Across the Lake
Chapter 9: The Encounter
...
My nightmares were vivid and dark. I was standing alone in darkness. I kept hearing my name being called over and over. The voice sounded like a woman. I saw her face for a split second, then it began to age like an apple, and the skin started to peel away, revealing bone underneath. Her eyes became sockets. Her mouth opened and she screamed right at my face. I stumbled backwards; falling off the wooden pier... plunging into the icy cold lake-
I sat bolt upright in bed. A sharp stab of pain entered my brain. I cried out and pressed my fingers to the sides of my temple. Instead of feeling hair, I felt bandages. I opened my eyes in confusion. What the fuck? Why was my head wrapped in bandages? Why was it hurting so much? I need aspi-
I turned my head and looked down. As if by magic. A bottle of aspirin was already sitting on the table. The pain subsides for a moment and I slowly lowered my hands down as I continued staring at the pill bottle.
When did that get there? Wait...where am I?
I looked around. I was in my dad's cabin, on the couch.
Couch? Why was I on the couch? How did I get here? Did I fall asleep here last night? Why...why can't I remember?
Another stab of pain coursed through my brain. After a few minutes, it subsided again and I was able to think. I looked around for more clues to help me further understand what had happened last night. Besides the bottle of aspirin being out of place, there was a roaring fire in the fireplace. The crackles and pops from the wood...
"-Oak and maple are fit for a king
to stay warm until the next spring..."
Did I start a fire? I don't remember ever coming back to the cabin. I racked my aching brain for any more answers. All I could remember was dark...Darkness...
Wait! I never did! I was lost in the woods!
Did I die?
How does one check if they think they were dead?
I looked down at myself...My clothes were damp and dirty. I could smell pine and earth on them. I checked my arms. I wasn't see through...But was that enough? I pinched myself. Not sure if that would answer anything. It did hurt. I didn't wake up again from this moment. I was still on the couch. My head bandaged. I checked for a pulse on my neck. I could feel one. With that information, I was going to say that I was still alive. Somehow.
What time is it?
I reached into my pocket for my phone. My hand felt the inside of an empty pocket. My phone was gone.
Right. I lost it in the woods.
I sighed, leaning back against the pillow. These first few days have been nothing but stressful for me. Should I just leave? Call my dad to pick me up? Deal with Rod and mom for the rest of the summer until I start the next semester? Then deal with seeing my ex Kennith with the person he was seeing behind my back?
My heart twisted from the very idea.
No. I didn't want to go back. I didn't feel like I was welcomed back in my own home anymore. I was on my own.
I got up from the couch, only to fall back down in pain. My ankle was hurting. I must have twisted it. A memory surfaced of me running through the dark woods. I remembered. I was running from Jason. Jason...machete...cabin...
The cabin with the bloody number 13 on it...and the bed and the lost items
That had to be his cabin.
I shivered. Pushed the dark thoughts away. I didn't want to think about Jason.
Gingerly, I limped to the kitchen to make a small breakfast, taking the pill bottle with me. I stopped when I found a small dark green cloth wrapped up on the counter.
Wh...where did that come from?
I stared at it for a full minute. It looked like something was inside...a severed hand? There was no blood seeping through the bag. I sighed to myself. Why did my brain immediately go to the worst possible thing to find in a mysterious cloth bag? I poked it. Nothing. I pulled one of the ends. It unraveled and revealed berries and nuts.
Berries and nuts? What...who the hell left this? A giant squirrel? I imagined a giant squirrel coming into the house and leaving this bundle for me. No...that's ridiculous.
Did my dad drop by and leave these things here for me? No...no...this isn't...this wasn't him...This was...
I looked out the window towards the lake.
It had to be him. There was no one else out here for miles; and from the look of it, he lived out here in the woods.
Was he helping me?
I looked at the berries.
Was he trying to poison me?
No...If he wanted to kill me, he had all the time in the world when he left these here for me. With that giant rusty machete of his... He could've killed me in my sleep.
I shook my head from thinking about Jason. I looked at the nuts and berries. Hesitant, I tried a berry. It was a deep reddish maroon color. My teeth bit down on it. The juices exploded in my mouth like fireworks. The taste was a bit sour at first, then became really sweet.
I tried a nut next. It was weird, but...nutty. I decided that this bundle of nature food was ok to eat and I wasn't going to die from it.
