Across the Lake

Chapter 13: The Campfire

...

Limping back through the forest, trying to find my dad's cabin, with a bleeding leg, and a poorly drawn map; I stumbled over every rock, tree, and stick I came across. I gritted my teeth in frustration and pain. The deep red scratches in my knees and hands were stinging from my sweat dripping into them. My blood had already soaked into my socks. The sun beat down through the branches and leaves above me. My head was aching from lack of water. Lips dry and cracking. I was going to have a heat stroke soon.

I leaned against a tree to rest, gulping deep breaths of air into my lungs...

Well, I thought it was a tree at first, until I felt it breathe down my neck. I looked up and found a hockey mask staring down at me. It was Jason...and my head was resting against his broad chest. My eyes widened as I quickly moved away, causing my head to hurt more. I groaned in pain, holding my head. I was going to pass out soon if I didn't get out of this humid forest. Jason tilted his head a little, staring down at me.

"Hi, Jason. Can you help me out of this forest...Please?" I asked him weakly. Jason stared down at me. At first I thought he was a hallucination cuz he wasn't moving. I couldn't see his hazel eyes in the black pools of the eyeholes in his mask.

Ever so slightly, Jason nodded his head. Before I could react, Jason reached down, scooped me up into his tree trunk like arms, and began to carry me through the forest. My face burned all the way down to the tips of my toes.

His breathing rustled my hair, causing goosebumps to crawl up my skin. Jason lifted his leg over a fallen tree, pressing me closer to his muscled body, my head just under his. My hand pressed against his chest. I felt no heartbeat...but I did feel his rippling muscles through his tattered shirt.

I'm gonna have to hurt my leg more often.

Blushing from the very thought, I turned my focus to the forest around us. Oaks and poplars with tangles of mistletoe. Soft green briars accompanied by velvety honeysuckle. Animal tracks imprinted in dark earthy mud. The smell of wet trees and fungal growth. The heavy clunk of his boots on the wooden porch steps.

Wait, what?

We were already at my dad's cabin. I blinked in confusion. It was strange. One moment we were walking through the forest, the next, we were suddenly walking up the wooden porch steps to my dad's cabin. Did Jason suddenly sprint? Did I pass out? I swear I had my eyes open the whole time he was carrying me.

The door was surprisingly unlocked. I swear I locked the door before leaving the cabin that day. Jason walked towards the kitchen and set me down on one of the wooden stools. I winced when I saw the deep gash in my leg. Blood was trickling down, I could feel it throbbing in pain. I looked up and Jason had disappeared. I turned my head to the door. It was closed. How did he move so fast-? Jason suddenly appeared from the right corner of my vision, returning from the bathroom. He carried a first aid kit in his giant gloved hand.

I blinked in surprise as he went down on one knee, and began treating the scratches on my leg. He was going to treat my wound? Why? He wasn't responsible for me falling on the ground. I hissed through my teeth when the cold alcohol touched my open raw skin. It stung like fire had touched me. Jason was gentle as he cleaned the blood off with a paper towel. I winced when I saw how deep the scratches were. I guess I fell on a sharp rock or something. Ouch. Jason wrapped my knee up with the gauze. I was surprised how he knew how to do this.

He was fixing my wounds...did he feel bad for what happened at his cabin with his mom?

"...Th...Thank you, Jason," I managed to say.

Jason didn't respond as he gently took my hand in his ginormous gloved hand and began wrapping it. My eyes gradually lifted up from my hand to his mask. His eyes were focused on my hand. I couldn't help but to stare through the eye holes of his mask. Curious what was hidden underneath-

Jason's eyes flickered up to mine, causing me to quickly turn them back down to my hand being wrapped. My face felt like I had been standing near a fire for too long. Jason turned his eyes back to my hand. As I watched him dress my wound, I finally got the courage to open my mouth, and ask what had been nagging in the back of my mind.

"So...You aren't going to kill me?" I asked him. Jason silently shook his head, focusing on the bandages. I stared at the top of his masked head, hesitant. "...Why? Erm...I mean...thank you for not killing me, but, I thought...um..." I stumbled over my words. Heart pounding against my ribcage. Jason didn't respond. I wasn't sure if he didn't want to tell me, or he didn't know how to explain it for me to understand. I didn't know sign language that well so what's the point in answering? It was his only way to communicate.

