Destiny swallowed hard over the lump that was forming in her throat. She was looking at Jason nervously, stroking her hair in regret. He was back at her, sitting cross-legged on the floor, and yet he was tall enough to meet her height while she was sitting in the same position on the couch. When he blinked, Destiny couldn't help but jump. Was she really going to do this? Was she REALLY going to tell Jason Voorhees, the Camp Crystal Lake killer what a menstrual cycle was? How in the hell was he going to react to it? How brief should she be? Should she tell him every detail, or should she just keep to the facts? Or should she have just kept her big mouth shut?
"S-so you really wanna know what a period is?" When Jason nodded, she winced and shut her eyes. This was going to be SO embarrassing…
"W-well…o-okay, then…lemme think…" Destiny slowly looked down at her lap, trying to think of what to leave out and what to include. All the while, she could feel Jason's eye on her, which only made her feel more flustered. She stroked her hair more and felt a cramp rack her stomach. She sighed, getting her thoughts together, and looked up at him.
"A-alright…let's see…u-um…a-a period is…e-er…" Destiny bit her lip hard, trying to form words that just wouldn't come out. Jason was watching her patiently, or so it seemed, but Destiny knew he would get annoyed soon.
"O-okay, lemme try again…a-a period is when a girl's…e-er…a-area…i-is um…e-er…" Destiny clenched her eyes shut in frustration. Getting this out was surely going to be a challenge, and it looked like Jason could tell. He kept completely still, as if he was getting ready to be a model for some kind of painting session. It was a little unnerving.
"A-a period is when s-something happens t-to a girl's…place! Y-you know, like that…er…that place where…th-things happen!" Her face went red when she saw that Jason was giving her what looked like a completely lost look. What in the heck did she just say?
"Periods a-are…a-are…I-I…th-they…th-they're awful a-and…g-gross…a-and…pa-painful…a-and…a-apparently WAY to humiliating to explain!" Destiny groaned and slapped her hand on her forehead. For crying out loud, this was pathetic! Why couldn't she just say it as if he wasn't there? She could usually pull a stunt like this off if no was around, but Jason watching her just scared the living daylights out of her. His reaction was what she was hesitating about. She still couldn't think about how he would react to what this actually was. She sighed and closed her eyes.
"Okay…Jason, no offense, but I'm gonna try and pretend you're not here…I think it'll help with me trying to explain this to you…" She knew he must have looked even more confused, but she didn't care. As long as she could tell him, without hesitating, what a period was, she would be happy.
"Okay, Jason. Before I start, I should tell you that all girls produce eggs in their lower areas once every month. If a girl was to have sex around that time, it would produce a child, but in the event that a girl doesn't have sex, the egg sticks to the wall of her lower area, where blood and the lining of her lower area are becoming thicker and thicker. After a week or so, all of the lining, the destroyed egg and the blood come out of her lower area, which is when a girl finds out her period has started. A period is basically the body cleaning out the blood, the egg and the lining of her lower area so that she doesn't get infected. Usually it's a sign that shows that a girl is healthy, but it's sometimes bad to have one when a girl is pregnant, because that means that the girl will possibly lose the baby. Periods last depending on each girl. They can go from two days to a whole week or longer. Some side effects that girls go through during their period are tons of energy, fatigue, anxiety, depression, weird cravings, acne, headaches, bloating, weight gain, intense cramps, nausea, mood swings and backaches."
Destiny had managed to say all of this in a calm voice that sounded as if she knew exactly what she was talking about. And she did, obviously, since she was a girl and all. Feeling satisfied, she opened her eyes to see how Jason reacted.
Jason's eye was so wide she could only see his pupil through the hole of his hockey mask. He was stiff and his shoulders were slightly upright, his large hands digging into his ankles. His ears were dark red. He looked almost scared toward her, like as if she was about to lunge at him with an axe and chop his head clean off. Destiny was stunned. There was no chance in hell that SHE sent a chill up Jason Voorhees' back. She wasn't even that descriptive!
"J-Jason?" Destiny's voice went soft, hesitating as she slowly reached forward to touch his jacket gently. "A-are you o-okay?" She felt like she had to be slow, to make sure that if she did indeed scare him, she had no intention of hurting him. Like he has done with her. Jason flinched when Destiny's hand brushed against his rough, thick jacket. He looked…almost shy. Destiny slowly pulled her hand back and stared at him worriedly.
"J-Jason…? D-did I scare you? I-I didn't mean to, h-honest…i-it's completely natural what I-I'm going through. I-It's supposed to hurt a-and make me feel like crap. I-it happens to all girls…g-good and bad." Jason was still staring at her, looking shocked, and quickly looked down at her lower stomach. Destiny blushed deeply and squirmed under his stare, trying to move her legs to block his view.
