^^^^^^
" WHATEVER. I'M GONNA GET SOME MORE BEER. "
alexa, play EVENTUALLY by tame impala
^^^^^^
UNCLE MARK < 3:
good luck, sorry i can't come with, i gotta keep my kids safe. love ya tatum!
I smiled at his text as I walked into Amber's house from the back entrance, but didn't bother replying to it at this very moment in time. I needed to mourn Wes, inform everyone about my dad, and kill Amber. All in the span of hopefully an hour and a half. Was that the overachiever in me talking? Yes it was, but I've always been more of a Reed than a Johnny, so I think it tracks fairly well. I was instantly angered by this so called 'memorial' for Wes-if it had been a memorial when Brielle and Laina first got here, it sure as shit wasn't anymore. It was a full on party; just an excuse for teenagers to drink and have sex while their parents think that they're mourning one of their friends lost to the massacre.
They're all a bunch of ignorant assholes is what they are. I spotted Chad and Liv graphically making out on a couch, turned and saw Mindy talking to her possible crush, Francis, and realized that from where I was standing, I could not find Amber, Brielle, or Laina. It would be against my better judgment to go and ask any of the three friends I saw right now if they knew where the three important people were, so I actually didn't ask them. Quite proud of myself for that one.
I maneuvered my way through the crowded kitchen, living room, and hallway to the lobby before I was able to find Brielle and Laina. Brielle was talking to her boyfriend, Carter, and Laina was talking to somebody I didn't recognize-luckily, however, it wasn't Cody, who is another story for another time. I walked over to them, but genuinely didn't attempt to give them a smile. I didn't have it in me, not with everything that's happened and everything that I've learned.
"Babe!" Laina squealed excitedly, pulling me in for a hug and pulling back after a nice fifteen second bear hug.
"How're you doing?" Brielle asked after kissing me on the cheek.
Do I tell them? With so many people around? Will they call me crazy, will they believe me, will they not know what to do, say, or think? There were too many questions now flying around in my head because of the singular question that Brie asked, so naturally, I decided not to answer a single one of them.
"I'm doing okay, y'know, considering the circumstances and...everything." I shrugged, tossing a brief smile that didn't shine up to my eyes.
"It was a memorial at first, we promise," Laina put a hand on my forearm in some form of...comfort? "Liv texted a bunch of her friends, apparently, and those friends invited their friends, and now it's a party."
"Half of these people didn't even know Wes." I scoffed, and motioned to some older-looking guy. "Is he even in school at all?! You know what, no...no, it's fine. It's fine. I need to find Amber, do you guys know where she is?"
Both of them shook their heads, and I pressed my lips together in frustration. Don't show your frustration too much, or else they'll start asking why, and you can't tell them yet. You need to do this by yourself. I straightened up and shrugged it off, "Alright, well-I'm gonna go look for her, see you guys later?"
"See ya!" Brielle gave me a side hug with her sweet words, and Carter waved goodbye as I walked in the direction of the living room.
"Tatuuuum," Mindy was high, how slowly she drawled out my name instantly made me realize that. "Babe, how are you?"
She asked this as she stood up and wrapped me in one of those hugs where as sweet as the hug is, you want to hold your nose because the person just smells so bad. In this current case, Mindy reeked of weed, and I absolutely despised the smell of weed. It just brought back some very unpleasant memories, which is why I've only ever tried weed once. Everybody says it's relaxing to them, but for me? Nope. It made me overthink to an entirely new degree, which is why I pulled back from the hug as quickly as possible.
"My Dad got killed." I tried to whisper this as softly as possible, since I didn't want all eyes to be on me.
Mindy's eyes became so wide with shock that they basically looked like two perfect circles. Her hand flew over her mouth, her beer can fell out of her other hand and I'm pretty sure I saw a couple of tears form in her eyes. It was hard to tell all the emotions exactly on her face because of the flashing lights, but I could tell she was sad.
"Holy shit, Tatum, I'm so sorry-" She was stumbling through her words, justifiably so-it wasn't an easy thing to hear.
I mean, the entire friend group grew up having Dad in their lives; I was going to need to tell all of them tonight. Minus Brielle, Laina, and now Mindy. This wasn't going to be easy, in fact, I saw the reactions getting worse and worse as the night went on. I did have to say, however, that I was proud of all of us for still being here. At least for now, because I mean, a few of us could still die-like Mindy had said at the bar the other night.
"Don't say it right now, please, just go on with the party, kay? Don't um..." I took a shaky breath. "Don't tell anybody else yet. Try and act normal. I need to go find Amber."
I spun my head towards a group of teens debating about which Stab movie is the best, sincerely concerned about their mental well-being at this moment in time. As I watched one ferociously declare that nobody can beat the original, Mindy's voice knocked me out of that complete focus.
"You seem, like...really cool about all of this." Her words were painstakingly slow. "Too cool. Are you one of them?"
I turned back to face her, concern and confusion running a muck in my facial expressions. "Mindy, do you have short term memory loss? My dad and boyfriend got killed, why would I be one of the killers?"
