© HORRORTAPES !

TRIGGER WARNINGS ::
murder, death, descriptive murder,
strong language && shitty writing

PAGE ONE
❝ the babysitter's demise. ❞

september 25th, 1996.
10 : 12 pm.

RING . . .

RING . . .

RING . . .

the phone picked up with a gentle 'click'
from the receiver.

"hello?" a soft, feminine voice answered,

"uh, mj?" the staticky voice on the other end questioned.

"oh! Hi, Randy!" mary-jane greeted her classmate, sounding enthusiastic he had called her.
"so, we just got new movies in at bradley... and
i was wondering if you'd be interested in any of them?"

The call dragged on . . .

the small baby blue alarm clock on her nightstand
read '11:30'

yet, neither of them seemed tired.

"yeah of course I've seen nightmare on elm street,
it's my favorite horror franchise!" Mary-Jane exclaimed, her voice growing more excited.
"Wes Craven is criminally underrated." Randy scoffed,
"it's so sad... one of the greatest directors alive
and yet, no one gives a damn about these movies."
she sighed, flopping back down onto her bed, the mattress springs creaking with every shift of her weight.

"do you think he'll make any more movies soon?" Mary-Jane asked, knowing how involved in the movie scene Randy was to know when a new movie was releasing.

"i hope so... i haven't heard anything but he'd definitely make a killer profit. it'd be the perfect time of year, that's for sure."

"i can't wait to see your future projects."

"yeah?"

"you have so many incredible ideas, like that one with the possessed girl we were talking about yesterday!"

"oh yeah, its still a rough draft but... hold on, someone's knocking- come in!"

the talking was muffled, Mary-Jane unable to hear a word
but could distinctly hear a woman's voice.

after a short while of muffled conversation and the phone rubbing against a surface creating static,
Randy finally returned to the phone.

"hey, sorry, ma says since it's a school night i gotta get off, but i'll see you tomorrow?"

"aw, bummer... but yeah, i'll see you tomorrow!"

"awesome. well, goodnight."

"goodnight, Randy!"

And with that, the call ended.

Mary-Jane placed her phone back on the receiver,
sighing to herself. a blush was spread across her cheeks the entire time, a warm smile playing on her lips.

oh of course this would be like a nineties rom-com post call scene. did you expect anything else from me ?

the next morning

september 26th, 1996.
7 : 59 am.

large crowds were gathered in front of Woodsboro high school, news vans, sheriff's, students, onlookers - like vultures. every last one of them.

"do you believe this shit?" Tatum scoffs as she sneaks up behind Sidney; causing her to jump in surprise and gasp.
"no" Sidney answers, dodging through the clusters of people, careful not to bump into anyone.
"Oh God! You don't know? Casey Becker and Steve Orth were killed last night." Tatum explains, watching Sidney's mouth fall agape.
"what? no way!" Sidney's shocked, looking at Tatum in disbelief, "and we're not talking 'killed' it's more like, 'splatter movie killed'. ripped open from end to end" Tatum adds (as if confirming they were murdered wasn't enough already)
"Casey Becker... she sits next to me in English." Sidney suddenly remembers, "well, not anymore."
Tatum pauses for a minute, then adds more, "It's so sad, her mom and dad they found her hanging from a tree with her insides on the outside." Tatum said, (it seems like she loves to add to the shock value of things.)
"oh my god!" Sidney exclaims in disgust, her face visibly cringing, "do they know who did it?" she asks.
Tatum shrugs, "fucking clueless - they're interrogating the entire school. Teachers, students, staff, janitors..."
"they think it's school related?" Sidney asks, looking around at the several people that were on campus.
"They don't know. Dewey said this is the worst crime they've ever seen. Even worse than..." Tatum quickly stops herself, swallowing her words, though, Sidney picked up on what she was about to reference.
"Well it's bad. They're bringing in the feds. This is big." Tatum concluded as she pulled Sidney into the large school building to start their first class.

later that same day.

about lunch time.

the group of seven were gathered around the fountain,
Sidney, Tatum, Stu, Billy, Mary-Jane, Randy and Pandora, eating their lunch and discussing the events of last night.

"hunt? why would they ask you if you liked to hunt?" Tatum asks Stu, her boyfriend, who was sitting beside her, his head resting on her shoulder.
"i don't know, they just did." Stu shrugs, looking down at Tatum (significant height difference :p),
Randy scoffs softly before adding, "it's because they were gutted." earning a soft smack on his back from Mary-Jane as Sidney flinches, leaning back into Billy.
"thanks, Randy." Billy remarked, wrapping his arms over Sidney before Tatum spoke, "they didn't ask me if i liked to hunt." Stu laughed "Because there's no way a girl could've killed them."
Tatum rolled her eyes at that, "That is so sexist. The killer could easily be female - basic instinct."
"that was an ice pick - not exactly the same." Randy states matter-of-factly. "Yeah, Casey and Steve were completely hollowed out. Takes a man to do something like that." Stu stated, Tatum scoffed "or a man's mentality."

the group grows quiet for a moment before Sidney speaks up, "how do you gut someone?" the group all look toward Sidney, not realizing she was just thinking aloud.
"you take a knife and slit from the groin to the sternum."
Stu explains, his shoulders almost following the motion of dragging a knife upwards.
Mary-Jane groans in annoyance, knowing Stu wasn't going to shut up about this whatsoever today.

"thanks for that, Stu." Pandora mumbles as she closes her food container, shoving it back into her bag.
"what? she asked." he simply states,
"it's called tact, you fuckrag." Billy tells him, an aggravated look written across his face.
"sorry, Jeez." Stu mocks an apology, sighing before nudging Pandora who sat on the ground in front of him with his foot, earning him a swat on the shin from her.

