Halloween of '84: You Better Fucking Run

9. Living a Nightmare

     No one thought to question if the shooter was even the loose killer. They just automatically assumed it. The only person who did was Brayden. Only because he was trying to convince himself his dream wasn't real.

     The next day, I paged everyone to meet us in the library during free period. This was important.

     "What's up? What's the emergency?" Vicky asked, walking up to us with Jack and Sammy right behind her.

     "Yeah, I'm curious, too.", Randy said walking a few feet behind with Ally.

     "Brayden has something he'd like to share with the group that he forgot to share last night." I said. I looked at him. His eyes were bloodshot from crying. Ten minutes before the crew showed up he broke down in the back of the library, telling me he was horrified, and didn't want to lose us.

     They all sat down, nervous for the words about to pour from Brayden's mouth like acid.

     "A couple nights ago.. Friday night, in fact... After Randy was shot. I had a nightmare. It was too real to forget. Too real to ignore, either. We were at the party. Lights were off. About 400 of us were crammed in Jack's house... The music was loud. People were dancing, smoking, singing, drinking, the whole nine yards. It was normal. It was the time of our lives. Then the screams flooded the music out. The blood flooded the alcohol out.. everyone by the front door, gone. Stabbed in the chest or head. People ran up stairs, ran through the back door, the garage, crawled through the windows. But he had more than a knife. He really is Leatherface. Just minus the fucked up face. He sawed Violet Garner's leg off. Cut through the rest of the football team. The baseballers, the skaters, the stoners in the kitchen. They tried to run. We tried to run. But he was too fast... Sammy.. then.. Jack... Randy pushed Ally into the kitchen and intercepted... Vicky and Corbyn ran... And Nick... Oh my god-" Brayden broke down again, shaking, crying, near mental breakdown.

     The whole group was frozen and pale. Randy held Ally's hand protectively. Jack was sweating and stiff. Sammy had her hands over her mouth. Vicky was looking down at her hands, trying to process what Brayden just announced. I felt terrible.

    Brayden... my best friend... of course this had taken a toll on him too. How could I have missed that. The only different part about his reaction is that he decided to look into it instead of worrying his ass off or feeding himself false hope. He said he had found clues. Shocking, horrible fucking clues... The group needed to strap in for this one.

  "Brayden," I started gently, "What you said last night. After everyone else left from Corbyn's. You said the clues matched up. What clues were you talking about?"

    Brayden composed himself. He wiped his eyes. He breathed. He reached for his bag. He pulled out a manilla folder.

   "I decided to look into all this shit. See if it was a lie or not. At least that's how it started at first. Randy got shot, and that's all the proof I needed. For a moment I tried to convince myself that it was just coincidence, but I would be a raging dumbass if I did. I thought it was a hoax before, and I laughed as I researched it in the paper and rewatched news broadcasts. I figured it would help me sleep at night, but it did the exact opposite after Randy got shot. Not only was the entire event traumatizing, but so was the case file. So were all the case files." Brayden said. He opened the folder, revealing photos, police files, and drawings of his own that he had sculpted from his dreams.

  "Sammy here, so kindly reminded me that her father is the head detective on this case. So I went to him first. I told him that I was curious, and he denied me answers. So I told him the truth. I told him that I had that horrendous dream. I told him I wanted to know why the hell this sick bastard came for our school. That I wanted to know why he came for Randy. I offered him help on catching this psycho. So he gave me everything he could. Hints and clues, reports, weird discoveries, the shootout case file, and Randy's hospital trip forms. He told me he wouldn't say anything about the party because he doesn't want to start a riot with the students. He doesn't want anyone protesting publicly or defacing something in protest, which could be a distraction for the WMPD, and an open window for the killer. He wants to catch this guy before Halloween. He said he needs to, or something would most definitely happen. Just like in my dream.." He finished. He spread out the documents across the table so we could see them. It was all so much to take in.

   "I think I'm going to be sick." Ally said, turning her head from the snapshot of a dog's dead body, slashed and dismembered. Nothing another animal could have done.

    Sammy croaked, "Dad said that he's been leaving a paper trail of blood and gore. And according to these files.. The locations.. They all-"

  "Lead up to the school... And beyond it too. It looks like he's purposely leaving footprints. Like he wants attention. And he's getting it by killing whatever comes across him." Randy pointed out.

 "But why would an already convicted killer that broke out of prison want to be found?" Jack asked. I just realized that he hadn't spoken a word this entire time. Just sat there, pale and afraid of the words pouring from Brayden's mouth.

   No one moved. They just stared at Jack. But I knew what he was asking. And for once I knew what to answer with.

"Fame."