Dedication to:
Bhavana331—I'm so sorry! So, people, Bhavana here is writing an amazing SWAC Halloween story also, and SHE'S the one who mentioned having Murphy in her story first when we were exchanging our plot ideas to avoid confusion. So anyone who said "Oh man, that's so cool! You may be the first ever person to include Murphy!" that's not me, that's all HER! So Bhavana, you should take some of my reviews, haha. And I apologize for not crediting you in the last chapter when I first brought out Murphy into the story!

Kylie Robbins because her PMs from a long time ago of what her and her dad does sparked the 'cue the dead dog' line.

Daseyrocks because she made an amazing trailer (check the link from the last chapter) and her scene of where Sonny jumps on Chad kinda influenced the actions I wrote for when Sonny actually does save Chad in this chapter!

Music-Freak Sonny for editing a scene here. You go, girl!

And most importantly, sonnycentral—because she's amazing and has one of the biggest hearts I have ever known and has the strength to pass any obstacle and don't you forget that!

The next update, Chapter 4 will have a poll included with it where YOU guys get to vote on who you think 'dun' it! WOW…this chapter was 10 pages long, single-spaced, my longest ever chapter! Thanks to everyone who's reviewed!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Jason reference nor any SWAC…but the mystery and symbols, I do!

With countless of creepy crawling insects still at home in the girls' dressing room, the girls had to evacuate for a while until the studio crew had taken out every last bug and wiped out the squished ones. Sonny, with nothing to do and rehearsal postponed until this ghost frenzy was solved, sat comfortably in her Sherlock attire, hiding under her purple Marmi—the Blanket with Arms as she watched a horror movie in the dark Prop House.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone move beside her. "Guess who?" a male's voice chirped as he covered Sonny's eyes, who—in turn, screamed, "THE GHOST!" grabbing his hands, flipping him over so the person tumbled upside-down into the sofa next to Sonny.

"Ow," moaned Chad. "My lumbago…" Sonny bit her lip as she tried helping Chad from his tangled position.
"I'm sorry!" she timidly whined.

Chad took a breath, easing into a comfortable seat between Sonny and the sofa arm—comfortable meaning 'brushing Sonny on the side'. "Remind me to never be by you if we're ever in a haunted house together."

Sonny wrinkled her nose and turned towards Chad. "Why would I even go to a haunted house with you?"
Chad nodded. "Good point."

The two stared at the bright screen ahead of them, watching the movie like any two friends would. Chad's eyes slowly looked over at Sonny, to find her wrapped in a weird sort of blanket with her hands peeking out.
"What the heck are you wearing?" his eyes widened as he observed the strange product.
"My Marmi—the Blanket with Arms," she stated casually, too distracted by the movie; Chad rolled his eyes at her stupid cuteness.

"Ok then…what are we even watching?" Chad narrowed his eyes as he watched the actors on screen cautiously climb up the shadowed stairs.
"A scary movie," eagerly grinned Sonny as Chad reached over to the bowl of caramel popcorn she carried in her lap and took some. "This movie is so intense, no one knows what's gonna happen next!"
"Huh," Chad crammed the handful of popcorn into his mouth. "Cue the dead dog," he plainly stated.

As if on cue, screams erupted from the TV screen as the actors witnessed their beloved white Westie in a pool of dark thick blood. Sonny jumped, watching Chad, carrying a face full of fascination and fear

"How'dju know that?" she spun towards him in shock. "You watched this before?"

Chad snorted. "Pfft, oh no. All "horror" movies have the same stupid plot, same techniques—even the same murderer, for crying out loud," he shrugged with a proud arrogant smug on his lips. "I mean—who is this Jason guy?" he continued blaspheming as he took another handful of caramel popcorn, shoving it all into his mouth. "It's all the same: They go upstairs, always finding a dead dog, always. What a cheesy movie," he retorted as he glanced around, spying the bowl of goodness on the side-table near the couch.
"Ooh, candy!" He childishly grinned, taking the whole bowl.
"He-ey!" Sonny whined, yanking the bowl away from him just when he was able to take a single candy out. "Get your own," she pouted.

