Chapter Two


Disclaimer: I don't own Scream.


"This, is God."

Freddy Krueger; Nightmare on Elm Street(1984)


I hated it when I was alone at home at night, because it usually meant that my mom was out at a bar somewhere, getting real friendly with the bottom of a tequila bottle.

And I knew, before I even got home from school that day, that tonight was going to be no would be out drinking away until some time early in the morning when Sheriff Burke would show up on our door step with her hanging off his arm, half passed out. Either that, or I'd have to go pick her up at her holding cell in the morning.

So, the first thing I did when after I left the media room after school was drive through Taco Bell to get me some dinner.

And then I drove home and put on A Nightmare on Elm Street, my personal favorite movie.

I had to rewind it first, so while it did that I ran upstairs and changed into and oversized blue T-shirt and some jogging shorts that barely peeked out from under my shirt.

And then I was back downstairs and pressing play on the VCR before plopping down on the couch, my meal in my lap, and my Dr. Pepper on the coffee table.


It was at the point in the movie where Tina was getting dragged across the ceiling when the telephone rang, making me jump slightly.

I reached over the arm of the coffee table to pick it up quickly.

"Hello?"

"Cat, oh my fucking God, you will not believe this."

Tatum's voice came over the phone, sounding shocked and scared.

"What, Tay? What is it?" I sat up, setting the empty taco wrappers on the coffee table.

"It's Sid! She was attacked! We're at the police station now."

Shock rushed through me.

"Holy fuck…attacked by who?" I asked, running a hand through my hair.

"The killer!" Tatum said quickly. "Said he called her , can you believe this shit?"

I shivered. He had called her before hand. My mind flew back to the phone call I had that afternoon, and immediately I was on my feet.

"Do they have any suspects?" I asked.

"Yeah." Tatum said in a low voice that made me suspect she wasn't supposed to be talking to me. "Billy."

My heart skipped a beat and I tensed.

Billy? Good 'ole Billy who we had all known since we were little. Who had stuck with Sidney for two years, even through her mom's murder.

But, I had to admit, I could see it. He could be a real prick sometimes. He was rude towards Randy, and bossy towards Stu, and could be very violent.

"God." I shook my hand, running my free hand through my hair. "God, I'm coming up there. She needs people right now, more than anything else."

As I said this I was already heading towards the stairs so I could change out of my pajamas.

"No!" Tatum said quickly. "I'm not even supposed to be telling you this."

"Tatum, fuck! You don't just tell someone this and expect them to stay put." I stopped at the foot of the stairs, bouncing from foot to foot anxiously.

"Well you have to Cat. I just…I had to tell someone. Sid would want you to know too. She's fine okay."

No…it wasn't okay, because how the hell could it be okay? My best friend had just been attacked, and barely a year after her mom's murder.

"Fine, okay. Just call me when you get home, okay. Sid's staying with you tonight, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, okay Cat. We'll call. Bye." Tatum was hurrying to get of the phone now, and I barely had time to say farewell before she hung up.

And I stood there for a minute or so, at the foot of the stairs with the phone in my hand.

It wasn't until this moment that I really let myself contemplate whether or not the phone call from that afternoon was a threat or not. I mean, I really let myself consider it.

But why would anyone want to kill me?

Then again, who would would want to kill Sid?

I sighed, hovering there at the goot of the stairs, looking up them, considering changing anyway and going up to the police station.

Then again, that would only get Tatum in trouble, and besides that, I probably wouldn't even be able to get in.

Reluctantly I turned back into the living room, sitting back on the couch and trying to focus on the movie.


It was the part where Nancy was down in the boiler room of her school, being stalked by Freddy.

I sat back, picking up my Dr. Pepper and taking a long drink of it as I watched the movie, trying to focus on it instead of the fact that my best friend had just been attacked by a brutal killer, and that her boyfriend, another of my friends, was being held under the suspicion of being that brutal killer.

A snap from outside the patio door made me jump, and immediately I was on my feet, moving through the living room to stand by the door.

We had a big house, purchased back when my mom and dad were still together, when my dad had wanted a big family. But the house was nothing compared to the backyard which was huge and heavily wooded, because our back yard opened right up into a forest. We had a large patio, where my dad used to grill and where my mom used to throw her parties, but I could barely see a few inches out, due to the sheer darkness.

