xxxxxx

The worst part of the day for Randy Meeks was getting over the hurdle of convincing himself to get out of bed. When that alarm clock went off every morning, he always faced an epic battle in convincing himself to shut it off and get up instead of just hitting the snooze button over and over again. When he was tired, it was very easy for him to think the most logical thing to do would be to sleep for five more minutes, as though these five minutes would magically make him not tired anymore...

Randy groaned and rolled over in bed as his alarm sounded. Wasn't today Saturday? Why was his alarm going off? Sighing, he rolled back toward the alarm and stretched his arm out to the clock, slamming his hand down on top of it. He thought he had hit the snooze button, but the alarm continued blaring. So he slammed his hand down harder. The sound still didn't cease. Randy made an irritated sound, almost a growl, slamming his hand onto the snooze button violently a couple more times. When the sound still didn't stop, he jerked himself into a sitting position, grabbed the alarm clock and stared at it.

"Shut up!" he yelled, shaking the clock as if trying to scare it into submission. He stared at it some more, noticing the time, 9:19 am. As he held the clock and became a bit more awake, his confusion began to fade, and he realized the clock wasn't the source of the noise at all. It was in fact the room's phone. The phone was on the table across the room, closer to his roommate's bed than to his. They shared the phone, of course, being roommates and all. Randy looked over to his roommate's bed. Empty. No wonder. His roommate was always out partying and picking up girls. Sometimes he'd go an entire week without seeing the guy.

As Randy's mind started working again, as his body became fully awake, he decided answering the phone might be a good idea. Obviously his roommate wasn't going to answer it, and for someone to be calling at a time which Randy considered to be very early, it very well could be something important.

He shuffled over to the phone, almost tripping over his own feet as he did so, still not quite ready to be awake. It was way too early to wake up, considering it was Saturday... Maybe he hadn't been out partying all night like his roommate, but he had stayed up late nonetheless... watching scary movies, and he had only gone to sleep after 3:00 am. He thought he'd be able to sleep in until at least noon...

Yawning, he grabbed up the phone and held it to his ear "Hello?" he mumbled. He just had to see what this person wanted, and then he could go back to sleep for a few hours.

"Randy?" a traumatized-sounding voice cried into the phone.

"Mom?" Randy was instantly completely awake. His mother's voice sounded very worried. He knew sometimes she would get worried over nothing, like if she hadn't heard from him in a few days, or if she heard of anything illegal going on anywhere near the college... But the tone of her voice now wasn't a result of some trivial concern this time; Randy could just tell... She still hadn't said anything more, "Mom!" he raised his voice, "have you been crying? What's wrong?"

All he heard in response was his mother's sobbing.

"Mom... What's wrong?" Randy asked again, his voice sounding much more demanding this time. His worry was increasing exponentially by the second.

She continued crying, sounding like she was trying to speak, but every time she almost formed a word, she broke into sobbing again.

"Come on, mom... You're really freaking me out..." Randy pleaded, "just tell me what's wrong... Did something happen to dad? Are you and Martha okay? Just tell me what's wrong! Should I come home? You have to tell me. I'm really worried here."

His mother remained silent. All he could hear was muffled sniffing noises, as if she was trying to keep herself from crying anymore.

"Mom..." Randy's voice betrayed his concern, "just calm down. Take a deep breath. And tell me what happened. You've got to tell me what's going on... Please, mom."

"It's -" his mother tried, sobbing again, "It's your sister..." she started sobbing uncontrollably again.

"What..." Randy's blood felt cold, "what happened?" he squeaked, his voice sounding tiny and terrified, "Is she okay?"

His mother continued sobbing. He heard his father saying something in the background.

"Hand me the phone, dear. I can tell him," his father's soft voice told the sobbing woman.

Randy prayed silently. Every second of this conversation made him feel more and more terrified. Whatever had happened had his mother in tears. She was so hysterical that she couldn't even bear to explain the situation to him. At this point, he was assuming the worst, but at the same time, he hoped so desperately that he was wrong, that his mother was over-reacting to something small, like Martha breaking her wrist or getting caught drinking underage at a party...

"Randy, it's your dad," his father's voice took over on the phone.

Randy sighed, "Yeah," he was getting impatient, "just tell me what's going on, dad. Is Martha okay?"

"There's no easy way to tell you this, son," his father began. Randy could hear in his voice that he had been crying recently too, which wasn't something his father often did. His father was a man who kept his composure under even the most stressful situations. The fact that he sounded like he had been crying made Randy almost certain that whatever the man was about to tell him was going to be devastating. Randy could guess what his father was going to say, but even as he said it, Randy's blood ran cold, "Randy... Martha was killed last night..." his father managed to say, his voice nearly breaking.

Randy was speechless. He had assumed as much, but he was still completely shocked. What could he say now? What could he do? How could he make this right? How could he undo this? "Are you sure?" he whispered, without even thinking, "what happened? Are you sure it's her? Are you absolutely certain?"

His father paused for a moment, "We're sure, Randy." he answered.

"I'm coming home right now," Randy informed his father.

"Son, why don't you take a bit to calm down first. I don't want you driving while you're upset," his father suggested.

