SCREAM FOR ME
Summary: Emma Parker returns to Mystic Falls after sixteen years, intent on starting over. But with a serial killer on the loose, wearing the same mask as the one worn by the person responsible for killing her parents, the past is not so easily forgotten. With friends and family keeping secrets, every one of them could be the killer…or the next victim. AU/AH. Damon/OC. Inspired by 'Scream' (TV Show).
This will be a Horror/Mistery story inspired by the TV Show 'Scream' (serial killer with a mask that targets teenagers and uses phone calls and texts to torment them) but I also burrowed some elements from TV Shows such as 'Slasher' and '13 Reasons Why' and also by the Movie 'Before I Fall'. It means that if you see some elements that you find familiar, I took those elements from these shows and movie that I stated above. However, the story is very much mine.
I really hope you like it. I don't expect many people will follow this story but I will be happy with those few that will.
I wanted Elena to be the protagonist at first but then I decided that an OC would have been better because it fits better with the story I have in mind.
Emma Parker is in this story the daughter of Joshua Parker (and yes, Kai Parker's sister too). BTW, I imagine Emma as Alexandra Daddario.
There will be no Liv or Luke in this story and Jo is Emma's maternal aunt in this story, not her sister. Since this story is AU, the family massacre didn't happen the same way as in the show (or for the same reasons obviously). You will found out what happened as you read the story.
There will be no supernatural elements in this story and everybody is human. Damon will be a teacher in this story so Teacher/Student relationship (eventually) though not underage sex between them, you've been warned. Also Matt/OC (and a little Aaron/OC) but not really a love triangle. Damon/OC will be very slow-going since he's her teacher. Also Stefan/Elena and Caroline/Tyler eventually (and Bonnie/Jeremy). Sorry if you want Klaus/Caroline or Stefan/Caroline but it's better this way for this story. Klaus or Elijah won't appear in this story because I wouldn't know what to do with them, sorry.
Mystic Falls is still set in Virginia but it will be slightly different from the TV Show (more mansions with pools than Victorian buildings).
There are 20 Founding Families in this story instead of just the 5 Canon ones, these are: Gilbert, Lockwood, Salvatore, Forbes, Fell, Bennett, Donovan, Mikaelson, Whitmore, Parker, Maxwell, Davis, Carson, Marshall, Tulle, Martin, Duncan, Bradley, Shane and Nelson.
Just a few other things to add:
Jo in this story is a Fell, her surname is not Laughlin.
Ben McKittrick from Season1 is called Ben Carson in this story and Noah (the vampire who attacked Elena in 1x12) is his older brother by one year.
Wes from season5 is called Maxwell instead of Maxfield.
Jesse from season5 and Jamie from season3 are brothers in this story and their surname is Martin.
Sarah from Season2 (the girl Tyler accidentally killed and caused his transformation) is Liam's (from season6) sister.
Annabel and Pearl's surname in this story is Duncan and not Zhu.
Sarah Nelson aka Sarah Salvatore in this story (her mother is actually a Salvatore in this story) is Stefan and Damon's cousin and Monique (the girl that in season6 pretended to be her) is her sister.
Prologue
September 2017
Emma looked outside her window, Richmond's airport extending below her. Just a few minutes and then the plane would land. She braced herself for impact and then breathed through her nose to calm herself once the wheels touched ground. She was finally there. There was no going back.
She left the plane and walked through the maze that was arrivals, dragging her hand luggage behind.
She spotted Aunt Jo just outside the glass door and plastered a smile on her face, her silver Porsche behind her gleaming in the morning sunlight.
She knew Jo didn't flaunt her wealth on purpose but it still made her uncomfortable. She knew that both her parents and Jo had come from rich families but it still felt weird. Emma wasn't used to it, even if she too had a trust fund waiting for her once she would turn eighteen.
Truth to be told, a lot of families in Mystic Falls came from old money. It was simply the way it was, at least for the Founding Families of the town, a mix of wealth and tradition that got back centuries.
And talking of Mystic Falls it was, without a doubt, the last place on earth she wanted to be in. If only her grandmother had waited till January to die of a heart attack.
Emma reprimanded herself for such uncharitable thoughts but her feelings remained the same. She didn't want to be there. She didn't want to spend her next two years of high school in the town where her parents had been brutally murdered.
She kept walking, trying to ignore her thoughts but it wasn't easy. As soon as she stepped foot outside Jo went to hug her. Emma hugged her back, feeling out of place.
No matter the fact that it was almost sixteen years ago since it happened and that she had been only one year and nine months old, she remembered very well that night. It was her very first memory and something that still hunted her every night.
"How are you?" Jo asked her, warm blue eyes staring back at her.
Emma shrugged in response, not really knowing what to say.
Aunt Jo kept smiling, though she looked sad. "I'm sorry about your grandmother. I heard it was rather sudden."
Her chest hurt in response, remembering that she had been the one who found her. "The doctors said it was quick. She didn't suffer much." Emma simply said.
"That's good."
