a☁️

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5

part 6

part 7

part 8

part 9

part 10

“Amie,” Sam calls from beside her as she holds her hand. Amelie turns her head and can vaguely see the girl look at her concerned. Her gurney stops rolling and Sam takes the time to gently place her hand that isn’t already on Amelie’s, on the side of her face. Sam was ready to sprint out of that theatre with Amelie in her arms when she noticed that the girl had gone unconscious. She was so worried, so scared, that she had lost another person so close to her. Someone who she considered a sister, alongside Tara, nonetheless. A few tears escaped Sam’s red eyes as she looked down at the girl and held her, feeling that she was there and still okay. Her thumb manages to wipe away a stray tear that fell out of Amelie’s eye. Nothing but pain fills Amelie’s eyes and Sam knows how she is currently feeling. She experienced this exact same thing last year with Richie and knows how traumatizing it is to be so betrayed by the one you love, the one who was supposed to make you feel safe from all the terrors in the world.

“I know, I know,” Sam whispers as she wipes another tear that trails down Amelie’s delicate cheeks. Amie’s lip quivers as she tries her best to not sob her eyes out right now, knowing that she was going to be in so much more pain if her body began to shake with the tears. The girl can tell that Sam was understanding of how overwhelmed she was currently feeling and there is nothing else that she needs more than that; someone who gets her, someone who is there for her and won’t try to fix whatever was going on.

“What a son of a bitch-“ Amelie cuts herself off as she feels her throat close up. Amelie wants to lighten the mood, but she was so sad that she even fooled herself. Sam says nothing in response, only squeezes her hand tighter and swipes her thumb over Amelie’s cheek.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Sam finally says, tears still lining her eyes. It’s Amelie’s turn to not say anything now, only look at Sam as she spends a moment getting vulnerable with her. “You’re our family, remember? You can't die.”

Tears are now falling out of both their eyes as they look at each other. Amelie can feel her heart swell in her chest at Sam’s words. She has never felt so much love like this since her father died and she couldn’t be more grateful that it was coming from Sam. She had lost any last bit of real family she had when her dad died, and she feared that she would never get that feeling again. That night, so long ago when her and Sam spent their time crying and drunk was almost like an official initiation to be non-blood related family. And just like Amelie said back at the night of the party, they were her family and they loved and cared for her unconditionally, as she did for them.

“My family,” Amelie repeats and smiles up at Sam, the older girl reciprocating her actions. Amelie finally takes the time to look beyond Sam and notices Tara standing next to another gurney, stopped almost identically like hers. She notices the familiar dark skin of his arm and her eyes widen when she realizes who it is. “Chad?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s Chad,” Sam nods with a small smile still on her face and the tears in her eyes still evident. Amelie tries to lift her head to get a better look at the boy but it ultimately fails and falls back down as she lets out a groan of pain.  

“Oh, my god. Are you guys okay? I know who the killers are, it’s Ethan and Bailey!” Mindy suddenly comes running up between both Chad and Amelie, frantically looking between the two and her eyes so wide they could be close to falling out. Both her brother and her best friend look like a human pincushion, barely hanging on and it was all too much to process at once. Sam lifts her hand from Amelie’s face but keeps the other still placed in Amelie’s hand and lets the girl know that it was Quinn involved in the killings. Amelie can hear Mindy moan about how she missed the monologue again and would let out a chuckle if she knew it wouldn’t hurt so bad.

Mindy makes her way over to Amelie after checking on her brother and replaces Sam’s hand on her cheek with her own. Amelie leans her head into Mindy’s hand weakly and smiles. “I’m sorry about Ethan.”

Sam squeezes Amelie’s hand before letting it go and heads over to Tara and Chad.

“I am sorry about Ethan,” Amelie whispers, still feeling guilty for leaving her with him. Amelie feels like she is now indebted to Mindy for life, for everything that has happened to them that has made Amelie feel so guilty. “I left you with him.”

“It’s okay, Amie,” Mindy shakes her head down at the girl. In no way did Mindy feel like Amelie was the one to blame for any of it. Did Mindy think she could be as critical as she was about everyone in their life? Yes, absolutely. But was she going to say that she blames Amie for falling for someone she believed to be innocent? Absolutely not. Mindy held a lot of pride when it came to her detective skills and sixth sense, but she would never carry those same emotions when it comes to her friends. One that was damn near laying on her death bed, at that. A million things run through Mindy’s head that she wants to talk to Amelie about, but she knows that it would have to wait for another time. However, she does stop shaking her head and tilts its to the side, curiosity covering her face. “Is it too early to say I told you so?”

“No,” Amelie painfully lets a chuckle pass her lips, wincing after the fact. “That was such a Mindy thing to say.”  

Mindy smiles and lets a couple of laughs with the girl. Amelie goes serious for a moment and looks into Mindy’s eyes, “I’ll tell you all about my monologue after, though. If you want.”

“I would be honored to hear it.” Mindy continues to smile, and Amelie sends one back her way.

Mindy leans down and places a kiss on the girl’s head before heading back over to her brother who is being loaded up and into an ambulance. Amelie follows suit shortly after and feels herself being wheeled into one. The paramedics wait as Tara hops into the ambulance, holding the door open and calls for Sam who is stood in place, looking at the Ghostface mask in her hand. Sam finally looks up before joining the two in the ambulance and the sisters sit on either side of Amelie, each holding onto a part of her. The doors close and the three head to the hospital where Amelie and Chad stay for a couple of days before they were all discharged and had to head back to their not-so-normal lives.

Amelie opens her eyes from resting them, and turns to look between Tara and Sam in panic. Her eyebrows furrowed and lips set in a frown.

"What's wrong?" Tara notices Amelie's frantic expression.

"Ethan never answered my question," Amelie starts. "I-I had asked Ethan what happened to Dean since he never texted me back. He never answered me. Is he okay? Do we know anything?"

"No, we-we don't know anything, Amie," Tara shakes her head at her. The girl places her hand on Amelie's and squeezes it. The two sisters can tell how worried Amelie is.

"Look, the two of us will find out more once we get to the hospital. You just need to rest and get all fixed up," Sam assures the girl and lightly pushes her head back down onto the pillow behind her. "I am sure he is okay."

So, Amelie rests her head and closes her eyes. Surely Dean will be okay and her friends will find out what for her. In the mean time, she just tries to focus on her heartbeat and not the burning flame cursing throughout her body. Amelie knows that when she finally gets back to her normal life, she won’t ever be the same again, but at least she has had practice now.

She will long for the boy who made her feel okay at one point, and the friendship she cherished so dearly with Anika. She will hold and protect Gale closer to her than ever before. She will grieve over the betrayal of the roommate she had who secretly hated her guts, and the trust she had in a figure of authority who pretended to protect her. What Amelie will do is remember the way she made Ethan suffer for the pain he had caused her, similar to what she did to Amber. She will remember the rage that fuelled her body and vow to herself to not feel bad for what she had done. Ethan needed to feel the amount of pain that he had put on her, and though it is two different types of pain, she feels satisfied, nonetheless.

Her dad died the same way that she almost did and remembers that feeling of peace she experienced when her eyes finally gave out on her. She knows that her dad didn’t feel that when he went, but she was pleased with the idea that maybe it meant that if her eyes closed for just a little longer, she would finally be able to be there beside her dad. And maybe that’s why she didn’t actually end up dying, because her father didn’t want her to meet with him just yet. So, for now she will continue to cherish what she has left of her dad like she did before, and she will get back into the practice of pretending that everything was okay in the world. She will grieve, she will long for what was, she will need to work on how to feel, but she was alive. And if history is to repeat itself again, then she will be prepared for when it happens, and if she manages to make it out alive that time is up to fate. But she is here now with the two people who she considers her own sisters, and they will be there for each other no matter what happens.

“Mindy was right,” his smile doesn’t fade from his face as he continues to talk, but his gaze shifts between Sam and Tara, never making it to Amelie’s. His heart was beating faster than it was before; this was the moment, and he has been dreading it since the day he met Amelie. If he looked at her, he would break and he needed to do this. “It was easy to juke the roommate lottery. I mean, all I had to do to meet you was room with the conceited, condescending alpha, literally named Chad!”

Amelie was disgusted. Chad was his friend, Chad trusted him.

“Fuck, it felt good to kill him!”

He was a psychopath, no real emotion had to have ever floundered through his body. Amelie wants to sob, she wants to throw up, and she wants to punch him, hurt him like he did to her.  Like he did to Chad.

“This was your grandmas, Sam; Nancy Loomis,” Ethan continues as he holds up his bloody knife and points it to his Ghostface mask in his other hand. His smile falters from his face as he continues to speak. “Really runs in the fucking family, doesn’t it?”

“Speaking of family…” the detective trails off, letting Ethan jump in again. The smile creeps back onto his sickening face and Ethan takes his que.

“My name’s not Ethan Landry, isn’t it dad?” Ethan turns to his dad, and they share a sick smile at each other. Amelie feels like her breathe got knocked from her chest again and her brain falters. Of course, his name wasn’t even his fucking name. Ethan Landry was a person Amelie wanted to love so bad, wanted to kiss and be held by, but this Ethan in front of her isn’t him. He is a psychopath who has been lying to her, to all of them this whole time.

“Dad?” Amelie almost shouts at him. Her jaw remains ajar and her eyes wide at the scene in front of her. She watches as the detective brushes the hair on Ethan’s forehead, chuckling as he does, visibly proud of his son. Ethan finally brings his eyes to Amelie’s and his smile drops from his face. He knows it was a bad idea to look at her, but he had to, he needed to see her face. The anger and betrayal on her face was almost enough to make him want to take back everything he said, and just reassure he that he still likes her so much, that he would never physically hurt her. Amelie tries to distinguish what emotions are swirling through Ethan’s eyes when they finally make contact with hers, but she can’t look past the pure evil that lays in them.

"I was always dreading this part, you know?" His tone could almost fool her to believe that he actually cares. "I never wanted you a part of this."

"I have always been a part of this, Ethan!" If that even was his name. She is so hurt, so angry that her stomach churns every time he even opens his mouth. His eyes soften the longer he looks at her and she genuinely thinks he is fucking crazy.

"Yeah, well, it almost screwed us over," Wayne jumps in, watching the longing gazes between his son and Amelie. Amelie finally looks away from Ethan when she hears another voice, confused by the detectives words. "My boy here-" patting Ethan's shoulder as he talks, "was starting to get a bit too sensitive. Trying to protect you from us..."

Wayne lets out a sadistic chuckle, looking back at his son with a smile that made Amelie feel even more sick. "...from him."

"Fuck you!" Amelie spits at the man. The smile never falters from his face and Amelie has never wanted to punch someone so bad. She knows her words mean nothing when these people are literal monsters.

"You know, if you weren't such a vital piece of this mission, you would make one hell of a killer," for once, she could possibly believe his words. Because right now she wants nothing more than to kill this man in front of her. Wayne's tone remains condescending, his ego far too large. Their current situation making him believe that he has succeeded. "But you aren't one; after all, you are too much like your dad."

"You know nothing about my dad!" Amelie is furious. She pushes past Sam's defensive arm but the two sisters grab her arms, making sure she doesn't get too close. Her hand gripping the brick so tight that her knuckles turn white.

Amelie looks back over to Ethan where his gaze was awaiting hers. She knows that they probably heard all about her dad through the movies, the books, the news, history, but she is sure that Ethan spilled his big mouth when she opened up to him.

"Dad," Ethan says in a warning tone. He knows how bad talking about her dad hurts her, and he can't keep watching it. His irritation only growing with his father as he talks to Amelie the way he is.

Sam finally quips him, drawing the attention away from Amelie.

“Wait, so, if it’s you two, that just leaves…” Sam trails off as she looks over to the last masked Ghostface and can’t help but think the worse. “…Mindy?”

“No, no, no, I saw her get stabbed,” Amelie says, her voice broken, and she has barely even talked yet. She peels her watering eyes away from Ethan and turns to also look at the last masked figure. She knows the only person left was Mindy, but it can’t be Mindy, there was no way.

“Hey roomies,” Quinn reveals herself and Amelie gasps. Both Tara and Sam widen their eyes and their mouths remain open as they stare in awe at the girl who they thought was dead. “Didn’t see that one coming, did ya?”

“Yeah because you died-“ Tara shouts at Quinn. The three girls can’t believe that they let themselves live with her, with a person who is trying to kill them. They all grieved her when they thought she died, Amelie felt the weight of her dead body on her and yet here she was, fine in front of her.

“-I kind of didn’t though, it was a good way to get off the suspect list,” Quinn talks so casually that it scares Amelie, way more than she was before. Ethan, nor Quinn, were who they said they were and she can’t believe that she let herself be so foolish for letting them into her lives so easily, thinking everything was going to be different this time. “Stab Gale Weathers, stab Mindy on the train-“

Quinn turns to look at Amelie and glares into her eyes as she continues, “-almost, get you on the train. That sort of thing.”

Amelie scoffs as Quinn continues to look murderously into her eyes. She had so many questions, and she wasn’t quite sure where to even begin.

“Yep, and I just needed to get first on the scene so I could switch her body out with a fresh one; a little fake blood, a prosthetic. You’d be amazed at what a grieving father can get away with,” detective Bailey explains to the girls in front of him. As he continues, his two kids separate and surround the three in the middle. Quinn finally shows her mask and lets the girls know she got Stu Macher’s mask, saying something about how he was her favorite. Amelie’s eyes turn to Quinn’s and she glares at the girl. Stu was the one who reportedly killed her aunt Tatum, and now the girl who is trying to kill her, idolizes him. How fucking sick, she thought.

Amelie’s eyes finally turn around back to Bailey’s when she hears him about to explain the mask he was wearing. She stands on the opposite side of Sam, closest to Ethan and sees Bailey pull his mask out from his coat.

“This leaves your fathers, this is what we’ve been counting down to, Sam,” he only looks at Sam as he talks and begins to hand the mask closer to the older girl. “I’m gonna need you to put it on.”

“Fuck you!” Sam looks at the mask hard before shoving it out of her way and onto the ground. Amelie, from beside Sam, feels an arm reach out in front of her and push her backwards. She stumbles and catches herself on one of the glass displays beside her. She watches as Ethan swiftly pushed himself across the display he was across and swipes his other hand out at Sam, slicing her arm with his knife. He pushed her back to get her out of the way so he could get to Sam. Amelie’s eyes widen as she is now directly across Ethan himself and she stumbles her feet back, to get away from being so close to him. Ethan looks at her after he mocks Sam, making sure she was okay but is only disheartened when he watches her try to scramble away from him. She stands beside Tara as her eyes stay connected to his.

“You stay the fuck away from her!” Tara screams at him and she grabs onto Sam.

“Oh, come on,” Quinn moans out of complaint and Amelie turns to look at the girl. Tara pulls on Amelie’s arm to bring her in closer to them. Amelie furrows her eyebrows at Quinn and the redhead only glares further at Amelie. She shakes her head in question at Quinn, “what?”

“What?!” Quinn shouts at Amelie and points her knife at her. Ethan takes notice of his sister’s advancements and approaches her. “You! Is what!”

“Yeah?” Amelie only looks even more confused at Quinn, the girl has some issue with her and she isn’t quite sure what she did to deserve her hate. Amelie is scared, she can’t deny that, but she is also angry and figures that any question she may have had, now would be the chance to ask. “You were on the train, right? Why the hell did you say I was lucky?”

“Because, Amelie,” Quinn says her name in sickeningly sweet tone and doesn’t even blink as she stays focused on the girl in front of her. “I could never hurt you!”

“Ethan here-“ Quinn turns to her brother who is now beside her, looking at her with a hard expression on his face. “-wouldn’t fucking allow it! His stupid, little crush made him so protective over you that he begged us to not touch you…”

Amelie’s head is fuzzy once again and she feels like it was possible that Ethan did like her at one point. She still hates him, but Quinn is making her believe that Ethan was genuine at some point of their little relationship. Her eyes can’t stop shifting between Ethan who is looking at her with another unreadable expression and Quinn who looks ready to murder her.

“…In fact, he made us promise him that we wouldn’t. So, I went for Mindy on the train but god, Amie,” the tone in Quinn’s voice is back when she says her name again, like poison in her mouth. Quinn starts smiling at the girl and Amelie can only look at her as she continues, her heartbeat racing faster as she talks. “I could have got you; I could have finally killed you right then and there.”

“But you didn’t,” Amelie says pointedly, a small smirk almost apparent on her face and Quinn visibly doesn’t like that very much as her lip snarls even further. She was about to play with fire, and would it work out for her? Amelie was sure that it wouldn’t, but she saw her chance to take power back from Quinn and she needed to do it. “You backed off like a little bitch, because your little brother told you to.”

“Fuck you!” Quinn screams in her face and reaches forward to stab her knife into Amelie’s shoulder, the same side that Quinn sliced into on the train. Amelie gasps and reaches to hold her shoulder. Ethan yells his sisters name and pulls her shoulder back; he knows she angers easily but he told her not to hurt Amelie. He knew better than to believe that she would listen to him, anyways. They never did get along that well after becoming revenge seeking killers. Tara grabs harder onto Amelie’s arm and pulls her even closer to her and Sam after that.

“You bitch!” Amelie shouts at her as she clutches onto her bleeding shoulder, searing pain shooting throughout her whole left arm. “That’s why you hate me so much? Because Ethan liked me?”

Ethan catches the use past tense in her sentence and wants to cut her off, let her know that he still does like her, so much, but Quinn beats him to it.

“No, you stupid bitch!” Quinn screams at Amelie once again and Amelie can almost feel the heat radiating off of the girl, her anger bright like her hair.

“So, what? You did this as a family?” Sam looks around the three and cuts in. She pulls Amelie closer to her when she notices Quinn step closer to them again.

“Yeah, bitch, you should know better than anyone,” Quinn snarls at Sam and her knife stays pointed out at them, tauntingly.

“They’re still not getting it,” Ethan smiles amusingly and looks at the girls in front of him. Amelie clutches tighter onto her shoulder and blood begins to flow between her fingers holding the wound.

“Getting what?” Amelie asks Ethan. She was still so confused, and she was sure that both the sisters were to at this point. They were hinting at something, clearly their motive, but none of them could figure out what they were talking about.

“Look, I don’t know what you believe, but I didn’t commit those murders in Woodsboro! It wasn’t me!” Sam shakes her head furiously in denial as she tries to defend herself. That was the only possible reasoning that Sam could think of, but they knew that she wasn’t the one to commit those murders.

“No, we know that. Of course, you didn’t, what do you think this is based on? Some bullshit conspiracy?” Bailey replies back to Sam. “Come on, who do you think started those rumors about you in the first place?”

Quinn raises her knife equipped hand as her dad points to her. Amelie lets out a scoff in disbelief that they went that far ahead with their whole plan. The three turn their heads back around to Quinn as she begins to speak.

“Do you know how easy it was to turn Sam from the hero of Woodsboro, into the villain? How easy it is to convince the world to believe the worst in people, rather than the best?” Quinn shakes violently as she talks.

“Because it’s not enough to just kill someone these days. You have to assassinate their character first, so when dad here, discovers that your horribly mutilated body-“ Quinn takes a teasing jump at Amelie with her knife pointed and she gasps, pushing herself back in defense at the supposed attack. Quinn merely smirks at the girl before letting her brother continue, “-wearing her father’s mask, they’ll say some poor dumb bastard wrote on the internet that you’re the real Ghostface and took matters into their own, diluted hands.”

“You're fucking crazy!” Amelie speaks her thoughts immediately after Ethan finishes, shaking her head in disbelief at his words. He looks down at the girl, hurt at her words, though he expects nothing less. He knows he is hurting her, he expected this, but her reactions still wound him. Amelie couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth, their plan to accuse Sam after they kill her just angering her further.  

“Shut up!” Quinn snaps at the girl. Ethan would be quick to defend his name if it were anyone else insulting him, but he just couldn't find the courage to when it was Amelie. He would let her shit on his name ever single day if that meant she would still talk to him. He would do anything to keep her around, keep her his.

“Exactly! That’s why it’s a perfect alibi. And all the best lies, are based on the truth. You’re a killer-“ Bailey points at Sam, “-just like your father.”

“No, I’m not!” Sam screams furiously at Bailey. Her conscious about her father has bothered her since the day she has found out about him and she was not going to have this psychopath tell her, her worst thoughts.

“And you…” Bailey turns to Amelie and points at her next. “...are going to be Sam’s accomplice, before turning into her next victim-“

“-What the fuck?” Amelie mutters at his ludicrous idea.

“You, still mad about what happened last year to your dad, are blinded by rage and are convinced under Sam’s manipulation to join her. She becomes like her dad and you seek revenge for yours-“

“What the fuck?!” Amelie shouts this time. Sam continues to shake her head beside Amelie and mutters no’s as Bailey talks.

“-before Sam becomes too much like her father, too consumed by the bloodlust, and slices you all up. Just like how your dad died,” Bailey finishes letting the girls know his scheme and Amelie can’t believe that he had planned all of this so far ahead, so thoroughly. She turns to Ethan where he looks both angry and confused. Almost as if this was the first time he heard of this plan, but he has experience in this act. He has done nothing but pretend around her and their friends.

“What are you talking about?” Ethan just about turns and asks his dad. He sounded angry, and he was, because he wasn’t told this plan. He was told the whole part up until Amelie getting killed, becoming like her father. Ethan figured that his dad was keeping something from him this entire time, he was always the least favorite, the least popular, and the disappointment out of the three kids. He’s sure he also wasn’t told about the final touches to the plans because he would do anything in his power to stop them.

“You were going to go along with this? This whole time?!” Amelie faces Ethan, fuming and screams at the boy. She has been waiting to do this, waiting to yell at him and it feels good. Ethan did look like he wasn’t aware of this whole plan, but she wasn’t going to let his facade fool her anymore. “You asked me to tell you about my dad, knowing this was all planned! You’re fucking sick!”

“No, no, I’m not, I swear I didn’t know about that whole plan,” Ethan tries to convince her and shakes his head in denial, but his voice is soft. He glares at his dad as he admits his unawareness, but his dad just gives him the same hard look back. “I did care, I did want to know.”

“Yeah, right,” Amelie scoffs at him, disgusted. “I have trusted you too fucking much this whole time. I can’t fucking believe you.”

Ethan continues to repeat no’s, wanting to prove that he was sincere with her before, but she turns away from him in disgust and looks at Bailey once again. He was loosing her more and more. “No one will believe you, Sam isn’t a murderer!”

“Yes, she is, you motherfucker!” Quinn screams at Amelie and she whips her head around to look at the crazed girl. Quinn turns her head to look at Sam, “you killed our brother!”

Realization dawns on the three girls slowly as the hear Quinn’s words. Amelie begins to realize that Richie, Sam’s boyfriend who turned out to be Amber’s, from last years Ghostface attacks is the brother that Quinn must be referring to. She looks at Ethan and sees the same pained expression painted over his face.

“What? But-but you told us that your brother died in a car accident?“ Tara begins, her eyebrows furrowed as she recalls Quinn's story. Amelie's expression mimics Tara's as she remembers the time she had asked Ethan months ago about his life story, wanting to know all about him. He hesitated and stuttered to begin but eventually told her that he was an only child.

"And you said you had no siblings?"

“No, no, no, you sweet dumb thing-“ Ethan begins, his eyes soft and voice quiet. Yeah, so he did lie to Amelie about his family situation but it wasn't like he could just tell her. He felt bad enough when he did lie to her in the beginning, anyways.

“Don’t fucking call me that,” Amelie cuts him off harshly and she watches as his eyes drop. She knows that if times were different, her heart would have melted at those words coming from Ethan’s mouth, but this was different, and it can never be like that again. It was like there were two different people in Ethan right now. He would be so soft with her, try his best and prove that he was still a good guy, then become all crazed again and hungry for revenge and blood spill.

“He died in Woodsboro,” Ethan continues nonetheless and points his knife at Sam. “At the hands of this bitch.”

“You’re Richie’s family,” It all clicked for Sam and Tara now, and Amelie’s suspicion was confirmed. They were doing this for revenge, avenging their brother and son, Richie, who was killed by Sam back in Woodsboro. Amelie looks between the three and notices their hard faces now. Ethan’s glare, Quinn’s teary eyes and shaky hands, and Bailey’s heartbroken face whose eyes are also wet.

“And you, were Amber’s best friend,” Quinn adds, her voice quivering as she speaks as she points at Amelie once again. Amelie figures that Amber must have been close with their family since she was dating Richie, and looking at Quinn’s glaring eyes, Amelie also figures that she was doing this for Amber as well.

“That’s why you hate me so much?” Amelie asks the girl in realization, her voice almost at a whisper. “You were close with Amber?”

“She was my best friend. And you killed her,” Quinn is so angry at them, so full of hatred, and Amelie almost wants to applaud her for her act she had to put on. “We got along so well after Richie introduced her to us, and we became so close. She told me all about you when you guys first met; how close you two got and how you felt like a sister to her.”

Amelie felt her heart seize at Quinn’s words, her lips quivering just a bit. Amber meant everything to Amelie at one point and she fucking ruined her.

“But she was always a little crazy in the head, and then she found out that you were Dewey’s precious little girl and fuck…” Quinn smiles and her sickening tone reminds her of Amber, back when she finally reveled how she was. She can see how the two got along so well. “…She knew she had to have you.”

Amelie watches Quinn break in front of her and knows she is too far gone for any type of help. She was out to avenge more than just her brother, but also her friend. She was also so angry because her brother had this protection over the girl who she wanted to kill so badly, so she can finally get revenge for Amber.

“And I just knew that since Amber got the privilege of ending your daddy, the only way I could really make up for you killing Amber, was to do the favor of killing you,” Quinn takes a slow, menacing step towards Amelie and the girl takes one step back. Tara and Sam still hold onto the girl and pulled her closer into them. Ethan also takes a step closer to his sister as he watches her advance for the second time tonight, he knows how bloodthirsty his sister is, but he vowed to protect Amelie, and he will. “Avenge her by ending the bitch that killed my best friend and killing the daughter of her greatest kill.”

"Watch it, Quinn," Ethan pipes up, the same warning tone he had earlier. Quinn will not kill her, not on his watch.

"Oh man up, you pussy," Quinn snaps at Ethan, turning for a second to glare over at him.

“You know, I can see how you and Amber were so close, Quinn…” Amelie begins, she feels angry all over again. Quinn looks over at the girl again. Amelie could barely even register the flaming pain in her shoulder from the stab and could only focus on her roommate in front of her. She thought of her dad, and she thought of Wes as she stared at Quinn. “You both were fucking crazy.”

Amelie scoffs and shakes her head at Quinn, a small smirk making a way to her face once more. She glances over at Ethan as well, making sure he knew she was including him in her sentence. She was not going to feel powerless; she was not going to feel scared. These people took and they didn’t care, and she was going to make sure that they knew they would regret doing this to her, to Sam, and to Tara.

“Actually, I can’t believe that we couldn’t see it before; the resemblance between Richie and you guys,” She doesn’t care how mad she was making the killers in front of her right now because she was livid. “You’re all sick in the fucking head, with the same soulless and empty look in your eyes. Just a bunch of fucking pussies.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Quinn screams but the smirk doesn’t falter from Amelie’s face. She is shaking in anger and the sight is almost pleasurable.

“And the best part? You’re gonna die like pussies too; just like Amber and Richie. Because it was us that killed them, you have fucking nothing!” Amelie’s face is red and hot, but she feels fucking good.

It all happens so fast before Quinn lets out a gruelling scream and rushes forward at Amelie, just about sticking her knife back in the stab she caused earlier before Ethan jumped forward and pulls his sister away from Amelie. Amelie screams in shock and pain, the cool blade about to enter her open wound livens the pain. Ethan shoves Quinn to the ground, quickly looking at Amelie and makes sure she is okay. He fucking despised hearing her words, but he was not going to watch his sister lay a hand on her.

During this time, Quinn moans from the ground and Tara grabs onto Sam, pushing them away from the two men who were approaching in closer. Amelie stares at Quinn’s manic face glaring at her brother and pushes herself up as fast as she could, before turning back around to reach Sam and Tara.

Quinn quickly runs around to corner Sam and Ethan reaches his arms out to snatch Amelie when he sees her try to get away. He holds her close to him as his free arm wraps itself around her waist. Amelie tries to push him away but the pain in her shoulder caused her grip to weaken and she fails to prevail. He brings the two to stand opposite his sister, now in front of Tara to trap the two girls between the three of them.

“Let her go!” Tara shouts at Ethan and swings the brick in her hand towards him, making sure she wouldn’t get Amelie. Ethan dodges the swing with the girl still gripped in his arm.

