Mindfuck | Amber Freeman

T W O

2 | Sam's back

Amber

My eyes narrowed, my fingernails digging into the wood of the picnic table. What the hell was Cole doing talking to Scarlett? My anger ten-folded when she smiled gently at him, seemingly thanking him for something.

Well, now I know who's next to go. She turned around, making my eyes go back to normal and my hands innocently in my lap. "Hey, guys," her soft voice greeted us as she sat beside me. I sent her a smile.

Fuck, she was so beautiful. Even when it was obvious she had been crying for hours. I hate that I was the reason, but it had to be done. I needed Tara gone, or, well, not in the picture, as for right now. She'll be gone soon enough.

I wasn't paying attention to anything Wes was saying, my eyes never left Scarlett. Her slim hand came up to tuck a piece of her long, black hair behind her ear. Her dark green eyes were downcast, looking at Wes.

Soon, Chad and Liv came, and I could have sworn I saw Liv glare at Scarlett. God, I couldn't wait to kill all of them. Then it could just be me and Scarlett. Just how it should be.

I wasn't stupid to think she'd be okay with all of this, but she wouldn't have a choice. She'd grow to love me, I knew that much. The conversation somehow found it's way back to Tara, as it seemed it always did.

Tara was one of my closest friends, and I cared for her, I wouldn't lie. But she's gotten too close to Scarlett. Scarlett was mine. Not Coles, not Tara's, not even fucking Chads. I would do what had to be done, besides, though I knew I cared, I felt nothing but sick satisfaction as I plunged that blade so deep into Tara's stomach.

Scarlett's eyes suddenly widened at the conversation everyone else was having, and she got that look I knew meant she was starting to get freaked out. Instinctively, I reached out my hand to grab her thigh. Instantly, she calmed down, turning her head to look towards me.

"Hey," I spoke softly. "It's okay. You're brother is going to be fine, alright?" I rubbed my thumb across her jean-clad thigh soothingly.

Jayden would be fine. I just needed to get Scarlett under control, make sure she would do everything I told her to. I wasn't a monster, I wouldn't hurt a child. But if she proved to not listen, and the threat wasn't working, I'd have no choice but to go after her parents.

She cared for them enough to listen.

Even though Scarlett had calmed down, my hand never left her thigh.

Scarlett

It hurt me seeing Tara laying in that hospital bed. I approached her and sat down on the left side of her, grabbing her hand into mine. "Tara—"

"Nope." She cut me off instantly, waving her free hand. "Don't say it, Scar. There was nothing you could have done. Okay? The killer would have most certainly hurt you, if not kill you."

"I'm not so sure about that, Tara," I let out a laugh and raised my arm up, flexing it. There was nothing to flex, but I was imagining there was. "Look at my muscles. I could take down any ghostface."

"Hell yeah you could, Lettie." Chad gave me a high five. I dropped my hands back into my lap. I went to talk, but I was stopped by the sound of the door opening. I turned my head, my eyes widening as I saw Sam walk through the door.

Everyone stood up, excluding me. Sam knelt down beside Tara and placed her hand on her younger sisters arm. "How are you feeling?"

Tara ignored the question, and instead, said; "you came."

"Of course I came." Sam whispered. She looked over her shoulder. "This is my boyfriend, Richie." Sam stood up and moved out of the way, walking towards the group of teenagers.

"It's so nice to meet you. I'm so sorry if I'm intruding." Richie smiled, and then immediately apologized.

"Nice to meet you, too." She nodded in response.

Sam took her time hugging Chad, Mindy, and Wes, and then she looked towards me with a smile. I stood up and quickly embraced her. She hugged me tightly, rubbing my back as she pulled away.

"These are Chad and Mindy, the twins. Wes, and then Scarlett. I use to babysit them all."

"Which is always how I liked to he introduced," Wes laughed.

"And Amber, hey."

At the mention of her name, Amber sent a small, "Hi. Nice to see you," a fake smile on her lips as she did.

"H-hi, I'm Richie." Richie smiled.

She gave her a weird look. "Hi."

"Where's mom?" Sam looked around the room, noticing the presence of the missing woman.

"She's stuck at a conference in London. She called me earlier." Tara explained.

Amber lightly scoffed. "Yeah, for all of ten minutes." Tara looked down to her lap. "Uh, look guys, Tara's really tried. Maybe we should just give her some space."

"Not you, Sam." Tara called, as everyone began to leave the room. "I want you to stay."

"But the rest," Chad nodded, and we all left the room.

The night was silent as I walked through the dark halls of my home, rubbing my eyes softly as a yawn escaped my lips. I pushed open the door to my room and crawled back into bed, snuggling under the large amount of blankets I had.

A soft breeze blew across my face, calming me down and making me sigh. I felt a dip in the bed, but my eyes felt too heavy to open, and soon enough, ignoring the feeling someone was beside me, I drifted back off to sleep.

Amber

I watched Scarlett as her breathing evened out and looked over to the open window, watching as the moonlight filtered in and the curtains danced in the wind.

She really should be more careful and lock her windows when there's a killer around.

A vibrating noise split through the room, drawing my eyes away from Scarlett's sleeping form and to her now lit up phone on her nightstand. Slowly, I stood up and grabbed it.

My blood boiled. Why was Cole texting her? At midnight, no less. I swiped up on the screen, typing in her password and went to his contact, being careful not to click on the chat so it wouldn't say the text message was read.

I grabbed my own phone out of my pocket and took a screenshot of his number. Someone wouldn't live to see the sunrise, I thought as I turned off her phone and placed it back down.

And I'd definitely make him suffer, for thinking he could have her and for ruining this. My hand trailed her jaw, watching as she shifted the smallest bit. "I'll see you soon, Scar."

I left her room, choosing not to go through the window where I had come from originally, because the only person who was home was her brother. I unlocked the door, but paused. A small smirk made its way on my lips as I walked back up to her room.

Scarlett

The sunlight woke me up. Which was surprising because usually on the weekends, it's my brothers loud shouts. He's a very aggressive zombie killer.

I slipped off the bed and looked over to my window, which was blowing warm air into the room. I frowned, tilting my head. I walked over and closed it. I knew before I went to bed last night I shut it.

And then I remembered when I got up last night to use the bathroom it was also open. I wanted to brush it off, but I couldn't. What with the person who attacked Tara and the weird phone call, I didn't think that was the best idea.

I turned around and paused in my tracks. I walked over to my desk, sitting a small piece of paper sitting there. It was folded up, and had my name scrawled on the top.

I grabbed it and unfolded it, my breath catching. My eyes widened as I stared down at the note in fear. I looked back over to my window, and then back down to the note.

You look so beautiful when you sleep.