Chad blankly looked at her, shaking the wrapped candy in his fingers. "I just did, ahk!" he lamely shrugged, making a face. He continued his bashing on the movie. "Just like Halloween—it's all fake," he smirked.

Inside, Sonny fervently shook with passion when she slowly sarcastically smiled. "Oh, so even though you screamed like a whale last night, you knew the ghost was fake," she nodded, pursing her lips.
Chad's smiled tightened uneasily. "I never said that," he quickly defended himself when he analyzed Sonny's retort. "And I do not scream like a ...a whale!"
"No, you blubber like one," Sonny chuckled.

Chad shook his head—not being able to let go of the topic. "So you believe in Halloween," he stated curiously, challenging her.
"Chad," Sonny stared ahead at the screen, which now glowed an eerie blue hue as the actors searched around the outside pool at night. "Halloween is part of the USA tradition. Why not?"

Chad snorted, straining a sarcastic smile. "Yeah...if you're a member of the Union of Small-Agers," he hooted, shrugging. "Don't tell me you still go out trick-or-treating? No one does that anymore," he innocently patted her head, "especially respected and amazing actors in Hollywood," Chad explained chortling, grinning at himself. "Like me."

With a cool look plastered on her face, Sonny spun towards Chad who reached over again, grabbing a handful of popcorn.
"Well I still do," she said proudly.
Again, Chad crammed the snack into his mouth, knowing beforehand her answer, muttering under his breath as he watched the TV, "I rest my case..."

To regain his attention back, Sonny slapped his arm, then curtly paused the movie—a ghoulish atmosphere frozen on the screen; the lack of sound added more tension.
"Hey," he whined as he watched Sonny furiously get up and head over to the dim-lighted island bar further back in the Prop House, muttering unintelligibly of "like me" or "who does he think he is". Chad followed.

"So I heard you came to our set? You missed me?" he smiled with sappy conceitedness that could make butter melt, having it boil in anger, as it did with Sonny when he stood beside her, watching her dump more caramel popcorn into the bowl.
"No, I went to talk to your leading lady for her account of what happened last night," she fumed, growing tired of Chad's ego by the minute. This was starting to become one of Sonny's most annoying Halloween ever.

Scratch that. Spying Chad's sneaky hand ever so slightly push the bowl away so caramel goodness began missing into it and pouring onto the floor, Sonny shook in anger. This was the most annoying Halloween ever.

Jerking the bowl away, Sonny glared at the smug boy as she now walked away from the bar. "You...you...! You are unbelievable!" she emphasized her last word as if pronunciation would make the message get inside the boy's head.
Loving to toy with her negative emotions, Chad inertly followed suit, arrogantly impressed.
"Sonny, you're such a diva," Chad noted as the two stopped a couple of feet near the sofa on their left.

"And you're a...a..." Sonny, though, paid no attention to finish her insult. Readjusting her darkened eyes, she caught movement in the dark, her ears picking up on a fast whoosh from behind the young man.

"Duck," Sonny's voice was a mere whisper, becoming caught in her throat as she stood frozen watching.

Chad dramatically gasped, his hand swinging to his heart. "That's low!"

"No, I mean DUCK!" she screamed, doing the only thing she could think of to a rival whom she (was supposed to) despised—throw herself on top of him to get him to move out of harm's way. In shock, Chad's eyes grew wide, holding on to Sonny when he fell, thus having Sonny fall with him, into him as they landed on the hardwood floor.
Smack.

A bit dazed by the event, Chad helped Sonny up to her feet as if the longer they stayed down, the more vulnerable they were; their past quarrel momentarily was out of mind. "You alright?"
"Y-yeah. Thanks," she shook, holding Chad for support.
Chad cautiously looked towards where he heard the collision when the faint traces of a ladder illuminated until the kitchen's dim lights. "Where'd that ladder come from!?"

