Ch. 7

Jason did his classic "Ki ki ki ma ma ma.", thing, and left the room, brandishing his machete that he always had with him. Michael looked at me, and randomly turned around and left the room, going in the same direction that Jason had, as if to say, "Let's play follow-the-leader!"

I followed the masked guy with the untidy ginger-colored hair, and went to the bedroom that pizza-face was being held captive in.

I figured he'd woken up, having healed his broken neck. I was right.

He thrashed against the duct-tape, trying to cut it with his razor-blades, but couldn't because they were still duct-taped together. He looked at us with accusing eyes, using language I was glad I couldn't hear because of his duct-taped mouth. Jason kicked him in the head, and I flinched, thinking, Why, oh, why did Freddy have to be here? I didn't like Freddy at all, he was mean and abusive, and his jokes weren't even funny!

"Stop him. Please.", I whispered to the two silent men. They looked at me, and, before anyone could do anything, pizza-face ripped free of his bonds, and slashed at me with his claws. But Jason and Michael got in front of me, to form a protective physical barrier against their opponent.

Jason pushed Freddy out of the room and shut the door in his surprised and angry face. We could hear him cursing on the other side of the door and then he ran off, supposedly to wait somewhere until I went to sleep, I figured.

"Thanks.", I whispered. They both looked at me, surprised still at my constant appreciation of them. They nodded, a little hesitantly.
After a moment of awkwardness, we cleaned up the mess that Freddy had left.

"Aren't you going to go after him?", I asked them.

Jason and Michael froze, and looked at me, their heads cocked, as if to say, "Go after that bastard? No. We'll stay with you to make sure you're safe, for it'll be our luck that we leave you to go find him and he finds you first."

I shied mentally from the image that occurred in my mind: my body, sliced to death.

"Thank you.", I whispered fervently. Their only response was to stare at me.

Jason slowly walked towards the door, unlocked it, and all three of us left the awkwardness in that room.

Michael started to do Michael Jackson's Moonwalk dance down the hallway, towards the kitchen, for it was almost dinnertime. Jason and I stared at him while he did it.

Michael chopped away expertly at the steak that we found in the refrigerator. I had mine medium-well, Michael made his rare, and Jason just had his raw. (I wasn't sure if Michael and Jason really needed to eat, or if they were just doing it for some unknown reason.)

Michael walked to the table with the food, and froze when he saw me.

I knew the problem immediately: their masks.

"Of course. I'll go.", I said, in response to Mike's stress, which seemed to fill the whole room. Jason was nervous too, his crooked eyes watching me intensely.

"Merci.", I told Michael, which was French for, "Thank you."

Michael cocked his head, and then wrote on the pad he'd had in his pocket, You speak French?

"Le peu que je sais.", I replied, which was French for, "The little I know."

I left them to eat in peace, knowing how they would be nervous about me seeing their faces. (They might kill me if I even tried to see their faces, I don't know.)

I went to the living room, pressed "play" on the DVD player which had been paused for hours, and watched as the Jason on the screen attempted to kill a kid.

Jason and Michael came in after they finished eating. Michael went back to put my dirty plate away, and Jason sat next to me, watching the end of Michael's movie with me. Michael himself ran back in, looking excitedly at the TV screen, but snapped his fingers in anger when he realized that he'd once again missed the ending of a movie! He charged at me, knife raised, but Jason put his fist in the way. Michael stopped, and folded his arms and sat on the couch, shaking his head, as if to say, "I hate you people!"

Jason slipped me a note that read, Thanks for not wanting to see our faces. I am grateful for it.

"Thanks for just being here with me.", I whispered.