SCENE 16
Blood Bass did exactly what she was asked. She went to Mr. Bartholomew in the stage room, so she could ask about the Musicale opening song. Her outfit stayed the same, but she didn’t think it would faze Mr. Bartholomew or anything since it was her style of clothing. The stage room was individual free besides Mr. Bartholomew and Blood Bass. Mr. Bartholomew was sitting on the stage going through papers, most likely the papers with the camp schedule on them. Blood Bass approached him, and he appeared to be welcoming after what all has happened this past week. “Oh, Mary. Hello, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen you and the Jammers. What’s up?” Mr. Bartholomew exclaimed as he stood up.
“Oh, well I heard that Craig wanted the Musicale the still be performed and I was wondering if I could sing the opening song for it.” She responded. Mr. Bartholomew couldn’t say no to that.
“Oh, that would be fantastic! But, we still need more people.” Mr. Bartholomew didn’t want to take the chance to put on a show with only a few students. But, Mary knew exactly what to say to get Mr. Bartholomew to give a positive answer.
“Well, maybe the Jammers can play music and star in the Musicale.”
Mr. Bartholomew pondered momentarily. “That may be a bit difficult for them, but they can give it a shot.”
“Sweet! So, do you have a sheet with the opening song lyrics?”
“Oh, yes. It’s right in the sound booth up there.” Mr. Bartholomew pointed across the room at a massive box-like structure where all the computers and systems were located. These were crucial for the Musicale if they wanted to put on a successful show.
“Okay, thank you.” Mary found the sheet with the song lyrics on top of a stack of wrinkled papers with sloppy cursive writing on them she couldn’t make out.
“And now, we’ve just got to wait for Craig and Jerald.” Mr. Bartholomew didn’t know how long he’d have to wait, but he hoped it wouldn’t be long because they’re racing against the clock trying to continue with the Musicale.
Craig hummed music to himself in the dressing room, down the hall to the right of the stage room, while he repeatedly adjusted the slick collar of his black coat and playing with the tie that came with it. The suit was chilly, but Craig didn’t mind it. He tightened the tie a tad more and he thought it was perfect. “There we go.” He said to himself. Jerald P burst into the room and closed the door behind him. He looked like he was going to have a stroke or something of the sorts.
“Oh, there you are.” He exclaimed, breathing heavily with his exhausted lungs. Craig simply looked at him and back at himself in a mirror on the wall hanging about 5 and a half feet from the ground.
“Where have you been?” Craig started checking his teeth for anything that wasn’t white.
“I ran into two of the kidnappers. One of them ran away while the other stayed to try and take me.” Jerald P could tell that Craig didn’t care what happened since he was there.
“Clearly they didn’t do such a good job.” Craig dialed his jerk level up a few notches. It was almost as if he wanted Jerald P to be gone.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That means you fought back and won.”
“It sounds like to me that you wanted me to get taken.” The tension between them was building steadily.
“Why would I want that?”
“I don’t know, maybe it’s because you’re tired of listening to me tell you to stop doing your own thing and only caring about yourself!” Craig turned and hooked his right fist with Jerald P’s jaw, knocking him back a way. Jerald P grabbed his bruising jawline and glared at Craig, surprised at how he chose to react.
“That was for my friends. My friends that you captured!” Craig wasn’t making any sense. How could Jerald P have taken their friends away when he’s been with Craig a majority of the time that they’ve been at this camp?
“What are you talking about?!”
“Oh, please. You don’t remember telling me that you were Killer Jam?!”
“Craig…”
Craig didn’t want Jerald P to talk his way out of this, but he wanted answers. “You took all of them away. Why?”
“I already told you. I didn’t take our friends!”
“Why should I believe you? I saw you walk down the hallway that one night and then Killer Jam comes out soon after and tells me that he’s my friend that he’s known for a long time.”
Jerald P didn’t think Craig knew how ridiculous he sounded. “We’ve been at the camp for a long time.”
“Not really.” One of the few somewhat smart things Craig has said all week.
“You need to listen to me, Craig.”
“Or what, you’ll take me, too?”
Jerald P wanted to leave Craig alone, but he couldn’t. He was his best friend, even if he thinks he’s the villain. “If I was the kidnapper, I would’ve been caught by now.”