Once Jason was done, he closed the First Aid box and left it on the kitchen counter. I stared down at my hand and flexed the fingers a little. It hurt a little but besides that, I felt fine. I was going to have to be careful using this hand for a while. I lowered my hand and turned to look up at Jason, giving him a smile and a nod of thanks.

The awkward silence began to stretch on...causing my anxiety to come back.

"Well... I guess I should start doing some chores..." I said, hoping that Jason got the hint. He didn't. He just stood there and nodded his head. I began to head towards the door. Thankfully he began to follow me, but stopped two feet from me when I opened the door for him.

"I'm gonna start collecting firewood before it starts raining..." I tried again. He nodded his head, then began walking outside. I exhaled in relief that he finally got the hint, closing the door behind him. I went to the bathroom, ate a sandwich, drank a lot of water; when I felt refreshed, I got the ax from where I last left it, and limped out the door.

I stopped when I saw Jason standing near a tree twenty feet from the cabin. I thought he had already left by now. He had one gloved hand on the dead, crumbling bark, staring up at it like it was an old friend. He quickly turned his masked head to me, causing me to jump.

"H-hi...I didn't expect you to be here," I stuttered, limping slowly down the porch steps and making my way towards him. When I was within a few feet from him, Jason reached out and took the ax from my hands. I didn't say anything as I let him take the ax from me. I realized that I had given a serial killer a weapon.

Jason stared down at the ax and hefted the weight of it in his hands. He nodded in approval, then he stared up at the dead tree. He raised the ax like a baseball bat, and in three violent swings, he took the tree down. My eyes widened at the sight of the tree crashing down, taking other trees' branches down in the process.

I watched Jason chop up the tree as if it were made of cheese. Being hot as it was, I kind of hoped he would take off his heavy coat and shirt in the process. As if he heard my thoughts, Jason whipped his head around and looked at me. I quickly turned away and pretended to be fascinated with a pinecone on the ground.

Fuck, I need to stop thinking these perverted thoughts...I thought to myself.

When I turned my head back up to Jason, he had created a pile of firewood. I was absolutely amazed. Jason lifted ten thick pieces of firewood into his arms and began heading back to the cabin. I decided to help. I was only able to lift up one. I carried it back to the cabin and placed it down with the others. When I turned around, Jason was coming back with the rest of the firewood. I jolted again from his sudden presence.

He really needs a bell...

"Thank you very much, Jason. I really appreciate your help," I told him. Jason nodded his head with enthusiasm. His eyes shining from his mask. I relaxed and smiled a small smile back.

A loud boom caused me to jolt in fear. I quickly turned around to face the windows that revealed the front porch. The clouds were rolling in, darkening to a solid black. I could see the tree branches swaying wildly and shivering. The lights flickered on and off inside the cabin. The clouds broke from the second loud boom and the rain came down by the bucketful.

Great. Now I couldn't have Jason leave in the rain. It was coming down hard. Even if he was a ghost...I couldn't just send him out there. Jason stared out the window, frozen as a statue. I stared at him from where I stood. His breathing was heavy. His shoulders were trembling. Was he afraid? Did he have a fear of water? I guess that made sense, considering he did drown in the lake.

"Jason? Are you ok?" I asked him.

Jason turned his head down to me and stared at me through his eye holes. He quickly turned back to the window before I could see what emotion they held. His shoulders were trembling slightly. His breathing was heavier than before. I hesitated, lifting my good hand up towards his shoulder, and gradually bringing it down to rest on it. Jason stiffened from my touch, whipping his head to me. I pulled my hand away for a second, then gradually placed it back on his shoulder.

"It's ok...You can stay here for the night...until the storm is over. Wouldn't be right to kick you out in the rain like that," I told him. He stared down at me for what felt like a fell three minutes. Then he lifted his gloved hands up and signed something I could understand:

Thank you.

I smiled up at him. "It's what friends are for," I said.

Jason signed the word "friend."

I signed it back to him.

Jason's eyes shined like dark green tourmalines.

Then the lights went out.

