Disclaimers, ratings, name, etc can be found in prologue though I will say I do not own the following song, it is featured on the 'Underworld' Soundtrack and belongs to Maynard and Puscifer.
Author's Notes: I'm happy to see I'm getting so many reviews! This story now has the most reviews of any I've ever done. Can I *gasp * hit over a hundred! Oh joy! If that happens I'll have to tap dance all over the place - LOL! I'm also surprised so many of you didn't guess who the 'mystery' girl was…I'd of thought it was obvious.
I'd like to remark how ironic it is that Samara makes her entrance in Chapter 13, I love it!! Oh and FF.net has finally given a green light to an 'Underworld' movie section - check it out 'cause that movie rocks and so do the stories there (insert cheap plug here for Villainbabe's stories there…she rocks!)
And just so you all know, I forgot to mention last chapter that I do not own the Horny Sock Puppets…that is a band run by my friends, Chris, Kevin and Jon - shout out to 'em!
More warnings…
WARNING: BAD LANGUAGE
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Chapter 13
Pray
Shall I go blind?
Pray
Cause nobody ever survives
Prayin' to stay in her arms
Just until I can die a little longer
Saviors and saints
Devils and humans alike
She'll eat you alive
-Puscifer, 'REV 20:20'
Will was transfixed the minute she seemed to float in. Her long, straight dark hair hung ominously around her pale face and her even darker eyes looked around the room a mere moment before long eyelashes cast the look downward.
Her lips stood out as the only colorful thing about her, a soft pink that seemed to have a tinge of violet beneath. Her clothes were swarthy and heavy looking, Goth's clothes and she moved about like a shadow.
Will was not the only one to notice and Disher leaned over, "Dude, who's that?"
"I don't know. I've never seen her." He whispered back, eyes still locked on her.
She moved to the back of the room and sat down her bag, sitting alone. She looked slightly out of place but otherwise was totally assured. In fact, in some ways, she cast off an almost flat persona, as if she was merely part of the background.
But Will could never imagine her being that way. Not with that face, not with those clothes, the way she moved…it was like she burst into the room after a gunshot resounded, fully capturing everyone's attention.
Or maybe not.
In fact, as Will looked around it seemed as if he and Disher were the only ones who had taken any notice of the strange new girl. Everyone else had their eyes on their canvas's and paint. Even Paige was busy, encased in gossip.
How could no one not notice this girl?
Mr. Abraham entered then, slapping his portfolio on his desk loudly. Everyone snapped to attention and Mr. Abraham gave an almost apologetic look for startling them as he withdrew the role and began calling out names, "Danielle?"
"Here!"
"Paige?"
"Present!"
"Disher?"
"Yo!"
"Rollins?"
"Here," Will returned casually. The boys in class were always called by their last names and the girls by their first. Will had never understood why, but then Mr. Abraham was well known for his eccentricity.
Mr. Abraham continued through the entire role then cleared his throat, "As you all may have noticed, we have a new student, sitting in the back is Ms. Rebecca Kotler."
Everyone turned and looked at the dark figure sitting in the back. The body that had once belong to Rebecca Kotler, but was now home to Samara Morgan, did not even raise its head.
Mr. Abraham cleared his throat; "It is my understanding, Rebecca, that you prefer being called 'Becca', so I shall do so. Now, Becca, Would you like to share anything with us?"
Samara did not speak and there was a long pause of awkward silence before Mr. Abraham gave a rather saccharine smile, "That's quite all right, we all know how hard it is adjusting to a new school."
He pressed on, "Today, class, I'm going to allow you to 'freestyle' your work. In other words, I want you to use whatever medium you wish and create any piece of art you wish. Sculpture, painting…as long as it's creative. You may start…now."
Everyone began working vigorously, some people going over to grab hunks of clay from the cupboards, other squeezing paint onto their pallets and dipping in wet brushes. Will merely continued to look over in Samara's direction. Disher nudged him again, "Dude, she's going to catch you staring, man."
