SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER | scream

CHAPTER I

It had been a recurring theme that Ghostface would appear back in Woodsboro every couple years, but it would never be the same people. Linked motives? Possibly. Related? Perhaps. Many, many murders? Most definitely. Mckenna couldn’t understand why Dewey or her parents hadn’t left. Kirby had done herself a favor and left years ago. She’d text or call Mckenna every few months, just to check up on her, but usually it was static.

“So what’s this I hear about a girlfriend?” Dewey inquired suspiciously. He had never had a daughter of his own and he didn’t know if he ever would, but Mckenna was as close as he got right now. And he loved her. Which meant he had to be very selective over who he found appropriate for her to date.

Mckenna scoffed, rolling her eyes as she dried another plate. “There is no girlfriend. There is a friend who is a girl. Her name is Amber and she’s lovely.” She placed the plate in the cupboard.

“Are you sure?” Dewey pushed himself off of the threshold, pretending to pat down his pockets and look around the room. “I’m sure I’ve got a shotgun around here somewhere.”

“She is,” Mckenna assured him, sending him a humored glare. Dewey smiled to himself, stopping the act and leaning back on the threshold. “I think you’d like her.”

“If you say so,” Dewey shrugged. “But I do have a shotgun if she does anything to you.”

“And I appreciate it,” Mckenna stopped him before he could go any further, shaking her head with a faint smile. She placed the last glass into the cupboard with the plates before shutting the door and turning on her heel, the kitchen much cleaner now than it was when she arrived. “I guess I’m all done… but I don’t have to go right if you don’t want me to. We could watch a movie? A comedy. I know you don’t like horror.”

“As much as I’d love to, we’ll do it some other time,” Dewey told her happily, pushing her gently out of the kitchen and towards the front door. “Now, go on. Grab your coat. It’s cold out.”

“Okay, dad,” Mckenna teased. Dewey putting his hand on his hip, only making the joke funnier to the blonde.

As her laughter started to fade, she grabbed her coat from the stand, going to put it on when a buzzing came from her jeans’ back pocket. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion for a second before reaching for it, finding Amber’s phone ID on the screen. Without a moment of thinking, she answered it, bringing it to her ear.

“Hey,” Mckenna greeted, already feeling giddy. Maybe she had lied a little when she said Amber was just a friend. She was definitely at least a crush.

“Kenna? Shit…” Amber’s voice replied, sounding panicked. Mckenna’s giddiness drifted away quickly, her heart dropping to her stomach in fear. She didn’t even know what she should be afraid of, but Amber’s voice had never sounded like this. “Tara’s in the hospital.”

“What? What happened?” Mckenna questioned, worried, her fears being confirmed. Dewey noticed her anxious tone from the other side of the room as he went to grab his keys, turning to look at her, raising his eyebrow. Mckenna waved a hand, saying she’d tell him in a second.

“Some creep in a ghostface mask broke into her house,” Amber explained, her voice growing distant and closer as if she was looking around hurriedly. “She’s in a bad condition, Kenna. I think you’d better get to the hospital fast. Do you need a ride? I could come get—”

“No, it’s okay. You stay with Tara,” Mckenna interrupted her quickly. “I’ll get Dewey to drive me. I’ll be there in ten minutes tops.”

“Okay, okay…” Amber sighed in relief, her voice now speaking right into the phone. Directly to her. “Stay safe, okay? I don’t want you getting hurt too.”