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“The sheriff’s department can now confirm the identity of the latest victim of the Split River Slasher. Sixteen-year-old James Thompson was found nearly two weeks ago in an alleyway behind a gas station. James is the eighth victim of the Split River Slasher with the sheriff’s department confirming he was killed in the same way as the other victims. The question is, when will the Split River-“
“Mom, you need to stop watching that. It’s not good for you.” Maddie turns the TV off mid news broadcast.
“Maddie, this is serious. There is a maniac out there killing people that all either work or go to your school.” Sandra fretted, grabbing the remote and turning the TV on again. “Do you really have to go to this Halloween party? I know it’s your last one with all your friends, but maybe you can do something here instead. Plus, they are forecasting a thunderstorm for tonight.”
Maddie knelt down in front of Sandra sitting crossed legged in her favourite chair. “I know you’re scared mom, but it will be okay. The entire senior class is going to be at this party. I’ll have my friends so I will never be left alone. And, I have Wally, and you know how protective he is of me.”
“He is, isn’t he? He’s a good one, Maddie.” Sandra said.
“Xavier also said that his dad increased the amount of security at the party. It will be safe, okay? I will even text you with updates.” Maddie reassured her mother. “What are you doing after your AA meeting tonight?”
“Wally’s parents invited me over for dinner.” Sandra replied, taking a sip of her tea. “Okay, you can go. But I want text updates and if I don’t get any messages from you, I will text every single one of your friends. Hell, I will text every single person at this party just to make sure you are okay.”
Maddie lets out a laugh as she got up off the floor to give Sandra a hug. “I have to go and get ready.”
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Maddie began getting into her Halloween costume - Carrie White from one of her favourite horror movies Carrie. She found a white dress at a thrift store and red fabric paint from a craft store, spending nearly a full week making the bloody dress. She even found a crown that looked similar to the movie and finished off her costume with a pair of white sneakers. She began painting paint spatters on her face and her arms completing the look. Maddie took one final look in the mirror, as her mother yelled “Maddie, Wally is here!” Her eyes twinkled with excitement. Her friends decided to keep their costumes a secret until tonight and she could not wait for them to see it!
Wally’s eyes lit up as she entered the living room. “Holy shit Mads, you look incredible. You even have a crown. You might win tonight’s costume contest!”
“Thank you. And who are you supposed to be?” Maddie asks.
“Andrew something from Wham!” Wally says doing a spin to show off his costume. “I, uh, lost a bet with Charley. I wanted to do ghostbusters.”
“You guys look great. I wish I could take photos but I'm running late for my meeting.” Sandra rushed to grab her purse. “Have fun tonight. Take some photos and make sure to text me.”
“I will mom. Promise.” Maddie reassured her.
“Have a good night, Mrs Nears.” Wally replies, stepping out on the front porch and closing the door behind him.
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Their friends waited out on the sidewalk for them, all decked out in their costumes. The group had decided to walk to the party from Maddie's house, since she lived closest to the party. Plus, the street would be full of cars, so parking at the party would have been a nightmare.
Eight minutes into the walk they reach the front of the school grounds. Josh Wilson’s house is the next street over and Janet knew the shortcut to his house across the school grounds. “Are we almost there? My feet are killing me. I knew I shouldn’t have picked Dionne from Clueless.” Claire complains walking at a slower pace than the rest of her friends.
Simon rips off his Pennywise mask “I regret wearing this dumb mask, I’m sweating under here.”
“At least you’re in the spirit of Halloween. Rhonda is just wearing cat ears and got Dawn to paint on her nose and whiskers.” Xavier interjected pointing his thumb over Rhonda's direction.
“Whatever Dracula.” Rhonda sasses back as she quickens her pace to catch up to Quinn and Dawn.
“We just need to cross the football field and through the woods a little, and his house is right there. Should be there in about five minutes.” Janet points out.
The group of friends begin walking across the front lawn of the school when Maddie gets this strange feeling in her gut. She turns around and she sees a black figure holding a knife walking towards them.
“Fuck. Guys run. Now!” Maddie shouted.
“Go inside, we won't make it to the party!” Yuri yells directing them into the school. Ever since the janitor was murdered, the side door leading into the auditorium never gets locked. They all rush in; Simon finds a chair and wedges the door closed.