I knew, chances were, it was just an animal. We got a lot of animals here, mostly racoons and squirrels, and the racoons would wander around our house a lot.

I reached over and flipped the lights on, watching as bright yellow light bathed the patio.

I saw nothing, and with a sigh I closed the blinds, making sure the doors were locked before heading back to the couch.

I had only just sat down, when I heard what sounded like a large crash.

I was on my feet again in an instant, my eyes flying to the patio door.

The sound had definitely come from outside, but not on the patio. It had sounded like it had come from outside the kitchen.

I took a deep breath, before creeping through the living room, through the dining room, and into the kitchen.

It was empty, but above the sink, I saw the little kitchen window was open, and immediately I rushed over to it, shutting it quickly and locking it. I peered through it for a moment, before pulling the little curtains shut.

I didn't know what the crash was, and I certainly wasn't about to go outside to find out.

I walked hurriedly out of the kitchen, heading down the hallway to the front door.

I made sure that was locked too.

I felt unease in the pit of my stomach, and suddenly I was very uncomfortable being there alone.

Slowly, I walked back to the couch, sitting back down, hoping that my movie would help to comfort me.

And it did for a while. I had pretty well forgotten what was going on at the moment in favor of watching the movie.


It was at the part where Nancy's boyfriend was dragged down into his bed when the phone rang again, making me jump slightly.

I looked at it, annoyed, before picking it up.

"Hello?" I snapped, scowling as I put the movie on mute.

"Cat?" The voice over the phone asked pleasantly.

"Yeah?" I leaned back into the couch, watching what was happening on the screen. I had seen this movie so many times that I knew what they were saying.

"What's your favorite scary movie?"

This time the question came out in a rougher voice, and I recognized it from earlier that day.

I froze, hand clenching around the phone and my heart beating wildly in my chest.

"Who is this?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Yeah." I snapped. "Actually, I would."

The voice laughed suddenly, making me jump slightly, and I bit the inside of my cheek.

"Look," I said finally. "I've got to go."

And then I slammed the phone down on the charger and sat there, breathing heavily.

I was angry and scared and getting more paranoid with each passing second.

There was another snapping sound from outside, and suddenly I was up, heart thudding, and I was moving towards towards the stairs.

A moment before I started my ascent I thought better of it, and I turned back around. It wasn't a good idea, to go up there. That's what idiots did in horror movies, and they never lived to see the end credits.

And so I began to pace, trying to figure out what to do, because I couldn't for the life of me think anything through clearly.

What the hell was I supposed to?

The phone rang again, making me yelp, and then I sat down on the bottom step, trying to control my breathing that had nearly escalated out of control. I sat there, listening to the phone ring, biting the inside of my cheek until it bled.

The answering machine beeped, and I looked up as that voice filled the house.

"Pick up the fucking phone, Catherine."

"Fuck you!" I yelled, closing my eyes, literally shaking with anger.

"Catherine, if you don't pick up the phone, I'm coming in and you don't want that."

I was up in an instant, burning with rage, and rushing to pick up the phone.

"Are you fucking happy now?" I snapped, holding it to my ear.

"Very," the voice was back to the silky sweetness it had had before. "Now, I'll ask you again…what's your favorite scary movie?"

I did a complete rotation, looking around the room with my heart thudding in my chest.

'If you don't pick up the phone, I'm coming in…' that's what the voice said. Now, it was my job to determine if they were bluffing when they said that. Because if they weren't then I was dealing with the real killer, and Billy was innocent.

"If I don't tell you are you going to come in here and kill me?" I asked, steadying my breathing, and trying my best to think rationally.

I had to stall whoever it was, keep them talking.

With steady steps I walked over to the all the windows looking into the living room and shut the blinds.

"No…" the voice said carefully. "That's what the game is for."

I padded quietly into the hallway, opening the hall closet quietly.

On the ground inside were my muddy old running shoes. Silently I thanked my mom for making me keep them here.

"What game is that?" I asked as I pulled the shoes on, lacing them up hurriedly.

"If you answer the question right, you live, but if you get it wrong you die."