Will looked away, slightly chagrined as Disher shot him a rather devious look, "So, that's the kind of chicks you dig now, man? I'll tell ya, I dated Lori, dude, and she was vanilla all the way. Never pictured you as digging Goth."
"I - I don't, I'm just…curious."
"Sure you are. Hey dude, it's cool. Those girls? They're freak-fucking-y, man. All into the evil underworld and all that. Wiccian, black magic, dark stuff, kinda cool if you dig it enough…most of it was babble to me but as long as they let me do my thing, it was all good."
"Maybe I should go say 'hi'…introduce myself…after all, she's at a new school. Probably lonely, doesn't know her way around…" Will mumbled more to himself than to Disher but he picked up every word.
"Yeah, bud, go make your move! Better yet, let me go with you and help you out, you don't seem like the kinda guy who can make smooth moves like the ol' Dish here. Hey, if you bomb, can I have 'er?"
Will didn't answer and instead merely rose to his feet. Considering several students were milling about the classroom, talking and working, there seemed nothing out of place as they made their transition over.
It appeared that either Samara did not notice their arrival or chose to ignore it. Her eyes focused intently on her canvas. Will cleared his throat to try and peel her attention away from whatever work she was visualizing, "Hi, I'm Will Rollins. This is-"
Disher interrupted and held out his hand, "Paul Disher, though you can just call me Disher, everyone does. So how you doin'?"
Samara did not take his hand, what's more, she did not even look in their direction. Her hair hung perfectly over her face, guarding it from view, only the tip of her nose was visible as she continued to stare at the canvas, completely transfixed. Will and Disher did not speak either, though Disher looked put out that she had not taken his hand.
Instead they turned their own gaze to her canvas. What they saw was shocking to say the least. It was odd how such a crude drawing seemed to be made up of such detailed lines. The dark black ink, that had been splattered all over, managed to draw out a picture.
All the color drained from Will's face in response to what he saw before him but Disher, oblivious, merely beamed, "Wow! That's fuckin' awesome! I didn't even see you take up a brush! How'd you-"
"It's a gift."
It was the first words she had spoken and they were so quiet that they were hardly audible. Disher's eyebrows were drawn together and it was obvious he had not heard it but Will picked up on it as his eyes directed themselves on to Samara fully.
She let out a breath; "It's a curse."
"If so then it's a great curse, babes, because this is some piece 'a work!"
Will blinked, his brain numb from the sight before him. The drawing was of a man with a fedora hat, his face was cast in the shadows but his eyes stood out, a stark white. His sweater had stripes and he wore a glove on one hand, razors on each finger.
Considering she had not responded to his first compliment, Disher continued, hoping to eventually strike gold, "It really is, I mean that dude is pretty funky lookin', totally. I mean the creativity, the use of the ink, the imagination-"
"I didn't imagine him," she whispered, "He's real."
Disher gave her a skeptical look, "Oh yeah?"
"Yes. I see him in my dreams," her eyes flicked to them briefly and for a moment, Will saw how deep they were, but in a flash the look was gone and she said in the most melancholy tone, "He's going to kill me."
Disher laughed, "Ah, I see, nightmares. Yeah, I used to get those when I was little. But come on! This guy isn't that scary! I mean, I've seen about a dozen horror movies so I've seen worse then him. In fact, those horror movies helped me to not be so scared, ya know? Desensitized and all. I mean, that's what this world is coming to, babe, it's harder and harder to shock and terrifying folks these days…"
She went on as if Disher had not even spoken, "He is coming for me."
"You don't say?" Disher chuckled, "He got a name? If I know it, then maybe I can stop him. You know, if he comes around lookin' for you."
Will spoke for the first time since this whole conversation had begun, "It's Freddy."
