Her name was Crystal

Jason was gone for hours.







Crystal assumed he was doing something with the dead boys body. Getting rid of it somehow. And the boy had screamed 'he killed everyone'.. so that probably meant there were more bodies out there for Jason to get rid of. What exactly he was doing, she didn't know, and how long it would take him.. well.. she didn't know that either.





He'd been gone for much longer periods of time before, so Crystal knew she shouldn’t worry. Most of his hunting trips lasted at least a day or two. One had lasted an entire week and a half once. She'd kept herself busy, tending to the camp and cellar on her own. She'd become quite good at sewing things by hand, and had made Jason some new clothes out of various material she'd found upstairs. Pamela Voorhees had been a seamstress as well as a cook, it seemed. Crystal had found a closet full of different kinds of cloth, as well as patterns, needles and thread.





Along with the cloth, Crystal was also working with the skins of the animals Jason brought home for food. She planned to make new winter jackets for them both for the next Winter season. And maybe a hat. Crystal figured Jason's poor head must get cold sometimes, seeing that it lacked alot of hair.







It was his jacket she decided to work on while waiting for Jason to return from whatever he was doing with the dead bodies. She sat at the table, with all of her sewing materials spread out around her. Since Jason was not around to let her measure him, she was using one of his older shirts as a guide. She was careful to make it a little larger than the shirt, so it would be comfortable and give him room to move.







The hours passed by slowly and Crystal sat faithfully waiting, stitching together one of the jacket's sleeves. The same cold, frightened feeling that she always got whenever Jason left her behind was tickling at her heart, but she pushed it away and ignored it. Jason would be home soon. He'd killed the intruders. There were no people left out there, so there was nothing to be afraid of.









Crystal frowned as she stitched, tilting her head towards the cellars only window. She thought she heard something. Something that sounded like growling.







She stood from the table and went to the stairs that led outside. She pushed the door up and open and climbed outside. She stared into the darkness of the camp. Night had fallen some time ago.







Her hearing wasn't nearly as good as Jason's was.. but yes, there it was again. It was growling. And it was steadily getting louder. Was it a bear? Or maybe a mountain lion? Every once in awhile a large predator made it's way into the camp, even though they were very careful never to leave food out in the open. Even Jason, with his incredible strength, lightning fast reflexes and huge machete would never try taking on a bear or a mountain lion. He would shoo Crystal down into the cellar, climb in after her, and lock the doors above them. They had to wait until the large animal moved on before coming back out again.









If the growling was coming from a bear or a mountain lion, then going back inside was a very good idea. Crystal turned to do just that.. but stopped when she saw a light shining through the trees in the distance.







Was the light coming from a flashlight? Was Jason home?







Crystal’s frown deepened and she tilted her head again, stepping further away from the safety of the cellar.







Since when did Jason use a flashlight? He always used an old kerosene lamp when he had to go outside at night. Crystal was the one to use the only flashlight they had. She thought it's battery had died a week ago though. Jason hadn't gone to the village to get new ones yet.







Confused, Crystal began walking towards the light. It had to be Jason. And the growling couldn’t be a bear or a mountain lion. It was too steady and deep for that. He must have found something with a motor and was bringing it home. That was the only answer Crystal could come up with.







The light was moving slowly on the old road that led into the camp. It went past the broken down old bus with the 'Camp Crystal Lake' logo on its side. And then it suddenly turned the corner and she was blinded.







It was a truck. A huge, monsterous truck that roared now that it was right in front of her. Its headlights were bright and blindingly powerful and Crystal stared into them like a deer, her eyes wide and full of fear.







The truck stopped and the doors opened. Two big men climbed out, carrying flashlights. One of them waved and called out a greeting.







Crystal screamed and ran.











* * * * *









Jason sat a good distance away from the fire pit. The bodies of the teenagers were piled together, drenched in gasoline and burning slowly. It smelled horrible.







There had been five of them altogether. Jason went for the girls first. He slashed one open with his machete, and the second he'd thrown to the ground and stepped down hard onto the back of her neck until he heard it snap. Then he'd had gone for the three boys. He'd caught two of them and killed them both at the same time by smashing their heads together so hard their skulls crushed together. The third boy had bolted away before Jason could kill him.





The gangly kid could run as fast as Jason could. He stayed just far enough ahead during their marathon run through the woods that Jason couldn't reach out and grab him. And he wasn't able to throw the machete at the kids back either, because the trees were thick here. Getting his weapon stuck in the trunk of a tree was not an option.





But then the boy had broken through the trees and had run into the clearing of the camp. It had given Jason a free shot, and he'd hurled his blade though the air. His target had fallen a moment later, the machete having entered his back and come out through his ribcage.







Crystal had seen the entire thing.









The girl was shaken, Jason knew. He wished he could just simply bury the bodies instead of burning them because it would be so much faster. Then he could go home and continue to comfort her. Or perhaps he just wanted a little bit of comfort for himself. The peace and serenity of his camp had once again been interrupted by intruders. It was upsetting. The traps he'd laid out had worked perfectly though. One of the girls had stepped in one and her leg was nearly torn off by it's jaws. It was she who had made the bells jingle back at the camp. She didn't suffer long though. Jason split her open from stem to sternum and she was dead almost instantly.







