𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙭 :
shrine of death
﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎
BRIENNE WAS SAT in the back of an ambulance to the side of Mindy and Tara. The two had just finished getting their stitches, and since Brienne was unharmed by the Ghostface she was off to the side, helping those who needed it.
Everyone was silent though. The loss of Anika had hit them hard, especially Mindy. It was her girlfriend after all. It also revealed that anyone could be target, after all the girl was innocent to the horrors of Woodsboro. Mindy and Tara had hugged Brienne for fifteen minutes straight once the cops got there, and they were safe.
Suddenly Brienne heard approaching footsteps and spotted Ethan, who had just snuck under the yellow caution tape covering the area, walking towards the group.
Chad spotted him second and charged over to him, grabbing Ethan's jacket and slamming his back against a car. Chad interrogated, "Where the fuck were you?"
"What? When?" Ethan rushed out, confused as to what was happening and why he was being held to the car.
"Last night!" Chad gruffly said, not loosening his grip in the slightest even as Ethan looked down at it with a confused wince. He slammed the boy against the car once more, trying to get him to answer quicker.
"I had econ!" Ethen defended, "You know this, I told you and Brienne right before I left!"
"Bullshit man!" Chad harshly stated, "You disappear, and my sister almost gets killed!" Brienne's lip twitched downwards. Anika was killed, dipshit. Least you could do is say her name.
"Dude," Ethan began with an incredulous tone, "I was in a study hall with one hundred other people. You can ask any of them."
Chad took a few seconds before he relented, letting go of the boy aggressively, pushing himself off of him by pushing Ethan into the car. He made a slight expression of pain before inquiring what happened the night before. Brienne was able to overhear Chad telling Ethan that Quinn and Anika had been murdered.
The two then walked up to the group but Mindy ordered, "Stay the fuck back!" Ethan stopped in confusion, "You're at the top of my list."
"I had Econ!" Ethan defended as he looked back at Mindy, who's eyes were full of distrust and anger. Mindy turned towards Chad who looked away from Ethan. Distraught, his shoulders slumped as he realized his friends didn't believe him, "I had econ..."
Ethan's eyes raked over the group, looking for someone, before they landed and stopped on Brienne. He scanned her features quickly before changing which leg he had his weight on. He stood there awkwardly, waiting for the girl to move towards him.
"Brienne, will you go with him already, so he'll leave!?" Mindy questions harshly, making the blonde girl purse her lips before she stood up and begrudgingly made her way towards Ethan. Throwing me to the wolves, huh Mindy.
Brienne didn't say anything, simply slipping off of the ambulance and walking away. Tara grasped at her hand, making Brienne turn around. Tara's mouth opened and closed a few times before she straightened her lips and let go of Brienne's hand, ignoring what she was going to say. Brienne gave her a confused look, but Tara waved her off, "Go ahead."
"Okay...?" Brienne trailed off as she slowly walked away, Ethan following behind her like a lost puppy. Once they reached the car Ethan had been pushed onto, he gave her a look, showing her that they were going to do the dialogue they had talked about just in case there was someone, especially a cop, listening. So, Ethan questioned,
"You believe me, right?" Brienne didn't say anything immediately, and Ethan repeated with a more desperate voice, "Right?"
"It's not that I don't trust only you," Brienne started, avoiding his eyes, "I think it's just hard to trust anyone right now."
"I'd never hurt you, sweetheart." Ethan acted offended.
"I know." Brienne nodded, a defeated expression on her face. But then it twitched into a teasing one. She peered up at him and his oh so sweet but confused puppy dog eyes, and grinned mischievously, "Hold on...Sweetheart? Huh?"
"You—I—It uh...It slipped out!" Ethan rambled, his eyes widening as he took a step back, embarrassed he had said an affectionate term without them being official.
"No, no I like it." Brienne smiled softly at his anxious appearance, enjoying how flustered he got whenever she spoke to him. She reached forward and the tips of her fingers dragged along his palm, daring him to grasp them. She giggled, "Want me to call you a pet name too?"
"You can call me anything you want." Ethan quickly said, not even thinking.
Brienne's eyebrows raised as she challenged, "Anything?"
"I... I mean, I guess so, yeah." Ethan nodded, avoiding eye contact as he realized what he had said.
"So, I can call you something like..." She paused for a few seconds as she brewed names, "Sir Doofus?"
"I-I mean," Ethan blinked at her in disappointment but not surprise, he should have expected this, "I thought it'd be nicer..."
"So, like sweet tits?" Brienne queued with a fake innocent tone.
"How about," Ethan offered, "we just don't give pet names."
"Okay, whatever you want honey." Brienne wouldn't make eye contact as she said this, instead playing with one of his hands with both of hers.
"You—" He looked down at her in confusion, ignoring how he got butterflies in his stomach like a teenage girl from the simple word, "Why didn't you start with honey?"
"It wasn't as entertaining." Brienne snorted, "Besides, I kind of like Sir Doofus."
﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎
"Jason and Greg were little Atlanta rich boys, apparently they used to fake names to rent this place." Gale said as the rest of the group followed behind her and Kirby.
