The place didn't sound familiar to Michael, not right off the bat. He followed Lorelei back to their van.
"It's a few states over, but I've wanted to go to the camp for a while, no one would take me. So, I'll drive there myself." Lorelei and Michael get into the van, her getting in the driver's seat this time, him taking the passenger. The fuel gauge showing there was enough in the tank before driving off, avoiding the police cars that patrolled around. Finding a main road and began their journey to the camp.
She doesn't remember much of the place last she was there, at the age she was no one remembered much of anything, back of that part of her past she's tried to force herself to forget, and the memories with it. But will never forget that beautiful lake and the forestry that surrounded it, it was a blur, but will soon be reminded of it soon.
Driving all the way to the camp where they are from will take an entire day but will run into the problem of having to refuel the van when the time is needed. Won't be an issue for a couple of getaway killers.
"Far as I know, the place has been closed down for few years, sometime in the 50's, not sure exact, the time that boy was pushed into the lake, and had drowned because no one was paying attention to the kids..." Lorelei kept her eyes on the road, Michael kicked back in the sofa behind her, he looked in her direction when she started speaking. " His mother went on a rampage and killed those in charge for what happened, only to be beheaded by the remaining councilor... the other problem is, the local police couldn't find the boy's body in that lake during the investigation."
She switches lanes to pass some other vehicles.
"Could mean anything, the body was left in water for a certain time for the fish to start taking it apart, bloat and decompose, skin changing color, or it could have moved somewhere else in the lake. With the name Crystal Lake, you'd think that water would be that clear."
"Or he really didn't die." Michael spoke up.
"That's impossible..." She spoke. "If I knew Jason was still alive all this time I would have been up here sooner."
"So you knew him?"
She paused. "Sort of... I was very young, so I don't recall much, but it was a brief meeting."
He nods, peeking out a window.
"But something else that rattled the investigating was Pamela's head was gone, Jason's mom, only her body left behind."
"An animal could have dragged it off." He said, she just shrugged.
"No idea at this point."
Hours into the drive, halfway through their journey and a couple of pit stops, as expected, the van needed gas. Lorelei and Michael would take turns driving and she'd direct him on where to go. Coming upon a lone gas station with no other people besides the one that worked there, Michael pulled up next to a pump, turning off the engine.
"Looks like we're going to have to steal our fuel since I doubt we got money nor are we dressed for interacting with the public, with our faces now everywhere." Lorelei unbuckled before standing up.
"How about I fill up the tank while you sneak around back and take out the cashier? We'll snatch a few foods and drinks as well to hold us into the next 6 hours we got left to drive."
With a nod Michael left the van and headed round back, knife at his side. She kept watch outside as she refueled for anyone that also tended to stop in.
Michael found the back door, testing to see if it was locked, it wasn't, turning the knob and quietly pulling it open, standing in the doorway, the place wasn't like most gas stations, it was run down, tears all in the walls, dirty floors, a radio that had half static, no wonder hardly anyone was here. He took a step in and spotted the cashier, paying no mind, and must not have seen them pull up, and not see Michael just standing there, this guy must been in his own little world.
With wide strides in his steps, he wrapped an arm around the man's neck from behind dragging him back as the cashier tried to hit and pry Michael off him, only to get his face slammed into register a couple times till he was limp, dropping him soon as Lorelei stepped into the front door, a bell ringing to indicate her entrance.
"All clear outside, I even managed to find a small gas canister in the van, I filled that up too." She went over and grabbed a few plastic bags. "I'll grab the goods." She started throwing things in them, to candy, chips and drinks from the fridge. There was a cooler in the van, so she snatched up a bag of ice to keep the drinks cold.
She then watched as Michael forced the register open, taking out all the money that was in there. "What are you up to?"
Michael looked up at her, he took a lighter from a box on the counter and set the bundle of cash on fire, watching it eat the green paper to black.
Lorelei now was catching on. "I see, make it look like a robbery, smart." She continues filling the bags, he steps out from behind the counter.
"Alright, think we got enough, let's get back on the road."
They both walked out, checking around as they stepped in the van and took off. Lorelei made sure to fill their cooler with the ice and the drinks before leaving. Michael helped himself to the candy.
"This trip made me realize how much I don't like traveling... since I had someone drive for me. Even then it was boring, having to sit for hours to days on end." Lorey sighed watching the empty endless road. "I don't even know if I want to go all the way back to Haddonfield after staying at the camp, but I know we'll have to eventually." She sees Michael in her peripheral vision sit beside her, while munching on a chocolate bar.
