Psycho Killer

Take 10: Bravos & Encores

I knock on the door. I don't pray a lot. Now I am. Praying that they'll let me in. I'm supposed to be dead. I'm supposed to be that corpse on the ground near the dorms. Here I am, standing at the cafeteria doors. Talking to them as if I'm not supposed to be dead.
"We need to talk," I say, there are whispers. I cannot hear them. The door opens. Enid doesn't stop before her arms are wrapped around me.
"I thought you were dead." She sobbed, shoving at my shoulder.

"I'm sorry." I shuffle us inside.

"It was you?" Tina stands up, pointing at me. I was hoping Enid would have another moment before this happened. No, I was hoping for more.

"What?" Enid steps back. Her eyes look over my outfit. To the mask in my hand. "You were the masked psycho killer?" Enid yells. "You made me think you were dead."
"What is wrong with you?" Tina shouts. "You killed our friends. You've tortured us." I don't look at them, but instead at Kip and Kiren, whose eyes narrow as they look me over.

"What were you thinking? You psychopath." Tina berates me.
"I don't understand." Jodee looks at me with more disgust than a human ever has before. "Were you behind all of this?" She asks before she accuses.

"Of course he was," Tina shouts. "He put the rats in your room. He's the one who locked me on the roof. The one who got Kip bitten by a wild dog. The reason my uncle is curled up under a shower is because he put fucking spiders in his room. What is wrong with you?" Tina shoves at my chest, no longer scared of the man behind the mask.

Not like I am.

"I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. You ruined everything." She shouts with more body than you'd expect from her tiny form.

"You really did this." Jodee shook her head.

My eyes are stuck on Enid, who looks up at me. She hasn't moved, hasn't hit me since she first realized. The recognition of her actions with the psycho killer is kicking in. I wasn't expecting that. Honestly. I just needed the mask to get around. But I crave her in a way that made it an unquestionable action.

"Guys." Kip finally speaks up.

"I swear to God if you've laid a single hand on Olivier since he entered that shower room, I will spend the rest of my life in prison if it means you're dead. Shredded into a million pieces." Tina threatens.
"Tina, come on." Jodee pulls Tina's arm.
"No." Tina whips out of her grip. "You've killed people and you can stand here looking all sorry like that." I'm still looking at Enid.

"Guys," Kip says again.

"What was it for anyway, Tarek? Huh? What do you get from this? What did we do to you?" Tina shoves my chest again.

"Guys," Kip shouts, silencing the room.

"What?" Tina snaps at him.
"That's not the mask of the guy who hurt Afryea. Or the outfit." Kiren explains.

"So, what? He has a change of clothes."
"No, he doesn't," Enid whispers. "I could see this mask when Afryea was thrown out the window." Enid stares blankly.
"So, so, what are you saying?" Tina's frustration is building. She throws her arms around, ready to implode.

"I'm not denying that Tarek's done something stupid." Kip acknowledges. "But I don't think his ultimate plan was to walk in and confess, either."
"Can someone just spit out what the hell we're talking about?"
"I think... correct me if I'm wrong..." Jodee swallows. "Are you saying there's another person dressed up as a masked psycho out there?" She looks between Kip and me.

"Yes." Kip nods.
"That's why I'm here," I confess. "I was filming you guys secretly as I did things like the rats and the... the chicken was just painted... little things like that. Stupid things to induce actual fear. Got the creative process on tape to make this as real as possible. But things started going sideways."
"No kidding." Tina glares.

"Yes, I locked you on the roof, but I had nothing to do with the dog. I wasn't looking for that kind of legitimacy. The spiders weren't me either. I hate spiders like you hate heights like Jodee hates rats. No one was physically harmed by me. that's not what I wanted, I just wanted to come out the other side of this with a perfect encapsulation of our task."
"Horror is in the eye of the beholder," Kiren whispers in realization.
"That's insane," Jodee whispers.

"Someone knew what I was planning and is using it for their own purposes. If I get the blame, they get away with it."
"Why did you continue?" Tina asked. I don't know whether it was something I said or something in my eyes that she seems to be interrogating, but if I am honest about this, she'll believe me. Hate me all the same, but for the moment, I won't be the bad guy.

"I don't know."The truth spills from my lips. "I didn't know how to say what I was doing and separate my actions from theirs." Tina nods, considering it all.

"I thought you were dead." Enid looks me in the eye.
"That was an honest mistake. I just chucked some clothes on the mannequin and went for it. It was never meant to look like me." I take a chance, bringing her into a hug. She allows me to, holding me just as tight. "I just want to get you guys out here."
"Get us out of here. I don't care, but I couldn't care less if you die in the process either." Tina spits. "Even without this other psychopath, you would have left us scarred." She shakes her head. "All for a good film." She turns her back on me.
"And I swear to god if this is all a part of your little scheme, I'll make sure you suffer." I always knew Tina was a badass under that cool veneer.

We turn around as a slow clap catches our attention.

"Bravo. Bravo. Yes, yes, surprise, surprise. Locking the door is all well and good unless the bad guy has a key. Which I do." He holds a key up before our faces. Right there in front of us is the mask trying to frame me for his actions. For the blood on his hands. He throws a knife cleanly across the room, slicing straight into Kiren's left eye. "Now, let's make this more interesting."

"No." Kiren mumbles and collapses to the floor. Dead.

"Kiren," I yell, but I know there's no saving him. He's gone.

"You really did make it all too easy for me, Tarek." The voice sounds familiar to me, but I can place it with the strange distortion they're forcing. "Now do me the honour of running and screaming before you die."

Everyone does just that, aside from me. I run straight at him. His other knife slides right into my shoulder as I tackle him to the ground.

"No, no, we can't. please." Enid's distress forces me to keep fighting even as the knife is ripped out of my flesh. "Please, I know he's hurt you, hurt us, but I can't let him die." She pleads for my sake, even after all this. She pleads for my sake. I'm stabbed again, pulling a yell from my throat.

"Please." She begs through sobs, "Don't take me away from him."
"Take her." I fight, yelling at Kip and the girls to get her far away from here. "Get her out of here. Please." I plead with just as much fight as her.

"No." Enid shrieks. As the knife rises to plunge into me again, the man is thrown to the side. Enid clings onto his back, throwing her weight around to get him off me.

"Enid, no," I yell, pulling at the man's wrist to try to stop him from slicing her arms, but it's no use. He's too agile. She doesn't let go. The hunting knife slashes into her. She holds on for dear life. Kip is at her side in seconds, then the girls who hit him with everything they can grab hold of.

Even with the four of them, I can't see us surviving. I turn around, dragging myself along the floor to my bag. With my phone in hand, I remove the service blocker from the college and call the police.

Blood pours from my wounds. I lose control over most of my body. The soundtrack to my slow death is my friends, some I barely know, others I love more than I can say, trying to survive. In pain. Dying.

This is my fault.

All I have to think about as the world gets colder is that out of all the horrors beheld in movies, the police arriving too late is one I can confirm is a myth. There are within minutes of my call. Shoots are fired. Someone's dead but I don't know who.