To start, I'd like to thank the anonymous reviewer who commented on the last two chapters I posted. It looks like you're the only one still reading, and I really appreciate it. I hope you end up liking the rest of the story.
And here we go:
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Sidney felt nervous as she drove down the road in the direction the sheriff and officer had gone. She wanted to hope that the killer had been caught and that the reason the cops were rushing away was to properly arrest him or her, but she certainly didn't want to set her hopes too high only to be disappointed. If this massacre was anything like the one she had lived through two years ago, it wasn't going to be wrapped up so easily. It was already pretty clear that this wasn't just one random guy who killed an unlucky group of teenagers. This person had killed two more people yesterday, and according to Gale, he wore the same mask the killer had worn before. It was looking like this was going to be quite an ordeal.
"He turned left up here, Sid," Randy told her as he gestured toward a road up ahead.
Sidney followed Randy's instructions and turned left on the road. The sheriff seemed to have been heading toward the high school. It was sunday, so school was not in session... She wondered what could be going on... It was entirely possible this had nothing to do with the killings. Maybe someone had just broken into the school or something.
"Looks like they're going to the school," Sidney told Randy as she continued driving toward the sirens and flashing lights.
"Brings back a lot of memories, doesn't it?" Randy noted, "when I left Woodsboro, I kind of never wanted to come back..."
"I know how you feel," Sidney agreed, "I even told my dad that he should move so I wouldn't have to come back even to visit him," she offered a dry laugh as she pulled into the high school's parking lot, "If I had never set foot in this town again, it would have been too soon. Any of the good memories are drowned by all of the bad ones..."
She glanced at Randy who was frowning back at her, but who didn't say anything.
"I'm sorry," Sidney sighed, "the memories are just flooding back every time I turn a corner, and a lot of them are certainly not good memories... Tatum and I used to walk this way to school, but Tatum was also murdered in this town. It's hard to smile about the good times I had with her when at the same time I remember seeing her crushed in that garage door... I remember going to school every day and being so happy to see my friends, and I remember going back to school after Billy and Stu... and most of my friends weren't there anymore. I can't remember the good things without the painful memories clouding them over."
"I know," Randy agreed.
Sidney reached over and squeezed his hand, but kept her eyes on the lot as she drove through it to find a suitable space away from the police, but close enough to observe what was happening, "Tatum, Billy, and Stu were your friends too," Sidney spoke in a soft voice, "and now you've lost Martha as well. This town is cursed."
"It is for us at least," Randy forced a laugh.
Sidney glanced at him again, offering him a smile that was only half-forced. At least they were in this together. If anyone could understand how Sidney felt, it would be Randy. They hadn't suffered the same misfortunes exactly, but had both been very close to the killers last time, and had both lost friends and family in the massacre.
As she finally settled on a parking space, Sidney looked across the nearly empty lots toward the flashing lights. The police car, with its lights still on, was parked in one of the student parking lots. Sidney had parked a fair distance away.
She turned the car off and looked over at Randy, "thank you for asking me to come back with you, Randy," she spoke, "I wouldn't have wanted you to face all this alone."
Randy smiled, "thank you for coming."
Sidney breathed in and shook her head, trying to rid her mind of all its troubles. She peered out over the empty lot between the one where she and Randy were parked and the one where Sheriff Jones had parked. Another police car was parked next to his in the distance.
"Can you see anything?" Randy asked as he peered through the car's windows as well.
Sidney shook her head, "not really."
"Let's go check it out," Randy suggested.
Sidney hesitated. What if the killer had been spotted and they were looking for him? Getting out of the car might be dangerous. She looked around as a few more cars arrived at the school. One was a police car, which drove toward the other two already here. The others were civilians, who were beginning to follow Sidney's lead, parking their cars and gawking at the scene. Woodsboro was a small town. Everyone was into everyone else's business, and this was no exception. Sidney and Randy weren't the only people to notice the sheriff and deputy drive off with their siren blaring. She supposed it couldn't be too dangerous to get out of the car now that other people were there.
