Stu's house was at the end of a long winding dirt road lined by gnarled, overhanging trees; the moonlight was casting eerie shadows on the windshield.
The entire ride to the house, Sidney felt a gnawing feeling in the pit of her soul telling her that this was a terrible idea.
Another part of her was telling her that she would be completely safe with all the people there as well as Dewey right outside to protect her.
The two parts of her were at war, screaming back and forth at each other the entire ride to the party, and it was killing her.
Just stop Sidney... Have a good time tonight... She kept telling herself. You may not know when you'll get another time to have some fun considering the next few days were going to be constantly living in fear of a psychopath.
She didn't have to let her life become one big scary movie. Should she just let this sicko control her and rob her of her teen years and strip her of the parties and the times shared with friends?
Fuck that. Sidney was ready to let go, forget about all this crazed killer bullshit, and have fun.
The trees cleared and a huge, three-story, Gothic style farmhouse loomed over them. It was in the middle of a large field, surrounded by a rickety wooden gate, not a neighbor in sight.
Despite the dead and spooky exterior of the house, the inside was full of horny, drunk, teenage life. There wasn't a light off in the house, music was blaring from inside, cars were parked all out front, and kids were everywhere.
They were hanging out the windows, scattered all around the property, laughing and having a good time.
Tatum cheered loudly and piled out of the Jeep, grabbing some groceries out of the backseat.
Sidney came from the other side as Dewey called out the open window.
"You girls have fun! Not too much fun or I'll bust ya," Dewey joked.
"You'll be sitting out here, right?" Sidney asked, her eyes wide with worry.
"You'll be perfectly safe, Sidney," Dewey assured.
"Yeah, Deputy Doofus will protect you," Tatum teased and gave Sidney a nudge.
Dewey rolled his eyes and sat back in the seat, pulling the Jeep off the road slightly and parking in the grass a little ways off from the house.
Sidney hesitantly followed Tatum up to the house. Tatum looked back.
"You'll be fine, Sid. Safety in numbers,"
She's right, Sidney thought. Just chill... You'll be totally safe.
Sidney and Tatum walked through the open front door, stepping by a group of kids who whispered quietly about Sidney.
The house was even bigger and fancier on the inside than it looked.
A huge staircase with an intricate wooden banister spiraled up to the second floor. In the center of the foyer was a large mahogany table with a potted plant sitting on top as a centerpiece to the mansion.
The ceiling was high and wooden beams stretched across it. Branching out from the foyer was a kitchen, where bowls of food, pizza, a cooler full of liquor and other assortments of snacks covered the counters and kids were all standing around, drinking and cutting up. Sidney recognized a few; some she'd never seen before.
Stu and a couple of other guys were taking turns guzzling alcohol from a funnel and seeing Tatum, they waved.
Across from the kitchen was an eloquent dining room and from there was a huge living room with a couple of sofas and a television where Randy was standing holding up different horror movies to see which one everybody wanted to watch as music blared from a high tech stereo.
