Sam
I could hear the beating of my heart between my ears as I stared at Tara. Ghostface was here, in New York, right now. We left Woodboro and the motherfucker is still in our lives.
Before I could question her, Tara was off to the kitchen but I followed just as fast. "Tara, are you fucking around with me?"
"Why would I fuck around about ghostface?" She said, huffing as she grabbed a bag of popcorn off of the counter. It was my bag but I couldn't even focus on that right now. Tara was acting as if this was a normal Tuesday but it wasn't. We had to leave. Now.
Pulling out my phone, I immediately went to the search bar. "What are you doing, Sam?" She questioned, head leaning over to look at me phone. "No."
"Tara.."
"No, Sam. We are not taking a flight to fucking Nebraska."
"It's the first flight out of the city and we need to leave. I'm not going to just sit here with a ghostface around."
"It could just be some idiots deciding to wear the mask. It's Halloween tomorrow night and a lot of masks are being bought— it doesn't mean it's connected to us."
My eyebrows pulled together as I watched Tara not make any sense. A murderer in a ghostface mask was never a coincidence. Ever. And the fact that she wanted to brush it off made my head hurt.
She was still struggling with the bag as I sat my phone on the counter. "Tara, I get that your coping mechanisms are to pretend what happened to us never happened but we can't be rash."
"You're the one being rash!" A loud pop sent the both of us jumping, hearts in our throats as the popcorn ripped open and flew in every direction. Her eyes closed as she inhaled deeply, hands gripping the two ends of an empty bag.
I stepped forward to grab ahold of the bags. "Are you okay?"
A creak caused her eyes to reopen and my head to turn in the direction of the sound. My first instinct was to grab a weapon but remembering who was in the closet made my heart speed up for another reason. I couldn't have this news on top of ghostface being back.
If Tara found Y/n in here, her anger and anxiety would be taken out on me and it didn't help that I just found out her girlfriend died yesterday. Her girlfriend died yesterday.. why the fuck was she here?
"Did you hear that?" Tara whispered, hand reaching for the rack of knives. I slowly shook my head, trying to deter her from walking to the pantry.
"It sounded like it came from the bedroom." I said, leading her in that direction before she made up her own mind. I just hoped that Y/n got the hint and made a run for it in time.
I had to pretend I was actually on guard as I grabbed the doorknob, slowly starting to push the door open and expecting no one on the other side.
A gloved hand waving menacingly. My heart dropped, eyes not registering the masked killer until it was too late. He made a run for us.
"Run!" I shouted to Tara as I pulled the door closed behind me and ran for the front door. It swung open, revealing another masked ghostface. We ran in the opposite direction.
Our apartment was little as it was and it became a maze within the second. I followed Tara into the living room, trying not to focus on the heavy boots trailing behind us. The tightening of my chest almost made it hard to breath as I rounded the couches to the sliding door that led to the fire escape.
My hand fell onto it just as I heard a scream. Spinning around, I looked behind me to see Tara being pulled back, a knife pressing against her neck. I scanned the area to find anything I could use to attack. A chair, a a cup, a fucking phone, anything.
"Sam just go." Tara said, eyes wide with fear as she went limp. "You can make it out."
"Not without you." I said firmly, never thinking for a second to leave my sister behind. Tears began to fill the brim of her lids as the knife began to dig into her neck. "Tara.." Movement behind them caught my attention as the second ghostface began walking forward, head tilting. Then more movement. Y/n.
I kept my gaze away from her as she held a lamp, slowly walking forward.
"Tara." I said, hands tightening into fist. "Elbow." Her eyebrows raised just as a crash filled the air, Y/n sending the lamp into the head of the second ghostface. Tara was quick to follow as she slammed her elbow into the masked figure.
Rushing forward, I grabbed Tara and pulled her into me.
"What the fuck is going on with these masked motherfuckers?" Y/n breathed out, heaving heavily as she stared at the doubled over ghostface. "And why are they.." My eyes widened at the protruding in her stomach. Ghostface was doubled over at one second, then shoving a knife into her gut the next. "Oh fuck." She whispered, looking down at her stomach then back up at me. "Get the fuck out." She said, wrapping an arm around the ghostface's shoulder and spinning them around, inevitably tripping them both over the couch.
"Y/n!" I said with a strain as Tara grabbed my arm and pulled me to the front door. We ran out, not stopping as we flew down all of the stairs until we reached the front. Miraculously, the cops were already pulling up. The same cops from Y/n's house.
"Ghostface is here!" Tara shouted.
"Floor 2, apartment 204. Please. They're killing someone." I added. Drawing their guns, the two of them ran up to the apartment while Tara and I stood outside with nervousness in the bottom of my belly.
I could've counted to sixty about hundred times before they came back down, only carrying a single bag.
"Where is she? Is she okay?" I rushed out, reaching then before they could fully step out of the building.
The cop looked at his partner before facing me. He unzipped the bag and I looked into it to see a single bloodied knife. The same knife she was stabbed with. "Good news is that whoever did this decided not to leave your friend to die. Bad news is.. they didn't leave them here at all." My head raised. "There was no one in your apartment."
• • •
I paced around the questioning room enough times that I'm surprised my footprints weren't engraved into the carpet. How could Y/n be missing? Never have I heard of a ghostface taking a victim unless.. no, no it's not possible. Y/n wouldn't be teamed with them or helping them out.
"Sam." I looked over at Tara who was sat at the table, eyes bloodshot and tired. "Why was Y/n in our apartment?" My body froze momentarily, forgetting to come up with a reasonable explanation for that part. I was so worried about her that I forgot Tara didn't even know what was going on between us. "And don't lie."
