𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄 → 𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌

01.

November 8th, 1995

5 months later

"Maureen Prescott had been murdered last night."

Those words had played over and over in my head for the past week. I had been relatively numb to it, aside from when my mom first told me. My mother was never super emotional besides when the cameras were rolling, but she cried more than ever that morning when Neil Prescott called with the news. There weren't too many details yet, but it was confirmed that it was a murder.

My parents and I made the hour-long drive to the little town of Woodsboro the day before the funeral. I had to keep a brave face on for my mother, since I knew how hard this was for her. I couldn't care less how my dad was feeling about it. He's tried countless times to mend our relationship since that day over the summer when I caught him kissing Maureen. He's a natural charmer so it had worked many times, but at the end of the day I could never truly get over what he did.

Neil and Sidney insisted we stayed with them while we were in town. The Prescotts had a decent sized home in a quiet neighborhood that felt like a breath of fresh air. Back in Encino we had 24/7 security at the gate because of all the paparazzi that would always try to catch a glimpse of the celebrities living in the community.

"Sid, are you sure about this?" I asked as the two of us crouched in front of her vanity mirror, looking over our hair and makeup. She straightened up and turned to me, her eyes beaming through her chocolate-colored bangs.

"This is exactly what I need tonight. Trust me."

I made countless attempts to convince Sidney to stay in tonight, since we'd be burying her mother tomorrow afternoon. She said that she was desperate to get her mind off of everything, and that Friday night parties in Woodsboro could sometimes be fun.

So, that is exactly how she and I ended up waiting until quarter of eleven to sneak out of her place and go down to a huge house party a few blocks away. The house itself was seemingly in the middle of nowhere, with the actual house being nearly a mile down the otherwise deserted road. The whole area felt drastically different than the rest of the town.

My black mini skirt and baby pink off-the-shoulder top did very little to protect me from the subtle but chilling November air. Sidney hugged her jean jacket closer to her body as she picked up the pace, smiling once we made it to the huge front yard.

The blaring music could be heard all the way down the street, and you could almost feel the vibrations in the grass from the bass. Dozens of people around our age were scattered all throughout the yard, and some were already passed out drunk.

I couldn't help but notice the vast differences between a small-town high school party and the more exclusive, invite-only parties that I was more accustomed to in the Hollywood area. There weren't security guards stationed at the front door, no velvet rope, no six-inch heels that no one can walk in, no angry mobs of people screaming to be let in, and more importantly, no herds of paparazzi to capture it all.