Another reference to Wicked, right at the beginning of this chapter.

Chapter 6

Amber Freeman

The word had been spread throughout Woodsboro.

"Good news! They're dead!" That was what was crowed on the news and throughout the town, when it had all been announced.

There was no loss as far as Tara Carpenter was concerned, for one of these deceased individuals.

Richie Kirsch. There was no loss with his death.

But the other killer that had died, whose death was being celebrated in town and on the media?

For Tara, it felt like this time she had been stabbed in the heart. Then again, she had been feeling that way, ever since she had heard that gunshot, and had watched as her friend, Liv's brains had been splattered all over the wall.

Amber Freeman, the other Ghostface killer, had murdered two of their friends-Wes and Liv.

And she had tried to kill their other friend, Chad Meeks. And had had a part in what had happened to Mindy Meeks and to Tara herself, and to Tara's older sister, Sam.

Tara had allowed Sam to be by her side during all of Tara's hospital visits. It was all Tara could do, to not fall apart. She had to focus on getting healed up, otherwise she would have fallen apart ages ago.

Amber had been a murderer.

She had tried to kill her and Tara's friends and Tara's sister.

And what was more? The last time Amber had ever spoken to Tara, remained solidified in Tara's mind.

When Amber had tied Tara up and threw her into the closet.

When Amber had wrapped the duct tape around her wrists and around her ankles and put a strip of duct tape over Tara's mouth, she had said something that Tara had never forgotten, when she had struggled against Amber and Amber easily had taken control of her.

"It wasn't me, you know," Amber had said, almost hugging Tara to her, when she had pulled out the duct tape and had begun to pull pieces off of the roll, to bind Tara up, "I didn't attack you that night. It was Richie."

Hearing that-hearing that Richie, Sam's boyfriend, was involved, had given Tara a shock, which had allowed Amber to overpower her more.

Amber went on, as she bound Tara's wrists together, "I wasn't lying when I said my phone was cloned. Richie did that. And he attacked you. I didn't want you to be stabbed in any way, or for your leg to be broken. Richie did that. He attacked you, stabbed you all over and broke your leg. I want to fucking kill him for that."

Tara shuddered, hearing the growl in Amber's voice when he said that.

And what was more? She knew that Amber meant that.

Tara had witnessed it herself when Amber had shot Liv-Amber had been more than capable of murder.

"Don't worry," Amber said, after she had bound Tara's wrists and ankles, "I'll kill him for what he did to you."

Tara stared at Amber as she whispered, "Our friends…..how could you?"

Amber had smiled sadly at Tara, and she leaned forward, the gun which Amber had dropped onto the carpeted floor, temporarily forgotten, and she lightly kissed Tara's forehead, then whispering, "Because you deserve so much better than Wes's stalker ass, than a sister that would abandon you, first chance she gets, Mindy, that sees you being hospitalized as a game, and weaklings like Chad and Liv."

She added, "Don't worry, I swear, after everyone else is dead? I'll kill Richie for what he did to you, and I'll look after you."

She then slapped a strip of duct tape over Tara's mouth and carried Tara over to the closet, the small and wounded girl struggling the whole time.

Amber pushed Tara into the closet, seated her down on the floor, put Tara's crutches nearby in the closet and placed Tara's inhaler down on the floor next to Tara, and smiled at the bound young girl as she said, "It'll be okay, princess. Promise. I'll take care of everything."

Tara had stared at Amber and had let out a muffled protest, but as Amber stared at Tara with the most frightening expression in the world; an expression of pure love, Amber closed the closet door and left.

The next time Tara saw Amber, it had been after Sam had untied her younger sister and Amber had been going through the house, looking for her, unmasked but with her Ghostface cloak around her.

Amber had shouted, "I can't find her-"

And that was when Tara struck.

She had hit Amber with her crutch and had smacked it against Amber furiously, over and over again.

All of her betrayal and pain and desperation had gone into every single one of those blows against Amber.

But Amber had overpowered her easily, again.

She had kicked Tara in the broken leg, and had slammed Tara against the wall and then had flung her over a sofa.

But what caught Tara's attention, when she had gotten the air back into her lungs after that, had been that she was still alive.

That Amber hadn't killed her.

Amber so easily could have killed Tara. Both times.

