened. Laurie looks at her boyfriend. "That was fucked up, man. I didn't know we were going to take it that far."

Curtis agrees. "Yeah. What did we just do?"

Paul nods his head. "It's too late. I did it. It was meant to happen."

Paul then kicks the half-dead Wesley into the hole and looks at Curtis. "Bury him."

He then turns and walks back to the car where Valerie and Chris are waiting. Laurie follows him. Valerie walks over to Paul. "Where are Curtis and Wes?"

Paul doesn't say a word and Laurie tries to grab Valerie. "Let's get out of here, girlfriend."

Valerie rips her arm away. "Where are they, Paul?!" "It got out of hand, ok? I don't know what happened. I killed him. Curtis is burying the body."

Laurie shakes her head and goes with Valerie back in the car. Paul looks at Chris in shock. "I couldn't control myself. Before I knew it he was dead."

"That's fucked up, man."

Paul buries his face into his hands. "Oh my God. What have I done?"