“Now, it wasn’t until I saw the photograph of what you actually done to him, that I knew! I knew you had to fucking die, you had to be punished!” As Bailey talks Sam spins around to make sure Tara is okay and notices Amelie tucked under Ethan’s arm and her eyes widen. “Along with anyone else who stands in our way.”

Amelie watches as Quinn approaches Sam with her bloody knife, holding it up to her neck. “There she is. There’s the fucking killer.”

“Real great parenting job, by the way,” Tara says sarcastically, looking at Bailey before she is shoved by Quinn. “Shut your whore fucking mouth!”

Tara and Sam fall down the step and stumble back to the spot they were standing in before. Ethan still holds onto Amelie tightly as she squirms in his hold, hitting his arm and pleading for him to let her go. He brings them over to stand behind Quinn, so they are facing all the people in the theatre.

“Have I been a perfect dad? No. Have I maybe over-indulged Richie’s love with these movies? Yeahh, maybe,” Bailey begins again as she looks at Sam. “For me, they are just a little dark. But Richie really loved them…”

Amelie watches as Bailey talks and begins to make his way up the stairs. She continues to squirm in Ethan’s hold, the pressure of his arm hurting her shoulder even more and she gasps out heavy breathes. “Ethan, Ethan, please.”

“I can’t, Amie, I can’t let you go. You will run away,” Ethan whispers from behind her and she can feel him shake his head. No shit I would run away, she thinks. His face falls and he looks to be in pain for doing this to her, but he needs her to know that he won’t hurt her.

“Please, Ethan, please,” She continues to plead as a sob escape from her mouth. "If you ever cared about me you wouldn't do this."

She can feel his hold loosen on her at her words before he tightens his arms again, almost snapping out of his moment of falter. He shakes his head, whispering in her ear, "Amie, I did care and I still do. That is why I am doing this."

"No, no, Ethan, please," Amelie sobs, squinting her eyes shut as tears continue to fall.

“-a very special bond, between a father and his first son,” Amelie zones back in when she hears Bailey solemnly utters the words, looking at the screen that plays one of Richie’s films. Amelie feels Ethan grow rigid behind her and can guess that it was his father’s choice of words. She wants to feel for him, understand that Ethan may be feeling the pain of being the underrated son, but she knows that he did this by choice, and he can’t be completely sane if he is doing this. Ethan’s arm remains tight around her, but his movement stopped. She quits squirming in his arms, though she still remains afraid of what he might do. She notices his right hand grip the knife pointing at Sam, tighter.

She can hear Bailey go on about how the theatre was made for Richie, he put it in the names of Greg and Jason before killing them, and that this is the place that they, mainly Sam, need to die and suffer for what they did. Amelie can feel Ethan getting riled up again at his dad’s words and knows she needs to try again and escape from his grip.

“Oh, so pathetic,” Sam whispers. Amelie lifts one of her hands and places it on the top of Ethan’s that is wrapped around her waist. She hesitantly places her fingers through his and she can feel his grip loosen, probably shocked by her actions.

“Yeah, your son. Who was a man-baby, who made his girlfriend do all the killing.”

Amelie pulls their hands down slightly to now rest on the front of her stomach but doesn’t loosen the grip on their hands, so Ethan doesn’t freak out.

“He was a strong, feral young man.” Amelie can’t help but worry for Sam as she continues to talk. Bailey starts shaking more as she does and the gun in his grip looks ready to fire.

“He was a limp dick, little fuck who cried before I slit his throat.” Sam smirked.

“Shut the fuck up!” Quinn screams once again and Amelie takes this as her chance while Ethan is distracted. She grabs their hands and pulls his arm away from her body, spinning her out of his grip, throwing his arm back to his body, and right in front of a fuming Quinn. Her eyes widen, thinking that maybe she was safer in Ethan’s arms as Quinn’s blade enters her stomach.

“No!” Ethan yells as his eyes travel to where Quinn holds her knife in Amelie’s stomach. The girl can hear both Tara and Sam yell out behind her, but all she can feel is the warmth of her blood trail down her abdomen.

“Gotchya, bitch,” Quinn smirks as she twists the knife and Amelie screams in pain. Tara rushes up and swings the brick in her hand at Quinn’s face, causing the girl to fall onto the girl and spit up blood and teeth. Amelie can hear gunshots ring out and looks ahead of her to where Kirby stands with her gun, aiming for Bailey. She pants and whimpers in pain, attempting to push herself forward and away from the group, where she falls on her knees and grips the handle of the knife to pull it out of her stomach.

“Ahh!” Amelie screams as she loosely holds the handle. She tries to flip herself over onto her butt and leans back against one of the displays behind her. She places her other hand on her bleeding stomach and notices Tara rush up to her.

“Amie, are you okay?” Tara spits out and looks behind her face and wound. Amelie tries to nod at the girl and notices that two of the Ghostfaces are on the ground, while Ethan looks at her with panic in his eyes. He turns to Kirby and runs at her.

“We need to go,” Amelie pants to Tara and the girl helps her get up. One of her arms slung over Tara’s shoulder and the other gripping onto her stomach. Tara brings them to the ladder leading up to the balcony of the theatre and pushes Amelie to get her to climb.

“C’mon, Amie you got this,” Tara says behind her and ushers her up the ladder, following close behind.

“This is fucking hard,” Amelie pants out again, her face contorted in pain as she tries to push herself up the ladder further. Her grip is weak and shaky, but she manages to push herself up to the top, letting her fall back to her knees once she reaches the floor. Amelie looks down and sees Sam stab at Ethan profusely, a mix of emotions flowing through her. Her mouth opens as she stares at the scene, watching the boy she has come to love get brutally injured. She wants to be able to talk to him, to see what was real and what wasn’t, but she also knows that he wants them dead. Well, maybe just Sam and Tara specifically.

Sam manages to climb up to them and Tara pulls Amelie back up onto her feet so they can move. Tara pushes Amelie to stand in between Sam and her and the three girls attempt to climb across the obstacles and railings along the side of the balcony to get further up top. Amelie goes to copy Sam’s movements and step across the balcony rail to land on the floor, but her shaky foot slips on the edge when she hears another gunshot ring, and she falls down the side. Luckily, she manages to grab onto the rail with her bloody hands but screams when she feels the stretch of her stab wound being pulled due to her body hanging. She looks down and sees Ethan below her, almost waiting for her to fall and a sob escapes her mouth. She looks back up to the sisters and her bloody hand slips from the rail.

“I-I can’t hold on,” Amelie cries out and the two girls reach forward to grab onto her hands.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Sam repeats as she looks at Amelie in panic. She can’t let Amelie fall, she won’t because she can’t give them the chance of killer her.

“Hold on, Amie, you can do it,” Tara cries out as her hands continue to slip through theirs.

“C’mon, Amie, come down!” Ethan shouts manically from below her and another wave of fear runs up her spine at his voice. "I promise i won't hurt you!"

“Fuck you!” Amelie screams down at him, tears falling past her face at the panic striking through her body.

Amelie turns her head to the side when she notices both Tara and Sam look in that direction. She sees Quinn had made her way up to the balcony and is slowly advancing her way to the girls, her knife scraping against the metal bars as she passes them. Amelie turns back to the girls, eyes wide open with panic.

“Let me go,” She whispers. Both Tara and Sam widen their eyes at her words and shake their head.

“No, no, no, no way,” Sam repeats as her grip on Amelie’s hand tightens.

“Sam, you have to let me go,” Amelie repeats as she notices Quinn approaching even closer to the girls. She looks back down to where Ethan stands and sees his eyes never strayed from her dangling body. She looks back up and into Sam’s eyes, “Ethan won’t hurt me.”

“Amie, he’s the fucking killer,” Tara says to her, face contorted in shock and panic.

“You-you heard Quinn, he won’t hurt me, okay? You have to trust me,” Amelie rushes her words, knowing they don’t have much time left. She looks at the knife that Tara grabbed from her earlier and the girl passes it back to Amelie with her spare hand. Sam nods at Amelie and let’s go of her one hand holding onto them.

Amelie yells as she falls down, her eyes squinting shut in fear of landing flat on the ground. She peels them open when she doesn’t feel the hard floor, but a pair of arms wrap around her body. Ethan holds her, eyes wide open as he caught her from falling on the ground. She pushes him back after realizing who it was and holds the knife clutched in her hand tighter, pointing it out in front of her.

“No, no, I won’t hurt you, okay? I promise,” Ethan looks at her with pleading eyes and hands out in front of him to prove to her, in a way.

“Why?!” Amelie cries to him. Ethan looks in her eyes and he looks like he could be sorry, but she knew better than to believe him. “Was any of it actually real?!”

“Yes, Amie, I swear it was,” Ethan’s voice is so soft, he needs her to know that he was real about this all, everything with her. “I have liked you so much, since I first met you, and I knew that I couldn’t hurt you. I couldn’t let you get hurt.”

“But you did!” Amelie shouts at him and then points to her chest where the bandage she had is currently peeling off. She knew better than to believe that shitty excuse of him being at econ. “You did this me! You were the one at the apartment!”

“I was, okay? I was, but I didn’t mean to hurt you!” Ethan shakes his head as he tries to defend himself. “I had to do it, to prove to my dad that I wasn't useless and that he could actually be proud of-"

"Oh, save me your fucking sob story! What, you had to prove to your dad that you were worthy? Worthy of killing your fucking friends, people who trusted you?!" Amelie shouts at Ethan, her eyes hard and she notices his teeth grind at her words, his jaw feathering.

"Look, I felt someone pull at my mask and I-I couldn’t let that happen. So, I just swung, and I am so, so sorry, Amie. I didn’t want to even touch you that night.”

“You fucking killed Anika!” Amelie screams out. She doesn’t care anymore if he didn’t want to hurt her, he still did. Even if he didn’t mean to stab her, he hurt her when he decided to put that mask on, when he killed her friends.

Ethan can’t find a response in him that he could say to her that would make her hate him less, he meant to kill Anika. He did it on purpose and he knew what he was doing, so he doesn’t feel bad. He only does because it has led to the girl he likes, hating him because of it.

“All those times when you told me to be safe, to not go or leave the apartment, was because you knew what would happen!” A cry leaves her mouth, and her hands shake as she talks. “The only person I needed to be safe from, was you!”

“I did that to protect you!” Ethan shouts back at her, pointedly. Her knife still points at him in protection, but she is visibly weaker than before. Her cries have caused her body to shake, and her wounds have weakened her strength, but she is just so sad and angry that she can’t stop from shouting at Ethan. “Please, Amie, you have to believe me when I say that I never wanted anything bad to happen to you.”

“And you have to believe me when I say that you already have, Ethan” Amelie cries. Her eyes hard as she stares at the boy who once caused her cheeks to flush and heart to flutter, now frigid in fears and sick to her stomach. She can’t help but still think that he can genuinely be a good person, that he could truly be who she thought he once was. His brown eyes so soft when they look into hers and his touch so gentle when he is near her.

"Dean."

"What?" Ethan pauses and looks at her confused. Why the fuck would she be bringing him up right now?

"Dean, Ethan. Is he okay?" Amelie evaluates his expression, trying to gauge how he reacts to her asking about the boy who she still hasn't heard back from. "And was it you in the mask the day I was walking with Dean?"

"Yes," Amelie figured as much, now knowing that Ethan was crazy both in the head and about her.

"Why?"

"Because I needed to make sure that nothing happened with him, that he didn't try anything," Ethan sounds almost ashamed at his confession, but he pushes his shoulders back to at least appear more confident in himself. Just the thought of Dean was irritating him. "When I saw you guys at that party together, god Amie, I was so fucking jealous."

Amelie keeps her expression neutral and doesn't say anything. He was fucking crazy, she knew this by now, but she also couldn't imagine watching the person you love freely be with someone else.

"It was him who got to touch you, who got to kiss you, after just meeting! Fuck, Amie, I wanted it to be me so bad and then we finally got to have that and finally, it was me. And then I knew that you felt the same way, that Dean meant fucking nothing!"

Ethan takes a step towards her and drops his knife to the ground when he notices that she doesn’t back away. She was listening so intently to him, still not giving him any reaction other than her soft gaze.

"So, it was me who called you first as Ghostface but you wouldn't pick up. Though, I don't entirely blame you. You wouldn't answer knowing it was the killer, so I just decided to fuck it, and call you myself. As Ethan this time."

"You just wanted me away from him?" Amelie finally speaks up, her voice quiet.

"I-I guess, I don't know. I saw you two together and-"

"Woah, woah, you were stalking me?" Amelie asks incredulously. She felt shivers down her spine at the idea that Ethan did more than just kill her friends and like her a lot. He potentially watched her without even doing anything.

"What? No! No!" Ethan rushes out, his eyes wide in panic at Amelie's insinuations. Guess he should have cleared that up first. "I was on campus, too, and then I saw you about to start heading home. I was going to come up to you, but Dean got there first. So, i just watched from a distance."

Amelie falls quiet again, her shoulders relaxing only slightly at Ethan's response. She feels a bit more relieved, knowing that it at least only happened once.

"I have only ever cared for you, Amie, I promise. I know it is so selfish but I just wanted you to myself. After you kissed me, I realized you must have felt the same. From then, I wanted to prove to you that it can only be me. That I am a good person, that you can trust me."

Amelie needs to sit the fuck down. This mans change in demeanour was throwing her for a loop. He was brutal, ready to kill her his friends, but treated her like she was a delicate piece of glass. Maybe he was telling her the truth, there was no way he would go this far with the act if he wasn't.

“Ethan!” Bailey shouts from behind him. The boy turns to his father and Amelie looks at him as well, her knife staying in spot. “She can’t live, son.”

“I know, dad,” Ethan replies and turns to look at the girl. Her eyes widen when she realizes that he must have been faking it all along and takes a step back, trying to distance herself once more. “Go! I will deal with her.”

At that Bailey looks at his son hesitantly, knowing how much his son wanted to protect Amelie, remembering how many times he had pleaded to him to leave her alone, and when the time comes, he will deal with it himself. So, Bailey listens and begins to find a way up to where Quinn and the sisters are.

“What the fuck?” Amelie shouts at him, so angry thinking that he just lied to her and was going to do as he said for his father. "You were fucking lying!"

“I just said that, Amie. I needed him to leave,” Ethan lowers his voice as he replies, not wanting his dad to get the chance to hear him. He takes a step closer once more and holds his hands out in front of him to show her that he wasn’t hiding anything. “I promise I haven’t lied to you, not once have I today.”

Amelie bites her lip as it starts to quiver, looking to see if Ethan wasn’t telling the truth. When she looks around him to notice that he doesn’t have any weapon hidden on him, and his eyes appear to be truthful, she nods. Ethan sees her come to an acceptance and takes one more step closer to her. He grabs her wrist that is holding out the knife and slowly brings it down to her side. His other hand places itself onto her bicep of the arm that Quinn stabbed and gently holds onto it.

Amelie continues to shake in her spot but makes no move to push him away, too convinced that Ethan wouldn’t actually hurt her. She moves her gaze down to where his hand meets her wrist and sees the knife still clutched in it. The boy himself doesn’t quite know what he is trying to do, he knows that she won’t ever be able to look at him the same way again. He also doesn’t know if either of them are actually going to make it out of this theatre tonight, but if this is the last moment the two of them will ever have with each other then he needed it to be peaceful and genuine.

His right hand that rests on her arm brings itself up to tuck strands of her hair behind her ear and rests his palm on the side of her head. Amelie lets him get close but makes no move to place her hands or arms on the boy in front of her.

“I am so sorry, Amie,” Ethan whispers down at the girl, his hand holding the side of her face and neck so gently. Tears escape her eyes when she lifts her head to meet his gaze. He looks so sad, and she is sure that she looks no different. Amelie knows that this moment can’t last for much longer, and that the both of them won’t be able to walk out of this theatre alive. Even if they did, she wouldn’t be able to look at him the same way ever again, only a killer and a traitor.

“Ethan,” Amelie tries to talk but only manages to sob out. She shakes her head as her body shudders with her cries. Her heart aches, feeling a pain that she is sure will only hurt more as she stands here with Ethan holding her.

“It’s okay, Amie-“

“-No, no, no,” she tries to interrupt, her voice cracking as she speaks, and tears get caught in her mouth.

“It’s okay-“ Ethan tries to plead to her again. His hand on her wrist raising to place itself on the other side of her face.

“No, it’s not!” Amelie shouts at the boy, cutting him off. Ethan looks down at her, stunned and sad. He would do anything to have her look at him the same way she did just a day ago, anything. Because after everything he has done for his family and for his brother, it doesn’t feel worth it. Not when she looks so heartbroken, not when he jeopardized the one greatest thing he had in his life, not when his dad is not even as proud of him as he had yearned for him to be. But he was too far gone, he didn’t dislike killing his friends and he hated that it made him feel good. He is so crazy and so delusional, he truly believes that just because he wants to protect Amelie from being killed, it’s enough to save who he is and make Amelie feel okay about all of this.

Amelie is so full of emotions; she doesn’t even know where to begin. Sam had told her earlier that day, and she believed every word: they were going to kill these Ghostface’s, and they were going to live. Amelie also knows that the time is ticking and as much as she wants to believe that sane part of Ethan that is left, she can’t. He killed Anika, he killed Chad, he has been part of this fucked up plan to kill her friends and eventually her, despite what he says. God, she left him with Mindy, too, and she can only hope with any part left in her that Mindy is still okay and safe.

So, Amelie raises herself onto her toes and pushes her head closer to his. Ethan, taking the chance while he can, leans into her as well. Longing to feel her lips against his just one more time, longing to feel that sense of peace he received when he was so close to her. Just as Amelie lets her lips graze his, she takes her hand that is still clutched onto the knife and pushes it forward into Ethan’s stomach. He pulls his face back stunned, eyes wide and betrayal stricken on his face. His hands fall back down to his sides and he looks down to where her hand is connected to his torso, then back up at her face. He can’t find any words to say to her or find the ability to fight back, he deserves this. He deserves every bit of this for causing her so much pain, for ruining the once chance he could have had to go back and take back his decision of being Ghostface.

“What a fool,” Amelie stares in his eyes, hers have stopped leaking and a snarl has made a way onto her lips. She needed to do this, she was so angry at him and what her and her friends have been put through these past couple of days. She twists the knife in his gut, and he lets out a gasp. Blood begins flowing out of him and covers her hand. “That’s for Anika.”

She retracts the knife and Ethan takes his chance, attempting to take a step back away from her but she only takes her knife, swings it up, and stabs down into his shoulder. Ethan lets out a shout of pain and falls down to his knees. “For Chad.”

She pulls the knife out of his pin-cushioned body and drags the tip of her knife down from the cut she made on his shoulder to the end of his collarbone. Her face is red in anger, and she can’t quite believe she has brought herself to do this, but she was so tired. She needed to do this for too many reasons, and the mere fact that she even had a list to begin with was enough to set her off. She watches as Ethan screams out in pain from the injuries she is inflicting onto him, but he can’t hurt her. He said he wouldn’t, and he won’t. So, he takes it and lets her do what she needs to do. He knew neither of them were going to make it out, and if that meant him at the hands of her, he was okay with that. He was always ready to die for her, even if that meant that it was from her hands.

Once Amelie reaches the end of his collarbone, she lifts the knife from his skin and looks at his broken eyes. “That was for me.”

“I-I’m s-s-so sorry,” Ethan is chocking on his blood, but he needed her to know. Amelie wants to feel bad for what she is doing to him, but she keeps getting reminded of what he has done, and what he has become a part of. This was for her dad, for her aunt, for Gale, for him becoming part of what took her family from her. With his mouth open and blood dripping out of it, he tries to talk over the searing pain. "Please, Amie."

He wasn't quite sure what he was begging her for, neither was she. Amelie was just overcome with an immense feeling of pleasure seeing Ethan like this; on his knees, begging her.

Amelie shouts and raises her knife back up and into his mouth, stuck into his throat. Blood now flows out of his mouth like a waterfall and as grossed out as she is from the warm mix of saliva and blood, she feels her shoulders drop. “Now die a fucking virgin.”

Amelie lets a sob rack through her body as she watches the life slip from his face and is about to pull the knife out of the boy’s mouth but is only able to let a scream rip through her mouth.

“Amie!” She can hear Sam and Tara shout from above, but she can only focus on the knife that just entered her back. Ethan stares at her one last time with wide eyes, just catching what happened to her before he drops to the ground.

“I believe this is what Amber did to your dad, right?”

Detective Bailey pulls the knife out of her back and kicks her to the ground where she falls face first and onto her stomach, just missing Ethan’s body in front of her. Quinn, from above, tauntingly laughs as she watches the events taking place just below her. The two sisters watch with their eyes wide open, tears streaming down their face as they just watched their best friend, their sister, get stabbed. She was now bleeding from either side of her torso.

Amelie can only feel an abundance of pain as she attempts to crawl forward, her hands desperately gripping at the floor beneath her to push forward with her fingertips.

“You just took my last son from me,” Wayne says standing behind her, venom laced in his words. “He cared about you so much, too bad you also had to go.”

Wayne leans down and swings his knife, stabbing the side of Amelie’s right thigh. She tries to let another scream rip through her throat, but it cracks to no end, and only a sob comes out. Her head lulls to the side and onto the cold floor as she watches the man leave the knife in her leg, and actually disappear upstairs this time. She can hear the sounds around her, the screams, the gunshots, the glass breaking, but it is so faint and she can’t bring herself to lift her head or attempt to get up. She is in so much pain that she can almost not even feel the throbbing in her shoulder, her stomach, her back, or her leg anymore. The only thing she can eventually make out is the reflection of fire project onto the white sheet and she does everything to try and keep her eyes open. She can’t close them; she knows that if she does, she may not make it and her worst fear will come true; she will become part of this shrine and part of the legacy.

Amelie isn’t sure how much time passes before she realizes it is becoming significantly harder to breathe. All she does know is that she feels a twitch at her hand and a clothed hand grab onto her fingers. She assumes its Ethan’s and can’t express her shock that he is still alive. She nearly feels relieved that he is still there to hold her hand through it all, but also scared that he has managed to make it through.

The girl tries to tilt her head slightly when she sees two figures make their way to her, and through her blurred vision makes out Tara and Sam who rush down to her.

“C’mon, Amie,” Amelie hears Tara cry.

“Tara, help, let’s try to move her,” Sam says, and Amelie can feel the two girls grab onto her arms gently and the two manage to life her, bringing her to the steps of the stage where they lean her against the bottom step.

“It hurts so bad,” Amelie weakly cries, unable to hold herself up from the stinging in her back. She fears that Wayne may have hit something significantly important when he stabbed her in the back because she can’t find any strength or ability to sit up straight.

“We know, we know, help should be on the way” Tara says as her and Sam sit on either side of her, holding her up and Sam lets Amelie lean against her legs so she can sit upright. Amelie tilts her head back slightly to look back at Sam, “Are they dead?”

Sam nods her head back at the girl and strokes her hair, softly muttering a “yeah.”

“I promise I’m going to get so much therapy after this, I’m serious,” Tara chuckles and looks at Sam. Amelie tries to nod her head in agreement, catching Tara's words. If she makes it.

“We’re gonna get through this,” Tara looks at Sam, then down at Amelie and places a hand on her unhurt shoulder. “Together.”

The three girls turn in shock, Amelie wincing hard as she does so, when they hear a scream and see Ethan charging at them. Suddenly, before he can make his way to the girls in his vengeful rage, he trips on the cord of the broken TV used to kill Stu Macher and the heavy unit falls on his head. Amelie gasps as she watches his body twitch under the TV before it stills.

“Saw that in a scary movie once,” Kirby smiles, revealing herself since she got stabbed earlier by Ethan. The three girls turn to her, also relieved that she is okay. Amelie looks ahead when she hears metal clinking and sees police begin to bust through the door, Amelie smiles once she sees them and feels her head fall to the side, onto Sam’s thigh. Sam looks down when she feels the weight on her leg and her eyebrows furrow.

“Amie?” Sam questions the girl and nudges her head with the hand that was already on it, previously stroking her hair. When the girl below her doesn’t move, she calls again, “Amie?!”

“Amie?”

“Amelie!”

“Help, we need help!”

Amelie can hear, but she can’t see or speak. She only feels weak and lets the darkness behind her eyelids trick her into the peace. The voices and yells coming from her friends begin to sound hollow and all she can focus on is that fact that she doesn’t feel pain, not as bad as she did before. For once, her head is quiet and her shoulders don’t feel like there are a ton of boulders weighing them down. She finally found solace and a breath of fresh air. She was free from this curse, free from the all the noise that wouldn’t leave her head since the moment she learned her life would forever be different, last year. Amelie wasn’t sure if she was dead, or even dying, just that she was comfortable in the state she was in. What she does know, is that she is okay. That she managed to kill the boy who she came to love, and that the other two who were ruining her life, are dead. That Sam and Tara were okay, that they were going to walk out of this place all okay.

Kirby turns her head where she hears her name being called and spots Amelie running up to them. The girl finally reaches the group who stopped to let Amelie catch up and she hunches over, hands on her knees as she pants. “Oh, my god.”

“What the hell?” Sam takes notice of the girl’s arm and concern floods her eyes. Chad, from beside Sam, looks behind Amelie and notices the lack of people following her. Panic immediately enters the boy when he can’t seem to spot his sister anywhere near. “Amie, where is Mindy?”

“Ghostface-he-train,” Amelie pants out before taking a few deep breathes. She finally stands up straight and prepares to let the group know what happened back on the subway. “Ghostface was on the train with us-“

“-What?”

“-Is everyone okay?”

“-What the fuck?”

Her three friends cut her off and her eyes widen before raising her hand in the air to pause them from continuing. “They managed to cut my arm and, uh-uh, said something about how I was lucky this time, but everything went so dark and they just left me and then they found Mindy and stabbed her-“

“-And you left her?” Amelie’s rant gets cut off by Chad who pushes to stand in front of the girl and grabs her shoulders. She lets out a wince when a pain shoots through her cut and he drops his hand from that arm. “What the hell? Is-is she okay?”

“Yes, yes, she is okay,” Amelie nods immediately, almost afraid of Chad's urgency. She gets it, though, she is his sister and they already have been through hell together. “We got her off the subway, got help, and Ethan stayed back with her.”

Chad looks at Amelie and his shoulder visibly release some tension, but the concern from his eyes lingers. He nods slowly and pulls her in for a hug, her arms wrap around his torso, and she lays her head on his chest. “I-I’m sorry for scaring you, Amie.”

“She’s okay, Chad. She is going to be okay,” Amelie shakes her head as she speaks. She completely understands the way he acted, if it were any one of them, she would have been the same way.

The two finally separate and they all begin to head into the theatre. Kirby swipes her card to enter through the last door and opens it for all of them to begin pilling in.

“I cleared the whole place before we got here. So, this is the only way in or out,” Kirby points to the door they just entered. “He steps into the first door, both doors lock automatically, trapping him inside. We turn it into a kill-box.”

“Weapons?” Sam questions. Suppose those would be needed if they encounter Ghostface.

“One gun and I hold onto it,” Sam looks like she is about to disagree with the Kirby and Amelie’s eyebrows furrow at her answer. How will they defend themselves if the only weapon is a gun they aren’t allowed to have? “I am the only one with a badge here, and that’s the way it’s going to be. We are safe here.”

The four friends all look at each other, gauging to see if they all trusted Kirby and this idea of hers. When none of them seemed to dispute with Kirby, they began walking to the center of the theatre and began to take their jackets off.

“I’m gonna give Ethan a call, see how Mindy is doing,” Amelie announces once she gets her thin sweater off her body, wincing once more when she pulled the sleeve of her cut arm. Leaving her in a dark blue v-neck tee shirt, she feels the cool, old air of the theatre on her bare arms and is relieved at the feeling. She looks down at the sweater and rips the bottom of it, a stretching noise follows. She carefully wraps the piece of sweater around her bicep where the cut was and ties it in a knot, keeping it in place.

The bandage covering her gash from the attack at the apartment sticks out behind her shirt and she looks down at with disgust, noticing some blood started to seep through. She cannot wait until this shit was over so she can finally enjoy a nice shower and clean clothes, maybe a proper bandaid for her cut. Luckily, the cut wasn’t deep enough to need stitches or for it to keep bleeding, but it did still sting if pressure was applied too close to it. Sam begins to head in the direction of the stage where the cloaks are and Tara and Chad appear to veer off together, in the room with next to the shrine. Amelie pulls her phone out of her pocket and dials Ethan’s number, slowly walking towards the middle right of the shrine where her aunt Tatum’s items lay. The call ends up going to voicemail, Amelie sighs and hangs up before redialling. The same thing happens, and she places her phone back in her pocket. “C’mon, Ethan.”