"Is this the same game you played with Casey and Steve?" I asked, standing up, and walking as quietly as I could to the coat rack beside the front door where my hoodie was hung. My keys were in the pocket. If I could get those and then get to the garage, I might not have a problem. I was sure this guy wasn't in the house, otherwise, our alarm would go off, and our garage was controlled by a remote that only my mom and I had the key to.

I reached into the pocket and took out the keys, holding them carefully so that they wouldn't make any noise.

"Yeah, and they lost. Do you wanna try your hand at the game. Or I could just kill you now."

"No," I said, moving quietly into the kitchen so I could grab a knife. Just in case. "Let's give this game a shot."

"Alright…movie trivia, just for you Cat. What did they use for pigs blood in Carrie?"

"Uh…corn syrup." I said as I walked as quickly as I could to the garage door.

"Good. What did they use for blood in Psycho?"

"Chocolate syrup." I answered, stopping at the door with my hand rested on the door knob. It door squeaked very loudly when it was open, and if I wanted to get out undetected then I'd have to wait until he was thoroughly distracted.

"Very good...where am I?"

I froze, taken by surprise by this sudden, abrupt question.

"W-what?"

"Where am I?" he repeated, amusement in his voice.

He was making me squirm now and he knew it.

I took a deep breath and then carefully said, "Outside."

"Am I?"

The sound of shattering glass from the living room made me flinch, and I threw open the garage door before racing to my jeep, onto the driver's side. I could hear our alarm going off.

I glanced up at the door in time to see the killer standing there, in what could only have been a Halloween costume.

He was in a long, black robe, with a white ghost mask. In his hand was a knife.

My breath caught in my throat, and I looked back down at the keys in my hand, fumbling to unlock the door.

Shit!

And then, yes! Amazingly I managed to just as he started for me. I slid inside, slamming the door shut and locking it just as he reached me.

I had to stop myself from sticking my tongue out to taunt him. Instead I hurriedly pressed the button to open the garage before putting my keys in the ignition, praying the engine wouldn't stall like they did in old horror movies.

With a dull roar, the jeep started, and I smiled widely, before looking out the window, only to see that he was gone.

I took a deep breath before backing out quickly, not bothering to call the police in my haste.

I backed to the end of the driveway, breathing heavily, all adrenaline gone as my I scanned the place, looking for him.

With a loud crash, my window was broken, and I screamed as he put his arm through the window, lashing at me with his knife.

He only managed to cut my arm before I peeled out, breathing heavily as I sped towards the only place I could think of going.

If I hadn't been terrified…if I had been thinking clearly I might have thought to go to the police station or the hospital, but as it was, I wasn't thinking clearly.


I pulled into the video store five minutes later, rushing inside sobbing, ignoring the strange looks people gave me.

Randy looked up with a start, eyes widening when he saw me there, crying with my arm bloodied.

He rushed over immdeiately, taking me by the shoulders and giving me the once over, before obviously deciding that I was okay for now and pulling me into a hug.

I was in hysterics, and yet no tears fell. I was scared….terrified out of my mind, but I still refused to let myself cry.

"Cat…what the fuck happened?"

I let out a shuddering breath, resting my head on his shoulder.

"God, Randy." I clenched my eyes shut, shaking terribly and trying to calm down. "He attacked me. He fucking attacked me."

"What?" He put his hand on my chin, making me look up at him. "Who did?"

"The killer. The same one who killed Casey and Steve."

Because we had so many serial killers running around Woodsboro. God, being terrified really didn't do much for my thinking capacity.

"He…attacked Sid, and then came to my house to attack me too."

Randy looked at me, emotions clouding his blue eyes, and then he enveloped me in his warm arms, not seeming to care that I was getting blood on his uniform.

People were openly gawking, and over my head Randy looked at his manager, eyes pleading.

"Take her to the police station." He said, before adding quickly, "Take care of her."

Randy guided me gently outside, by the elbow, pulling me to my jeep and holding his hand out expectantly.

"Keys."

I pulled them out of the pocket of my shorts, and put them in his hand, not really paying attention, my mind still trying to wrap itself around what had just happened.

He opened the door for me, and I got in, still in a daze, and put the seat belt on.

