𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐄𝐍

𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕝𝕠𝕘𝕦𝕖

 A single branch snapped underfoot, the sharp sound piercing through the quiet autumn night like the swipe of a blade. Two shadowed figures weaved in and out of the dim street lamps that cast a haunting orange glow over the empty courtyard, their silhouettes were barely visible in the fog that floated in a thick layer above the ground. They were grateful for the natural camouflage. Being spotted wasn't an option anymore.

Not now.

Not with you so close.

Sinking to their knees behind a tall patch of undergrowth, they looked up to the tall, brick building that loomed over them. Your dorm room was on the third floor, the sixth window across. It took two years of trial and error, two years of close-calls and petty highway kills, but they finally did it. They finally found you.

The taller of the two figures groaned impatiently and readjusted his weight. "Can't we--"

"Wait," the shorter one replied definitively in a low hiss, eyes unmoving from the beam of faint warm light that escaped from between your curtains. For months now, he and his counterpart had been forced to live off of these faraway glances and the faintest traces of your presence in a crowd. But after so long, just seeing you no longer satisfied that itch inside of him. He wanted to touch you, hold you. He wanted you to see him back.

It was torture to prevent himself from reaching out and ghosting his hands over your skin whenever the opportunity presented itself, but it would all be worth it in the end. At least, that's what he told himself to keep his urges in check.

The taller figure whined and started bouncing his knee restlessly against the frosted grass. He was cold and every fiber of his being was telling him to just go inside and get you. But despite these urges, he knew his friend was right. "I just wanna--"

"Not yet."

"Billy, I promised her!"

Dark eyes whipped around to glare at the boy who had dared to raise his voice above a whisper. From the perspective of a bypasser, their conversation could be mistaken for the sounds of dead leaves scraping against the pavement. This had been meticulously planned.

"That's not my fault," Billy tsked, shaking his head and looking back up at the window. The light was on but he hadn't seen you yet. You were usually coming back from the library around this time. A few more minutes without seeing you, he would have no choice but to go out looking. He had to make sure you were alright. "You risked enough to take that picture of her last week, Stu."

The street lamp beside them flickered before dying off altogether, painting their stretch of sidewalk in darkness. A quiet chuckle sounded and Stu tried desperately to wipe the smile off of his face before Billy decided to hit him. "To be fair, it was a good picture," he said, lowering his voice for good measure and sinking deeper into the shrubbery.

"You think every picture of her is a good picture."

"I don't see your point."

Both voices died off in an instant as a shadow passed in front of your window, blocking the pool of light for a split second. Both boys stiffened their shoulders and ended their conversation short in order to pay better attention to the task at hand. 

You.

They knew your schedule by heart: When you woke up, when you slept in, when and where you had your classes, what nights you went to parties, what nights you spent waiting by the phone for any news from home. From them.

The shadow darted behind the glass again and Billy's breath hitched. It was you. There was no surprise there, but his heart always began to race whenever you were around. This was the case for Stu as well. 

 They watched you for a few minutes as you paced back and forth, putting things away and talking to your roommate who was just out of view. They almost killed her at the beginning of the year, but they knew it would probably come back and bite them in the ass later on. Besides, they didn't want you to be mad at them. It was already bad enough that you had to experience their little fuck up in Woodsboro.

They were immature back then. Amateurs. But they spent their long months away perfecting their craft and studying up on the infamous killers that came before them. Myers, Vorhees, Krueger. Now they actually knew what they were doing and they were eager to show you what they had learned.

A scuffle of fabric sounded and Billy looked down to see Stu digging through a familiar black bag. It belonged to you once upon a time and it was the only thing he had been able to grab before the two made their quick getaway. Stu took it with him everywhere they went and there was nothing he could say to convince him to do otherwise.

After a moment, he produced two small items from the bag. A mobile cellphone with a long antenna and a blocky white device with multiple buttons and switches down the side. It was the voice modulator.

 He was about to bring the device to his lips, your number already plugged into the phone, when Billy pulled him back. "Dude," Stu murmured, sounding wounded. "I just wanna hear her voice, that's all."

"As soon as you hear it, you'll want to say something to her. Trust me, we just have to wait."

"How much longer?" The desperation was nearly dripping from his lips. 

A glimpse of movement caught their eye and they both looked up once more to see the image of you flopping down on your twin bed, fiddling with something in your hands before tossing it aside on the mattress and rolling over to prop your arms up under your chin, staring down at the phone on your bedside table. It was part of your nightly routine, waiting for the phone to ring. They didn't know for sure, but something told them that it was their call that you waited for every night. 

Billy sighed and let go of Stu's arm, shoving it away from him as he did so. "Not long," he assured in his hushed voice, subconsciously creeping back into the shadows to avoid being seen. "Not long at all." 

 (A/N: HEY GUYS I ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING!!!! I really like this. Like, I really really like this. I do want to warn you guys that it's definitely not going to be as good as Final Girl because the sequel was so vastly different from the original, movie-wise. I have the rest of the book planned out already but things might change along the way. Let me know what you think!!)