Across the Lake

Chapter 17: The Signs

...

After being properly introduced and being acquainted, Jason said goodbye to his bear friend, Teddy. The big black bear lumbered off to go find more food. The trashcans near my dad's cabin were knocked over and picked through thoroughly by the bear...as well as my messenger bag. I had no more snacks. Jason stood next to me, covered in layers of dirt.

"You need a bath, Jason," I said. Without thinking, I began brushing off the layers of dirt from one of his arms. Jason stared down at me, causing me to quickly stop. I wasn't sure if I crossed a line, or if he was curious about what I was doing. Jason tilted his head in curiosity. His mask had bear teeth marks on the corner, and had a layer of dust on it. His play fight with Teddy made him more dirty than when I first met him. That's when I realized something.

If he was afraid of the lake...did that mean he never took a bath? He was undead so I guess he never really had to worry about it...but, was he afraid of water in general? or just the lake because that's how he died?

"Would you like to take a shower? You can take one inside my dad's cabin," I offered. Jason's eyes disappeared in the mask as he straightened up. He seemed anxious about the idea. It made me feel bad for even mentioning it, but I felt that he would really appreciate one.

"It'll be like standing under a warm waterfall. You won't be submerged in water," I promised him, then added, "It'll be ok." That seemed to calm him down a little. I hesitated before taking his gloved hand and giving it a little squeeze of assurance. Jason seemed intrigued about the friendly gesture as he stared down at our hands. Gradually, he squeezed my hand back. I smiled before releasing my hand from his, but his hand stayed clasped in mine. I hesitated on the gesture and stared up at him. He held it for a few more seconds before releasing it and then following me into the cabin.

When I came back into my dad's cabin, I found an unfriendly face waiting to greet me. The Necro-fucking-nomicon.

Its hideous grotesque maw eternally yawned open while it glared back at me with its void like sockets. Small flames of fire circled it. It stood upright by itself on the kitchen island. One of the couches was engulfed in flames. It was not happy. Thankfully, I remembered where I placed the fire extinguisher the last time I had to use it to douse the demon fire.

Well, at least it answered my question that I was fucking stuck with it.

"You didn't need to burn my dad's couch too!" I snapped at it in frustration after covering the entire couch in the fire extinguisher foam. I picked up the book and glared at it angrily. "What do you want from me?!" I yelled at it. The book opened on its own and the yellowed pages fluttered before my eyes before finally landing on a page with a spell.

Quomodo mortuos ad vitam deducere

How to bring the Dead back to Life

"No! I am not reading from you. Pamela wanted me to read from you so she could possess my body! Now you want me to read from you and have the undead wrecking havoc here?! No thanks. I have no interest in having zombies being in my dad's cabin. It's bad enough that he's going to murder me for all the damages in here."

The book flipped over one page:

Quomodo reviviscere postquam aliquis occiderit te

How to Come Back to Life after Someone Has Murdered You

I couldn't help but to smile at that after shaking my head. "Not that kind of murder. But I appreciate the help," I said before forcing the book to close. I sighed in frustration. Jason stared at me from the doorway. He ducked his head as he came in, and walked up to me. He signed a few words to me. He knew that I was familiar with the ASL alphabet so that was helpful.

R...U...O-K...

Are you ok?

I exhaled again and nodded my head. "Yeah," I lied. "Don't worry about me, Jason. Let's get you in the shower," I said, changing the subject. He followed right behind me into the bathroom, then stopped dead in his tracks and took a few steps backward once I turned on the shower. I placed my hand below the shower head to make sure it was the right temperature. I wasn't sure if the undead could still feel things like hot or cold so I just prepared it how I would have liked it. I turned to Jason and he was outside the bathroom door. I suddenly felt like I was going to give a huge puppy a bath. I had a dog when I was younger who was afraid of water as well. I smiled a small smile and reached my hand out to him.