Disher turned to him, surprised, but Will didn't notice or care. This was far more important; he looked down at Becca and asked tentatively, "Becca…"
"That's not my name," she muttered.
Disher was confused, "But the teach told us your name is Rebecca…that you like being called 'Becca'…"
"It's Sama - Sam," Samara said. It was obvious she was about to say something else but seemed to think better of it, stopping herself, "It's a nickname."
Disher pretended like he caught on, "Oh, yeah, that's cool, so, Sam, where'd you get the nickname?"
She shot him a glare, finally turning towards them, this was the first time they had caught full sight of her face and while her irritation was prevalent her features were somehow still so…blank, "I got it from my time in Westin Hills."
"Whoa…Westin Hills…yeah, heard of that place," Disher scratched the back of his head, now looking extremely uncomfortable, he took Will's arm and tugged him to one side, he gave Samara a weak smile, "I need to talk to my friend a sec, please excuse us…"
Will, who was still reeling from all that was happening, was easily led away as Disher shook him, eyes serious, "Dude, this girl may be a betty but she's total bad news."
"What?" Will muttered, slowly returning to earth.
"She's from Westin, man, you know, where they lock up all those crazies? Girl is probably a cutter or something, maybe went too far one night, hit her veins and - boom! - almost kicked it so she ended up in Westin. Or she's a druggie or worse, you don't want to get mixed up with a chick like that, man, they're only trouble and heartache. A mile of bad road, got me? Let's let the little psycho alone."
"Hey," Will hissed, "I don't care, all right? I'm not judgmental about shit like that!"
"But Westin - I mean, dude, have you even heard of Westin?"
"Yeah, I happen to know it quite well," Will scowled and shoved Disher aside, about to return to Samara's side. However, she now had an audience. Paige and several other students had gathered around her, clamoring loudly. They stared in awe at her masterpiece, asking questions.
"Where did you get the inspiration?"
"Did you do that with only ink?"
"Do you have a name for it?"
"Are you planning on entering that into an art contest?"
"Let me guess, transfer art student, right? Don't lie…"
Samara didn't seem to be interested in answering their questions; her dark eyes were staring down at the floor, hair protecting her like a shield from their fast paced words and questions.
Eventually she spoke and while her words were soft spoken, they held a resonance that caused a few to inexplicably shiver, "I see him in my dreams. That's why I drew him. His name is Freddy Krueger and he's coming back, stronger than before…"
"Krueger? Where have I heard that name before?" One student muttered, scratching his chin.
"Wasn't that guy some child murderer or sumpin'?" Paige asked aloud to anyone who was listening.
"Yeah," another girl replied, nosily chewing her gum, "I think - like - he was from around here and - like - he - like - he died or something like that, you know?"
Disher jumped in now, "Heyyyyyyy, yeah, I heard about that. Old urban legend, you know about a child killer in our midst. A slasher who some old folks around her torched into one burnt old French fry…"
He wiggled his fingers in front of him, continuing in a silly, stories-told-around-the-campfire wail, "But then he came back, coming for kids in their dreams. Some crazy girl around here, long time ago in the early 80's said she saw him and he was killing her buddies or something…actually, there have been a lot of crazy girls in this town who have screamed that on the top of their lungs. 'Freddy's coming after me!'"
He howled and raised his arms up in the air. He began running around in circles. Chasing a few giggling girls about. Samara's head rose and her hair parted, her eyes seemed to be on fire, "This isn't some joke!"
The sharp comment caught everyone's attention. Having all eyes on her, it would seem Samara would succumb to hiding behind her hair again but instead her hot eyes continued to burn their way under everyone's skin, "Freddy is real and he is back and he will kill you. All of you. One by one. You should be afraid…I would be, if I was you."
Everyone was frozen in place when the ending bell for the class rang. Mr. Abraham, who had fortuitously chosen to step out of the room at that moment to use the restroom, came back and did not notice the tension among his students. Instead he merely clapped his hands and scooted everyone off to their next class.
