A/N: It's been a while since I did something in the horror genre, so here we go. As you can tell, this is a story set as a Scream movie. I've always been a fan of this franchise, warts and all, and this new one that came out this year inspired me to go ahead and do this. I've been wanting to make a Victorious story in the Scream style for a while and I finally worked through my blocks.
Now, like a slasher movie; there will be no inner monologue. When we are in a character's POV, its only what they see and hear. We don't get in anyone's head because like Scream, this a whodunnit. And we don't discover the identity of the killer until the very end. Now you can have your theories and all, but please keep them as private messages. No spoilers in the comments! I don't want readers accidentally having any surprises ruined!
And if this one is a success and you all like it, I'm not above making a sequel (or two!)
Tori was flipping through the channels on the TV.
"Ugh," she groaned. "All of these channels and there ain't shit on!"
"No movies?" came from Trina's disembodied voice.
She was still in the kitchen, getting the jiffy pop started.
"There's movies," Tori replied. "But the same old bullshit: Ghoulies III, Puppet Master 5, Howling II. Why is it when cable shows horror, it's never the original or at least one of the good sequels?"
"What about Shudder?"
Tori turned around, seeing her older sister holding two diet cokes.
"I can't remember the password," she frowned.
"Fuck's sake," Trina sighed. "Maybe we can order a movie."
"Okay, but that's gonna be like four bucks."
Trina smacked Tori in the shoulder.
"Bitch, please! You're not that young! What do you think a DVD was to rent back in the day?"
"Well, we would've still had Netflix if our red envelopes didn't keep mysteriously vanishing!"
Trina opened her soda and took a swig.
"Still think it was Gary Busey."
"But we have no proof," Tori shrugged.
The ringing of the cordless derailed their conversation.
"Who the hell's that?" Trina asked, annoyed.
"Don't know," answered Tori.
The only people who would've called at this hour would be their dad or one of their friends. But why not just call their cellphones?
The landline rang a second time.
Popping sounds could be heard coming from the kitchen.
"You get it! I'll check on the popcorn!"
Tori huffed and picked up the white phone. She peeked at the caller ID, but no numbers. It simply said: Anonymous.
Still, she pushed the button to answer.
"Hello, Vega residence?"
"Hello?"
The gravely male voice was jarring.
"Who is this?" asked Tori.
There was a pause before the stranger answered.
"This isn't Beverly, is it?"
"Afraid not, dude" Tori said, shaking her head.
"Oh man," the voice sighed. "She gave me a bogus number."
Tori grinned to herself.
"That sucks," she said. "She could have just said no."
"Well, at least you sound nice," he said. "What's your name?"
The Latina stood up and began pacing the room.
"Whoa, buddy! I admire how fast you bounce back but I don't even know you."
"Isn't that...kind of the point before we introduce ourselves?"
Tori threw the remote back onto the couch.
"If this was a bar or the food court, or something. But you called me unannounced and then start asking personal questions?"
Another pause.
"You're right, sorry about that. I was just looking forward to taking this girl out to dinner and a movie. But she probably would've hated it."
"What's wrong with seeing a movie?" Tori asked.
"Oh, you know, it was supposed to be a scary movie."
Tori plopped down on the sofa, staring at the TV set.
"It's her loss because scary movies are cool."
"You like scary movies?"
"Hell yeah," Tori said.
"Wow, is this fate or what?"
Tori chuckled, "I dunno."
"Tell, me Tori; what's your favorite scary movie?"
"Definitely Night of the..."
Her eyes widened and she froze in place.
"Hello? Are you still there?"
Tori looked at the phone with anxiety. She covered the receiver and ran into the kitchen.
"Trina!" she shout-whispered. "Trina!"
"Why are you..."
Her baby sister held her finger over her lips, telling her to shut up.
"What?" Trina whispered.
"This strange number called, and I answered. He said he got the wrong number, but he just said my name."
"Why did you give a stranger your name?" she asked, rolling her eyes.
"I didn't!"
Trina held out her hand for Tori to give her the cordless. She switched the call on to speaker.
"Listen, pal! Just leave her alone and never call this number again!"
"Why?" he asked in a kind of playful way. "I thought we were having a nice talk."
"I don't like your vibe, creep!" Trina said back. "If you call this number again, then I'll get my dad involved! He's a cop."
Both girls gave looks when the stranger chortled on the other line.
"I don't think I have to worry about daddy," he said.
"And why's that?" asked Trina.
"Because all I see is you two."
Trina stiffened and looked around the room. This house was 50% glass, so many ways to look inside.
"Shit," Tori mouthed. "What do we do?"
Trina licked her lips and kept her hand over the receiver. She crouched down to the floor, dragging her sister along with her.
"Listen," she whispered. "We're gonna sneak out of here."
"Where?" asked Tori.
"He can see us, so he's probably just outside. I just can't tell where."
Trina leaned past her sister and gestured toward the stairs.
"Upstairs?" asked Tori, confused. "You're insane!"
"We don't know where he is, just that he's on the ground floor...somewhere. So the front door and the back door are out."
"If we can't escape, we can at least barricade ourselves."
Trina nodded.
She uncovered the receiver and held the cordless to her face.