Emma nodded, feeling uncomfortable. She put her suitcase in the trunk and got in the passenger seat, all in silence.
She didn't really know what to say, what to ask. She didn't really know Jo. The last time she had seen her Jo had been only nineteen, the night her parents were killed. She looked pretty much the same, always beautiful if only with a few extra pounds.
It had been the night of 31st of October and her parents had decided to stay at home instead of going to the local Halloween party the town founders had organized in the Town square and Mystic Grill – turned into Hunted House for the night –, though their house had been heavily decorated all the same with fake cobwebs and plastic spiders, carved pumpkins and spooky skeletons. Her parents themselves were wearing costumes for the night and so was she.
It was a festive atmosphere, with her mother cooking in the kitchen and her father watching some horror movie on TV, basket of popcorns in his lap.
Jo herself had been at home too. She had just started college that year in the near town of McKinley at the Whitmore College and she had come back to town for the night because her friend had convinced her to take part in the festivities. It seemed a town event beats a lame frat party.
They had spent the evening getting ready at her house before leaving it at about eight o'clock.
One hour later and her mother was making pumpkin pie – a witch costume covering her figure but without a hat on her head – with Emma watching her curiously from her high chair. The buzzing of the TV in the background was making her sleepy.
The ring of the doorbell was an unwelcome interruption to the tranquil evening activities.
Her father left the living room grumbling, a basket full of sweets under one arm. Emma heard the steps getting far away and then the sound of the door opening. They were expecting to hear the usual 'trick or treat' instead there was only silence. Then a pained scream and the thud of a body hitting the floor.
Her mother was alert in a second. She picked Emma up from her chair and hugged her to her chest.
Emma could feel her trembling against her, her beautiful face marred with an expression of deep fear.
She padded slowly to the kitchen door. She tilted the head slightly to peek at the scene from behind the cherry door, her body hidden from view, and withheld a gasp at the image of her husband's body on the floor, a machete embedded in his chest and a pool of blood staining the white marble floor. The basket full of sweets was on the floor, lollipops and candies drenched in red. Still on the porch, his killer stood, their face covered by a white scream mask and wearing a black cloak.
The killer was slowly making their way inside, their steps slow and careful. It looked like they had all the time in the world.
Her mother hid herself behind the door once again and then run towards the living room cabinet under the TV. It was mostly empty, with a sliding door that she immediately opened, putting her child inside. Emma looked at her with huge eyes, not understanding what was going on. She started to cry and her mother immediately shushed her.
"Hush, darling. You have to be very quiet now. No matter what you hear or see, you have to stay here. Don't move from here, all right? Not until I come back for you. Do you understand?"
Emma had nodded at her and watched her run away, towards the killer. She had run upstairs, intent on distracting the killer from the living room and the sight of her daughter.
Emma remembered hugging her legs to her chest, trying to make herself as little as possible, not understanding what was going on but knowing she needed to do what her mother had told her.
She didn't know how much time had passed when she saw the masked person and her aunt Jo coming struggling into the room. The fight lasted a few minutes, with both of them trying to fight off the other. The killer seemed to have lost his weapon because they were both fighting with their bare hands – though the killer wore gloves.
Finally, after a well-placed kick, Jo was able to free herself from her attacker and run to the kitchen. She grabbed a knife from the kitchen counter and turned around just in time to stop the killer from attacking her again. She stabbed him in the chest without hesitation.
Once the fight was over, Jo heard Emma's cries. Emma had started to cry at the scene and her screams could no longer be contained.
Jo had opened the door and saw her there. She had picked her up and tried to console her. Jo hugged her to her chest, her bloodied hands staining Emma's bee costume red.
"There, there. It's okay. It's okay. Don't cry! I'm here, now."
Emma had quieted down slowly and fallen asleep. The next time she had woken up the police was there and Emma had been in time to see the masked killer being unmasked. It was her eighteen-year-old brother Kai, fresh out of juvie and seemingly returned to town just to kill their parents.
To this day, Emma still couldn't understand what had made her brother snapped that night. Or maybe snapped wasn't the right word since he had obviously planned the attack.
She imagined Jo had been an unexpected complication. Emma shivered at what would have certainly happened to her if Jo hadn't come back home because she had forgotten her phone.
Two days later there was the funeral and immediately after her grandmother had whisked her away to Boulder, Colorado.
In sixteen years she had had no desire to return, not even to see her aunt who had returned to Mystic Falls after finishing college and started working as a medical examiner. This damn town was just a reminder of everything she spent her whole life trying to forget.
In Boulder she was just Emma, a normal girl with her normal struggles of her age and wondering what the hell she was going to do after high school.
Here she was Emma Parker, daughter of the couple that had been brutally murdered by her older, psychotic brother.
Emma tried to shake those thoughts from her mind and tried to stay positive. Maybe it wasn't going to be as bad as she was thinking. After all, a lot of time had passed. A lot of people probably barely remember it and those of her age probably didn't even know. Maybe she could be just Emma here. Maybe she could start over.