Amelie jumps when she hears Sam call out for Kirby’s name and begins to walk up to the older girl. She notices the knife in her hand and points to it with a questioning look, “What the..?”

Sam meets up to stand beside the younger girl and shakes her head in dismissal. A faint creak is heard in the direction of the front door and the two look towards it in panic. They slowly advance closer to the door and Amelie faintly gives Kirby’s name a call once more, “Kirby?”

Suddenly Sam’s phone begins to ring and the two jump at the noise. Amelie places a hand on her heart. She swears that this will end up giving her a heart attack one day, “Jesus.”

“Hello?” Sam answers her phone. Amelie waits patiently for Sam to finish her call who mouths that it was the detective to her. She can see the rising panic etch its way onto Sam’s face and begins to get concerned herself. The phone call ends, and Sam turns to Amelie, rushing out, “it’s Kirby. We need to leave.”

The two run towards the door and attempt to see if there was a way to open it before the lights suddenly turn off. Jerking around the locked door brings Amelie back to the bodega. Funny how similar the situations are again. Amelie’s breathe quickens at the idea that Ghostface, the one out to kill them, was a member of the FBI. Not only that but a girl who they could trust. The sound of a landline begins to ring throughout the theatre and a film begins playing on the projector. Amelie and Sam turn to look at each other and share a look of fear.

“Fucks sake,” Amelie moans in despair. “We should probably go find Tara and Chad.”

“Yeah,” Sam agrees and the two head off in the direction where the two departed from. They stop when they hear commotion come from the other side of the doors and rush towards them in panic. Tara and Chad jump in fear when the door opens before realizing it was just Sam and Amelie. The girl is quick to notice the close proximity between the two and would be tempted to tease them for it if not for the current circumstances. Amelie looks on the ground to see Ghostface laying on the ground in pain, she figures Chad had a part in that. Chad calls for them all to go and Amelie reaches to grab Chad’s sleeve to pull him into them faster so they can leave the room fast and together.

“It’s Kirby, she’s the killer,” Sam lets them know as they turn to look at what direction they should head in.

“No shit,” Chad replies. If all four of them are there and Kirby isn’t, it makes Kirby look incredibly guilty. While blaming Kirby seems like the easiest choice based off current situations and Sam’s phone call with the detective, it doesn’t feel right to blame her to Amelie. The girl notices Chad head towards the front door and lets him know, “it’s locked.”

“So, we’re trapped!?” Chad calls.

“She made this whole theatre a kill-box,” Sam looks around to spot any possible exits. “For us.”

“Hey, what about that?” Tara looks up towards the balcony and the other three follow her gaze. “There’s an exit door. Maybe it leads to the roof or something.”

“There’s only one way to find out, let’s go,” Chad urges them all to head towards the direction of the ladder that leads up to the exit doors. Before they get the chance, Ghostface runs out and jumps down from the stage where they begin to swipe at the four. Tara manages to dodge the first swipe and slides on the ground. The second swipe is aimed at Sam where she also ducks in time but her knife clatters to the ground as it slips from her hand. The third swipe is aimed at Amelie who stands in front of Chad but he manages to push her out of way towards Sam before he ducks his head himself. The knife ends up slicing the head of the mannequin beside them to which Chad notices with wide eyes and calls out, “beheadings!”

Chad tackles the Ghostface to the ground as the three girls push themselves up onto their feet and run up onto the stage, behind the curtains. Chad follows closely behind with a directing camera clutched in his hand. Amelie looks around to find the closest exit and spots a small hallway towards the side of the stage.

“Come on! This way!” she begins running in the direction of the hall and the other three follow close behind. Amelie pants as she runs as fast as she can down the hall. She turns her head to make sure her friends are close behind and sees Chad throw the camera at Ghostface who trails closely behind. The hall leads back to the room with the old concession stand counter is and the three girls run to stand behind it. Amelie watches once again as Chad stands up to Ghostface who makes it past the fallen popcorn machine and begins swiping with his knife. The killer manages to pin Chad to the wall, which only lasts for a split second before Amelie and Tara grab one arm and Sam grabs the other to pull the person away from Chad. Whoever the killer is, Amelie is suspecting it cannot be Kirby. This person was too strong to be able to fall back with the girls as they held him back before they managed to shove all three girls off his arms at once. Luckily, Chad comes up just in time and swings a punch at the masked face, causing the killer to fall to the ground. Tara and Amelie jump back to make sure they don’t get in the way of the killers fall and Tara takes her chance and kicks the killer in the face while they are still on the ground. Chad calls for the girls to go again before he picks up an empty gumball machine, lifting it up and ready to swing it down onto Ghostface before a scream leaves his mouth.

Amelie turns around when she hears Chad’s yell, and she gasps once she sees Chad got stabbed and is now being surrounded by two Ghostface’s. Amelie and Sam each reach for one of Tara’s arms as she tries to run up to Chad, screaming, “CHAD!”

Screams fall past Tara’s lips as sobs escape Amelie’s as they watch the two Ghostface’s each take turns stabbing into Chad’s body. Blood begins to pour out of his mouth and it looks as if he is trying to tell the girls something but his words barely make it out. Sobs continue to fall out of Amelie’s lips as she watches Chad’s body fall on the ground in front of her and the killers turn at the same time to look at the three and wipe the blood from their knives. Sam rushes to push the two girls out of the door behind them where they run to the middle of the shrine. Sobs can’t seem to stop escaping Tara and Amelie is having a difficult time looking ahead with her blurred vision. The sight of Chad’s lifeless body fall to the ground replays in their minds. The sounds of their knives entering and leaving his body, the squelch of his blood coming into contact with the blade.

Suddenly a Ghostface jumps out from behind the curtains, causing the girls to stagger back and turn around. Their movements are caught short once again when the second Ghostface makes its way around the corner and directly in front of the three, waving their knife in their hand almost mockingly. Amelie’s breathing begins to escalate even more as she comes up short for ideas of where to run to. She feels hand grab onto her wrist and looks to see Sam hand her a brick that she picked up from the ground. Amelie grabs onto the brick and turns to face the Ghostface standing in front of the stage. Tara’s back faces hers as she looks at the Ghostface opposite to her, and Sam stands between Tara and Amelie, looking between the two killers. Amelie can hear Tara cry out Sam’s name from behind her but she can only focus on the killer who is pointing their knife out in her direction as they tilt their masked head.

“Ready?” Amelie can faintly hear Sam ask the girls. From the lack of response from the two girls, she calls to them again, “I need you to be ready. Ready?”

Amelie tries to steady her breathing and she clutches the brick harder in her hand. Sam turns to look at her and then at Tara, “Look at me.”

Amelie looks beside her at Sam and sees the pure determination on her face. She has to be ready, she needs to do this for her, for her dad, for Mindy, Anika, Chad, Gale, for the everlasting list that doesn’t seem to end. So, she nods at Sam. “Let’s fucking do this.”

“Come on motherfuckers!” Tara turns back to the killer in front of her and yells out.

Directly after Tara yells, two gunshots fire throughout the theatre, causing everyone to duck. Amelie stands back up and sees Kirby enter the room with her gun pointed out and the side of her head dripping down in blood. “It’s okay!”

“Stay the fuck back!” Sam calls out to Kirby and places her arms out protectively in front of Tara and Amelie.

“We know it’s you, Kirby,” Tara speaks up. Amelie stays quiet behind the two girls, that same feeling swirling in her stomach telling her that Kirby is not Ghostface.

“One of them knocked me out,” Kirby looks at the girls in disbelief and pants out. She suddenly points her gun behind the girls and Amelie hears detective Bailey call out for Kirby to get away from the girls. The two point their guns towards each other and the three girls push back, out of the way in case the firearms were fired.

“What are you doing?” Kirby asks the detective, her voice shaky.

“Did you kill Quinn?” the detective asks Kirby, a hard look settling onto his face. “Did you kill my daughter?”

“Jesus christ,” Kirby lets out, her hands shakier than ever. She looks over to the girls, almost pleading them with her eyes for them to believe that she didn’t do any of us. “Whatever he has been saying to you, don’t believe him. He’s probably the killer.”

Amelie’s eyes widen as she sees Ghostface make their way behind the detective and as he fires two shots at Kirby, causing her to fall back. Suddenly the killer stops behind Bailey and Amelie can’t seem to close her mouth, too shocked at what was about to be announced.

“Great job,” the detective says proudly, directed to the Ghostface beside him. Suddenly the other Ghostface walks up to the other side of Bailey, and he turns to the second one, “both of you.”

Amelie knew it wasn’t Kirby, knew that it couldn’t be her. What she didn’t suspect was for there to be three Ghostface’s out to get them and for one of them to be the lead detective on their case. Betrayal courses through Amelie’s body as she stares at the man who she was supposed to trust, in shock.

“You?” Tara questions as she also looks at the detective in defeat.

“Yeah, of course me,” Bailey replies sarcastically. “I expected more from the three of you after what you did to us.”

“What do you mean us?” Amelie finally speaks up as she looks between the two who remained masked. The detective chuckles darkly at her and gives her a teasing smile, knowing that the unmasking was going to give her a bigger shock than her finding out that he was a part of the plan. Bailey nudges his arm into the second Ghostface on his left and the person behind the mask appears to hesitate before lifting it up.

Amelie has felt her world stop too many times now than she would like to count. She felt it stop when her first pet hamster passed away when she was seven, when she placed second in her dance competition, when her dad first sat her down to tell her what happened to her aunt Tatum to warn her that it was happening again, when she discovered Wes’ dead body, when she found out her dad died, when Amber revealed herself as the killer, when she realized Ghostface was back at the bodega, when she wasn’t able to save Anika, and now, when the one boy she began to fall for again after losing Wes, appeared from under the mask. Her heart began to crack, all in different places and she heard it as it fell to the ground and shattered. She felt broken and so, so betrayed at the realization that Ethan, sweet boy who has liked her for so long, Ethan Landry, is the one out to kill her and her friends.

Amelie looks back to where Tara and Sam have walked far away from her, and she sees Sam pluck her phone out her pocket and answer a call. She can already guess who it is and stares at the girls, trying to gauge their reaction from so far away. She vaguely sees Sam pull the phone away from her ear and look at it in disbelief, almost appearing as if the killer abruptly hung up on the girl. Amelie jumps when she hears her own phone begin to ring and she furrows her eyebrows in confusion, if the killer called Sam already, why would they bother with her?

She pulls her phone out of her pocket and looks down at the unknown contact before answering the call.

Back in the van, Kirby stops her movement of detecting the call when she sees that Amelie is also receiving a call. Mindy notices her movement and sits up in her chair, “What? What is it, Kirby?”

“Amelie is also getting a call,” Kirby says and looks at the teens beside her. The two boys follow Mindy’s movements and sit up in their chair, Ethan pausing his snacking and looks at Kirby’s screen in confusion. She wasn’t supposed to receive a call, only Sam was.

“What do you want?” Amelie says into her phone, venom laced through her words as she looks around her to see if there is anyone nearby. She catches the two sisters staring her down from across the park and holds eye contact with them.

“Daddy Dewey doesn’t seem to be enough, does it?” The voice chuckles lowly through the phone. Amelie freezes in her spot and fear strikes her body. “Hopefully you said bye-bye to Gale earlier, I don’t think there is much time left.”

The voice was condescending, almost mocking her, and she can’t distinguish if there is more anger or fear running through her body right now. “Don’t you fucking touch her, you psycho.”

“Oh Amie,” the rough voice of Ghostface begins to taunt, “too late.”

The line ends and Amelie begins to run towards to the two girls who look to be waiting for her. The girl stops abruptly when she finally reaches them and even though they already know where the call is coming from due to Kirby’s tracking skills, they let her rush out, “He is at Gale’s. We have to go now!”

“My friend Danny works on the upper-westside, he can get there quicker!” Sam calls as her, Tara, Amelie, and detective Bailey begin running to the latter’s car.

“Yeah, or he can finish her off, if he has a possible reason to kill her,” Detective Bailey conspires from behind the girls.

“Fuck,” Amelie mutters as she stays ahead of the three. Sam looks ahead at Amelie and puts her phone back in her pocket after sending a text to Danny. “We have to get there now.”

“C’mon, wait! We don’t even know if it’s true. Sam, wait! Take a minute,” Bailey calls from behind the three sprinting girls, panting once they finally made it to his car.

“We don’t have a minute!” Amelie turns around and snaps at him. There was no way that anyone, not even the detective, would stop her from getting to Gale as soon as she can, not after that phone call she just received. She couldn’t risk losing another important person in her life, another parent at that.

“Amelie, you have to trust me. We gotta make the right call,” Bailey turns to face the girl and tries to reason with her, but her, nor the other two, are willing to listen.

“He’s already there!” Amelie shouts back as she looks at the man almost incredously, her hands flailing as she speaks. It was odd to her how relucent the detective was to go and protect someone who they know is in the same building as the killer.

“Guys!” Tara calls from behind the two girls and they turn to look at her. Tara sits in the driver’s seat of the Bailey’s cop car and calls for them to get in. Sam and Amelie look at each other before rushing to get into the car, making sure Bailey isn’t right behind them to stop them. Amelie opens the door to the backseat and jumps in, patting Tara’s shoulder as she shifts to the middle, proud of the small girl for coming up with this.

“Get out of the car! What do you think you’re doing? That’s an official vehicle!” Bailey’s voice begins to drown out as Sam rolls up the window and the two sisters make the decision to turn the sirens on while Amelie calls for Tara to hurry from the back. The three speed off towards the direction of Gale’s apartment, Sam in the front helping Tara with the directions and Amelie in the back nervously fidgeting at the idea that they might not get there in time. Amelie pulls her phone out and tries to give Gale a call a couple of times, each leading to voicemails which causes Amelie’s nerves to spike even more than they were before. She settles on sending texts to Gale, some of warning that the killer is there, and she needs to leave, and others saying that she loves her. She slides her finger down her contact list where she hovers over Ethan’s and licks her lips before pressing on the contact to call. She figured their friends needed an update on what was happening and if Ethan was there with her friends, it couldn’t be him, right?

“Hello? Are you okay?” Ethan picks up his phone almost instantly once he saw the girls name come up. Kirby and the twins perk up and try to lean closer to the boy once they see that it is Amelie calling.

“Yes, yes, we are okay,” Amelie begins, nodding her head as she speaks as if he can see her through the phone. Ethan puts her on speaker for all of them to hear what she is saying. “Look, we are headed to Gale’s right now, we-we took the cop car and Bailey should be heading back to you guys soon, I think, I don’t-I don’t know...”

She trails off as she looks out the windshield at all the lights and cars whizzing by. She lowers her voice as she continues speaking, her left hand free and picking at her fingers nervously, “I just wanted to call you, to you know, let you all know and to just tell you to stay safe, please.”

Blush rises on Ethan’s cheek, and he makes eye contact with Chad who, finally, looks at him back as if he were his regular roommate again and not some guy who he is suspicious of. He smirks at the boy and nods his head proudly at Ethan, looks like he was closer to getting the girl. Mindy looks at the two and rolls her eyes at their antics, knowing how gullible Amelie seems to be. 

“Yeah-yes, thank you, Amie,” Ethan sighs and decides to take the girl off speaker before stepping outside of the van door. He felt awkward enough talking to Amelie, he was not going to continue in front of people. “You guys too, Amie, please be safe, and call me or one of us if anything happens.”

“I will, Ethan,” Amelie mutters and lets out a chuckle. “This time around, I will.”

“I will see you soon, okay?” Amelie can hear Ethan also let out a quiet laugh through the phone and lets a small smile form on her lips. “And, uh, thanks for calling me.”

“Yeah,” Amelie whispers. She can see Gale’s building getting closer and decides that she needs to end the call now so she can get to Gale as quick as possible. Nerves flutter in her stomach again from the worry of what might be happening to Gale and from her finally being able to talk to Ethan. “You were the first I thought of.”

Amelie ends the call shortly after telling Ethan that she will see him soon and his heart flutters in his chest. Her letting him know that he was the first she thought of calling made him relieved that maybe she doesn’t resent him as much after all. While he knows that once she finds out who he really is, she won’t hesitate to either kill him or run away as far as she can, he can’t help but be hopeful that she does care about him still. He also knows that even though he doesn’t want her to get hurt- which she already has by him- and his family is aware of it, his word isn’t enough to stop his sister or his dad from touching her. All three of their drives to kill is high, but his family’s is higher to end the Riley girl once and for all.

After what seems like forever, the three finally reach Gale’s building and they run as fast as they can up the stairs to her place. Upon entering, they see the mess of her apartment and run in to find Gale on the ground with Ghostface on top of her, their knife about to enter her face.

“Hey fuckface!” Sam calls to the killer and their masked face turns in the direction of the noise. Sam picks the discarded gun up off the floor where she immediately begins to shoot towards the Ghostface who gets off of Gale and runs away and unfortunately, misses her shots. Amelie rushes to Gale as soon as Sam starts to shoot where she drops to her knees beside her body where she lays frail and bleeding out. Tara kneels beside Amelie and watches as the girl places her hands on Gale’s abdomen where a massive, bleeding wound stares back at her.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Amelie repeats as her shaky hands begin to overflow with blood. She begins to let tears well up in her eyes and her lip quivers when she really realizes the state that Gale is in. “We should have known that he was going to come after you, I’m so, so sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Gale begins as she looks into Amelie’s eyes above her. Sam kneels on the other side of Gale, opposite from Tara and Amelie and she shares a look with Tara, pain lingering in both of their eyes. “He never got me. Tell Sidney, he never got me.”

“No, no, I won’t need to, okay? Because you are going to be okay,” Amelie looks at Gale and shakes her head at the older women. Gale's bright eyes are fading in front of Amelie and it is a sight she has never thought she would see; it physically ripping her heart from her chest and tearing it to pieces. Gale looks directly at Amelie's face, a faint smile painted on her lips. "You have your dad's eyes, Mel."

Amelie lets a loud and pained sob at Gales words. She sees her eyes begin to close and her breathe slow down and continues to shake her head harder. "No, no, no, no."

“Gale?” Sam leans over the women and calls her name. Her and Tara begin to call out Gale’s name in panic when they see her start to go still.

“No, no, no, no, please,” Amelie whispers brokenly as she looks around franticly at the women below her. Her hands still on the wound and she can feel her torso slow its normal up and down movement. She can briefly hear the paramedics arrive and she can feel Tara try to pull her away from Gale, but she can’t find it in her to leave her. “No, no, Gale!”

Her voice cracks as she pleads with tears streaming down her face, Tara managing to get her to stand but Amelie can’t even focus on anything around her but Gale’s almost lifeless body in front of her. She tries to convince herself that this isn’t real, none of it is, and she will wake up soon to find Gale in front of her alive, maybe her dad there to, ready to greet her with a smile. But she doesn’t wake up and this is real, this is her real life. Nothing but pain brews through her bones as she watches Gale, and she can almost feel her heart start to seize and shrivel up like an old prune. She thought that the greatest pain she could feel was when her dad got taken from her, and it was. But standing here, with Sam and Tara holding her arms back as she sobs, she feels the pain being doubled. Nothing in this world could have prepared her to lose Gale after losing her dad, and Amelie wonders if she can possibly live life normally anymore.

“We got a weak pulse,” Amelie hears the EMT say which reinstates some hope in her body that maybe Gale can be okay, but nothing will erase or make her forget the pain she is feeling from watching what just happened. Sam nods beside her with tears tracking down her face and she manages to push herself and the two girls out of the apartment so the paramedics can take care of Gale now. Nothing can prepare you for the hurt you will feel from losing another person who you consider a parent, and nothing can warn you for the heartbreak that will follow, dead or alive.

The last twenty minutes of Amelie's life seemed to be in fast forward for her because she can hardly even remember how they managed to get to the lobby of Gale’s apartment. She vaguely remembers being escorted out of Gale's apartment where she refused to leave the door, making sure she saw Gale being taken out of her place and into an ambulance. She also recalls finally calling Ethan once they reached the lobby of the building, where they currently reside, and very incoherently trying to tell him that Gale was badly hurt and they needed to come there now. She knows that right now, she is standing beside her friends who all can't seem to peel their eyes away from the floor, and Ethan's warm body pressed against her with his arm wrapped around her small frame. Her arms wrap themselves around his torso as she lays her head on his arm and her eyes fixate on the lights of the police and ambulance outside the window.

Silence has never been so loud as Amelie stares emotionless at the flashing blue and red colours, her eyes stinging from the amount of tears she shed and throat raw from yelling out in despair. Amelie really feels like this is it, any hope she had stored in her that they will make it out has left her body the second she saw Gale on the ground.

“Hey! I got here as fast as I could,” Danny comes rushing in and heads straight to Sam where she remains sitting. All eyes turn towards the man with the same idea in their minds; he coincidently was gone and got here right after Gale was attacked.

“Did you?” Tara asks him with hard eyes.

“I’m scared,” Mindy whispers as she looks straight ahead. “Guys, I really don’t want to get hurt again.”

“Neither do I,” Chad mutters beside Amelie. Nothing but pain lingers in their voices as they talk. Everyone is so scared, so fed up with everything they have been through and worried that soon enough, they won’t ever be able to bounce back this time around.

“I don’t want you getting hurt again, either,” Mindy looks at Chad before he places his head on her shoulder and brings a comforting hand to her knee, “I know, I know.”

"You either," Ethan mutters quietly, only for Amelie to catch. He looks down at her sad face nuzzled up to his chest and would do anything in this moment to make her feel better, his heart breaking at the sight of her being in pain. Amelie closes her eyes and tightens her arms around his mid-half. "Same goes for you, Eth."

“Maybe he gets to win this time,” Sam begins with pain in her eyes. Chad and Tara lift their heads off Mindy’s shoulders, and they all look towards the girl confused. “He wants to punish me, me. So maybe we let him. I will just give myself up-“

“-Sam, no-“ Amelie finally tears herself from Ethan's warm body and tries to interrupt but Sam just continues.

“-If this is what I have to do to keep you guy safe, it is worth it,” Sam finishes with tears beginning to fall down her cheek and Amelie shakes her head at the girl.

“No, we’re not doing that, Sam, alright? You went back to Woodsboro to protect me, every single day you make the decision to protect me. None of us would even be alive if it weren’t for you,” Tara says and waves her hand around to their friends sitting down on the bench where they all nod at the girl, agreeing. “You have to let us protect you this time. We’re a team, remember?”

Sam shakes her head to Tara to try and disagree, but she relents as Tara continues to say yes. Amelie finally drops her arms from around Ethan, deciding to quickly grab Ethan’s hand that is falling from her hold and gives it a squeeze before letting it go and making her way beside Sam. “Actually, we are a family.”

Quoting herself from a couple of days ago when she let Tara know that they are her family, she was going to do it again with the older Carpenter sister. Mindy eventually gets up too and repeats the word family, nodding her head. Chad lets a smile break through onto his face and claps his hands, also getting up. He places his hand in the middle of the small circle they formed, “Let’s go! Force of Five!”

Mindy places her hand on top of Chads with Tara and Amelie following. Danny also attempts to join in the circle before Chad lets him know that it was an us thing. Amelie can’t help the small smile she feels creep onto her lips at that and she looks to Sam, anticipating her to join in.

“He’s going to keep coming after us,” Sam begins again and their hands fall to their sides once more.

“Isn’t their somewhere, like, safe we can just hold up in?” Ethan quips up, almost reminding them of his presence. Tara shakes her head and says in despair, “He’s just going to keep finding us.”

“Great,” Ethan mutters. At least he tried, Amelie thinks.

Amelie catches Tara furrow her eyebrows as she pauses to think again about what Ethan said, maybe finding some place safe where it would be easy to keep Ghostface trapped in was actually a good idea. “We could use that though.”

Ethan smiles, glad that his idea actually proved to work out the way he wanted it to. He steps closer to Amelie, wanting to feel her close to him again although she was only a couple of feet away. Sam and Tara share a look before calling up detective Bailey, awkwardly letting him know they were sorry for stealing his car and pitching the idea of trapping Ghostface. Their circle expands as Ethan and Danny now join, listening intently as Tara talks to the detective on speaker. Amelie reaches out and links her pinkie finger with Ethan’s, he looks down and smiles at her as she continues to stare at Tara, determination swirling in her eyes. They are going to kill this motherfucker.

~

Amelie holds Ethan’s hand as they walk down the stairs to the subway to head to the Ghostface shrine downtown.

“Is this even a good plan?” Ethan asks nervously to the group. Instantly Tara replies to the boy pointedly, “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

“So, we just peel off and let the killer kicks us off one by one, no thank you,” Amelie rolls her eyes at the boy’s words and nudges her shoulder into his. “We aren’t peeling off, that’s the whole point.”

“Let’s just get to the theatre,” Sam sighs as she leads the group in the direction of the subway. The area is so packed with people that the group does end up splitting off from each other. Amelie tries her best to hold tighter onto Ethan’s hand, but it gets difficult as bodies shove between all of them. She can see Mindy up in front of her also getting shoved back by people and even with Amelie’s 5’’5 height, she can’t see over the crowd in front of her or any of her friends. As she finally makes it to the subway doors, she sees Mindy hit the closed subway door and watches as Chad looks back at them through the glass before the subway sets off. Amelie sighs as she makes her way to Mindy and places her hand on Mindy’s shoulder. The girl jumps and whips her head around before realizing it was just Amelie and breathes out a, “thank fuck.”

She looks past Amelie and sees Ethan approaching the two girls and settles her face into a glare. She all but snarls at that boy, “get your Ghostface ass away from us, Ghostface.”

“No, Mindy, he’s okay-“ Amelie tries to persuade Mindy but the curly headed girl just grabs onto her hand and drags her away from the boy, “come on.”

Ethan peers over the people to look at Amelie where she gives him an apologetic look and mouths a sorry to him. Behind her Mindy looks at the boy tries to shoo him away from looking over at them, mouthing a look away to him at the same time. Ethan feels like he has nothing to do but oblige, almost afraid of Mindy and her protectiveness. He still looks over every now and then as they wait for the subway to check on Amelie, not too sure of what he is checking up for, but it may just be an excuse so he can keep looking at the girl.

Amelie feels bad that she just left Ethan to be by himself but she also knows that she should stay with her best friend during this time rather than leave her alone so she can stand beside the boy who makes her heart flutter. So, they wait until the next subway arrives and board it together. Mindy once again brings Amelie over the one side of the subway and Ethan stands away giving them their distance, but close enough so they can still see each other. Amelie closes her eyes as she leans against one of the walls of the subway and tries to focus on her breathing. She has never done great when it comes to moving transportation and often starts to feel sick whenever they start moving, especially when they are a constant stop and go motions. She remembers back when she was younger and her dad would take her places, he would always make sure she took anti-nausea medicine before they left and wouldn’t go ten minutes without asking her if she was feeling sick. One time she went with her mother and stepdad (though she doesn’t call him that) on a road trip and got sick on the trip to their destination. When they arrived, she begged her mom to let her call her dad and cried to him through the phone about how she was sick in the car and her stepdad got upset with her. Dewey reassured her that it wasn’t her fault, and it was her mom’s for forgetting to give her medicine or be prepared. Amelie knew that if her dad was still with her now, he would make sure she was prepared to go on a subway without him, especially knowing how back and forth those trains are.

Whenever Amelie does take the chance to open her eyes, she catches the sight of a Ghostface mask somewhere on the train and it doesn’t help the churning in her stomach. She can see Mindy from beside her try to raise her phone in the air, attempting to get a message to send through. Amelie presumes it is her trying to let the others know where they are, but she can’t be bothered to check her own phone or talk in fear that it might push her urge to be sick.

Amelie flinches when she feels Mindy jump from beside her and turns to see someone with a Ghostface mask decided to come up beside her. Mindy quickly moves to stand on the opposite side of the subway where she was previously standing, so now her and Amelie are facing each other. The person in the mask pushes in front of Amelie to take a seat in the empty spot beside her, causing Amelie to shift a couple of steps away from the guy before leaning against the wall again and closing her eyes. Ethan watches the interaction from where he is standing afar and decides to push his way forward slightly. He respects the distance Mindy enforced upon him so he isn’t too close to the girls, but close enough where he can still see them if anything were to happen.

