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Tara Carpenter was nothing like any other student at Blackmore University. She was rather the poster child for heinous murders and the country's beloved victim. While her sister on the other hand was the exact opposite of that. She was the one blamed for the murders.
Everyone gave Tara the same look; the one where they saw her as a prisoner in the familial relationship, like she was nothing more than a naive and manipulated little girl. After surviving Woodboro they had relocated to New York for this very reason, thinking they could outrun the past which was quickly proven wrong when they yet again encountered another Ghostface.
After their last run in Tara decided she was taking her life back from the horror movie it had become, she made the decision to dorm at school (with Mindy of course). And start her life over (again). Sam was very supportive during all of it, finally learning and accepting that Tara was more than capable of taking care of herself.
Sam had stayed close to Blackmore, moving into a new apartment with Kirby Reed, her high school friend and now FBI agent, which Tara was thankful for because she always had a safe place to rest her head when Mindy made plans for the night, the kind that Tara was not included in. However, Tara, Chad, and Mindy were going to spend winter break with the 2 girls. Even Sidney and her kids were planning on visiting for the holidays meaning of course Gale would be in attendance.
They had done lots of catching up considering it had been years since they were all in the same place at once.
Tara walked through the door to the seemingly empty apartment owned by Kirby and Sam.
If it wasn't for the familiar jacket thrown onto the couch she wouldn’t have explored the house for her sister. Tara had expected most of the crew to be set up in the living room watching a movie or even decorating the apartment the two girls were “too busy” to have done themselves, but clearly, this wasn't the case. They all must've gone out.
"Sam?" The girl had cried out, with no response to follow. She put her bag down in the entryway. Making her way down the narrow hall to the last door. She pressed her ear against it while calling her name once more.
With no answer, yet again, Tara let herself into the room just to make sure she wasn't home, but instead of an empty room, she saw the taller girl laying in bed face down.
"Sammy?" she whispered softly.
"Mhm?" The older girl mumbled with her voice being muffled by the pillow.
"What are you doing?" Tara asked, bouncing on her heel while still standing in the doorway. Still trying to figure out what to do or even say.
"I'm pretending the world doesn't exist- more importantly that I don't exist." Sam replied once again with her head still buried in the pillow.
The younger Carpenter slowly nodded her head understanding where her sister was coming from.
Tara knew Sam all too well to know that Sam was feeling existential dread in her stomach, the kind that she may have accidentally planted in her sister after a fight about independence. It pained Tara to see Sam's face while Sidney talked about her life and kids. But Sam never said anything. She also didn't think the fact that Kirby shared she’d be going overseas for an assignment without previously telling Sam exactly helped the situation.
Tara didn't speak a word. She simply pushed her sister over in the bed to make enough room for herself. Before laying there with Sam.
For the first time, Sam raised her head.
"What are you doing?" She asked what she called her "Small Child".
"I'm pretending we don't exist." Tara simply replies face-first into the pillow.
As Sam laid back down she could help but feel a smile curl at her lips.
"Kirby is leaving for who knows how long, Sidney has a perfect family, I quit my job, Gale even wrote a book about someone else’s tragic experiences. Not that I was hung up on the books,- It's just, everyone is moving forward with their lives and here I am, still hiding from everything, and wanting more than anything for whatever fucked up family Ghostface made of us to be back together. I thought that last night was going to make that happen. Once we all got back together no one would want to leave, but they aren't like me. They've moved on."
It was hard for Sam to move on, not in the mental sense she thought she had gotten over the past. Spent most of her time in therapy, And did she mention how she let Tara move out. Sam definitely was getting better. But that didn't change the fact that Sam felt as if one of her feet was cemented to Woodsboro and the other in New York.
She felt like she wasn’t able to physically move on. Not the way Sidney did. Sidney was great, she was never blamed for any of the shit she went through, she got married, and SHE HAD KIDS. All things Sam wanted in her life.
She wanted a fresh start like Kirby who had turned all that pain into something meaningful and successful. How could Sam be upset when the opportunity of a lifetime was knocking on the door for her best friend?
