Her name was Crystal

She woke again, later. Jason came as soon as she made a small noise trying to reach for the glass of water he'd left earlier. He bent to pick up the glass, handing it to her.





"Thank you," she whispered, drinking the rest of the water from the cup. He sat down next to her bed, observing her silently. She smiled at him and moved to sit up better. She was feeling a little less pain now. She was feeling restless. She wanted to get up and out of bed. And she was feeling gross and dirty from days of sleeping and doing nothing else.





"Jason, is there somewhere that I can wash?"





He nodded, stood and watched as she eased herself up and off the bed. Her legs felt like jelly and she wobbled. He caught her her by the elbows before she toppled over, and steadied her on her feet.





She walked gingerly beside him out of the bedroom, holding his arm to steady herself as she became accustomed to walking again. She was still in alot of pain, particularly between her legs, and the progress was very slow. The second time she stumbled and winced, Jason scooped her up in his arms to carry her instead.





She gasped in surprise and wrapped her arms around his neck.





"I guess this is a little faster.."







She clung tightly to him when he took her up some stairs and opened an overhead door. She shivered in the cool air as he climbed outside and circled round to the front door of what appeared to be a small cabin. The cabin was old and rickety, and she worried the wood on the front porch would break beneath his feet the way it groaned and creaked.



He opened the old screen door and took her inside. She glanced around. It looked and smelled even more old and musty that it did downstairs in the cellar. The dust that coated every surface had to be inches thick. The wallpaper was peeling from the walls and was old and yellow. There were dusty old picture frames hanging everywhere, but she couldn’t make out the faces of the people in them. It was too dark. At least it was until Jason maneuvered her in his arms a bit and reached to turn on a light.



She was surprised this old cabin had electricity. She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised though, because there were lights downstairs in the cellar. Jason obviously lived there, instead of here. She wondered why that was. Maybe there were old memories here in this cabin that he didn’t want to live with? She thought she could make out a woman in one of those old, dusty pictures on the wall. A smiling woman with her arms around a little boy.





She didn’t have time to study the pair in the picture very closely. Jason carried her further into the cabin. She hugged herself closer to him as he went, not liking all the cobwebs with oversized spiders hanging all over the place. She kept an eye open, however, glancing around at the rest of what she could see of the cabin. She thought she saw a small room with toys in it, and then another room with candles. Lots of candles.





Jason flipped another light switch as he stepped into a tiny bathroom at the end of the hallway. He set her on the floor and made sure she was steady on her feet before he turned and left the room, closing the door behind him. She listened as he retreated down the hallway, then apparently left the cabin altogether, the front door closing behind him.







The cobwebs in here were just as bad, but she couldn’t pay attention to that now. She had to check and see if the water actually worked. She tiptoed carefully to the small bathtub and turned the hot water knob. The pipes made a loud banging sound and made her jump. Murky brown water spat out of the faucet in short bursts, but gradually the water began to run smoothly, and then clearly. There was water.





She cupped her hand to catch some and brought it to her lips to sip.. then spat it back out. It was bitter. Not suitable for drinking. But for bathing it was fine.





She was dressed in a loose pair of pants that she wasn’t entirely sure belonged to her, and a bloodstained, torn shirt. She peeled both of these off and tossed them to a corner of the room. She hoped there was something else here for her to change into, but first she needed to inspect the damage to her body in the dirty, old mirror over the sink.





She was a mangled mess. Cuts and deep bruising were everywhere. It looked like she’d been run over by a truck. She was amazed she didn’t have any broken bones. Whatever she’d been through… she was starting to feel glad that she didn’t remember it.







She bent slightly to open the cupboard doors under the sink. She smiled, greatful to find a couple of towels inside, folded neatly. They were dusty, and she had to shake a spider off of one of them, but this meant she wouldn’t have to wait for the air to dry her skin after she washed. Now she just needed something else to wear…





There was a laundry hamper in the corner. One of those old, white wicker ones. She blew the dust from the lid and coughed, then waved her hand around in the air to try and clear it. She opened it to see what was inside.



Bingo. An old blue nightgown. She pulled it out and held it up to herself. It was long and maybe a little too big for her, but it would be a hundred times better than loose pants and the bloodstained shirt. She lay the nightgown, along with the towels, on the bathroom counter – after blowing off the dust of course – and turned her attention to climbing into the tub and washing.





She wasn’t going to try and have a bath. The tub was just as dirty and dusty as the rest of the place and would need to be cleaned before any real bathing could be done. For now she would make do with cupping the water and scrubbing at her skin with it.







She wondered about Jason as she washed. She wondered who he was and why he wore that hockey mask. She was pretty sure his face was deformed and he was hiding it. She only saw one eye looking through the mask at her. And he couldn’t speak.





She wondered if there was anyone else here with him. His mother wasn’t. She was pretty sure his mother had died, and this was her blue nightgown she was changing into after toweling off. She hoped Jason wouldn’t mind.







She hung the towels over the shower curtain to let them dry, then gingerly made her way to the door. She opened it and peeked out into the hallway. It was dark, save for the light coming from the washroom. There were more pictures of the woman and the little boy on the hallway walls.





“Jason?” She called softly. She’d picked up on the fact that he had incredibly good hearing.





She heard the front door to the cabin opening and listened as Jason walked in.





“I found this to wear.. is it ok?” She asked when he appeared in the hallway. He nodded, and she went to him. He picked her up again and left the cabin, turning out the lights as they left.





---------------------------



Yup, Jason has electricity. I'm not making that up.. it was in the new movie. I threw in the water tho, for simplicities sake.



Aint he a nice guy, carrying her around like that? ^_~