"Hey, its ok. You'll feel a lot better after the shower. I promise," I said in a calm, gentle voice. Jason hesitated where he stood. His feet shifting where they were. I motioned for him to come closer. "It'll be like standing under a waterfall...a very expensive waterfall," I said, staring at the shower that could easily hold Jason and Teddy and me in here and still have space to move our arms. This time, Jason took one step into the bathroom. I smiled at him.

"There you go. Good boy-erm..." I stuttered, not meaning to say 'good boy' to him like he was a dog, but Jason's head snapped up at me and he seemed to like it. I could see his eyes shining from behind the mask as he took several more brave steps into the bathroom. He left a trail of muddy boot prints behind him.

"Good boy, Jason," I said again. He stood right next to me, eyes shining as he stared down at me. If he had a tail I'm sure it would be wagging right now. I walked around him and out the door. "I'll be right outside the bathroom if you need anything, go ahead and get undressed," I told him before I closed the door behind me. I went back into the living room to take care of the Necronomicon's mess and the mess Jason had trailed in. The mud was thankfully easy to clean up. The couch was a bit of a challenge. I might have to find something at the hardware store tomorrow to remove the charred black stains from the couch. Also fix the broken glass...

The Necronomicon seemed to watch me in silence as I went around the living room, cleaning up and writing down items I needed from the hardware store. I found myself turning to look at it. It just stared. It felt like it was...thinking. I don't know if a book could think, but I wouldn't be surprised if that specific book could think. Or it was possessed by a demon. I had no idea, but it made me uneasy knowing I was now cursed with it. Maybe I could use it to get rid of Rod...

...

I heard the water turn off fifteen minutes later. I had just finished cleaning and made myself a sandwich, sitting with the Necronomicon. When Jason stepped out of the bathroom, all he was wearing was a towel wrapped around his waist, and still wearing his hockey mask. Water from the shower glistened on his body where he didn't dry off with the towel. Steam rose up from his broad shoulders.

I froze where I was sitting and just stared. My eyes widened. Oh fuck. He's hot. His muscles were so defined and toned. His shoulders thick and roped in hard muscle. He looked like he lifted boulders and wrestled bears every single day. Damn. Hot damn. I couldn't stop staring. My eyes were glued to his chest. That hairy scar riddled chest.

A hand waved in front of my face, snapping me out of my reverie. I blinked and realized Jason was waving to me. The heat reached all the way up to the roots in my hair. I quickly turned away and pretended I was busy looking at something else that had my attention. He came up close to me and stared down at me through his mask. My eyes slowly trailed up...up...stopped at his chest...then continued all the way up to his eyes.

He stared down at me silently with his hazel eyes. I wish I could tell what he was thinking about. He slowly lifted his hand up. He hesitated, his hand hovering over my face. I didn't flinch this time. I was actually curious what he wanted to do. What were his intentions if he didn't want to kill me? Our eyes met and held. The whole world seemed to slow down as we stared into each others' eyes. I waited to see what he was going to do. I was somewhat hoping for him to wrap his arms around me. My mind imagined Jason's tree trunk like arms wrapped around me, pulling me close to his chest. Leaning his head down to mine...

I would apparently never know as his hand slowly dropped down to his side and he walked away. I felt my shoulders fall a little as I watched him walk over to the burned couch. I felt like I was being stared at. I turned my head and found the Necronomicon staring at me again.

"What are you looking at?" I muttered to the cursed book, but my face was tomato red as I turned away from it, hoping that it didn't read my mind during that moment.

"I'll wash your clothes in the washing machine," I said to Jason. Jason turned back to me, silently nodding his head before picking up his pile of clothes from the bathroom. I lead him over to the washing machine. I set the washing machine to a gentle cycle as Jason placed his tattered, dirt layered clothes into the machine. Once he closed the door, I pressed start and the machine began its cycle. Through the window, the water immediately turned brown from the dirt and began making weird sounds. I prayed that I wasn't going to have to buy a new washing machine for my dad's cabin.