And Tara, oh Tara, Sam wanted the world for her, but the idea that in just a few years Tara would be a college graduate, ready to set out on the world with or without Sam. Would Sam be ready to move then? Would Tara want her to follow her? Was Sam willing to live in the shadows of her sister for the rest of their lives? Tara was right, Sam had no plans.
There was a beat of silence as the smaller girl weighed her options: problem-solve or just be there.
"Chad broke up with me. I'm flunking most of my classes, and need to be tutored by Mindy. Do you have any idea what it’s like to have Mindy tutor you? And honestly, I haven’t made a single friend since everything happened. I miss you and I don't want to leave because I want something more from life but at the same time I don't want to stay because there's too much that lurks there."
Tara broke the silence deciding it seemed like the best time to share all her recent shortcomings as well.
Ever since the Woodsboro attacks Sam had been her constant strength even when it aggravated Tara, there was never a time that Sam didn't try to get the smaller girl to voice her thoughts so she didn't have to bottle it up. But those feelings were always so big and took up a lot of Sam’s energy and time, Tara never felt the need to bring up the little things like now trying to be less of a burden.
Chad and her had just broken up the week prior, nothing crazy, the chemistry had just fizzed out and they mutually decided to be friends again before they made anything too awkward to come back from. And he had happily moved on to the next girl. It still hurts her in a way though, being able to let him in the way she hasn’t before only to have it fade out. Is this what all relationships are like?
And school was so hard, she made it through high school because of- Amber. The girl was a genius even if she hid that part of her with her cruel sense of humor and sarcasm. And now well without her around Tara couldn’t understand anything. Amber had a way of explaining things to Tara that just made everything click and she was the only person Tara was able to learn from and not feel like an absolute idiot. Then there was Anika, and for the first time in her college career, she thought she actually could make it through. Anika was so patient and even if she didn't understand Tara the same way Amber did, she still benefited greatly from her help. Now she had Mindy, and well she wasn’t as kind as Anika.
Mindy was very to the point, it is the way it is because well that's how it is, not really a method Tara was able to resonate with. But she helped with her papers and assignments, even if she sometimes made comments on Tara’s work that made her feel small. She was thankful nonetheless.
Tara was feeling a multitude of things at once, but most importantly she missed her sister. Even though they had lived with each other for maybe a year at most, she missed coming home and seeing Sam try to make a meal in the kitchen. She missed being able to curl into bed with her after a bad night. She missed the constant music playing from her bedroom even if she hated the music itself. She just missed her presence. It also kind of stung when Sam didn’t put up a fight when Tara said she wanted to dorm with Mindy. But then again it’s what she asked for right?
"Oh yeah about Chad. I've gotta have a talk with him." Sam said and Tara chuckled but it soon faded because she realized she was serious.
They both laid there for a while just crying and spilling to each other, a rare occurrence nowadays, especially for one Sam Carpenter. They stayed there comforted by each other’s presence and inevitably fell asleep. Both now had their heads turned to the side, enabling their breathing.
It was only a matter of time until the rest of the party arrived back at the apartment and when they did they were confused due to the silence of the house they knew that Tara had been residing in.
"Tar" Kirby called out with, of course, no response. They searched the spare room and Mindy even checked all the cabinets just in case Tara had been trying to scare them and ultimately fell asleep awaiting their arrival, just as previous occurrences had played out. But still, none of them could find Tara.
"Guys" Sidney motioned to Sam's room at the end of the hall. The door was cracked open and considering Sam never left her bedroom door open it was a sure sign that something was up. Gale pulled out her phone and snapped a picture, of course, wanting to preserve the sweet moment.
...
And that is how the picture of Tara and Sam laying in bed together fast asleep, with Sam’s arm protectively over Tara, ended up on the mantle of Samantha Carpenter’s new house.
The picture was humiliating for both the girls because little did anyone know that was one of their rawest moments- and they-they would rather pretend that the whole didn't exist.
Except for that one part about Chad, to sum it up a black eye did not look too good on him.