After a couple a minutes, Amelie opens her eyes again to check how many stops they have left and straightens up when she notices Mindy got pushed to the back of the cart. Mindy looks back at her and nods her head with a pained smile, letting the girl know that she is okay even though they are separated now. Amelie looks back around the subway and can’t help but only focus on the amount of Ghostface masks around her. Her nerves get the better of her and she begins to panic at the idea that one, or maybe all of them, could be the killer. Her attention focuses on one that is sitting in one of the chairs, looking down, diagonally across from where she is standing. She wishes that she was beside Ethan in this very moment, knowing that his presence would make her feel a lot more calm.

The light in the cart starts flickering in and out for intervals at a time and Amelie decides that maybe keeping her eyes closed for prolonged periods was not a good idea anymore. When the light in the cart turns back on for the second time, Amelie looks back to the seat where the Ghostface costume was previously and notices that the seat was now occupied by some other passenger. Amelie quickly looks around to see where the person went but the lights turn off again briefly, interrupting her from finding the suspicious man. She feels her breathing stops when she hears a whisper in her ear and a hand on her mouth, “You’re fucking lucky this time, bitch.”

As soon as the masked person finishes, she feels a pinch on her arm where her gasp is covered by their hand, and then the individual vanish. The lights turn back on with enough time for her to gather that her arm as a small trickle of blood running down it, and that they probably just decided to nick her with their knife. Amelie quickly places her hand on her arm where the small cut is and tries to desperately look to see where they went. Her breathe quickens at the realization that was the killer and that they just let her off. That has never happened, almost ever, when the killer would just let someone live who they could have easily killed and panic settles in, realizing that they were going to go after Mindy or Ethan now. She looks toward Ethan and he turns his head at the same time, almost knowing that she was looking his way and she lifts her hand up to show him the blood. His eyes widen and he begins to try and push past the people in his way from getting to her. His concern her the girl spikes when he realizes that she was not supposed to get hurt, and wonders if it wasn’t a Ghostface who decided to hurt her. Amelie briefly sees a hooded figure standing closer to the end of the train where Mindy was before the lights turn off again, and Amelie already knows that she is who the killer is currently after.

So, in the dark, Ethan blindly attempts to make his way to Amelie and Amelie pushes through the lump of people standing in her way from getting to Mindy. The lights turn back on once again when the subway stops and people begin to flood out when the doors open. Amelie finally sees Mindy on the ground, holding her stomach and her eyes widen at the sight.

“Oh my god, Mindy,” Amelie drops to her knees and turns around to see Ethan catching up to her, his own eyes widening when he sees Mindy on the ground with blood on her hands. “Ethan! Help!”

Ethan and Amelie both call out for help as they try their best to lift her up, placing both of her arms on either sides of their shoulders and move without hurting her even more. The three manage to make it out of the subway doors and onto the ground, leaning Mindy against one of the poles as she groans in pain.

“Are you okay?” Ethan asks Mindy, panic stricken on his face. Amelie reassures Mindy as she takes of her flannel button up and bunches it up to hold onto the bleeding girl’s stomach. “You’re okay, you’re okay.”

“Yeah, I’m so good,” Mindy groans out. At least she still has her humor intact. Mindy looks at Amelie and then to Ethan, “godammit, I got it wrong again.”

Amelie almost wants to crack a smile at Mindy’s choice of words considering she is currently bleeding out and Ethan just continues to look between her and Mindy, evidently in panic at the situation. Two workers come running up to the three and begin to radio for police and an ambulance to their location. Amelie backs away and moves to kneel beside Ethan so the two people can look at Mindy without her in the way. Amelie feels her phone buzzing from her jean pocket and pulls it out to see a multitude of texts pilling in from her friends who they got separated from, all wondering if they are okay and where they are. Amelie realizes that as much as she wants to stay here with Mindy, she knows Ethan will and she has to get going now to be able to make it to the theatre on time. She needs to let them know the killer was just with them, and probably on their way to the theatre as they speak.

“Okay, I-I have to go,” Amelie looks between at two and stands up. Ethan and Mindy, although she is only able to give a side glare at the girl, both look at her like she is crazy.

“What? Amie, no!” Ethan immediately shakes his head at the girl and reciprocates her action to stand.

“Look, just stay here with Mindy, please, at least until paramedics show up. I have to leave now so I can make it to the theatre,” Amelie rushes out and looks between the two. Mindy lets out another groan of pain but can’t find it in her to protest. Ethan attempts to interrupt the girl again, but she doesn’t let him. He knows that if she goes now and makes it into that theatre, there is no telling what is going to happen to her, and he can’t be there to protect her from his family. Amelie cups her hands onto Ethan’s face so he can properly look at her, “I have to go, now. Trust me.”

Ethan knows that he won’t be able to stop her, he has tried multiple times before and he was yet to prevail. So, he nods at her and she gives him a smile. She looks at him for an extra second, visibly debating on her next move before pulling his face down closer to hers and places her lips on his. Amelie knows that this is not an appropriate time to be doing this but almost any movement they make could be their last, and with the mission that her and her friends were on, it truly could be. The boy freezes for a second, in complete and utter shock at what the girl is currently doing, before deciding to place a hand on her waist and kisses her back. Unfortunately, the moment doesn’t last long, and Amelie pulls away first, letting her hands fall back down to her sides. Her eyes flicker down to Mindy who looks repulsed at what she just witnessed before looking back up to Ethan. “Please watch her.”

“Yeah, of course,” He lies to her, nodding his head. He is still stunned from Amelie kissing him and can’t help but think about what would happen if the kiss happened during a moment where someone wasn’t stabbed or wasn’t attempting to hunt down a killer. Amelie turns away to begin heading up the stairs, but Ethan reaches out to grab her hand and pull her back. He needs to do this, needs to let her know that her kissing him wasn’t a mistake, and needs to let this happen just one more time before she finds out who he really is and wants nothing to do with him. He was wanted this girl for months now, and if this was the last chance he was ever going to have with her, he was going to take it. Plus, it would stall her a couple more minutes. He places his lips on hers again and their kiss only lasts for less than a minute, but enough time for each of them to reassure the other that their feelings were mutual. The feeling of their lips together felt so natural for the both of them, and neither wanted to let the moment end, though they knew it had to. Their kiss almost felt like a heart wrenching goodbye and Amelie was not too sure why, only sure that she didn’t want this to be the last time it ever happens.

“Be safe. Please,” Ethan looks down at her and says after they pull away. Amelie nods her head before turning to leave for real this time. And as Ethan watches Amelie runs up the stairs and into the busy streets of New York, he almost feels like none of what he has done for his family is worth it. Because although he has only known the girl personally for a couple of months, he feels protective of her in a way that he has never felt before. He believed that the only emotion he could truly feel was pain and resentment after losing his brother, but the girl seemed to light a spark in his dark soul, and he can’t help but wish that it was bright enough to light up all of his darkness.

Anika was like a breathe of fresh air. After Amelie moved to New York, she felt like a new beginning was coming but she was still choking on the past. When she met Anika, it was like it all changed for her and her friends. Anika understood her like no one else did, was always able to cheer her up, and was always willing to listen when Amelie was having a particularly rough day. There was nothing that could fix this hole in Amelie's chest and she is now down another person who knew and loved her, for her.

Amelie also can't help but think that if she had never become friends with Anika, never had introduced her to their friends, or let her get involved with Mindy, that maybe Anika's fate would be different. Or if she had just forced Anika to go on the ladder first, then maybe the situation they are in currently would be completely different. Maybe Anika could be sitting here beside her right now.

And Quinn, fuck. Her beautiful roommate who, though she wasn't as close to as Anika, was still one of her good friends. The weight of her dead body still lingers on her mind and her blood is currently smeared on Amelie's white shirt. Quinn was also dead, and within the span of 20 minutes, she had lost two more people in her life.

“Chad-“ Amelie looks up and sees Ethan has managed to cross over the police tape and slowly advances to the group. Chad angrily grabs Ethan by his shirt and shoves him against a car.

“Where were you?” Chad shoves him harder into the vehicle behind him.

“What, when?” Ethan’s eyes widen and he almost looks frightened at Chad’s angry behavior. Pretend, pretend, pretend. Chad pushes against him harder with anger ridden all over his face. “Last night.”

“What-What? I had Econ. You know this,” Ethan looks at him pointedly. Their posted school schedule up on their fridge and Ethan reminded him once more last night before Chad went back to the girl’s apartment.

“Bullshit, man! You disappear and my sister almost gets killed.” Venom is laced in Chad’s voice as he doesn’t let up his grip on the boy. He lowers his voice before he adds, "Amie almost got killed."

“What-What? Is she okay?" Ethan replies as innocently as he can with concern covering his face and puts his arm out in defence. It appears as if it is working on Chad as his face contorts and his emotion is almost unclear. "Dude, I was at a study hall with a hundred other people, you can ask any of them.”

“Fuck, man,” Chad snarls his lip and reluctantly lets him go. Ethan, relieved, looks at where the crime scene is blocked off and then back to the girls in the ambulance. He stars at Amelie and his eyes widen.

“Oh my god. Who?” Ethan asks in disbelief to which Chad answers that it was Anika and Quinn before walking back over to the girls. Ethan looks back at Amelie and then down to the bandage on her chest, concern flashes across his face.

“Mindy, I’m so sorry,” He attempts to walk closer to the girls. Closer to Amelie, really, to make sure she is okay. “Amelie, I-“

“Step the fuck back,” Mindy looks at him deadly. She reaches over and places an arm across Amelie’s legs, almost defending her from Ethan’s eyes. Mindy was wrong last time about the killers, but she is so sure this time around that it was Ethan. Ethan stops moving and his mouth opens again but Mindy beats him to it. “You are at the top of my list.”

“I-I had Econ!” Ethan tries once more and looks back at Amelie. “Amie.”

Her eyes remain blank, but tears start lining them. She stares at him and wants to believe so badly that he had nothing to do with this and nothing to do with Ghostface, but it was too much of a coincidence. She remembers trying to call and text him when she was back in Danny's apartment, but alas, he didn't answer until hours later. Sure, he could have had Econ and he could have nothing to do with this, or he could have been under a mask with a knife in his hand. He pleads her with his eyes to have him believe her, but she remains stoic. She so desperately wants to run into his arms and be comforted, be told that it wasn’t her fault that Anika is dead, and she will be okay after nearly getting killed again, but she can’t make herself get up.

“Don’t even think about it,” Mindy continues to glare at Ethan. If her speculations were true, he was no longer going to get any closer to Amelie and Mindy was going to make sure of it. She will not lose Amelie to the hands of Ethan like she did Anika.

Tara gets up and heads to Sam when she sees the detective approach her sister crying, assumingly because he just walked in to see his daughter brutally murdered. Amelie stays with Chad and Mindy as she watches the detective from the ambulance. Her heart wrenches for him knowing that he had to see his daughter’s dead body. She knows how painful it is to see the body of your lifeless family and how you will never live the same again after you do.

“Amelie,” Ethan says painfully one more time. Maybe this time around he doesn't get the privilege to call her by her nickname. She looks back at him, seeing that he needs reassurance, but she knows she can’t give it to him. She swallows hard and attempts to push herself onto her feet before Chad makes his way in front of her. He shakes his head at her and says her name cautiously, “Amie.”

“It’s okay,” She whispers and reassures the twins. “I am only talking to him here; I won’t go any further. I promise.”

Chad reluctantly steps out of the way but doesn’t take his eyes away from Ethan and Amelie. The girl puts her feet on the pavement and takes only a few small steps away from the truck and closer to Ethan. She pauses when she is a couple of feet away from him and looks at his face. His shoulders sagged a bit, relieved that she at least was willing to talk to him.

“I swear I didn’t-“ he starts and shakes his head.

“Okay,” She interrupts him. He closes his mouth and looks at her face to see what she is thinking. She said okay to keep him from defending himself again and he knows it, too. She doesn’t completely believe that he was at school, but she also can’t disprove that he wasn’t at this moment in time, so she lets him continue.

“Are-are you okay?” Ethan asks her with upmost sincerity in his eyes as he glances at her collarbone that is all bandaged up. She bits her lip and shakes her head, her eyes getting red all over again. She wants to sob in his arms and tell him that she really isn’t okay, but she knows she needs to keep her distance. So instead, with pain in her eyes she shortly replies with a “No.”

It was just last night when they shared an intimate moment and she truly believed that she could let him in, but she can’t help and want to throw up when she thinks about the possibility of what Ethan may have done. His brown innocent eyes flicker between her eyes and the slash on her chest and an emotion clouds his eyes that Amelie can’t seem to distinguish. Ethan feels nothing but regret in his body as he looks at the mark he inflicted upon the girl he likes. He did not want to hurt her; he didn’t mean to hurt her, and he did. She was reaching for the mask, and he could not let it fall from his face so he did the only thing he could and that was lash out in the direction where he was being interrupted. He also feels an ache in his ankle where she had managed to kick him, a small purple bruise being left behind. He can't limp, though, no matter how bad he may want to. It would be too obvious that it was him, more than it already was.

Ethan wants to reach out and hold her tight, say sorry repeatedly for what he had done to her, but he knows that she doesn’t believe him and their friends behind Amelie almost never blink as they watch the two like hawks. So, Ethan tries to take one step towards her to remind her of last night, of the moment they shared. Maybe to even get her to remember his gentle touch, and reassure her that he would never hurt her. On purpose, at least. But as soon as his foot moves closer, Chad reciprocates his action and warningly, steps closer to the girl. As painful as it is Ethan steps back to his previous location and looks at Amelie, wondering if she was also thinking about the time they spent together just the night before.

“Amelie!” The young girl hears her name being called and strips her eyes away from the boy in front of her to see Gale running to the scene. Amelie’s eyes widen and she rushes over where Gale brings her into her embrace. She closes her eyes as she holds the teens head close to her and takes a deep breathe. She didn’t know who got hurt by the attack and just prayed over and over that it wasn’t Amelie. She had lost Dewey already; she cannot lose the only Riley left standing. “Are you okay? I came as soon as I heard.”

She feels Amelie nod in her arms before she pulls back form the hug. Gale keeps her hands placed on her shoulders as she looks at the girl for any other injuries, noting the bandage on her chest. “I-I just got slashed once but Anika didn’t make it and Quinn was-was killed, and-and-“

Tears start to fall from Amelie’s eyes as she tries to tell Gale and she begins shaking. Gale was the closest thing she had to a parent since her dad passed and she can’t help but want to break down and be comforted while being held by an adult who loved her as if she were her own. Amelie felt as if she cried all the tears her body could produce but as soon as Gale brought her into that first hug, she knew she was bound to break down all over again. Gale brings the girl closer to her again and strokes her hair as she lets Amelie cry. She knows this feeling, she knows all too well, and while she always tried to ignore how hard the reality of all the Ghostface attacks were, sometimes it caught up on you. “I know, Amie, I know.”

Gale waited until Amelie was ready to let go before the young girl brought her over to where Sam and Tara were standing with the detective. Sam hears footsteps approach and sees Gale with Amelie before shaking her head and hardening her eyes. “Gale, I swear to god-“

“-No, no, truce, okay? I’m here for whatever you need,” Gale says truthfully as she interrupts Sam. Amelie stands close beside Gale and remains silent. She knows how Sam feels about Gale, but she also knows that Gale just wants to be there for the girls who have to experience this a second time around.

“Yeah, okay, nice try,” Sam says unconvinced. Tara stares at Gale with a lack of emotion on her face. Same as Amelie, they figured that Sam should be the one to decide if she wants Gale to join this time around.

“Really, I am,” Gale says one more time, looking between the two sisters in front of her. Sam looks towards Amelie beside Gale and how close she is standing next to the older lady. Amelie catches her stare and nods at Sam, trying to tell her that it’s okay to involve Gale. “Okay, off the record, okay?”

“Okay, thank you,” Sam says reluctantly. Gale looks over to the younger Carpenter sister, almost expecting her for her to announce her approval of her being there as well.

“I-I’m sorry I punched you,” Tara eventually says. Amelie sees Gale shake her head in response, a small smile creeping onto her face. She expects it now, to be punched, every time she arrives to interview the next set of victims. She also knows that every time she is hit, they mean to do it out of anger for her nosy-ness and they do mean their actions. “No, you’re not.”

“I’m not,” Tara agrees and lets a smile make its way onto her lips.

“You’re the cop, right?” Gale turns to Bailey. He nods in response, seeming to be still caught up in his sorrow. “I did some digging on your first two victims and I found something. I know where the masks are coming from.”

Amelie turns to Gale with shock in her eyes. She has heard all about how good Gale is from her dad when it comes down to figuring out who the killer is, so she shouldn’t really be so shocked, but she is consistently impressed at how Gale is able to do it.

“Show me,” Detective Bailey steps forward, almost in anticipation once he hears Gale’s exciting news.

“Ladies,” A new voice appears, walking in the direction of the group. Amelie turns to see Kirby make her way over, guess she was going to stay as involved as she said.

“Kirby?” Gale looks at the girl incredulously. Kirby acknowledges Gale with a head nod, to which Sam lets her know that Kirby is now with the FBI. “She’s a child. When did they start letting children into the FBI?”

“I’m thirty,” Kirby replies after rolling her eyes. Amelie notes that their personalities are not great for getting along and almost wants to chuckle at their interaction. Given the situation, she is finding it hard to even remotely let a smile upon her face.

“Well, you look like a zygote,” Gale says pointedly.

“I have a gun, Gale,” Kirby places a hand on her hip where said weapon lays. Gale looks at where Kirby's hand is placed and rolls her eyes.

“Okay, fine. You’re going to want to see this too,” Gale relents. Amelie looks back to the ambulance where Ethan is already looking at her. She also sees where Mindy keeps her head down and Chad stays glaring daggers at his roommate. Amelie places her hand on Gale’s arm and nudges her head towards her group of friends sitting behind them, letting her know she is going to fill them in on their plans.

Amelie approaches them and Ethan straightens his posture when she sees her advancing. The twins turn their heads to the smaller girl when they hear her approach.

“We are going with Gale. She found something,” Amelie looks at Mindy and Chad as she speaks before turning her head to where Ethan stands feets away from the other two. “All of us.”

So, that’s where the group starts heading. Amelie and the rest of them follow behind Gale as she starts letting them all know how she found the place and how Jason and Greg managed to get the place. Amelie stands closely behind Gale by herself as she listens in, with Sam and Tara directly behind her. Gale eventually makes a stab at Kirby, telling her that she was good at her job and Kirby will eventually get to where she is to which Kirby stands back beside Amelie and looks at her rolling her eyes. Amelie says nothing but shrugs her shoulders and gives her a small smirk. Gale already had an ego to begin with back when Ghostface already started, but as the years have gone on and her investigation skills have peaked, her confidence in these things have skyrocketed higher than before.

They all make their way into the place as Gale takes out a key card and swipes it to enter the two doors blocking their way from inside. Interesting how Gale managed to get those, Amelie thinks as she furrows her eyebrows, but she decided against questioning her.

“What is this place?” Sam asks when she makes her way inside, looking around in the darkness. “What’s with all the security?”

“It’s a movie theatre,” Amelie concludes, looking around once Gale turned the lights on.

“It’s not just a theatre. It’s a shrine.”

They all begin to walk further into the room when the large screen begins to lift, revealing all the Ghostface cloaks. They all begin to disperse to take a look around the room, but Amelie stands still next to Sam as they stare in disbelief at everything that lays before them. It seems as if every piece of important artifact from each Ghostface attack remains here in the theatre and Amelie feels sick all over again. These are pieces of evidence, some even remnants of weapons with victims’ blood and Amelie can’t even begin to believe that there were sick enough fucks in this world that would create a shrine like this.

“They’ve got the whole damn franchise,” Mindy states as she looks at the room in awe.

Amelie eventually makes her way down the steps with Sam once everyone has begun looking at all the pieces on the shrine. She sees Kirby looking at the knife that she was stabbed with and then the flannel shirt that her once friend, Jill, was wearing. Amelie walks forward and peers into the glass cases where she stops to where Gale looks solemnly into one. The two glance at each other before looking back at the case. Amelie feels her lip start to shake and bits it, tears welling in both her and Gale’s eyes. A drawn picture of Dewey and his death stares back at them, along with his gun, badges, and photos of him. Amelie shakes her head at the thought that someone felt good about capturing her dad like this. Her and Gale should be the ones allowed to have those badges and those pictures with them back at home, not some creep who stares at it as a relic.

Amelie can hear Tara and Gale chat around her but it’s as if her ears have closed and her ability to focus has disintegrated. She continues to walk around where she also finds Amber’s section of the shrine, pictures of her and Amber in the case from when they were best friends with dots of blood splattered on it. Her heart thumps loudly in her chest when she sees the face of her own stare back at her. Amelie eventually tears her eyes away as she makes her way to the next portion of the shrine, where a mannequin stands, clothed in the articles that her aunt was wearing the day she died.

“Aunt Tatum,” Amelie whispers as she looks at the pieces in desperation. She never even got to meet her aunt and the first time she is properly introduced to something of hers, is the pieces she was wearing the day she was taken by the hands of Ghostface. She can feel Ethan’s eyes burning into the side of her where he stands further down the aisle she was in. She was caught again between feeling like he cared about her and wants to provide her comfort as she looks at the pieces in the room that are tearing her apart piece by piece and feeling like she was being stalked by a man who is part of the reason why a shrine like this even exists. She tears her eyes away from him and begins walking towards Sam where she walks up the steps to where the cloaks are displayed. She can't help but think about the idea that Anika and Quinn may now have a place in this shrine, now falling victim to the hands of Ghostface.

“Uhm, why am I here, exactly?” Ethan turns away from Amelie and looks ahead where Chad stands. “My alibi checks out.”

“So, I can keep an eye on you, roomie,” Chad says smiling tauntingly at him while Mindy takes two of her fingers and points from her eyes to his. Ethan’s expression drops as he stares back at the two, not entirely sure how to respond to them.

“The killer must have found this place before he murdered Jason and Greg,” Gales says behind Amelie as she follows behind Sam, looking around at the different cloaks, each belonging to a past Ghostface. While Sam makes her way to the one in the glass case, the one that belonged to her dad, Amelie heads to stand in front of the one belonging to Amber. Amelie can’t hear anyone once again as she becomes too focused on what stands in front of her. People talk behind her but they are nothing but a mere voice to her. She thinks back to Woodsboro, where she met Amber and became friends with her so quickly because they just got along so well, despite Amber’s consistent attitude. She thinks about all the times they had a sleepover, watch scary movies together, and talk about the people they liked or drama they had going on in their life. The way that she was welcomed so quickly into their friend group after being a loner for so long, Dewey even trying to get her home schooled so she can be ultimately protected from the world. How her, Tara, and Amber, would inseparable, hanging out together at any given opportunity.

“So, somebody killed these chuckle-fucks and took over.”

Then she thinks about how it was Amber, the girl she considered her closest friend, who was behind the mask with the knife to her throat as she began to cut it. She was the one who killed Wes, the boy she liked, the boy who Amelie would gush to Amber about. The one who almost took Tara's life multiple time.

“Someone who believes that Sam masterminded Woodsboro.”

She was the one who brutally killed her father, proud of herself when she did, for being able to kill such a legacy character even if he was the dad of one of her friends. She remembers when Amber revealed herself when she shot Liv in the living room, and the feeling of betrayal when she realized that one of her best friends, was the killer.

“If this were a normal Stab movie, this would be the killers lair.”

Amelie looks at the cloak and she swears she can see Ambers face under the hood, the hollow look behind her eyes where you can see that she held no remorse or guilt for the pain she has caused, only a crazed expression holding her pride for what she believed she accomplished.

“Which means this isn’t a normal Stab movie.”

And finally, Amelie remembers the heat under her skin and shock on Ambers face when she was finally able to take the anguish Amber caused within her and kill her with it. The anger her and Gale felt when they looked at Amber as they ended her life.

Her eyes close as her breathe starts to quicken and she feels like she might either pass out or throw up. Then she thinks about how her friends just died only a couple of hours ago, and it was all too much at once. So, as quickly as she can, she finally turns away from the cloak and rushes off the stage, down the stairs and to the next empty room she can find. Everyone looks at her as she leaves the room and Sam decides that she should go check on the girl she considers to be her sister. Ethan looks at her exiting figure, wishing he could go after her for what felt like the 50th time today, but stayed in his spot knowing he would not be able to make it past Chad and Mindy.

In the next room, Amelie leans against the old concession stand counter with her head in her hands as a few tears make their way out of her eyes.

“You okay?” Amelie hears Sam’s small voice come up behind her. She removes her head from her hands and turns around to face the older girl.

“Sam, I don’t want to be a part of this anymore,” She shakes her head as tears well up in her eyes once again. “When is it going to feel normal again?”

Sam looks at the girl and feels for her. She wishes that she could help Amelie, help Tara, help all of them from the pain they are feeling, but she can’t. She can’t because she is also feeling it, along with the guilt of being Billy’s daughter. So soft, Amelie almost couldn’t hear it, Sam says, “I don’t know.”

“I am going to end up in there one day,” Amelie points to the room where the shrine stands, finally saying the words that have been lingering in her head since the day of the bodega. Sam looks at the girl with furrowed eyebrows and shakes her head but doesn’t get the chance to speak. “I am going to be a part of that room, one day, Sam, with Wes and my dad and my aunt, I just know it.

I-I looked at the displays of their deaths and then at Amber’s cloak and I see it all happening again. From the moments they died to every encounter I have had with that fucking thing; I see it every. Single. Fucking. Time,” Amelie looks so defeated and Sam feels pained as she hears the young girl vent about how she is feeling.

“No, Amie, you are not going to end up in there, okay?” Sam shakes her head at the girl before stepping closer and placing her hands on Amelie’s shoulders.

“Sam-“ Amelie tries to cut the girl off but Sam interrupts. “No, Amie. You are not going to die, and you are not going to end up being one of their fucking memoirs.”

Amelie has seen Sam scared and she has also seen her mad, but never this determined. Amelie feels the older sister in Sam come out as she talks to her and feels nothing but obliged to listen to her as she speaks.

“I will not let that happen, okay? And-and you are going to prove to them that you are just as strong as your dad was, and your aunt, and Wes, and now Anika,” Both the girls eyes water as they look into each other’s. “I swear to god, Amie, we are going to figure out who is doing this again and we will fucking kill them.”

Amelie lets another tear fall and nods her head at Sam’s words. The older girl brings her into a hug as she finishes her last sentence, whispering it to her but also to herself. “We are going to fucking kill them.”

The two separate as they hear the sound of someone’s shoes entering the room and see Tara running up the stairs behind them, Gale and Kirby following close behind. Sam and Amelie look concerned at the girl who quickly disappears upstairs before Kirby speaks up, “I got her.”

Leaving Gale with the two, she speaks up as she looks between Amelie and Sam. “Everything alright?”

“Ever since I came back into Tara’s life, and her-“ Sam nudges her head to Amelie beside her “-life, I’ve just made a mess of it.”

“No, Sam,” Amelie looks at the girl and shakes her head. She will not let Sam feel any more guilt than she already does and will not let her believe that it was her fault for everything that has happened. Sam looks down to the girl beside her. “My life was made a mess the day I was brought into this world. The day that I became friends with Amber.”

The two share another solemn look before Gale looks at Sam, “Where is your mother in all this?”

“She cut me off when I told her about Billy. Then Tara cut her off because she wouldn’t talk to me, so, now neither of us have a mother,” Sam explains with sadness laced in her voice as she recalls the events that happened with her mother.

“I’m sorry to say this but, fuck her. My parents sucked, too,” Gale tells Sam and then quickly looks at Amelie before returning her gaze to Sam. “So did her mom.”

“Yeah,” Amelie nods at Gale’s statement and lets out a breathy laugh. Sam also letting a smile slip.

“But you can still make your own family. Even if it’s just with one person,” Gale tells Sam but looks back to Amelie as she finishes her sentence. Amelie and Gale had that one person in common, Dewey. They shared Dewey until they lost him, and each other is all they have left since he got stripped away from them.

“And if you lose that one person?” Sam whispers, looking directly at Gale’s face, anticipating her answer.

“Oh fuck,” Mindy, Sam, and Amelie all look up to see Ghostface standing in the doorway before he runs out and slashes at Mindy’s arm.

“Mindy!” Amelie yells out with her eyes wide open. She looks back to see Sam rushing to the kitchen to look for a weapon before she gets up and stares at the masked man in shock. She panics and almost feels like a fool in that second for being so cowardly and not rushing into knowing what to do. Her trance gets snapped back into reality when she sees Ghostface rush to grab Anika’s throat and chokes her as he presses her into the ground. She sees Mindy hold her arm in pain and reaches forward to push the head of the killer to distract him from Anika. On instinct, to keep from having his mask fall off his face, he takes the hand holding the knife and slashes it in Amelie’s direction. The knife slices the right side of her collarbone, and she gasps before falling back onto her butt.

