𝐒𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐑; ethan landry

chapter four

CHAPTER FOUR
"expect the opposite."

JULIET HAD BEEN called dramatic. She'd been called an attention-seeker, a crybaby, a wimp. She'd been called everything meaning soft, a person who couldn't handle any form of unpleasant information. She could handle information; sure, she cried more than the average person, but she was an eighteen-year-old girl. She was allowed to cry.

However, due to the context of the situation, the girl's emotions were valid. She'd survived a psycho killer, the fifth of it's kind. The individual behind the mask was one of her friends, her best friend, which would forever leave an imprinted scar on the surface of her heart. The betrayal of a person in your teenage years, the years of growth and love, distorts the rest of your life.

She'd never had the feeling of the chase, thinking that in said moment, the moment they were running from a moving knife, they might not breathe again. They might not see someone else again, see themselves, or the pictures in their room, or the mascara on their desk. She'd had a knife pressed against her skin, the line on her upper arm shining bright on her tanned tone, but never the chase - and she never wanted to have to.

Now, however, as the girl sat on her bed, one shoe off and one shoe on, she realised she never had that choice. Her destiny was fate, it was planned, and it just so happened to land in the hands of another killer - one she most likely knew. That's what she hated the most about Ghostface, she always knew who it was. This time she didn't want to know.

She sighed, falling back on her bed. She was supposed to be meeting her friends at the college, Mindy having organised a get together in order to plan for the unhelpfully tragic event they were walking into. She knew her horror genre like the back of her hand, just like Juliet knew her way to the library and flower stalls, but that didn't help. It would never help.

After a minute or two of lying on her sheets, debating on whether or not to drop everything and run away or genuinely try to survive what was coming, she slipped her other shoe on and left the apartment. She didn't care that Tara, Quinn and Sam had already left, even if she was a bit scared of walking alone in the New York streets knowing a killer could be lurking around every corner. Someone else was, which she found out when she finally arrived at the gardens.

"So, what, you just left?" Ethan exasperated, a hand running stressfully through his hair as he stared at the three girls sitting on the bench.

"She'll be fine-"

"Yeah, that's what everyone says! Most of the time, they never show up," he argued, eyes scanning their surroundings in hope of catching sight of the girl.

"He's got a point," Mindy shrugged as she pushed herself to a stand beside the boy. Sam and Tara glared at her while Quinn continued to admire the trees behind them. "C'mon, we've been through this before. Never leave someone alone, guys!"

"I'm fine," Juliet said as she walked up to the group with a soft smile, watching as Ethan turned around with wide eyes. He visibly relaxed, his tenseness disappearing as his frantic searching calmed to a stop. "But, yeah, I don't wanna walk alone anymore if this killer's for real."

She walked towards the bricked garden, sitting on the edge with a sigh. "I'm sorry," Tara whispered as she softly grabbed the girl's wrist, running her finger down it with an apologetic smile.

"Don't be," Juliet beamed, cheeks lighting up in the sun. "It's not your fault I took so long."

Tara nodded, her smile holding firm, before she glanced away to the girl standing in front of them all. Ethan sat down beside Juliet, his hand dangerously close to her's on the bricks, as he quickly scanned her face. "You're not hurt, are you?" He asked worriedly. She turned to him with raised brows.