Sonny then realized there was more light than there should had been—finding her answer above. "Must've come from the room upstairs." Chad blankly looked at her to continue. She then comically widely grinned, shrugging with a full beam on her lips, trying to jog his memory.
"We never really fixed that hole we made when you intruded into our Prop House! You remember that?" Chad glared her, quiet well remembering how the other four Randoms marked their revenge by tossing bowling pins, pink heels and trash disposal at him. Quite well did he remember his shrieks of terror when the nasty rat climbed on his leg.

"Vaguely," he calmly stated to her, his eyes narrowed on her.

But Sonny was moving on past memories, trying to search for all clues. "I wonder how that ladder fell?" she muttered to herself. "Did it just slip and fall or did someone mean to hurt us?"

It then dawned on Chad. "Someone wants to kill me!"
As Sonny cautiously walked around the ladder, she heard a soft crunch underneath her feet. She bent down to find the rare royal passion flower—not being very rare these days. "Look. Hey! It's the same flower!"
"Is it my hair!? They must be after my beauty secrets!" Chad shuddered.
"But wait..." she felt a metal print on the side of the ladder.
"I'm a marked man!" he sobbed.

"Chad! Look!" Troubled and down-cast, Chad walked towards Sonny, reading where she pointed to on the ladder.

"Property of Rodnoc Studio, that's weird. What's their stuff doing here?" Sonny turn to Chad in surprise that Chad of all folks would know something she didn't. Of course, he was knowledgeable in the film industry.

"What?"
"Well, that's Condor Studio's rival company," he shrugged as if it were the oldest rumor on the planet, with no jazz, no spice. "They hate us so much," he rolled his eyes as he smiled.

"Are they competition?" Chad looked at Sonny as if she were an idiot when his lips split into a half-smile, then merging into full-blown hysterics as he had to shut his eyes from the power of the laughter.

It wasn't until he peeked through his tears of joy finding Sonny in her same blank-expression state.
"You were serious?" his face fell. "Those wanna-bees are such idiots—that's why they're jealous. We beat them at everything—looks, fame, rating…but for some reason, not money-wise. My opinion—I'd say it's because their drama and comedy people are…friends," he made a face full of disgust.

Sonny lightly frowned in confusion as to what he said before his last sentence. "What do you mean money-wise?"

Chad shrugged. "They all come from rich families so they're able to have the latest technology and what-not for themselves. But they never seem to use that money to help their shows," Chad rolled his eyes. He coolly looked at Sonny. "Even their comedy cast is jealous of you—" he caught himself before addressing how no one was as pretty and funny as Sonny. "—you guys, not in terms of comedy, just…" he was lost for words. "…y-you guys are more...attractive," he bit his tongue and flushed. "I mean photogenic! I mean—!"

As Chad mentally kicked himself, unable to meet Sonny's blush, Sonny quickly resumed thinking about the current happenings.
"I wonder why that was up there?" she muttered, looking down between the ladder and the opening above before she grinned. "Another clue for Detective Munroe! I'm goin' up there to find clues!" Chad rolled his eyes at her as he propped the ladder up, holding it steady as Sonny climbed it.

Her delicate footsteps were about the only soothing sounds in the quiet Prop House. Sonny looked around the room—it was all cleared out, all clean, as if no one had been in the room since the Randoms had left all those months ago. Before long, Chad heard her mumble from above. "I don't see anyone." As Sonny's nose wrinkled at the thought of not finding any fresh clues, she started to hearing the movie below playing, its scary music echoing about the air.

"Chad, don't start the movie without me," she called below, slowly climbing down the ladder. As she landed, she faced Chad to find him wide-eyed. "You look like you've seen a ghost," she joked.
"Just about!" he squeaked, pointing in front of him towards the TV. As the scenes in the movie were dark, nothing appealed to Sonny as unusual.
Chad fearfully shook his head. "I never turned that on."

