Diana Kimble's stomach churned when she turned off the television. Were it not for the Jason Voorhees segment, she wouldn't have even watched the episode.
It didn't help that when she went out to the front, Joey was pushing those hockey mask burgers.
The customer placed his order. His face was obstructed by the menu, but Diana didn't care much for decorum—not when she needed a distraction.
"Anything else?" asked Diana.
"Yes…Creighton Duke," the customer uttered. Diana almost didn't recognize him. In the news segment, Creighton wasn't wearing the cowboy hat.
"I know who you are," replied Diana.
"I'm gonna kill Jason Voorhees. I need you to help me."
Diana Kimball looked him dead in the eye: "Jason Voorhees is dead." She snapped her head for emphasis.
Creighton looked at Diana sympathetically. "You know he's not. I know he's not. And he's coming for you."
Diana quivered at Creighton's words.
"Your food will be right out." Diana said dismissively, with all the strength in her body.
"Name your price," retorted Creighton. "Everyone has a price. What's yours?"
"What do you want?" said Diana through gritted teeth.
"You know what I want. And you know why I need you," said Creighton.
Why the hell should I trust you? I just saw your shit-eating grin on that show. You're not in it to protect innocent lives…not my daughter's or granddaughter's.
"I think you need to leave."
"I know everything about you, Diana. I know who you really are."
Really, and who is that exactly? She wasn't always Diana Kimble. But she didn't spend her free time reflecting on who she used to be.
But the words still overtook Diana. Even though Ed was behind her, and she was talking to him, she was in a daze.
Ed and Creighton began having it out, but all Diana could do was stand there.
"He's coming for you, Diana." Creighton's words broke her out of the trance. "And your daughter…lock your doors."
Ed's men escorted Creighton out of the diner.
"Sorry, did he upset you?" asked Ed.
"I don't need you to fight my battles. I don't need any part-time protection," hissed Diana. The fire was coursing through her body for a millisecond. 'Upset me' is an understatement. That bastard thinks he knows me, but he hasn't got a goddamn clue.
Diana started talking with Steven Freeman, but it was like she was floating out of her body. What did she ask of him? To meet her at her residence that evening? And what exactly are you hoping to accomplish, Diana?
When Constance ran away at 16, she saw a magazine ad depicting Diana—the goddess of war and virtue. The goddess stood perched on a cliff, gazing upon the morning sun as its glow illuminated the ocean below it. She was a pillar of fearlessness with her helmet and golden armor.
Diana sounded strong. It wouldn't belong to a victim. So the name fit well with what Constance envisioned for her future.
Even with her new name, Constance knew that she would never be virtuous. Not after what those men did to her. But that was the way of life. She became the forsaken mistress when her father was driven out of the cult: Elias Voorhees—founder of the People of Fortitude. The cult lived in a compound within the deep Montana woods. It consisted of three main cabins bordered by tents that housed Elias's lesser-tiered wives and other subjects.
She would later learn that the compound was a military base of some kind that went abandoned until the People of Fortitude occupied it. The other men were free to enter into polygamous relationships, so long as Elias's wives and daughters remained untouched. They prayed on a daily basis, and worshipped a god called Caliban. During the mid-afternoon, the women would bathe the men's feet as a sign of humility and gratitude.
Constance was doomed from the start. Throughout her pregnancy, Pamela Voorhees had no clue that she was carrying twins. When it came time to give birth, Pamela was segregated to the birthing canopy—a makeshift construct set up by the women. It was deemed unclean for a woman to give birth in any of the main cabins, let alone the sleeping tents. The men stayed their distance, leaving the women to care for Pamela. She first gave birth to Constance. But when the labor pains continued, it became apparent that another one was on its way. It was a baby boy. At first, because of his misshapen head, the women thought he was stillborn. One of the wives bundled him up, and was about to bury him in the woods. It was only when he cried that they realized that he was alive.
The baby girl was christened Constance for "steadfastness." The women were expected to have an unwavering devotion to motherhood and their wifely duties. The men were considered the protectors, the creators, the hunters. Women stayed in the compound, while the men were free to drive to the nearest town for supplies. The boy was named Jason because it meant "healer." Perhaps, subconsciously, Pamela and Elias named him that it hopes in that he would be cured of his deformity. But when it became apparent that Jason was different from the other children, Elias turned his attention towards the other children he fathered with his other wives.
Since the women were supposed to be steadfast, Pamela never wavered from her daily cycle of cooking and cleaning. Since she wasn't the head wife, Pamela lived in one of the tents. She even complied obediently when Elias visited her at night to spill his seed. Sometimes, Pamela welcomed Elias's advances—for maybe then they could produce a healthy son. But Pamela never became pregnant again, and Elias stopped his nightly visits. Pamela's heart became as withered as her barren womb.