While we waited for Jason's clothes to get cleaned, I searched the closets and drawers for some extra clothes for the big guy to wear. I was able to find a few articles of clothing that my dad had left behind, and let Jason go back into the bathroom and change.

Jason wore one of my dad's white shirts and faded blue jeans; but, of course, the shirt was too small and was tight on him, hugging his broad frame and ripping across the chest. I couldn't even look at Jason without feeling my face burn. Damn it. Why did he have to be so...

My shoulders went up to my burning ears for almost thinking of Jason as such. What was going on? What was happening to me? I shook my head, pushing these strange feelings away from my mind as I walked up to Jason. "I hope these work for the time being," I told him. He nodded his head and gave a small stretch with his arm, causing the shirt to rip even more and exposing his hard abs.

Jason's arm bumped against the kitchen chair, causing my messenger bag to fall to the ground. As he bent down to pick it up, he noticed something sticking out of it. He picked it up and pulled out a book. The ASL book. He lifted the book up and pointed at it as he stared at me.

"Oh that's right," I said. "I almost forgot about that book. I found it at the library when I was returning the Necronomicon back where I found it." I turned my head and glared at the angry book. "...Or tried to," I added. The Necronomicon threw one of my canvases across the room. I glared at the cursed book.

Jason lowered the book and stared down at it in his huge hands. He began to silently flip through it. He was mostly looking at the pictures. After he was done thumbing through it, he handed it to me and made a book like gesture with his hands. I stared at him for a second before realizing what he was asking.

"You want to go through the signs together?" I asked him. Jason silently nodded his head.

We sat down together on the other couch that wasn't burned, and began looking at all the signs in ASL. The couch was smaller than the one that got burned so Jason and I sat very close together, our knees and shoulders touching. We started on the first page and began practicing the signs to each other. Jason's eyes glinted from under the mask whenever he watched me sign something to him. I learned Hello, Goodbye, Hungry, Drink, Help, Stop, Sorry, Yes, No, and a few of the numbers.

"How did you learn sign language?" I finally asked him verbally.

Jason silently opened his hand and touched his thumb to the bottom of his mask where his chin would be. I flipped through the book till I found the image of someone doing the same sign.

Mom.

A twinge of guilt hit my heart. He must have been very close to his mom when she was alive. Jason's shoulders seemed to slump a little at the mention of his mom. I wondered how it was like growing up for him. Most likely rough if the stories about him were true. Being bullied by the kids. Having no friends except for his mom. Possibly not going to school either... Was it just him and his mom?

I signed 'Dad' and gave him a curious face. Jason simply shook his head. He had no idea about his dad. Must have left the picture when he saw how deformed his son was. I silently nodded my head, then signed 'sorry' to him. He seemed to smile from behind his mask. His hand lifted up again, then he placed his hand on mine. My hand sweated under his huge hand. He wasn't wearing his gloves, so I could feel his skin.

His other hand lifted up again towards my face. I stared at it before looking into his eyes. Gradually, I lifted my hand and touched his hovering hand, leading it closer to my face. Jason flinched a little, nervous at first. I stopped for a moment, before continuing to guide his hand closer, and letting it rest on the side of my face. Jason's bare hand touched my skin. It felt cold, but nice in the hot cabin. Our eyes held, as our hands held each others. I had no idea what was going on, but I didn't want it to stop. It felt...nice. He felt nice. Being close to him...felt nice.

Before I realized it, our heads were inching closer towards each other.

"Jason..." I whispered.

Jason didn't seem to hear me. Jason pressed his hockey masked forehead to mine. His breath exhaled out of the holes, tickling my face. He placed both hands on the sides of my face. His hands lingered there for a moment before gradually trailing down my neck and along my collarbone. I shivered at his touch, like an electric current running through me. His hands gradually moved back up my neck and rested on the sides of my face again. His touch was so gentle. I didn't realize I was moving my hands until my fingers touched the plastic curve of his mask. They ran along the edge till they hit the bottom. I bit my lip as I made them begin to lift the mask up-

Three loud knocks rapped on the door, causing me to jolt backwards from Jason. I cursed under my breath, feeling my face burn as I turned my head to the door. Who the hell was knocking at the door? Hopefully it wasn't Sheriff Jackson again, wanting me to radio him. I kept forgetting to do that.

