Nine days. Nine painfully slow days had passed since what had happened at the Freeman home.
Nine days since two more of their friends died.
Nine days since that nightmare finally came to an end.
Nine days since some of them became murderers.
Among them was Tara, who at this time was again a patient at the Woodsboro hospital. Not only her, but also all the survivors of that night that marked their lives forever.
Both Mindy, Sam and Sidney were the least physically affected, having only received one stab wound each in non-vital areas.
Then there was Gale, who had been shot in the abdomen by Amber and then worsened the wound during their fight.
As for Tara, the only negative thing that happened to her body was that some of the wounds on her back opened up thanks to the erratic movements she made during her short fight with Amber.
It turns out that Chad managed to survive the injuries Noah caused him. He had received multiple stab wounds to his torso that only caused minor damage to some of his organs and a severe blow to his head. This blow caused him a slight brain contusion that doctors said could have been more serious if it weren't for his thick skull, something that Mindy did not hesitate to make fun of, saying that she always knew he was hard-headed.
But the one who was in the worst condition was undoubtedly Nathan.
Right knee and two ribs fractured from the blows Liam gave him with the table decoration. A stab wound to his right shoulder also caused by the brunette. His old wounds had opened up just like Tara's, except for the one on his hand.
As if what Liam did to him wasn't enough, Noah made sure to make it even worse.
His left hand no longer had five fingers, but four thanks to the absence of his little finger. During the ambulance ride to the hospital, the paramedics were so focused on stopping the bleeding from the two gunshot wounds in his body that they did not notice the absence of said finger.
This meant that once they arrived at the hospital, during the surgery in which the doctors saved his life, they had no choice but to close the wound.
If they had had the finger at the time they could have reattached it, but they couldn't risk waiting for it to be brought in because Nathan had already lost too much blood.
Like Chad, he also had a concussion thanks to Noah's hard hits and the times he slammed his head into the concrete wall. What differentiated both cases was that his injury was more serious.
Tara turned to see her sister asleep under the covers of a hospital bed next to hers, wearing the same light blue robe as her.
They both shared a room because they refused to be separated after what they experienced. They needed to keep each other close to make sure nothing happened to the other.
Normally there would be someone there with them, accompanying them and comforting them after what they experienced. Their parents should be with them, but this was not the case.
It didn't need to be mentioned because Sam's father wasn't present. As for Tara, it was no secret that he had left after discovering that unpleasant truth. But what about both girls mother, Christina Carpenter?
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|𝔽𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕙𝕓𝕒𝕔𝕜|
"What right did you have to tell her that!?" A woman in her forties shouted angrily.
"That stupid secret ruined my life! It turned it into hell!" Exclaimed the other person involved in the discussion just as furious, if not more so. "So I guess I have every damn right to tell whoever I want!"
At the hospital, specifically in the Carpenter sisters room, Christina and Sam were having a heated argument while all Tara could do was witness what was happening.
Christina Carpenter was a woman with a blunt personality, someone who says what's on her mind without considering the consequences. Regarding her appearance, she appeared younger than she really was. In fact, she was quite similar to Sam. Her brown eyes matched perfectly with her dark brown hair that fell over her shoulders.
Her outfit consisted of a beige sweater accompanied by blue jeans along with a pair of black heels.
But that was not of importance at this moment, but the discussion that was taking place.
Three days had passed since the so-called 'act three' occurred and her mother had finally returned from her trip. But, as much as it hurt her, Tara knew she didn't come back for her.
She did not return immediately as any mother would have when informed that her youngest daughter had been attacked, but instead excused herself saying that her job did not allow her to do so.
She was there now, yes, but since she entered the room all she had done was argue with Sam. At no point did she worry about her, and that hurt her.
That your own mother showed no concern for you was not pleasant at all.
"If I didn't do it, you would never have told her! You would have kept it from her like you did with dad and me!" Sam accused her as she got up from her bed, something she shouldn't do when she had to rest, but at that moment she couldn't care less.
