𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘐𝘯 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳-𝘌𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘺

ten

The hospital bed was cold, he could feel his teeth chattering. His jaw tense and tight as he smacked his teeth into his lips, the flesh bled, the flesh healed, the flesh ripped itself apart; it healed.

His fingers were pried into an uncomfortable cast, he couldn't move them, they were suffocating under the harsh material of cotton and cloth. He doubt his hand would be the same after this, his fingers were useless, and so was he at this rate.

He leaned so harshly into the pillow it left deep dents in his head. The door clicked open, Ethan appeared holding onto a pile of snacks. "I figured you'd want normal food, not hospital food".

Zach smiled as he sat up, his body burned at the movement but he ignored it. Ethan sat down pushing the snacks onto the wooden table, he smiled, as he grabbed a bag of Cheetos.

"You got normal Cheetos? That's such a tragic choice Landry, we both know the hot kind is better". Ethan cringed "normal is better".

Zach pulled the bag out of the boys hand eating a few "but at this rate I'm desperate for any food, they keep giving me gross food".

The door moved slightly and Sam appeared she looked stressed. "How you feeling?" Zach shrugged his shoulders as he ate another Cheeto.

Sam walked inside even more "Anika just got out of surgery, doctors said she'll be here awhile". Zach smiled "at least she's alive and safe, I hope she's okay after all this shit is over with".

"Mindy will help her, they're cute together" Zachary laughed lightly "Samantha, I've never heard you use the word cute before, it's nice".

She smiled "I'm glad you're okay, when that ladder fell, I was so scared you'd die.... I'm glad Tara didn't have to see what happened".

He looked at his hand "is it bad to mention that my hand was smushed by a window, like that kid in the amityville horror, guess the killer has a kink for copying horror movies".

Everyone burst into laughter as Zach smiled, he ate another Cheeto. "I forget you're a horror movie geek, I guess I'm not used to it".

"I've been obsessed with horror movies since I was like six, perks of being siblings with a geek, Kirby used to make me watch movies with her like every night. I hated the exorcist, creeped me out".

He handed the bag of Cheetos to Ethan and grabbed a bag of pretzels. "So now that I've spent days in this hellhole, I was thinking. If the killer attacked us in the girls dorm, they knew where everything was I mean you said it yourself Samantha the knifes were taken, and they lured me there. Said they were gonna kill Quinn, I should've been faster".

Sam walked closer to the bed and sat down on the end of it. "It's not your fault she's gone Zach, you barely even knew her and you risked your life for her, you did the best any of us could do".

"It wasn't good enough Sam, I couldn't save her, the one chance I had to save someone, to prove that I wasn't a coward like last time".

He sighed he's hand aching "you're talking about Wes, you weren't a coward last time Zach, Wes knew that, we all do..".

"Wes died, and I just fucking stood there frozen. Quinn was killed and I tried to save her, but I failed just like last time, maybe I deserve to die this time around, I was suppose to die in that basement last year, Tara saved me.... She's always saving me Samatha, she saved me in my room, saved me last week when ghostface attacked me".

"She cares about you Zachary, that's why she's always saving you, none of us wanna lose you. Last year was a hard time for all of us. When the doctors said you were gonna make it, we all were happy, but then not even a month after... you did the worst thing any of us could've done, you almost left us".

He touched his neck, the scar thick "that wasn't a proud time in my life, if I cut one inch deeper, I'd probably be dead right now. I'd rather have that fate then being killed by someone in a mask".

Sam hugged him and he smiled as he weakly wrapped his arm around her. "This time you better stick around Zach, there's no way I'm losing you".

She stood up off the bed "I'll be back later on tonight, you get some rest". He waved at her as she left the room, when the door clicked shut Ethan spoke out.

"I thought you almost died from losing too much blood, I remember that in Gales book" Zach looked at him "like I said, I'm a tragic person but no, it was from not cutting deep enough, That was over a year ago, Tara was the one who found me, I spent three months in a hospital, person after person telling me what happened wasn't my fault. They kept thinking I tried killing myself because of what happened with Wes..".

"It wasn't?" Zach shock his head as he looked at Ethan "I was exhausted, every second of my day was news reporters trying to hear what happened to me. People kept latching out on me, calling me a freak, said I deserved what happened to me. Sidney kept trying to help me over it, I just finally snapped, wrote letters, rather lame ones at that, cut my throat and hoped for the easy way out. Then Tara saved me and at first I was so angry, but as the days passed I realized Wes saved me...he wouldn't have wanted me to just give up. So I kept going and eventually I found you, which I'm glad I did".

Ethan smiled as he grabbed a hold of Zach's hand "you should rest, I'll stay as long as I can, maybe I'll hide if any of the nurses try kicking me out".

Zachary laughed lightly and kissed Ethan quickly. He moved back and laid down fully "thank you for saving me Ethan, you're a good person".

—

   His eyes were shut and they felt heavy as he heard the softness of the door opening. Soft breaths escaped his lips as he leaned into his pillow the material making the back of his head ache.

The moment of silence and safety was ripped away from him when hands forced him downwards, his eyes burst open so fast as he felt the coldness of the blade mending into his flesh.

His eyes clashed with the mask, he cried out when he felt his skin being ripped open. He gagged as blood poured out of his mouth, he couldn't breath as the pressure on his throat began to increase.

He used all his strength to thrown himself off the bed he groaned as he crawled on the floor. His hand smacked against his throat as he felt the blood pouring out onto the ground.

He kept crawling his movement so weak as he looked around the room. "E-Ethan!" his hand reached for the door his fingers shaking as they tried to touch the doorknob.

Ghostface pulled him back his body colliding into the persons as there arms wrapped around his body. Something inside of Zachary snapped, it was like he was releasing something as the figure held onto him. "I thought you almost died from losing too much blood, I remember that in Gales book".

His eyes widen "Zachary, I know you hate me for writing the book, but I promised you I would never put you in it, you're only mentioned once and that's at the end when I said how brave you were, you're a survivor Zachary, people deserve to know that much about you, you're a good kid".

Tears slipped down Zach's eyes as all of it finally clicked inside his head, from the party all the way to now, it clicked for him.

He never saw Ethan at the party after he was attacked, he ran into Chad but never Ethan. Not until they were back at the dorm room.

They were attacked outside but Ethan was only cut on his arm, the same cut that disappeared the next day. The attack in the house, Ethan was the only one not there, and now Zach remembers the way the killer knew to cut deeper into his throat.

"I didn't cut deep enough" only Tara and Sam knew about that, and now Ethan knew about it. The killer went straight for his throat, he knew...

The door opened and Sam appeared her eyes widening "Zach!". Zachary felt lightheaded and as his head smacked down onto the floor and he watched Sam fight ghostface.

The name slipped out of his lips so quietly, but he had hoped Sam could hear it. "It's Ethan..." but Sam didn't hear it, he had failed.