Inhaling deeply, I walked to the table and sat next to her. I might as well tell the truth, right? With everything going on, it was best to just rip the bandaid off because lies weren't something I felt like keeping up with right now. "About a year ago when we first moved here I met Y/n on my way to get groceries." A single eyebrow propped upwards at my words as she nodded slowly, urging me to continue. "We started to get to know one another and then.. well.."
"You've been sleeping with my classmate for a year?"
"In my defense, I started sleeping with her before she became your classmate." She grimaced immediately and I felt bad about her having to find out this way. "It's a casual thing, though. We aren't dating or exclusive."
An almost sarcastic smiled crossed her lips as she perked up. "Oh what a relief. That makes this whole situation less awkward and fucked up." I frowned just as two knocks echoed across the room, followed by the door opening to reveal the detective who brought us in. "Thank God." Tara whispered. "So, are we free to go?"
"Yes. But we did just get a call from Dignity General Hospital." My eyes widened. "Y/n is there and she's fine."
That's all I needed to hear. We were out of the door and arriving at the hospital within ten minutes. I hated these damn places considering the last time I was in one, Tara laid in these same beds on account of ghost face. Full fucking circle.
I didn't want to leave Tara alone but she was adamant on staying in the car, not wanting to go back into a hospital. Knowing she would be with an officer eased my mind enough to go in.
A nurse guided me to the room and in front stood Julia, Y/n's sister. I didn't know much about her other than what Y/n has been kind enough to share. She's rich, entitled, and doesn't live here. Basically their parents.
When she saw us approaching, she smiling kindly at the nurse and thanked her. That smile fell once she left, eyes meeting mine. "Samantha. I've heard a lot about you." My full name? She's already trying to cause problems between us.
I smiled back. "As have I. I'm just here to check on Y/n."
"Is that really a good idea?" My head titled at the bite in her tone that still somehow was masked by innocence. "I heard she was attacked at your place. The Carpenter sisters apartment.. I've heard about you two and I won't have you dragging your problems to my family."
"Our problems?" I said with a snap, feeling my temper boil over the edge over something so simple but I'm sure she knew that. She knew exactly what she was trying to invoke but I didn't mind giving it to her. "You haven't seen a problem yet."
We held eye contact for no more than ten seconds but it felt like ten minutes.
"Juli I have to head back to the airport. Work emergency." A man dressed too fancy for a hospital appeared beside her, smiling charmingly at me. "Merrium, it's nice to meet you."
I grinned back respectfully. Julia turned to him and they spoke in a hush but it was still vey much audible.
"My sister was just attacked, Mer."
"And we just checked on her. I'm leaving. You can come or you can stay."
My eyebrows pulled together when she looked back at me. "Do you mind?" Says the girl who was just trying to keep me from going in.
I let it go.
Pushing the door open, I walked in but paused when I saw Y/n laying in the bed with a serious expression, her brother by her bedside. I first noticed the dewiness of her skin as if she'd been running a marathon. Then the skin of her forehead pulling together. She only did that when trying to do her homework or playing a video game.
Then I noticed they were talking in a hush but stopped when the door gave away my arrival. They both looked up and I smiled softly. "Maybe next time make sure the person is dead before you let your guard down, okay?"
She smiled. "Let's make sure there isn't a next time. Sam this is my brother Isaac, Isaac this is Sam." Her brother raised up and I could almost see the Hollywood charm in his smile. It was accompanied with a confident walk and a graceful outstretching hand.
"Good to finally meet who owns that blue Nissan." My face raised with heat as he slowly shook my hand, eyes moving over his shoulder to Y/n who was shaking her head in what looked like embarrassment. "I'll be in the hall while you two lovebirds talk. Don't rip those stitches." He winked before leaving the room.
I looked back at Y/n. She was already watching me with hooded eyes. "I don't bite." She said, motioning to the chair at her bedside. For someone that was stabbed, she seemed to be in the best of moods. Still, I walked to her bedside and sat down, subconsciously grabbing her hand and examining it. "What are you looking for?"
"Gloves can leave loose strings in the nails." She slowly pulled her hand away as I looked up at her, noticing the realization dawn over her face. "Your girlfriend was killed by ghost face and you didn't think to tell me?"
"I didn't think there was a legitimate ghost face." She's lying. I could feel my anxiety build up by the second because I've been through this before. It's always the love interest, always.
"Sam," She grabbed my hand and placed hers in it. "Look for whatever you wanna look for, ask whatever you want to ask but believe me when I say that hurting you is the last thing I'd ever want to do. I.." My eyes met hers when she paused, head tilting as she let out a shaky breath. "I like you, a lot. A lot more than I've liked any girl and knowing that there's some fucker here trying to hurt you makes me aggravated but also.."
"Also what?" I whispered.
Her hands flipped over to hold mine again as she sat up with a slight wince. I found myself sitting up as well. "Also reckless because I almost died and I'll be damned if I do that before getting what I want."
The way she was staring at me made me want to melt into a puddle and never become a solid form again. Her eyes were still hooded, serious, piercing. I found myself leaning forward. "And what do you want, Y/n?"
She leaned forward. "To protect you with my life and I can't do that as a casual fuck." My lips curled into a slight smirk as she raised one hand to cup my cheek. "I want to be yours and I want you to be mine."
"This could be a ploy. You could be trying to get closer to me so you can kill me." I said, not missing the gap between us closing. "You could be ghost face."
"So could you." She retorted, other hand cupping my other cheek. "But I'd gladly let you slice me up, Sam."
I cracked a smile that accidentally slipped into a short laugh. "You're a psycho." I said and she nodded, pulled me closer.
"Maybe." She whispered, then connected our lips.
And for a moment, just a moment, everything felt okay enough to breathe.
• • •