Two Years

4.) Shawn

"Shawn!" a female voice bellowed loudly "Get down here and look at the news!"

The blonde boy, who had been resting comfortably in his bed, was suddenly jolted awake by the shrill tone of his mother's voice. He rolled his eyes and let out a heavy sigh before sitting up in his bed to look for a shirt.

"Coming ma!" he rolled his eyes.

"It's probably some sappy human interest story," he thought while making his way out of the room, "I need my own apartment."

"Shawn, they're about to play it!" Mrs. Holland called out again, urgency obvious in her voice.

"I'm coming ma! Jesus Christ," he mumbled walking into their living room, "you know you have two other children at home that you can yell-"

He stopped dead in his tracks when the words being spoken by the pretty blonde reporter on TV became clear to him.

"Police were called around 4am to check on a disturbance on Forrest Avenue, more specifically, at John Adams High School."

Mrs. Holland's eyes were glued to the large flat screen, a look of worry present in her face. A dreaded feeling of déjà vu flowed throughout Shawn's body, and he was nearly paralyzed from fear.

"Upon their arrival, police discovered the body of twenty-year old Evan Robbins, who had been stabbed to death."

"No no no," He thought while slowly sitting down on the couch, "this isn't happening."

"This crime is eerily similar to the infamous string of murders that took place right here in Northville two years ago. Four high school students and three others were brutally stabbed to death before the murders mysteriously ceased. Police have yet to say if they believe these crimes are related, but either way this is a frightening way to bring in the holidays. Back to you Dan."

"Do you think it's the same guy?" his mother asked.

"I'm sure it's not." Shawn responded quietly, hoping that a calm facade would ease his mother's worries. The reality of the situation was that he was panicking in a way he never knew possible. After excusing himself from the living room, he raced back to his room and closed the door.

"Is he really back?"

Two years earlier:

"Did you guys hear that they let that dude go?" Ryan asked, lighting a joint, taking a hit, and then passing it to Jade.

"You're going to have to be more specific Ry." Jade replied in a snarky tone, taking a drag.

"Lena Dixon's neighbor, duh."

"How was I supposed to guess that? You could have been talking about the Golden State Killer for all I know." she argued, knowing that she wouldn't be arguing with her friend like this if she were sober.

"Jade, shut up," Shawn interjected, "where did you hear that, Ryan?"

"My mom told me. She said she heard it from Seth Headon, and he heard it eavesdropping on his dad's phone calls. Why he told my mother this information, I wish I knew."

"Sheriff Headon's son right? Isn't he in our class." Shawn asked, taking the joint from Jade's hands.

"Seth sits next to you in government. One of the football douchebags who wear their letterman jackets every single day to remind you that they are, in fact, a football douchebag." Jade stated with a hint of bitterness in her voice.

A startling knock at the basement door interrupted their conversation, and Shawn froze, praying to any higher power listening that his parents hadn't decided to come home early. The door suddenly began to creak open and the sound of footsteps became clear. When a head of thick auburn hair became apparent, the three simultaneously let out a deep sigh of relief.

"What's going on?" Maya asked cautiously after noticing the worried expressions on her friends faces.

"They let stalker dude loose." Ryan stated.

"Stalker dude?" Maya asked him curiously, "Are you talking about Lena's neighbor?"

The three of them all nodded, afraid to speak, knowing how much the situation already frightened her. The redhead walked towards their little circle and slid down to the carpeted floor, sitting Indian style. Shawn ran his hand through his thick blonde locks, sighed, and handed her what was left of Ryan's joint.

"You probably need this more than we do."

"Thanks," she smiled sheepishly before inhaling and then exhaling a mouthful of smoke, "so her neighbor didn't kill her?"

"No," Ryan began cautiously, "he admitted to being a creeper, watching her through her bedroom window and shit, but apparently he's clean."

"Wait, how can they even know he's innocent? It's been, what, forty-eight hours?" Jade interrupted.

"He told Sheriff Headon that he was working at the hardware store when it happened. Customers backed him up and security cams placed him there too." The raven haired boy replied, feeling slight satisfaction that he had the most information to relay.

"So basically what you're saying is," Maya began, "there's a murderer on the run in Northville?"

The four teenagers looked at each other, worried expressions plastered on their faces. As everyone pondered what this meant, Ryan decided to break the silence with a fitting quip.

"Well shit."