Terrible Trilogy

Part 3

You couldn't help it. You had to call him. You had to call someone after that weird phone call you got from Stu. Even if you couldn't talk about it specifically.

He answered with a long sigh after the fifth ring. "...YN. If you're calling about what Dewey said-" 

"Oh good, Dewey told you already...Randy, hear me out-" 

"NO. No, no, no-" 

You talked over him. "Randy, it was Cotton Weary and he was stabbed and he-....Would you stop that?" 

"No, no, no!  YN, we are DONE with this! Cotton was a giant fuckface that pissed people off. Maybe he owed people money? Maybe he cheated or he cut someone off in traffic? It has nothing to do with us!"  

You knew he was rolling his eyes at you on the other line as you drew out. "Oooohhh...May I remind you who was RIGHT 3 years ago?" 

"Noooooo. It was two guys that resembled them and our freaked out brains thought it was those two idiots. Not blaming you; I was even shocked! I mean, my brain really did think that Tim guy was Stu Macher. Crazy right?" 

You pushed your tongue inside your cheek. "Mm hmm. Yeah...Okay, but I was still right about us being involved." You sidestepped. 

"So, you were right 3 years ago? That doesn't mean anything." 

"Okay but what if it does? You can't avoid it forever." 

"Why not? You used your settlement to buy a big property on a hillside and I moved back to my folks place just so I'm not alone. Like I had a choice waking up from a coma." 

He took a deep breath. "The point is; we both were freakin traumatized by what happened to us not once but TWICE. You faced down five crazies and how you barely got a concussion is beyond me... I almost died! We are not involved. We can't be involved if we mind our business and stay as far away from where Cotton was as possible. It was not related to us but if you go snooping it will be!...So give it a rest. Please YN, just let us mind our business." 

You sighed heavily and leaned back while rubbing your eyes. "Yeah...Alright, maybe you're right." 

"YN, just stay safe. Remember:-" 

You listed off the rules. "No going off by myself, no drugs or booze, no backing up near closed spaces, no saying I'll be right back...I know. I didn't have those horror marathons with you for nothing." 

You both said goodbye and hung up. You wanted to agree with Randy and Stu. It was so much easier to just say it had nothing to do with you. That Cotton was just a freak incident and Stu was playing a prank on you… But you had a weird feeling. 

'Until you get more info, there's nothing you can do but hang tight. So stop letting your paranoid brain think it's Windsor or Woodsboro all over again! What would be the odds? A million to one?' You thought as you leaned back with your head on a pillow on your couch. 

You stopped studying criminology. You went to see if you could figure out two killers and the more you figured them out the worse it made you feel; it ultimately solved nothing. It was easy to hyperfixate on them dead, but alive and still murderers? It made it less appealing and more just a fact. They were who they were and you weren't going to change them.

Sometimes you wish you would have continued. Criminology in itself fascinated you but college felt ruined for you now. Maybe one day, but not right now. 

You sued Stab and Gale Weathers. You gained a decent amount of money from how rich Gale was, the amount the box offices brought in from Stab and how much your character was smeared. You bought a downpayment on a house and had enough money for a few years but you knew it would run out and that mortgage would start kicking your ass. Eventually, you'd have to bite the anxiety bullet and find some way to live. But thankfully that wasn't right now.