"You better hide J-" I started as I turned back. Jason was gone from the couch. I looked over to the Necronomicon. It still sat there on the kitchen island. I decided not to worry about it as I got up from the couch and answered the door. No one was there. Of course there wasn't. I looked around before something caught my eye below. I looked down and stared at something that made me think twice.

A vase of yellow and pink wild flowers sat on the porch. Something bright, golden rod yellow was folded up next to it. When I bent to pick it up, it unfurled from my hands. It was a shirt. A camp counselor shirt.

Camp Crystal Lake Counselor was written in bold red letters over a hand drawn scene of the lake. Underneath the image it had the founding year when the place became a camp: Est. 1935. A small note fell out from the folds. I picked it up from the wooden porch and stared down at it. My blood went cold.

Can't wait to see you at the camp. -K

Kennith.

My anxiety was causing my chest to tighten, making it hard to breathe. Kennith knew where I was now. I felt less safe. Jason appeared silently behind me. I felt his chest press up against my back, causing me to inhale a huge breath of air from his touch. He looked down at me curiously. I shook my head, crumpling the note into my fist. I grabbed the other items from the porch and tossed them into one of the trashcans Teddy had gone through. "It's just a stupid toxic ex leaving trash. He's a counselor at Camp Crystal Lake this summer," I told Jason, coming back up to him.

His machete suddenly appeared in his hand after I said that. The rusty edge glinting in the sun. My eyes widened when I saw his eyes disappear into the mask and were just pools of black. It reminded me of a shark when they smelled blood. Immediately a mindless killing machine. I quickly placed my hands in front of him, hovering inches over his chest. I bit back the urge to run my hands over his chest as I stared up at him.

"He's not worth the time or energy. He's a worthless jackass," I told him. Jason's body was still tense. His eyes hidden in shadow. Gradually, he begrudgingly relaxed his shoulders and placed his machete behind his back. Like a cartoon, the machete was suddenly gone. I smiled up at him. "I appreciate your concern, Jason," I told him. Jason nodded his head, but still looked upset as he turned his masked face away.

A blush rose in my cheeks as I reached out to his hand and held it. "Let's go practice some more ASL words," I told him. It took a few seconds for Jason to stop pouting. He finally turned his masked face to look down at me. His hazel eyes appeared from the black sockets of his mask. His fingers curled around mine as he nodded his head. With that, I closed the door behind me as we walked back into the cabin. We practiced more ASL words. I liked learning words that connected with me, like artist, paint, and drawing

"What's your favorite sign, Jason?" I asked him.

Jason thought for a moment. Then he lifted his index finger and his middle finger together and made them circle around his mask. I gave him a quizzical look. "Mask?" I asked him. He shook his head, then showed me what mask was in ASL, which looked like that Peek-a-Boo game you would do with a baby. I flipped through the book to try and find the ASL word. Eventually I found it.

"Handsome."

Jason nodded his head silently. I smiled and pointed at Jason before signing 'handsome' to him. Jason's eyes widened in his mask. His shoulders lifted up to his ears as he turned away shyly, blushing inside his mask. I laughed at his reaction, then looked into the book to find more ASL words to sign.

The washing machine buzzed to indicate that it was done washing Jason's clothes. We got up to take out the clothes and put them into the dryer. Once the drying cycle began, we went back to signing more ASL words to each other. I signed Jason's name. He smiled behind his mask before signing my name in ASL. When he did, it reminded me when we first met. How he already knew my name before I told it to him. I decided to ask him how he knew, now that I had a way of understanding him.

"Jason...How did you know my name before I told you?" I asked him.