Craig wasn’t buying it. He assumed this was just a huge charade that Jerald P was trying to pull off, but was doing a miserable job. “I find that hard to believe.”
“You find most things hard to believe. Haven’t you realized that when you made a threat at the beginning of this week people have been disappearing since?”
“I just think it’s a coincidence.” How could Craig think this was all just a big coincidence? There was a very slim chance that it was, but Jerald P suspected something else.
“I think there’s a pattern here.”
“A pattern that I’m apparently too dumb to figure out if there is one.” That was also true.
“These consequences seem to only get worse the less you want to change!”
“I’ll just have to deal with them then!” Every consequence he’s had, he didn’t deal with properly and only ended up causing more problems. Jerald P wished Craig wouldn’t ignore everything everyone said so that all this madness could come to an end. There were times where Jerald P could’ve sworn Craig enjoyed this chaos. As long as the show was going on, Craig wasn’t going to stop what he was doing. This is what Craig came to this camp for and he was going to stop at nothing to make his dream come true.
Killer Jam got his phone out and dialed in Sadistic Synth’s and Dead Drum’s numbers for a group call. He figured Sadistic Synth had taken Jerald P back to the Gauntlet, but he needed to make sure that was true, and that Dead Drum had made sure to keep all the victims in place. And the fact that he needed help looking for Craig. “Synth! Drum! Bass is getting ready to perform, I need your help!”
Dead Drum grunted and hung up knowing that Killer Jam was going after Craig and they couldn’t have any interferences. But, Sadistic Synth’s line was silent.
“Synth? Are you there? Synth!” Killer Jam hung up and growled under his breath. “Great, he must not have won his fight. Now where, oh where, is Craig hiding?” Killer Jam walked down the hallway to the right of the stage room and came across the dressing room door. He held his ear up against it and heard quarrelling. Craig must be in there. There was a small window, but he couldn’t risk being seen that easily. With one strong kick, the door flung open. Craig and Jerald P stopped their arguing and stared at Killer Jam, who stood in the doorway, blocking their way out.
Mr. Bartholomew and Mary went through the song lyrics for a moment before Mr. Bartholomew spoke up. “Okay, Mary. Are you comfortable with singing the opening theme after reading the lyrics?”
“Oh, of course! Some weird lyrics aren’t going to make me say ‘no.’” Mary answered showing her shiny teeth in a wide smile.
“Fabulous! Now, where’s your costume?”
“I think it might be in the back room. Let me go check.”
“Oh, please do.” Mary walked off to the back room and found her costume in one of the closets. It was a sparkly blue-violet shirt with silky black pants and leather boots. Mary tried it on and to her convenience, it fit perfectly given there wasn’t a tag with the size on it. Mary stepped out onto the stage and posed. “There we go! That’s the one!” Mr. Bartholomew exclaimed.
“Will I be wearing this for the entire Musicale?” Mary asked.
“Yes, how come? Is it too big, too small?”
“Oh, no. I love it!”
“Wonderful exclamation! Now I believe we have the music file on my computer to play simultaneously with your singing.”
“That’s great! Then I won’t have to be aimlessly singing with no music, because that’s pretty awkward especially when performing in front of an audience.” Mr. Bartholomew didn’t expect something like that to come from Mary’s voice. Then again, she was part of the Jammers and they talk like that all the time.
“Exactly right. By the way, have you seen the others?”
“I haven’t seen them for quite some time now.”
“It doesn’t seem like Craig to be late to rehearsals since he was the one who wanted the Musicale to still be performed in the first place.” Mr. Bartholomew was right. Why would Craig be late for rehearsals if he desperately wanted the Musicale to carry on? Something wasn’t right, but Mr. Bartholomew couldn’t place his finger on it.
“Maybe he’s just having a hard time figuring out which costume looks best on him.”
“He could be, or he might be talking with Jerald P.”
“I’m going to go with both.” And both were true, to an extent. Mr. Bartholomew thought that Craig might be having trouble with something, but he didn’t want to bother the lad and suffer from another outburst.
“What the…?” Craig finally said after a brief moment of eerie silence and staring. Jerald P looked just as shocked as Craig did as they stared at Killer Jam, who was no longer in the doorway, but a step or two closer to both of the teens.
“Killer Jam!” Jerald P shouted.
“A-ha! Surprised to see me, aren’t you?” Killer Jam said a few seconds too late to mean anything.
