They were all there. Students, parents, children, everyone. "My family's been in Sunnyvale for generations, and now my brother is mayor, and I your sherriff. We've prospered here." Josh and Debbie were there too, praying for Heather's family and relatives. "And yet, I've seen you, our neighbours in Shadyside, suffer tragedy after tragedy. It's easy in times like this to drown in questions of why... Why this happened— but I know too well there are no answers that will provide relief."
Debbie wondered, why do tragedies like this only happen in Shadyside, from the research she has done during these past months, every serial killer that has been outside in the real world is originally from Shadyside, what does that mean?
"There's no peace found in the past." Debbie couldn't hear what sheriff Goode said after that because something clicked inside her, like she was sensing something far away from her was happening. When she looked behind her, she saw Deena and some girl with a cheerleader outfit on. "We must not fall into the darkness. We must look into the light."
Debbie snapped out of it and looked back to the sheriff, only to hear someone scoff besides her, "Yeah. What we should do is light a fuse and burn Shittyside."
Debbie, Josh, and some seniors looked to their side, one of them named Conner, saying, "What did you just say?"
"I said it ain't a tragedy if it happens every week. It's a joke." The Sunnyvaler said with a harsh tone. The younger girl scoffed, whispering loudly to Josh, "So mature."
"Hey, I heard that!" The boy got in front of Debbie, "Yeah, well It was meant to be heard, you asshole—" The immature boy was about to tackle her but Conner interfered, "You want to tackle that 16-year-old? I heard Juveniles are a great place for people like you." Conner pushed the Sunnyvaler guy and everyone started tackling each other. Someone was about to tackle Josh but Debbie felt it coming, so he punched the random dude.
"That was so cool, Debs!" Josh yelled over the people. The girl smiled, "I know a little bit of karate!" Josh scrunched his face, not knowing what she meant by that, "Karate kid! Cobra kai?" The boy realized what she was talking about, he gave her a thumbs up.
What they saw next really shocked them, "AHHHHH!!" Simon yelled, running towards the guy who tried to tackle Debbie, he was dressed as a green witch...interesting. Simon hit the guy with his witchy broom which in response he got, "You little green prick! Come here, you little bitch! Come here."
"We should get out of here." Josh said to Debbie. The girl nodded, trying to walk away from the fight, "Let's go to my house, we could talk to my dad about 1978."
"Good idea."
Both teenagers walked to the parking lot and drove in Debbie's dad's car that she borrowed for this occasion. And also, since it's a small town, there's no problem with driving at 16. Debbie's house was right outside Sunnyvale, it wasn't a long ride. When they finally arrived at her house, they walked in.
"Dad?" Debbie yelled. They heard sounds from the kitchen, when they entered it, they saw him. He turned to see who it was, "Oh, hello. Hi, Josh."
"Hi."
Debbie sat on the coach in front of his dad, Josh following her steps. The Vallace girl opened her backpack and took out the same journal she took out in the coffee shop with Josh. "So...dad?"
"What 's up?" He said, taking a bite of his sandwich. Debbie looked at the sandwich like a distraction whilst Josh looked at the sandwich like he met his soulmate. "So, remember that time you talked to me about your experience in camp nightwing and how a girl saved you from getting killed? One of Shadyside survivors?"
"Yeah. Natalie Slater, she was such a messy camper." He chuckled
Debbie looked at her friend right when he mentioned 'Slater' "So... you do remember her?"
The older man nodded slowly, "I was her counselor for two years before I moved out. I visited Camp Nightwing that day because Nat was becoming a counselor. Her and Tommy seemed so happy, they were always happy. A few hours later I left." He frowned when he mentioned his old friends, "I came back because I forgot something, only to see everything going crazy—Natalie saved me from getting killed by a guy with an axe. Before I got any chance to ask or see what happened, someone grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into the school bus. A few days later I got the news that the guy with an axe was my friend,Tommy. It said that somehow he became a serial killer and killed almost everyone in the camp, one of them almost being me. I couldn't believe it—I thought that it was a random crazy dude but then your grandmother," He looked at Debbie.
"She umm—she said it was true, that it was him. I went up to my room but stopped before I went in, I clicked on the telephone that was right outside of my room, then I called her."
Josh asked. "Natalie?"
"Yeah. When she answered I was so relieved when she said she wasn't hurt that badly, I remember her saying 'I can live without a spleen' she was in shock and I knew that. She then asked If I could come by her house because she had something to tell me about what happened that night. I was three hours away from her but I said yes because she needed some support. When I arrived at her house there was another guy, who I deeply despised." He chuckled. Debbie thought, 'who was he?'.
