I'm not the only one in my reflection.

Part twenty

The masked and costumed man dealt with the second man and moved on to the three girls, menacingly catching the blood-stained knife by the hilt in mid-air as the first shot rang out in the store.

This is the cashier, and most likely the owner of the bodega, who stepped forward with a shotgun in his hands, like a guardian angel.

— We need the keys! — Tara shouted, addressing the man with the firearm and he frantically searched his belt for them, but realized that he had left them behind the counter. — Behind! — Younger Carpenter shouted, but it was too late.

Ghostface lunged at the man, thrusting a knife into him so hard that it made the salesman stagger backward, and the killer grabbed his shotgun.

— Run. — Sidney's niece croaked in a hoarse voice, and grabbing the two brunettes she held dearest, she sprinted behind the store shelves, hearing the panicked pleas of the fallen salesman for his life, but the shotgun blast was uncompromising and final for the life of a man.

The older Carpenter quickly knelt down without making a sound, as did the two other girls beside her.

The store was filled with a tense, oppressive silence, except for the Ghost's precise, methodical footsteps on the tile floor and the light, ambient bodega music playing in the background.

But if it were possible to turn off these sounds, it seems as if Katherine could really hear a drop of sweat trickling down her temple, or the blood of a man who had his head blown off by a pinpoint shot flowing down the glass door of the refrigerator. To hear pieces of brain and flesh peel off from the glass surface with a nasty squelching sound and fall to the floor with a wet "slap".

Or how, on the floor, slowly giving up their lives, still alive, were two innocent men who had simply been good and stood up for three frightened, persecuted girls.

Samantha motioned to the two brunettes that they should stop moving toward the exit for a few seconds, so as not to accidentally make any extra noise now that the Ghost was fully focused on them.

The girl felt, on some subconscious level, that, despite the heavy tread, the Ghostface was just playing with them, that he knew exactly where they were hiding, because this store was not that big.

But the killer still played, still hunted, and went to another part of the bodega, even though he knew that they weren't even in that part. Perhaps he wanted to give them hope, the hope that the Carpenters and Murphy could escape, only to take that hope away from them cruelly and brutally, along with their lives.

As Ghostface returned to the corner of the bodega where the three girls were hiding, the former redhead was thinking hard about what to do. She needed a distraction, something that would grab Ghost's attention for even a few crucial seconds.

As the killer walked along the rack, Stu's niece realized that she had to act now, as the two girls she cared about were in greater danger than she was. While the brunette was behind the wide section of the counter, which separated her from the Ghost and gave her a head start, the two Carpenters were hiding behind the narrow section, putting them in immediate danger.

Exhaling, the girl stood up, ready to run and draw attention to herself in order to give her beloved and best friend a chance to escape, when a bell rang above the door and a man burst into the bodega, immediately lunging at Ghostface.

— Run, Katherine!

Roman's daughter, feeling guilty about what she is about to do, which is to abandon the man, rounds the counter and, grabbing the Carpenter sisters by the wrists, runs out the door while the man successfully fights off the Ghost, avoiding several shotgun blasts aimed at him.

It's only when she's outside, free, and breathing in the fresh air that the former redhead realizes that the man called her by name before engaging in a fight with Ghostface.

As she approaches the bodega, she notices that several police cars have arrived with their sirens blaring. The officers rush out of their vehicles and surround the three out-of-breath girls, and several of them burst inside.

There was no one there but three dead men and another man who was somehow completely intact, despite having fought Ghostface, who had a shotgun and a hidden knife.

The man walked out of the store, accompanied by one policeman, and stopped in front of the three girls. The four of them stared at the mask that had been left on the floor.

— Who the hell are you? — Finally, Katherine looked up from the discarded Ghost mask and addressed the man. She noticed that he had dark hair and greenish eyes.

The man looked at her, smiled briefly, and extended his hand. — The other half of you.