Randy's breathing had become erratic at some point, which he just now noticed, "upset! What... When... What, do you think I'll just stop being upset if I wait an hour?" He felt so panicked. He didn't know what to say or do, "What do I do? Should I just sit here and wait? What do I do, dad! I have to come home. At least that way I'd be driving... I'd be doing something instead of just sitting here thinking..."

"Could you have someone drive you then?" his father asked, "please?" he sounded like he might cry.

Randy let out a pitiful whimper, "I'll ask around..."

"I don't want to lose you too, son," his father whispered, "driving while you're upset is the last thing you should do right now. It won't help anything."

Randy felt his lower lip quiver. This had to be a nightmare, "dad... what happened? How did she die? When you said she was 'killed,' did you mean, in an accident? A car accident or something? What happened...?"

"Randy... She was murdered," his dad managed to tell him, sounding very stressed as he did so, "stabbed."

Randy's eyes grew wide. He of course was well aware of what event's anniversary was in progress this week... He didn't think this was a coincidence... But he certainly hoped it was only that. He didn't feel the need to bring it up to his dad right now though.

"Randy," his dad's voice hesitantly continued, "are you okay?" he paused again, "should I drive up there and pick you up?"

Randy shook his head, "No... no, dad... It's okay." He insisted, "I'll uh... I'll ask Sid to drive me. It's the weekend, and it's not a long drive... I'm sure she won't mind. Just... you stay there with mom. I'll be home in a couple hours, maximum. Just stay there..."

"Make sure you and Sidney drive carefully," Randy's father added.

"See you soon..." Randy said, not really knowing what else to say, "I love you dad," he added.

"I love you too, Randy. I'll see you soon."

With that, both parties hung up their phones.

Randy stared at the phone after he hung it up. He needed to ask Sidney to drive him home... but should he call her or just go find her and ask? He didn't want to do either right now. For the moment, he just wanted to lay down on the floor, or crawl under his bed and just cry. His baby sister was only fourteen years old... How could someone kill her? Two years ago, Billy and Stu had killed their classmates mostly, seventeen and eighteen year olds... nearly adults. How could someone kill a fourteen year old girl? Unless... maybe it was someone from Woodsboro High... Maybe someone was setting out to copy Billy and Stu, and it had nothing to do with himself or Sidney... Or perhaps it was just some murderer who had nothing to do with anything Randy was aware of.

Closing his eyes, Randy leaned his back against the wall and slid down until he was sitting on the floor. He wanted so much to just disappear right now, to just not exist at all so that he wouldn't ever have to deal with this. He would give anything to hear his alarm clock right now, and to be woken up out of this nightmare. Maybe his dad was lying. Maybe his parents just wanted him to come back home from college. Maybe they just knew he wouldn't come home any other way... He realized he was being irrational, but he didn't know what else to do. He could't just accept this. It was one thing when his classmates were killed two years before... but they were his age... and he wasn't protective of them... Martha was his little sister. He was supposed to protect her. He was supposed to do anything and everything to ensure something like this would never happen.

Randy could feel tears rolling down his cheeks. He didn't know what to think, what to say, or what to do. All he could think of was "what should I do? What should I do?" He repeated it in his head over and over. He honestly didn't know what to do. He needed to get home, but what about after that? What should he do? What should he think about? How could he just erase all of this and disappear?

As much as he wanted to stay hidden in his room and continue denying all of this, he knew he needed to get moving soon, to find Sidney, get a ride back to Woodsboro, and discuss this whole mess with her. He had promised his father he'd be home in a few hours. He had to face this sooner or later. His continuing denial would only make Martha's death harder on the rest of his family.

Trying to keep his composure, Randy exited his dorm room, averting his eyes from everyone he saw, and hoping no one would try to talk to him. Faking a casual conversation was the last thing he wanted to do right now, and talking to anyone other than Sidney about this was the other last thing he wanted to do. Best case scenario, he'd make it to Sid's dorm without seeing anyone at all. Human contact was not preferable. Not now.

Fortunately, Sidney's residence hall was near his, so he didn't have to walk all the way across campus. It was Saturday morning, so she was likely still asleep in her dorm, which would mean Randy wouldn't have to take too much effort in finding her.

He entered the hall, an all-female dormitory building, and walked up to the front desk. They wouldn't just let guys go up to the floors where the rooms were, so he had to check in with the receptionist... if that's what you'd call her.

Clearing his throat, he spoke to the young woman at the desk, "I need to speak with Sidney Prescott." he said, hearing his voice waver slightly, "please," he added.

The woman nodded, "I remember you," she said, "you visited her earlier this week, right?"

Randy nodded. This woman was very cheerful, and he wasn't really in the mood to chat with her, "yep," he spoke, trying to speed this up.

She nodded, "I can ring her room for you if you'd like, to see if she's in."

Randy nodded again, "that would great."

He waited as the receptionist got in contact with Sid's room, talked to her or her room-mate, and then hung up. "She'll be down in just a minute," she smiled, "you can have a seat over there in the lobby."