Randy closed the door before hurrying across to his side. He slid in as well and started the engine, pulling out and heading across town, towards the police station.

He was quiet, until we drew nearer. Finally he sighed and shook his head.

"Are you okay, Cat?" he asked, concern in his voice.

"Hmm? My arm hurts, and I guess I'm still kind of shaken up, but I'm fine otherwise, I think."

He glanced at me unsurely, before reaching over to put a hand on my knee.

"You'll stay at my house tonight." He said, and I nodded quickly. That wouldn't be a problem. His parents loved me, and my mom would be too drunk to care.

And besides that, not a force on Earth could have gotten back in my house alone at the moment.

After that we remained silent, because we were both obviously thinking about what had happened.

I had never been so terrified in my life. When Tatum had first told me that they had Billy in custody, I'll admit, secretly I had hoped that Billy was the killer, because then that meant that nobody else would get hurt. I hated to think of anybody else dying after Steve and Casey.

Ever since my Uncle had died when I was twelve, I had had problems with death.

It wasn't that I couldn't let go, because I could. I was old enough at the time to understand exactly what death entailed. He was gone, and he wouldn't be coming back. And that was it.

I had been very close to my Uncle Henry, my mother's brother, since I was a little girl. Probably because he wasn't like my mom. He was friendly and funny and everybody liked Uncle Henry.

Except my mom. They had never got along, and she didn't like that I was so close to him.

So, when he had gotten put into the hospital due to a heart attack she was reluctant to take me up there.

But finally I convinced her and we drove to the hospital he was in, and when we got there, everybody was crying, especially my Aunt Rita and Grandma Beth.

And I cried too, because there my uncle was, one of my favorite people in the world, looking sick and pale and weak. He wa hook to a heart moniter, and had needles in his arms, and for I moment I was convinced that this could not be my Uncle Henry, because Uncle Henry would be smiling and laughing at everyone and telling them not to worry.

This weak person was not my Uncle. And yet it was.

My mom had pulled Aunt Rita to the side and was talking to her in hushed whispers, sending sharp looks over to her brother and then her mother and then looking back at her sister-in-law.

Finally, Aunt Rita looked back at Uncle Henry, before leaning forward and taking Grandma Beth by the arm. I wasn't paying much attention, but I saw them walk out of the room out of the corner of my eye, and the other's followed slowly.

Aunt Rita paused in the doorway, looking back at me, just standing there looking at Uncle Henry and crying silently.

"Cat?" She said, her voice cracking when she spoke.

I turned to look at her and she tried to give me a smile.

"Watch him. We'll be right back."

And then she was gone and I was left alone.

If Uncle Henry was awake he would laugh off his wife's worry. He would try to engage me in some sort of game which he would let me win. And he would laugh and joke around with me, and assure us that our trip to Los Angeles the month after would go as planned.

Only he wasn't awake.

"U-uncle Henry?" My voice cracked, and I moved foreward, resting my hand on his. His skin was cold.

"Uncle Henry, this is Kitten." I said carefully.

He was the only one who ever called me that, and despite my tears, I smiled.

"This is Kitten," I repeated. "And you need to stop being lazy and wake up. What would Grandpa Roger think if he saw you like this?"

My Grandpa Roger, Uncle Henry and my mom's father, had been put into a nursing home a year prior.

"So," I went on. "Wake up, and we'll watch tv or something. I'll even let you pick the channel."

I had opened my mouth to say more, but suddenly I was interrupted by a low, droning beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

Terror gripped my heart and I turned to look at the heart moniter which had flat lined before looking back at Uncle Henry.

"UNCLE HENRY!"

His name tore out of my throat, and then I let out a low, keening scream.

Hospital staff were in the room within seconds, but no one even bothered trying to push me out, and I stood there, watching as they tried to bring back my uncle. Watching as any last remaining dregs of life drained out of him.

It was an extraordinary thing, death. One moment your alive, and the next your not. And I had witnessed that first hand. It scared me. It intrigued me, and yet I wanted nothing to do with it myself.

It left a chill in me, watching my uncle die, and being powerless to do anything about it.

That was enough for me. I wanted nothing more to do with death. And so, imagining someone else, purposely ending someone's life…that was confusing.