That's when Sonny's color drained out from her skin. As they watched the movie, suddenly the scenes became brighter, illuminating something so frightful, so unimaginative that all they could do was gasp—their voices clogged in their windpipes to be able to scream. Painted on the TV screen, in the same think blood-like substance used on Portlyn's mirror was written:

"LEAVE NOW, YOU CONDOR STARS OR YOU SHALL BE HUNTED LIKE THE BIRD BRAINS YOU ARE!"
—JAMES ESSER
(A/N: Capslock off)

In fear, Sonny huddled against Chad, who in turn grabbed her hand for comfort. Just then, a quiet rattling from the Prop House door was heard—the kind of quiet in which the whole room echoed the sound to make it more confrontational, more belligerent and demonic than a doorknob rattling could be. The door slammed open to reveal…

"AHHHHH!" the couple screamed, finding none other than Zora, who, in defense, screamed.
"Ahhhhhh!" The little girl quickly turned on the light to see who exactly she was screaming with. The girl stared at the two—the two stared at the couple.

"AHHH!" Zora shrieked again even louder, quickly closing her eyes.

"Zora! Zora, It's just us!" Sonny hastily explained.
"But you guys were making out and that's creepy!" the little Random squealed when she looked around finding all the mess made. "Whoa-ho-hoo! What happened here?" her raspy voice quirked in excitement.
Sonny and Chad curtly dropped their heads, finding themselves in a tight position, wrapped around each other in fear when the hastily let go, wide-eyed and looking about as if nothing happened.

"N-no, we were just scared. We almost got hit by a ladder and now there's this message on the TV!" Sonny explained, pointing the way for Zora to see.

Zora calmly walked towards the TV, reading the message when she grabbed her camera in her pocket.
The three moved in towards the large screen, looking for anything else unusual that might clue them in on how the message was posted up there without their knowing. As Sonny glanced around, a certain glimmer caught her eye on the TV—a marking of some sort on the edges of the TV, in the same red product. As she looked closer, her heart swelled with excitement.
"You guys, there's a finger print!"

"What?" Chad was taken aback, thinking what kind of ghost left fingerprints; he and Zora neared towards Sonny.
"Whoever wrote the message probably held the edge of the TV for support…" it then dawned on Sonny. "You guys, that means the ghost's not real!" In anxious exhilaration, she turned over to Zora. "Do you think you could get a copy of this with tape and powder to find the DNA on here?"

Zora blatantly looked at the brunette. "I'm only eleven! Not a forensic scientist!" she hissed.
"Well we know you're smart enough to be one," Sonny shrugged cutely as Zora turned over. Chad snorted.
"It's a sad fact for a TV show when the youngest person is the smartest one here," he smirked, seeing the two girls throwing him daggers with their eyes.

"I have a name?" Zora retorted, with her eyes widened.
Chad waved her statement and fury away. "Yeah, but that'd take effort and interest, Zora."

Slowly, the girls tried containing their laughter. Chad, unfortunately, could not understand what was so amusing. "What!"

Sonny shook with laughter when she saw something at the end of the threat. Memory jogged as she remembered seeing this same symbol in Portlyn's mirror last night (A/N: Find the 'Enigma of the ghost' link on my profile, or copy and paste the link: http :// img . photobucket . com / albums / v479 / talukderr / ghosttrademark . jpg). Needing to know if the red thing the message was written was actual blood, Sonny squeezed her eyes tight, having her finger slowly touch it—the substance jiggled. In amazement, Sonny began poking it—noticing how the mark kept its shape, as if it were plastic or rubber. With a brilliant thought, Sonny slowly began to peel the "symbol" off. Analyzing it, she suddenly felt dizzy from what she uncovered—on the symbol were an S and an R…backwards…

"S…R…S-R…SR….es-are….Esser?" it dawn on her that this mystery was becoming more and more complex now. She looked beside her, finding Zora busy attending to the ladder. "Chad," Sonny's voice shook. "Come here."

