Scream

Oscar Alvarez

Maren and I decided to take a scary movie marathon break. We ordered some pizza, heated some popcorn, and popped the top off some beers and soda. "Do you have a laptop?" I ask Maren, who stands from the couch and stretches. 

 "Yeah, it's in my room. That hallway on the right and first door on the left." 

 "Alright." I follow Maren's instructions and make it into her room. There's a space where series of slasher films used to sit on her desk. Also on that desk was her laptop. I flip the top open, and when the computer comes to, I don't know what to make of its desktop.

 There's a live feed of Reyna's house – her rooms, her father's room, the living room –every space in her house has been tapped with a camera. Why is she watching her friend so intently? Is there something that makes Reyna suspicious that Maren hasn't told me?
 My eyes flick to the corner box of the screen, where her father stirs and slides out of his bed. 

 "It isn't what you think it is," Maren's voice says behind me. "Reyna and I aren't as close as we used to be...this is the only way I can find anything out about her now." 

 Mr Copulas rifles through his drawers until he finds injection needles and drugs. "You can just ask her?"

 Maren sighs. "I've tried. But she shuts me out. Reyna went through a huge change the night she killed Freddie. The people who abandoned her that night aren't very close with her, despite our pasts. Either that or they're dead." 

 "Wait for a second..." I say, coming to a conclusion and turning to Maren, her face illuminated by the computer screen. "Everyone who wasn't on Reyna's side is dead beside you...Allister, Adelina, Hanzo, and Aero are all gone."

 "What're you saying?" Maren questions as we watch Reyna's dad tunnel down a neverending dark spiral. 

 "What if Reyna isn't as perfectly innocent as we think she is?" 

Maren furrows her brows and watches the screen. "But she trusts Enzo with her life. He wasn't there when she killed Fred," she counters.

"Ahh, but you're wrong!" I point out. "Enzo was the one who covered up her killing the dude, according to SolarisPsychos.com."

"You're right. But could she really be the killer?"

I shrug. "I don't know. Where is she now?"

"She went out with Enzo."

"Do you know where?"

She shakes her head. "No, there's no audio. But it did look like they were packing for a picnic."

"Okay well, we can work with that. If Reyna and Enzo are the killers, they could be doing something right now." I'm getting in my own head so much that I don't notice the computer feed. "Who's left? There's us, Kellin, Makai, and Adriano. Who would she target next?"

"Ozzy..." Maren cautiously says.

"You think she'd target me next? Why? What did I do? Actually...what did anyone do?"

"No, Ozzy," she grumbled, grabbing my face and pointing it at the screen. "Look."

Mr Copulas hunches over the sink after injecting himself with God knows what. From inside of his room a shadow emerges, knife glinting in the kitchen light. The Ghostface mask peers up at the camera and holds its hand out, waving to us with slowly wiggling fingers. Then, he brusquely turns Reyna's father around and rings him through with his knife.

Maren's hands fly to her mouth to stifle a gasp. I hold my breath. Both of us are forgetting that we're merely watching and not living it. Initially, I would've complained about the lack of sound, but now I'm grateful. 

 The killer thrusts the knife in and out of Reyna's father until he bleeds like a stuck pig. Then, another figure emerges from the living room carrying IV bags. "There's two of them..." I state the obvious, in shock. The whole time we've been concerned about the killer when there have been killers. 

 The second figure takes blood from a bleeding Copulas enough to fill one bag. They seem to be conversing. Over the dead body, they reach each other. Then they maliciously...wait, what?

 "Is this some sick joke?" Maren gasps in horror, eyes wide with twisted shock.

 "I have no idea what this is. Is it...real?" 

 The killers lock hands over Reyna's dad's dead body. They display affection over the death they've caused. Then, they leave. "If we left now, it would take ten minutes to get to Reyna's house...they'd be gone by now."

 "Should we tell Reyna?" I inquire, shutting the laptop with trepid caution as if the killers might jump out and slice me next. 

 Shakily, Maren sighs. "No. Let her enjoy her time as much as possible." Briefly, Marenpauses. "Do you know what this means?" 

 "It means a lot of things..." I say. 

"Reyna has no one. Her mother is dead. Her family disowned her after her father shamed her mother at her funeral. Her father is dead. Now, all that's left is Makai."

 "Maren, I know this sounds twisted, but...what if those killers were Reyna and Enzo?" 

 Maren gapes at me. Not with scorn, but with surprise that she didn't think of it sooner. 

"I mean, it makes sense. Reyna's dad wasn't a dad to her after the hospital incident. She could've taken it out on her old man with the help of a psychopath." 

 "But what would she have gotten out of killing the others?" I propose, rendering my own statement. I have to keep all of the possibilities in mind. It's hard because we just want to pin one person to the crimes and rid of them, but we can't jump to such conclusions so easily. 

 Maren collapses on her bed, arms spread out. They reach for a pillow and slam it into her own face. She lets out a disgruntled moan before throwing the pillow on the ground. "I don't know! I don't know anything about anyone anymore. I just sit here and watch these things happen without any idea why. I'm already a mess and my family is alive and well. I'm losing it and I'm not even the target here." 

"Call me crazy," I say, lying next to her. "But I think we're nearing the end. Just keep it together with a little longer, okay?"

"I can't wait for this all to end," she admits. "When do we get our grand reveal?"

"Some crazy party where everyone's drunk besides Survivor Girl," I tease.

Maren and I exchange glances before jackknifing up. With both of our hairstyles being long, our do's are ruined. But that doesn't matter. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I have to be for both of us to be this equally freaked out."

"Adriano's party this weekend," Maren speaks our minds. "And usually, the party-thrower is the killer, or at least the accomplice."

"That would suggest that the live feed was Adriano and Kellin, then."

"Okay, let's forget about the stuff we don't know," Maren demands. "I don't want to feel like crap again. How about what we do know? Ozzy, the huge party is tomorrow. This just screams big reveal."

"Hah!" I laugh. "I get it..."

Maren furrows her dark brows. "Get what?"

"This just screams big reveal...you know, the Scream movies and the Ghostface masks."

Maren narrows her seafoam eyes at me, crosses her arms, and sighs.

"Right, sorry," I apologize. "So when should we all congregate?"

Sorrowfully, Mare casts a harrowing glance at her laptop. "When Reyna finds out about her dad. Then, we cheer her up with the end of the slaughtering."

I nod. "Good idea.