“You!” Craig pointed at Killer Jam and glared. “And you!” Craig turned and pointed at Jerald P, keeping his glare. “How?!”
“Well, you see, I built a clone of myself and decided to dress in a costume so that you wouldn’t recognize me.” Killer Jam interjected with heavy sarcasm that Craig didn’t pick up on somehow.
“Are you serious?”
“Heck no!” Killer Jam threw his arms in the air and shook his head in disappointment.
“You see, Craig? I told you!” Jerald P stated.
“I don’t understand.”
“Of course, you don’t! You’re too caught up in trying to make your dream come true that everything else just went over your head!” Killer Jam was speaking the truth which caught Craig by surprise. Craig had only been thinking ominous thoughts of the man. He didn’t realize that Killer Jam would’ve spoken something that was so true about himself. He didn’t want to accept it, unfortunately. He still isn’t even convinced that Jerald P isn’t Killer Jam.
“How though? You and Jerald were never in the same place until just now. Jerald must still be Killer Jam and my guess is that he got someone else to cover for him!”
Jerald P couldn’t believe what he was hearing, he couldn’t believe anything he heard from Craig anymore. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I’m not kidding!”
“Well that’s too bad! You should believe your friends, especially if they’ve been loyal to you for as long as you can remember.” Killer Jam commented, again telling the truth.
“Craig, when have I ever lied to you?”
“I… Uh…” Craig found himself lost in words.
“How gracious! He’s never lied to you!” That was a bit of a stretch.
“I’m out of here.” Jerald P groaned, furiously.
“Wait! Jerald! Where are you going?!”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Jerald P stormed out of the room and took a right turn down the corridor. Craig knew he was in deep trouble now, all he could do was release a sigh.
“Looks like you’ve been abandoned by your closest friend. Feels terrible, doesn’t it? But who cares! You’re going to be famous! Or are you?!” Killer Jam growled as he took a step closer to Craig. Craig’s heart raced faster the closer Killer Jam got, he knew that if he didn’t fight back, he was going to die.
Mr. Bartholomew sat in the sound booth behind the computer with the sound system to his right as he held the paper with the song lyrics Mary must sing. She patiently stood in the center of the stage while Mr. Bartholomew searched his computer for the right sound file.
“Mary, have you got the song lyrics memorized?” Mr. Bartholomew wondered.
“All of them.” Mary replied. She had an incredible memory, one as good as an elephant’s, if not a bit better. She always memorized stuff whether it was important or not, she found it rather enjoyable.
“Okay, just let me get the music started.” Mr. Bartholomew came across the file and opened it with the usual double click of the left button on the mouse. “And you may begin singing now!” The song played instrumental shortly before Mary began to sing these lyrics:
“Now's the time, get in line, don't be afraid tonight. We're gonna take you high, before you realize. Round and 'round you'll go, up and down, never slow. Feel the excitement grow, oh. This is where you let go. Hands high like a roller coaster. This love is taking over. Take us higher here we go. Oh, oh, oh. Welcome to the show. Gravity we're defying. 'Cause, we were made for flying. We're about to lose control. Welcome to the show. Welcome to the… Oh, oh, we're on a mission nothing, nothing, can stand in our way. Oh, oh, we don't need permission. We're gonna rise up and we'll be the change. Oh, oh, hear us on your stereo. Oh, oh, we're about to lose control. Oh, oh, everybody knows. Oh, oh, this is where you let go. Hands high like a roller coaster. This love is taking over. Take us higher here we go. Oh, oh, oh. Welcome to the show. Gravity we're defying. 'Cause, we were made for flying. We're about to lose control. Welcome to the show. (C'mon. C'mon. C'mon. Yeah!) And put your hands u-u-up. We're gonna have some f-u-u-n. We've only just beg-u-u-n. And it's too late to r-u-u-n, you can't run. So, put 'em u-u-up. We're gonna have some f-u-u-n. Turn up the bass let it b-u-u-mp. We've only just begun, and you can't run. Hands high like a roller coaster. This love is taking over. Take us higher here we go. Oh, oh, oh. Welcome to the show. Gravity we're defying. 'Cause, we were made for flying. We're about to lose control. Welcome to the show! Hands high like a roller coaster. This love is taking over. Take us higher here we go. Oh, oh, oh. Welcome to the show. Gravity we're defying. 'Cause, we were made for flying. We're about to lose control. Welcome to the show! Hands high like a roller coaster. This love is taking over. Take us higher here we go. Oh, oh, oh. Welcome to the show. Gravity we're defying. 'Cause, we were made for flying. We're about to lose control. Welcome to the show! We're gonna have some f-u-u-n. Turn up the bass let it b-u-u-mp. We've only just begun, and you can't run. Welcome to the show. We're gonna have some f-u-u-n. Turn up the bass let it b-u-u-mp. We've only just begun, and you can't run!”