They had met up with two previous survivors of Ghostface attacks, the famous reporter Gale Weathers and the newly FBI agent Kirby. Gale informed the group that she had found something and wanted to help them get rid of the Ghostface. Now she was leading the group in an alleyway littered with Ghostface graffiti.
"How did you find it?" Kirby interrogated as she took note of the outside of the building.
"It's called investigating journalism for a reason." Gale sassed as she gave Kirby a glance, "How didn't you find it? Weren't you tracking them?"
"I went through their financial records a dozen times; this wasn't in any of them. This doesn't make sense." Kirby defended as the group made it to the entrance.
"Don't worry. I'm just really good at my job." Gale walked past Kirby and pulling out a keycard. "You'll get there." Gale slid the card through the receptor and the door beeped before it opened.
Gale pulled out a flashlight and opened the door, entering first. She didn't hold the door open as the rest walked through.
They were met with some stairs that led to a gate. Gale used the same card and unlocked it. The gate beeped and opened, allowing them inside.
"What is this place?" Sam asked, trying her best to observe the inside of the building. It was difficult with only one light source. "What's with all the security?"
Gale made her way to what appeared to be some sort of generator and flipped a switch. Luckily light flooded through the room, allowing the group to disperse a little and observe their surroundings.
"It's a movie theater." Sam pointed out.
Gale objected, "It's not just a theater, it's a shrine."
The door in front of them opened and the curtain in front of the stage lifted up, revealing a shocking sight.
"Oh wow." Brienne muttered at the sight of nine mannequins on the stage, all neatly organized into a half circle across the stage, all donning Ghostface robes and masks. In front of them were lines of glass boxes and mannequins holding other outfits, all in different stages.
"It's the whole goddam franchise." Mindy pointed out, examining the array of objects in a mix of fascination and terror.
The blonde made it to one of the glass boxes, finding that it was a drawing of a woman. The girl read a name in the corner, finding the last name Loomis attached to it. Brienne lifted her gaze, finding a white suit paired with it. Brienne turned towards Sam, finding her looking at a different glass box across the room. Feeling another gaze on her, she looked around the room. Then she spotted Detective Bailey's eyes on her, no obvious emotion behind them.
Brienne maintained eye contact for a little. Keep your old ass eyes to yourself dude. She blinked before she turned away, giving Mrs. Loomis's box one last glance before she continued on, looking at more boxes.
Brienne had to force herself to skip over Amber's box, knowing she would stare if she had the chance.
"Chad!" Mindy called to her twin who looked at her from the opposite side of the room, "This was Uncle Randy's. They've got everything."
"Is that...?" Brienne heard Tara trail off. The blonde turned to see where she was and spotted her beside Tara.
"The knife I was stabbed with." Kirby finished.
"You all have been through so much." Detective Bailey said, looking over the group as they explored.
Brienne stopped and looked up at the man. "How do you get all this stuff?" Tara inquired as she looked at everything in disbelief, "I mean, isn't this evidence?"
"Well, cops like money. And evidence can get lost pretty quickly." Gale explained.
Ethan spoke up, "Why am I here exactly? My alibi checks out."
"So, I can keep an eye on you, roomie." Chad informed as Mindy raised her fingers up in the same 'I'm watching you' motion she had done with Brienne yesterday.
"The killer must've found this place before he murdered Jason and Greg and then took the mask off the mannequin. All nine from Stu and Billy to Amber and Richie." Brienne found herself looking over Amber's case, before her attention turned elsewhere.
Brienne watched as Sam climbed up the stairs and made her way towards the Ghostface costume in the center glass container. The rest of the group followed her, each examining the random costumes.
The girl made it up second last, being followed by Ethan whose hand lightly brushed against her own. On purpose of course, but he made it look like an accident.
Brienne sent him a smile, and Ethan gave his own innocent one. Then he followed her to a nearby Ghostface costume that they observed together.
"So, somebody killed these chuckle fucks and took over?" Chad asked to everyone and everyone.
"Someone who believes that Sam masterminded Woodsboro."
"If this were a normal Stab movie this would be the killers layer." Mindy revealed.
"Which means this isn't a normal Stab movie." Kirby said.
Everyone began looking at each other in concern. Tara walked out of the room, evidently overwhelmed by the current area. Brienne found herself taking a few steps after the girl, but ultimately letting her have her time to herself.
As she stared at the doorway that Tara had left from, she missed the person walking up beside her, until they spoke, at least.
"Do you really trust him?"
Brienne jumped and looked at who was speaking. It was Chad. The girl processed his question after calming down from the quick scare, "Trust who?"
"Ethan." Chad said. Brienne's eyebrows furrowed, he's your roommate dude. You don't trust the person you share your house with?
Brienne turned towards Ethan and found him already looking at them. He was staring at Chad in particular, his head lowered, and his eyes narrowed in an intimidating glare. His body was facing one of the nearby Ghostface's though, making it appear like he was looking at the costume until he got distracted.
Once Ethan realized she was looking at him, his gaze brightened, and his hand lifted into an awkward wave. She found her lip twitching upward as she gave a small wave back before turning back to Chad.
"Yeah, I do."
﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎
AUTHORS NOTE !
How do y'all think
this will end?
Posted: March 22, 2023
Rewrite: May 6, 2023
Words: 2048
Edited: ✘