Water Tainted Red

II. In their eyes

A year has passed since that incident, and I still can't wrap my mind around it. It felt surreal. I was the only one who escaped the massacre that took place at that dreaded lake. I remembered just like it was yesterday. My friends and I had just started our summer vacation. It was supposed to be a fun getaway, a time where we could have had the time of our lives before school started again. It started that way at first, but it all went to hell once night fell. It all happened so fast. There was so much screaming, so much terror, so much blood. Believe me when I say there was so much blood. That part should scare me more about the incident, but it's not.

"Miss Williams?"

I can't believe I even made it out alive.

"Are you there?"

I lay awake at nights, thinking why I'm alive and not my friends. Sometimes, I get nightmares.

"Come back to me, Miss Williams. It's best not to dwell on your thoughts alone."

I snapped out of my thoughts and remembered where I am.

"Ah, I see you're back to reality. Is everything alright?"

My eyes focused onto the person in front of me. Mr. Jackson, the therapist I've been seeing for some time since what happened.

"...Yes. Everything is...alright." I lied between my teeth.

"Surely you know by now that that is not the case."

But he sees through it. He's always been a keen one. It's why I chose him as my therapist. That, and he's the only one who's not condescending when talking to me.

"Have you been having nightmares again?" He asked in a calming voice.

There was no point in hiding anything from him. "Yes."

He skimmed his pocketbook, probably pinpointing what the nightmares could be about, but I beat him to it. "It was about her."

Mr. Jackson gave a slight nod of acknowledge in response, flipping through his notes. "Her? You mean (Name)?"

I swallowed a bit of saliva at the sound of her name.

Mr. Jackson noticed this because he continued, "You witnessed her death then?"

I shook my head. "No. I never saw her die."

"Then what has you haunted?"

"I don't have closure. Her family doesn't have closure..." I averted my eyes from his intense look. Even if he did believe me, I also felt like he's secretly judging me. "I know my other friends... died... but with (Name)... I don't know if she made it out alive or not." I closed my eyes and exhaled, trying to relieve my guilt. "I feel like it's my fault that she's missing."

Mr. Jackson hesitated a bit before asking, "Miss Williams, might I make a suggestion?"

This caught my attention. Despite being a therapist, he never really gave me advice other than to try to move past it by picking up hobbies or just avoid thinking about the incident in general.

"If it's closure you want, why not give the old place a visit?"

Huh, that never crossed my mind before, then I remembered why it never did.

"What if he's still out there?" Don't get me wrong. (Name) being missing in action is what haunts me the most, but who can forget the big hulking serial killer that killed my friends and almost killed me.

"By he, you mean the killer you escaped from, I presume?"

I nodded.

"Haven't you heard? Jason Voorhees is officially dead." Mr. Jackson announced matter-of-factly.