Several kids left huddled together, talking in hushed whispers, eyes darting about worriedly. Samara herself merely gathered her books together and charged off. Will was still trying to hurdle over people towards her when Disher grabbed him again, "See, dude? Total pill! Trust me, man, stay away!"
"You don't know anything about it," Will hissed, tugging from his grip once more and rushing after Samara.
He called out to her but she didn't seem to hear him or she chose not to. Panting, he finally managed to catch her once they were outside. When his hand tapped her shoulder he noted two things immediately, one, her skin was oddly damp, and two, it was freezing.
She turned and glared at him and he imagined if looks could kill…
But he merely shook his head and bent down, resting his hands on his knees as he caught his breath, offering her a weak grin, "I - I'm sorry - I -ah - I didn't mean to startle you - I -ah - I just - I wanted to talk to you…it's about your dreams, about Freddy."
Her head cocked to one side and he took that to be her suggesting that she was interested and he could continue, "I just mean, I…I know about Freddy. I know what you're going through. Sort of. I've…dealt with him before. I'd like to help you."
She seemed to balk at the last statement and he rose to his full height, towering over her slight frame. His breath was calm now and he tried to sound somewhat soothing, "I know you don't know me and heck, I don't know you but…I was in Westin for a time myself, so I think I understand where you're coming from a little bit and if you'd give me a chance, I think we could help each other."
Samara's gaze was still vacant but for the first time in a long time, her thoughts were whirling. This boy wanted to…help her? Why would he care? And he had actually spent time in that sanitarium? When she had possessed Becca she had found it ironic that she should take up residence in a mental patient, considering how much time she herself had spent under psychiatric evaluation when she was alive thanks to her dear, sweet mother.
To think that maybe this boy too understood what it was like…
She shook her head, more to herself than to him. She could not derail herself from the objective at hand. This situation with the body was only temporary, long enough to spread the fear. Besides, playing the role of Rebecca Kotler was tiring. Perhaps this was why she had basically told this boy and his friend her real name.
Having dealt with Rebecca's grandparents and now the school schedule and other tasks that had been assigned her…it made her realize she was not missing out much on life and furthermore, why she despised the living so.
Will merely caught her shaking her head and became desperate, his hand shot out, touching her shoulder again, "Please, I'm not asking you to trust me, I'm just asking you to let me help you."
Her eyes went to his hand on her shoulder, he drew it away quickly running it through his hair, "Ah…sorry, shouldn't have done that."
Samara seemed to still be thinking when Will tossed in the clincher, "I'm not the only one who knows about Freddy, there's a friend of mine too, Lori, she knows quite a lot about him."
Lori! That was one of the names Freddy had mentioned earlier, one of the girls he figured he would enjoy killing first. Samara now found herself curious, she wanted to see this girl, wanted to know what made her tick, why Freddy wanted her dead so badly. And wasn't this the one that had decapitated him?
Samara's mind was buzzing now, this could actually be somewhat amusing. And who knew? Maybe Will could help her after all…help her by leading her to more of his friends, more people to scare, more victims.
She tried for a smile and only managed to lift one corner of her mouth, saying quietly, "All right."
Will let out a breath, "Great! When do you want to…I mean I'm free now but-"
Samara shook her head and held out a paper for his view. Another one of Rebecca's chores that had to be completed. Will took the note and read it, "Oh, you have to meet up with our new guidance counselor…what does it say here…ahh, yes, Ms. Angela Walsh. Okay, well then, when do you want to meet? Tomorrow after Art, maybe?"
Samara nodded and Will grinned, "All right, it's a date."
Her eyebrows drew together.
Will blushed, "Not a date-date, you know, not a real date but a - you know what I mean."
Flustered he turned and ran off, leaving Samara to contemplate what had just happened. A date? What exactly was that? And why did it make him nervous? She decided she really didn't give a shit and headed off to see Ms. Walsh.