YOU woke up from having a nightmare, though it wasn't a nightmare when you had witnessed your best friend's body hanging from one of the many trees in her backyard with her insides torn out of her.
For the rest of the night, you wake up continuously and fall back asleep until you decide to get up and get ready for school.
Dwight, or as you and Tatum have called him since the two of you were younger, Dewey tried to convince you to stay home from school to lessen the likelihood of you getting attacked since they never caught Casey's murderer and your attacker, but you've been extremely stubborn.
Though you know it isn't just you being stubborn, it's the fact that if you're in a large group setting, the killer would be less likely to attack you.
You also don't want to be alone, but you won't tell him that or he'd try to bring you to work and that more than likely would end up with a fat 'no.'
'God, I hang with Randy too much, maybe I should cut back. I can barely think rationally,' you think, smiling at the thought of one of your friends. He even manages to put a smile on your face when he's not around.
"Hey, are you ready to go-? Emmy, have you been up all night? You look like hell on wheels," Tatum asks you bluntly, which causes a scoff to erupt from you.
"Yeah, because I can really sleep after seeing... after witnessing what happened yesterday," you reply, and Tatum gives you a sympathetic look.
"Shit, I shouldn't have snapped at you. I'm sorry, Tate," you apologise, though your sister gives you a strange look.
"Why're you apologising? You saw someone you were close to killed in front of you— that's basically torture," Tatum pulls you into a hug while she speaks and you feel a little better. Your sister could be kind when she wanted to be.
"C'mon, we've got a Sid to pick up!" She changes the subject quickly when she catches the sound of Dewey's footsteps stopping outside of your bedroom.
You sigh and grab your bag from its spot on your desk chair, then follow Tatum out of your bedroom where Dewey waits dutifully for the both of you.
.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.
"Please... be careful, okay, Amy? I don't think either of us could handle losing you," Dewey tells you in a low tone when you linger a little longer than usual after Tatum get out of the car.
"Of course I'll be careful- I'm more likely to get attacked when I'm alone with one other person or myself than when I'm here in a group, right?" You present the question rhetorically and Dewey nods reluctantly, then sighs.
"Protect her for me, alright?" He asks Sidney, who nods silently, not sure of how she should answer him. You both get out of the car and run after Tatum to catch up.
"You guys sure do know how to take a long time, is it a universal girl thing?" A voice sounds in your ears and you're greeted with Stu, one of your friends you're close to— you've known him since before elementary school.
"Yeah, it is, got a problem with that?" Anastasia, Stu's younger sister, pops her head near his shoulder with a loud pop! from her neck, giving him a good scare.
"Control your popping joints, you're so gross!" Stu fake gags, earning him a punch on his arm from his sister.
"Aww... am I bothering you?" Anastasia simpers in a sickeningly sweet voice, giving her brother a smile. You roll your eyes, already knowing what she's going to do.
"Yeah, you are," Stu answers and Anastasia grins evilly, then cracks her finger joints. Stu convulses and looks green in the face.
"C'mere, all little sisters are evil," Tatum wraps an arm around Stu, who looks like he might actually vomit.
"You're absolutely right," you laugh and Tatum glares at you, already catching onto what you're going to do.
You skip over to the other side of Tatum and walk really close to her, invading her personal space, evil giggles escaping as she groans.
"Let's just get to class..." Tatum walks further ahead of you and Sidney, dragging Stu along with her as Anastasia trails not too far from her big brother to annoy him some more before she heads off to her own class.
You and Sidney laugh as you walk into your shared class, though the overhanging sense of dread and guilt began to surface as all eyes turn to you once you sit down at your desk.
.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.
You and Sidney both get pulled out of class at the same time to go to the office and by the time you get there, you knew exactly what was going on.
'An interrogation... seriously? I didn't hurt anyone, this is bullshit,' you sigh as Sidney grabs your hand to comfort both of you.
You know the murder of Casey brings back memories of what happened to her mother not even a year ago.
"How're you doing, Amy?" Dewey queries as soon as you enter the room, not taking a seat and instead choosing to stand beside Sidney, whose grip has not lightened on your hand.
"As good as I can be, given the situation I'm in, Dewey," you respond, the guilt and dread from earlier hanging over you in a dark, ugly cloud.