Briskly, he came, a bit annoyed with the prankster who was trying to scare everyone. "It says 'SR,'" Sonny pointed out. "…as in"
"Esser?" Chad gaped, looking in awe at the little bloody-red rubber symbol on Sonny's soft palm.
"Yeah," she slowly looked up at him, finding fear in Chad's soft gray-blue eyes.
"But…it can't be…" he whispered. "You just said so yourself that it wasn't a ghost!" his whisper began to merge into a whine.
"I know…" Sonny bit her lip. "It doesn't make sense. It's like there's…there's two mysteries here instead of one or something…"

This quickly dropped Chad's fear, his ego now boosting as he dropped his head to the side impatiently. "Why can't you just assume it was the ghost and leave it at that?" he haughtily moaned.
Sonny sighed, wanting to be able to reason with him. "Oh, c'mon. Didn't you ever want to solve a mystery when you were little?"
Chad's conceited strained smile returned. "No, no, I had a life!"
With Sonny taking a deep breath to control her anger, Zora piped up from behind them.
"Can't you just leave us alone, Chad?" Zora complained.

Chad pursued his lips. "Yeah, well why don't you go leave with your name-I-can-never-remember, Zora," Chad gave her a stone glare.

"Fine," Zora abruptly smiled as she shrugged, thinking how in the world could this idiot's show be beating theirs.
"Fine."
Sonny interceded with a toothy smile. "Good! Cuz…cuz that's kinda um…my and Chad's fight," she awkwardly scratched her ear as she dryly chuckled.
"Fine," Zora again remarked. She then remembered something. "I only came here to tell you that one—Tawni's missing and two—Who was that girl who just ran out of this room?"

~*~Commercial Break~*~

As Zora left, Sonny shivered, wondering what had happened to their blond cast mate. And who was this mysterious girl? Was she the one who wrote the message on the screen? And if she did, how could see have dropped the ladder on them that quick?

Chad's boisterous quickly interrupted her chain of thoughts as he stood beside her near lime green fuzzy couch. "Catch ya later, Sherlock. Have fun shrieking at those cheesy lines," he mused as Sonny's heart leapt, feeling a tad bit insecure that she would be left alone now. But it was either that or be left with Chad's ego…she choose the safer way for her mentality.

"Bye, Chad," she stated, pushing the heartthrob out the door. With him gone, she then looked both sides, turned the lights off, sprinting into the security of her Marmi—the Blanket with Arms. The currently mystery was soon forgotten as she began to become enticed into the horror of the movie. Violins echoed with a disharmonic melody from the screen when Chad swung back in, causing Sonny to jump, shaken.

"According to that sound, the killer's about to come," he smirked.
The two watched when unbelievably, a masked figure appeared on the little girl's mirror, having her shriek and writhe instantaneously. The large smug on Chad's beaming face perturbed Sonny.

"Told ya so," he mysteriously stated before walking back out. With fear into her system, Sonny's head repeatedly continued looking back and forth between where Chad had just left and the screen, snuggling into her Marmi—the Blanket with Arms, finding her tension eased as she continued cramming more caramel popcorn into her mouth.

~*~

Outside, the wind curdled, shrieking through the trees, the golden and dying green leaves forming terrorizing whirlwinds as if they took part of a cult—asking for trouble, asking for fear, for the solitude of the night, the unknown. Inside the Commissary, the four Randoms sat quietly at their table, a bit in mourning for the lack of the fifth Random.

"Did you guys hear what happened to Tawni?" Zora mumbled.
Nico nodded solemnly. "Yeah man...that's crazy. It's starting to get dangerous now."

A few more uncomfortable silent minutes passed with everyone deep in their own thoughts when Zora blurted out, "You guys, I think Dakota's the ghost!"
The group looked at her before they began to crack a smile.

"Yeah right," Grady bemused. "Dakota Condor?"
"I saw her with my own eyes!" Zora pressed on. "With the same bugs!"

Nico shrugged. "Then what would be her motive? That she hates us?"

Sonny added to Nico's defense. "But then why would she attack Chad and not kidnap him?"

Grady continued, narrowing his eyes in confusion. "Yeah, and how's a little girl supposed to get away with all of this?"
Nico ended their argument. "And why would she try to ruin her daddy's business—?" Easily seeing she had the lower end of the stick, Zora grumbled. "Oh-kay, OK, I get it!"

Sonny quietly tapped her fingernails, with her head on her fist, contemplating. "Before Tawni was gone, she told me how she saw Josh the mail guy with those same purple flowers."
Zora wrinkled her nose. "But what would be his motive?"