"A third killer, for revenge." She took a gulp of water from a random water bottle lying around, stayed silent for another minute, and then decided she was going to say something again. "Whatever. I'm gonna get some more beer."
I laughed, and with a new found sense of determination and odd confidence, I walked towards the stairs, figuring Amber could be up in her room. This house always gave me the heebie jeebies-I mean, it was Stu Macher's house, so who wouldn't get the heebie jeebies from it? This house was the same place that the original killer reveal + massacre happened in, and I walked into it entirely consensually. I'm supposed to be a smart legacy kid, and this is not what a smart legacy kid would do.
"Amber!" I called out as I tiptoed up the stairs, only to get no response.
I don't exactly know what I was expecting, seeing how loud this party had become, but anything was better than nothing. The floorboards creaked with every other step I took; I peaked into what I knew to be Amber's bedroom only to discover everything perfectly in place. It was too perfect for it to be Amber's regular-looking room-something was up. Obviously something is up, Amber's the fucking killer. One of two. Who is the other one? I needed to figure that out, but obviously, there would be no way to figure such a thing out. That one would have to wait until the killers finally reveal themselves to the rest of the group.
I should warn somebody, but I genuinely doubt that they would take me seriously at this moment in time. Of course, that sucked, but I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. "Amber?" I called out again, and once more, there was no reply. I opened up her closet to find the biggest give away-a Ghostface mask. Now, usually I would think nothing of it, since all of our friend group got Ghostface masks together Freshman year, but this wasn't it. There was a singular drop of blood on it; a bulletproof vest could be seen as well.
The realization made me feel sick to my stomach; my hand flew over my mouth and I started to cry. This was the bulletproof vest that was the reason why Dad was dead. I went down into a resting position that made me go on my knees, and tried to hold back tears. I needed Uncle Mark here-I needed Sidney. I needed Dad back.
My phone dinged; it was a text message from Brielle. I didn't bother to look at it; I stood up, dusted myself off, and continued to look around Amber's room for more incriminating evidence that she was the killer. Three dings from my phone all at once, I still didn't bother to open any messages up. The music got cut off downstairs, I could hear people shouting and booing and complaining, and then I could hear footsteps. They were walking out of the house. The party was over, the people were leaving. I could hear my heart thumping furiously in my ears, and as the anxiety continued to set in, I stood up and rushed out of Amber's room.
I decided to hide in the bathroom, where I splashed my face with ice cold water and refused to look into the mirror. I needed to get this done-I needed to stop being so fucking scared. One deep breath in, one deep breath out. One deep breath in, one deep breath out. A timer began to tick in the back of my mind, a timer that told me how much time I had left before everything went to shit.
I heard footsteps, and what I thought to be a pair of crutches coming up the stairs. My phone dinged as I heard them turn and stop. My heart dropped; I prayed they had simply gone into another room. Talking. Chatting. A goodbye, maybe? I don't know, and quite frankly, I don't care. There was the sound of a distant commotion, probably coming from downstairs. Shouting. Rushing down the stairs. I realized that something big was happening. Somebody else got attacked, maybe? Or was there a new body to be found?
I realized also that I needed to alert somebody that wasn't in this house. If this night was what I thought it would be, we would need outside help. Adult help. So, instead of shooting a text to my 'mother', I pulled out my phone and shot a text Uncle Mark's way.
ME:
uncle mark, we need help. send help whenever u get the chance. sry to interrupt time with ur kids.
I hit the send button with record timing before I turned off my phone, so I could only pray that my message had actually been sent. But there was no time to check it anymore; I ran down the stairs, even falling down the last couple before straightening myself up again and running into the living room, where I was greeted with plenty of screams from just about everybody.
Mindy was on the ground, passed out and bleeding. Liv and Sam both had blood on their hands. Brielle looked very out of breath. Tara looked in pain. Amber looked punchable. Richie looked scared. Laina looked...like too many emotions.
"Stay the fuck back!" Amber held her hands out in myself and Liv's direction, and I was just trying to catch my own breath so I could get it out that she was the killer. "Where the fuck did you even come from, Tatum?!"
"You're the killer-" Richie accused, and almost instantly, I got a feeling that he was the second killer. Both of them were trying to frame me.
"What? No, no, I'm not the killer here; I know who it is-" I tried to talk and explain myself, but alas, I was still too out of breath to get much out.
"Who is it?!" I heard Sam shout over everybody else, but Liv cut my answer off.
"Fuck you Amber!" Liv shouted, probably because of a conversation I had just missed. "I am not...the fucking...killer!"
"I know." Amber said monotonously, then pulling out a gun and shooting Liv square in the head.
Liv's head-blood splattered everywhere, a bit even got onto my arm. The house erupted in screams; Richie shouted something about having to run, but I just stood there in shock. And anger. I let everybody else run; Tara attacked Amber only to be knocked down very quickly. As bad as I felt for Tara, I couldn't help her right now. Although this may seem selfish, the only thing that I was set to do was get revenge.