After I ate all the nuts and berries, I took two aspirin pills and washed them down with water. I decided to take it easy for the rest of the day. Took a shower, brushed my teeth. Got into some fresh clean clothes for the day. Laid down and pulled a book out to read.
Once in a while, I looked outside for the Jason Voorhees guy to be standing at his usual spot near the lake. He wasn't. In a way I felt relieved, but at the same time a bit concerned. If he wasn't there...then where was he right now?
...
...
When the morning sun reached to the middle of the sky, I looked out the window. Outside it looked like the clouds were starting to turn grey and clustering together. I had a feeling that it was going to rain again. I had run out of firewood again. I decided to collect more firewood to warm up the cabin before the rain came.
I grabbed the bucket near the door and went outside to collect firewood. Cautiously I opened the door and looked around. Not a soul for miles. I looked towards the trees to see if I would see a pale off white mask peeking out. After a few minutes of not seeing anything, I carefully walked down the steps and kept my eyes on the ground for sticks.
I limped for ten minutes towards the woods, staying away from the lake. A few times I stopped to pick up a hefty stick for burning. There were a lot of sticks on the ground for me to collect for the fireplace. After a while I lost myself to collecting the sticks. It was very peaceful. Just the sounds of the forest and me collecting the sticks off the ground.
Every time I told myself that I had collected enough, I'd find more good sticks for the fire. The sun had completely disappeared behind the clouds, causing the forest to grow dark around me. The birds stopped chirping when the cold winds began to pick up. I heard a deer leap away when I came closer.
I grabbed one end of a stick and tried lifting it up. It was stuck. My eyes followed the rest of the stick, wondering if I had mistaken a tree root-
The stick was trapped under a black boot. A worn black boot, attached to a dark clad person.
I quickly let go of the stick and jumped back, straightening up.
The boot belonged to the Jason Voorhees. My eyes widened at his presence. At that moment, while staring at the six and a half foot tall man with the aged hockey mask, the worn out clothes, and the very real machete, I realized that he was the real Jason Voorhees; not a guy pulling a prank. No one would be this elaborate for a simple prank. A horror story. An urban legend. Standing right in front of me.
l dropped the bucket, causing the branches to clatter and spill out. He stood right there in front of me, as still as a statue. Where the hell did he come from? I didn't even hear him approach!
I stumbled backwards and fell into the dirt. Pain shot through my ankle, causing me to wince. I was fucked. I couldn't run. I didn't have anything to defend myself against him. He was going to kill me.
He took two long strides towards me, then was looming over me. I froze up in terror where I sat. My heart was beating so loud in my chest, I was afraid it was going to explode. Tears sprang to my eyes.
Jason stared down at me through his hockey mask. I could feel his stare burning through my soul. My shoulders trembled, then my whole body trembled. I was a wounded bird, and he was the cat, drinking in my fear before he killed me.
He lifted his right arm up.
I covered my eyes with my hands, expecting him to bring the machete down on my head-
Clatter. Thunk.
I tensed up from the sound, but didn't feel the sharp pain of death. After a few seconds of waiting, I opened my eyes. His right hand was still out in front of him. His hand turned down and was open, as if miming he had dropped something. I looked from his hand to the dirt ground.
Right at my feet was my backpack.
I looked back up at him, expecting him to grab me. He didn't. Jason just lowered his hand back to his side. I watched his eyes. It was hard to see his eyes from the darkness of the mask, but they didn't look like they were moving. Just staring right at me.
With slow movements, I reached towards my backpack. Jason didn't move a muscle. Having to look away, I unzipped my pack and looked inside. My phone. My knife. All the items I brought last night. All in my backpack.
I checked my phone. It was broken beyond repair. I kind of figured, but I didn't expect to ever see it again. When I looked back up, the hockey mask guy was walking away. He wasn't going to kill me? He just came to give me my stuff back that I had lost while running away from him last night?
"Wait!" I called to him.
He stopped. Then slowly turned his whole body around. He acted stiff, yet moved so quietly. I felt my heart jump to my throat. What the hell was I doing? I found myself opening my mouth and asking:
"D...Did you save me from drowning? F-from the lake?"
He stared at me through his hockey mask. Slowly he nodded his head. I blinked in surprise from his silent response. I didn't expect him to admit that he did.
"I...Th-thank you...for saving me," I said.
Jason nodded silently one last time. With that he slowly turned back around and trudged back into the forest.
I realized I had been holding my breath the entire time and exhaled.