Mindy, from the other side of Anika, sees what happened and also lets out a gasp, “No!”

Amelie feels her chest burn where her blood seeps out. What a sharp fucking knife, she thinks as she takes her left hand to put pressure on the wound to try and keep the blood from pouring out. Her heart races as she remembers what it is like to have your skin cut open, thinking about how she prayed that she would never have to experience that pain again. She looks up to see Ghostface has lifted Anika by her throat from the floor and up against the wall.

“Anika!” Amelie cries out when she sees the knife get jammed into the small girl’s stomach and twists it. Anika’s screams are so loud and Amelie sobs. No, no, no, please let her live, please. Amelie kicks her foot out from on the floor, hitting Ghostface's left foot and causing them to falter. It seems like Amelie's kick could only do so much before the killer quickly recovers balance and takes the knife, dragging it up Anika’s stomach, slitting her open. Blood pours out of Anika like a waterfall and Amelie makes a b-line for her when Sam rushes in and swings their knife block at Ghostface’s head. While on the ground, Sam ushers the three bleeding girls into Quinn’s room and locks the door. Ghostface starts banging on the door as Sam holds it shut, her face ridden with terror as the door continues to rattle. On the bed Amelie, Anika, and Mindy hold one another as different parts of their body bleed out. Anika far worse with her gut cut open and Amelie leans a hand over to her stomach to help with the blood, as if it will stop the red substance from running out. Moans and groans leave the girls lips as they sit in searing pain from their wounds.

All too eerily the room gets quite as the door stops moving and Sam looks in fear to the girls sitting on the bed. Mindy gets up to walk to the bathroom attached to the bedroom and screams when see sees the bloody body in the bathtub. “Fuck! That guy’s dead.”

She jumps once more when Ghostface makes his way around to the other bathroom door entrance and she screams once more while pushing the door to close. Amelie looks at Anika with fear pooling in her eyes, “I will be right back, okay? Just keep applying pressure.”

Anika nods but can’t make any move to speak as Amelie rushes in the bathroom to help Mindy shove the door close. Ghostface swings his knife blindly to which the girls dodge and now the two and Sam rush to the door connected to the bedroom and begin pushing that door to close. Mindy manages to lock the door as Ghostface begins to kick the door. Sam rushes to grab the dresser and push it towards the door. Amelie notices and moves over to help push the dresser in front of the door where the lock snaps open and the killer almost makes their way into the room again. Mindy and Sam push against the dresser while Amelie makes her way back to Anika and kneels in front of her to help hold her stomach. Her cut is in searing pain, and she tries her best to not have her eyes close shut from the amount of burning the slash is causing her.

Sam rushes over to the window where she sees Danny call out from his window and she pries the window up before looking down at the high distance from the ground to the window. Danny begins to lift a ladder from his window to theirs and Sam reaches out to try and grab the other end.

“Hey, Anika, you are going to be okay, okay? You are going to be fine,” Amelie cries from her kneeled position on the floor. Anika looks at Amelie and shakes her head at her, sobbing. “I can’t-I can’t.”

“You can, Anika, please, you can,” Amelie almost begs Anika. She wasn’t sure if at this point she was reassuring Anika, or herself. Amelie was sure that maybe this wasn’t the most appropriate time to be having a sentimental conversation but as the second tick away, she realized that this may be the only time she has left and while her and Anika still have some consciousness left in them, she begins, “Anika, I am so, so, sorry this has happened to you. If I hadn't become friends with you-"

“-I love you, Amie,” Anika continues to sob as she cuts off Amelie's words, barely able to register them due to the amount of pain she was it. If she wasn't going to make it, some of their final words would not be Amelie feeling guilty for ever getting involved with Anika. “It’s not your fault, it’s not your fault. Please, let this not be it.”

“Mindy! Go first!” Sam calls out once she successfully pulled the ladder to their side of the window.

“What? No!” Mindy yells as she continues to push her body against the rattling dresser. “Somebody needs to hold the dresser; I will get them next. Go!”

“Go, Sam,” Sam looks back hesitantly and sees Amelie nodding her head. She turns to the window and begins climbing onto the ladder and towards Danny.

Amelie looks back to Anika where blood spills profusely out of Anika and through their hands.

“You’re losing a lot of blood!” Mindy calls out to Anika and stares at Amelie who is holding her own wound and Anika’s stomach.

“Say something more positive!” Anika manages to call back out, hunching over from the electrifying pain.

“Come on!” Sam calls from the other window and Amelie looks at Mindy who is pushing the dresser closer to seal of the door. Mindy rushes over to slip her arm around both Anika and Amelie and brings both of them closer to the window. Amelie looks between Mindy and Anika and lets a sob out.

“Mindy, go!” She says looking at her. Mindy immediately shakes her head rapidly at the idea and repeatedly says no. “I will get Anika, please, Mindy you have to go now!”

Amelie knows that all of their wounds are bad, but Anika’s is much worse and with the amount of strength Mindy has already used, she knows she may not be as fast as she usually is if Ghostface were to enter the room with only her and Anika. Mindy seems to realize the same thing in despair before she turns to Anika.

“Mindy, go! I will be right behind you,” Anika sobs to Mindy. She grabs her cheeks and pulls Anika in for one last kiss, then looks at Amelie and kisses her forehead with tears streaming down her face. She rushes to the ladder where Sam and Danny anxiously watch her climb across the shaky ladder.

Back in the room the attacker continues to push their way at the door, making advancements at the dresser by shoving it further back slowly.

“Come on, Anika, you have to go,” Amelie tries to pull Anika up and bring her to the ladder, but Anika shakes her head and sobs harder.

“No, you go, Amie,” Anika cries and tries to push Amelie with one hand. “I promise, I will be right behind you.”

Amelie sobs as she makes her way to the ladder and leans forward to climb onto the ladder. She is trusting that Anika will be right behind her, as she said, and manages to push herself further down the ladder. Her heart races as she looks down at the height below her and the sounds of the thumping from the door being pounded in. Her right arm is so weak from the cut on her collarbone and tries her best to stabilize herself with the one arm. She hasn’t even made it to Danny’s apartment and guilt already eats away at her for letting Anika stay behind. She feels the ladder shake behind her and looks to see Anika has pushed herself up to begin climbing.

“I can’t do it, I can’t do it,” She hears Anika cry behind her and Amelie sobs again.

“Please, Anika, please,” Amelie pleads from ahead of her. She looks back up to see Sam, Mindy, and Danny have stopped moving and looked at the window behind her and Anika.

“What?” Anika asks from behind her as the two girls on the ladder stop moving.

“You guys have to move right now!” Mindy screams and Amelie hears Anika scream again from behind her. Amelie doesn’t make the move the turn around and look but she is sure enough that Ghostface has made his way through the door and has entered the room. Her friends in front of her all scream at them to hurry up and after what seems like forever, Amelie has made her way to the other side and Sam reaches out to grab Amelie and pull her through the window. Amelie continues to sob as she is let down and turns in the window to call for Anika.

Before Amelie made it to the window, just behind them, Ghostface had made his way into the room and saw the girls escaping through the window. He slammed his knife down onto the windowsill and tilted his head as he watched them climb. Almost too intricately, Ghostface appears to watch as Amelie gets herself off the ladder before grabbing the end and starts moving it around with Anika still on.

“Mindy, I don’t want to die,” Anika cries while being flung around on the ladder, almost entertaining him by playing with her. Mindy screams out as she watches the girl she loves be tortured right in front of her eyes with no ability to do anything to help. Amelie watches the two girls and sobs, screaming out for Anika to keep moving but she knows it doesn’t prevail.

“Give me your hand!” Amelie reaches her hand out to try and grab onto Anika. Her fingers graze Anika's as they both reach as far as they can to latch onto each other, but can't seem to prevail. Anika makes eye contact with Amelie and without words even being exchanged, Anika's eyes are saying enough. She can't see herself making it to the other side, and Amelie is losing any hope she had in her. Anika can’t seem to grab onto Amelie's outstretched hand and before they all know it the killer managed to tilt the ladder enough for Anika to slip off. Amelie’s whole body seems to zone out as they watch their friend fall onto the dumpster below and her face smashes in. Her body lays, lifeless, with a pool of blood beginning to flow from underneath her. Amelie can hear Mindy sob as she stares at her girlfriend on the ground and all she can do is let tears fall down her face as she watches the masked killer through the window of their apartment. He stares at them for a couple of seconds before ripping his knife out of the wood and tilting his head as he did earlier that night, then leaves the room.

Amelie almost forgets the pain from her collarbone as she can’t seem to tear her eyes away from the window where the killer once stood. She noticed he didn’t shake the ladder with her on it and she noticed his menacing stare from inside the apartment. Back at the bodega, she noted to herself that this killer was powerful, so much powerful than she last experienced and she really felt it tonight. The way he charged at them and would start kicking the doors down was too feral and she feared that this time she won’t be able to get out like she did last time.

Amelie also couldn't form any thoughts or find any words so speaks. Anika is dead. She just watched one of her best friends get their stomach cut open and then fall from a tremendous height, dying. She looks down at where the girl is now laying lifeless and her vision is so blurry from tears, she is almost grateful that they are nearly censoring the scene. She can hear the gasping sobs wrecking through Mindy's body and the cries from Sam beside her, but they are almost faded. She had just watched another person close to her die, a part of her wishing that it was her who was taken instead.

“Okay, the way I see it, someone is out to make a sequel to the requel,” Mindy begins again. And the monologue, begins.

“Uhm, what’s a requel?” Anika says raising her hand, interrupting Mindy. Amelie, along with the rest of the crew look confused at the new word.

“You’re beautiful sweetie, lets hold questions until the end,” Mindy points towards Anika and her girlfriend gives her a smile back.

“Stab one took place in Woodsboro,” Sam states, going along with Mindy’s idea. “Stab two took place in college.”

“So, do we think that the killer is trying to copy the movies?” Tara questions and looks towards Mindy.

“That is one possibility. Heroes now in college, check-“ Mindy points to Tara and Amelie “-suspicious new characters brought in to run up the suspect list and or body count. Check, check, and check” Mindy then points to Anika, Quinn, and Ethan.

“I don’t like this,” Ethan shakes his head. Amelie looks at him when he does, of course he doesn’t like this, he was just announced a suspect by Mindy. Mindy of all people, so it can't be good.

“But it can’t just be about Stab two,” Mindy ignores Ethan and continues.

“Why not?” Amelie asks Mindy quizzically.

“It would make sense if this were just a sequel, but we’re not in a sequel because nobody juts makes sequels anymore!” Chad nods his head as if understanding what Mindy is implying about, while Amelie still looks confused. Mindy opens her arms as if she is about to announce a revolutionary idea. “We are in a franchise! And there are certain rules to a continuing franchise.”

“I had a feeling,” Sam says sarcastically and looks down towards her shoes.

“Rule one: everything is bigger than last time. Bigger budget, bigger cast, bigger body count, longer chases, shoot outs, beheadings, you’ve got to top what came before to keep the people coming back,” Mindy ignores Sam as she did Ethan and excitedly lists out the new prospects of a continuing franchise.

“Beheadings?” Chad pauses writing in his notebook and looks at his twin.

“Beheadings!” Mindy says back pointing at Chad.

"Are you writing this down?" Amelie furrows his eyebrow at Chad, her head turns quizzically to the side to look at the boy.

"Of course I am," Chad reciprocates the action and smiles at the girl. He points his pencil at Amelie as he talks. "Gotta be prepared, you know? Mindy talks a lot."

Mindy rolls her eyes at her two before continuing. “Rule two: whatever happened last time, expect the opposite. Franchises only survive by subverting the expectations. If the killers last time were whiny, snowflake, film nerds with letter boxed accounts instead of personalities, you can bet the opposite will be true here.

And rule three: no one is safe. Legacy characters, cannon fodder at this point. Usually brought back, only to be killed off in some cheap, bit for nostalgia. It’s not looking too good for Gale and Kirby,” Amelie looks at Mindy in concern. Gale? She knows that Mindy is an expert when it comes to her horror movie theories, but this one is wrong. It has to be. Mindy looks at Amelie with a grimace and mouths a ‘sorry’. She makes a dramatic groan and continues, “Ughh, and that’s not even the worst part.”

Chad looks down at his notebook and sarcastically says, “oh! This is the part where she tells us the worst part.” 

“The worst part is the franchises are just continuing episodic instalments designed to boost an IP,” Mindy has been very expressive this whole conversation and continues to hold her arms out as she talks, “which means main characters are completely expendable now, too.

Laurie Strodd, Nancy Thompson, Ellen Ripley, Sally Hardesty, Jigsaw, Tony Stark, James Bond, I mean even Luke Skywalker, all die so that their franchise can live on. That means it’s not just the friend group, any of us can go at any time,” With a grimace she looks over at Tara, Sam, and Amelie, and adds, “especially you three.”

“Wait-wait any of us?” Ethan interrupts once more and looks concerned at the rest of his friends. “Does-am-am I in the friend group? Am I like one of the targets? Am I gonna die a virgin?”

Everyone looks either confused or taken aback from his words. Amelie tilts her head at him and squints her eyes, also confused on his choice of words. She thinks the whole group could have gone without knowing his personal information. She was bound to experience an ick at one point.

“That was a weird overshare,” Mindy practically speaks Amelie’s mind. “But it brings us to our current suspect, Ethan! The shy, dorky guy who no one suspects because he’s so shy and dorky.”

“Okay why-why am I on the suspect list? Because I’m randomly Chad’s roommate?” Ethan almost looks offended by Mindy’s accusation and directs his hand over to Chad at the mention of the guy.

“Roommate lotteries can be juked, you could have fixed it to get next to us,” Mindy says pointedly to which Ethan just rolls his eyes and stays quiet. "Plus...you may now have a conflict of interest, being a potential love interest and all."

Mindy gestures to Amelie and the girl sits up straight, both her and Ethan widen their eyes. Tara and Chad smirk at the panic that ensued on their friends faces and Chad teasingly nudges Amelie with his elbow. Mindy doesn't dwell on the conversation longer and moves on to Amelie’s redheaded roommate, beginning again.

“Quinn. The slutty roommate, a horror movie-“ Mindy puts her fingers together with one hand and makes a kiss sound, “-classic.”

“Sex positive, but thank you?” Quinn replies with a confused look on her face, not quite sure how to interpret the comment.

“Mhm, uhm, how did you come to live with these three ladies?” Mindy doesn’t take her eyes off Quinn’s face as she poses the question.

“I answered their ad online-“ the three girls nod in agreement. Mindy raises her hand to Quinn’s face, “-okay! Say no more, you’ve already implicated yourself enough.”

“It was an anonymous ad, Mindy-” Amelie butts in. She wasn’t going to rule Quinn out completely, but she also wasn’t going to necessarily agree with Mindy’s assumption.

“-yeah, and you know we vetted her. Plus, her dad is a cop.” Tara adds to Amelie’s defense of their roommate.

“And that makes it more likely that she’s the killer because having a cop dad is a great coverage. Do you not remember how these movies work, ladies?” She says enthusiastically and looks directly at Tara and Amelie. The latter widens her eyes and looks over at Tara who turned to her at the same time where they shared a look of surprise.

“Is she always like this?” Quinn quips.

“My dad was a cop, too, Mindy,” Amelie turns back to Mindy pointedly and continues to defend her friend. Sure, she wasn’t as close to Quinn as she was with Sam or Tara, but they did get along very well. Some nights they stayed up in the living room and would watch re-runs of Friends while chatting about Quinn’s latest guy. Besides her having faith that her roommate was not the killer, Mindy’s point about Quinn’s dad being cop does not make all that much sense when she, the daughter of Dewey Riley, is still alive and can be trusted. Quinn looks around the two sitting in between her and Amelie and gives the girl a grateful smile.

“Oh, sweetie," Mindy almost tuts at the girl. Mindy tones down her enthusiasm as she talks about her best friend’s dead dad. "Your dad was a cop, yes, but he also was an original."

Was an original, the words replay in Amelie’s head, and she frowns. “Plus, you and Dewey could always be trusted, Amie. It is a completely different circumstance.”

Mindy smiles at the girl and Amelie nods, deciding that she guesses Mindy is right and decides not to add more.

“And finally, Anika,” Anika blows a kiss where Mindy purses her lips back, “Never trust the love interest.”

Both their smiles fall from their face and Anika looks away.

“Okay, so, we have our rules and we have our suspects-“ Sam pipes in, about to ask Mindy what is next once they have all their bases laid out.

“-Woah, wait, wait. What about you guys?” Ethan gestures to the survivors from the last killings. His eyes glaze over the five of them but his focus passes Amelie faster than the other four. He felt bad for bringing this up, especially against Amelie, but he knew he had to get the attention off of him and his sister.

Amelie looks at him confused, puzzled by his suggestion. “What about us?” 

“I mean, I think it’s pretty safe to rule out the five of us who went through this last year in Woodsboro,” Mindy says crossing her arms over her chest.

“Agreed,” Chad says smiling and points his pencil at his sister

“Uhm, not agreed. What if the trauma you all went through caused one or more of you to snap?” Quinn says. Amelie looks especially looks offended, along with the rest of the crew. She just defended Quinn from Mindy when she was ruled a suspect but then accuses her and the rest to also be suspects?

"What?" Amelie lets out a breathy laugh of disbelief, no humor laced in it.

“Yeah, or the fame you got from the killings made you thirsty for more?” Ethan jumps back in to agree with Quinn. He glances around the friend group but misses Amelie’s eyes as he continues, “I mean, to be honest here some of the theories online about Sam are-“

“-don’t you fucking dare,” Tara stops his sentence, threateningly. Ethan’s eyes widen in response, and he stops talking.

“Okay, she’s right though. Face facts, if we are all suspects, you are all suspects,” Anika gestures to the five. They all share looks, and Amelie shakes her head in disbelief. Guess it’s only fair, huh?

"Well," Amelie breaks the awkward silence, standing up. "I have a class to get to, so I'm gonna go."

Frankly, she was a little annoyed. She defended Quinn and really liked Ethan, for the both of them to produce ideas of how her and her friends may be the killers. She also knows how enthusiastic Mindy is about her knowledge when it comes to horror related things, especially when it is her turn to redeem herself for last years events. But, she really wasn't too keen on the idea that Gale could be at risk again, that her and her friends may not live, and that it could very possibly be one of her friends that is doing this again.

Amelie grabs her bag from off the ground and slings it over her shoulder, she gives her friends a tight lipped smile before walking to her class. Her friends were fast to catch on to Amelie's sour attitude and figured that this whole conversation may have been too much for her.

"Someone should probably..." Chad points to the girl walking away.

"She may just need space," Mindy says, watching her go before placing herself down on the bench. Ethan looks back and watches Amelie's figure get smaller as the distance gets larger. He wants to go after her, but he knows that he was also probably one of the reasons why her mood got brought down.

"I'll go check on-" Ethan begins, about to stand up from his spot on the bench.

"I got it, Romeo," Anika cuts him off. She stands up and grabs her bag from behind her. She heads over to give Mindy a kiss and then pats Ethan's shoulder as she stands next to him. "I have the same class as her anyways."

Ethan's shoulders deflate as he watches Anika go after Amelie, internally angry at getting his chance to be alone with the girl again, ruined. Chad gives him a pitiful smile, and Ethan wants nothing more than to just punch his face.

"Hey, Amie!" Anika calls out to the girl and Amelie stops in her tracks upon hearing her name being called. Anika is quick to catch up to her and links arms with the girl. They continue walking, getting closer to the building they have to enter. "You know what usually cheers me up?"

"What?" Amelie peers to her left where Anika stands.

"Coffee," Anika grins at her. Amelie can't help but let a smile creep up on her face at Anika's attitude.

"You know, I don't actually think it's you or any of you guys, in fact," Anika starts again, guiding them in the direction of the coffee shop that the two girls stop at every time they are together on campus.

"Yeah, I know," Amelie sighs. She knows that Anika doesn't think so, and she knows that Anika is definitely not the one who could be doing this. But, some of her friends did, specifically that one curly haired boy, and it upset her.

"Actually, I think that if this fucker ever tries anything with us, I can distract them with my good looks and you can take the opportunity to beat their ass."

"Anika, this isn't a joke," Amelie looks at her cheesy smile and wants to laugh along, but can't with the severity of the situation.

"No, I know," Anika nods at the girl, but doesn't let the smile let up from her face. If anyone was going to put Amelie in a better mood, it would be Anika and they both knew that. "I am being so serious."

Amelie lets out a laugh, finally, and rests her head against Anika's as they continue walking.

"Also, you have got to tell me what the hell is happening with you and Ethan," Anika lifts her head, prompting Amelie to lift hers as well and look at Anika. A blush rises on her cheeks and her smile never wavers.

"Oh, my god."

~

The sun was now setting and the sky was filled with hues of orange and yellow. Amelie was finally done with her classes today, and was thankful that she was finally able to head home after todays events. Her urge to sleep grew stronger the longer she stayed at school, already getting only a couple of hours in this morning. Anika was already gone to her place where they were all going to meet up and sleepover tonight, offering to stay in campus and wait until Amelie was done but the girl declined. Letting her know that she would be okay on her own. But now, as she walks outside of campus by herself and the light outside is dimming, she wasn't so sure of that anymore. Now that Ghostface is back and someone was out there, intending to kill her and her friends, maybe it wasn't the best idea to be by herself.

Normally she would have her earbuds in, listening to her music or a podcast as she walks alone, but she figured that having all of her senses not obstructed may be the best idea.

The girl flinches when she hears her phone ring and pulls it out of her pocket. Unknown Caller is the ID that comes up on her phone and her heart drops. She knows by now what that means and who it is. She takes a look around to see if she can see the familiar mask standing nearby, but she sees nothing suspicious. But she is also not dumb, she knows that they have to be somewhere near her, knowing that she was alone right now. Her finger hovers over the green button, about to pick up the call when she feels a hand on her shoulder and flinches. Spinning around in panic, she comes face to face with Dean and not Ghostface. Her shoulders still tense, and she takes a weary step back from Dean.

"Dean, hi," Her voice is small and shaky. Her heart is still pounding in her chest, and she looks down to see her phone ring two more times before the call ends.

"Hey, I just saw you walking and decided to come say hi," Dean smiles at the girl and notices her rigid stance and the way her eyes were looking around them. "Are-are you okay? Were you waiting for someone?"

"What?" Amelie stops looking around the two for the killer and back at Dean's concerned face. "No, no! You just scared me, is all."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," Dean apologizes to the girl. Her nerves are still heavy, but she has since calmed down a bit. "Like I said, just wanted to come say hi. I didn't get to see you again at the party."

"I know, I am really sorry about that," Her face cringes at the thought of her just leaving Dean by himself. "My friend just had an emergency, needed to go help out."

"It's all good, I'm just glad I could catch you again," Dean shakes his head in dismissal and smiles. "Uh, are you heading home?"

"Yeah, I just finished up."

"By yourself?" Dean questions the girl. "Just, have you heard the news? There might be a killer on the loose, maybe you should be careful to not go out by yourself."

"Yeah, I've heard," Of course she has heard, she has lived it. "I was just-"

Her phone rings for a second time, the same Unknown Caller ID flashes on her screen and her hand tightens around the device. She watches as it rings and looks back up at Dean who is furrowing his eyebrows at the girl.

"Are you gonna get that?"

Dean probably thinks I am crazy, the girl thinks. She is so fidgety, flinching at everything, and is looking around her like there are ghosts speaking to her from every direction.

"Uh, no," Amelie mutters and clicks the power button on the side of her phone, silencing the ringing. She is sure that will only piss the killer off more, but if she answers then Dean may be put more at risk and he will start questioning her when he hears her speak to a voice about killing her and her friends. "Actually, if you're not busy, do you think you can walk with me? For a bit?"

If the killer was calling her, then the chances of Dean being in on it was slim. Though, they usually work in pairs. She wasn't going to let him walk her all the way to her apartment, so he at least won't find out where she lives. But, close enough where she can walk alone for only a short amount of time and make it back safe and sound.

"Yeah, of course. I was going to offer, anyways," Dean nods his head with a small smile, and they head off.

For the next couple of minutes, Amelie explains why she had to leave the party so suddenly, to which Dean explains that it is totally okay, though he was a little disappointed that he didn't get to see her again that night. They also got to know each other a little more, to continue their conversation.

"If it's okay, would it be possible if i got your number?" Dean bites the bullet and asks her. He swears he has never been so nervous to ask a girl out before, but he was sweating right now. Amelie looks taken a back and the two stop in place.

"Oh," Amelie can't say she has had many guys ask her for her number, so she naturally is quite surprised. Though, they have already touched tongues so maybe they were finally catching up to the courteous actions that usually take place before kissing. Dean notices the hesitance on her face and is about to apologize, but Amelie beats him to it. "Yeah, sure."

She pulls her phone out again and opens it, getting to her contacts to pull up an empty one. She gets this weird feeling like she is almost...guilty. Cheating, almost, on Ethan. But they aren't official, they have only almost kissed and know that there is a mutual feeling shared between the two. So, she figures that there is no harm in swapping numbers with Dean. It is not like she was intending on pursuing him, she already had eyes on Ethan and him only.

As Amelie hands her hand to Dean for him to put his number in her phone, it rings again. Her heart starts pumping, thinking that it was going to be the killer again.

"Uh, Ethan is calling you," Dean hands her phone back to her and tries to gauge her reaction at the mention of his name. Amelie's heart returns to a normal pace upon hearing that it was Ethan calling her and not Ghostface.

"Oh, yeah, he's my...friend," Amelie gives Dean a smile. "I should probably get this, just one second."

"Hey," Amelie steps back to have a little bit of privacy.

"Hey, Amie! I was just wondering if you got home okay, I know you're done later today at school," Ethan's soft voice comes through the phone and she smiles upon hearing it.

"Yeah, I was just headed home now actually."

"Oh okay, good. Wait, are you walking alone?" She can hear the concern laced in his voice, feeling herself go soft at his worry for her.

"Uh, I was," Amelie bites her lip, contemplating on if she should tell Ethan that she was no longer alone, and now with the boy she was making out with at the party. Again, they weren't dating, but why does she feel so guilty about being with another boy? "I'm not anymore, though."

"Who is with you?"

Ethan doesn't need her to answer, he knows. He can see Dean stand a couple of feet away from her, watching her pace back and forth as she was on the phone with him. His blood boils watching the boy even be so close to the girl, his girl. He was possessive and jealous when they weren't even official, he knows that, but fuck. He is the one who loves Amelie, he is the one who she got to kiss sober, and he is the one who she thought about when her lips were on Dean's.

"Uh, Dean, the uh-the guy from the party," Amelie grimaces, back turned to Dean so he couldn't see the expression on her face when she said his name.

The urge to take his knife and stab it right into his stomach, watch that stupid smirk fall off his face was so intense. He tried his best to not let his voice waver while on the phone, but his patience was running thin the longer he had to look at that guy and he hadn't even done anything. Besides ask for her number. He knew it was the perfect time to call her, again, but with his name this time around right as she was going to let him slip his number into her phone. Hopefully, fast enough to not give him enough time to do so.

"Oh."

"But, it's not like that. Don't worry," Amelie was quick to reassure him when she heard his short response.

Ethan chuckles through the phone, kind of glad that she was fast to let him know that it wasn't like that; like he had thought. "Just be careful around him, please. Call me if anything happens."

He then tells her to text him when she gets home, and that he was sorry for what he said with their friends. She reassures him that she is over it and to not worry, along with wishing him to enjoy his late class tonight, and that she will see him tomorrow.

Ethan stays where he is standing, watching the two walk off and thinks of ways he could get to Dean after he drops Amelie off. He would do something now, approach the two with his mask and cloak on but he doesn't want to scare Amelie. Nor does he want to hurt her, which will be suspicious if he only attacks Dean and not her. So, he stays in the shadows for now, thinking of having Amelie in his arms again and the satisfaction that will come from watching the blood flow out of Dean's body.

The night has now fallen, darkness surrounding the sky and only the lights of the lamp posts and the city to light it up. Amelie and Dean walk further for a couple of more minutes, Amelie checking behind her again every now and then to make sure no one was following them. Once they got close enough to where Amelie should be able to walk by herself, she stops them and thanks Dean for walking her home.

"Uh, my number saved, right?" Dean asks. He may sound desperate, and he knows it, but something about Amelie stuck out to him and he couldn't let it go.

