Duality (slashers x reader)

27. Paranoid

Knock knock.

I practically jumped up from my seat on the sofa as I bounded towards the hall and pulled the front door open violently, Sarah's shocked eyes meeting mine as she stood in the doorway.

'A lot more violent than expected.' She chuckled and I laughed along with her, stepping aside as she brushed past me into the house.

The house was smallish, not as large as the other houses I'd been in in the dreams (or real life), but definitely not too small: cosy. Though to be fair, I didn't know how many of us lived here, or even who my family were in this universe. However, that hadn't mattered before so I wasn't going to concern myself with it.

I followed her back into the living room, sitting next to her on the sofa opposite the fireplace. She had such a bright smile, I felt so warm inside whenever I looked at her. She turned to me and seemed to study my face a little before speaking.

'Are you okay? You seem... really giddy.' I laughed lightly, not entirely sure how to respond.

'Yeah, no, I'm absolutely fine. Just... in a good mood, I guess.' She smiled wide and I couldn't help but reciprocate.

'Well, I don't know why I'm questioning it actually, Halloween is your day. Speaking of, I need to tell you something.' She paused, waiting for a reaction from me, but I had genuinely no clue what she was going to say so I just looked at her, waiting for her to continue. She sighed, before continuing. 'I know you always love doing a horror movie marathon, but I can't this year. My mum told the neighbours, like, a month ago that I'd babysit for them tonight and apparently didn't think to tell me until yesterday. And obviously it's too late to back out now. I'm really sorry, Y/N, I know how much you look forward to this every year.'

I was dumbfounded. Even though I'd just learned that we apparently did a horror movie marathon every year, I still struggled not to feel heartbroken at the missed opportunity. But that wasn't the main thing nagging at the back of my head. No, the main thing was the fact that Sarah was babysitting. In Haddonfield. On Halloween night.

Well, hold on. I don't know for sure that we're in Haddonfield. Or even that Michael Myers would be the villain here. Sure it's Halloween. And 'm in the late 70s right now. But that doesn't tell me anything for sure. I'd just jumped to conclusions. Yeah, we were in 1979, so after the events of Halloween and Halloween II, but before Halloween III. So it could be a situation like the third movie - where Michael wasn't even here at all. No, I didn't know anything for sure. 

I hadn't meant to stay silent, thinking to myself for so long, but Sarah seemed to take my lack of response as a sign of my concern.

'No, I know, there was that whole thing last year with that girl and her friends. And I told my mum that exact thing, that didn't it seem extremely dangerous? Especially since obviously we live kind of near where it all happened - like, I can sort of see the house from my window - but she assured me it would be perfectly safe because they caught the guy that did it.'

She stopped, sighing, while I just stared incredulously at her. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

'Have you never heard of copycat killers? What if someone decided they wanted to recreate last year? Or even! What if that guy escapes wherever he is?! He did it last year, what's stopping him from doing it again?!' I rambled to Sarah, trying desperately to get my point across to her, until she grabbed my hands, cutting me off.

'Trust me Y/N, I'll be absolutely fine. You've seen my neighbours house. They are loaded. I'm sure they'll have invested in some good house security over the years. They have a dog as well, and I'm sure it could attack if needs be. But it won't need to. I know.'

I hesitated, still unsure, and she clearly saw this, as she gripped my hands tighter and looked me in the eyes, an unspoken message. Trust me.

Reluctantly, I nodded, knowing there was nothing I could do to assure her otherwise. She smiled, a warm smile, and let go of my hand, leaning back into the cushions of the sofa.

'So, how long until your aunt gets back?'

                                                                        ~*~

'There's no way anyone believed this could actually happen. How did no one else in the town know about all these hoards of tourists going missing?'

'Well, Texas is a massive state and there's no one around for miles. They could easily get away with this.'

Noah and Sam were locked in a heated debate as the screams of Sally Hardesty punctuated the air. This hadn't been my movie choice - it felt a little too meta for me - but Amy had never seen it, and Sam insisted she just had to. She was perched, dead silent, on the end of the sofa, eyes wide and unmoving from the screen in front of her. Noah sat beside her, only paying attention to Sam on the floor in front of him and their argument over the realism of the situation. I was on the other end of the sofa, unable to control my gaze drifting to Sarah on the armchair, who didn't seem to notice.

'Look at all those bones. You're telling me no one thought to ask why so many people entered Texas and never came out?'

'Listen, do you know how big Texas is? It's probably not noticed. And even if it is, they're probably really behind, technology-wise, so there's not that much they could do about it.'

'Yeah, but-'

'Oh my god, give it a rest!' Sarah threw her head back dramatically and dragged her hands down her face. Sam and Noah were silenced, their faces a mix of fear and surprise. 'Who cares about how realistic this is?! This is more likely to happen than other movies - like Jaws!' Noah's face lit up and he sat forward, when Sam quickly cut him off.

'No no! No way! Jaws could absolutely happen. Sharks are a real danger!'

'Oh you don't seriously believe that!' Sam quickly swiveled round to face Noah, a look of disbelief on his face. 'Sharks hardly ever attack humans. Dolphins are the ones you need to look out for.'

'What?! Please tell me you're joking. There's no way dolphins - the adorable, large fish-things that do flips at zoos - are more dangerous than sharks - giant, freaking monsters with knives for teeth!'

Sarah looked over to me and groaned, and I laughed a little at how badly her attempt to make them stop had failed. She rose from her seat and began to walk out of the living room.

'Yes, loads more humans have been attacked by dolph- where are you going?' Sarah turned back to Noah, who was watching her with a look of apparent offence.

'Bathroom. Is that alright with you?' Her voice was dripping with sass, clearly winding him up.

'No absolutely not. You've got to sit here and piss yourself of course. Why'd you think you'd be allowed to go?' He rolled his eyes, responding with even more attitude than Sarah, who just laughed sarcastically before continuing down the hall. 

As soon as I couldn't hear her footsteps anymore, I stretched past Sam to the remote control on the table. I pressed the pause button, which earned me a loud groan from Noah and many protests from Sam. For the first time since the movie had started, Amy turned her head away from the screen towards my face, and I saw a look of utter terror in her eyes. Poor girl, no wonder she'd been so quiet. 

I cleared my throat and chose my words wisely, aware I didn't have a lot of time at all.

'I need your guys' help.'