chapter six: 5 senses
aka: fight or flight and dumb decisions
The group was split up. Ethan, Chad, Mindy, Elaina, and Kirby were sat inside a van, tracking/tracing equipment all set up. Sam and Tara were outside, wondering the park like lost dogs. They were the bait, to ensure ghostface would call. Detective Bailey was undercover, sitting on a bench pretending to read the newspaper. And Gale? Kirby kicked Gale out, claiming no press was allowed. Kirby was a petty woman.
"So we're really doing the whole phone tracing thing that never works in the movies? It'll be all keep him talking Sam, I need two more minutes. Then he hangs up right before you get a location." Mindy questioned.
"I can trace a phone call in under 15 seconds." Kirby replied proudly.
"Yes Kirby!!" Elaina cheered.
"Well, you've got them out there as bait." Mindy sneered.
"Because the killer usually calls from somewhere nearby."
"And you think they're safe because it's broad daylight and we're in public?" Mindy asked.
"Look, I'm here. So is Bailey." Kirby said, trying not to be annoyed with the girl.
"This is exactly how our Uncle Randy died. Broad daylight, public place. Got yanked into a van; stab, stab, stab. No more Randy!"
Elaina was fed up with Mindy always complaining. "Do you ever have some actual insight or help? Or do you just complain with every single thing we do, but have no ideas of your own?"
Mindy was shocked. Ethan and Chad were trying not to laugh, and Kirby stayed quiet.
"Okay, I'm going to let that slide because you literally have brain damage and are on your period. And I love you, and I guess I've been a little bitchy." Mindy said, finally feeling guilt.
Ethan held his bag of cheetos towards Elaina, and she looked at him in disgust. "Cheetos are the worst kind of chips"
Ethan looked at her, not quite knowing what to say. After seeing her break out into a smile, he did the same.
Then he offered one to Chad, who was watching the whole thing. He declined.
"Hey Sam?" Kirby spoke to the headset. "Stay frosty out there, okay?"
"We're good." She replied.
"Yeah, please don't die." Elaina said, ending the conversation.
Through the device, they heard Sam's phone ring. It was time.
"You're gonna die you know." Sam said to the caller.
"No, you're gonna die, Samantha. Choking on your own blood, watching as I hack up your sister." The raspy masked voice replied.
"Unless we find you first."
Ghostface chuckled. "For a mastermind, you're not very bright. Waiting for me to call, hoping I'm nearby so the police can grab me?"
A long pause followed. How did he know their exact plan? Elaina took Ethan up on his offer, and took a few cheetos. Everyone inside the van looked at her.
"Sorry. Stress eating, you know?"
Ghostface began talking again. "But I'm not nearby. I'm one step ahead, like always. I'll be seeing you, Samantha." Then the call ended.
Elaina was the first to ask. "Did you get it?"
"Yup. Geolocation coming in now. He's on the upper west side. He's inside an apartment building half way across the city." Kirby informed.
"Wait. West 96?" Elaina asked, praying Kirby was say no.
"Yeah, how'd you know?" Kirby asked, looking at the kid.
"Gale." Elaina, Sam, and Tara all said at once.
Elaina shot up from her seat.
"Woah, where are you going?" Chad asked, as she opened the van door.
"I need to go help her. I guarantee you that's what Sam and Tara are doing." Elaina replied.
Before Chad could say anything, Ethan spoke. "Hey, be careful. Please."
It was his sister, not his father. She would be fine, safe. The Kirsh daughter was someone who stuck to the plan.
"We won't be too far behind them." Kirby said. "I love you, kiddo. Be careful."
Elaina rushed out, going to find Sam and Tara. She caught up with them pretty fast, the girls running ahead of Detective Bailey.
"My friend works over there. He can get there quicker." Sam said, pulling out her phone to call Danny.
Bailey quickly shot her idea down. "Yeah, or he could finish her off. Is it possible he could be the killer?"
Sam put her phone down, realising Bailey could be right. "Fuck. We have to get there now."
"No shit." Elaina snapped. "Fuck, sorry. I'm trying not to be bitchy, I really am."
"It's okay, Lain. You're fine." Tara insisted.
Tara sped up, Elaina following her friend.
Bailey stopped Sam. "We have to think. Wait a minute."
"We don't have a minute! Gale's a pain in the ass, but we can't let her die. If anything, Elaina needs her back in her life. We have to save her." Sam said.
Bailey hesitated. "We have to make the right call."
"Sam!" Tara shouted, honking Bailey's cop car.
Elaina was in the passenger seat, locking eyes with Sam, pleading her to hurry.
Sam quickly ran, joining the two younger girls in the car.
