❪ ﹟SEVENTEEN   ❫ ࿐ྂ
━━ UNDISCLOSED NEW YORK CITY STREET / ABANDONED MOVIE THEATER !

     IT'S DAWN BY the time things seem to really hit Carina over the head, but they'd been waiting and with police since just after Anika's fall. Chad and Tara had joined them across the hall at Danny's once someone was coherent enough to pick up one of their many phone calls and update them. She thinks it must have been Danny since the only thing she really remembers is Chad peeling her off of Mindy's back and pulling both of them into his chest. It was the only thing that stopped them from staring at Anika any longer.

     After, the six of them left Danny's apartment to meet the police outside. Carina was thankful, since she didn't think she could stomach being in that building any longer right then and there. A lot of it was still a blur. Someone seemingly patched up her shoulder at some point, the medical tape irritating her even as she stood still.

     She, Chad, Mindy, and Tara were all taking up residence in the back of an ambulance. Sam was watching the scene in the alleyway, pretending like she wasn't. Next to them, the paramedic who was finishing up with Mindy's arm was blatantly staring. It was only after he left that the four of them continued just staring off into space somewhat comfortably as the officers chattered around them. There wasn't anything to say, not unless it was that Ghostface mysteriously showed up dead in the hours between him leaving Quinn's room and now.

    Carina ducks her head into Chad's chest where she stands next to him, sighing. She stays there for a few moments, but then Chad is pushing her off lightly. Confused, she frowns and looks up just in time to see Ethan walking toward them, taking in the scene. "Chad."

    Before she can blink, Chad is slamming Ethan up against a police van a few feet away. "Chad!" She gasps but doesn't move.

    "Where were you?"

    Ethan shakes his head frantically, eyes wide. "What? When?"

    "Last night!" He pushes on his roommate harder, holding him there.

    "What?" Ethan gasps. "I had Econ. You know this."

    "Bullshit! You disappear, and then my sister almost gets killed?!"

    "Chad," she tries to call, but she doesn't know if he can hear her. It almost seems like he has tunnel vision. "We dropped him off at Murray Hall on the way back here."

    Ethan throws a hand up to indicate toward her. "Yeah! I was in a lecture hall with a hundred other people. You can ask any of them!" He's holding his hands up in surrender, and Carina winces when Chad shoves him one more time before letting go. "Fuck, man."

    Carina steps away from the ambulance, putting her arm through Chad's and squeezing lightly. Because even though she defended Ethan, she doesn't want to let him out of her sight either. He wasn't there last night, and her mind won't let her forget that fact. Which is why she watches him carefully as he takes in the scene around them.

     "Oh, my God," he breathes, looking like he might be sick. "Who...?"

     "Anika, Amaya, and Quinn," she informs him, watching closely. He winces, looking away at her, and then Tara, before his eyes land on Mindy in the ambulance. Chad wraps an arm around her shoulder, walking back that way.

     "Mindy, I'm so sorry." Ethan moves to her, but she shakes her head.

     "Step the fuck back." Immediately, he does so without complaint, despite looking somewhat saddened. "You are at the top of my list."

     "I had Econ!"

     They all stare at him as he says it again, and he shifts under the weight of the stares. Carina's still trying to figure him out when Tara says something to Mindy. She stands from her spot in the back of the ambulance, touching Carina on her shoulder and nodding toward Officer Bailey, who's now talking to Sam. "I'll be back."

     Her hand comes up and she squeezes Tara's arm where the girl holds her and nods. "Okay."

The four of them sit in lapsed silence for a long moment, all just staring at each other. Chad opens his mouth, but the words never form.

     Running footsteps interrupt whatever he was going to say, and Carina looks up in time to see her Aunt Gale running straight for her. She pulls Carina out of Chad's arm, hugging her to her chest. "Are you okay? I came as soon as I heard."

     Blindy, Carina reaches up to hug Gale back, nodding. "Yeah, I'm okay."

     "Gale, I swear to God," someone says behind her, and Carina pulls back to look at Sam as she glares at the older woman. Tara and Bailey are with her, all looking slightly apprehensive. Gale turns around and eyes them too, but doesn't let Carina get too far. "Truce, okay? I'm here for whatever you need." She looks down at Carina again, and then at them. When she sees they still look disbelieving she shakes her head. "Really, I am!"

     They still fail to look convinced, and Carina looks at Tara a little pleading. "Listen, off the record, okay?" She looks down at Carina, eyes filling with hurt. "Dewey died protecting our niece, and I'm not going to let some new psycho mean he did it in vain."

     The younger girl swallows, looking down at the ground at the mention of her uncle.

     Someone sighs. "Okay. Thank you."

     "I'm sorry I punched you."

     Carina looks up in shock, her mouth opening a little. "You punched her?" she exclaims, looking at Tara with wide eyes.

     Gale chuckles and smiles at Tara. "She did, and she's definitely not sorry about it."