She finally had the opportunity to reproach her mother for her mistakes. To stop carrying that resentment with her once and for all.
"Of course I would never tell her! As if I wasn't embarrassed enough that I had sex with that asshole, you're here to remind me of it!" Christina wouldn't just keep her mouth shut and take insults from her eldest daughter. "You were an accident Sam! One I will regret making for the rest of my life!"
As much as she denied it, those words hurted her more than she would like to admit.
She knew she was an accident, a product of a night of passion between two teenagers, but hearing the woman who brought her into the world say it was painful.
"Go fuck yourself." Sam cursed underneath her breath with his teary eyes, refusing to let any tears fall.
"Am I wrong?" She asked calmer now, but still frowning. "That's the truth. And from what I'm aware of, you're just as crazy as him."
"Mom!" Tara reprimanded her, already tired of hearing her mother insult her sister for no valid reason.
"What? I'm not lying. Your sister killed someone." She said looking at her youngest daughter before returning her attention to Sam. "It seems madness runs in the family."
When she was still in London for her job, the police contacted her once everything was over and explained every detail of what happened, something they now knew for sure thanks to the testimonies of the survivors of that night.
"I killed someone too in case you don't remember!" Tara stressed as she clenched her fists, although it hurt a little to do so with her injured hand.
She wasn't proud of it, and she never would. It disgusted her that she had to kill Amber and she still couldn't shake that feeling. But watching her mother judge Sam for something she had also done was unfair.
"Yeah, but you didn't stab a person a million times like this psycho!" Christina replied pointing at Sam the moment that word left her mouth.
"And that takes away from the fact that I too have become a murderer!?" She questioned, increasingly annoyed by her mother's occurrences. "Also, don't pretend to care if I was or not! You already made it very clear that you didn't care about me when the police told you I was attacked and you didn't do anything!"
"I couldn't quit my job. What the hell did you want me to do?!" She apologized, now upset at her daughter's sudden attack on her.
Tara knew it was true, her mother was giving an important conference in another part of the country after all, she didn't think she could just leave without affecting her work. But that's the thing, her job mattered more to her than her own daughter.
"It doesn't matter anymore. Leave." Her eyes were watery as were Sam's, but both refused to let any tears fall.
"What?" She asked clearly surprised.
"I said leave." She repeated without taking her firm gaze from her mother's eyes.
"Tara-" Christina tried to persuade her daughter, but Tara didn't want to listen to her anymore.
"Just leave already!" She raised her voice trying to end this horrible moment once and for all.
The woman looked at her youngest daughter with seriousness for a few seconds before walking towards the door and leaving the room without looking back.
As soon as this happened, Tara brought her hands to her face and burst into tears.
Sam, who was in the same state as her, took a seat next to her and wrapped her in a hug that Tara did not hesitate to reciprocate.
The reunion with their mother was more painful than they thought. The three let out insults, truths and years of resentment.
That day a new rift was created in their family.
|𝔼𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕗𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕙𝕓𝕒𝕔𝕜|
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She looked away from her sister when that memory invaded her mind.
She was still incredibly angry with her mother, not only for the things she said to Sam, but also for her lack of concern and affection towards her.
She didn't know what she would do next, but what she did know was that she didn't want to see her mother for a while.
Would she go live with Sam? She didn't know. They still didn't talk about what they would do in the future.
She shook her head slightly to clear her mind of those negative thoughts.
She decided to go see the only person who gave her peace with nothing more than his presence.
The problem was that, since what happened nine days ago, she and Sam wouldn't separate even if they were forced to. They always went together when they visited their friends. They didn't want to be away from each other even for a moment. It gave them peace of mind to be together.
But now Sam was asleep. She didn't want to wake her up on the simple whim that she wanted to see her boyfriend.