- Britt Nicole
While the song was being performed, Killer Jam stood before Craig in the dressing room, ready for to teach him his lesson. “You’re done, Craig!” Killer Jam roared as he lunged towards the frightened teen. Craig threw his right balled fist at Killer Jam. Killer Jam caught his fist and swung him aside against a table. Craig’s lower back ached profusely, but he couldn’t show any sign of weakness or he’d end up in the grave. Killer Jam grabbed Craig’s shirt, stared him dead in the eyes and shouted, “Now, you still thinking about not changing your ways?” Craig kicked him backwards and got back on his feet. “I’ll take that as a ‘no!’”
Killer Jam pulled out a knife from his back pocket, a serrated kitchen knife that looked nothing short of keen. Craig gasped louder than he wanted at the sight of the weapon his foe had possession of. If he could get his hands on it, Killer Jam wouldn’t stand a chance. Killer Jam held the knife high and charged at Craig. Craig grabbed Killer Jam’s knife-wielding hand and punched Killer Jam’s side once. Twice. Thrice. Killer Jam finally dropped the knife onto the ground. This was Craig’s chance. He picked the knife up off the ground and swung it at Killer Jam. The masked man jumped backwards, avoiding the knife. Craig swung again, but Killer Jam held his right arm up against Craig’s wrist, the knife floating inches from his face.
Craig pushed with all his strength to get the knife into Killer Jam’s head. Killer Jam spun around and knocked Craig into the ground. Craig held the knife firmly and quickly jumped to his feet and his adrenaline was skyrocketing. Killer Jam reached out to try and grab Craig. Rookie mistake. Craig swiftly swung his knife and impacted Killer Jam’s left hand. He cried out in pain as his hand bled through his cotton glove. He winced and growled as he watched blood run down his wrist. He tightly gripped his hand to keep it from bleeding more. Craig attempted to hit Killer Jam with his right leg. Killer Jam’s open, and not bloody, right hand caught Craig’s leg and shoved him into a wall. Craig dropped his knife and his lower back began to ache again. Killer Jam stepped closer to Craig, only to see Craig quickly get hold of the knife again. Killer Jam stepped back away from the crazy teen.
Craig didn’t know what to do at this point. He didn’t know whether to swing the knife again, to lunge at him, to throw the knife, his adrenaline was disrupting his thought process. Killer Jam just stared at him while he was frozen, thinking of what to do next. So, he decided to throw the knife at Killer Jam. With the masked maniac distracted, while avoiding the flying knife, Craig sped out of the room, leaving Killer Jam to play a game of cat and mouse, and deal with an injured palm. “Get back here! We’re not finished!” Killer Jam screamed as he kept wincing at his bleeding hand.
“He really got me this time.” Killer Jam stepped out of the room, looked to the left, then the right. Craig could be anywhere now. Killer Jam couldn’t bring himself to hurt Craig so badly. The kid would’ve been scarred, mentally and physically. Killer Jam remembered that just because his name is Killer Jam doesn’t mean that he’s a killer.
“You’re going to have to change at some point, Craig!” Killer Jam couldn’t do anything except walk around the building looking for Craig. Craig could be in the stage room, the back room, and if Killer Jam was truly unlucky, Craig would be in the Gauntlet. That was the last thing Killer Jam needed to worry about. Killer Jam still had no clue what happened to Sadistic Synth, no idea if Dead Drum is looking for Craig or taking a stroll, the only thing he can guarantee is that Blood Bass went to Mr. Bartholomew and practiced the opening song for the Musicale. Killer Jam’s plan was starting to go downhill, thanks to Craig’s stubbornness. He’s had more than enough of it.
ns 15.158.61.17da2