She took a glance at him and noticed something on the side of his mask.
"Where'd that hole come from on the side of your neck?"
He lifted a hand to feel the small hole in the latex. "Stabbed with a knitting needle."
"Ouch. My guess it happened before we met?" Lorelei asked, keeping glances at him and the road. "Laurie did it did she?"
He nodded to both questions and tossed his wrapper out the window. It remained quiet between the two within the next hour of the trip, low volume music from the radio to kill the silence out a little. Lorelei then had something that came to mind.
"If both Jason and Pamela died at the camp, where would they be buried? Not as much for Jason, but for what was left of Pamela. Got to be graves for one of them somewhere?" Lorelei spoke out.
Michael shrugged, not really know where to go with this. "A map will get your answer."
"Then that will be our first task once we get there, find a map, I want to know if there's a cemetery there or nearby."
What felt like all day on the road, the sun setting, and the Crystal Lake sign was in view, she turned onto the dirt road and through the trail. Memories started to flood back to her now, and a series of eeriness hit her like a truck but couldn't pinpoint why. She sees a big wooden building to the left and parked next to it.
"We're here, finally, but this looks like the Camp Office, surely there's a map here. If not, we'll search elsewhere."
She gets out, so does Michael. And head up to the front door, only for Michael to stop outside and she went on inside. He turns around, he felt a presence somewhere nearby, it be a person or animal, he wasn't sure, but he knew they weren't alone, his grip on his knife tightened.
"Michael?" Lorelei's voice cut him out his thoughts, glancing behind his shoulder.
"You coming?"
With one look back out in the trees, he turned and walked into the office, he met with Lorelei holding up an old faded folded map.
"Found one, and weirdly enough, there is a cemetery here, Eternal Peace Cemetery, what a name." She walks outside as Michael followed, she looked at the map as she walked. "It's to the east of here, in front of a place called Packanack Lodge. Let's walk there, I've done enough sitting." With the guide of her map, she headed through the forest, Michael following. Though he still had that... feeling of eyes on him, and her, it felt like it was all around him, it annoyed him he didn't know who or why was doing it.
The lodge was the first thing Lorelei saw once coming around the lake, going up the short path and to the graveyard, looking around. "Well, time to look around, look for Pamela and Jason Voorhees."
With a nod he walked in another direction, she went the other way, it took some searching, but the Voorhees name on a tombstone told her she found what she was looking for. "Over here!" She called over Michael, he stood beside her as she read Pamela's grave.
"1930 to 1979, that's not very long ago, like 2 years ago?" She glanced at Michael; he looked back at her. "Didn't know it was so soon, so... over those years when Jason died, she was doing the killing? before she was killed herself. Maybe that could be the reason Jason's body wasn't found, she could have pulled the body out before the law got there and buried him or hid it somewhere. Or..." She trailed off walking about as she ranted, Michael just stood there.
"Maybe Jason didn't die somehow...? I- My god this is all fucking confusing it makes no sense!" She groaned, gripping her hair. "I need a minute... alone... to think." She went out of the cemetery, and down to a dock that was close by. Michael stood there and watched her leave, when she was out of view, he looked to the Packanack lodge, deciding to go inside and look around.
Lorelei walked out on the dock, looking out at the lake, she stuck her weapon up into the wood and goes to the edge, looking down at the water ripple from the movement of the wooden dock. The story of Jason... it all didn't connect. Did he die or not? But his body wasn't found? His mother had to of taken it. Or he survived his drowning?
She let out a heavy sigh, she took a glance behind her to see if Michael wasn't around. She looked back down at the water at her reflection, she slid off her mask. She felt the corner of her head that had the graze from the shotgun blast those years ago, she honestly hated it... even with a mask it made her feel insecure. She looked out onto the calm lake.
"Jason... are you really gone..." She spoke out to herself, or nobody, so she thinks. All those feelings that Michael got when they first got to the camp, they were right, someone has been watching them, from afar in the shadows of the trees, but mainly it was her they were watching.
Someone quietly stepped out from behind a tree and stood at the beginning of the dock, about to step forward, but something made him stop.
"Wait Jason." Pamela's voice spoke out, making the man tilt his head. "That woman... Jason, my sweet boy, it's her. Don't you remember?"