     "I'm not," she agrees easily, mouth ticking up at the corners a little bit.

     Carina laughs, shaking her head at the two of them. "Jesus," she mutters, stepping out of Gale's hold and scrubbing a hand down her face. Gale squeezes her shoulder before letting go and turning to Bailey. "You're the cop, right? I did some digging on your first two victims and I found something. I know where the masks are coming from."

     Eyes wide, Carina looks at Gale.

     "Show me," Bailey breathes, stepping toward Gale like she holds secrets he needs to possess. Only Gale can't say more, because a siren whoops next to them, someone stepping out it.

     "Ladies."

     Carina has never seen Kirby Reed in person, but she knows immediately that's who it is as she steps up to meet them. "Kirby?" Gale asks, incredulous.

     "Gale," Kirby returns easily.

     "She's with the FBI."

     "She's a child. When did they start letting children into the FBI?" Carina tries to choke down her laugh, shaking her head.

     "I'm 30," Kirby corrects, clearly used to Gale's antics.

     "Well, you look like a zygote."

     Carina gasps a little, shaking her head. "Aunt Gale, you can't say these things."

     "I have a gun, Gale." Kirby quirks an eyebrow at Carina, seemingly taking her in. "Aunt Gale?"

     Wincing, she waves her hand a little at Kirby. "Carina Roth," she supplies, watching as Kirby's face falls in recognition. Her mouth drops into a tiny 'o' before she nods. "Right."

     Gale waves them off. "Okay, fine. You're going to want to see this too."

     "See what, exactly?" Carina asks, tilting her head at Gale as she waits for her to expand on exactly what she was able to dig up that the police weren't.

━━━

     Around twenty minutes later, Gale is leading their group of eight into an alleyway and toward what looks like the back entrance of a rundown building. "Jason and Greg were little Atlanta rich boys. Apparently, used fake names to rent this space."

     Kirby, who was at the front of the group with Gale because she had a gun, and if this is where Ghostface was hiding out, they might need it, asks, "How did you find it?"

     "It's called 'investigative journalism' for a reason." She eyes Kirby next to her. "How didn't you find it? Weren't you tracking them?"

     At the question, Carina looks at Mindy at the same time that Sam and Tara look at each other, all of them seemingly suspicious and maybe thinking the same thing.

     "I went through their financial records dozens of times. This was not in any of them. It doesn't make sense."

     "Don't worry," Gale mocks. "I'm just really good at my job. You'll get there." She walks a little faster, coming up to a locked door. She pulls a card out of her bag and swipes it on the electronic lock, which then turns green and makes a beep. Gale pulls the door open, walking inside with the others behind her.

     Inside, there's a second lock that uses the same key, which Gale unlocks before pressing the gate in front of her open for everyone else.

     "What is this place? What's with all the security?"

     It's dark in the room when they first walk in, and Carina has to blink to adjust when someone switches all the lights on overhead. Once she does, she blinks again to make sure she's truly seeing what she thinks she is.

     "It's a movie theater," Tara announces. Carina shakes her head because there's no way that's all it is.

     "It's not just a theater." Looking over her shoulder to Gale, Carina waits with bated breath for her to say whatever it is she's holding back. "It's a shrine."

     The others look back ahead, moving slowly through the building, deeper into the depths of it to see what she really means. Once all the way, she kind of wishes that they didn't.

     In front of them, there are rows of boxes and displays, all filled with what one is to assume are Ghostface artifacts. For the main display, the stage curtain lifts to reveal nine Ghostface cloaks. One for each of the killers.

     Mindy pushes her way through the group, and if Carina wasn't so familiar with her friend's love for horror movies--despite living in one--she'd find it concerning. Slowly, she and the others follow suit.

     All of the main floor holds artifacts that honor Ghostface, like a museum. The seats on the side have been removed and display cases installed. Some are lit from above. It's all reverent displays of objects from every Ghostface attack. They all seem to be taking someone else in. A different "exhibit." Even though it's creepy as fuck, she can't look away.

     "They've got the whole goddamn franchise."

     First, she finds herself in front of a smashed-in TV. She'd know what it was even without the paper and red robe next to it telling her, and she lifts a hand to hover over the instrument that came as Stu Macher's demise. Who would she be, she thinks, if Stu Macher never touched her life? Never touched her mother's life.

     She doesn't let herself linger, doesn't give herself time to think about Stu Macher. Instead, she walks past more cases, only to be stopped by a completely different one. One that hurts her more than words can say. Inside it, there's her Uncle Dewey's badge and gun, as well as pictures and sketches of the man. She gasps, hand coming up to her mouth as she feels tears well in her eyes. The sight of him here, trapped in the glass in this fucked up place, makes her sick to her stomach. She forces herself to look away, taking a deep breath as she puts her back to the case and closes her eyes.

     "Who drew all these?" Someone asks, but no one answers. Even though they all know. Whoever it was had to be really sick in the head.