"I'm sorry we even have to ask you these questions, Amelia," Sheriff Burke apologises, sympathy leaking into his voice.
You give him the best smile you can manage; even with all the joking around you were doing with your friends and sister this morning, it was all just to make them think you're okay, but you definitely aren't.
.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.
You and Sidney get done with questioning in time to head outside for lunch to sit with your friend group.
"AMY!" A voice shouts as you try to turn around to see who's yelling your nickname.
A weight is put onto your back and arms wrap around your neck.
"Heya, Stace, how've you been?" You inquire as the three of you near the group sitting on the edge of the fountain, waiting for you.
"I didn't like that they were interviewing all of us, even you- you were the one who got attacked last night," Anastasia pouts as you shake your head, trying to frown at her, but she has a point.
"Yeah, they asked us a bunch of questions. Did you get asked if you like to hunt?" Stu questions as the girls take their spots.
"Hunt? Why would they ask you if you like to hunt?" Tatum
"No clue, they just did," Stu shrugs, though it's not a good enough answer, not for your sister.
"Because their bodies were gutted," Randy answers as Sidney visibly flinches. You glare at him and he decides it's best for him not to say anything else that could upset you.
"Thanks for that, Randy," Billy rolls his eyes while Sidney shrinks away from him when he tries to comfort her.
"They didn't ask me if I liked to hunt," You and Tatum say in unison as the guys shake their heads.
"Because there's no way a girl could've killed them- let alone, you two idiots," Stu cracks up at the very idea of you and Tatum committing a double homicide.
"Hey!" You snap and Stu looks like he could turn blue from laughing so hard.
"Right, we've got to remember that you could kill someone, couldn't you, Ames?" Stu manages to taunt you for a second time in a row,
"If you think for a minute that you can eliminate a whole group off the list, you're wrong. Everyone's a suspect until they prove they weren't involved in the slightest,"
"Okay, Velma," Stu snorts and You swat at him from your spot next to Tatum.
"She's a redhead, dude, why would she be Velma?" Randy raises an eyebrow at Stu, who laughs in response, like the answer is obvious.
"'Cause she's not ditzy like someone we know," Stu nudges Tatum, who'd been talking to Sidney in a low voice, attempting to comfort her.
"Don't call her ditzy. She's not blonde like you and Stacey," You argue as he flicks your forehead with a laugh, irritating you on purpose. Revenge isn't hard to get, due to Anastasia smacking her brother on the back of his head for flicking you.
'It's like having three older siblings with him around,' you shake your head at the thought and grin at him while smacking his hand away from your face.
"Of course when you two are a part of a conversation, it goes off the rails," Billy rolls his eyes, causing both you and Stu to turn to him.
"Shut up, Billy, you're wrong most of the time about everything!" You and Stu tell him in unison. This causes Anastasia, Randy, and Tatum to burst out laughing. You and Stu are known for throwing the conversation off course, so what more could they expect from either of you?
"Anyways, Stu, it easily could've been female- Basic Instinct," Tatum insists, but you can't help but disagree with her, though you don't say anything, knowing Randy will.
"That was an ice pick. Not exactly the same," Randy remarks, earning a glare from Tatum. He holds his hands up in mock surrender before he puts them back down at his sides.
"Yeah, Casey and Steve were completely hollowed out. Takes a man to do something like that," Stu comments and you turn to Tatum, using her shoulder as your pillow.
"It takes everything in me not to kick your ass for talking about them like that," You mutter, earning a stifled snort from your sister and sympathetic looks from Randy and Sidney.
"Or a man's mentality," You and Tatum both say in response to Stu, who gives Billy and Anastasia sideways glances.
"How. . . uhm, how do you gut someone?" Sidney asks herself quietly, like she hadn't meant to say it out loud.
There's silence among your friend group members for a moment and it's almost deafening. You really hoped no one would answer her.
"You take a knife and slit 'em from the groin to sternum," Stu answers her unfortunately, and you look over at her to see her shrink towards Tatum and away from Billy.
"What? She asked," Stu shrugs as Billy waves a hand absentmindedly near him, as though to smack him.