Jason watched the sun dip lower in the horizon, until it disappeared and darkness settled over the land. The sounds of the night filled the air.. crickets and bullfrogs.. a backdrop to the crackling of the fire in the burning place.







He closed his eye, tired out from all the activity the day had brought.







A high-pitched scream in the distance pierced the night.







Jason scrambled to his feet and began to run back to camp as fast as he possibly could. Something was very wrong.









Crystal was in trouble.











* * * *











"Hey there, little lady.. where'd you go? We ain't gonna hurt you none."







The camp was lit by the headlights of the huge truck, casting large shadows everywhere. It was these shadows Crystal had scrambled to hide in. The men had seen her. They were looking for her now, shining the beams of their flashlights in every dark place they thought she might be hiding in.







“C’mon out, now.. you can’t stay by yourself out here anymore.”









Crystal shrunk back further under the porch of one of cabins. She held her breath, watching the legs of one of the men walking close by. His boots were dirty.









“Why don’t we just come back and get her in the morning, Jedd? She obviously ain’t interested in coming with us now.”









The other man was peeking under some bushes, shining his flashlight around, searching for her.







“Cause we can’t leave a helpless little lady out here all by herself now, can we?”







The voice belonging to the legs with the dirty boots was speaking loudly to make sure Crystal would hear. He was speaking as if a frightened child was listening. Like he could get Crystal to trust him with his voice and come out.









“I dunno, Jedd.. I don’t think she’s helpless. Look here..”









The flashlights flicked around and shone on the huge pile of firewood Jason kept beside their cellar. It was covered with a blue tarp to keep it dry in case of rain. His axe was sticking out of the large block of wood he used to chop on.





Beside that was the skin of a deer, stretched out on a board, freshly tanned. Jason had killed it two days earlier and Crystal had helped him to skin it. She was going to use the skin for their new Winter jackets.









“Well I’ll be damned..” said the one called Jedd.









“And look at that.. she’s got lights way out here. She must live down there.” The flashlights moved were drowned out by the soft, orange light coming from the door to the cellar. Crystal had left it open.









The legs and the dirty boots walked over to the cellar, and Crystal let loose the breath she’d been holding. Carefully she crawled out from under the cabin. Silently she slipped into the shadows and made her way to the edge of camp. She would dash into the trees and run. She would find Jason. Jason would come and kill these men the same way he’d killed the teenagers. Then everything would be alright again.







There was a long stretch of light between the shadowed areas between the cabins and the trees. She’d have to run quickly to make it without being seen. The men were now checking out the cellar. One of them was going inside to look around.







Crystal counted to three, then bolted from her hiding spot. Jedd saw her right away and shouted. He chased her and Crystal screamed again. In seconds he was a mere heartbeat behind her, and then he caught her, grabbing her around the arms. She kicked and screamed and bit his hand when he foolishly brought it too close to her face. He cursed and held her more tightly, getting a better grip on her arms. She wasn’t getting away.







She started to cry, screaming Jason's name out into the vast woodland of Crystal Lake. And then.. she fainted. The fear and excitement were too much for her, and she went limp in his arms.









Jedd panted, winced over his hurting hand, then hefted the girl up better in his arms to carry her over to where his brother stood waiting, shaking his head.









“Damn, Jedd. Was she really worth all that?”









They turned and walked back to their truck, carrying Crystal with them.









“She just might be, Jake. I think she’s the girl that’s been all over the news. The one who disappeared last year. Ain’t there a reward on her or something?”







Jedd carefully set Crystal’s limp form in the truck, then climbed in after her. He cradled her head so she wouldn’t fall forward and end up hurt. Jake climbed into the drivers side and the engine roared to life.









“Maybe. We’ll check it out when we get back to the trailer.”









Jake turned the wheel, stepped on the gas, and the truck was pulling back down the old camp road. It’s lights faded and the growling of it’s engine died away. The quiet sounds of crickets and bullfrogs returned to fill the silence.











Jason came crashing through the trees. His chest was heaving from the dozens of miles he'd just run.







The door to the cellar was open. Crystal never left the door to the cellar open.







Jason ran to the door and jumped down the stairs. His eye wildly searched for the girl. The table was covered with the materials from her sewing project. The kettle was on the old wood stove. There were softly burning embers left over from the soup she’d warmed for herself to eat earlier. One of her books was open on the couch.







He turned and ran out of the cellar and to the nearest cabin, peering into the windows. Nothing. And nothing in the next cabin either, or the one after that.







The glass window on the door to the main building smashed from the force Jason used to open it and run inside. He searched every room, desperation growing in his chest. No Crystal. Anywhere.







He left the main building cursing himself because he could not call out to her.. to beg her to call back and tell him where she was.







He searched every corner of the camp, and then the woods surrounding it. He reached the bus and looked inside.. and then noticed the tracks on the old road. Fresh tire tracks. Someone had been here. And they'd taken his Crystal. She was gone.







She was gone.









He started off on a run, following the tire treads in the dark earth.







He would find her. He would save her from whoever had taken her. They would pay, whoever they were.







He would make them suffer.









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