"She is gonna be mad." She thought to herself with her eyes on her sister. "But if I look at it in a different way, I would be allowing her to rest. She needs it after all."
And it was true. Each and every one of them had been having nightmares about what they experienced that night, but Sam had it worse than everyone, after all, her boyfriend had tried to kill her. That would traumatize anyone.
What they all experienced would traumatize anyone.
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"What will I do if he never wakes up?" An adult man questioned with a gloomy expression on his face.
"You shouldn't think about that. I know it's difficult, especially in cases like this, but you should keep hope now more than ever." A second man said, trying to keep the first man from losing faith.
These men were Dewey Riley and Brooks Cadrot, the first being the one who began to question what could happen.
Brooks was a tall, robust, dark-skinned man. His hair was dark as night and extremely short. He also sported a trimmed beard along his jaw and over his lips.
He and Gale met through their jobs and some time later began dating. As of today, they had been dating for eight months and four since they formalized their relationship.
Shortly after they became a couple, she formally introduced Nathan at a dinner where she introduced him as her boyfriend.
Of course, Nathan already knew that his mother was dating someone, but he had never met him until that day.
To say that Gale was amazed at how quickly Brooks and her son hit it off was an understatement.
Nathan was someone who was closed off when it came to meeting new people, but Brooks managed to get him to lower his guard thanks to his charisma and sense of humor.
It was never in Brooks plans to steal Dewey's place as Nathan's father. That idea would never cross his mind. He was just looking to have a good relationship with him. And boy did he do it.
That's why when he found out what happened to Gale and Nathan in Woodsboro, he didn't think for a second before taking a flight to town.
Dewey barely knew Brooks, but he could see that he wasn't a bad person, quite the opposite. Most would feel some kind of dislike towards their ex's new partner, but Dewey was not like that. He was seriously glad to know that Gale had found someone like him to be with.
Currently, both men were sitting on individual greenish sofas located in a corner of the room with a small wooden table in front of them.
Like the Carpenter sisters and the Meeks Martin twins, they too were in the hospital. Specifically, in Nathan and Dewey's room.
The reason for his concern was none other than his son, who had been lying asleep in a hospital bed for nine days. Nine days that felt like an eternity.
Some light bruises were still visible on his face as was his broken lower lip.
It turns out that the blows that his head hit against the wall due to Noah's action, added to the abundant blood loss from his multiple wounds, took a toll on his body, and a very strong one. There were also the bullets that pierced his body, damaging some of his organs in the process.
All of this led to his brain not being able to properly process all the information that the nervous system was sending him and he was about to collapse.
Because of this, the doctors made the decision to induce Nathan into a coma in order to reduce his energy consumption so that he would prioritize the rehabilitation of the body. Doing this also put your brain to "sleep", thus allowing it to recover from the overload of information received in such a short period of time.
"I know, I know." He said letting out a sigh as he rubbed his eyes. "It's just, what if this is one of those cases where it takes years for the person to wake up?"
That was his biggest fear, not knowing when his son would wake up, or if he ever would.
"It's only been nine days and I already feel like my head is going to explode. I can't stop thinking about it." He confessed, not being able to help but feel guilty for not trusting that Nathan would wake up.
It wasn't the first time he had felt this way in recent days. But it was the first time that his fear had reached such extremes.
"That is precisely why we have to maintain hope. It's just as you say, it's only been nine days. Some wake up in a matter of days, others take longer. It's not something established." He mentioned avoiding specifying what he meant by 'more time'. "He can wake up at any time. He could even wake up right now."
"I hope God hears you." Dewey was not religious, but if he had to pray for the good of his son he would do so.
"Let's have faith in Nathan. He's strong. He'll get through this." Brooks assured, seeing Dewey nod, deciding that he would avoid thinking that way again. "By the way, make sure Gale never hears you talk about this, unless you want her to smack you, of course." He joked, trying to lighten the mood at least a little.
Speaking of Gale, she was also present in the room. In fact, she was asleep in Dewey's hospital bed.