But she hadn't.

Amber hadn't killed her…

For a murderer, was that a declaration of love?

Then again, Tara knew what Amber's declaration of love was. It was killing anyone who so much as spoke badly about Tara.

And when the scuffle had happened, leading to Amber being set on fire, and Richie being stabbed several times-seriously, so many times, then his throat slit and being shot multiple times, Tara had taken precautions, and had picked up Amber's gun from where Richie had dropped it.

She had known that it was unlikely that Amber would have survived being burnt alive, but she still was relieved to have it with her.

She admittedly had been shaken up when she had seen how Sam had gone to town on Richie.

And it was quite clear that Sam had enjoyed killing Richie.

Some part of Tara had to wonder, was enjoying killing truly so bad, if Sam also enjoyed it, and was doing it for the right reason? But she had quickly silenced that thought, knowing that it would make her think more about Amber's reasons for what she did.

Then after Sam shot Richie for the last time, Tara had heard screaming and saw Amber bolting out of the kitchen, no longer on fire, but burnt to the point that she looked like something out of a horror movie, and she was wielding a knife.

Tara had done what she had to do, and shot Amber in the head, blowing Amber's brains out, mumbling to herself, "I still prefer the Babadook."

She had felt like she had needed to say some smartass comment, if only to make herself feel better.

But she knew why she had grabbed the gun in the first place. Part of it, yes, had been to kill Amber or Richie if they still lived, and defend her sister from them.

But the main reason? Had been because she hadn't wanted Amber to suffer anymore.

Tara had been burnt only one time in her life, as far as she remembered.

She had been handling something by the oven, and the heat had been so strong in the oven, that when she accidentally got too close, her right wrist had been pressed against the door of the oven, giving her a very small burn.

That burn had been small and brief, and yet it had told her a valuable lesson. That lesson being this; ire hurt like a bitch.

That seemed like an obvious one, given that she and all the other kids of Woodsboro had had lessons about avoiding ways of causing a fire to break out, ever since they were big enough to handle matches.

But actually realizing how much being burned hurt? It stayed with her.

And when she had heard the sound of flames roaring, and heard Amber screaming? She had known what happened.

And the despair in her chest had been overwhelming. She just hadn't wanted Amber to suffer.

So, she had picked up Amber's gun.

She was glad Amber was dead, if only because she was glad that Amber couldn't suffer any longer.

She had allowed Sam to embrace her, had allowed Sam to hold her and comfort her.

But none of it would repair the pain, the loss.

Tara had loved Amber. And she knew that in her own fucked up way? Amber had loved her too.

And that Amber hadn't been the one that had attacked Tara in the Carpenter home.

As Tara began to heal, she would try to distract herself with almost anything, so that she wasn't reminded in any way of Amber.

She would throw herself into her studies, would focus on her relationship with her sister and with their friends, Chad and Mindy and eventually, as well, with Mindy's girlfriend, Anika.

And after that, the new friendship with their roommates, Ethan and Quinn.

She tried to focus on college studies and parties.

Anything to numb herself.

Anything to not think about Amber.

Anything to not think of the loss.

She even had told herself that she had romantic feelings for Chad. And she hated that in a way, she was leading him on.

She loved Chad, really, she did. But not in that way. She loved him the way she would an older brother. And yet, it was another distraction. Another way of trying to not think about Amber.

But on nights like this?

Nights when she had no distraction, and she couldn't lie to herself that Chad was the one for her?

She would inevitably reach into her pocket and pull out what she had taken from Amber's corpse, before the cops had arrived and had carted off Amber's body.

It was the silver heart-shaped pendant that Amber had worn.

She pulled it out and held it in front of her in her room, here in New York City, staring at the gleam of the pendant she had taken from Amber's body.

She said quietly, feeling cold and empty, "I loved you, Amber."

She placed the pendant on the shelf next to her and laid down in bed, closing her eyes, allowing herself to slowly drift off to sleep, hoping it wouldn't hurt so much in the morning.

The last thing she felt before she woke up the next morning, had been the gentle touch of a kiss against her lips, and the last thing she saw in her dreams before waking up, had been Amber smiling lovingly at her, holding her as they sat together at the base of the tree just outside of their high school, where they had first kissed.