This man, he looked at Lorelei, examining her, studying her, nothing was ringing a bell, he just saw an everyday troublemaker.
"The one you saved sweetie, when you were young. She came back, to find you."
He lowered his weapon at this. It was her? The one he protected from almost falling in the lake? He didn't know her name, he never got it. But if it was really true, he couldn't harm her, and seemed his mother approved of this as well. He takes a step on the creaky planks of the dock to make his presence known.
Lorelei heard it, and quickly put her mask back on. "Michael?" She turns around only to stop upon seeing this... tall, broad man, standing there holding a pickaxe. Wearing a blue plaid shirt, overalls, boots and had a bag or some kind of sack on his head, and only one hole he sees out from.
"Who the hell are you?" She pulled her weapon out of the wood and held it defensively. As she stood there, she takes in this man's appearance. Hiding his face... wielding a weapon... Was he a killer like her and Michael? She's never heard of anyone that roamed at the camp or any kind of murders that happened here, then again, she was locked up most of her childhood. She wasn't scared, more on the lines of curious, and he wasn't attacking, nor talking. "Are you mute?"
He nodded his head.
"Another mute huh? Michael is the same, somewhat." She paused. "Who are you though? Still never gave me an answer."
He stared at her, then moved to some dirt and used the pickaxe to write. She watched him closely; he motioned her over. She slowly made her way across the dock to him; he was much taller than she thought up close. She glanced at him then to the dirt. The name 'Jason' sketched out, she took a step back, then looked at the bag headed man, only able to see his one blue eye.
"Jason...?" She looked at the dirt, then the direction of the cemetery, and back at him. Was this a coincidence? "...That... that can't be... as in, Voorhees? Jason Voorhees? Pamela's son? The boy I was told that drowned?"
He nodded slowly.
"...How do I know you're not lying to me? And that you're not some random man with the coincidence of having the same name as him? Or pretending to be him? How can you prove you're really the Jason? Because the story already doesn't make sense. Either you died or not?!" She drops her handle blade and muffles a scream in her hands.
She suddenly felt large hands grab her by her arms and shot her head up to come eye to eye with him, he then let her go and took something out his front pocket of her overalls, it was an old worn and tore photo, holding it up for her to see.
Lorelei looked at the photo, it was almost faded but could make out a woman and little boy with a disfigured face. She forgotten that Jason was a little deformed, as to why he was bullied and got pushed in the lake in the first place. She looked back up at his eye, he put the photo back in his pocket.
"So it really is you, Jason..." She stood there for a few seconds in silence. She stabbed her weapon in the ground then embraced him in the tightest hug she could give, gripping his shirt from behind.
He was taken back by the sudden action, he drops his pickaxe and returned the gesture, giving a light squeeze to not hurt her. They stayed this way for a few minutes, but Lorey didn't want to let go.
"...If I had known you were alive this whole time, I'd have been here much sooner."
Jason tightened a little more of his embrace, and rubbed her back slightly, he then pulled her away a little to look at her, placing a hand on the side of her face, feeling the crystal points on the side of her mask. He then noticed the other part of her head, seeing the exposed skull and her hair grazed off. He gave her a look of concern, touching around it with his other hand.
"It's a long story." She placed her hand on his to gently take it away from it. "Shotgun blast, it grazed me, happened years ago, it doesn't hurt, it's healed but not in the right way."
He understood but was still a little worried about it.
"I'm fine, I've dealt with it, and it has never caused a problem." She'd give a reassuring smile if it wasn't for her mask. "All I care about now is that you are standing here right in front of me."
He takes a deep breath then nods; he bends down to pick up his pickaxe, and Lorey her handle blade, He motioned her to follow and started off toward the woods, she looked back at the Packanack Lodge and around the area, Michael was somewhere but wasn't sure where, she carved a note in the dirt in case he came by the dock before following Jason, wondering where he was taking her, staying by his side.
"It's been... so long since our first encounter as kids, the age I was you hardly remember anything." She spoke, Jason glanced at her off and on as he listened intently. "The closer I got here, the more I started to remember, and remember you." Lorelei looked up at him, he met her gaze, he gave a nod in agreement, he remembered everything from when they first met, he was older than her at the time.
They both come upon a shack, in the middle of nowhere in this dense thicket, you can tell it was put together with scrap sheets of metal, tarps, wooden planks, and a big window on the front of it, most likely to hide away from the public eye instead of staying in the nicer cabins.