We both worked together in the darkness to get the fire going. I grabbed a flashlight from the kitchen drawer and began rummaging through the rest of the drawers, looking for a lighter or a box of matches. I eventually found them on the mantle above the fireplace. Jason threw the logs into the fireplace and crumpled a few old newspapers into balls before tossing them in. I struck the match and threw it close to the newspapers. The paper caught fire and in seconds, we had a nice fire going. The whole room lit up orange and smelled like a forest. I sat down on the couch. Jason stood there, staring at the glowing flames in the fireplace. Dark shadows stretched along his mask. The flames casted an orange glow on it.

I called his name, causing him to turn around, and patted the couch cushion next to me. "Come and sit down." Jason hesitated where he stood, staring at the couch as if it were an alien object. He slowly turned, facing me and the couch, then lumbered over. His mannerisms were very heavy and sudden. He sat down, causing the couch to strain from his weight a little. He turned his head to the animal skinned blankets and furs near him, giving them a look of disgust.

"I don't like them either...but this is my dad's cabin. I'm spending the summer cleaning it up for him," I explained. Jason signed something to me that I immediately recognized, one hand up, the other hand moving up and down like a brush.

'Painting.'

"Oh...Well, I'm an artist. I love to paint and draw. I was taking classes at my college and decided to take a break." Jason signed something that looked like drawing. I assumed that he wanted to see some of my work. I decided to show him my sketchbooks. I went to my room and grabbed my sketchbook.

Jason was patiently waiting for me when I finally came back from the room and opened my sketchbook to the first page. He took his time staring at every sketch I had drawn. A few times I had to help him turn the page because his gloved hands were having a hard time separating the pages. Whenever he would point to a drawing, I would talk about what inspired me to draw it or what my process was for it. For a man of few words, he was a great listener. He seemed to enjoy me talking about art. I bet he didn't have a lot of friends to talk to...or listen to. His eyes traced over every line I made on my drawings. From café sketches, to studies of buildings, anatomy of animals and people.

He got to the page where I had drawn him across the lake the first time I had seen him. I had drawn his mask over and over on one page. He pointed to the drawings of the masks, then to his mask. My heart skipped a beat, realizing that I had forgotten about those and didn't have time to hide them from him.

"I...yeah, I saw you and was curious why you wore a hockey mask...so I decided to draw it," I said, my face burning in embarrassment. He pointed to himself, then signed something to me that looked like he was drawing a line or a mustache across his mask. I didn't know what it meant. Whenever I went back to the General Store in town, I was going to see if they sold any sign language books...or have to go to the library again and check out one.

Once he was done looking at the sketchbook, he signed something that looked like "I like your art" he signed A-R-T for me because I didn't know the ASL sign, just the ASL spellings. I smiled and nodded my head. "Thank you...I don't usually show my sketchbooks to people," I admitted.

The fire popped in the fireplace, as if asking to be fed more wood. Jason got up from his spot and went to the big pile of firewood. He tossed the wood into the fireplace, causing the fire to burn brightly. My stomach growled from the lack of a dinner as I stared at the fire. I immediately got an idea and got up from the couch, limping over to the kitchen.

Jason watched me from where he stood as I grabbed a box of graham crackers, a bar of chocolate, and a bag of marshmallows. I found three long metal wires inside one of the drawers and took two out. Jason sat down next to me when I came back to the couch and showed him my items.

"I know its not quite the same, but we can pretend we are having a campfire outside," I told Jason. Jason asked in sign language what this all was for. I ripped the marshmallow bag open and handed him a marshmallow. "Roasting marshmallows. It's what you usually do at a campsite," I told him.

He stared at the sugary white tiny pillow curiously before accepting it. He mirrored my movements, sticking the marshmallow on the end of the stick, placing it into the fire, pulling it out and blowing out the fire, and finally sticking it between a graham cracker and a piece of chocolate.

"...And then you eat it," I told him, taking a bite out of mine. Jason just held his s'more in his large gloved hand. Even when I had finished my s'more, he did not eat his. My worry grew, wondering if he wasn't eating because he was a ghost. Ghosts had no need to eat...

"I'm sorry, Jason...I didn't know-" I started, but then saw Jason lift his mask up just a little from the chin and popped the whole s'more into his mouth from behind the mask. I blinked in surprise as he slowly lowered the mask back down over his face, aligning the eyeholes with his eyes.