"It's called tact, you fuckrag," Billy scoffs and rolls his eyes at Stu, who looks down for a moment.
"Oh, sorry," Stu apologises, though it doesn't sound genuine at all.
"Remember in Jaws when they caught the wrong shark at first and Richard Dreyfus cut it open to look foe body parts and all they found was a license plate and all this white milky goo," Randy gives you a look and you have war flashbacks to when you had first watched the movie with him in freshmen year.
Probably wasn't your brightest moment, considering it gave you a fear of sharks.
"You heard Billy. Shut the fuck up," Stu tells Randy as he pushes Randy's arm.
"Hey, Stu? Didn't you use to date Casey?" Sidney questions Stu, who's taken aback, a little off guard.
"For about two seconds," Stu scoffs as you swat him, knowing he never would've dated her without you playing matchmaker for them both.
"Before she dumped him for Steve," Randy adds and Tatum turns to Stu, surprised.
"I thought you dumped her for me," Tatum turns to face Stu, who shoots a glare at the side of Randy's head.
"I did. He's full of shit," Stu returns, then turns to face Randy as he does the same.
"And are the police aware you dated the victim?" Randy raises an eyebrow suspiciously, almost mockingly, though still half-serious about his accusation.
"What are you saying? That I killed her or
something?" Stu's eyes widened at the very idea of him committing a crime against his ex-girlfriend.
"It would certainly improve your high
school queue," Randy points a finger at Stu, who looks like he's going to bite him.
"Stu was with me last night," Tatum covers for her boyfriend and you can't help but roll your eyes.
'Of course he was. How convenient is it that he was supposedly with her when the murders occurred?' you shake your head and chew on your bottom lip, thinking.
"Oooooh. . . before or after he sliced and
diced?" Randy waggles his eyebrows and you huff loudly at his stupid joke.
"Fuck you, nut case. Where were you last night?" Tatum asks, though she isn't expecting him to actually answer her earnestly.
"Working, thank you," Randy smacks his hands down on the spots beside him. You wince at the sound of skin scraping on concrete.
"I thought Blockbuster fired your ass," Tatum tilts her head to the side in mock curiosity.
'Who allowed Michael Myers to possess my sister?' You giggle at how stupid the thought is. You really do hang with Randy too much. Maybe you should cut back on that.
"Twice, Amy has covered for me more times than I can count," Randy laughs and you can't help but smile a bit. You're the one who always covers for him no matter what it's for; work, school, his parents— anything he needs, you're there to get suspicion thrown off him, especially when he ends up hung over.
"I didn't kill anybody," Stu mumbles, genuinely looking upset. You reach over and hold out your hand to him, which he takes hold of.
"No one's saying you did," You and Anastasia both reassure him, though it doesn't surprise anyone when it's you two telling him that.
"Besides. . . 'Takes a man to do something like that,'" Randy mimics Stu perfectly and you can't help but cackle at him.
"I'm gonna gut your ass in a second, dude. Stop accusing him of killing people," Anastasia jumps to her brother's defense, looking ready she'll throw herself over Tatum's and Amelia's laps at Randy.
"I'm sure you already knew this, but her heart was gone. I heard they found her liver in the mailbox though, did you really put it in there?" Randy pokes at Stu, who shakes his head.
"Randy, you goon fuck! I'm trying to eat here," Tatum chucks a fork at him and scowls when she hears both Anastasia and Randy laugh at her.
You go back to resting your head on your sister's shoulder, wanting nothing more than to get the fuck out of there.
"Can you not talk about Casey like I didn't witness her getting cut open... like a cantelope?" You ask, but Stu giggles at your analogy.
"Yeah, Randy, I think we're irritating Ames. We'd better liver alone!" Stu doesn't even try to stifle his laughter as Anastasia swats at him.
"You're so... so insensitive!" you sniffle as the bell rings. You get up, grab your bag and rush off to the bathroom to get away from your friends, mostly Stu.
You know Randy meant no harm by his stupid jokes, but usually when you told Stu to stop, he did.
You hear two pairs of feet on either side of you and look up slightly to see Tatum and Sidney.
Lucky for you, the rest of your schedule was classes with them, so they'll be able to comfort you if needed and you'd be able to help Sidney if she needed it too.
