Our Beginning | Mickey Altieri

Chapter Twenty-Six

The three of us, me, Sid, and Dewey, sat at the back with Riley explaining the murders that took place at the cinema. Both me and Sid's eyes widen to the explanation.

"Three hundred people watched and nobody did anything?"

"They thought it was a publicity stunt."

"Oh my god. How could this happen?" Dewey and I make eye contact.

"They don't know. It was carefully planned. Earlier in the day the victims received anonymous passes to the movie."

" It's a copycat killer I knew this would happen. That fucking movie." The vehicle comes to a stop in front of a building. "As of now, they don't see any relation. But they're checking it out. The state, Special Task Force, FBI - they're all here. They'll find the guy." Sid nods.

"Look, Sid, why don't you take off? You can take your friend along too if you want. Disappear for a few days. I'll come with you."

"No. I will not crawl under a rock. This is a fucked-up world and people kill people all the time. I'll just get used to it." Sid refuses to do what he told her. Knowing how Sid is, she is the kind of person who doesn't want to run to hide, she'll go back to end what started. Dewey leaves and steps out of the vehicle, helping Sid off while I leave from the opposite end.

"Nothing will happen to you. I promise. That's why I'm here, right? We take care of each other. C'mon, I'll walk you to class." He starts limping off with his left leg dragging behind him. I was about to ask if he's okay until I remembered during the drive, he mentioned how the stab caused him having nerve damage.

"You go, it's all stairs, I can take it from here. I have N/n here too."

"N/n?"

"That's me. It's just my nickname." I pointed out to Dewey, him nodding in understanding. He makes eye contact with Sid.

"Don't worry Sid-"

"Dewey, I'm completely equipped with mace, alarm whistle, keyring, knife, a degree in defensive combat..."

"It's one hell of a badass load of equipment," I murmured loudly enough for them to hear, making Sid chuckle a bit.

"But just in case-"

"No. This is nothing, Dewey. I'll be okay. Go back to work and let me get back to my quasi pseudo-happy existence." Sid takes my hand and give Riley a quick kiss on the cheek as we took off to the building. I look back to see him remaining on his exact spot. He spotted my view and sent me a wave, along with a smile. I send one back, including a wave. He turns to the opposite direction, limping back to the vehicle.

"He seems like a nice guy," I spoke up to start a conversation. It caught Sid's attention and she agrees with a nod. "Dewey's sweet and nice to be around, but he is very protective around me."

"Is it with what happened back then? Before the killings of Casey Becker and Steve Orth?"

"With my mother, that's when he became protective, so yeah. Him and his sister would both watch over me."

"He has a sister?"

"Yeah, Tatum Riley. She's the most amazing person I've ever met. You should've seen how protective she was. She comes in handy even if I didn't need her help." We both chuckle to the sentence.

"How is she doing by the way?"

"She's doing fine." She looks at the sky. Realizing, my mouth gaped open. "Oh, Sid. I'm sorry for your loss." I lean over to give her a hug that he shortly took in return. "Thank you. I'm alright, don't worry about it."

"But she seems very fun to be around."

"If she were still here, I think she would've loved you. Well, it'll take her a while to trust you, but still." I smile and take her hand to take off to class.

After class
I wait patiently for Sid to leave from our previous class so we could walk together. From my eye spots a news-van parking to more news-vans, reporters leaving at the time. "Shit." Looking to my corner, Sid is still packing. Curious to what's happening, I ran off, but not too far, to see. A lady with short hair hops off as the lady is Gale. Behind her, a cameraman, well two, with their back turned, is inside the van fussing with equipment.

"I don't know... no one's talking. What's the studio's position? Never happen. They'd be stupid to pull the movie. With all this free press they're gonna have huge numbers this weekend. It'll break box office records. Of course I have bumps."

"What the hell is going on?" I look back at her to catch Gale snapping her fingers at the cameraman.

Turning around, one happens to be Randy.

"He Knows You're Alone, 1980. Tom Hanks' first film." Gale nods and continued calling on her phone.

"What the hell? Randy!?"

I spoke too loud that it caught his attention towards me. "Oh fuck."

"N/n?" The other cameraman turns around and it also happens to be someone familiar too. Joel, one of Sid's friends in a different class. "Who?" Randy points out a finger to me, exposing me to Joel.

"Y/n?"

"Hey there Joel." He sends off a smile with a wave before turning around to help with the equipment. Randy walks up to me.

"Randy, what were you doing in the news-van?"

"You didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"I'm one of Gale's cameramen. It's a job that I usually take before or after classes."

"I actually never knew that. Also why is Joel there too?"

"He's a helper."

"So, he's not a cameraman then?"

"Oh no, he is. He's just helping me with some equipment before he leaves off."

"But why does Gale need two cameramen?"

"Joel wanted to help along, and he knows a bit more equipment than I do."

I left out a small sound beneath my breath. "At this point, I'm just not paying attention to what goes on."

"No, you are. I just forget to tell you stuff."

"Then it is that." I smile, leaving Randy slightly annoyed. "Don't be like that." I chuckle as I ruffle Randy's hair. "Alright." Dead air rises for a bit until he spoke.

"Is Mickey with you at this time?" I shake my head.

"I told him to go without me for a reason."

"What is the reason?"

"To watch out for Sid."

"You heard, didn't you?"

"Hallie called me." He nods in understanding until I remember Sid. "Fuck, Sid!" I ran off, turning around to give both Randy and Joel a wave. "I'll see you guys later!" Randy waves back, so did Joel once he turned around.

I lean back to the wall at the same time Sid left the door. "Hey N/n, I'm ready. You wanna go to our next class?" I nod as she takes hold on my arm, taking us to our next class. She didn't seem to notice the news-van and I'm glad, so neither journalist would catch her eye and march towards her.