So he can eat...did he need to eat? Or was he just being polite? That sounded ridiculous. A serial killer being polite. I mean...he hasn't attempted to kill me, so I guess that was considered polite, or nice of him. He lifted his mask a little bit, but didn't want to take it off...was he afraid of revealing what he looked like underneath?

My head was swimming with questions, thankfully, Jason pulled me out of my thoughts and gave me a thumbs up. He liked the s'more! I smiled and handed him another marshmallow. He accepted it and repeated the process. I did the same, listening to the rain drum against the rooftop and gently pitter patter against the cold window panes.

I felt a strange feeling, like something was calling to me, it gave me dread. I turned my focus and found the Necronomicon book staring at me, halfway out of my backpack. Its eyes glaring at me from the shadows. I realized that I was now in possession of a demonic book that was nearly used for me to become possessed by Jason's mom.

This thing I could feel was very powerful, and in the wrong hands, could unleash something very bad. I didn't really know what to do with it. Hide it? Destroy it? Could I destroy it? Throw it into the fireplace? Would fire kill it? I took it out of my backpack and showed Jason. He stared down at it. I nodded to the fireplace.

"Should I destroy it? I know your mom tried using it against me, but if I destroy it now, maybe she wont try possessing me anymore," I offered. Jason just stared at the book. His eyes looked concerned, like he knew first hand what this book could do. This was a powerful book. A book that shouldn't even exist; bound in human flesh and written in blood from gods knows what. But was used to bring Jason back from the dead. Would burning it cause him to die too? Would the spells cast from the past be broken?

Finally, Jason nodded his head. He seemed ready for any consequences if I were to throw it into the fire. I got up, limped up to the fireplace, and tossed the tattered book into the flames. The book was engulfed into the flames. I swear I heard screams of the damned as the flames rose higher and higher up. I took a couple steps backwards from the fireplace as the thing seemed to suddenly have a mind of its own. The flames twisted and writhed in the hearth like angry hissing snakes. Then they turned a bright emerald green. A face appeared in the green flames, it looked like the same creepy face from the book. A loud clap, and a thick cloud of black smoke and ashes blew into our faces, coating us with the thin layer.

I coughed violently, stumbling over the furniture to open up the windows and door to air it all out. Jason grabbed a bucket of water and threw it onto the black pile of charred wood and hopefully the book. Ashes fluttered everywhere like black butterflies. After the place was aired out, I closed the doors and windows, locking them tight. I checked the fireplace. All that was there was pitch black ashes and charred remains of wood. Embers glowed from the logs till finally flickering out.

Well, that took care of that problem...

I let Jason sleep on the couch for the night. "Goodnight, Jason," I said to him into the pitch darkness. I didn't get an answer back, but assumed he said 'goodnight' back to me in ASL. In the darkness I could make out the outline of his massive frame. I saw Jason sit back down on the couch, but didn't lay down, his gaze on the fireplace.

I decided to give him some privacy as I made my way up the stairs in the darkness and to the master bedroom. I got dressed into my pajamas, brushed my teeth, flossed and got into bed. As I did, I felt something touch my arm next to me. It felt ashy. I turned over, and found a stretched face with its mouth open in a silent scream.

I screamed.

In a blink of an eye, Jason was smashing down my door with his machete, splintered wood flying everywhere, and stomping heavily towards me. He stopped when he saw the Necronomicon propped up on the pillow next to mine. Undamaged. He lowered his machete. I got out of the bed, away from the book, to stand next to Jason. I was breathing heavily with Jason, but my reason was because I was scared.

"...I guess we can't destroy it," I told him.

Jason nodded his head.

"...Is it ok if I stay downstairs with you for tonight?" I asked Jason awkwardly.

...

We locked the cursed Necronomicon book in the master bedroom closet because Jason destroyed the master bedroom door. I knew I wouldn't be able to hide that damage from my dad. The list of broken things kept racking up. Jason allowed me to sleep on the couch. He sat down on the chair next to the couch, machete resting on his lap like a loyal dog. He didn't show any signs of sleeping. He looked like he was going to stay up all night. I wondered if he even slept.

I didn't think I'd be able to fall asleep after a scare like that, but eventually my eyelids began to feel heavy and I fell asleep to the sounds of the rain against the cabin.