The premiere of Stab had the college campus raving.
I knew it was coming because of the endless amount of prank calls I've received. Each one cheesier than the last, yet none were accurate or remotely scary.
Whether it be from creeps or stupid kids, someone would attempt to mimic Billy and Stu's infamous calls. None were convincing. Death threats tend to lose their meaning after a certain point. Eventually I stopped answering calls altogether from the sheer inconvenience of it.
The first time I had received any sort of prank calls was after Gale Weathers came out with her book. The story had the country in awe and sickos wanted to recreate the effect the boys had.
Then the media announced there would be a movie based on the book, since then I've been ignoring anything regarding its' release. But Randy just wouldn't shut up about it.
"It premiered in theaters last night! Some sort of sneak preview..." Randy yelled from the living room. I ignored him as I finished getting ready for class. It was past 8am meaning I was running late. "I heard they were giving out free tickets."
"You seem pretty eager about it, Randy."
"I'm not. I'm just annoyed."
"Right."
"I am-" He stomped out of the living room, yelling louder- "It's total bullshit! We go through hell yet Gale fucking Weathers profits off of it."
"Sid and I got a lot of revenue from interviews," I said and entered the living room. "In fact, we got several months' pay from NBC alone."
"That's different."
"Not really," I grabbed my bag and searched for my keys. "Dating a killer became profitable."
"She didn't date either of them," Randy furrowed his eyebrows. "She wrote a book."
I shrugged and jangled my keys in his face, "You sound jealous-"
"I survived and didn't earn a cent!"
"Maybe you should be in my place for once," I said. "Or write a book about it!"
"Whatever!" Suddenly the phone rang, causing Randy's face to drop. He picked up the phone, "Hello? ... It's for you." He held out the phone with an unsurprised expression.
"Sorry but I'm running late, it's just some loser anyway... Love you!" I called out before shutting the door behind me.
I drove to school in silence. I shut off the radio after hearing six channels talk about the movie.
Luckily, I wasn't far from the campus and arrived in under five minutes. I found a parking spot and walked quickly to my first class, Psychology, ignoring the stares from onlooking students.
Conversations among my peers fell silent when I sat down in the lecture hall but I paid no mind. One girl that usually sat next to me moved one chair over and whispered in another students' ear. My classes went on like this until 10 am and I was suddenly bombarded with reporters.
"(Y/n), have you heard about last night's murders?"
"Do you think he's back? Are there copycat killers this time?"
I tried pushing past the crowd of news anchors and cameras but it was no use. I shielded my eyes from the flashing lights, unable to catch a word of what they were saying. I was trapped in place but a strong hand gripped around my forearm, pulling me from the crowd.
"I've got you! Follow me..."
I was yanked back into the building and through another set of doors, where a flood of natural light hit my face.
I found myself on the other side of the building, looking up at Mickey Alteiri. The sound of bustling reporters had faded away and were replaced by the ambience of college students.
"Hey, sweets, you doing all right?" Mickey's hand lowered down from my forearm to my elbow, drawing me close. "You looked like a deer in headlights back there."
"Yeah, I'm good," I clutched my books close to my chest. "Thanks for that."
"No problem, I've always got your back, sweets," He grinned, now satisfied to know I was okay.
Something about Mickey was that he was flirty type; and upon first glance he seeemed to enjoy my presence. He made that clear despite my relationship with Randy.
It pissed him off to no end but Mickey didn't care, and honestly, pissed-off-jealous Randy became super-sexy-hot-boyfriend Randy.
Besides, Mickey will never be anything more than a friend. No matter how much he might remind me of a certain someone.
"Three hundred people watched and nobody did anything because they thought it was a publicity stunt, for christ sakes," Sidney's voice sounded loud and clear above the conversations of college students.
Mickey and I turned to see Randy walking alongside her, causing us to trail behind.
"And it would have been a good one too," Randy said in a shitty British accent.
"It's starting again, Randy."
"It's not," he continued in the accent, "A lot of shit happens at the movies. People get robbed, shot, maimed, murdered. Multiplexes are very dangerous places to be these days."
"Yeah and you are in extreme denial."
"You should be, too. This has nothing to do with us," Randy said normally.
"What does (Y/n) think of this?"
"Think of what?" I finally interjected.
"A guy in a ghost mask hacked up two people in a movie theater-" Mickey answered.
"Telling our life story!" Sidney said.
I froze, "I- ...They what? At the Stab premiere?" Sidney nodded but Randy rolled his eyes.
"It's a coincidence."
"You know what happened in Woodsboro, Randy... You can't ignore it."
"I know, Sid. I don't want to go back there again. Can't we just go back to our pseudo-quasi happy existence?"
Before Sidney could answer we were all interrupted by Derek, Sidney's boyfriend, "Hey, Sid. I've been looking everywhere. I heard you weren't in class."
Derek pulled Sidney away from the three of us and I gripped onto Randy's arm, unsure of the new information I had received. He pulled me against his chest and kissed the top of my head.
"It'll be alright, this has nothing to do with us," Randy repeated to me.
"What if it does? This is a little too freaky-deaky to be a coincidence..."
"We have no way of telling..." He sighed as we followed close behind Derek and Sidney. "Shit like this happens all the time."
"I don't know, Randy, it's not adding up..." I said. "What if..."
"Don't."
"But it could be him," I whined. "You can't avoid this now, I'm not insane. And don't tell me that's a fucking coincidence too, I'm sick of it."
Randy gripped onto my shoulders and turned me to face him, "I'm not saying that, dear, but you said it yourself. You aren't sure."
I bit my lip and tapped my foot anxiously to prevent the words to spill out but it was too late. "I've seen him more than once... I've- ... I keep seeing him."
"What?"
"He's in my dreams, yes, but I know I've seen him in real life. Everywhere. Day and night I see his face... not to mention the constant feeling of being watched."
"You didn't tell me!" Randy glared, his grip tightening on my shoulders.
"I'm sorry, who?" Mickey spoke up, who had been walking alongside us still, and apparently listening in.
I whipped my head towards him and bit my lip once more. Beyond Randy and my aunt, I hadn't told anyone else about my sightings. "Stu Macher."
"Your ex?" Mickey laughed with raised eyebrows, "As in the guy that started this whole shabang?"
"He didn't start it," Randy said in a low voice. He folded his arms in discontent. "He was too much of an imbecile to even come up with a massacre."
Mickey ignored Randy and went on, "He survived right? And you said you've seen him? ...Recently?"
I nodded but Randy managed to interject, "She thinks she's seen him. We're not sure."
"Yikes, that sounds scary, (Y/n)..." Mickey stepped forward and wrapped an arm around my body. "If it's true and if he's behind all of this-"
"Doubt it," Randy muttered.
"You've got me here to protect you, sweets."
Randy hummed in annoyance and pulled me away from Mickey. I kept my eyes trained on the ground.
It was starting again, Sidney was right about that, not even Randy could debunk it. But the possibility of Stu running the works behind these recent murders was a horrifying thought.