As early as she could remember, Constance had a telepathic connection with her brother. When Jason was hurt, Constance could feel it. When Jason was hungry, Constance had to find food for her brother or the pangs wouldn't stop. The feelings continued even after Pamela was ostracized from the People of Fortitude. There came a day when Pamela lost her steadfastness, and wasn't as committed to her fellow brethren. The men held a meeting, and decided to excommunicate Pamela. She was ordered to take Jason with her, but leave Constance behind. At the time, her and Jason were eight-years-old.
Constance eventually figured out her mother's and brother's excommunication. One day, she was with Pamela and Jason. The next, she was staying with the head wife and her father in the cabin. After a week passed, Constance knew that they weren't coming back. But while everybody else forgot about Pamela and Jason, Constance didn't have the same luxury. She knew that Jason was being mistreated, perhaps by the many men that Pamela kept company with. It would only be natural that a destitute mother with a deformed child would grasp on to any man that gave her attention. Constance never shared her thoughts with any of the women. How could she? They would think she was bewitched.
She especially couldn't tell them the things that Jason would do when Pamela wasn't around. Constance could sometimes see through Jason's eyes. She could see him wandering through neighborhoods that shifted from trailer parks to duplexes over the years. She could sense the ravenous appetite that Jason had—only it wasn't for food, it was for death. It started with a bird, then a dog, then a cat. Jason would take pleasure in luring them into a dark corner, and bludgeoning them with a rock or whatever foreign object was handy. Then, he would pull out their eyes, and bury them close to his home.
The telepathic bond stayed intact until that one afternoon. Constance was a few months shy of her twelfth birthday. She had finished her chores, and decided to take a walk alone in the woods. She reached her favorite clearing when an overwhelming feeling of panic swept through her. Constance lost her footing, and draped herself over a log. She could feel her brother thrashing in the water, calling for help in his limited vocabulary. Constance's breathing intensified, as she felt her brother swallowing the water that was robbing him of air. Constance stumbled back to the living quarters, and threw herself at the feet of her father and head wife. As Jason took his last breaths, Constance quaked until the words spilled from her mouth: "Jason's dead."
Elias didn't take too kindly to Constance's outburst. He slapped her so hard that her left ear ringed for the entire day. He chided her for her wickedness. The women placed Constance in a praying circle, and prayed for the evil to be released from her being. After a while, Constance believed that their prayers gave her the thing she wanted most: the telepathic bond with Jason was gone. She would no longer have to suffer visions of his latest casualty.
The years passed again, and Constance was now fifteen. Her mahogany hair was so long that it reached the small of her back, and they cascaded in rivulets when she untied her hair. Her aquamarine eyes were breathtaking, and her high cheekbones and lips were always flushed with an inviting red. Her hips and breasts were developed, and they gave Constance an hourglass figure. Constance began to notice the men staring at her. But she turned away when they smiled their lust at her. Constance was still Constance, so she would show her steadfastness by buttoning her white dress as high as she could under her neck.
Before, none of the men would've been so bold in their attention. It just confirmed that Elias's sway over the People of Fortitude was faltering. It was partly due to his offspring. Jason was an abomination in the people's eyes, and they felt that Elias should've gotten rid of him and Pamela earlier on. Then, Elias's daughter talked like a pariah with her evil delusions about her brother. Yes, Elias's hold on the People of Fortitude was deteriorating, but he took no notice of it.
Because of the men, Constance rarely took walks alone. But one morning, she woke up to find that her father was missing. Since it was a cold wintry morning, Constance left the cabin—thinking she would use her father as an excuse if somebody questioned her. When she left the cabin, Constance didn't notice that one of the men was up. He watched Constance lustfully as she headed towards the woods, and followed her at a distance that she wouldn't notice him.
Constance gripped her dress and overcoat tighter as a bone-chilling wind swept through the morning air. Her breath grew frostier as she trekked deeper in the snowy woods. She could see a light coming from the woodshed. It was a construct no bigger than the main cabin. As Constance got closer, she could hear murmuring coming through the walls. Constance's hands were now on the doorknob, and for a moment, she knew that her life wouldn't be the same once she opened the door. But she persisted as if fate was going to deliver a painful blow anyhow.
When Constance cracked open the door, she could barely make out a light and the top of her father's head. She opened the door more. Elias's back was facing Constance. As she leaned in closer, she could see her father chanting words from a leathery book. If Constance had known that the book was the Necronomicon ("Book of Dead Names"), she would have fled the shed and prayed for salvation. Instead, she stood transfixed as her eyes shifted from the book to the slaughtered goat bleeding out on the floor.
