Liar - Ethan Landry x Reader/OC

Chapter 4: The suspects

It had been thirty minutes since everyone arrived in my room and were bombarding me with questions and hugs, well everyone except Ethan. He ignored me and didn't even ask if I was ok or anything. He didn't do anything you would normally do if you knew someone who had a near-death experience. I knew he didn't like me or seemed not to like me, but I thought that maybe he'd be kind enough to ask me if I was ok, after all, I almost died. Two can play that game.

"Okay, nerds. As terrifying as this all is, I'm actually glad I get a chance to redeem myself for not calling the killers last time." Mindy said as everyone took their seats in my hospital room.

"Someone might want to close the door she's gonna get loud-" I say and Ethan does so without acknowledging me. I debated calling him a 'good boy' in a condescending way, but ultimately decided against making unnecessary drama.

"The way I see it, someone's out to make a sequel to the requel." Mindy continued.

"Whats a requel?" Anika inquired innocently.

"You're beautiful, sweetie, but let's hold questions to the end." Mindy said smiling at anika. They're such a sweet couple.

"Stab 1 took place in Woodsboro, but Stab 2 took place in college..." Mindy started before i cut her off.

"So you think the killer's copying the second movie?" I blurt out.

"Like an homage!" Chad said, and everyone made a face at that.

"What? You all I know took French, it should not be a surprise that I know that word." He responded, based off the looks.

That's one possibility. Heroes now in college? Check. Suspicious new characters brought in to round out the suspect list and/or body count?" Mindy continued as she looks to Quinn, Ethan, and Anika, "Check, check, and~ check."

"I don't like this-" Ethan said and I shot him a judgemental look.

"But! It cant only be about stab 2!" Mindy continued.

"Why not?" Tara asked.

"It would make sense if this were just a sequel. But we're not in a sequel, because nobody just makes sequels anymore." She paused for dramatic effect. "We're in a franchise. And there are certain rules to a continuing franchise."

"Had a feeling." Sam interrupted, rolling her eyes and I smiled a bit at her comment.

"Rule One, everything is bigger than last time. Bigger budget, bigger cast, bigger body count; longer chases, shoot-outs, beheadings - you gotta top what came before to keep people coming back!" Mindy ranted.

"Beheadings??" Chad asked nervously, taking notes.

Mindy looked at Chad weirdly before continuing, "Rule Two, whatever happened before... expect the opposite. Franchises only survive by subverting expectations; if the killers last time were whiny snowflake film nerds with Letterboxd accounts instead of personalities, you can bet the opposite will be true here, and that's not the worst part!"

"This is where she tells us the worst part," I say jokingly, and Ethan rolls his eyes at me. I just furrow my brows at his apparent sassiness.

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