Emma Shaw was born on September 19th, 1942, in Springwood, Ohio. She was a relatively normal child, as normal as a child could be close to the end of the Second World War. She had long blonde hair, with the most stunning violet eyes people had ever seen but she was short, even today she only stands at 5 feet 2 inches with a lovely curvy figure.
Emma was driving a modest 60 down the highway speeding towards the place that had held her heart for so long. Camp Crystal Lake, now more commonly known as Camp Blood, had been a special and sad place for her. Her best friend had died there as a boy, he was three years younger than her, but he was unique.
Jason Voorhees was born on June 13th, 1946 and in the summer of 1957, he and Emma spent one summer together. It was her last year at camp because she was to turn 15 that September but he was only 11. His mother, Pam, had worked at the camp and Emma often helped her in the kitchens which is where she meet the shy, little boy for the first time. Pam had explained to Emma in private after giving Jason many curious looks that he had hydrocephalus from an infection she had while she was pregnant. Pam had also explained that Jason's life expectancy was the same as hers, only he looked a little different. The only difference apart from his looks was Jason had real trouble speaking and Pam had been trying to teach him sign language.
As Emma sped closer to her destination, she thought about the last time she had seen Jason before his death.
It had been a beautiful day, warm and bright. She had been appointed as a junior counselor and was in the middle of doing some of the more boring jobs that the senior counsellors wouldn't do when there had been a huge commotion. Emma had worried another fight had broken out which wasn't uncommon at the camp and rushed to see what was going on. As she pushed through the hoard of children on the lake's edge, she heard whispers…
"…pushed in…"
"…little freak…"
Hearing that she immediately knew it was Jason and pushed her way through. By the time she reached the front of the crowd, she could see Jason quite far into the lake struggling to keep himself above the water, but the thing that worried her the most was he looked tired. Most of the counsellors knew that Jason couldn't swim and only ventured down to the lake when he was alone or with her or his mother.
Emma had immediately kicked off her converse and tore off her t-shirt before running down the jetty and diving into the lake. Not many people knew it, but she was one of the strongest swimmers in the camp, it was the reason she has been appointed as a junior counselor when she was only 14 rather than 16 as was required.
By the time she reached the spot where she'd last seen Jason he had gone under. She looked around for help but no one else had swum out. Emma was furious she knew she wouldn't be able to pull Jason out on her own, but she had to try. She took a deep inhale and plunged down into the dark.
She kicked hard, fighting her own buoyancy to reach Jason, as she plunged further and further down, she could see Jason's outline and fought the need for air to reach him. She grabbed hold of his shirt and tried to drag him up, but he was already unconscious. Small bubbles floated from his mouth, at first, they were steady but with each tug they slowed, she didn't have much time. Emma touched down on the bottom of the lake, wrapped her arms around Jason's chest and pushed off as hard as she could. To her surprise they shot upwards, but without the use of her arms and Jason's dead weight it was slow going but finally… finally they crashed through the surface of the lake.
Emma was kicking hard to keep the afloat as she dragged in lungful after lungful of air. When her lungs had stopped burning, she moved Jason onto his back and swam towards the bank. As she latched onto a handful of weeds, she realises they had another problem. The west bank of the lake was steep, and her arms were already trembling, she wouldn't be able to haul them both out.
Holding on tight to Jason, Emma began to scream for help. One of the other counselors, a quiet boy who didn't say much reached down and took Jason from her before reaching back over for her. Emma didn't have time to collect herself as she realised Jason wasn't breathing, she ordered the boy to get Pam from the dining hall as she started pounding on his chest, trying to get him to breath.
As the boy raced off, Emma could see each push of his chest only produced more water from his mouth. Looking back on it, she knew then that Jason was gone but she wasn't going to give up on her friend. As she pushed harder and faster, she failed to notice the tears pouring down her face, the pleas falling from her lips for him to wake up and breathe… Breath damn it.
By the time Pam arrived, screaming for her son, Emma was sobbing on his damp, still chest. She looked up at Pam through the haze of tears and they collapsed into each other, still holding Jason's body between them.
Shaking herself from her thoughts, Emma slowed as she neared the only town for miles around. Her truck was running low on gas and if she was going to be staying here for a while then she would need some supplies.
After filling up, her first stop was the hardware store where she bought nearly everything. It wasn't common knowledge, but her family hadn't suffered through the way or the stock market crash. In fact, they prospered, and she had a rather large balance padding her bank account thanks to her parent's deaths a few years before. She would need the cash to fix up the old cabins before heading down to the lumber yard where she placed a large order. The cashier had enquired about why she needed so much lumber, but she just smiled and waved him off. Emma hadn't spoken much in the last decade. Her life was marked by so much death, she just couldn't bring herself to do it anymore. She picked up groceries, a lot of non-perishable items but she did make sure she bought bread, milk and some fruits and vegetables along with a large cooler, knowing the electricity would probably be long gone from the forgotten camp. After filling the bed of her truck with the supplies, she climbed back into the cab and headed for the lake. It was only a short drive and a route Emma knew well so she allowed her mind to wonder once more.