She stepped out of the car and waited for Randy to do the same, "we'll still keep our distance, Randy," Sidney advised, "I don't want us getting in anyone's way."
"Sidney?" she heard Dewey's voice and turned toward the sound.
"Dewey!" she rushed over to him. Gale was standing next to him, looking uncharacteristically awkward, as though she was unsure what to do with herself. She was dressed in an oversized t-shirt and sweatpants, most likely belonging to Dewey. She must have spent the night at the officer's house after her run-in- with the killer last night.
"Gale, I heard what happened... Are you alright?" Sidney asked. She knew Gale was physically okay because she had spoken to Dewey on the phone last night, but she still hadn't spoken with Gale directly. Only Gale herself could confirm that she was really, honestly doing alright.
Gale nodded, "I'm fine," she answered simply, "just a couple scratches."
"Good," Sidney put her hand lightly on Gale's uninjured arm. The reporter seemed physically okay, but she did have a look in her eyes that betrayed that she wasn't entirely at ease, and of course she wouldn't be after being witness to a murder and narrowly escaping death herself. Sidney offered a small smile and squeezed Gale's arm gently, "we were worried about you."
"Thanks, Sidney," Gale smiled a smile that actually looked genuine, "I'll be alright."
"I know you will be," Sidney smiled. Gale was tough. The reporter wasn't one to give in to fear or threats, and while she hadn't reported on anything since last night, Sidney imagined Gale would be back to her old self in a matter of days. The threats and close call were still fresh in her mind, so she was laying low. Sidney could see that she had been scared, as anyone would be. But Gale was not the kind of person to back down, no matter what the circumstances. Sidney would probably see Gale anchoring more morally questionable news reports on television within no time, "be careful, Gale," Sidney added. Gale wasn't always Sidney's favorite person, in fact, the reporter was one of the few people Sidney had actually punched in the face during her lifetime, but she wasn't a bad person, and Sidney honestly did want her to stay safe.
"I'm sticking with Dewey," Gale informed her, "no more hanging out in the park at night or getting arrested," she offered a sarcastic laugh.
"Sheriff Jones never should have arrested you, Gale," Sidney frowned, "he can come across as kind of callous sometimes... but he means well."
Gale laughed and shook her head, "everyone's paranoid, accusing anyone and everyone of this. I notice I'm the only one who's been arrested," she glanced toward Dewey, "but I'm not the only person who's been suspected. We're gonna catch this guy, Sidney."
"Isn't that Dewey's job?" Randy butted in.
"I'm the only person who has seen the killer and lived to provide a witness statement," Gale persisted, "I know just as much about this guy as Dewey does... if not more."
"We'll all work toward figuring this out," Sidney stepped in, not wanting Gale and Randy to get into an argument, "I think it's safe to say this case is personal to all of us. We'll let the cops do what they need to, but every little helps. I'm sure Dewey wouldn't be opposed to hearing any theory any of us have on who the killer might be," She turned her attention back to Dewey and back toward the scene - the reason why they came here in the first place, "what's going on here, Dewey?" she wondered.
Dewey hesitated, "Sid, you and Randy might not want to see this," he advised, "You too, Gale... Maybe you guys should all hang back."
"I can handle it, Dewey," Gale's voice sounded strong and determined. She likely already knew what was over behind the school. She and Dewey had arrived here together. Gale likely knew a lot more than Dewey should have ever let a reporter notorious for prying too far into her stories know.
"What is it, Dewey?" Sidney asked again, staring hard into his eyes.
The officer hesitated, "this hasn't been made public yet," he shuffled his feet.
"With all due respect, Dewey..." Randy began, gesturing toward the growing crowd near the school, "the public is all right over there watching," he noted.
Dewey sighed, "a jogger found two bodies this morning," he finally said in a very matter-of-fact tone.