"J-Jason…d-don't…" He quickly looked back at her, his body still. Destiny instinctively moved her hands to her lips, and another wave of cramps hit her, yet they weren't nearly as intense as before. She winced softly and he stiffened more. Destiny flinched at this and curled her legs closer.
"I-I'm sorry, Jason…" His ears went red again, and she couldn't help but smile a bit. It was a little cute to see him blush, even if she couldn't see it all. He slowly relaxed his body and glanced away from her, rubbing the back of his neck in what looked like a way to avoid an awkward moment. Destiny giggled.
"S-so, I DID scare you, didn't I?" He flinched again and looked at her quickly, trying to look defensive, which only made her laugh harder.
"I-I scared a serial killer! Happy day! I win! Score one for the girls!" She clapped her hands happily and shook from laughing. It's not every day you scare a serial killer with the power of the girl's menstrual cycle. Jason just glared at her and crossed his arms in what looked like defeat before looking away again, his ears still reddening. She giggled more softly and leaned forward.
"I'm sorry, Jason. I-I couldn't resist. I-I'll leave you alone, okay?" Jason glanced back at her suspiciously. She gave him a soft smile and yawned softly. She watched his eyes soften and he reached over to stroke her neck. Destiny squealed and giggled hard, trying to push his hand away.
"N-no, Jason stop! Th-that tickles, s-stop it!" She squealed harder when he went to the back of her neck. She grasped his forearm, which was so large she could wrap both hands around it and not touch her fingertips, and pushed against it. Jason's shoulders shook faintly from laughing, and he pulled away. Destiny gasped softly to catch her breath and she glared at him.
"Y-you like tickling me, d-don't you? Y-you meanie…" Jason rolled his eye and he patted her head gently. He then picked up his notepad.
"I like seeing you happy." Destiny blushed and smiled up at him shyly, her hands moving to stroke at her hair again, not really knowing how to respond. She glanced away, closing her eyes, and struggled to come up with something to say. A gentle shake of the notepad caught her attention.
"Look who's scared now."
"H-hey!"
The rest of the day went on slowly and quietly. Destiny would take naps often, and Jason would sit near her just in case she needed something. If anything, it was either a glass of water or ibuprofen pills when the four hours were over and the pain of her cramps and backache were coming back. At one point, the pain came back before it was time for her to take more pills, so she asked Jason if he could get her heating pad from upstairs. Jason, having NO idea what a heating pad was, searched all over his room for it for what felt like hours. Destiny, getting pretty annoyed, got up and stormed into his room, and when she saw that he had torn all of the stuffed animals from the bed in his mad search, she picked up the actual heating pad, which was lying on the floor near her duffel bag all along, and stomped downstairs. Jason, who was now feeling like an idiot, yet slightly irritated that she was mad at him, followed her. How was he supposed to know what a heating pad was? But it was funny; by the time he went downstairs, Destiny was apologizing for her behavior, which only seemed to be her getting annoyed and not telling him what a heating pad looked like. Jason sighed underneath his mask at this point. This must be what mood swings were.
After that, Destiny couldn't go back to sleep, so Jason decided that this was the time to tell her about Mother. As much as he really didn't want to tell her all about his awful past, he knew she was going to go off asking him questions sooner or later, so he decided to just get it over with now. When he 'told' Destiny that he was going to tell her about himself, she got a little nervous. Was she forcing him to tell her because she accidentally saw his Mother's head? She didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable.
"J-Jason, you don't have to tell me. I-If it'll uncomfort you, I'll feel bad."
"You're going to ask me questions someday. I might as well tell you everything now. I don't want to, but I have to." Destiny bit her lip guiltily as he walked away to go up to his room. She felt the warmth of the heating pad against her lower stomach, but it didn't feel very good anymore. It just felt hot and bothering now. Jason was carrying a few photographs when he returned, and he handed them to her. She recognized the first one; it was the picture she had seen that morning. She looked through the other pictures. Most of them were of Jason and his mother, but one had a whole group with Jason and his mother. His mother was wearing the same uniform as the adults, and there were a bunch of children there as well. Destiny could see Jason clearly; he was the only one who was next to the adults.
"Y-your mother was a counselor here…" Destiny looked up at Jason, who was staring at her. She couldn't read the look in his eye, but he nodded at her. She slowly looked down and traced his mother's face lightly.
"Sh-she was beautiful…" she spoke softly, being honest. She really was pretty, and looked like she was on top of the world with Jason by her side. "Wh-what was her name?" A small rustling made her look up.
"Pamela."
