open eyed, ethan landry

04

—chapter four.

"OKAY NERDS, listen up." mindy said after everyone sat down. "as terrifying as this all is, i'm actually glad i get a chance to redeem myself for not calling the killers last time."

"here we go!" olivia clapped as mindy did a small bow, wiping her shoulder off smugly.

"the way i see it someone is out to make a sequel to the requel." mindy stood up.

anikas hand slowly raised, "um - whats a requel..?"

mindy turned, shaking her head with a small smile, "you're beautiful sweetie, hold questions to the end." olivia smally laughed.

"stab one took place is woodsboro." sam said, not wanting to believe what she was thinking.

"stab two took place in college." mindy nodded her head.

"so we think the killer is trying to copy the movies?" tara asked, her eyes going back to mindy.

mindy nodded again. "that is one possibility. heroes now in college check." she pointed at tara and sam. "suspicious new characters brought in to round out the suspect list and/or body count, check check and check."

mindy gazed around the group, looking at quinn, anika, and ethan. olivia followed her eyes to find ethan slightly frowning.

"but it can't just be about stab two." mindy got closer to the group.

"why not?" tara said looking up at her.

"it would make sense if this were just a sequel, but were not in a sequel because nobody makes sequels anymore." mindy agreed with herself.

"were in a franchise." she threw her arms up dramatically. "there are certain rules for a continuing franchise."

"of course there is..!" chad muttered.

mindy looked his way rolling her eyes, "rule number one: everything is bigger than last time. bigger budget, bigger cast, bigger body count, longer chases, shootouts, beheadings. you gotta top what came before to keep people coming back." she breathed out still moving her arms.

chad looked up from his notebook holding up his pen. "beheadings?" he asked.

"are you writing notes right now?" tara looked at him confused.

"beheadings. rule number two: whatever happened last time, expect the opposite. franchises only survive by subverting expectations."

"if the killers last time were whiny snowflake film nerds with a letterbox account instead of personalities, you 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." mindy continued on.

"its not looking too good for gale and kirby." mindy sighed, "and thats not even the worst part. the worst part is franchises are just continuing episodic installments designed to boost an ip."

olivias reaction caused ethan to turn his head to her. she saw his eyes but didn't turn her head, as she was to invested in what mindy was saying.

"which means main characters are completely expendable now too: laurie strode, 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 its not just the friend group, any of us can go at anytime. especially you three." mindy looked at tara, sam and olivia.

"any of us?" ethan asked mindy and she nodded, "does that mean i'm in the friend group?"

"am i like one of the targets?" he turned away lost in his thoughts, "am i gonna die a virgin?"

"that was weird overshare." mindy muttered before continuing, "but brings us onto our suspects: ethan, shy dorky who no one suspects because hes so shy and dorky."

ethan furrowed his eyebrows at the girls words, "okay, wait, why am i on the suspect list because im randomly chad's roommate and ..?" he looked at olivia again. her lips going straight as she grabbed his hand, looking down smiling.

"never trust the - love interest, plus roommate lotteries can be juked. you could've fixed it to get in next to us." ethan rolled his eyes, looking at olivia again. he leaned his head on her shoulder.

"quinn.. the slutty roommate, the horror movie classic." she says, thinking.

"sex positive," quinn tilted her head, "thank you?"

"how did you come to live with sam, tara and olivia?"

"i answered an ad online?.."

"okay! say no more!" mindy swayed her arms.

"it was anonymous ad mindy." tara defensively said. "plus you know we vetted her and her dads a cop."

ethans head leaned forward.  "and that makes it more likely that she's the killer because having a cop dad is a good cover, do you not remember how these movies work tara?"

tara turned away from mindy looking at quinn, "is she always like this?"

mindy ignored her friends looks as she turned to her girlfriend with a loving smile, "anika." she said with a sweet noise. anika smiled back at her girlfriend blowing her a kiss which mindy immediately returned.

"never trust the love interest again." anikas face slowly turned into a frown. "okay... so we have our rules and we have our suspects."

"wait, wait." ethan sat up looking between the remaining five who hadn't been accused, "what about you guys?"

olivia looked slightly disappointed at him. "i mean, i think its pretty safe to rule out the five of us who went through this last year in woodsboro."
"agreed." chad nodded with a smile.

quinn shook her head, "not agreed." she said. "what if the trauma you all went through caused one of you to - snap."

"yeah i mean - or the thing you got from the killings made you thirsty for more? i mean being honest. some of the theories online about sam are.."

olivia moved her shoulder, shrugging ethans head off, looking at him in disgusted shock. mindy shrugged, slightly agreeing.

once the conversation was done, olivia stood up fastly, walking with anika as ethan followed sadly.

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a/n: boring chapter ik !!

5/3/23