Jason opened the door for her as she walks inside, looking around, the place was a mess, dirt and objects scattered around. There definitely was plenty of places to sit with the chairs and stools. He follows in behind her and closed the door, locking it. He went on ahead and set his pickaxe down against a partly broken cabinet.
"You built this entire place? By yourself?" She looked at him, answering with a nod.
"Quite impressive, must have taken some time to do." She walked about as Jason sat down on a cut log he had next to another, watching her.
"Where do you even sleep?"
He pointed to a door, possibly being his bedroom, she gave a small nod, looking to the ground before sitting across from him, and took out her ponytail, letting her long black locks fall over her back and shoulders, flushing it out with her hands. Jason not taking his eyes off her, it liked it a lot with it down instead of it pulled up.
"Jason?" Her voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
"Let me ask you something, cause it's going to eat at me if I don't."
He tilts his head, ready to listen.
"This may be a stupid question, but... did you really die? Well, drown? And somehow magically came back? What's the real story here? Only you know that answer."
He thinks for a moment before standing up and going to a shelf, finding some paper and a pencil, and started to write on it for a few seconds before handing it to her. Taking it, it read:
'Do you know sign language? It will make explaining and communication easier on us both.'
"Oh, I do actually." She nods and set the paper aside. He gave a breath of relief before starting to sign.
'To put this short and simple, no I did not drown, I almost did, it was a near death experience you can say. Mother cared for me until she was killed by a counselor, she still speaks to me, and guided me while living alone, and surviving.'
"I feel bad you had to go through all that Jason... and losing your mom in such a way. I don't blame her for snapping like that and killing them all for had happened to her son. What mother wouldn't? I'd be pissed too if I was in her shoes." She stood up to approach him. "Even in spirit she knows you love her and so does she with you."
He nodded, looking down to the floor. Lorelei couldn't help but hug him once more, holding his head against her chest, she felt his arms go around her legs.
"I think I will always regret not coming up here sooner than now... I would have helped you the best I could. But I think with how my life went when I was 14... it might not have been possible now thinking about it..."
Jason let go to look at her questionably. What did she mean?
'What happened to you?' He signed.
She sighed deeply. "How do you think I became this way...? Become a well-known serial killer, not because I wanted to, because I snapped... was betrayed... and now I want to take my hatred out on our own kind."
He listened, then moved her to a chair for her to sit to finish her story.
"I'll try to make it short like you did with your side... I got bullied, when getting beaten I stabbed the main girl in the face with a pencil, her father was the principal, he manually deleted the camera footage of the fight, the blame put on me thinking I did it on the sole purpose to cause harm, spent 4 years in Juvenile, and another 4 in jail... I got out, wasn't welcome back home, snuck in at night and found my mask and jacket, I stayed in Michael's old home, we finally met and stuck together, throughout the few years I killed both my bully and her father, now with the heat of the police on us, I decided to bring us here to get away and hide, and the rest you know."
Jason placed a hand on her shoulder, knowing she has been bullied like he did, and the cause of her path leading to the life of murder. Almost the same as him.
"If or when I ever decide to go back, which might be a long while it was a boringly long drive, I will get that witch's friends and as well as my stepmother... I don't really call her my mother, some woman my father kept around, didn't really need her in the picture." She rolled her eyes. "I wasn't as lucky as you were to have a mother like yours, mine was my father, I love him, as well my older sister, but I couldn't see them because of her..." She growled; Jason rubbed her shoulder to try to comfort, he then stood up to lead her to his room, pushing open the door to it. She looked inside then at him.
'Take my room, and sleep, you need rest, clear your mind.' He signed to her.
With a sigh she nodded and walked in, then paused and turned around.
"What about you?"
'Don't worry about me, I have to watch the camp for trespassers.'
"Well, alright. Thanks Jason." She dusts off the bed before sitting down and lays on her back. Jason left then came back with a red blanket, tossing it to her. She chuckled at this. "Thanks."
He nodded. 'What is your name? I never knew it.'
"It's Lorelei." She smiled. "Or Lorey for short."
Lorelei... what a pretty name.
'Rest well, Lorelei.' He leaves the door cracked, he went over to an axe and picks it up, bringing it with him outside.
'She's been through so much Jason...' Pamela's voice spoke. 'You both are one of the same, protect her, make sure no harm comes to her, she a good one, and you're a good boy. Keep her around.'
Jason nodded to his mother's words.
'I will Ma.'