Her name was Crystal

Jason found himself seated next to his own bed, gazing down at a sleeping girl who was covered with his own blanket. And he really hadn't figured out why. Well, besides the obvious answer that he'd carried her here to his home, he'd put her down in his bed, and covered her with his blanket. The reason he'd done those things was what he couldn't figure out. He supposed he had time to think about it, now that he'd been asked to sit here and stay with her while she slept. Of course, he couldn't really decide why he was doing this either. He'd been working in another part of his home when he'd heard the girl sniffling. For some strange reason he'd dropped everything he was doing and went to her. And now he was here, watching her rest.





Strange.





His mother hadn't whispered anything to him about this at all. Of course, his mother usually only had something to say to him when he was angry. Other people in his camp was the only thing that made Jason angry. Those two men had made him very angry and his mother had all but screamed at him to kill them. But once they were dead his mother had gone silent, as she usually did, and then he'd found this girl, crumpled and broken on the forest floor. All his anger had drained away and it didn't come back.



Jason wasn't overly bright, but he could put two and two together. Those men had hurt her. They'd beaten her so badly that there was barely any normal colour left on her face.. only ugly, blue and black bruising. Why would they do that? Men never tried to hurt their women. Men took their women into tents and made them laugh and giggle and make sounds that were obviously from pleasure. The men never hurt the women. They only hurt Jason. Or they TRIED to hurt Jason.. defending themselves from his attacks. Occasionally they succeeded in hurting him. He had a few scars.



For some reason, those two men had hurt this girl. And, Jason had to guess, that she wasn't here at his lake because she wanted to be. She'd been brought here. Forcefully. She was trespassing in his forest.. but it wasn't her fault.



So.. he wasn't angry. His mother had nothing to say about her, and he was left confused. This had never happened before. He didn't want this girl here any more than he wanted anyone else here, but.. he couldn't kill her. His mother always whispered that the guilty ones needed to die, but.. she wasn't guilty of anything.



So he'd picked her up and brought her home. What else could he do with her? She would die if he left her in the woods, and that wouldn't be right. She didn't deserve to die. So perhaps he would keep her warm and safe until she got better.. then she could leave. He would make sure she got to the village a few miles away. And then he could go back to his quiet, solitary life. Yes, that was acceptable.





As he worked these things out to himself, he found himself watching her. He was fascinated. The steady rise and fall of her chest. The colour of her hair.. sort of an auburn colour. Like the leaves on the maple trees outside. Her tiny little hands and the way they clutched at his blanket. She was just a tiny little thing overall. Carrying her had been like nothing. Not like carrying those two men. That was going to be heavy and burdensome and..



.....the men!! He'd forgotten the men!!





Shocked at himself, Jason stood and left the room. The girl was now in a deep sleep and wouldn't notice his absence. He hurried up the stairs and opened the cellar door and climbed outside. He closed the doors behind him, locked them, and started off at a jog towards the place where he'd killed the two men. How could he have forgotten! He NEVER forgot something important like that. The girl had completely driven responsibility from his mind. Once he'd seen her he hadn't thought of anything else. That was even more confusing. And frustrating.







He decided to try carrying both men at once, to get the work done and overwith that much faster. It would still take him an hour to carry the men to the burning place. A couple of hours were needed to burn their flesh to ash and then bury their bones, then another hour to walk back. He wouldn't be finished till well into the morning light, and then when he finally did get home.. where would he sleep? The girl was in his bed. He had an old couch in another section of the cellar, dragged in from one of the counsellors old cabins. That would have to do, he supposed, until the girl healed enough to leave.



What a bother it was to have another person around to consider. He looked forward to the day she was gone.







He had been right about being sore in the morning. He felt very sore and tired as the sun began to rise, sending it's streams of light between the cedar, birch and maple trees. The birds were well into the days songs when Jason could finally step back and watch the two bodies burning.



As the wood, doused with gasoline, made the flames reach for the morning sunlight, Jason leaned back on his heels and raised his mask to mop at his face with the sleeve of his jacket. This was not what he'd planned to be doing today. He needed to tend to his traps. His food stores were in need of stocking up for the coming winter and he'd been replacing a broken spring on a rabbit snare when he'd heard the girl sniffling earlier. He thought he might plan out another night trip to the village, where he would carefully break into the few shops that lined the main street and steal a few items he was in need of. What nature couldn't provide to him he would always steal from the village. It was only fair. He allowed the villagers to use the only road that passed by the camp. Occasionally their cars would break down on that road and though he would watch them carefully, he never hurt them. They knew he was there too, and they respected him by never wandering too close.





So instead of getting a nights sleep and having the day to get some much needed chores and planning done, he was here instead, burning the bodies of two guilty men while back at home there was a girl asleep in his bed. Strange. Just strange.







Finally the bodies were down to ash and Jason set to work fishing out the bones. He choose a spot, dug into the earth a few feet, and buried them. With his job finished, he walked to the lake edge and bent to wash his hands. Again he raised his mask to splash his face clean of sweat. He stood and lowered the mask back into place, then turned to begin the long walk back home.





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If you've seen the new movie, then you'll know that the people who live nearby Crystal Lake know about Jason.. and know enough to leave him alone. Also, I wondered how Jason survives by himself out in the woods. I figure he probably traps and hunts for food. He's got some mad skillz with the bow and arrow after all, hehe.