The First Encounter

Jennifer didn't want to go to sleep that night but she almost seemed to be pulled into it. The second it completely consumed her, her eyes opened to reveal a black walled and floored room, no doors or windows, the night seemed to consume her, and here she knew she was asleep. She stood from the floor where she had been crumpled and stepped forward, gazed at the long, thin and light white dress on her, she heard a hiss and spun around to see the gleaming of metal, but she could not see what it was from. Wait, this is my dream, so I should be able to... She squeezed her eyes shut and a brilliant light came on, she opened them, revealing the man who had been shrouded in the blackness.

She was no stranger to the works of burns, her husband was badly scarred from the night he had attacked her mother in 78, but this man, he seemed to be formed of the scars! There was nowhere they didn't extend to, Michael at least had patches of them! He grinned at her surprise and advanced, watched her shrink away.

"Now, now Jenni. You've no reason to run!" she read lies in his eyes and stepped back further, her eyes trailed to the blades on his hands, and suddenly she ran cold with hate and anger.

"How can I believe you? After what you did to my son I'd say there is legitimate excuse for me to run!"

He leaned against a wall. "Ooo brainy! And so young! What don't you have?"

"Normality." She grumbled. "Look, this whole Silvain thing is great, but I really am not one for having kids with other men. I'm married."

"Well," she interrupted. "Not technically, not legally, and you never can be."

She glared at him. "In our cult legality means nothing."

"Oh that's right I forgot, human sacrifices."

She shook her head and turned, began to walk to a forming door. "Where are you going?" He called menacingly.

"The hell out of here." She replied.

She stepped out the door and froze, she was in a hallway. She looked back into the room to see Freddy was gone. Suddenly terrified, she gulped and stepped into the hall, her outfit changed to a closer fitting black garment. It was threadbare and long, so she crossed her arms over herself and stepped into the tunnel like hallway. Water dripped from the ceiling and a rat scurried past. She turned the corner to a shorter hall, with only one door at the very end. Her nearly bare legs wobbled with her fear but she went forward.

She turned the door handle, and with a deep breath pushed it open, light poured from only a jack o lantern by the bed, and on the bed lay a girl, younger than herself, black curly hair and a white dress shirt, obviously for a man on her, her legs bare. She was dead, her eyes open, her throat slit. Jennifer felt a whimper escape her throat, she recognized this woman. She backed into a door in the side of the room which opened to reveal a man, glasses, a knife protruding from his chest, crying now she stumbled into another closet, that opened to reveal a blonde girl, eyes open, throat bruised, naked. She cried out and ran from the room, pressed herself against a wall.

He had brought her to the Wallace house, and as she stepped forward she felt something sharp pierce her shoulder and as she screamed and fell down the stairs a sudden terror filled her like she had never felt. She looked at her wounded shoulder, the same one Steven had sliced, the same one Michael had sliced on her mother twice, the scar had been perfectly traced. She grabbed her leg, which was in severe pain and looked up to see Krueger at the top of the stairs, she limped away, and to the kitchen, immediately broke open the glass door and ran only to be caught in Krueger's arms.

"I gave you the chance for it to be nice, but now..."

He threw her to the ground and she screamed in pain. He descended upon her but just as he would begin to rape her she woke with a start, still crying and clutching her leg. Michael gathered her into his arms and stroked her hair, trying desperately to soothe her, and at the feel of wetness on his chest he pulled he back to reveal the sliced shoulder. He looked into her red, wide eyes and she turned, grabbed the phone by the bed and dialed Wynn's number.

"So you lived everything your mother lived that night when she found the bodies?"

"Up until getting out of the house. That was when he... he tried to..."

"It's ok, I get the picture." He lifted her blanket and rubbed at her leg, numb with drugs. "What happened?"

"You cracked a bone." He said. "Don't expect for you to be able to walk on it. Not for a while."

She looked at him. "But... if he brings me back!"

"Well, we could always send someone to him."

"He'll just kill them."

"We'll think of something."

"Jen?"

She looked into the doorway and sighed. "Hi Mom."

Laurie moved into the room, quickly taking her daughter's hand. "Dear God you're cursed honey, cursed to be a replica of me."

She grinned. "Yeah, only so far as I know my brother's not nuts."

Laurie frowned and sat next to her, smoothed back some hair on her forehead. "You know when you were little, and I had you and Jamie with me, I always imagined that nothing else would happen. But then I got scared, and I left you girls and now look, both of you have been close to death more than once," She touched the delicate wound on Jennifer's shoulder. "Both of you have scars, that will never heal."

Jennifer shook her head and took her mothers hand in both of hers. "I knew about this, even when I was a baby I knew my place in life, even if I was afraid of it I've always been ready to die. And mom, the chance of me getting through this is slim to none, and if I don't, promise me you'll help Michael with the kids? I know there's some sharp energy between you two, even now. But you have to understand it wasn't his fault. He won't be able to take care of them alone, promise me you'll help."

Tears streaming from her eyes Laurie shook her head. "I... Jenni I live in California Michael and the kids live in Haddonfield..."

"I know. I want him to move close to you and John."

"Are you crazy!" Laurie's wild eyes calmed. "Jen after what happened I don't...."

"This isn't for me! This is for Jacob and Anastasia dammit, I don't want them to grow up in some old house full of murder when they could be living near you, visiting their grandmother!" Tears streamed down her red face. "I don't want them to grow up like Jamie and I did."

Shocked, hurt and guilty, Laurie gaped down at her eldest daughter, then on the verge of tears, she stormed out. Jennifer, having made a firm decision stayed calm, and sighed. "Don't waste your time Dad. Just let the son of a bitch have me. I've got a piece of my mind for him."

Silent after having witnessed this confrontation, Wynn shook his head. "He doesn't want a piece of your mind Jen..."

"Oh, don't be sick!"

Michael looked at the bedside clock, then the empty space next to him. He shook his head and slipped from the bed, into a robe and crept down the stairs he knew so well. A light was on in the kitchen, he could tell, so he moved slowly to it, found his wife sitting at the table, a cup of tea, and her face tear stained. He sat across from her, she didn't look up but sniffled and then spoke. "It's never going to end, is it?"

He didn't respond, just watched her, fearing that if he spoke it would be the wrong thing to say. She looked up and shook her head. "You know, sometimes I wish I'd never been born. Sometimes I wish I'd died in that police station."

He shook his head and took her hand, his eyes encouraging her to be strong and so she felt fresh sobs begin to build. "God, what would I do without you?"

They embraced and he helped her upstairs, took her hand once they were in bed so if her sleep disturbed her she would squeeze it and he would know. She woke peacefully in the morning, well rested and energetic. He went to be alone in the basement after breakfast, as he often did, leaving her to spend time with the children. She helped them set up some paper and paint at the table in the living room, gave them a cup of water each and some brushes and she herself took to her old hobby, beginning an elaborate watercolor of some mysterious woods from her childhood (perhaps the ones from when Tina died).

About a half an hour into it, after they had taken to putting dots of paint on their all too cooperative mother's nose and then gone back to their pictures the doorbell rang, so Jennifer went to answer it without thinking to clean herself up. She opened it and froze, hid her confusion and smiled politely as she greeted the woman standing there. "Hello, may I help you?"

The woman smiled back softly, flipped her black hair over her shoulders. "Are you Jennifer?"

Jennifer frowned slightly. "I am."

"My name is Cirin, I'm here to help your family."

Daidle daidle deedle. ahem Read and Review and see what happens