"Yeah, it did," Amelie smiled at him. She looks behind him and her smile drops when she notices a tall figure watch them in the distance, the familiar face of the ghost mask staring back at her.

"We have to go, now," Amelie is quick to grab his hand and take them down a different route.

"What? What the hell is going on?" Dean notices the panic that fell upon Amelie's face when she looked behind him. She stays quiet and quickly pulls him along, wondering what the fuck she was going to do now with Ghostface following her.

"Amelie! What did you see?" Dean tugs at her hand and she looks back at him.

"You know the news you were talking about earlier? With the deaths of the students and the Ghostface masks?"

"Uh, yeah. Yes, I remember."

"I saw him, just now."

"What? That could have just been some rando dressing up as him."

"Dean," Amelie says his name so stern, it reminded him of the way a mother would scold her child. "Trust me, I just know."

"Yeah, okay, okay. I trust you, let's go around then," Dean nods his head at her, eyes wide at how quick paced this whole situation was. He could barely even register what was happening, only the pure panic and fear that Amelie reeked of.

Dean and Amelie manage to take a massive detour, thirty minutes later than what was expected and Amelie was starting to get texts and calls from her friends wondering where the hell she is. Dean ended up walking running with Amelie to her apartment building, taking the odd street or alleyway to ensure Ghostface wasn't following them. The two were panting as they stopped, and said their goodbyes.

"Hey, thanks again," Amelie says one last time. "And, be careful, please. Just look out for anyone being weird or following you."

"We live in New York, Amelie, there are many of weird-acting people," Dean tries and chuckles but stops when he sees her expression still hard and scared. "I will be careful, I promise."

"Thank you." Amelie sends him a tight lipped smile and heads inside her building, sprinting up the stairs and to her apartment door. What a long fucking day.

~

By the time Amelie gets home, she fills her friends in on what happened back at campus. From the phone calls, to Dean finding her, Ethan calling her, and then to them being stalked. They grew concerned as soon as she walked through her front door, panting with sweat covering her forehead. Anika even apologized profusely for listening to Amelie and leaving her by herself. Of course, Amelie tells her that it is not her fault and that she made it out okay, after all.

Sam suggest that they tell Detective Bailey about what happened, just to let him know that the killer was there with Amelie on campus, to which they do. She then gives him a rundown on what happened, who she was with, and where. He reassures her that he will try and see if there were any security cameras on campus where she was, to see if they can find anything with it. They hangup shortly after, which leads them to now, where Mindy and her get put in charge of setting the table together.

Mindy and Amelie start setting up the table by Amelie putting the plates down and Mindy following along with the cutlery.

“I’m glad you have Anika, you know,” Amelie breaks the peaceful silence and looks at Mindy. She is glad that they have moved past talking about what happened earlier, and decides to change the subject to something a bit more lively. “You can tell she makes you happy.”

“Thank you, Amie,” Mindy smiles bashfully at Amelie. “I know I ruled her as a suspect, but she has helped me, a lot. With everything after moving.”

Amelie nods her head in understanding. Her mind begins to wander as silence consumes the two again. With a new killer on the loose, she just hopes that the lives of her friends remain unharmed through it all. She thinks about Mindy and Anika’s relationship and the hope there is for the two of them. Along with her own friendship with the girl, and how she treasures Anika so dearly to her. “It can’t be Anika; I am sure of it.”

“I don’t want to lose her,” Mindy states to Amelie. For the first time, Mindy shows her weariness in this whole thing. Amelie thinks about Wes when Mindy talks about Anika. If there is anything that Amelie could do to go back and save him, and her dad, she would. She also doesn’t want her best friend to end up going through the same grief that she once did. Amelie shakes her head at Mindy and pulls the girl to look at her, “You won’t. I will do anything i can to make sure she stays alive.”

Amelie looks back to Anika on the couch, then to her friends to the kitchen and back at Mindy before letting out a laugh, “To keep you all alive, actually.”

Mindy shares a grateful smile with Amelie. The girl quickly became one of her best friends from the day she met her back at in Woodsboro and it hasn’t changed since. The two turn to the kitchen once they hear the conversation between Chad and Tara. They share a look of disgust before Amelie pretends to gag as Mindy holds her hair while cringing. It catches the attention of the couple, and they turn to see the two girls make a scene.

“Will you two just make out already?” Mindy says before letting go of Amelie’s hair. The shorter girl laughs while Chad pauses stirring the pasta and calls them inappropriate.

“Ugh, whatever,” Mindy replies and throws her hands up. “Get it over with.”

The two walk into the kitchen looking at one another with a sly smile and join Tara, Chad, and Sam.

“Sam, we do not have to stay here,” Mindy tells Sam. The older girl recruited them all back to their apartment to stay together after the small intervention Mindy had with them all. She figured that it would be better if they all stuck together, since they all know that the killer usually takes them out one by one when they are all alone. She also suggested that they make dinner and have a fun family night on, which of course, they couldn’t pass up the idea.

“Well, too bad. I insist,” Sam reaches for a bottle of red wine from on top of the fridge. “Safety in numbers.”

“This will be so fun, a little slumber party with the Force of Five,” Chad smiles and says excitedly, matching the expression of a small child.

“Force of Five?” Amelie questions him with a smirk.

“Did you just give us a nickname?” Tara adds in, looking at Chad.

“I sure did. I mean we’ve been through a lot together and, it’s a pretty cool nickname,” He smiles and nods.

“That’s debatable-” Sam mutters.

“-that’s extremely debatable” Tara adds to Sam’s comment.

“You can’t just give yourself a nickname, dingus.” Mindy says looking at her brother with sass.

“Oh, of course I can, dingus, because I just did.” He replies with attitude.

“Force of Five up top,” Her puts his hand up for Mindy to hit. “No.”

“Down below,” He moves to Tara. “Get that away from me.”

“Just one high-five, please, Amie,” He turns to Amelie, pleading with his eyes. She laughs and shakes her head at him.

“Please for the love of god,” He ends at Sam, with his hand still up.

“Don’t do it,” Mindy says looking at Sam. They all start to chuckle at the situation.

“You know, I would actually like a little more respect and support from the fellow members of the Force of Five-”

“Guys!” They hear Anika yell from the next room. “What the hell?”

As they all pile into the room, they hear the TV reporter start talking about how the prime suspect for the murders is Samantha Carpenter. The news channel shows the video of Sam pushing the girl, the same video they were showed down at the police station. As the reporter speaks about last year’s Woodsboro killings and Richie, Sam grabs the remote from Anika and turns the TV off then makes her way to the kitchen table and takes a seat. Tara soon follows her and takes a seat before engaging in a conversation. Amelie stands back with the other three to let the sisters have their space.

“These people are so full of shit,” Amelie shakes her head. Chad comes up behind Amelie and places his hand on her shoulder. “Yeah, yeah they are.”

From the kitchen table they overhear Sam talking about how she hates being so hated by everyone and they start walking towards the sisters.

“Hey, hey,” Chad starts, announcing their arrival. “Just a reminder, not a single person in this room hates you, okay? We have all been through some fucked up stuff and we are coping with it differently. But I mean we moved here together for one very specific reason; we are a team.”

Sam lets a smile through as her brimming eyes don’t release another tear.

“We are-“ Mindy speaks up “-the Force of the fucking Five.”

“Thank you very much,” Chad leans in to give her a high five and Amelie lets out a breathy laugh.

“I hate myself,” Mindy says as her hand connects with her brothers. They all share a chuckle and smile at each other before they speak at once, trying to get the rest of the girls to say the silly name Chad came up with.

“Say it.”

“No, I am not going to say it. I mean yes we’re a team but-“

“It doesn’t even rhyme that well-“

“I’ve been sleeping with cute boy from across the hall,” Sam confesses amidst the voices of her friends. She looks up, worried what her friends’ reactions may be until they all release themselves into a group of noise once more.

“Boom!”

“I knew it!”

“I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!”

“Called it!”

From just the other side of the hall, Sam’s newly revealed rendezvous man glances at the window that connects to their apartment, specifically into Quinn’s room. He makes an effort to call out, catching the attention of Ghostface, and tries his best to get someone’s attention from inside the apartment. While he waves his hands and yells out to gain their attention, the five friends put their hands in the middle to connect while laughing at the moment. Almost speaking him into existence, Sam’s phone rings as Danny’s contact brightens up the screen. Tara snatches the phone and shows the group of friends where they all start giggling and reach for it.

“No, Tara, no,” Sam says smiling.

“Hey, so, what are your intentions?” Tara jokingly answers the phone, and they laugh again.

“I’ll-I’ll call him back,” Sam says before declining the call. She just wants to enjoy the moment with her family around her. They all quiet down as they hear noises coming from Quinn’s room. The sound of moans and grunts exude past the barriers of the wall and the group smirks at each other.

“Oh, my god, Quinn and her gentleman caller are back at it again,” Tara says slyly.

“Hey, at least she is having a good time,” Amelie says with a smile.

"Just like you were at that party with Mr. Dreamy," Tara giggles at the girl, causing them all to smile and tease Amelie. Chad mentioning the smudged lipstick he caught on the boys lips.

“Get into it, okay,” Mindy also adds, looking towards the direction of Quinn’s door and then at Amelie, nudging her hand on the table.

Their giggles make another round but at a quieter volume this time around. Suddenly all of their phones make a noise as they presumably receive a text. Sharing a weird glance between the five, they all pick up their phones to take a look; an airdrop request from Danny pops up with a picture of Ghostface attacking Quinn from inside her room. The five and Anika all get up and rush to the outside of Quinn’s door where a blood curling scream erupts from behind the slab of wood, followed by the sound of thuds and crashes. They all pause and look towards the door. Amelie’s hand grabs onto Sam’s as they look straight ahead.

“We’re familiar with him,” Sam replies. She stares at the mask before looking away. All too familiar with him, actually. 

“The one that attacked us had a different mask on,” Tara noticed when she saw the mask in the bag. The detective looks confused at this. “It was kind of more beat up, like it was older.”

“Ah, I gotta ask, do you have alibis for earlier tonight?” Detective Bailey jumps into his next set of questions. So, one by one the three girls state where they were at.

“I was at a party with my friends,” says Tara.

“I was also at said party with our friends,” Amelie says next.

“I was at my therapists. I can give you his information, you can call to check if you want,” Sam says last. “And then I met these two at that party. Where I tased someone.”

Detective Bailey looks concerned. Interesting piece of information to tell the police, Amelie thinks, but at least she was being honest.

“Unrelated,” Sam quips, moving past it.

“Before or after this happened?” Bailey pulls his phone out to show the girls a video taken of Sam pushing the girl who threw a drink on her. Whoever took the video made it look like worse than it was, Sam was provoked, of course she was going to fight back.

“Before,” Sam looks away from the phone and speaks.

“Point is, we were with people all night,” Tara butts in.

After a brief moment of silence, something else seemed to peek Sam’s interest in this whole thing. “So, our roommates dad just happened to pull our case.”

“That had to be a crazy coincidence, right?” Detective Bailey peers back to Sam where he sees her nod. “The detective who had the case offered to give it to me because it involves Quinn, but I can totally give it back if you’re uncomfortable. Up to you.”

Sam looks beside her at Amelie who turns to Sam. She shrugs her shoulders in response, maybe it was better to have him on the case. They live with his daughter anyways, so they have to be safe, right? Sam shakes her head and lets the detective know it’s fine but she still looks suspicious.

“So, if the man who attacked you did steal your license and plant it next to the body, then that will probably be someone close to you,” The detective states as he begins his next round of questions. “How long have you known your friends?”

“Well, we moved here with Mindy and Chad for summer semester like six months ago. So, Quinn, Ethan, Anika is all,” Tara decides to speak up since Sam has done the majority of it their time here.

“Well, I think I can vouch for Quinn so that’s one less we have to worry about,” At that, Tara turns to look at Amelie beside her and they share a quick look. They trust Quinn, sure, but they he was quick to cover his daughter. “Do any of you have anyone who might want to target you?”

“Not anyone who’s still alive,” Amelie finally speaks up for the second time since entering the room.

His eyes widen before saying “Yikes.”

The door then opens, and an officer lets Bailey know that the FBI is here, and his jurisdiction is needed. As soon he steps out of the room all the girls let out a breath of air. Sam looks to Amelie who sits beside her, “You okay?”

It feels like everyone around her is asking if she’s okay so often recently. “Yeah, I just need to get out of these clothes”

“Don’t worry, we are getting the hell out of here now” Sam says out of relief as she stands up.

Soon enough the three girls are getting walked out by an officer before Sam looks into the room they are passing where Detective Bailey is and sees a face she recognizes “Kirby?”

“Hey, Sam,” Kirby looks up and sees Sam. Kirby gives Sam a hug and puts her hand on Tara and Amelie’s shoulder to acknowledge them. “You’ve grown, Amelie.”

“You’re the FBI?” Sam looks at Kirby quizzically, the last time she saw her she was a student in high school and was a part of the recent attacks by Ghostface. Amelie recognizes her briefly from all those years ago. That attack was the first time she ever saw Ghostface and was when it all began for her. She was only a child, and her dad did his absolute best to shield her from what was happening, but she remembers his fear of it coming back. She also recalls that Kirby was one of the last survivors from that attack.

“You know each other?” Detective Bailey asks when he sees the small reunion.

“Yeah, we went to Woodsboro high together. She was a senior when I was a freshman.”

“We share a certain history, yeah.”

Kirby then talks to the detective about her file on the case and offers to share. Amelie zones it out, she didn’t care that much, and she just wanted to leave. She was tired and none of them have had a blink of sleep all night from all the back-to-back action that these past 24 hours has packed in. Amelie starts to concentrate in on the conversation when she sees a new evidence bag placed in the detective’s hands, the mask left from the bodega.

“DNA traces to two individuals; Charlie Walker and Jill Roberts, both deceased,” The detective reads the writing on the bag out loud to the group of girls. Amelie looks at Kirby and she sees the distant glaze covering her eyes.

“Ghostface killers of 2011. Charlie Walker gave me this,” Kirby lifts her shirt up and shows her scar that rested on her side. “Like I said, I take a special interest. Was this the mask he was wearing when he attacked you?”

“No,” Tara shakes her head at the question.

“So, he’s leaving them on purpose,” Detective Bailey gathers.

“Which means whoever is doing this is a student of the killers who came before. Maybe he believes Sam is the latest in a long line,” Kirby suggests, looking at Sam. Though Sam looks like she wants nothing to do with it.

“Yeah, goodluck with that. We’re getting out of town,” Sam grabs both Amelie’s and Tara’s shoulders as she turns them around to start walking out of the station. Their moves halt when Detective Bailey lets them know they can’t. “I’m sorry that’s not possible. You’re all persons of interest in a double homicide, so you’re not allowed to leave town, sorry.”

“He’s right, but if we work together-“ Kirby tries again, thinking that maybe if she offers to help Sam and the girls then it would will them to stay.

“We’re going,” Sam says pointedly. Her decision was already made, and Sam was not going to involve herself, and especially not Tara and Amelie, in a direct investigation to find out who the killer is this time. She has built up so much paranoia over the last year and clearly, it was worthy.

The girls push through the doors of the police station to be greeted by a swarm of people with microphones and cameras, all yelling out different questions for the girls to answer. Sam walks behind the girls and pushes at both their shoulders to shove past the people and ignore their questions. They were not going to get a word, nor a reaction from the three and Sam was going to make sure of it. As they manage to push through the crowd and walk towards their Taxi waiting for them on the side of the road, they hear a voice quip up. Gale.

“Gale Weathers, Channel four. Do you ladies think you’re the reason the Ghostface killer has come to the big apple?”

Amelie’s eyes widen when she sees Sam swing and Gale ducks. “Nice try sweetie, but I’ve done this dance before.”

Tara sees her opportunity and lands a punch on Gale. “Stay away from us.”

Sam grabs Amelie’s hand to keep her walking with them instead of turning back to go with Gale. She knows the woman means a lot to Amelie and vice versa, but she also knows that Gale is conniving and is trying to worm her way into the situation again.

“Are you really still mad at me?” Gale recovers quickly from the punch and chases after the girls. Guess after all that practice, she’s learned how to recover fast.

“You said you weren’t going to write a book about what happened, and then you wrote a book about what happened.” Sam says angrily to Gale.

“Oh, come on, somebody was gonna to write about it. That’s what I do,” Gale replies, trying to reason with the angry sister. 

“I heard you couldn’t sell the movie rights,” Tara questions, looking at Gale with a curious, but sarcastic, look on her face.

“It’s-it’s all about true crime limited series these days,” Gale attempts to defend herself. Yeah, her attempt to have movie rights didn’t go as she planned but she was not about let the girls know it got to her.

“It-it's just that after everything we went through together, Gale, everything you and my dad went through-“ Amelie finally speaks up. She understands where the sister’s frustration was coming from, she felt it back when she first read the book. She was also incredibly tired and heavy from the blood on her clothes, making her all the more irritable. “-what would Dewey think?”

Gale stares at Amelie in shock and pain flashes across her eyes. She looks as if she just got stabbed, not expecting that from Amelie of all people. “That was a low blow.”

“So was your book. You called me unstable and born killer.” Sam spikes back to Gale. She really wishes she could have landed that punch on Gale because her frustration is peaking again.

“That was taken out of context.”

“That’s literally a quote.”

“You don’t think what you wrote has something to do with what is happening to us?” Tara asks Gale and shakes her head.

“Come on,” Sam says, and the three make their way to a taxi. Right before they began to step into the car, Gale called out which halted their movements.

“Hey, I talked to Sidney.”

“She’s not coming here, is she?” Sam asks with concern. She can’t have Sidney come back here and go through this all again for the sixth time. This was her battle, her fight.

“No, she sends her love but she’s taking Mark and the kids some place safe. She deserves to have her happy ending,” Gale responds which sends a wave of relief in the younger girls in front of Gale.

“Then that much we agree,” Sam says before she ushers Amelie into the taxi and her following.

“Wait! Mel!” Gale calls and Amelie looks at her from inside the taxi. Mel was a nickname given to Amelie by Gale and only she was reserved to call her that. When she was a really young girl and her dad married Gale, the older women cared for her like she was her own. This included giving her a nickname that only Gale called her, and Amelie cherished the name so much. “I tried calling you, earlier.”

“Yeah, I know,” she says, nodding her head. “I-I wanted to answer but-“

“-but I declined it for her,” Sam interrupts her. She was done talking to Gale and needed them to leave, now. Maybe she might get the chance to take that swing at Gale after all.

“Hey! I want to catch this fucker as much as you do,” Gales calls out one more time as Sam follows Amelie into the back of the taxi. With just Tara left to get in she finishes the conversation.

“Maybe. Or maybe you’re just afraid that without Ghostface in your life, you’re gonna fade away.”

~

Back at the apartment, Quinn received a text from her dad and let the group know that there was another Ghostface attack at the bodega and the three girls were there. She let the group know that they got taken to the station for questioning and should be on their way home soon. Amelie also sent Ethan a quick text letting him briefly know they had a run in with the killer and were on their way. She did promise to call him if they had any trouble and while she didn’t get the chance to do that, she figured a brief text would have to suffice for that. The rest of the friends stayed at their apartment, worried about the girls as they were out. After hearing from Quinn everything that happened, they decided to stay until they come back to make sure they were okay and because they wanted to show their support. Amelie, Tara, and Sam are their best friends, their family, and they will do what they need to make sure they are okay.

So, when the front door of the apartment opens and in walks three sweaty girls with one who also has blood covering her pants and some of her shirt, the friends rise from their seats and rushes to them.

Mindy gasps when she sees Amelie and rushes to her side. “Oh my god, Amie, are you okay?”

Ethan perks up even more after hearing Mindy and looks at Amelie. He sees the distant look in her eyes and heads to stand next to her as well. The group, with looks of concern, wait patiently for any one of the girls to start speaking so that’s what Sam does. She explains everything that happened from leaving the apartment down to getting into the taxi.

Amelie can feel the eyes on her, she does have blood stains on her covering her, so it is within reason, and she probably reeks of iron. “We were running out of the bodega, and I slipped on some guy’s blood and fell in it. It’s not mine, don’t worry.”

Mindy from beside her holds Amelie’s arm as she tries to take her shoes off, that also have blood covering them. Guess those will also have to go, she thinks. Amelie continues to speak as she kicks the shoes off her feet, “I just need to get these clothes off of me and take a shower.”

Ethan stares at the red stains on her and feels angry again. Though he is relieved that the blood is not hers, he knows that it could have been her blood and it could have been her body they were picking up onto a gurney and placing in a bag.

“Well, we’re glad you guys are okay,” Anika says as she walks with Amelie and Mindy to her room.

“Yeah, me too,” Amelie says with a grateful smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She almost felt as if the blood was hers and she was stabbed all over again by the amount of attention she was getting from this. She was grateful her friends care so much, but it was almost too overwhelming. Mindy and Anika leave the room to let Amelie get changed and take a shower where she is left by herself and her thoughts. As she peels the first layer of her clothes off a knock comes from door, and she rolls her eyes. God, she just wants to be left alone after everything. She stalks to her door in only her tank top and pants now and opens the door to reveal Ethan who looks concerned.

“What’s up?” She stays at the entry and holds the doorknob.

“I’m sorry if I am bothering you, I just wanted to make sure you’re doing okay,” Ethan says nervously. He looks down to see if she is still wearing the clothes and she is, just less than before. Her tank top has some blood stains which must have leaked through from the long sleeve she was previously wearing. Blush rises to his cheeks, realizing he just subtly checked her out before looking back into her eyes where she appears tired and sunken in, though there is a hint of amusement laced in her expression.

“I am doing okay, Ethan. I was just about to take a shower, anyways,” She replies and nudges her head to the bathroom across the hall from her room.

“Oh okay, yeah, I guess you should do that,” Ethan nods his head before his expression changes, and he furrows his eyebrows. “Wait-wait, not that you need to or anything, it’s just because you have blood on you and stuff and you probably just want to get clean from everything, sorry.”

Amelie manages to let out a chuckle and shakes her head at him. “I know what you meant, don’t worry.”

She looks at him and thinks about everything that has happened this past night. She has been wanting to be alone this whole time to just be able to lay down and clean up but maybe being with someone won’t be as bad tonight as she thought. Because as she looks at him now, she can see that he cares and that he wants to be there for her. All this time she has refused her feelings down for him because she was so scared of what may happen if she acted upon it. She has a pretty good feeling that he also likes her the same way she does him, maybe even more, so she makes up her mind. She is so tired of feeling scared all the time and if she’s going to be fearful, then it’s going to be something worth being scared about and not about some boy. Time seems to run too fast in her world and she has learned that the hard way.

“Uhm, would you want to, maybe, stay? For a bit? I-I will go get clean and stuff, but you can just chill here, and we can hang out after I’m done? If you’re not busy, of course,” Amelie looks at him nervously now as she proposes the idea to him. Please say yes and make me not look like a total fool.

“Yeah, of course.” Ethan looks shocked that she asked and nods his head rapidly. He clears his throat, "I would give you a hug, but uh, I am not too keen on swapping blood."

“I will be right back, then you can give me a hug. Free of blood transfers,” Amelie smiles and lets him into her room before exiting to the bathroom. Ethan takes a seat on her desk chair, not wanting to sit on her bed without his permission and smiles to himself. All the anger he felt earlier has evaporated from his body and nothing but excitement and joy has replaced it. Something about her asking him to stay with her just makes his tummy feel funny and makes him think that waiting all this time to let her get close to him was worth it. He knows that they have hung out along countless times before, but something about it feels different.

Ethan sends a quick text to Chad to just let him know that he was staying with Amelie for the next couple of hours, to which Chad replies with a finally man! Guess you did listen and make a move, get it roomie :) and then followed it with but pls take care of her though, she could probably use it.

Soon enough Amelie enters the room again with wet hair and clothed in some shorts and a large pyjama shirt. Ethan looks up quickly at the girl and puts the picture frame he had in his hand back on her desk.

“I-I’m sorry, I wasn’t snooping or anything, it was just there,” Ethan says nervously as he looks at her anxiously. He recognized her dad, of course he did, he was one of the legacy survivors of the original Ghostface attacks. So, he looked at the photo to see her smile so wide, he didn’t know she had the capability of doing so. He wonders if he could have ever had the same relationship with his dad as she did with Dewey and he feels jealous, almost, that even with everything that was currently planned with his family, he would never get that same amount of love. Guilt also begins to eat away at his stomach as he thinks of his family’s plans, knowing that they are the same plans that took away the person she cared about the most. But he also knows how it feels to lose a family member. Though, the circumstances are very different, and while he seeks revenge, she looks for comfort. While anger is ridden in both the young adults, the two use it to their advantage in very different ways.

Amelie notices his panicky actions and walks towards him where she grabs his hands to pull him up from her desk chair and wraps her arounds around his torso, finally getting that hug. Ethan is quick to wrap his arms around her and hold her tight. Amelie closes her eyes and places her head on his chest, listening to his heart and the silence of her room. Ethan smiles at her action and rests his cheek on the top of her head. They don't hug often, Amelie is not one to be very touchy with her friends, but any time that it has happened, it feels so nice. Her height was perfect to place directly on his chest, near his neck and his large frame was so comforting as it wraps around her. The two feel so content being engulfed in each others presence. Not only did Amelie need this hug after everything that has happened over the past night, but hugging Ethan just felt so normal.

Although Amelie nor Ethan want to pull away, Amelie does so she can finally put some ointment on her throbbing palms. She picks the frame back up from the desk and then heads to sit on the edge of her bed. Looking back at her was an old photo of her dad and her. She remembers the day the photo was taken; it was a couple of months before the attacks last year when they went to go visit Sidney for the weekend. She had to practically force him to snap the photo with her, but she was glad she did. He smiles down at her while she stares at the camera with a smile almost as bright as the sun. Amelie smiles now as she looks at the photo and traces her finger along the side of the frame.

Ethan makes his way to her and takes a seat on the side of the bed with her. It felt so wrong to be messing with her like this, but he had to keep it up. “That’s your dad, right?”

“Yeah,” Ethan watches her nod and his heart seizes when he sees the pain in her eyes. “He was the best.”

Amelie reaches over by her bedside table and places the photo down on it before picking up a small tube of cream. She needed to stop looking at the picture for too long or else tonight would become another one of the countless nights where she would sob as she held something of her dads to sleep. Ethan can tell that she probably wanted to continue talking about her dad but still found it difficult to.

Amelie opens up the ointment and begins to attempt to put some cream on her palms to help prevent an infection from all the cuts the glass caused and winces. She sees Ethan staring at her hands out of the corner fo her eye. “We had to crawl and there was shattered glass everywhere. Some of it just cut through my hand. Not bad enough for stitches, thankfully.”

Ethan listens to her and pictures her at the bodega, scared with blood on her hands. He hates that, although he didn’t do it himself, he is part of the reason that it happened. He glances down again at her hands, raw and cut, “I can help if you want. It may be a bit easier for you if you’re not doing it.”

Amelie looks at him and passes over the cream. She faces her palms up and pushes them closer to him.

“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” Ethan mutters as he begins to lightly spread of the ointment over her palm. Even though her palms are cut, her hands are soft, and he wishes he could hold them all day long. This was the closest he has ever been to her and he is shitting himself. He can feel the heat of her body and smell the scent of her conditioner, itching to get closer but he knows he should just focus on getting her hands all cleaned up.

“You couldn’t,” Amelie all but whispers bravely as she looks up at him through her eyelashes. He was so pretty, and she was really realizing it now in this moment. His brown eyes so soft and lips so full. His curly hair looks so soft, Amelie almost wants to touch it and wrap a curl around her finger. The pad of his finger runs over one of the deeper cuts and she winces, then chuckles, “Maybe you could.”

Ethan looks up at her finally and gives her a smile. She is so close to him that all he had to do was lean forward and their lips could be attached. He briefly closes his eyes to rid himself of his thoughts, so he doesn’t get ahead of himself and re-opens then. He licks his lips before whispering, “Tell me about your dad.”

She looks at him with furrowed eyebrows. Whatever she was thinking that he was going to say next, that was not it. But, although she was a little shocked he wanted her to talk about her dead dad and that he was so willing to listen, she also wouldn’t pass up a chance to talk so greatly about him. “Uh, well, he was a cop for a long time before he decided to retire just before he died.