If he was worried about Nathan's condition, Gale was a different story.
She blamed herself for what happened to her son. She could have come to his aid before everything ended the way it did, but she didn't, instead she prioritized her own well-being and didn't think about his.
Such was her concern that she flatly refused to stay in the room assigned to her for her recovery. She didn't want to be away from her son even for a second.
The guilt she felt wouldn't go away until he woke up. And it was likely that even if he did, the guilt would never leave her.
Both Dewey and Gale were wearing the same hospital clothes as Nathan, with Brooks being the only one in normal clothes in the room.
"I'm gonna go get a coffee." Brooks said as he stood up from his seat. "Do you want one? Or something else?"
"No. I think I could use some sleep." Dewey said again, rubbing his eyes.
"Okay. I'll be right back." After saying this, he left the room.
He began walking with the intention of heading towards the hospital cafeteria. However, he ran into a face that looked familiar.
"Tara?" He asked looking at the teenager in front of him.
The youngest Carpenter stopped her walk to look at the man in front of her cautiously. After everything that had happened, it was difficult for her to trust strangers so openly again.
"How do you know my name?" She asked, using a pair of crutches to keep her balance since her leg still hadn't fully healed.
"D-Don't worry, I'm not a threat." He said, raising his hands, a little surprised by the unexpected hostility, although he understood it. "My name is Brooks Cadrot, I'm Gale's boyfriend. Nathan told me about you once and showed me a photo of you. I'm sorry I scared you."
At this precise moment in his life he felt like a real idiot. The poor girl had gone through what was sure to be the most traumatic event of her life, an event that may result in her never trusting strangers again, and he acts like he knows her.
After he finished introducing himself was when Tara recognized him thanks to Nathan once telling her about him and showing her a photo. What a redundancy.
"Oh, right. I'm sorry, I've just been very..." He explained, trying to find the right word to describe how he felt. "...paranoid."
"You don't have to apologize. I understand perfectly." He said with a kind smile on his face. "I assume you're coming to see Nathan."
There were times when he would leave the hospital to the hotel room where Gale was staying during his stay in Woodsboro to take a shower, change clothes, or bring something to Gale and Dewey. The funny thing about this was that when he went to do those things, Tara would visit Nathan accompanied by Sam. It was a strange coincidence.
"Yeah." She nodded quietly and with no expression on her face, still not feeling like she could trust him. "Come on Tara, this is your boyfriend's stepfather. Someone who he describes as a good person. At least try to be nice."
"I see. I won't take up any more of your time. It was a pleasure meeting you. See you." He said goodbye, raising his hand before walking past her and continuing on his way.
Tara let out a sigh as she watched him walk away, promising herself that the next time she saw him she would be kinder.
With nothing else to stop her, she entered the room where the person she was looking for was. The first thing he noticed was Dewey asleep on the single couch and Gale doing the same on the bed.
Dewey was seriously tired, mentally more than anything. As soon as he tried to sleep, he fell like a log.
Tara moved to a chair next to Nathan's bed and sat in it, leaving her crutches leaning against the wall to her right.
She gently held her boyfriend's now four-fingered hand and leaned down to place a kiss on it, or rather on the bandage that covered it.
"Hello. I'm sorry I didn't come yesterday. I was busy doing rehabilitation exercises. You know how it is, after doing them I'm supposed to rest despite not being tired." She spoke quietly, not wanting to wake Dewey and Gale.
Every time she entered that room she kept hoping to see a different sight, but that never happened.
"They say that people in a coma are able to hear when someone talks to them. But you like silence, so I don't really know whether to talk about something that would probably bore you or just be quiet." Her gaze did not leave his hand as she spoke.
She didn't like to see his face. Not when he was in this state. Every time she saw him her heart broke.
The first few times she visited him she ended up bursting into tears and Sam had to comfort her. Then she realized that it was easier not to look at his face.
