THERE WAS A plan. Kirby was to sit in her van with Chad, Ethan and Mindy, while Tara, Sam and Juliet walked the paths of the park in front of them. Kirby had told the blonde separately to stray from the girls after a while, to see if that provoked a call from the killer at all if they were being handed nothing. It was broad daylight, the girl told herself, there was no way she was in danger. Little did she know, the exact same words had left Randy Meeks' mouth moments before he was murdered.
"I'm gonna walk that way," Juliet muttered to the girls as she tilted her head subtly to the left, not daring to look into their eyes as they tried to act unsuspiciously around the public park. Tara furrowed her brows as Sam couldn't help but look her way, surveying the anxiety of the blonde from her position one girl over.
"Is that the best idea?" She asked as she forced her eyes away, instead staring at the ripples of the centered lake.
"Yeah, you know someone's not gonna like it," Tara grinned past the worry doubting her mind, the image of a curly-haired boy shouting inside of the van on the street floating through her head.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," she shrugged with a smile before taking a step away, only to be pulled back by Tara's hand gripping her wrist. "Tara, this is not normal looking."
"Stay close, okay?" She pleaded, her eyes flicking to the girls as her grin washed away. Juliet gulped but nodded nevertheless, taking a deep breath before plastering on a smile and finally walking away.
Ethan, who was eating Cheetos in the van, did in fact not like the idea of Juliet venturing off alone, possibly into the arms of the masked killer themselves.
"This is exactly how our uncle Randy died," Mindy said, wide-eyed as she stared at the woman in charge. Ethan watched the screen with furrowed brows and a tightening jaw as the girl he adored stepped away from the Carpenter sisters on the trail. "Broad daylight, public place, yanked into a van. Stab, stab, stab . . . no more Randy!"
"What is she doing?" Ethan asked, discarding his bag of Cheetos on the bench as he leant closer to the screen and Kirby. "Did you tell her to do this? Was this you?"
"We needed something to provoke the killer into calling," Kirby explained with a shrug, moving a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear as her eyes locked onto the screen. Ethan turned to look at her, disgust and anger present on his face as he scowled in her direction, before he abruptly stood up and stormed out of the vehicle. "Ethan! What are you doing?"
"Helping her," he seethed, annoyance dripping from his words as he slammed the back door of the van shut. He quickly looked around, scoping the park grounds for any masked figures before hurriedly running onto the grass. He weaved the paths for a minute or two before finally catching sight of the girl, looking down at her phone as she stopped walking. He knew before he was even there who it was - that goddamn killer. He thought about shouting, yelling at the girl to decline the call, but it was all they had. As much as he disliked the idea, she had to answer the stupid phone.
"Hello," she uttered worriedly, her voice quieter than she'd wanted it to be. This was the first call of the season - the season of the wicked, knife-slaughtering murderer - so to say she was scared was an understatement. And not to mention, she was all alone, until the boy with curly hair rushed out of the background gardens.
She sighed with relief, an inaudible one the killer on the other side of the device couldn't detect. He paused his hurried walking in front of her, wide eyes scanning her own frightened ones. He gently tugged the phone away from her ear and pressed it to speaker, his hand staying on her wrist in a form of comfort and support - something to say I'm right here - while he angrily glared with a clenched jaw around the gardens trying to find the suspect.
"Hello, Juliet," the killer said, their fake, twisted voice sounding through the speaker. The name slurred through their tongue, fueled by the hatred and anger the monster behind the mask had appointed to the Carpenter siblings, and by relation, Juliet too.
Ethan looked down, his angered eyes finding her own as his body tensed even more. He shuffled closer to her, looking over her shoulder at the random passersby in their surroundings. "What do you want?"
"Such a simple question, isn't it?" The killer chuckled, voice light against the used vocal device. Ethan narrowed his eyes as he felt the girl tense beside him, body going rigid as she listened to the killer's supposed humour before it all fell away. The mystery person's voice grew deep. "I want to watch the blood drip from your body as I stab you to death."
The boy beside the girl pushed himself away, hand falling from the distraught girl's wrist as he angrily walked towards somebody strolling past on their phone. He forcefully pushed their wrist down as he turned them around by the collar, quickly softening his hurtful look as his lips parted in surprise at the surprised man's face. "Oh, I'm- I'm sorry, wrong person."
The man muttered a curse as he scoffed and pushed Ethan away, the boy taking a flicker of a moment to regain his composure before stepping back towards Juliet. He took the phone from her hand, taking it off speaker to hold it to his ear as his hand found her shoulder.
"Leave her alone, asshole," he mumbled angrily as his fingers rubbed circles against her shirt, the girl leaning into his touch as she stared into the distance.
"Well, hello to you too, Ethan." The boy clenched his jaw, eyes searching the park once more as he pushed his other thoughts away. "I thought you were supposed to be smart, you just had an exam the other day, did you not?" The killer paused their talking to chuckle another humourless laugh, clearly enjoying toying with the couple beneath the trees. "Lucky you got there on time . . . you were almost too late."
"Shut up!" The boy shouted, turning away from Juliet as his eyes found the van in the distance, eyes widening as he threw his arms to the side in annoyance while gesturing to the phone in his hand.
The killer ignored him. "Were you waiting for me to call, Ethan? Hoping I'm nearby so the police can grab me?" Once again, a heart-dropping chuckle emitted from the speaker by the boy's ear. "Well, I'm not nearby, I'm a step ahead." Then the line went dead.
Ethan took a moment, the phone hovering by his ear, before he finally let it drop. He turned back around, sadness and guilt filling his eyes as the girl met his sight. She forced a smile. "It's okay, Dree," she whispered, hand moving up to hold his cheek. He shook his head as he pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her back while pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"It's not okay," he muttered softly, an edge to his voice reserved for the killer only. "You don't deserve this, none of you do."
"And neither do you," the blonde reasoned into his chest before pulling away, staying in his arms as she looked up at his face. He leaned down, lips meeting hers as he pressed a soft yet passionate kiss to her own.
The phone ringing between them interrupted the two, their eyes widening at the mere sound. They both looked down, their hearts calming in an instant once registering the name brightening the entirety of the screen.
"Kirby? Did you get anything?" Juliet asked after gently taking her phone back, the sounds of the phone sounding through the air as she pressed the speaker button once more.
"We sure got something," the older girl mumbled as the sound of clattering and voices filled the background. Ethan and Juliet shared a confused look. "The killer's at Gales."
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