"Listen," she said shakily. "Just let's stay cool. Like you said, we're having a nice conversation, right?"
"That's right," the increasingly sinister voice replied. "Now are you going to let me in, or do I have to let myself in?"
Trina rubbed the inside of her cheek with her tongue.
"We'll get you," she said. "Just come to the back door. Wouldn't want to get everyone's attention."
"Ah, nosy neighbors. I get the picture. Be right there."
With that, Trina and Tori crawled as fast as possible out of the kitchen toward the stairs.
"Come on!"
Tori followed her sister to the second floor. She quickly looked back, trying to catch a last second glimpse of the sliding door facing the backyard, but nobody was there.
"Trina?"
A smashing of the small window overlooking the stairs made both girls scream.
Amidst the broken glass was a rock with a piece of paper attached to it with a rubber band.
Tori picked it up and pulled off the paper and could see through the bleeding marker that there was writing on the other side: "Hello there."
"Oh, shit!"
"What is it?" asked Trina.
"Fucker knows we're up here!"
The thunderous noise of a door breaking echoed from downstairs. The sisters didn't waste time and ran down the hall.
"In here!"
Tori listened and followed Trina into her room.
"What are we gonna do?" asked Tori in a panic.
"There," Trina said, pointing at the window.
The older sister produced a thick rope and dragged it to her window which was on the front of the house.
"Where did you get that?" Tori asked.
"Hardware store," Trina shrugged.
"Is this how you've been sneaking out?"
Trina rolled her eyes as she tied the rope to the bedpost.
"Priorities, Tori!"
"Right."
"You first, okay?"
The youngest Vega hesitated.
"Just go," Trina pressed. "I'm right behind you."
Tori nodded and gripped the rope tight as she shimmied her feet through the open window.
Trina looked back at the door and then over to Tori, giving her the thumbs up.
She was halfway down when she looked up and gasped.
"TRINA BEHIND YOU!"
The older sister turned and a figure clad in black with a Ghostface mask put their arms around her neck.
"Tori!" she managed to say.
"Trina, no!"
"Get...help!"
Before she could attempt to climb back up, Ghostface threw Trina down to the floor and slammed down his shiny knife onto the windowsill, severing the rope. Tori fell back and landed hard on her back. It was about nine feet from the grass, but it hurt like hell.
Getting her bearings, Tori could hear the struggling cries of Trina from above. She tried the front door, but it was locked. Tori then checked her pockets but realized that she left her phone inside the house.
"Fuck!"
She had no choice but to run to her neighbor for help.
"HELP! OH GOD, HELP ME! HELP!"
Tori grabbed the column of the front porch for support and charged toward the door.
"HELP!"
She pounded harder and harder.
"OPEN UP, PLEASE!"
Finally, the deadbolt was undone, and the door swung open.
"Tori, what is going on here?" asked Mrs. Trevil.
"There's someone in the house!" the frenzied girl pointed. "Trina's still inside. He's got her!"
Mr. Trevil emerged behind his wife and looked confused.
"Tori, what is it?" he asked.
She grabbed the man's arm and pulled him away in the direction of the Vega household.
"My sister's still in there! HE'S GOING TO KILL HER!"
"Martha," he said as he was led away. "Call the police!"
Arnold Trevil followed Tori back to her house and she didn't take her eyes off the top window where she climbed out of and Trina was left behind.
"You're saying someone broke in?" the neighbor asked.
The teen didn't answer. Her face was completely soaked from a combination of sweat and tears. The discarded piece that was cut from the rest of the rope was still on the lawn. But what was different from a minute ago was the front door was now wide open.
While she didn't say anything further, Trevil could see the early signs that this didn't look good.
"Stay here. Maybe she got away."
He then went inside cautiously.
Tori hugged herself, surveying the scene. It was eerily quiet right now, a far cry from the commotion she ran away from.
The ringing of the phone made her jump.
The white cordless was sitting back on the cradle like nothing happened and it was ringing again.
Tori looked around and slowly crept inside her own home. She approached the small table beside the sofa as it continued to ring.
"I...uh..."
She couldn't read the number this time either.
But she answered.
"H-hel-"
"How do you live with yourself, Tori? You seemed like such a nice girl over the phone. Yet you left your sister to dieeee..."
The call disconnected and Tori dropped the cordless.
She looked upstairs and ran.
Arnold was at the end of the hallway when he stopped Tori.
"Wait, wait, wait!"
"No, let me in!" she pleaded.
"Tori, it's best you don't see."
The Latina elbowed the older man and used the split second to get past him and bounded into Trina's room.
Her older sister was laying on her bed, eyes closed. Her long brown hair was strewn about.
She looked peaceful, like a child asleep but the copious amount of blood all-around said otherwise.
The body, the bed, the whole room had splashes of crimson here and there. There was broken knick-knacks, a smashed mirror; the struggle was intense.
"Tori?"
The neighbor tried to put his hands on her shoulders for comfort, but she slipped away and collapsed on the floor.
A/N: I was worried about how this chapter would turn out. The most pivotal moment in a Scream movie is that opening scene, so I really wanted it to be good.
Please let me know if I did OK