Final Girls

Chapter Twenty

Sidney

It was dark when Yn and I pulled up to my house. The lights were still on, which surprised me because Mom usually went to bed at this time. I chalked it up to her waiting for me to get home safely, though, so I didn't dwell on it further.

"Let's go," I said to Yn.

We opened our doors and climbed out of her car. I waited for her to collect her overnight bag from the backseat before shutting our doors and we approached my front door.

Yn decided to stay the night. She didn't want to be alone after we visited Sapp and their mom was never around, so I asked if she wanted to have a sleepover and she said yes, so she packed a bag before visiting Sapp and then we had dinner with Tatum. Now we're home, ready to enjoy the rest of our night.

I pulled out my house key from my pocket and unlocked the door. "Mom, I'm home! I brought Yn; she's staying over tonight!" I called out as we walked through the threshold. Yn closed the door behind us and placed her bag down beside the door.

My mom didn't respond and the air had an eerie stillness to it that instantly put me on edge.

"Mom?" I waited for a moment, but she still never answered me.

That feeling of dread in my stomach grew stronger. Why wasn't she answering me? Mom never ignored me like this…

"Maybe she's asleep?" Yn suggested from behind me.

Instead of answering, I moved further into my house, my steps echoing loudly in the stillness. Realistically, Yn's claim that Mom could be sleeping could be right, but whenever she was expecting me back home after I've been gone all day, she'd stay up long enough to make sure I was safe before going to bed. Even when she was going through her nightly routine, she made sure we at least saw each other before we retired to our rooms.

Something was wrong, I could feel it…

As I neared the hallway, I gasped when I saw a figure hurrying out of the backdoor.

"Sid? You okay?"

Ignoring Yn, I stared at the backdoor for a moment, shock coursing through me when I recognized the coat. It was Cotton Weary, but what was he doing in my house, alone, with my mom?

A sinking feeling hit me. There were rumors in Woodsboro about my mother, rumors that she was a slut who didn't care about anything other than spreading her legs for every man in town. Everyone claimed that she was incapable of staying faithful to her husband and that she had affairs with anyone with a heartbeat, regardless of their marital status, and that those affairs have destroyed many relationships and marriages.

I didn't want to believe that about my mother, the woman who raised and loved me my entire life, who always put on a smile whenever my dad came home from work like she was happy to see him, who supported all of my decisions no matter how contradictory they'd be to her opinions…I didn't want to believe that she'd ever do this to my father, that she would prove all of those people right, but if Cotton was here, then what happened between them? Did she let him in? Did they really have sex?

What horror show was I about to walk into?

I hurried to my parents' bedroom and turned on the light, and what I saw was worse than I'd imagined…

A scream ripped free from my chest, burning my lungs and throat as I saw my mother lying on her bed in her nightgown, blood covering every square inch of the room. There were multiple stab wounds on her chest, her stomach, her back…they were deep and still leaking blood. Literally every white surface was colored red.

I couldn't stop screaming, my heart pounding in my ears. I didn't even notice that Yn was there until I felt her arms wrap around me. I just kept screaming and crying for my mother.

"Sidney! Sid! Come on, we need to get out of here!" Yn was calling out to me, trying to get me to move.

"No!" I shouted, struggling against her. "No, we need to do something! MOM!!!!!"

"Sid, Sid, she's gone! Sid!"

"No, no, no," I whimpered, tears endlessly streaming down my face as my strength faded as quickly as it came. I slumped against her, unable to take my eyes off of my mother. I could barely hear Yn's grunts as she carried my dead weight, my feet dragging lifelessly as we retreated from the gory scene.

Suddenly we were in the kitchen again and she sat me at the table, making sure I was secure before stepping away. I felt like I couldn't breathe as I stared down at the table, unable to picture anything other than the sight of my mother, brutally murdered on the bed she and my father slept in—the same bed that I sought refuge in whenever I had a nightmare, my small body curled around her warmth—with her limbs splayed and her nightgown raised just above her knees.

"Sid," I could barely feel Yn's hand on my shoulder. "Sid, do you want me to call someone? Your dad? Tatum? Billy?"

Billy. My boyfriend, the boy I loved. I wanted to see him. I wanted to feel his arms around me and focus on the smell of his cologne, not the metallic scent of blood that seemed to permeate this house now.

"Billy," I murmured, almost so lowly that she couldn't hear me, but she did. As she grabbed my phone and hit Billy's speed dial, I felt cold. My mom was dead, violently stolen from me in a blur of blood and knife wounds, and Cotton Weary killed her.

YN

When I didn't get Billy at his house I called Stu's. My voice was shaky as I tried to hold back a sob from crawling up my throat. I begged for Stu to come over to Sidney's with Billy. Told him something horrible had happened. "Call the cops! We'll be there soon."  That's what I did once I hung up with him. I dialed 911, told them what the emergency was, answered questions the best I could, and gave them the address.

There was so much blood. The room was covered in it. It was on the walls, the ceiling, the carpet was soaked in it. The cream color of it was now a deep red. I was on the kitchen floor with Sidney, my arms wrapped around, one hand holding her head to my chest as her body shook with sobs. How could something like this happen in a small quiet town?