Randy sulked over to the lobby and sank down onto the sofa there. The wait seemed like forever, but eventually, Sidney walked into the lobby, smiling at first, but instantly frowning when she saw Randy's demeanor. Sidney, Randy's best friend in the world, could tell something bad had happened.

She didn't have to ask him what was wrong. Her concerned expression asked without her even saying anything. Randy knew he'd have to tell her; he knew she'd be able to tell something was wrong. She knew him better than anyone did, so he knew he wouldn't be able to hide it from her for long, if even at all. Plus, considering that it was the anniversary of their near-deaths, she had a right to know some sort of copy-cat may be at large. He had to tell her eventually, and now seemed as good a time as any, so he just said it.

"Sid," he began, staring right into her eyes. She looked right back at his, without averting her eyes or blinking. Neither of them flinched, "Martha's been stabbed... to death. She was killed last night... or this morning... I don't know really..."

Sidney gasped, "Oh my god!" her eyes were wide with shock and for a moment she just stared at him, clearly at a loss for words, "Randy..." She finally said. She stared at him, shaking her head as though completely unsure of what she should say or do. Moving toward him and wrapping her arms around him, she said the phrase almost anyone says when their friend has had a family member die and they can't think of words to express their sympathy and empathy, "I'm so sorry."

Randy stood still as Sidney hugged him. He didn't hug her back. Ordinarily a hug from Sidney would be the greatest joy for him. He'd hug her back and be so pleased she was paying any physical attention to him, because he still sort of had a crush on her... But at the moment, the hug was a "just friends" hug, even to him. He read no more into it than he usually would have.

Sidney broke her embrace and took a step back, putting her hands on Randy's upper arms and looking into his eyes again, "Are you going back home? Do you need a ride? I don't think you should drive yourself, all alone."

Randy could see in her eyes that she had tons of questions. She probably wanted to ask if they knew who killed her, if it could be related to what happened two years ago, where the murder took place... but he also knew she wouldn't ask these questions, no matter how much she wanted to, out of respect for his sister, who Sidney had met and talked with several times in the past. Martha was sort of a friend of Sidney's. Sidney was probably more of a role model to his sister than a friend, but they liked each other, so he called it friendship.

"Do you need a ride home, Randy?" Sidney asked, "Is there anything I can do to help you?"

Apparently Randy had forgotten to speak in the past couple of minutes, because Sidney was looking at him with a very worried expression on her face, and was beginning to repeat things she had already said, as though perhaps Randy hadn't heard them the first time.

"Yeah," he finally said, shaking himself out of his thoughts, "A ride home would be great."

Sidney nodded. She looked a bit unsure of what step to take next as she sighed and looked at Randy and then down at herself, "Uh... could you give me a couple minutes?" she asked, "I need to get dressed... I'm wearing pajamas," she laughed nervously.

Randy nodded, "I'm in no hurry," he told her.

"I'll be down in a minute..." Sidney told him, turning to leave. Then she turned back, "do you want to come up? You can sit in my room, and I can change in the bathroom... My roomate isn't in. That way you won't have to wait down here..."

"It's fine, Sid. I can wait here," Randy told her.

Sidney nodded, "Um... Okay... I'll see you then. In a minute. In a few minutes, I mean," she still seemed nervous, "I'll be right back."

"Take your time," Randy called after her, smiling a forced smile when she turned back and glanced at him one last time before going back upstairs. She forced a smile back to him as well.

Randy sighed and leaned back on the couch he had been sitting on before. He hoped Sidney really did take her sweet time, because he was really dreading arriving back at home. Once he was home again, Martha's death would become a reality. At least here, everyone was acting normal (except Sidney) and no one knew the personal hell he was in. Once at home, everyone around him would remind him of his sister's passing every time they saw him, not to be mean or anything, but just because that's what people do. Each "I'm so sorry for your loss" would be a reminder that this wasn't a dream. In a few short hours, this would be become real.

xxxxxx

Remember Randy's sister Martha Meeks from Scream 3? That was who I was writing about in the first chapter. :O Did you know? So I'm not making her up... She was really in the third film... Just for about 2 minutes.. but she was there. And she said she was 17, so I estimated she'd be 14 in this one. Woooot! Oh... too bad she's dead though. :( So... un-woot... I guess...

Hey... Do you want to review this one? Please? It's got real characters from the movies in it now, so maybe you'll like it more than the first chapter... I guess this chapter isn't too eventful though...

P.S. I'm going to try to include a lot of each of the main characters (Sidney, Randy, Gale, Dewey, and Cotton) but I really love Gale and Dewey the most, so don't be surprised if I accidentally give them more screen time (page time?) than they should have... So far though, it's been two entire chapters without even mentioning them... so I'm not favouring them too bad... not yet.

Next chapter may have Dewey and/or Gale... It'll probably have Sidney in it. And of course Cotton will weasel his way in eventually...

P.P.S. Randy isn't going to be sad and depressed the whole time, because this story isn't just about Randy's grief. I just thought I'd describe his feelings, because having your younger sister die isn't something you just shrug off. I want to include character's feelings in here, but it won't just be Randy's... It may seem like he's the centre of the story right now, but it won't stay that way. Probably each of the main characters will have at least one chapter that sort of centers around them...