“Now what?” Nicole asks as she catches her breath.
“We need to be anywhere but here; the killer saw us come through the door. I saw them round the corner.” Quinn remarked.
“The library. It’s the furthest from here and there’s a ton of chairs and tables to block the doors. Once we do that, we get help and hopefully get this psycho arrested.” Wally said.
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They began running towards the library looking behind them to make sure they weren’t being followed. Janet and Dawn are the furthest back from the group and hear a loud bang coming from the theatre. “The killer’s inside.” They both yell.
They rush into the library, and begin stacking tables, chairs and anything else the can find to block all the doors. Just then, a huge clap of thunder shakes the school. A moment later, lightning lights up the room as the power goes out and they are plunged into darkness.
“The power really had to fucking go out.” Rhonda swore.
“Does anyone have any service on their phones?” Charley asked, waving his phone around to try to get any service.
“What do we do now?” Dawn wondered about taking off her ruby red shoes, rubbing her feet from running.
“There’s an emergency landline in the fallout shelter. We can use that.” Rhonda reminds her friends.
“There’s a fallout shelter? Since when?” Wally questioned.
“It was built during the cold war. The school was-“
“We don’t have time for a history lesson right now, Janet.” Rhonda snapped. “We just need to get to the fallout shelter, call for help and we will be out of this mess.”
“Okay, problem with that. What do we do about the fucking serial killer in the school, wanting to kill us?” Xavier snapped back, taking off his Dracula cloak.
“This isn’t ideal, but someone needs to get to that phone and get help because who knows how long it will take to get the power back.” Simon tore off his Pennywise mask and threw it on the floor.
“Are you insane? If anyone goes out there, they’re as good as dead.” Nicole seethed.
“No, he’s right.” Maddie piped up removing herself from Wally’s tight grip. “We need to come up with a plan. If we don’t, we will all get murdered.”
The group needed to come up with a plan and they needed to come up with it fast. They began brainstorming aloud, dismissing bad idea after bad idea until Maddie’s eyes lit up as she came up with an idea. A risky, stupid plan, but one that might actually help them survive the night.
“I have a plan. It’s stupid but we don’t have any other option. Charley, Rhonda, Wally and I will go to the fallout shelter while the rest of you… your bait I guess.” Maddie begins instructing.
“What the fuck do you mean? Bait?” Xavier scoffed, running a hand through his hair.
“I mean distract whoever it is. Make noise anything just as long as it’s away from the fallout shelter. It’s the only way.” Maddie said.
“You’re right it is a dumb plan, and I’m surprised you thought of it, cherry pop. Normally the dumb ideas come from Moose.” Rhonda eyed Wally. “No offense.”
“Offence taken, Ron.” Wally said, giving her a pointed look.
“We don’t have another choice. I kind of want to go to college and live my life without being murdered.” Maddie tried to convince her friends of her plan. “Besides, we have an advantage. We know the layout of this school. I don’t think the killer knows the school the way we do.”
“What makes you say that?” Yuri asks.
“They probably would have found us by now, but they haven’t. No one’s trying to break down the doors to get in. They are still searching other places.” Maddie suggested
“Okay, suppose we do this. What do we do if the killer catches one of us?” Janet addressed.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Wally mumbled trying to hide the fear that is flooding his brain. “You guys head out the side entrance. Some of you should be cautious, watching your surroundings at all times, and some of you make noise, any type of distraction away from us trying to reach the fallout shelter.”
“But how do we know when you have reached the fallout shelter and called for help?” Simon wondered, sweat still pooling from his hair from his mask.
“Set a timer on your phone to vibrate for ten minutes then make your way back to the library.” Maddie pulled her phone out of her dress pocket, opened the clock app and set a timer for ten minutes. “As soon as you’re in the halls, hit the timer.”
“This is crazy. I don’t want to be fucking bait for a serial killer” Claire huffed flinging her high heel shoes off.
“What other choice is there Claire? We don’t know when the power will come back on. We’re sitting ducks if we stay here.” Maddie said. “Besides, the faster we go down to the fallout shelter and call for help, the sooner we’re out of this nightmare.”