He had a sister, my aunt Tatum, who I never got to meet, but he always talked about her so highly and I could tell that he loved her a lot. Which is where i got my middle name; Amelie Tatum Riley. I only ever lived with him and rarely saw my mom because she was apparently always too busy, but I think my dad just said that so it would hurt my feelings a little less. He also was my best friend, and I would talk to him about everything. He would teach me how to defend myself since I was little, in case I ever needed to, which I guess came in handy, huh? But he would also tell me after every session or lesson that I shouldn’t need to worry too much about using my skills because he would be there to protect me from harm no matter where he was.”

Ethan looks at her intently as he also switches hands to start applying the cream onto her other palm. She has a faint smile lingering on her lips as she talks about Dewey and Ethan can’t help but be captivated by her as she speaks so fondly about the man that raised her.

“He would always show up to any recital or performance I had as a child because he swore he was always my number one fan. And at least once a week he would try to find time so we could go out to eat at this dinner back in Woodsboro,” Amelie takes a pause and lets out a breathy laugh. “He was also still into Gale, one hundred percent but he just would never admit it to me. I am sure he knew that I knew, though. I think that sometimes he wishes that he could have ended up with Gale and that she was my mom, but he didn’t really like to talk about it too much.”

Ethan finishes up and closes the tube of cream before handing it back to Amelie. Amelie takes one more pause from her speech about her father before finishing up, deciding to end it soon or she may feel inclined to start crying and she was absolutely not going to be doing that in front of Ethan. “He was just the best dad, and I wish I could have had more time with him.”  

“He sounds like an amazing father. You were really lucky,” Ethan smiles at her, but that bitter feeling arises again. She did have a great dad and he would give just about anything to experience that same fatherly love she did with his own dad, but he guesses that he is, just in a completely different way. “And I’m sorry for, you know, your loss.”

“Yeah, he was,” She nods as she looks down at her now ointment treated hands. “And thank you. For asking me and listening and-” she holds her hands up briefly “-for this.”

She smiles in appreciation and puts the cream down on her side table. As she reaches over, her hair falls past her shoulder and down her back where her scar becomes visible to Ethan’s eye. Almost as if she can feel the tissue exposed, she takes her hair and places it back over her shoulder, ashamed of the mark.

She leans back over from her side table and sits back a bit further onto her bed to lean against the wall. Ethan scoots back towards her but doesn’t lean up against the wall just yet. Instead, he decides to fuck it and brushes her hair from off her shoulder to expose the scar once more. Maybe it was sick and twisted that he wanted to see it, see what his dead brother’s girlfriend did to her but he had to take a look. So, he did, and she let him.

Her breathe hitched in her throat as his fingers delicately traced over the line just above her collarbone, on the base of her neck. If she was going to let him in, then she might as well keep breaking more of her boundaries tonight.

“I got it last year from the last Ghostface attacks,” She whispers and looks straight ahead at her at the picture collage wall. One’s of her and her current roommates, some with Chad and Mindy, Wes, and the very few with Liv. Some with her dad and other group photos where she cut Amber’s figure out of them.

“Yeah, I-I figured,” Ethan whispers back. Although he obviously knew where she got it from, he played it off as just knowing from hearing it around. He feels sick again thinking about the fact that she got hurt from all of this and he vows to make sure she doesn’t get hurt the same way again, not on purpose or by the hands of his family.  

“I also have a couple more but this-“ She gestures to her neck “-is the most visible, obviously.”

Ethan continues to trace the mark back and forth before looking at Amelie’s face to see how she is reacting. He is so screwed, and his dad is going to kill him for getting so invested in a girl, Dewey’s daughter nonetheless, but he just can’t help it. He knows how easily it would be for him to wrap his hands around her neck and kill her, one less person to get rid of for his dad and brother but he can’t do it and he just won’t. He feels the urge to protect her and wants to keep her safe from this whole plan, safe from getting hurt again.

Amelie looks at Ethan, feeling his eyes on her and they stare at one another. Ethan feels his heart leap and is wondering if this is what it’s like to actually be with someone you like. He has never been this close to a girl before so he’s wondering if the nerves is from his lack of experience or because he is finally getting his moment with the girl he has been crushing on for months now.

“Amelie-” Ethan pauses his movement on her scar and says her name.

“Amie,” Amelie cuts him off. “You can call me Amie. You always call me Amelie, but you can call me Amie.”

“Alright, Amie,” Ethan smiles and lets out a laugh. "I don't really know why, I guess everyone just calls you Amie, huh?"

Amelie smiles as he continues to move his fingers so delicately across the pink tissue. "You know...

I don't think you have to be so scared about hiding it so much. It's beautiful, in a way. You're a survivor."

"I just, I don't know..." Amelie pauses and swallows. She can feel her stomach turn inside out and she is almost tempted to tell him to stop so she can ensure she wouldn't throw up. And the way Ethan is touching her so gently, and looking at her so soft, she just might. "...am ashamed of it. It's gross, and people just stare when they see it. Especially when they know who was the one that did it to me."

"Well, people are stupid," Ethan smiles at her. The tension building between the two makes him want to scream out, tell her how beautiful she is, and kiss her face. But, he has never done that before and there is always this impending fear that she will never see him in that light. "And a scar means shit. People don't know a thing, but you do."

"And not that my word really matters, but uh," Ethan continues on and swallows any of his nerves. So very uncharacteristic of him, he tilts his head and leans towards her neck, delicately placing a small kiss on the scar. "It is nothing to be ashamed of, you're beautiful."

Amelie's heart picks up and she is surprised that Ethan can't hear it pound out of her chest. She almost can't breathe, the tension is too unbearable, and she just wants him to lift his head so he can kiss her instead.

In the back of her mind, she can hear screaming voice call to her, telling her to be careful and maybe not trust Ethan so easily, the same voice she heard back at the party with Dean. He seems to be too gentle with her to be a killer in disguise. Then again, so was Richie and Billy and Stu and Charlie. But it feels so right being here this close to him, feels so good to be held by his soft hands. Being this close to Ethan is exactly what she was picturing in her head when her lips were attached to Dean's, and now it is almost happening. So, once again, she decides to screw what her head is screaming at her and leans in closer to Ethan, giving him the hint to lift his head from her scar. He takes it and raises his head, now unbelievably close to the girls face. He can smell her coconut conditioner and the mint from her toothpaste, and is craving to taste her.

"You're not with that guy, right?" Ethan whispers, his breathe hitting Amelie's face and its intoxicating. "The one from the party."

Amelie looks in his eyes, her lids are heavy and vision glazed. She shakes her head lightly, "no."

"You know..." Amelie licks her bottom lip, it catching Ethan's eye and his breathe hilts in his throat.

"I was thinking of you when I was with him."

Ethan nearly lets out a groan. She was trying to kill him, he was sure of it.

Ethan brings one hand up, brushing a piece of fallen hair behind her ear and rests his hand there. Hearing those words did something to him, and he knew he needed to feel her lips on his this very moment. Knowing that she felt the same way as him made him more than relieved, especially knowing that he was on her mind when she had her lips on another boy. A small smirk raises on his lips. "Good."

She knows she should listen to the voice and be weary, fear who Ethan might be but in this moment she doesn’t care. So, she looks in his eyes one more time to see if there lays any hesitation or discomfort, and when she finds nothing but want and adoration, she leans in and finally lets their lips touch.

Ethan can feel how soft her lips are and never wants to pull away. He has been craving this since he first laid eyes on her, and now it is finally happening. He lets out a sigh of relief, his hand on her hip tightening to restrain the urge and desire in his body. Their lips together, touching one another felt so right, and they wonder why they haven't done that sooner. Their kiss lasts for all of three seconds before Amelie's door cracks open.

“Hey Amie, I brought you some tea-“ Quinn opens her bedroom door and begins before her eyes widen at the sight of the two teens in front of her. Amelie and Ethan jump apart at the sound of the redhead’s voice and Amelie scoots up the edge of her bed and away from the wall she was leaning on. She clears her throat and looks at Quinn with stern eyes before running her hands across her face. “I am so sorry, I-I didn’t know anyone else was here with you, Amie.”

“No, it-it’s okay, Quinn. Maybe knock next time, yeah? I don’t know just an idea,” Amelie shrugs and says sarcastically before standing up and making her way to stand in front of Quinn. The older girl looks at Amelie and mouths an I’m so sorry while handing her the cup of tea in her hand. Amelie looks back and sees Ethan stand up from her bed and pull down at the hem of his shirt.

“That is the second roommate I have done that to within the last day, I am such a cockblock. I’m so sorry,” Quinn says shaking her head as she takes the handle of the door and begins to back out of the room. “I made you the tea to, you know, maybe make you feel better after everything. I-sorry, I’m just gonna-“

“I’m sorry for whatever I said back there, I get where you are coming from, just trying to move on and all and I’m here just teaming up with Sam which I am sure did not help whatsoever,” Amelie shakes her head and speaks to Tara sincerely. She was angry, yes, but she also shouldn’t have jumped the boat and get mad at Tara like she did.

“No, no, no, don’t apologize, Amie, I should not have said what I did back there,” Tara says and puts her hands on either side of Amelie’s arms. “We all went through tough shit, but I cannot say anything about how you are feeling because what you went through was worse than what anyone of us did.”

Amelie’s eyebrows furrow in confusion, yeah what she experienced was bad, but Tara can’t just say she had it less than what Amelie did. “No, Tara, look. We both went through awful stuff, and we shouldn’t compare, really.”

“You guys are my family, really. Since my, uh, my dad-“ She pauses and swallows the lump in her throat before continuing. “Died. My mom just kind of wants nothing to do with me as much as she used to. Well, she didn’t much anyway which is why I was living with my dad but, you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” Tara replies nodding her head. “I’m just sorry- still. You are my family, too and I love you and I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I forgive you,” Amelie chuckles. “I love you, too.”

The two girls hug for a minute before releasing. Tara’s hands remain on Amelie’s arms as she lowers her voice. “Chad and I had a moment before you came here.”

“I knew it!” Amelie’s eyes widen as a smile creep up onto her face. “I figured there was something going on between you two.”

Tara shushes her but can’t contain the grin on her face as she smiles back at the brunette in front of her. Tara’s eyes look out the kitchen to peer into the living room where Ethan is sitting and looks back at Amelie with her eyebrows raised. Amelie can tell what Tara was wanting to say, but instead brought up Dean. "So, that guy you had a steamy makeout with?"

Amelie blushed at the mention of being caught making out with the guy, about to fill her in about Dean before they got interrupted by Chad who told them to come into the living room. Tara looks at Amelie again, “we will continue this later.”

Amelie nods and smiles before heading to the chair Ethan was sitting on and places herself on the arm of the single chair. The left side of her body touching Ethan at every move she makes.

Sam walks in shortly after with their neighbour from across the hall, recognizing him from whenever she would catch Sam looking at him shirtless through the window.

“Cute boy, nice,” Quinn comments with a smile when she sees the boy behind Sam.

Suddenly everyone in the room quiets down as they invest to the news that is on the TV. A reporter looks to be at a crime scene where he talks about two bodies, by the names of Jason and Greg, that were found dead in their apartment. Amelie stiffens as the reporter continues. This felt familiar, all too familiar for her and she hated it.

“Holy shit, that’s that chode from our film studies class. The one obsessed with Argento,” Mindy gasps when the reporter said the names of the bodies. Amelie remembers him now; Jason was the guy who stopped Tara and her when they were on the way to the party to ask if Sam was going.

She zoned back into the reporter to hear him start talking about how Jason and Greg collected various Ghostface costumes in their apartment. She felt her throat seize and her hands start to tremble. No, God please no, not again.

“Oh, my god,” Amelie says out of breath, though she hasn’t moved she feels as though the wind has been completely knocked out of her. She turns to look at the sisters beside her and they share a look, they all had the same feeling that it is starting again.

“Pack a bag, we leave in ten,” Sam says as she rushes to the kitchen. “You too, Amelie.”

“Sam! Wait, Sam!” Tara calls out to her as she rises from her seat. Amelie gets up but doesn’t make any moves to advance. Ethan sits up straighter in his chair and watches as Amelie’s mood plumets again for the fourth time this evening. He quickly glances to the couch where Quinn sits, and she gives him a pointed look ever so subtly. And so it begins, he thinks. But God, did he ever hate how scared it was making Amelie.

“We are getting out of the city,” Sam says from the kitchen. Amelie can hear shuffling from the living room and sighs heavily before running her hand through her hair.

“What?” Danny calls quizzically as he also hears Sam’s plan on leaving. He was beyond lost and Amelie could tell he had no clue what was happening or why the tension in the air became so thick.

“Thank you very much suspicious new guy, but I think we got it from here. Goodnight, get home safe, go, go, go, go,” Chad took his que and began shooing Danny out of the apartment. He closes the door and makes sure to lock it.

“Sam! Sam!” Tara calls out to Sam. It seems as if Sam as also gone tunnel vision, focusing on browsing a weapon and getting the hell out of their apartment as fast as she could go.

“Hold on,” Sam says as she picks a knife and walks back to the living room.

“Woah, woah, Sam” Amelie finally sees the knife in Sam’s hand and advances towards her to put the sharp object down.

“Wait, let’s talk about this for a second because this-this might not have anything to do with us,” Tara tries again to try and reason with Sam before she continues to panic.

“Are you serious?” Sam replies incredulously.

“It’s a big city! It’s Halloween, everybody is wearing masks!” Tara tries to rationalize with Sam. She made a big deal earlier that night about not wanting to dwell on that past, on Ghostface, and then suddenly a murder is committed on students who had a ghost face shrine. Is it suspicious that the mask has had relevancy in the crime? Yes. But could it just be a massive coincidence? Absolutely.

“Tara, Tara, this isn’t a coincidence. You knew him,” Almost as if she read Tara’s mind.

“Barely,” Tara replies weakly.

“Chad, Mindy, Amie, back me up,” Sam needs reassurance. She is so certain that this is happening again and she doesn’t want to feel crazy for being the only one to think so.

“I mean it is a little bit-“ Chad begins with a pained look on his face.  

“Close to home,” Mindy finishes for Chad and puts another piece of popcorn into her mouth.

Sam nods in relief and looks towards the short girl who hasn’t said anything yet. “Amelie?”

She looks at Sam and then Tara and then the Twins. Tara is not going to like this, but she can’t help the sinking feeling in her gut at this whole situation. So, with a grimace she agrees. “It does feel all too familiar, Tara.”

“See?”

“Well, Quinn! Your dad’s a cop, right? Can you call him and find out what’s going on?” She says looking at their red-headed roommate before turning back to Sam “Before you make the Unilateral decision to abandon our college education-“ Tara gestures with her hand between herself and Amelie ”-and flee the fucking state.”

“I’m calling him now,” Quinn pipes up with her phone already to her ear.

“Thank you,“ Tara sighs.

Suddenly Sam’s phone starts ringing and the group of friends all jump, looking towards the noise. Sam slowly advances to it with Tara and Amelie hot on her tail.

“Who is it?” Tara asks when she sees Sam peer down at her phone on the table. Amelie glances and sees Gale’s name on the screen before rushing to try and pick it up herself “Hey! You should answer-“  

Before she gets the chance to swipe the phone Sam declines the call. She looks at Sam incredulously, “What the hell? You should have answered it.”

“No, Amie, we cannot talk to her. Especially right now, actually,” Sam shakes her head. It felt like Sam was Amelie’s older sister, being scolded and told not to do stuff. She understands why she doesn’t want any of them talking to Gale since she did write about them in her new book, as usual, but it was Gale. Her dad’s Gale. As Amelie was about to fight back, her phone began ringing in her back pocket. The group of friends jumped again at the second ringing phone.

“Why did everyone just freak out when her phone rang?” Ethan asks and then adds, “Again?”

He knew why, of course he knew why, but he couldn’t have them thinking that he did. So, he plays confused and innocent just like he was meant to do.

“You got to keep up my dude,” Anika replies, almost tiredly.

Amelie pulls her phone out and sees Gale’s name pop up again. Sam looks at her and shakes her head. “No, no, do not answer it.”

“But Sam, it’s Gale, okay? I know Gale-“ Amelie starts before Sam reaches over and presses decline on her phone again. “Sam, what the hell?”

“Yeah, and I know her too, Amie,” Sam says. Sure, Gale helped them a lot back at the attacks that happened last year but since then, she has done nothing good for Sam and she will hold to that. Amelie gets where she is coming from, really. Gale had promised to not write another book about the trauma's of the new Ghostface murders, and then she did just that. Amelie looks back down at her phone when she feels it vibrate.

Gale: Did you see the news?

Gale: Mel, please call me.

Gale: I think it is happening again.

Gale: I love you, stay safe. Please let me know if you need anything.

Amelie was angry at Gale at the beginning, after what felt like forever she finally brought herself to read the new book and was just so mad when it came to parts that alluded to her and her dad. Luckily for her though, Gale couldn't find it in her to write such crude things about her like she did to Amelie's friends. But, Amelie managed to get over any negative feelings towards Gale after they got into an argument about the whole situation. Gale was also the last adult figure she had in her life who genuinely cared for her, and after losing Dewey, she couldn't afford losing Gale, too.

“Sam, my dad wants to talk to you,” Quinn perks up again and begins handing the phone to Sam.

“Mr. Bailey, hi.”

~

Soon enough they heard that Sam needed to head to the police station because Quinn’s dad needs to talk to her. After finding out that her license was at the crime scene, Sam’s nerves seemed to rise even higher than they were before. After all the public humiliation she has already faced from the accusations that she was the last Woodsboro killer and that her ex was innocent, she felt like this was another ploy in someone’s plan. How the hell did her ID end up at the crime scene?

As Sam rushes out the door with her coat in hand, Tara and Amelie look at each other already with the same idea in mind. The two girls go to grab their coats in their respected rooms before coming back out and head to the door. There was no way they would let Sam go off by herself, if Sam wants to be protective over them then they are also going to be of her. As Amelie walks closer to the door and slips her shoes on, Ethan comes up to her and grabs her arm to stop moving. She looks up at him curiously.

“Maybe you should just stay here, with us,” Ethan gestures his head back to the rest of the group that is sitting in the living room still. Chad who stands the closest to the two nods at Ethan’s words. “You don’t know what could happen out there with just the three of you, especially if there is a killer out there.”

“I will be fine, Ethan, trust me,” Amelie pulls her arm out of his hold to slip her hand down to grab his. “I just can’t let Sam go by herself.”

Ethan looks at her, pleading her with his eyes to just stay here with them. He isn’t sure where this confidence has come from. Sure, he sees her often and they hang out quite a bit from being in the same friend group and all, but he is always so nervous to make a move to even talk to her. Maybe her forwardness this whole night with him has given him some courage or the need to prove he is better than Dean, he isn’t sure, but he just knows that he wants to try his best to keep her from leaving the apartment. He wants her safe, that isn’t a lie, but he also needs her to stay away from Sam so she doesn’t get hurt. His dad won’t stop his conquest and won’t hesitate to hurt anyone in his way, no matter their importance to his son.

Amelie sees that he is worried and sees that her friends also want her and Tara to stay there but they can’t and will not let Sam go all alone. So, as much as she would like to stay home, she lets go of Ethan’s hand and pulls her coat onto her body before heading to the open the door.

“I will call you if we need help, I promise,” She looks at him in his eyes with the upmost sincerity she can. “We will be back as soon as we can.”

Ethan sighs and closes his eyes as the two girls walk out the door and rush to the stairs. Dammit.

“Sam!” Amelie shouts running down the stairs with Tara.

“Sam, slow down,” Tara calls out.

“Guys, no. Get back inside, lock the door,” Sam turns around in shock and pushes the two back.

“Are you serious? Now you don’t want to stick together?” Tara says in disbelief. Amelie follows directly after with, “There is no way we aren’t going with you, Sam.”

“Fine,” Sam says defeated. She knows that she could push and push and push the girls as much as she can, but she also knows that they are just as stubborn as her. They are a team, after all. So, that’s what the girls do. They stick beside each other and start to walk down the street to the police station. Occasionally Tara and Amelie will go back and forth to look behind them, just making sure there is no one following them or is running up with a knife in hand. However, their moment of peace didn’t last too long before Sam’s phone started ringing again. Amelie felt her heart leap for the fiftieth time that night when she sees Richie’s contact come up.

“What the fuck?” and “He’s fucking dead” comes out of Tara and Amelie’s mouth at the same time.

“I never deleted his contact. This is coming from his number,” Sam says in realization. She looks at it determined; she was going to answer it. Amelie’s eyes widen.

“Don’t pick that up. Just let it ring,” Sam picks it up.

“Sam-“ Tara tries before Sam starts talking to the phone.

“Who is this?”

“Hello, Samantha. Did you miss me?” Ghostface.

“I want you to think long and hard about whether you want to do this because the last two people that fucked with us, ended up dead,” If there was anything Sam was going to do this time around, was not let Ghostface get to her. She was going to become worse, so much worse.

“You should be thanking me, Sam. Jason and Greg were gonna kill you and your two girls there. I gutted them before they had the chance,” Ghostface replies menacingly. The girls look around them to see if they can spot the person on the phone with them. They all stop as they look ahead and see a man in all black, coincidently on the phone, walk towards them.  

“So what? You’re protecting us now?” Sam replies curiously. What the hell was the killer playing at this time around?  

“Not quite. I’m going to show the world who you really are, a liar and a killer. I am going to punish you, Sam.”

“You shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet, asshole.”

“Don’t be cute, you’re going to pay for what you did and I’m not gonna stop until I butcher you- you and anyone who gets between us! You three better watch your backs.”

“You better watch yours.”

Ghostface comes up behind Tara and grabs her, raising his knife to stab before Tara elbows him in the face and Amelie rushes to push him back into a bush behind him.

“Come on, go!” The three girls run as the masked guy starts to get up to chase after them. The three turn the corner where they see a small bodega to their right and barge through the door. Amelie already feels like crying and they were only being chased. But she knew that being chased wasn’t all that was going to happen today, it never is.

“Help, please!”

“Please! Please help us! We were attacked!”

“Please call 911!”

“There’s a man out there!”

The three girls start shouting to the guy behind the counter, nothing but pure adrenaline and fear laced through their body. They needed help and they were going to let anyone know.

“There’s a fucking line here girls,” Some guy says behind them. Amelie turns to him with a crazed look on her face. They are yelling for help and some guy is worried about a line. Soon enough Ghostface comes in and the man worried about the line faces up to him. “You got a problem here, guy?”

Ghostface tilts their head before he starts stabbing him repeatedly. The girls gasp and the other people in the bodega start to run out. Another man tries to come behind the masked person, but his efforts don’t work well as he is turned around and stabbed in the throat. As if the two guys were nothing, Ghostface straightens up menacingly and looks at the three girls. Amelie has dealt with Ghostface before but this time it feels so different. This time it feels too powerful, and she is scared. 

Right as Ghostface is about to start stomping his way towards the three, the sound of a shotgun clicks before cashier yells out “Hey!” and takes a shot at the masked figure. Unfortunately, he misses but it gave the girls enough time to duck away.

“Go out the back!” The cashier nudges his head towards the door and Tara yells out a “Thank you!”

“Fuck it's locked,” Tara tries to open the door and it doesn’t budge. It’s fucking locked, of course it’s fucking locked, Amelie thinks. Her clammy hands are getting shakier by the second and she wishes more than anything now that she just stayed at the apartment with her friends, with Ethan, like he had pleaded her to. She thinks about them now and wonders if there’s any way she can warn them.

She turns back to the cashier and yells, “Keys! We need your keys!”

As the poor man fumbles to unhook his keys from his belt, Ghostface comes up behind him.

“Watch out, watch out, watch out!” The girls all call out, Amelie pointing behind him as they see Ghostface grab the guy and stab him in the shoulder. Ghostface goes to grab the gun and hits him across the face then as the guy pleads to not get shot. To no avail, Ghostface cocks the gun and pulls the trigger, aiming right for the man’s head. Amelie gasps and closes her eyes too late, seeing the man’s head blown to pieces and all over the fridge he was leaning against. Her stomach churns as they all duck behind an aisle. On their hands and knees, the girls try their best to not make a sound. They hear the sound of the gun being pumped again and Amelie swallows, she feels sick and can’t stop her body from trembling.

Sam shushes them, trying her best to tell the girls to stay as quiet as they can. They stop their movements as they hear the crunch of the glass and food under Ghostface’s shoes and slowly look around. He takes a shot, and they flinch from the sudden sound. Ghostface has always been dangerous and while Amelie dreaded that stupid slasher knife, there is nothing she would rather more than to see that knife in his hand instead of a fucking shotgun.

Right before the killer jumps around the corner they once were hiding, they quietly make their way around the end of the aisle to hide from his field of vision. Tara and Amelie hold each other’s hand as tears run down their face and they shake. Amelie uses her free hand to cover her mouth to try and silence the sound of her heavy breathing. She looks to her other side where Sam squishes up against her. She sees her reach to grab an empty can and throws it away from them to distract Ghostface.

Luckily, it seems to work, and he moves away from the aisle they were in, and the three girls crawl back around to it. Their hands crunch under the glass and shards get stuck and cut Amelie’s hand as they crawl. She winces and tries her best to not cry out at the sharp pain. It seems as if the masked figure can hear the crunching sounds coming from the girls and stops moving. Sam peeks between the aisle and sees as he turns their way. The three girls push the shelf onto him as he takes another shot, the aisle causing him to fall back, and his shot aims for the ceiling.

Amelie giggles and sends a thumbs up their way, following with a blow of a kiss as she disappears into the next room. Amelie feels her heart swell when she notices how happy Mindy and Anika look together. Mindy deserves it, after all. Amelie met Anika through school, having coming to campus early in the summer to familiarize herself with the grounds and running straight into the small girl, spilling the coffee in her hand. Amelie panicked, eyes blown wide, and then apologized profusely. Anika, on the other hand, was as chill and laid back as she usually is and then offered to go and grab a coffee together to make up for the one that was now all over the ground and their shirts. Amelie was paranoid about the whole ordeal, but reassured herself that it would be okay since it is in the middle of the day and completely in public. It was so easy for Amelie to get along with Anika, like a long-lost bestfriend, and she was so glad that they had managed to run into each other that day on campus. From then, Anika was introduced to the rest of her friends and her and Mindy hit it off instantly.

Shortly after meeting Anika, Amelie and Mindy wearily opened up to her about what happened back in Woodsboro, and Anika nearly sobbed with them as they individually told her what they went through. Anika was an angel sent down from heaven, in Amelie's eyes, and she couldn't be more thankful for her just being herself. And she is sure that Mindy feels the same way too.

Amelie turns the corner to head to the living room and nearly collides with another body. She quickly pulls her cup away from her body, making sure that nothing spills from the cup. The tall figure in front of her grabs onto her biceps to steady the girl from tripping over and spews apologies.

"I am so sorry-"

"Oh my god, I'm sorry-"

The two start apologizing at the same time, and Amelie finally takes the time to look up from the ground and at the face of the boy she nearly just collided with. She takes note of his green and red stripped shirt, piecing that he was dressed as Freddy Krueger. Amelie also notices the way his light eyes make their way down her figure, probably trying to see her costume as well. Her short jean skirt and cropped ribbed tank feels almost non-existent as his eyes travel down and then up again. It was like no conversation was needed, they both were instantly intrigued with one another. Amelie was sure she should probably keep going on her way, with her curly headed friend still in mind. But, she also thought that maybe a distraction wouldn't be such a bad thing.

"I was just headed to get a refill, did you want to join?" The mystery boy takes a leap of faith and asks the girl. He almost looked nervous to ask Amelie, but she was sure that the alcohol in his system gave him the boost of confidence. His eyes were difficult to decipher in the flashing lights but she could make out the green hues in them. He was much taller than she was and had a very defined face, one that Amelie was quick to note as very attractive.

Should she be more hesitant about saying yes to hanging out with a boy she never met before, drunk? Yes. Should she just go back and plan to dance with her friends like she was planning? Probably. But, she was brought here to have fun and she figured that she might as well.

"I just refilled, but..." Amelie looks down at her cup and raises the rim to her painted lips, quickly drinking down the fruity liquor. She finishes her drink with only a couple of gulps and raises the empty cup up between the two. Amusement dances in the eyes of the boy and a small smirk appears on his lips. "...I think I could use another."

"So, what is your name mystery man?" Amelie grabs onto his hand and drags the two back towards the kitchen. Sweaty bodies bump into the pair, but they prevail nonetheless and make it to the keg. As Amelie walks past the living room again with a boy in tow, she passes by Mindy and Anika again. The couple look at Amelie, then at each other and share a smirk. They would be more worried about her going off with a random boy if she went somewhere more private, but the kitchen? They could keep tabs on.