"P-Pamela…p-pretty name…" She looked down again and started to trace Jason's picture.
"Y-you have hydrocephalus…"
Destiny heart started pounding. She had done a project about hydrocephalus when she was junior in high school. She knew the disease forward and backward. She knew the symptoms, she knew what caused it, she even knew where the name derived from. But what really scared her was one fact in particular.
Hydrocephalus caused death.
Destiny started to tremble at the thought. If Jason had hydrocephalus, how is he still alive? He managed to carry on for this long, and all by himself? Destiny slowly cupped a hand over her mouth in disbelief, feeling tears sting her eyes, but she fought them down.
"Y-you've stayed alive for s-so long…y-you can die from hydrocephalus…" She looked at Jason quickly, who was still staring at her with the same blank look. He then held up a newspaper article and placed it on her lap. She frowned, confused, until he slowly pointed at the headline. 'Boy Drowned in Lake' it read. Destiny slowly started to read more, and gasped when she read that the boy was mentally disturbed and was bullied. She also read from the other articles that Jason showed her that his mother, Pamela Voorhees, had killed several counselors, and was also killed. Tears threatened to fall onto the newspaper, but she held them back bravely. She looked back at Jason, who was watching her with the same blank look.
"Y-you drowned…y-you were dead…a-and now you're a-alive…h-how…?" Jason slowly shrugged. She looked at him in shock. How could he still be alive after drowning? And how could he have not died from his disease?
"Y-your mother killed them…b-because they didn't watch you…th-they were too busy…d-doing bad things…sh-she loved you s-so much…" Tears were now streaming down her face and dripping onto the newspaper. Jason made no move to comfort her like he had done before. He just continued to stare at her, as if she wasn't really there.
"Y-you have hydrocephalus…"
He blinked.
"Y-you were bullied…"
Jason's eye was unmoving.
"Y-you drowned in the lake…"
His breathing was deep.
"Y-your mother died for you…"
Destiny's body was trembling.
"…J-Jason…s-stop looking at me like that!"
Jason blinked again, and Destiny's hands balled into fists.
"St-stop it!"
"…"
"S-say something, Jason!"
"…"
"SAY SOMETHING, PLEASE!"
"…"
"JASON!"
Destiny leapt at him, hugging his neck tightly and almost knocking him to the ground. She started sobbing uncontrollably, grasping onto Jason like her life depended on it. She didn't care if he killed her for doing this. She didn't care that in any other time she would hesitate and go red. She didn't care that she was killing a deranged serial killer. This man…this poor, poor man! He's been through so much! How could he put up with all of this? How could he go through all of this pain alone? She knew very well that if she had gone through all of his pain, she would have killed herself a long time ago. She wouldn't have been able to take it all. Jason must have been a lot stronger, emotionally, then she thought.
Jason was tensing as she hugged him, but right now she didn't mind. She knew he must have been hurting from all that has happened to him. He wouldn't be human if he wasn't. Destiny was a little surprised at herself for not being even more scared of him after finding out he had rebirthed, but she shoved it aside. She knew that Jason must have been giving her those looks because he didn't want to show his real feelings to her. She didn't want that. She wanted him to express something, even if it was violence toward her hugging him like this. But nothing happened.
Destiny hugged him for what felt like hours. Jason didn't react to a thing. Destiny knew that she couldn't hold onto him forever. She slowly pulled away and fell back into the couch. The newspaper articles and the photographs had fallen into his lap, and her heating pad landed on top of them. Destiny looked down at her lap, her hair messy and covering her face. Her heart was beating against her lungs. She couldn't breathe very well.
"…I-I'm sorry…" she whispered, feeling afraid. Perhaps Jason WAS going to kill her now. Maybe she had gone too far by hugging him like that. But he didn't do a thing. He simply gathered the photographs and newspaper articles, placed the heating pad back on the couch, and left the room.
END CHAPTAH.
Sheesh, I had SUCH a writer's block for this. I really wanted the whole period thing to turn out really well. I wanted Destiny to be really detailed, but I was worried that would freak you guys out, so I just stuck with more simple stuff. I hope it was what you were expecting…
So, there you have it. Jason now knows what a period is. And Destiny now knows that Jason has hydrocephalus, was bullied as a child, drowned in a lake, and his mother died for him. How can you NOT throw your arms around him and give him a REALLY big hug? I would…even if he did cut me in half with his machete.
40 REVIEWS! Yayness! Thank you all for reviewing! I really hope you guys like this chapter! Tell me anything about it, okay? If the period part is too broad, or if the ending is really weird…I know it is, I thought I'd leave a bit of a cliffhanger!
-NikoRu Rene