Bailey was lost. "Hey, what are you guys doing? Get out of my car!"
Elaina shouted, "Sorry, man. We gotta save her. Maybe if you ran faster, you could've came! Try going on morning runs!"
Bailey ignored the Cooper's comment. "That's an official vehicle. Hey!"
Elaina rolled the window up, cutting them out from the detective. "Should we use the sirens?"
"Did you really think we were gonna steal a police car and not use the sirens?" Tara smirked.
A 20 minute drive turned into a 10 minute drive, thanks to Tara.
"Let me out here." Elaina demanded, not wanting to wait to park the car.
"What? No." Sam said. "The killer's up there."
"So is Gale. I will never forgive myself if she dies and I was this close to her. I need to be with her, even if I can't protect her." Elaina explained, praying they would say yes.
Sam knew how much Elaina cared for Gale, and there was no saying no. Elaina would hop out the car even if they didn't stop. "Tara, pull over. Elaina Cooper, you better be careful."
"I will." Elaina nodded, before leaving the police car and running to the stairs. The elevator would take too long, Elaina assumed.
Elaina was almost at Gale's apartment when she heard her scream. "Oh fuck."
She took a deep breath, and fully opened the door which was previously cracked open. She saw a full wall of windows shattered, and Ghostface staring at the entrance, looking at Gale.
Elaina wanted to scream bloody murder. But she didn't. After so many Ghostface encounters, you can only learn. While Gale was fighting for her life, and Ghostface trying to take it, Elaina grabbed a knife from the kitchen. Luckily, they both were too concentrated to notice. The two fighting over Gale's life made their way onto the balcony. Elaina froze, not knowing what to do. Her fight or flight response was kicking in, and she wanted to flight. Reminding herself what she just told Sam, she would never get over the fact that she could've been with Gale in what could very well be her last minutes. She had to fight.
Over her own heartbeat, Elaina heard the house become silent. No more trying to break a door down, nothing. Trying to calm herself down, so she could think, she tried the trick her old therapist taught her. 5 senses.
Elaina could smell nothing. Gale must've been ordering food for dinner.
Sight; she saw nothing, her eyes were shut, trying so hard to calm down, hands shaking.
Taste; She tasted blood from biting the insides of her cheeks.
Touch; her hands shot to her shoulder, feeling a warm liquid drip down her back.
Sight; black robe, white mask. Ghostface.
Touch; a cold, metal knife in her shoulder. Before Elaina could fully comprehend what was happening, the knife was quickly removed.
Touch; sticky, warm blood pouring onto her body.
Hear; her own deafening screams of pain.
Touch; a cool metal pan coming into contact with her head.
Sight; blurry, stop-motion like blobs. Am I high?
{{ "And what did you feel?" Elaina's therapist asked. It had been a little over a month since the incident, and Elaina was forced to seek help.}}
Feel; Scared. Dizzy. Weak. Hot, yet cold at the same time. Stupid. Dumb.
Touch; Gale's kitchen tile floor pressing against her face. It was so cold.
Feel; burning.
Ghostface had slammed his foot into Elaina's ankle. Funnily enough, Elaina's foot had just healed from being broken two months previously. Everyone was glad it healed nicely without surgery, especially her roommates. Half the time, Elaina would be complaining about it, claiming she couldn't do much because of it.
Hear; the shattering of bone.
Taste; nothing.
Hear; nothing.
Touch; nothing.
Smell; nothing.
Sight; nothing.
Feel; at ease. calm.
The calm before a storm.
"She's alive. Seems like only one stab wound. No GSWs. Broken leg." Elaina heard a voice, although it was muffled.
"How bad is it? Unconscious from blood loss?" She heard another voice ask.
"No, the wound isn't too deep. Maybe some head trauma. I saw her a few days ago, she has a mild concussion. Even the slightest bump can hurt her now. Can you hear me?"
Elaina wanted to open her eyes, to say yes. To tell them she was fine, and to go look for Gale. But the girl couldn't move a muscle. It was if she had no control over her body. She questioned how she felt no pain. She had been stabbed. Elaina knew that pain well, more than the average person. So why she felt nothing puzzled her. Elaina started panicking.
"Heart rate is skyrocketing. 280." A voice shouted.
Any higher and Elaina would die.
"Pulse?"
"Normal. Hey, you're okay. You're safe. We really need you to wake up. Elaina, can you do that for me? It's Nick. Please, sweetie? You need to."
Nick knew Elaina's body was going into shock. If she could hear him, he could save her. She could save herself. All she needed to do was to open her eyes, to wake up. So she tried. Elaina put all her strength into it. Not for herself, but for Gale. Elaina needed to check for herself. To make sure Gale was okay.