"Dean," the smirk never falls from his lips and he is quick to fill up his cup with a new beverage. "And yours, cowgirl?"

He flicks his free hand up to lightly knock the rim of her brown cowboy hat. Amelie is truly not sure what she is doing, she has never initiated or kept a conversation with a complete stranger. A cute stranger.

A matching smirk makes its way onto Amelie's pretty, red lips. She shrugs with one shoulder, "hmm, might just keep you guessing."

Dean lets out a breathy chuckle at that and nods his head in understanding. Hard to get, it seems. And with how extra pretty Amelie looks tonight, Dean was willing to go along with it. But she was more than just pretty, she was intriguing.

Dean takes a step closer to the girl and Amelie almost feels like she should back away, but decides that she shouldn't need to.

"Alright then cowgirl, you go to school here?"

"I do. Not in a frat, thought. Are you?"

"I am, yeah-" A frat boy. A pretty boy like him being in a frat makes perfect sense. Dean takes notices of the look that covers her face, and nods. "-hmm, I see that look on your face."

Amelie feigns ever making an expression and innocently looks up at Dean. "Yup, I'm a frat guy. But I promise you I actually have a personality beyond just hooking up with girls and being a douchebag."

Now it was Amelie's turn to let out a chuckle at his words. "Guess we will have to see about that."

"We will?" Dean smirks at her again and Amelie feels her tummy flip. She raises her cup to her lips again and takes a sip from her new drink. Their eyes staying in contact through this whole interaction. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was Dean, but she was feeling warm.

"We'll see. Still not quite sure if you're worth my time," Amelie smirks. She was proud of herself, she has never been so confident in front of a boy before and she is finally enjoying talking to a complete stranger.

"Ouch," Dean feigns a pained expression and places his hand on his heart, hunched as if he was actually in pain. "Guess I will just have to prove it."

While Amelie was proud of herself for flirting back so well, it came so natural to Dean. Maybe he does this to every girl he finds interest in at a party, but Amelie does not care all that much right now. Suppose she will be one of the many, but she was enjoying this way too much to try and be prideful right now.

The distance between the two somehow got even more nonexistent as they conversed, and Amelie wasn't too sure when it had happened. Dean places his cup on the table beside them and reaches over to grab Amelie's out of her hand as well, placing it next to his own. His face close to hers, she can smell the alcohol coming from him and she closes her eyes as he nears his lips closer to hers.

"Amelie," Her eyes open to gauge his reaction. The smirk from his lips finally rests into a drunken smile and his eyes shimmer in the dark.

"Pretty name for a pretty girl."

Their voices have settled into whispers at this point and Amelie has never wanted to step out of her comfort zone more than this moment right now.

"Well, Amelie..." Dean places a hand on her hip, above the waistband of her skirt and swipes his thumb on her exposed skin. "...Can I kiss you?"

Amelie doesn't bother responding and reaches up on her toes to press her lips against Dean's. The two spend the next couple of minutes groping each other and share a hot, passionate makeout session, just like you would see in the movies at a typical college party. Amelie has kissed people before, that is no secret. But, she hasn't kissed enough to really compare all of her experiences with each other. Dean feels so nice against her skin and is kissing her so well, but for some reason Amelie can't help and let her mind wander. She feels as if she needs this, she has not let loose even a little since moving to New York, and she has been craving the moment where she can finally not give a fuck.

But, fuck. As much as she is enjoying this moment and the feeling, the taste of Dean, but can't help and wonder if this is what it would feel like to kiss her curly haired friend. Ethan Landry has had a chokehold on Amelie since she first met him a couple of months ago when Chad invited her over to check out his dorm and meet his roommate. She feels so guilty that she even had a different guy in her mind while her lips were touching someone else's.

"Get it, Amie!"

Amelie springs apart from the boy and licks her lips. Dean flinches back when he felt Amelie pull back in such a hurry, but his hand remains on her hip still.

"Tara!" Amelie turns her head and notices the small girl grinning at her. Amelie sends her a sheepish smile, almost feeling guilty for being caught swapping tongues with a random boy.

"No, no, don't worry. I am not here to stop you. Just came to get some more alcohol..." Tara continues to smile at the girl and slowly advances backwards, stumbling into a wall next to her. "...and be on my merry-way."

Amelie turns to Dean once Tara leaves and chuckles. "I am so sorry about her."

Dean shares the laugh with Amelie and shakes his head in dismissal. Amelie wasn't too stoked about being interrupted from kissing Dean, but she was also glad because it got her to stop her guilty thoughts about Ethan.

So, if Amelie was going to keep herself distracted still, then she wasn't going to stop now. She trails the hand she placed on his chest down to his hand and smiles up at her, her lipstick made its way onto his lips.

"How about we go do my original plan, and dance?"

"Only if you can keep up." Dean smirks again and Amelie reaches her other hand to wipe some of her red lipstick off his mouth with her thumb.

"Oh, of course I can, Krueger."

Amelie and Dean make their way through a clump of moving bodies and eventually blend in. The two move to the music, keeping their body close. Amelie feels so good and so free, as she dances with Dean, drunk.

As she moves, she can feel eyes burning on her from somewhere else in the room and looks around. Just a couple of feet away, leaning by the archway is Chad and Ethan whose eyes are on her. She smiles at the two and then continues to dance with the man in front of her.

“You know you are painfully obvious, right?” Chad eyes Ethan from beside him and smiles as he talks. Ethan takes his eyes off Amelie and stares at Chad with wide eyes.

“Wha-what are you talking about?” Ethan stutters back. He sneaks glances back at Amelie as she dances so close with a guy neither of them recognize, awaiting anxiously for Chad to reply. Chad gives him a pointed look and nudges his arm with his own.

“Oh please, since the day you met her, you have been in love. I swear, drool comes out a little more each time you stare,” Chad shrugs with a smirk on his face, gesturing with his finger to his mouth and chin. Ethan’s eyes widen even more than they already were.

“Uh, I absolutely do not! I just-just think she is…pretty is all,” Ethan replies with a shake in his voice. Not convincing at all, great. Chad once again gives him another pointed look. “Who even is that guy with her anyways? Do we know him?"

Chad raises an eyebrow in suspicion at his roommate, way to pretend that you are totally not interested in her.

"Uh, no, I-I don't know who that is," Chad replies with slight uncertainty and a shake of his head. He squints his eyes as he looks at the boy who has his hands rested on Amelie's hips and takes notice of his face. "Looks like they got up to more than just a close dance."

Ethan's head has never turned so fast to look at Chad when he utters those words, and then back in Amelie's direction. "What?!"

"There's a little..." Chad points to his own mouth to show where Dean had some of Amelie's lipstick smudged on him. Ethan looks closely at the boy and notices the red smudges and feels his heart sink. Of course she would like someone like him, he thinks. But he can't help and glade daggers at the boy, wishing so bad that it was him she was dancing so close to.

“Look, she is just drunk and has had a lot going on the past year. She's just...” Chad takes notice of his friends hard expression. A brief paused is followed after his words, trying to think of a way to say his next sentence. "...she is probably just trying to distract herself, is all."

Ethan tries to listen to Chad's words but they don't make him feel much better. A disgusting, jealous feeling overwhelms his entire body and he wishes that he could catch a moment where Dean is all alone. Wipe that stupid smirk off his face when he sees the Ghostface mask and cut his fucking hands off for ever touching Amelie.

“Or maybe.. She also likes you? And is trying to distract herself from her feelings for you,” At that, Ethans head snapped back up to Chad's direction. Chad's expression was appearing too hopeful and his tone wasn't very convincing, but Ethan can only hope that his words held some truth to them. "I know she finds you cute."

Chad knows Amelie would kill him if she had heard him tell Ethan that, but his poor friend looked so crushed.

"What?" Ethan widens his eyes.

"She, uh, she told me when she first met you that she finds you really cute."

"Oh," Ethan's shoulders sag a little at that idea. Hope, at last.

Chad quickly notices the tray of shots behind him and grabs two for him and his friend. He passes a small shot glass to Ethan as he begins to make a small toast.

“Alright cheers, man, to the dynamic duo of the Fourth Tenth's tower, third floor, room three-one-five!” They cheered and took the shot together. As Chad grimaces at the rough taste that alcohol accompanies, Ethan spits his back into his cup.

With the adrenaline the shot brought upon, Chad starts again, “alright, maybe we should start getting you to make some moves, yeah? Get you out there, maybe someone new? How about it?”

The pair look back at Amelie still moving along with the the tall boy in the Freddy Krueger costume, but Chad gestures to the girls around her.

“She’s gorgeous,” Ethan says with a smile, pink creeping onto his cheeks.

“Right, go up to her. Ask her out,” Chad replies quickly, wingman of the year. Ethan quickly realizes that Chad is talking about the girl in a Harry Potter costume, to the right of Amelie, but Ethan can only keep his eyes on his friend. Ethan denies, saying he just can’t do it and the pair bicker back and forth about Ethan’s capabilities of asking a girl out.

"Got to have confidence! Look at you, man! You're a snack, practically an entire meal, all on your own!"

"Really?" Ethan's eyes shine at Chad's words.

Amelie finally looks back to the two boys, still feeling the heat of their eyes. She lets Dean know that she will be right back, and was going to check up on her friends standing by the entry. Ethan's eyes widen when he realizes the girl is making her way towards them.

“Hello boys,” Amelie steps closer to them, standing next to Chad. The boys look quickly over to see Amelie has joined and she looks drunk. Amelie glances up and tips her matching cowboy hat down at Chad “Howdy partner.”

"Amie!" Chad repeats the action and tips his hat back to her. Amelie was really not feeling going to this party, and tried to convince her friends further when she told them that she didn't have a costume. Chad, brilliantly trying to convince her, that she doesn't need a whole unique outfit and could just match with him to make her feel better. Once Chad came up with the idea, he seemed so excited to match with Amelie that she couldn't say no.

"Our friend here-" Chad pats Ethan on his cardboard chest piece "-is a total snack, right?"

"Wha-what? Chad!-" Ethan looks at the man incredulously.

"Uh, yeah, yeah," Amelie nods her head at the boys. Her tummy flutters at the idea of having to compliment Ethan, in front of him at that, and blush rises to her cheeks. It was also so odd that Chad had asked her that, but she figures that it has to do with their previous conversation before she joined. "Yeah, Ethan, you're a whole snack. I mean, maybe even a whole meal!"

"That's what I said!" Chad smiles bright and nudges Ethan with his shoulder. "Ugh, I have taught you well, Amie."

"Shut up," Amelie chuckles. Chad repeats the action. “You look like you’re having a wonderful time."

“I am having a spectacular time,” the smile remains large on her face and her eyes small and squinted. Chad points to her lips and raises an eyebrow. Her eyes widen at what he was suggesting and smiles sheepishly. "Oh, uh, yeah. That's Dean."

Dean, a stupid name for his stupid face. Ethan scowls upon hearing his name and resists the urge to roll his eyes.

She blinks her eyes and stretches them open, trying to widen her blurry vision. She turns her head to Ethan, who is already staring at her, and smiles up at him. “I like your costume, Ethan! You’re a…?”

“It's supposed to be a knight," Ethan says, almost embarrassed. He felt like a total loser at this party and he was sure that he looked like one to Amelie, too. "I, uh, I made it, pretty last minute."

"Well, I like it," Amelie smiles at Ethan. She found it so cute that he was embarrassed by his costume, and the way his cheeks turned pink when she complimented him. "I didn't expect for you to come to a party, especially one like this."

"Yeah, I wasn't going to come but Chad convinced me last minute,” Ethan rolls his eyes at the boy, but a smile still remains. "I could say the same to you, though."

"Yeah, same with you. I wasn't gonna come but Chad and Tara convinced me."

"Well, I'm glad to hear I wasn't the only one forced here," Chad subtly nudges Ethan's arm and flickers his eyes down to Amelie’s costume. “Your-your costume is nice, also. You look pretty.”

Chad smiles pleasantly to himself, proud of his roommate as Ethan is mentally kicking himself in the head repeatedly. You look pretty, your costume is nice, God you sound like a total loser. Amelie smiles at him as a light pink flush creep up her neck and onto her cheeks as well.

“Oh, thank you,” She replies, seemingly brighter than she was before. She nudges Chad before saying, "I think I rock it better than Chad, actually."

God I am screwed. Ethan knew he always had a thing for her the second he saw her. She was just different, as cliché as it sounds, different from everyone else he has met. She smiles and he swears his stomach feels like it just flipped around. It’s hard for him to be around her and not blush when she merely takes a glance at him. He was pinning and he was pinning hard, but he was worried that she would never feel the same way. She held herself differently than her friends and although he could tell (from what he has heard) that sometimes she has a difficult day and wants to be by herself, she was also just so much cooler than he was. And hey, even if all she finds him is cute or attractive or whatever, at least he has been seen by her. He just prays to whoever was listening to him, that this Dean guy was just a one time thing, drunk at a party.

Amelie’s head was spinning. She was drunk and being around Ethan made her feel even more intoxicated. She knew she shouldn’t be feeling the way she was, the last time she seriously liked a boy, they were brutally murdered by the hands of her best friend. And, she was just grinding it up with a few just a couple of feet away. But it was done, it happened, and it is over with. But something about Ethan’s kind demeanour and pretty smile that made her feel all fuzzy inside whenever he was around. She hides it well though, she thinks at least. She has been so weary of letting new people into her life that her distance around him was noticeable, but it doesn’t seem to stop her little feelings blossoming inside of her.

Ethan and Amelie have grown close over the past couple of months, even hangout sometime just the two of them or go to campus and study together. So, it wasn't awkward between the two, in fact Amelie would say that Ethan has become one of her best friends.

The conversation between the two ended fast as Anika comes around the corner and lets Chad know he is needed. Amelie begins to follow behind Chad but quickly turns around where she sees Dean standing where she left him and gives him a sorry expression. She mouths, I have to go, emergency. Sorry. See you around. Dean looks kind of lost as he watches her, but gives her a smile nonetheless. Ethan stands behind Amelie, watching the interaction and continues to unintentionally glare at the boy.

A commotion breaks out as Chad tries to stop Tara from going upstairs with some creep named Franky where, Amelie rushes to her side as she sees Tara trip on a step. Sam eventually comes and tases the guy in the balls, leaving Franky rolling around on the ground in main, yelling out how Sam is a bitch.

“Sam, are you fucking kidding me? You’re stalking me now,” Sam turns to see Tara furious at her. She glances at Amelie as she shrugs her shoulder at Sam with a small grimace on her face. Tara walks away from the crowd as some guy begins another round of commotion.

“Holy shit, it’s that psycho girl!” the guy gasps and glances to beside her where Amelie stands. “It’s that fucking cops’ daughter too!”

She suddenly feels a lot sober than she did before as her eyes widen and she rushes to follow Tara, Sam following closely behind.

“Tara, will you stop?” Sam calls out to her younger sister who strides angrily ahead of her.

“I cannot believe you did that, you embarrassed me,” Tara calls back but doesn’t slow down her steps.

“That guy was a dick, he was gonna take advantage of you.”

“So?”

“So?!”

Ethan looked down at Amelie beside him and furrowed his eyebrows. She looked disturbed with her eyebrows scrunched and the heavy frown weighing down her lips. She felt his gaze and glanced up at him. As the sisters continued to argue he whispered,

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” She nods “I’m alright.”

“Are-are you sure?” he looks at her with nothing but concern “I know you drank a lot, and that idiot back there-”

She cracks a small smile this time and interrupts. “No, yeah. I promise I’m good, it takes more than that to crack me. Thank you, though. I-I appreciate it; you asking.”

He smiles back at her, seemingly to be relieved that she reassured she is alright. He assumes she was bothered by the people back at the party and now the sisters arguing but she doesn’t want to let him know. Which is okay, he isn’t bothered by it and understands if she doesn’t want to mention it. He has just learned from hanging out with her so much that she hates when people mention her dad around her without her being the one to bring him up. Especially, if it was in a way that also involved the Ghostface murders.

Beside them the rest of their friends stay standing, watching the Carpenter sisters continue hashing it out. Amelie zones back into their conversation after hearing Tara refer to her.

“Because I’m uninterested in living in the past like you guys are!” Tara exclaimed and glanced between Sam and Amelie.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sam said quizzically. Amelie stepped forward to stand beside Sam, her eyebrows furrowed. She had a funny feeling that Tara was also referring to her in the 'you guys'.

“Hey guys-“ Chad attempts to insert himself to halt the argument from expanding further which quickly gets dismissed as Tara continues talking.

“It means I’m not going to let what happened to us for three days define the rest of my life,” Tara finally lets out tiredly. Amelie rubs the side of her neck where a scar lays, light pink and prominent.

“So, you’re just going to pretend it never happened?” Amelie replies to Tara. She seems to be in disbelief when she poses the question. Amelie isn't quite sure why she has gotten involved in this argument, she didn't even say or do anything. Along with Sam, Amelie is beginning to feel frustrated now. It seems like Tara isn’t feeling the same pain and angst that they were about everything that happened last year. Sam glances back at Amelie where they briefly make eye contact, seeming to understand each other’s emotions. While Amelie was the same age as Tara, she always seemed to be closer to Sam. Maybe it be because they both share similar feelings in everything, that they have familiar ties with the original Woodsboro murders, or they both spent a night comforting each other, it wasn’t clear. But Amelie found comfort in Sam and Sam seeked to comfort Amelie, almost seeing herself in her.

Tara pauses and sighs while looking at Amelie, more specifically her scar on her neck. She answers more gently this time “No, no of course not but I am just saying that for me, I cannot let this drag me down when I am trying to move forward. I mean, earlier, you were doing that too! That guy you were with...”

“Look, Tara, I get it, I do trust me. I am also here to try and move on with my life to get past everything that has happened” Amelie finally speaks up, interrupting her from continuing her sentence about Dean. Tara was trying to get Amelie to understand her, bringing up that even she is doing what Tara is trying to. With a gentle voice and soft eyes, she looks at Tara as she talks “It is okay to want to do that, but you can’t just take this out on your sister. You’re also allowed to be upset about last year.”

“I am not upset!” Tara exclaimed, almost feeling betrayed that Amelie was almost taking Sam's side. She shut her eyes and sighed heavily again, deciding to change the topic. She began again, lowering her voice “What are you doing here, Sam? In New York? You-you’re working two shitty jobs to help with rent, whatever, but what’s your plan?”

Sam doesn’t get the chance to answer and continues to look at Tara. The younger girl continues, looking at Amelie now “And you Amelie? Your mom is back California! You have a family to go to, but you decide to come to New York and do school, to what? So, you can stay here with us?”

“You are asking me why I came here to New York with you guys? Why I don’t want to stay back in California where I lost almost everything? Back to a mom who doesn’t want to be around her daughter?” Amelie’s eyes harden as she tries to suppress her emotions rising. The alcohol in her system is making her want to cry more but she refuses. If Tara wants to be all tough, then she will, too. Amelie scoffs and shakes her head, “You guys are my family, Tara. And in case you forgot, I also wanted to go to school.”

“Amelie, you could have gone to any other school in California! You want to leave Woodsboro to leave what happened but then come here with us? We are the past!” She knew that Tara was making sense. They are the past, but they are also what is helping her move on. Since losing the one family member that cared about her the most, Tara, Sam, Mindy, and Chad have shortly become the people she cared about most, her own family. So reasonably, Tara’s words are a lot more hurtful than she is letting on.

Amelie jumps when she feels a hand on her shoulder and looks back to see Ethan, concern laced in his eyes. She looks defeated at Tara’s words and nods her head, deciding to stay quiet. She wants to continue disagreeing with Tara and scream that what she was saying was not true. That she is here to stay with the people that cared for her and to go to school to live her own life, but she doesn’t. Amelie takes Ethan’s hand on her shoulder and grasps it with her own. His eyes widen at her action but makes no move to let go. She could use a hand to hold, and he willingly would volunteer any day.

“Do you really know what you are doing? I know what I’m going to do! Okay, cause I’m-I’m going to keep on with college and get my degree and live my life. My life. Okay, I know,” Tara begins again staring at Amelie and then looks back to Sam. Sam slightly nods her head at her words but also remains quiet.

“You just followed me here and won’t let me out of your sight,” Tara looks at Sam pointedly.

“Just trying to look out for you,” Sam says defeated.

“I-“ she begins and then frustratedly runs her hands down her face. She tries to calm down so her next words don’t sound as harsh as they have been. Maybe she was being too harsh, but she was frustrated and the alcohol in her system was not easing any nerves “I know, I know you are. You can’t do it for the rest of my life though. You have to let me go.”

Tara looks back at Amelie and says again, “You also have to let me go. Let it go.”

Amelie squeezes Ethan’s hand harder at that. She knows she does, but it is just too hard for her to do it so easily as Tara has.

“Hey!” Some girl calls out as her and her friends walk by the group. She proceeds to throw her cup of alcohol on Sam, some of it making it onto Amelie “Murderer!”

Amelie gasps as the cool drinks settles onto her skin, the stickiness already itching at the flesh.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, you bitch!” Sam calls out, being held back by Chad as she pushed forward. Anika also grabs a hold of Mindy as she starts spitting words back to the stranger. The groups yelling back and forth.

“You got a problem with me?” Sam calls back angrily. Amelie lets go of Ethan to stand beside Sam and grabs her hand from advancing any further.

“They’re not fucking worth it,” Amelie says to Sam, shaking her head. Sam squeezes her hand hard to control the emotions she is feeling, trying her best to not lash out at the dumb girl who felt the need to open her mouth. 

“You guys should stay away from her she knows what she did,” The girl looks at the friends around Sam. She looks at Amelie and scoffs “Can’t believe you hang around this bitch who sliced your daddy all up.”

Amelie swore her heart dropped out of her ass. Her friends around all widened their eyes and Anika let out a gasp. “That was a bit much, you fucking bitch” Mindy says as Anika strengths her force to keep from Mindy barreling at the girl.

Ethan also looked shocked at the audacity the girl in front of them seemed to have. His eyes glared at her, wishing he could do more than just stand there and watch as Amelie’s expression fell. His blood boils, mad at the seemingly continuing list of people who have hurt Amelie's feelings so much within the last hour of the night. The things he wish he could do to fix that.

Her face plummeted and anger rose in her faster than it has this entire evening. “Go fuck yourself.”

“I didn’t fucking do anything!” Sam yells back one last time before the group of girls split off. She looks to the girl still holding her hand, now squeezing Sam’s hand just as hard as she was earlier. “I am so sorry, Amie.”

Amelie had tears lining in her eyes, whether it be from the crude comment, the anger she felt from it, or the sadness of the cruel memory. She shakes her head and finally looks at Sam, “Don’t be, it-it’s not your fault. I know you didn’t do anything, I was there remember? They are just some stupid girls who will believe anything they hear.”

Sam gives the girl a light smile, appreciative that at least she believes so. The group of friends began to walk away back to Sam’s apartment, Sam squeezing Amelie’s hand one last time before letting go.

“I-I-I have tissues if you want?” Ethan perks up from beside them, having waited for the girls as the rest of the group walked away. He looks down at the tissues he pulled out of his pocket and seemed to begin counting them, awkwardly he says “I have three tissues.”

Sam takes them and pats herself to rid her skin of the sticky substance. She passes one to Amelie to clean off the small bit of drink that had splashed onto her. The shorter girl takes it thankfully and begins to pat her arm down.

Sam glances up at Ethan who is still standing there and gives him an irritated look. Ethan takes this as his cue to leave and begins following the group ahead of him. He hears footsteps catch up to him from behind and sees Amelie make her way closer to him.

“Thanks, Ethan,” Amelie gives a flat smile and raises the tissue slightly to show her thanks for them.

Ethan glances at her for the second time with concern in his eyes. “I know I already asked you this but are you doing okay? Those people are just assholes, trying to get a rise out of you all.”

Amelie nods her head again, as she did last time and then scrunches her eyebrows. Maybe she felt like it was going to be okay but, in this moment, she was upset and mad at those people who caused a disruption, at the comment about her dad, at the way they just blamed Sam for everything, and at the small argument she had with Tara.

“No, you know I am not doing great, actually,” She lets out a breathy laugh but there was no humour behind it. Fuck it, she thinks. Ethan opens his mouth to reply but closes it as she rests her head on his shoulder. “Let's just go home, please.”

It truly started 12 years ago when Amelie first experienced Ghostface for herself. Luckily, somewhat, Ghostface notoriously is not known for killing children which landed her at least a couple of more guaranteed years of her life. It began again 11 years later, just last year, when some low life and his girlfriend decided to continue the franchise because he was just so obsessed with it. It was just last year when she finally met a good group of friends: Tara, Mindy, Chad, Wes, Amber, Liv, and eventually, Sam and Richie. It was just last year when she lost some of the people she cared about the most and was betrayed by some she grew to grow find of. It was just last year where her scars formed, mentally and physically. And it was just last year she lost the one person she never thought would leave, never thought she would have to part from, the one she truly cared about the most: her dad, Dewey Riley. Now it would be her turn to eventually tell her children, God you would have loved him so much. He would have cherished you until the end of time, as he did me.

To say she was taking this new life in New York difficult would be an understatement. She lost her dad, her friends, and was betrayed by people she trusted, of course her life wouldn’t be smooth sailing for a long time. She will give it to Sam though for pushing her to move to New York with them and go to school. Along with Gale who helped push the education agenda. Though it really was because Gale told her to “think of your dad, this is what he would have wanted. He would be so proud of you if you did this”. She remembers rolling her eyes when she was told that but also felt like sobbing on the inside. She hates being talked to about people who could have been involved in her current life but are dead, but she also knows that it is in efforts to remind her of the ones who love (or would have loved) her dearly. Anyways, moving has helped her get a new breath of air and start at life, even if it’s not with the person she loved the most. However, having her group of friends and their attachment of doing literally everything together has distracted her just the right amount. Specifically, the Woodsboro gang who survived last year’s attack with her- Tara, Sam, Mindy, and Chad- who are closer than they ever have been before. Trauma bonded; she may even call it.

Besides having her friends nearby, she has attempted to go to counselling after she broke down with a bottle of cheap vodka in front of Sam only a couple of months after the attacks. Sam stayed with her the entire night after seeing the state Amelie was in and soon enough it became a night to just cry and hold one another for both. So, as Sam was adamant on seeking a therapist as soon as they moved to New York, she encouraged both Amelie and Tara to do the same. Amelie did go for a mere three days, slowly expressing how she feels about all the emotions bottled up in her small body before she gave up on talking to a stranger. She felt so humiliated and overwhelmed by her inability stop crying that she eventually became so angry at everything. And while expressing these emotions are exactly what therapists are meant to deal with, she vowed to never step foot into their office again feeling like they didn’t really care about what she was saying and that she was merely another lump of sum in their bank account. She doesn’t mind too much, though, she has her friends beside her now and they all know exactly what she has gone through. She also has Gale who, even though she reminds Gale so much of Dewey it physically hurts, is still very involved with her life and is always checking up on her.

Besides the obvious, to say that last year’s events fucked her up, they royally fucked her up. Amber was one of her best friends who she would even have considered her greatest friend, before she found out who Amber really was. Then there was Wes who Amelie liked, like really liked. Finding out he was brutally murdered was when she saw her world start falling apart, slowly, and then all at once. It makes her sick to her stomach now as she recalls what happened and how someone who she cherished so dearly to her, was capable of being so heartless and kill someone who she also cherished so dearly. As every other one of her friends, her trust issues are exceptionally high, and she is more than reluctant to involve new people into her life. The only acceptable people seemed to be Anika, Mindy’s girlfriend, who she does love and seemingly trust since Mindy does as well. And she makes Mindy incredibly happy. Then there is Quinn who is her, Sam’s, and Tara’s roommate. They do live with her which makes them kind of have to trust her and her dad is a cop, as was hers once. And then there is Ethan, Chad’s roommate. His shy and dorky demeanour makes him scream INNOCENT! But alas, that could also make him the perfect backstabber of them all. Everyone else seems to trust him and he does seem like an alright person, so she also is giving him a chance. Plus, he’s cute. However, whatever her desire she may have for the cute new boy would have to stay just that. As she relents letting new people close to her to prevent the risk of losing them, she also fears that he just may never look at her the same way. As she tries to subdue the fluttering feeling in her tummy when Ethan talks to her, she is also missing the loud thump of his heart when she replies. It appears to be obvious to everyone around them, but them. Th soft eye contact and rosy cheeks so innocent that Amelie often feels like she is seeing the world in white when around him. But she hides the idea that she may like him to prevent the red splatters that will coat the white lens and he will make it painfully obvious that he would literally kill for her but is just too shy to make a move.