Nico excitedly set down the latest Tween Weekly issue, fidgeting. "Man, if anyone's a suspect, it's Murphy."

"Why are you talking about me?!" The security guard snapped nasally as he came out of no-where from behind the gang, squatting down over their heads.

"M-Murphy," Grady breathlessly smiled, thinking of an excuse. "W-we were just...we were just—" the blond boy stumbled fearfully.
Nico took over for him pal. "What were you doing in Condor's office?" he stated, wanting answers.
Sensing the kids didn't actually do anything this time, Murphy gradually straightened back up. "He called me in to talk," he proudly claimed.
The boys snorted. "Why would Condor want to talk to you?"Nico demanded.

"Yeah! You're just a lousy pizza-stealin' security guard!" Grady's arm scribbled back and forth as he threw out his sentence as he comically scorned the man.
"Cuz some people respect security guards!" Murphy snapped, roaring his head off to the point that the boys instantly cowered back into their seats.

"Thank you, Murphy!" Sonny quickly grinned, trying to prevent Nico and Grady going to Studio-jail soon. "Here's a nickel for your patience," she uneasily beamed.
Murphy's eyes gleam as he pinched the 5 cents out of her fingers. "I do love my nickels," he cackled, driving the coin into his pocket as he shiftily walked away.

The Randoms curiously watched his leave.
"Nah, I don't think he did it," Zora randomly stated.

"Maybe all three o'them are in cahoots," Nico pointed the opinion out.
"Or maybe," Sonny jumped up, pounding her fist as her face darkened, "you two are in co-cahoots ca-hootinizing with the cahooters!" She then laughed, her hands clamped together. "Aha! Just kidding!" she dryly chortled, then sitting back down in embarrassment at the weird looks rewarded to her.

"Well," Sonny said after a few more awkward silences continued. "I think the only way to solve this mystery is if I go to where this all started—James Esser's room, otherwise known as Studio 13," she mysteriously whispered playfully.
She then grinned excitedly. "I'm gonna go there later tonight! Anyone wanna come with?"

The other Randoms looked at one another, their expressions unreadable.

"Yeah, you on yo' own, sista," Nico retorted with a shaken voice.
With a slight pout, Sonny didn't realize when the cast of MacKenzie Falls walked in, resorting to their own table.
"Hey. Look at that—" Zora quirked, motioning towards the rivals. As the Randoms turned, they shuddered as they saw some of the actors in bandages, some in casts, others walking stiffly on crutches—Chad was about the only one in good shape, though shaken and jumpy.

"Yeah, Drama City's now Trauma Central," the guys joked. Suddenly, Sonny felt her eyes become drawn to the MacKenzie actor, locking their glances to one another when Chad's glance dropped down.

"I have to go talk to Chad," Sonny said absentmindedly, as if she were bewitched. Slowly getting up, she wondered why she was suddenly urged to talk to this jerk when she realized she needed answers.

"That figures," Zora hazily stated. Sonny was taken aback.

"What?"

Grady explained a look of awe on his face. "You haven't realized how close you and Chad are becoming?"
Sonny quaintly looked at her, who looked at her back before she burst into hysteric laughter. "Hahaha! AHHH-Hahahaha!" She soon wiped a tear, finding the whole cafeteria now watching her.

She leaned in towards her friends, as so no one would hear what she would say. "Chad Dylan Cooper and I are not close," she casually said when her mood dropped a little. "We're rivals…" She then shook away the sadness. "And I need to talk to Portlyn but seeing as she's not here, Chad's the next best bet."

Nico shrugged. "I still say you and those Falls are getting close."

"Am not," Sonny curtly argued like a little girl before she grinned. "Now I'm gonna go invite Portlyn to come trick-or-treating with us!"

Seeing that the Falls cast had just left, she merrily skipped over towards the exit when Nico called over. "Don't forget to wear your costume then. We're leaving after you're done checkin' out Studio 13."

Sonny's bubbly mood then enlarged. "Alrighty!" Before long, she was gone, leaving the Randoms back to square one as they continued thinking about who the ghost was.

Murphy? Josh? Dakota? Only time will tell…