"Oh my god," Sidney felt her heart sink, "do you think it's the same killer?"
Dewey frowned and nodded his head, "yeah. It is."
Sidney took a step forward and tried to see something in all the commotion in the distance, "how do you know it's the same murderer? Were they stabbed? Who are they?"
"I think we have a right to see what's going on," Randy spoke from behind her, "look, everyone else is over there," he gestured toward the crowd. They seemed to be looking off somewhere behind the school. A cop had put up police tape, but everyone crowded around it and was gazing off, whispering, and chatting among themselves.
"You've got to keep this quiet, and I'm sure you will," Dewey started, "but it's Martha's friends," he looked sympathetically over to Randy, "Heather and Kayla."
Sidney closed her eyes and exhaled, "I guess that means neither of them is the killer... I didn't think they could be."
"Yeah," Dewey frowned.
"Well, I want to see for myself," Randy grumbled as he started toward the crowd.
"Randy," Sidney called after him as she began to follow.
"I've got to see for myself, Sidney," he persisted.
Sidney sighed as she trudged along behind him, "how is that going to help?" she asked, "there's nothing you can do, Randy," she supposed she could chalk this up to him not being in his right mind due to stress, but he wasn't turning back around. He was determined to see with his own eyes what had happened.
Dewey and Gale were following behind them as well. In a matter of seconds, the four of them found themselves looking at the scene a fair amount of the community had been gazing at for the past few minutes, and it certainly wasn't a pretty picture.
Sidney gasped in horror as she comprehended what she was looking at. Two slim bodies swung gently in the breeze as they were hung with thick ropes by their necks, dangling from the branch of a large oak tree behind the school. They were indeed Heather and Kayla. Sidney recognized them because they had sometimes been at Randy's house when Sidney had visited him. The girls were dressed in light-colored pajamas, which were stained a dark red, which was most likely their own blood.
For a moment, all Sidney could do was stare. They had to find whoever had done this. It wasn't enough for this guy to just kill people... He had to put them on display to torture the victims' families. These were fourteen and fifteen year old children, hanging from a tree... It looked like their deaths had been violent. Sidney wondered if they had died the same night as Martha. Surely they hadn't been kept alive an entire day...
She turned away, not wanting to see any more of this. Behind her, Dewey stared grimly ahead at the gruesome scene. Gale had turned around at some point and had buried her face in Dewey's chest. His arm was around her shoulders.
"I told you guys not to look," Dewey frowned, "Why don't you three get out of here?" he suggested.
"I knew these girls," Randy was still staring at the morbid scene before them, "I knew them since they were kids... they're still kids..."
"Come on, Randy," Sidney grabbed his hand and pulled him back, "Gale," she reached toward the reporter, "We'll all go to my house."
Dewey moved his arm from around Gale so that Sidney could lead her away, "I want all three of you to stick together," Dewey instructed, "I mean it. I don't want a single one of you going anywhere alone."
Sidney nodded as she put her arm around Gale's shoulders and squeezed Randy's hand tighter, "let's go, guys," she said in a small voice. The last thing Randy needed was to keep looking at the bodies of his dead sister's murdered friends. And Gale obviously wasn't yet over the shock of everything that had happened. It would do neither of them any good to stay here.
As she led her friends back toward her car, all she could hear above the indistinct chattering of Woodsboro's prying citizens was the sound of Dewey's voice as he ordered people to step back and much-too-politely asked them to please go home.
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Please review. :) I actually really like this chapter more than I thought I did when I wrote it. It includes mostly everyone and is very gruesome, if you think about it... No one was actively killed in this one, but two young teenagers' brutally stabbed bodies hanging on display at the school? That's pretty messed up...
If Heather and Kayla were on your list of suspects, you can go ahead and cross them off. ;)
Again, please, please review if you're reading this. Every little review motivates me to update faster. You know how it is.