There must have been something…something so immaculate in a person's reasoning to do it, that no slightest qualm of concience could deter them. Because otherwise they would be haunted for ever by the vision of life draining out of their victim, and that was enough to scar somebody forever. I remember for months after Uncle Henry's death, I had nightmares about it. It was so bad that my father breifly considered finding a pshychiatrist for me, but my mother was adamant…no daughter of hers was going to the crazy doctor.

I hadn't though of my Uncle's death in years, because the though of watching him die struck a cord deep within me. But suddenly, his death was being compared to these murders. It was different, obviously. My Uncle Henry hadn't been murdered, but the basic concept was the same.

I might have to see other people die, and that was too much for me.

It was one thing to see it in movies, because there was no way they could accurately recreate the life leaving someone. That was different. This was real.

I leaned back in my seat, and tilted my head back, looking up at the roof of my jeep while drumming my fingers against my leg.

"I…have no idea what to say right now." Randy said finally, looking at me.

I turned my head to look at him, and shrugged.

"I don't know either." I replied truthfully. "I just…I can't help but wonder…why me…"

Randy sighed, shaking his head slightly as we pulled into the police station.

"Christ…" I stared out my window in wonder. How had all the reporters caught wind of what had happened to Sidney so quickly. They really were like pirahna.

I really wasn't looking forward to this, and I wished that we could forego this completely, but I knew they had to know that Billy wasn't the killer.

Randy parked my jeep, and we climbed out of my jeep. I clutched my injured arm to my chest. The front of my shirt was covered in blood that would no doubt stain, but otherwise the bleeding had stopped. The cut wasn't too deep.

I took a deep breath as I looked up at the station.

I was not looking forward to this…


Author's Note: Hmm…I'm not going to lie. I'm proud of this story. I hope saying that doesn't make me seem too egotistical, but I think it's a nice change from the original. If anyone would like to read it and compare, I'd be happy to direct you to my page on Quizilla, however I'm only willing to do it for people who won't come back to say things along the lines of, "Oh my freaking God, this version sucks." After all, that version is my baby, and nobody wants to hear that their baby is ugly…even though it kind of is.

MusicalPushover: Thank you for the first comment on this story. I had a huge smile when I read it. I'm glad you liked the Cat/Stu back story. In the original, when cat was Alex, Alex had a relationship with him as well, but it was never a big deal. But for this version I though, 'Hey, here's a brilliant way to bring Cat to the spotlight along with Sid'. Because I didn't like the idea of Cat being involved only because she was Sidney's friend, because we saw what happened to Sid's friends throughout the series. Besides that, Stu was crazy. He proved that in the climax of the first movie. I can easily see him going after Cat out j that's what he did ith Casey isn't it? At any rate, I hope you enjoyed this second chapter.

Samtastic: Thank you for your kind review! I don't currently have a beta reader for this story, since I'm still trying to get used to the beta reader for my other story. I am glad that you pointed out Cat's relationship with her mother. This relationship will be very important in one of the sequels, so please keep that in mind. I've noticed, throughout the Scream movies, character's relationship with their mothers have kind of defined the movies. Because Sidney's mother was Maureen Prescott, Billy tried to kill her. Because Sidney had killed Billy, Billy's mother tried to kill Sidney. Because Maureen refused to acknowledge Roman, her convinced Billy to go through with everything. And he hated Sidney because she was the only one their mother ever claimed. Really, as it stands, it all points back to Maureen, and the character's relationships with their mothers. And I wanted the same to be true for Cat. Sidney was saddened by the death of her beloved mother. Billy was angry about his abandonment. These were two things that became very important in the Scream franchise, because it never would have happened without these things. And I decided there would need to be a different relationship between Cat and her mother. And my plan began to for for my Scream 3 fanfiction, because there were so many distinctive diffeences between that one and the others. And I had to do something. But…well you'll just have to wait and see.

And to my anonymous reveiwer, I'd like to thank you as well. I'm a big fan of OC fics when they are done correctly, however so many are not. I love Cat as a charcter, and I try to make her as realistic as possible. She is one of those characters that is she were in a horror movie, I could see her surviving until the end credits. Besides that, she's different from most Ocs you see, I think. I like her personality, and the plans I've got for her future I love…