"It's slowing down." Nick shouted.
"Elaina, you can do it. You're such a strong kid." Nick assured.
Of course, Elaina wasn't a kid. She was 18, but compared to Nick's age of 43, she was a kid. Just a kid. Barely out of high school. Not even halfway done with freshman year of college. She had her whole life ahead of her.
Elaina kept on fighting.
"There you go, Elaina. You're okay." Nick said.
Elaina's eyes fluttered open.
"She's awake!" He shouted, looking at the girl.
Her eyes started to shut again. "No- Elaina, you gotta stay with me. You need to stay awake, so your body doesn't shut down again."
Elaina wanted to keep them open, but her own body was fighting against her.
Nick grabbed her hand. "Squeeze my hand as hard as you can."
Elaina tried. She did. She was squeezing his hand and started coming to her senses.
Nick felt the small amount of pressure in his hand. Elaina's grip was like a baby's, but it was better than nothing.
Her eyes opened back up, for real this time. She tried to sit up.
"Hey, take it easy." Nick said.
Elaina removed the oxygen mask that sat upon her mouth. "Sorry. Where's Gale?"
Nick had seen a lot of horrible things throughout his career, considering he was an EMT. Everything from people harming themselves in front of him, car accident survivors with their limbs hanging on by a thread, burnt corpses, and more horrific things. But he felt sad, to see Elaina again, in such a short time span. In the same scenario, attacked and attempted murder. He spent a few hours with Elaina a few days prior, stapling her wound and talking to her. To see her again, in such worse shape, almost dead- it pained him. Nick didn't realize it yet, but Elaina reminded him of his daughter. She had passed away when she was a little older than Elaina now. He was going to make sure Elaina didn't have the same fate as her.
"Let's worry about you first." Nick said, taking his hand away from Elaina. "And keep that on, for another minute at least."
Elaina tried standing up, followed by pain shooting up from her ankle. She leaned against Gale's counter. "Fuck."
As of then, Elaina was in little pain, thanks to the adrenaline running through her body. She mostly felt woozy and stupid.
Besides Nick, there were 2 other EMTs. There were 4, but 2 left with Gale. Not knowing her injuries, they thought it was safest to keep Elaina still.
"I hope you don't expect me to get on that," Elaina said, looking at a stretcher.
"Yes, we expect you to get on that." Nick replied.
Elaina looked at the others. "Do I have to?"
They both nodded, one saying, "It's protocol. Plus, your leg seems a little busted. I don't know if you would make it three steps, nonetheless down three flights of stairs or to the elevator."
"You gotta be fucking kidding me." Elaina mumbled.
She pushed herself off the counter, reopening her shoulder wound. The adrenaline wore off, and now the girl was in pain.
"Fuck, my shoulder hurts. A lot." She said.
"We had to glue it closed until we get to the hospital. Don't move it." An EMT said, helping her onto the stretcher.
Elaina noticed the IV in her arm. "Not again. Nick, I don't like these!"
Nick got a bag of medicine, hooking the tubes together. "I just hooked it up to morphine. I think you'd rather have that, then go into shock again."
Sam, Tara, Chad, Mindy, and Ethan were inside the lobby of the apartment.
"Lain!" They all shouted, seeing their friend in a stretcher.
"Guys, I'm fine. They made me sit in this." She explained, voice full of pain.
"Holy shit!" Mindy screamed, looking at Elaina's leg.
Her twin shoved her.
"I'm so sorry." Ethan said, grabbing Lain's hand.
"It's not your fault, Ethan. I'm a fucking dumbass." She said.
"What happened?" Chad asked.
"I don't know. All of a sudden Ghostface was behind me and stabbed my shoulder. He hit me in the head and when I fell, he stepped on my ankle." Elaina explained. "I guess I went into shock or something, I don't know. It was weird, I could hear them talking, but I couldn't move."
Nick nodded to the young adults he had met before. "She'll be fine. Just have to take her to the hospital to fix her ankle and stitch up her shoulder. She should be home within a few hours."
"Holy shit, you were right. These drugs are nice!" Elaina exclaimed.
"We should get going." One of the EMTs said.
"Can someone come with me?" Elaina asked, suddenly feeling shy.
She hated how she was in a stretcher because of her dumb decision. She couldn't be the hero. This wasn't a movie, there was no plot armor handed out to her.
"I'll come. If that's okay." Ethan said.
"Yeah, please do." Elaina said.
"We'll meet you guys there." Sam said.
Author's Note:
I finally added something original. Elaina was pretty lucky so far, I had to create some angst. Ethan is def not happy with Quinn right now. Sibling drama??