"hey Stu, didn't you used to date Casey?" Mary-Jane asked, closing up her container as well,
"yeah for like Two seconds." Stu laughed before Randy butted in, "before she dumped him for Steve."
Tatum looked shocked, "I thought you dumped her for me?" she questioned, Stu nodded,
"i did, he's full of shit."
"and are police aware that you dated the victim?" Randy inquired with a toothy smirk on his face.
"what are you saying? That I killed her or something?" Stu seemed offended, "it would certainly improve your High school 'Q' " Randy remarked before Tatum involved herself, "Stu was with me last night."
"oooh... before or after he sliced and diced?" Randy added fuel to the fire, laughing to himself, Mary-Jane gently shoved his shoulder, attempting to hide her smile.

"fuck you, nut case. where were you last night?" Tatum interrogated, (tired of Randy's bullshit), Randy smirked once more, popping one of his snacks into his mouth before stating, "working, thank you."
"i thought they fired your sorry ass?" Tatum asked,
"they did - twice.",
"and yet they've re-hired you... that makes zero sense." Pandora spoke up, turning to face the group,
Randy shrugged.

"i didn't kill anybody." Stu states, his tone as serious as ever, "nobody's saying you did." Billy snapped at him.
"besides -" Randy paused for a moment, clearing his throat before speaking again, "it takes a man to do that." he mocked Stu's words.
"i'm gonna gut your ass in a second, kid." Stu threatens,
" tell me something - Did you really put her liver in the mailbox? because i heard they found her liver in the mailbox next to her spleen and pancreas." Randy mocks again, standing over the group, practically towering over them, Sidney cringed back, closing her eyes tightly, Billy looked over Sidney, clearly worried.

"Randy, you Goon-fuck. i'm trying to eat here." Tatum growls annoyed, Randy hops down and takes his seat again. "she's getting mad, right?" Stu chuckles,
"you better liver alone - liver alone!" laughing at his insensitive joke, Tatum looks at him with disgust.
Billy reached over and slapped Stu on the arm, Pandora following suit.
"Li- ow! liver. liver. it was a joke!" Stu tried to defend himself, Mary-Jane got up and followed behind Sidney as she left, as she was unable to hand the topic of conversation.

the same day.

10 : 42 pm.

Bradley video was barely busy, only a handful of customers in sight.

Mary-Jane looked bored as she restocked the vhs tapes,
Randy manning the register.

Randy sighed silently as the last customer approached the register, a stack of tapes in hand, wanting a three night rental for each one.

Randy thanked the customer for (leaving) shopping at Bradley Video. as the door came to a close, Randy exited from behind the register, his feet going as fast as they could without seeming desperate, when that's what he truly was, desperate.
desperate for human contact, a conversation, something to take his mind off of the idea that he could die at any moment even though he hasn't violated any horror movie rules. (the same rules he swears by.)

"hey, Mj." Randy spooked the poor girl, vhs tapes dropping to the ground around her feet, "holy fuck, Randy! you scared the shit out of me." Mary-Jane was startled, taking in deep breaths as she stood up on shaky legs, having previously been crouching.

"shit, i-i'm sorry, let me help you with that." he scratched the back of his neck nervously as they both bent back down to grab the movies. Randy's head collided with Mary-Jane's, the two of them wincing.
"jesus, Randy, you've got a hard head!" Mary-Jane laughed painfully, "hey, says you, miss 'head in the 90th percentile' . maybe your crainium's just growin' soft from all the abuse it takes!" he scoffs, rubbing the sore spot.
Mary-Jane's face flushed red, "you know i'm insecure about my head size" she pouted, gently shoving Randy's arm.

"well it's not my fault you got your dad's big ass head genetics." he stated sassily, pursing his lips as he removed his hand from his forehead.
"you're an ass." Mary-Jane groaned, making quick work of putting the tapes back on the shelves.
"oh but you love it." Randy poked her side,
sticking his tongue out at her as she turned to face him.
Mary-Jane sighed, shaking her head with a smile,
"sometimes yes, but not when you're making fun of me, Randy. it's hilarious when you make fun of other people but i can't take the heat." she whined.

"aw, poor baby, you only live once, have fun! don't be a stick in the mud." he teased, laughing to himself until he turned to his side, realizing Mary-Jane had her head hanging low, shoulders in a slumped position.
"hey... what's the matter?" Randy asked, his hand moving to brush her hair away from her face as she spoke up, "you don't think the guy that killed Casey and Steve will come for us, do you?"
Randy seemed to pause for a moment, sucking in a sharp breath between his teeth, "i'd like to think i'm a horror aficionado... so we have that on our side." he tried to lighten the mood, earning a soft chuckle from Mary-Jane.

"you wanna head in the back to catch a movie before we close up?" Randy asks, holding up a copy of 'Army of darkness' , Mary-Jane nodded, laughing once more.
"let's do it, it's dead in here anyway." She said, standing up and glancing around the store, Randy smirked, standing up beside her, Vhs tape still in hand, he used his other hand and reached into his pants pocket, pulling out a set of keys.

"lock the doors and i'll go get this set up."

to be continued !

thank you so much for reading this far, and i apologize if there are any spelling errors or repeats of the same words (like said, asked, etc) i'm still learning how to write, so, i'm not the greatest, and i truly do apologize for that !

&& i'm fully aware that Pandora wasn't really mentioned much in this chapter, she's really meant to be a 'side character' who doesn't really get well known until the end ( like Randy.)