SCREAM: Mother of All Secrets

Chapter 14

After the the talk with Erik's mother, he felt better(emotionally and mentally, not physically). He now feels understood and that he's not hiding any more secrets. Now he can sleep  a little bit easier tonight even though he is a serial killer's target. Erik can't wait to go home.

Someone knocking at his door wakes him up. Erik reaches for the table near his bed and grabs his glasses. Thanks to his visual aids, he realizes Fred is in the entryway sitting in a wheelchair towing behind him an IV bag. "You awake?" he jokingly asks.

"No." Erik replies and the two laugh. "How are you?"

"Well, I've recovered a full day since being stabbed." Fred says. "And it'll be awhile before I can step foot on the football field or the basketball court, or just pick up a baseball. But that's fine, I'm helping you stop a homicidal lunatic."

"Well, then this would be the perfect time to tell you that there is no lunatic." Erik jokes. "I made this elaborate plan so you would want to be a part of my life. And I'd somehow get you suspended from sports and you'd want to be around me more and I'd have you all to myself."

"Great plan." Fred continues the joke. "Except for the part when you told me the plan." The two laugh together. Fred sighs. "How are you?"

"I've been better." Erik replies. "Yesterday, I was held captive in a coffin for who knows how long. Today, I was being held against my will by a crazy guy in a mask. But on the plus side, I found out who my birth mother was."

"Really?" Fred asks. "That's great. Who is she?"

"Mrs. Robertson." Erik answers. Fred's eyes widen. "Yep. And I said was for a reason." Erik says with a depressed tone. "I still can't get that image out of my head."

"I'm so sorry." Fred apologizes.

Erik looks into his friend's eyes. He sees the pain reflecting back at him. Erik knows that Fred has experienced this pain before.

"I know how you feel." Fred states. "A couple years ago, I watched my mom die." Erik eyes widen like Fred did. "We were in the car after our school won a basketball game against the Hunters. We were going to celebrate by going out to dinner. But then she said she was losing feeling in her left arm and that she had trouble breathing. Her eyes were open, but she was already gone. I could've called for help, but car swerved off the road. I was unconscious for ten minutes. I woke up in an ambulance. I kept asking where my mom was, but no one would answer. After I was treated, my father told me that she suffered a heart attack. And there was no chance of saving her because after the car crashed, she flew through the windshield. Her body landed in the water and she sank. She had no chance."

"I'm sorry." Erik says.

"Don't be." Fred says. "I've moved on." A tear falls from his cheek. Fred turns so Erik doesn't see it, but he does see it. Fred discreetly wipes the tear and turns back toward Erik. "Can I tell you something?"

"Sure." Erik replies.

"That moment when my dad told me that you were missing, I was so scared. I thought the worst. I thought that you were going to die. And I was back in that horrible moment, back in that car with my mom when she passed. I felt like I couldn't do anything to help you. And I realized that you have become the most important person in my life."

"I can't be the most important person in your life." Erik argues.

"But you are." Fred says. "I think it all started that night when the killer posted all your journal entries on-line. When I read the first one, I just thought you were this obsessed lunatic that I'd need to file a restraining order on. But the more I read, the more I just realized that you are this really emotional person, but you hide it under this introvert exterior. And I also realized that no one that I know would ever write or say anything like that about me, not even Fiona. And that also made me realize how shallow all of my friends were. And what made it seem worse is that Fiona would never let me express myself."

"Are you getting to a point anytime soon?" Erik nervously asks.

"Yeah." Fred says. "There's something that I need to say." Fred really wants to say what's on his mind. He really wants to confess something that's been manifesting in his heart for the last few weeks, but it won't come out. "I..." he tries to say what he needs to. "I..." Fred can't say what he wants to,  so he says something else. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Erik senses something that Fred truly wants to say. "Is that all you needed to say?"

"Yeah." Fred lies. "That's all."

"Okay." Erik says. "Thanks for that. I feel much better."

"Glad to help." Fred says. "I'm gonna' go back to my room then." Fred starts pushing himself toward the door.

"See you later?" Erik asks.

Fred stops. "Yeah, see you later."

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Rhea parks her car in her usual spot. She turns the engine off, climbs out, and locks the doors. She strolls down the walkway and fondles he key chain to find her house key. She attempts to insert it into the lock, but she freezes when she realizes the door is slightly ajar.

"What the...?"

She pushes the door. It creaks as it it swings. Rhea steps in and reaches for the light switch. The lamps turn on and luminate the font hall and the living room.

"Hello?!" she calls and no one responds. "Tasha?! Is that you?!" She keeps waiting for a reply, but there is no one to do so.

She stands still in the entrance hall for some sort of movement or sound from somewhere in the house, but her expectations are left unsatisfied.

"Maybe I just forgot to close the door." She turns toward the door, but turns back when she hears something stampering down the stairs.

She gasps at the sound but then sighs when she realizes it was just the cat. "Meow." Zor'El cutely roars at the bottom of the stair case.

"You scared me, you little devil." Rhea says as she approaches the cat. She bends down and picks up the cat and she purs inher her arms. "Oh, I know you didn't mean to, though." Rhea strokes Zor'El's fur until she notices a red stain recently rubbed on her jacket. "What is that? Blood? Zor'El, are you bleeding?" she asks half expecting the cat to answer. She starts searching the cat for and cits, but there are none. All there is is the red stain on the fur of Zor'El's legs. "If you're not hurt, then where'd this blood come from?"

Rhea looks down a the floor where she picked up the cat and notices red paw prints. The prints are exactly where Zor'El was standing. Rhea puts down the cat and stands just inches away from the prints and sees that there are more coming from up the stairs.

Rhea decides to cautiously climb the stairs as to not be detected by anyone who may be in the house. She breathes slowly to calm her pounding heart. She bites her bottom lip to prevent herself from whimpering or crying.

She reaches the top step and turns down the hallway and follows the blood-like trail toward Erik's bedroom. Rhea approaches the bedroom door and grabs the handle. She breathes a few times before twisting the handle and opening the door.

She looks around the room and sees no sign of life. Then she notices lumps under the covers on Erik's bed. Rhea slowly walks, her shoes making quiet tapping when they make contact with the floor.

Rhea extends her arm and grabs onto the blanket. She hesitates before she rips off the tops cover.

She scream at the gruesome sight beneath the blanket. A blood covered woman lies on the bed. Rhea walks backward.

Rhea turns around when she bumps into someone behind her. She screams at the sight of the figure wearing a white mask in front of her.

She screams again when the intruder raises a knife above his head. The killer strikes downward. The knife penetrates Rhea's shoulder. Rhea collapses in pain. She grabs her wound and cries.

The killer kneel down and lifts Rhea off the ground.

"No! No! Put me down!" Rhea exclaims. "Please don't!"

The killer carries Rhea toward the window.

"No! Let me go! Stop!"

The killer rocks back and launches Rhea from his grip.

Rhea crashes through the plywood covering the already broken glass and flies out the window. She screams as loud as she can until she lands on the ground, laying inanimately.