     Gale finds her a moment later. Carina doesn't turn back around, but she watches as Gale looks at the display. Her hand comes up to Carina's shoulder, the other reaching out absently to touch the glass. Carina watches as she holds back her own tears. "Oh, Dewey," she breathes.

    "Hey, how'd they get all this stuff? I mean, isn't this evidence?" Tara asks, standing in the middle of one of the walkways.

     Gale squeezes her shoulder one more time, looking away from Dewey's display and toward the girl. "Well, cops like money, and evidence can 'get lost' pretty easily." She turns away from the case, waving an arm at Kirby and Bailey. "Present company excluded, of course."

     Carina walks away from the case and toward Chad, where he's looking at a different case with Mindy across from him. She reaches out to grab his hand once close enough, pressing her forehead into his arm. "Um," Ethan says, shifting from foot to foot when she and Mindy look at him. "Why am I here, exactly? My alibi checks out."

     "So I can keep an eye on you, roomie."

     Carina frowns, watching Mindy give Ethan an 'I'm watching you' gesture. "Why are you trying to leave? We're safer in numbers, and you not being there last night is already weird enough."

     Ethan holds his hands up in surrender, looking down at the case in front of him and swallowing uncomfortably.

     "The killer must have found this place before they murdered Jason and Greg. And then they took the masks off the mannequins. All nine, from Stu and Billy to Amber and Richie."

     Carina pushes her head back into Chad's arm, groaning at the thought. His hand comes up to cup the back of her head, and a kiss is placed in her hair. Despite the circumstances, she smiles a little. She and Chad haven't had a moment to breathe or talk since they kissed last night, but with the way he's been since, she can't find herself too worried about it. Truthfully, it's one of the only things giving her comfort right now.

      "C'mon," he whispers into her hair, tugging on her arm lightly and leading her up the stairs of the stage. "So, somebody killed these chucklefucks and took over?" He directs the question to everyone, coming to stand in front of one of the cases with a Ghostface cloak in it.

     Next to them, Gale hums. "Someone who believes that Sam masterminded Woodsboro."

     "If this were a normal Stab movie, this would be the killer's lair."

     "Which means this isn't a normal Stab movie," Kirby adds, looking at Mindy.

     Tara takes a deep breath, and Carina watches in concern as she abruptly heads off the stage and towards a side door. No one takes off after her, a seemingly silent agreement to give her a moment. Carina can't help but wonder how she's dealing with this. Tara's face when Amaya's body had been rolled out of the apartment would haunt her nightmares for weeks to come.

     Mindy sits on the edge of the stage, her eyes drawn to the same display that Carina had been looking at earlier on the main floor. "The TV that killed Stu Macher," Kirby observes, sitting next to Mindy.

     "If you believe he's dead," Mindy scoffs.

     Carina frowns, glaring at her friend. "He's dead," she bites, no room for argument in her tone. Mindy looks at her briefly, nodding in apology, before back at the TV.

     Tugging on her hand, Chad pulls her away from looking at it, sitting on the other end of the stage on the edge. She sits next to him, head on his shoulder. "How much more of this can we take?" she whispers to him.

     "As much as it takes to make sure we make out of it," he answers after a long moment, sounding stoic.

     "Right." But even as she says it, she doesn't really know how much more they have to give. She thinks of Dewey, eyes shifting to his display across the way. Thinks of Anika. Amaya. Her mom. Wes. Quinn. Even the nameless man in their bathtub. Thinks of all the victims gone too early because they were killed by the same people that someone built a shrine to worship. She bites her lip hard enough to tase crimson.

     "Why did you kiss me?" She asks after a moment, needing to think of something else. Anything else. Surprisingly, Chad chuckles next to her. "Why?"

     She hums.

     "Maybe because it's all I've been thinking about for months now. Ever since I woke up in the hospital, and you were there next to me, every time. Or maybe ever since I watched you get attacked right in front of me, and I realized I couldn't imagine you not by my side, all the time?" Lifting her head off his shoulder, she looks up to see him already looking down at her, a soft look in his eyes. "Is that a good enough answer?"

     "Yeah," she breathes, her heart thumping so rapidly she wasn't sure how it was still in her chest. "That's a pretty good answer."

     He smiles lightly, pinching her chin in between his thumb and his forefinger before tipping her head back just enough to seal their lips together. She melts into it, doesn't think she ever won't, letting herself leave the Ghostface shrine room for a minute and go somewhere else. Somewhere where it's only her and Chad and nothing else matters.

     She pulls back, smiling at Chad again. Opening her mouth to say something, she rolls her eyes when it's not her words that fill the space. "Sorry to interrupt," Officer Bailey says, walking through the main floor with Kirby, Gale, Sam, and Tara in tow. "But we have a plan."

madi speaks! 💌
i can feel the end like i'm trying to grasp it with my fingers