Jason was still for a moment. Then he signed a few signs with his fingers. His index and pinky fingers touched before moving away from each other at an angle. Then he signed another word with his fingers steepled together, turning them to the right once; and then he signed a word I remembered from the book: Water. Afterwards, he used both of his hands again, making L shapes as if they were laying flat on the ground and moving them away from his body to form a wide circle.

I looked up the first sign, hoping it would give me some kind of clue. I flipped through the glossy pages, looking at the cartoon characters sign with their hands in different gestures. Finally, I found the sign I was looking for. I felt my heart skip a beat when I saw what the sign was.

Camp/Camping.

Jason signed the next word for me, but when I couldn't find it in the book, he spelled it out for me instead:

C...R...Y...S...T...A...L...

I felt a wave of cold dread wash over my body. I didn't need the last one signed, but Jason signed it for me anyway.

Lake.

Camp Crystal Lake.

Jason had known me from the camp. Did we meet before? Did I know him when I went? The thing that made me concerned was that I had no memory of going to the camp at all. I had no memory before being a teenager. How could I not remember going to a camp that the locals feared? Where blood was spilled? Where an urban legend was real and was sitting right in front of me? I doubted Jason could tell me if I asked him.

I jumped when the dryer buzzed, indicating that Jason's clothes were dry. I silently got up and walked to the dryer, my thoughts still puzzling over what Jason had signed to me. I pulled Jason's clothes out of the dryer, all warm and bundled up in my arms. Jason suddenly appeared in front of me when I turned around, startling me.

Jason grabbed his clothes before they fell to the floor. He ran his fingers over the tattered fabrics of his attire. I had put in fabric softener to make his clothes soft; having a feeling that he would appreciate it. Jason seemed to notice how soft his clothes were now, and not all rough and full of twigs and small rocks. He went into the bathroom to change out of my dad's now tattered shirt and pants, and back into his usual attire.

Once Jason came out, his clothes looked clean and not all covered in old dark stains and dirt. With that, he began to head to the door. I was about to ask if he wanted to stay a little longer, until I saw that it had already turned dark outside. Jason opened the door and stared out at the forest. The moonlight glistened off the lake as the wind blew across it, causing ripples across its surface.

I signed 'goodbye' to Jason. Jason signed 'goodbye' back. He hesitated for a second on the porch, then came back and hugged me. I hugged him back. Once he released me, his head was down, shyly looking at his gloved hands. Then he quickly signed something super fast that I couldn't quite catch before turning around really fast and walking away from the cabin. I watched him walk into the forest, then suddenly disappear altogether. I had no idea what just happened, but guessed that he enjoyed helping me learn ASL from the book. With that, I closed the door and locked it behind me.

Another demon fire was magically set by the Necronomicon on the wooden floor. I grabbed the fire extinguisher and sprayed the fire. The fire extinguisher ran out of foam, but thankfully the fire was completely out. I added fire extinguisher to the list of things I needed from the town store. I gave the cursed book a look. "What are you upset about this t-..." my voice stopped when I looked down at the charred remains from the fire. It made the shape of a heart.

The book was making fun of me for having feelings for Jason...which I totally did not!

My face burned as I turned back to the book. "I don't have feelings for Jason. We are just friends," I told it. A small flame burst on my shorts, causing me to jump in panic, patting the flames off my ass.

Liar liar, pants on fire... the book seemed to say as it stared at me. The mouth looked like it was morphed upward into a weird grin.

I huffed in frustration. I decided not to say anything else to the book, unless I wanted my whole pants ignited in flames. I left the book downstairs as I walked up the stairs to the main bedroom. I got dressed into my pajamas and laid down on my bed, staring up at the ceiling in the darkness.

Did I really like Jason? I mean...yes he had a nice bod...but...I wasn't a shallow person. I didn't even know what his actual face looked like. Did that matter? Would it be important to know what he looked like under the mask too? My thoughts wondered till my eyes began to grow tired. Eventually, I allowed my eyes to close and I drifted off to sleep...