A startled Elias tipped over the bucket of blood, and it saturated Constance's ivory dress. Constance screamed, and ran only a few feet before she ran into the man who was following her. He pushed Constance aside, and continued to the shed. Elias tried to close the door, but the man was stronger. He entered the shed. The man backed out of the shed in silent shock. Then, he ran to the compound. Elias stumbled out of the shed. He grumbled at Constance: "Do you realize what you've done? The others are going to find out. I was trying to bring your brother back!"
Constance didn't understand why her father would bother with any resurrecting attempts. He was the one who sent Pamela and Jason away. His reason became clearer when he was gathered before the people. Elias had a single purpose—to resurrect the only son that he ever had. It was true. Pamela was the only wife that gave birth to a son. Elias's other children were all daughters. He wanted a male child that was in his reflection. Elias's reasoning fell on deaf ears. He was using a sinister book to fight against nature. It was an abomination to their god Caliban.
When Elias was ousted, the People of Fortitude became a lost and depraved bunch. He didn't bother to bring any of his children with him. The men would not allow it to be so. And Constance was branded as the pariah. The women were sent to the woods, so the men could take Constance to the meeting cabin for prayer. Constance studied her white gown on the floor as the men took turns with her. She sometimes wondered what became of her mother Pamela, and if this was what she had to bear in the outside world. Each time Constance was summoned by the men, she knew that she had to escape and be somebody else.
It took a year of careful planning, but Constance finally found a means of escape. Little by little, she sewed a bag that was to store her belongings. She stored clothing when she could, and only waited to gather food when the time came. For sanitary purposes, the men would gather the dead carcasses of the game into a stitched-together potato sacks and dump them miles away from the compound.
The day finally arrived. While the others were distracted, Constance buried herself underneath the carcasses that were loaded into a truck bed. She held her bag close to her.
Constance's heart raced as the truck started. It took every ounce of her strength not to vomit or make a sound. The truck came to a sudden stop, and Constance could hear the driver's steps as he walked around to the truck bed. He grabbed one side of the potato sack while the passenger grabbed the other. They tied the ends together, and lifted it between the two of them.
"The sack feels heavier than usual," said one man to the other.
Constance's heart was in her throat. She was afraid that the men would discover her.
"Naw, we're just dumping more because the heat spoiled a lot of the meat before we could eat it," replied the other man.
There was no response. Just a swinging sensation as the men threw the sack downhill. Constance let her body go limp as she rolled enveloped in the carcasses. She finally came to a stop. She waited for what felt like an eternity, trying to listen for the truck. She waited and waited until the smell was too unbearable. Constance used a knife that she stole to cut through the potato sack. She bristled at the summer heat, which felt like fire to her skin.
Constance looked uphill to see if the truck was still there. She couldn't see anything, nor hear any voices. She decided to take her chances...
And I stowed away in any big rig truck I could find until I was as far away from Montana as possible. Constance died that day when I cut myself through those rotted deer remains. When I finally settled down in Florida as Diana Weiss (a Budweiser truck brought me there), I didn't know any skills. So, I turned to waitressing because it was fast enough for me to learn.
I was lucky that I never got pregnant. I assumed that I was barren, like what happened to your grandmother. But when I married your father, and you came along, I knew that my destiny was to be as good of a mother as I can. And that's what I'm trying to do right now. Your grandfather was successful in bringing back your Uncle Jason, Jessica. And Jason is coming back to claim me. If I don't act fast, he'll probably go after you and Stephanie. I don't have that connection with him anymore, so I can't sense when he's close. But my mission is to keep you as far away from him as possible.
I know where the Necronomicon is. Your grandfather turned out to be a wealthy man, and he built a mansion near Crystal Lake when he was ousted from the cult. He settled there in hopes that his son, my brother, would return to him. When he died, the mansion became rundown. But the book is in the house, and it should distract Jason…hopefully long enough to buy enough time for you to get this note and never set foot here.
I'm entrusting this note to Steven. Please forgive me for giving it to him, but I trust him more than any other man, even Ed. I can't let anyone bring you into this. There's a man named Creighton Duke who will try to bring you into this. Don't believe what he has to say.
This will be my last letter to you, Jessica. Please give Stephanie a hug for me every day. I love you both so much.
Diana folded the letter and stored it in her apron. When Steven arrived at her house, she planned to give him the letter, and send him to Jessica. She knew in her heart that what Creighton Duke said was correct. Jason Voorhees was coming for her.
Little did Diana know that Jason would kill her before she could pass the letter to Steven. As Diana died in Steven's arms, she knew that it was too late to save her daughter. The fight was out of Diana's hands now. Jessica will have to be strong and kill Jason once and for all.