She didn't know why, but that's how it was. Maybe it was because, by not looking at him, the state he was in was not real and she could pretend that everything was normal like it was just a week ago.
Anyway, none of that would matter anymore.
"I mean, both sound enjoyable." Commented a raspy voice coming from the young man to whom she was talking to.
Tara froze.
Did that really happen or was it a figment of your imagination? It wouldn't be the first time she dreamed about him waking up, but it would be the first time she did it while awake.
She feared the answer to that question because, if it was a negative one, the illusions that had just been created would be shattered.
Her doubts vanished the moment she turned her head only to see Nathan with his eyes open and staring at the ceiling.
She was awake.
"How long...?" Still in her state of shock she tried to ask a question, but it was impossible for her to do so as she still did not process what was happening.
"I literally just woke up." He answered her incomplete question having understood what she tried to say. "Is there a glass of water or something here? My throat is drier than the Atacama Desert."
A while ago he had read about an article that mentioned the driest desert in the world, this being the Atacama Desert, a place with an average rainfall of less than a millimeter per year. He didn't know why this information had stuck in his head, but it eventually came in handy.
Tara did not respond, nor did she make any attempt to look for what he asked, but simply stared at him.
Her eyes were wide open and little by little they were beginning to fill with tears.
She wanted to speak, she wanted to say something, but her breath was trapped in her lungs, preventing her from saying any words.
When Nathan focused his gaze on her for the first time since waking up, a sob escaped her lips.
"Tara?" He called to her with his voice still hoarse when he saw that she was still motionless.
At the sound of his voice, Tara gasped slightly and finally breathed again.
This was real.
It wasn't a dream.
He was truly awake.
Before Nathan could do or say anything, Tara launched herself at him and wrapped him in a hug.
She was careful not to lean directly on him, just getting close enough that she could feel his warmth. The last thing she wanted was to hurt him.
She completely ignored the slight pain she felt in her wounds when making such a sudden movement and simply concentrated on feeling him.
Nathan returned the hug as best he could because, for some unknown reason, his body hurt and it felt a little numb.
He put his hand on her hair, caressing it, trying to appease her crying, but it seemed to do the opposite.
Tara's tears were soaking his garment since her face was directly on his chest.
Her legs were off the bed, only her chest and head were on top him while her arms were wrapped around him.
The boy lying down was disoriented. He only felt confusion, everything and at the same time nothing was going through his mind.
He was trying to put his thoughts in order. Why was he there? Just one look at his surroundings was enough for him to know that he was in a hospital, but he didn't know the reason for this.
His memories were blurry and trying to remember was proving to be more difficult than it seemed.
"Okay. I'm in a hospital. I guess that explains her reaction." He thought in his state of confusion while still hugging Tara. "The question is, how did I end up here? And why the hell does my body hurt so much? Did I fight a professional boxer or...? Oh, right."
He already remembered it. He remembered everything. Absolutely everything.
He knew how he ended up there. The reason his body hurt. Which wasn't against a professional boxer he fought, but rather two people he used to call his best friends.
But more importantly, he remembered what he did. The atrocities he committed.
He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the sobs of Tara, who continued to hug him and gave no indication of wanting to let him go.
Just a few seconds ago, Nathan was planning to be the one to comfort her, but now it would be the other way around.
He adjusted his grip on her as tears slowly began to fall from his eyes.
He wasn't one to cry, he didn't even remember the last time he did. But now that all the emotions he experienced that night came out, the only thing he wanted to do was cry.
And that's what he did, he cried, finding comfort in Tara as she did with him. The only difference was that he didn't make sounds like sobbing or anything like that, but instead remained silent as the tears came out, as if he still couldn't accept the truth.
The truth that he killed two of his friends.
If only he knew that nine days had already passed since that time, his pain would be less, but he didn't know this. As far as he's concerned, just a few hours ago he killed his friends.
And that broke him.
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