"His name is Kurt, he was also a counselor, and when I saw them together my eyes widened because they hated each other, but then Nat told me not to worry about it—that he was there for her when everything happened. I questioned at first but then I thought 'now is not really the time, you're here to comfort and listen to her.' After that, she told me everything. She showed me this." He showed the teenagers an old journal, "She told me how the Shadyside curse possessed her brother and that's why he killed people. I guess she expected me not to believe her because of the look on her face but... I did believe her."
"Why?" The girl asked
The older man tilted his head and muttered, "I don't know," Josh saw Debbie quickly writing something in her journal, "I just got this feeling that I needed to believe her, that I was somehow involved in this already, even though I was only there when the start happened." Debbie's dad looked at her daughter and said, "You're actually a lot like her." He noticed his daughter furrowing her eyebrows, she was just like Natalie...
Debbie looked at Josh but the boy just shrugged his shoulders, "What do you mean by that?" She was curious, really curious, she had realized her dad and Natalie were close, like brother and sister. But what Debbie didn't know was that her dad was already involved in this way before she was born.
"You act like her, which is not a bad thing—Natalie was such a strong person, she still is." Both Josh and Debbie's eyes widen at the last part, "You're still in contact with her." Josh assumed as soon as Debbie's dad finished.
The man smiled. "Sometimes, yes. She's actually here in town for a few days, the last time I talked to her was when she left her house to come here."
"Oh...that's umm—" Debbie trailed off, feeling dizzy. Everything was blurry, she could feel Josh holding her from falling and her dad crawling in front of her, calling her name.
And the last thing she heard was a name, "Anastasia..."
~
When Natalie finally left the coffee shop and went to her mother's house, she saw a car—Kurt.
She opened her car door and walked towards the house. When she walked inside she saw his back, "Kurt?" The guy turned around and then he smiled, "Nat!" He stood up from his seat and hugged her, whispering. "Are you alright?" He kissed her forehead.
"Yes." Natalie whispered back. Moments later, Kurt and Natalie sat on a couch in front of her mom, "So...I knew my daughter would be coming, but I didn't know you'd be here too!" Kurt let out a laugh, "Is there a special occasion?"
The couple looked at each other, "Well we—" Kurt started in which Natalie quickly interrupted him. She didn't let him finish because she knew he'd say something not good, "We're meeting with some old friends from the past." Her mother smiled.
"Oh, that's great, sweetie. Who was that guy from your camp? The tall, brunette. He was a very handsome young man—"
"Oh, do you mean Rafa?" Kurt suddenly said. Natalie zoned out and looked at the first thing she thought of, the telephone. Someone was gonna call them, she didn't know why but right when Kurt said Rafa's name, she felt like a connection.
"...Oh, Rafael! Yeah, him! He is such a sweetheart, it's been so long since we last saw him..." Natalie tried to follow the voices.
"Quick! Call her!" That didn't sound like her mother or Kurt, and definitely not like Natalie. She could recognised that voice from far away, Rafa. "Anastasia..."
"Natalie!" Her mother yelled. The woman looked from the telephone to her mom, "Wasn't Rafael also your counselor." She nodded, then the telephone rand. Ms. Slater and Kurt looked at it and stood up but Natalie was too quick and grabbed it first.
"Rafael?"
"Uhhh, I'm Josh." The woman inhaled and then exhaled, Josh on the other side of the telephone, looked behind his back and saw Debbie still fainted on the floor and her dad trying to get her on the couch, "Umm—I'm a friend of Rafael, you probably know him, he said that we could use some of your help."
Natalie froze when the boy said Rafael's name. "What's happening? Can I get him on the phone?" Josh muttered something, "He's kinda occupied, he really needs your help, though."
Kurt looked at Natalie with a worried face. He mouthed 'what's wrong?' She shook her head, still not knowing why he called her. "I'll be there in 10." Kurt raised his eyebrows, still in question, "We need to go, now." She went and hugged her mother before grabbing her things and opened her car.
"Natalie, calm down—who called you?" Kurt worriedly placed his hand on her shoulder, sitting on the copilot's seat. Natalie stared at the tree in front of her, "Cindy, Alice...they sacrificed themselves for nothing."
Kurt looked confused, "But I thought you guys ended the curse." And Natalie did too, "I thought so too—but turns out we didn't." Kurt grabbed her hand, "Natalie, look at me." She did.
"Sarah Fier is back."
TINA SPEAKS
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