The second time, death had touched her was in 1963, after Jason's death her family had moved to Haddonfield, Illinois next door to the Myers family in early 1958. She had been friendly with Judith, but she was five years younger than Emma, but little Michael was awe-stuck with her. He was only a year old at the time, but she loved to play with him, sitting him on the edge of her knee while he played with her hair. Those bright blue eye bore into her own violet ones, most people found it unnerving the way Michael looked at them, but she loved it. It was like he was seeing into her soul.
For the next five years, Emma watched Michael grow into a curious little boy, always getting into places and things he shouldn't. In September 1963, Emma had celebrated her 21st birthday with the Myers family which had expanded unlike her own. In addition to Judith and Michael, they also welcomes baby Laurie into the world and Emma loved the two little ones. She also found out that Michael had a little jealous streak that would appear whenever she held Laurie, but she always made sure to reassure him, telling him he was her special boy.
As October moved forward, the leaves changed to a wonderful range of red, oranges and yellows. Just like Michael, Halloween was Emma's favourite holiday and she had volunteered to take Michael out that even to Trick-or-Treat. Mr and Mrs Myers were going out for the evening and instructed her to leave Michael with Judith afterwards as she was babysitting Michael and Laurie until they got home, and she had agreed.
She'd picked Michael up at 6 in his little clown costume, it was adorable and as you moved from house to house, you had chatted about school, his new baby sister and surprisingly Judith's boyfriend, Jake who Michael didn't like at all because he picked on Michael and you had told him that you would have a chat with his mother tomorrow and sort it out. It was around 10 Michael began to yawn so you started the journey home and when you dropped Michael off, you noticed Jake sat in the living room with his tongue down Judith's throat.
Emma steered Michael upstairs into his room, settling him down with cartoons and candy, although he had refused to be changed into his pyjamas. She has briefly spoken to Judith before heading home to bed herself. Emma had been awoken a few hours later by screaming and sirens, she had rushed over to the Myers home where Michael was being herded into a sanitorium van, screaming, and snarling as they tried to restrain him. He caught sight of Emma and began shouting for her and she demanded to know what was going on. A police officer had informed her that Michael had stabbed Judith to death and tried to stab Jake. Snapping your head towards the screaming boy you noticed a fresh bruise on his cheek and his bottom lip was split and you knew Jake had hit him.
Michael had mentioned it earlier in the evening that if he disturbed Judith and Jake when they were doing bad things, Jake would hit him until he went away. You tried to plead for Michael but neither of his parents said anything, they just dismissed you as Michael was hauled away to Smith's Grove under the care of Doctor Loomis, a sham doctor at best, abusive at worst. Emma had feared for Michael but what could she do.
Emma slowed at the stop sign even though there was no traffic as she reflected on the last time death had touched her.
For the next five years, Emma had stayed in Haddonfield and fought for Michael's freedom and visited him as often as she was allowed. The conditions at the hospital were awful but Michael was allowed some creative time where you made masks together. Emma knew that Michael liked masks, they calmed him when he was anxious as they narrowed his field of vision.
It was late May in 1968, Michael had been in Smith's Grove for just under five years when you received a letter from Springwood. It was written by the town sheriff; your fathers had been pretty close when you were growing up there. The letter informed you of the death of Fred Kreuger, Freddy as you called him or little Fox when you were alone.
She read through the letter quickly, ignoring the mentions of child molester and murderer. Emma's Fox was never like that, he wouldn't hurt a fly. The bit that brought Emma to her knees was the fact he has been burned alive in his own home as an act of mob justice and that the police weren't perusing any convictions that the time.
After that Emma has quit speaking altogether much to the concern of her parents. Emma was only 24 at the time and she had already lost 3 of the people closest to her. 2 years later in 1970 she lost her mother to cancer and five years later her father to a heart attack, although she always thought it was because of a broken heart.
Over the years, her parents had made good investments and combined with the large pensions both had, Emma wouldn't have to work a day in her life, so she decided to buy the land Camp Crystal Lake sat on and retreat from the world once and for all.
As she pulled up to the entrance of the camp, she noticed the words Camp Blood painting over the sign. She had heard the rumours but dismissed them as the work of a mad man, the dead couldn't come back not matter how much she wished this was true.
She stopped the truck near the many cluster of cabins and got out of the truck, stretching her tired muscles, and sighed at the amount of work they needed.
"Time to get to work."