“Funny I thought you would be enjoying this since you like horror movies.” Charley joked.
“I said I liked them, never said I wanted to be in one. Help me move these tables and chairs.” Maddie said as she started to move the tables and chairs away from the side entrance of the library. A few minutes later the door was cleared. Wally carefully opened the door, popped his head out slightly and looked left and right and left again. He looked back and gave a thumbs up, the coast was clear.
Simon grabbed his phone, set a timer for ten minutes and made sure it was on vibrate. The others grabbed anything they could use to defend themselves. They decided that the guys would be on the lookout for the killer and the girls would make noise. Simon, Yuri and Xavier entered the hall first the girls followed, and they began their journey walking through the halls.
Maddie, Wally, Charley and Rhonda began walking towards the fallout shelter. Wally and Rhonda on the sides and Maddie and Charley in the middle.
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As the teens approached the staircase leading to the basement, they spotted the killer at the end of the hallway. They froze in their tracks, hiding behind a wall of lockers. They could hear the screech of the killer dragging a knife along locker doors as they walked towards them. Charley winced when he heard the noise, Rhonda quickly covering his mouth with her hand. The killer stopped at the corner where they were hiding. Suddenly a bang was heard upstairs, the killer ran in the opposite direction up the flight of stairs and out of sight.
“That was fucking close.” Wally whispered, holding Maddie’s hand.
Maddie pulled out her phone and showed the screen timer to Wally, Rhonda and Charley, they still had six and a half minutes to make it to the fallout shelter.
In the basement Rhonda directed them to the fallout shelter, Wally pushed open the white rusted door. Rhonda went in first with Charley and Maddie following suit with Wally standing by the door to keep watch. Rhonda found the emergency landline on the wall and dialled 911.
“The cops are on the way. How much longer on the timer? Rhonda asked, hanging up the phone.
Maddie pulled out her phone. “Three minutes. We need to hurry.” She grabbed Wally’s hand, and they made their way back up the stairs to the library.
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They walked quickly but quietly back to the library. As they turned the corner, they saw Simon, Yuri, Claire and Xavier pushing back against the door to a janitor’s closet. “What the hell are you guys doing?” Charley wondered looking back down the hallway.
“We trapped the killer.” Dawn said.
“How?” Wally asked.
“Quinn, Simon and Janet came up with the plan of luring the killer into the closet and it worked.” Nicole smiled, looking far more calm than any of them felt.
Suddenly they heard the wail of police cars surrounding the school. “Someone needs to go downstairs and show the cops where we are.” Maddie said.
Janet, Nicole and Dawn ran down the hall returning with a swarm of cops behind them. Simon, Yuri, Claire and Xavier let go of the door.
“This is the sheriff’s department, drop your weapon and come out with your hands up.” Sheriff Baxter instructed. The knife dropped with a thud and the door began to open leaving the killer standing there. Sheriff Baxter whipped out his handcuffs and quickly cuffed the killer. The killer still had a dark hood covering their face. He pulled back the hood to reveal…
“Wait. She looks familiar.” Yuri furrowed his eyebrows together scrunching up his forehead.
“It’s Mr Martin’s fiancé Alice. She’s the Split River Slasher?” Janet wondered.
“This school fired Everett for no reason and left us with nothing. I had to get revenge.” Alice seethed squirming in between two deputies.
“That’s enough out of you. Take her to the car, guys. I need to check in on my son and his friends.” Sheriff Baxter demanded. “Are you guys, okay?”
“Besides nearly becoming the next victims of a serial killer, never better.” Xavier replied.
“I will need you all to come down to the station for a statement, but I'll leave that for tomorrow since it's Halloween and all. I’ll see you at home, Xavier.” Sheriff Baxter said walking down the hall and down the stairs.
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They all made their way back up to the library, grabbing their belongings they left strewn about. “Now what do we do?” Nicole wondered.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I definitely don’t want to go to this party after this.” Simon let out a deep sigh.
“Movie at my place?” Wally suggested.
“Oh hell yes!” Charley said excitedly. “But no horror, I don't care if it's Halloween.”
“Normally I would reject that, but I agree. No horror movies.” Maddie laughed as Wally pulled her into his side and planted a kiss on her forehead.