what a ghostly scene - kate schmidt

(2)

lisa astle and deena johnson weren't close by any means. they were living in different worlds. however, their paths often crossed, in a town like shadyside you're forced to cling onto any fragment of good. and lisa had decided that deena johnson was good.

they used to say that shadyside trapped its inhabitants- once you entered, you didn't leave. born in shadyside, die in shadyside. the cycle never ends. however, the ambitious among them, (which some would call deluded) were determined to pave their own way in life. to break the curse.

''this shouldn't take too long'', deena told lisa as they walked through the doorway of a house lisa wasn't familiar with. she wasn't sure what deena was referring to until she laid her eyes on simon kalivoda and kate schmidt giving two young children, who lisa assumed they were responsible for, the job of packaging an array of coloured pills. 3 piles, which concerningly resembled candy, sat on the table. a set of young twins were tirelessly organising them, supervised by simon and kate. it was truly a sight to behold.

''interesting choice of babysitting activity'' the new arrival's voice, laced with sarcasm, interrupted the steady flow of slave labour, ''what's next? DIY meth lab?'' simon and kate looked up. lisa was familiar with the duo. simon was the type of person to make friends with a psycho killer. he would befriend anybody. he reminded lisa of a golden retriever, naïve but in an adorable way. the pair had crossed paths a few times and had established a friendly alliance.

although surprised to see her, simon flashed lisa a toothy grin, ''astle! what brings you to this shindig?''

''just decided to stalk deena tonight, i guess''.

conversely, kate looked positively disgusted to see the new arrival. lisa and kate had never seen eye-to-eye. they were always competing. one always had to have the upper hand. their peers found it ironic that although the pair shared a common ambition- to leave the cursed town behind, it drove them apart. both girls wanted to move onto bigger, better things, it wasn't a race, but they both believed that they should be the first to reach the finish line. although lisa and kate were similar in some ways, there was one thing that the girls had opposite opinions on- cheerleading. whilst kate sported her blue 'shadyside witches' outfit, lisa couldn't imagine wearing the colours of a town that holds so much pain and tragedy. she thought that anyone who felt so patriotic about a place like shadyside had to have been some sort of serial killer.

nevertheless, lisa flashed them both a small smile and scanned the room. she tried not to let a confused expression take over her face, as kate's predictable snarky comment never hit her.

lisa didn't really have a plan for the evening, she knew that deena had asked her there to help her with something, whether that meant kate and simon's child labour factory or a different issue entirely. either way, it was something to do.

down the hall, deena was explaining to her younger brother, rather insistently, that a guy named peter was 'bad news'. lisa had a habit of picking up gossip, about both shadysiders and sunnyvalers, and from deena's hostile tone and the words 'sam', 'perfect' and 'boyfriend', it didn't take a genius to work out that deena was complaining about sam fraser's new boyfriend. deena and sam had a pretty rough breakup, and it seemed that sam had moved on.

''yikes'', simon started, ''she's really taking the whole sam thing to heart'', he pointed out, with a mouth full of m&ms.

''or she could be pissed because those assholes tried to kill us last night'', kate argued.

''wait, what? at the pep rally?'' lisa asked, who wouldn't have been caught dead at a school event.

''why do you care? you didn't bother to turn up but now it's so interesting?'' kate fired back, accusingly.

''why would i willingly go to a field full of obnoxious sunnyvalers to support a school which probably houses 40 future serial killers?'' lisa began, ''id just like to know why my friends are in danger, is it too hard to believe that i actually care?''

''you'd be surprised'', kate spat.

''hey-'', simon began to attempt to defuse the tension, but was distracted by a crash which came from upstairs.

''what was that?'' the three looked between each other.

deena and josh's squabbling over the younger boy's evident addiction to online chat rooms was quickly drowned out by a loud smash.

''stay here'', kate instructed the twins, who seemed to be happily distracted by their task.

the older trio silently agreed to go upstairs and check who or what was lurking in the bedroom.

as they peered round the doorframe, they were met with a figure, dressed in the deepest black imaginable, hunched over...a pile of dirty laundry?

''hey creeper fuck o-'', kate began, before seeing the intruder's full presentation. skull mask. ryan torres...who was shot dead last night. a copycat.

''hey! you-'' ''be quiet you idiot!'' she was restrained by simon, ''are you insane?!''.

after a short scolding from simon, the group hesitantly peered around the corner.

he was gone.

simon rushed to examine the scene, which housed a knife-bearing intruder just seconds ago. he found that his shirt, which was covered in sam's thrown up blood from the night before, had been slashed with the trespasser's bloody blade. the owner of the shirt held it up to the two girls, in confusion, as the latter were checking for any more damages to their dirty laundry.

kate decided it would be best to take the twins to mrs lane, a kind lady down the street. she silently came up with a story to explain the current situation, which proved to be a difficult task.

it took the force of both kate and simon to drag the shorter girl downstairs, as her face displayed a mixture of rage and shock. how could somebody make such a mockery of heather's death, and so soon?

''knife- skull- face- upstairs-'' simon managed to say between heavy breaths. a combination of carrying lisa and the adrenaline of finding his favourite shirt slashed, made the blonde boy lose his breath.

''that dick had the same skull mask that ryan torres wore during the mall massacre. a copy-cat killer''. lisa spoke through gritted teeth.

''he had a knife. in the same house as children'', kate pointed out, ''that's whack'', josh added.

''yeah. it is whack. thanks josh''. the boy looked like he'd just found the meaning of life.

''who the fuck would-'', lisa began to question what kind of psychopath would terrorise a group of teenagers like that,

''peter''. deena looked certain.

''sunnyvaler-nice guy-sam's boyfriend peter?'' simon questioned, not sounding convinced.

deena began to justify her theory that her ex-girlfriend's current boyfriend had decided to buy a carbon copy of a dead serial killer's costume, find her house, break in, and look through a bunch of dirty laundry. all whilst his girlfriend was recovering from the night before, in a hospital bed.

for obvious reasons, lisa wasn't convinced.

however, the others seemed pretty set on the plan.

''someone needs to tell sam she needs to get her psycho boyfriend in check''. deena was fixated on a trip to the hospital, although it was fairly obvious that she just wanted an excuse to see her ex-lover.

the group filed out of the door, murmuring bits of their plan, as well as general sunnyvale slander, which created a hum of enthusiasm. apart from lisa, who stood with her arms crossed.

''are you coming or what?'' kate spat. lisa raised an eyebrow. ''i don't buy it''.

kate rolled her eyes and dragged the other girlby the wrist, out of the room.