Deception Or Exception

5. the suspects

𝐖𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬,
I sat in between Anika & Sam while Chad, Tara, & Ethan sat on the other bench. Quinn wanted to leave eagerly not wanting to waste her afternoon listening to some Ghost-Face nonsense, While Mindy was preparing to give her little presentation.

'Okay, nerds, listen up!' Mindy stated. 'As terrifying as all this is, I'm actually glad I get to redeem myself for not calling the killers last time.'

Chad pulled out his notebook.'Here we go' he whispered.

'It's fine, okay the way I see it, someone is out to make a sequel to the requel."

Anika raised her hand. 'Um, what's a requel?'

'Here we go.' I sighed

Mindy pointed a hand at her girlfriend. 'You're beautiful, sweetie, but let's hold questions until the end.' Anika gave her a pure smile.

'Stab 1 took place in Woodsboro.' Sam said remembering. 'Stab 2 took place in college.'

'So we think that the killer is trying to copy the movies?' Tara asked.

'That is one possibility'. Mindy agreed. 'Heroes now in college? Check! Suspicious new characters brought in to round out the suspect list and/or body count; Check, check, and check!'

'I don't like this' Ethan stated to the group earning a few glares.

'But it can't just be about Stab 2' Mindy said.

'Why not?'
'It would make sense if this were just a sequel, but we're not in a sequel. Because nobody just makes sequels anymore!"

There was a moment of silence.

'We're in a franchise!' Mindy kept going.
'And there are certain rules to a continuing franchise.'

Everyone looked around in worry as she began her rant. 'I had a feeling' Sam said.

'Rule one: Everything is bigger than last time!
bigger budget, bigger cast, bigger body count.
Longer chases, shoot-outs, beheadings. You got to top what came before to keep people coming back.'

Chad looked up confused. 'Beheadings?' He asked.

'Beheadings.' Mindy confirmed.
'Rule two; Whatever happened last time, expect the opposite, franchises only survive by subverting expectations. If the killers last time were whiny, snowflake film nerds with Letterbox accounts instead of personalities, you can bet the opposite will be true here. And rule three: No one is safe. Legacy characters? Cannon fodder at this point, usually brought back only to be killed off in some cheap bid for nostalgia. It's not looking too good for Gale and Kirby.'

We all sighed & looked around.

'Oh, and that's not even the worst part!' Mindy exclaimed.

'This is where she tells us the worst part guys!' Chad stated sarcastically.

'Thank you Sherlock Holmes!' I said back.

Mindy was ready to state. 'The worst part is franchises are just continuing episodic installments designed to boost an IP. Meaning the main characters are completely expendable now too. Laurie Strode, Nancy Thompson, Ellen Ripley, Sally Hardesty, Jigsaw, Tony Stark, James Bond... I mean, even Luke Skywalker all died so their franchises could live on, meaning it's not just the friend group. Any of us could go at any time, especially Tara & Sam.'