Scream: 2.1 - A Short Story

A college campus, an attractive… very attractive blonde sitting alone in a sorority house… She sat watching television and waited for a phone call that might or might not come. She could leave the confines of Omega Beta Zeta, but then what would happen if one of her sorority sisters called needing help. No, it was her duty to be on phone duty if someone needed her help. She sat watching the movie on the house television, but her attention was more on her conversation on the phone; the expanse of the structure around her intimidating her just a small bit. It wasn’t like there was a serial killer out there coming in after her. In the middle of her conversation, the other line chirped as she was talking.

“Excuse me…” She checked the other line. “Omega Beta Zeta…” Her red lips responded into the phone. Her body was sinking deeper into the huge sofa.

“Hello?” A voice responded.

“Yes?”

“Who’s this?” A confused male voice answered her.

“Cici…” She pulled her long blonde locks back as her other hand clicked the other channels. “Who’s this?”

“Who do you think?”

“Ted…” Cici rolled her eyes to the clock on the wall and sighed a bit. She thought it was her boyfriend. “Are you drunk? Hold on…” She clicked to the other line. “Ted’s on the other line. He sounds drunk. I’ll call you right back.”

“That guy only calls you when he’s drunk.” Her sorority sister, Sarah, answered her back. “Don’t go over there, Cici.”

“All right, all right, I’ll call you right back…” Cici clicked off that line was automatically returned to her other caller. She took a deep breath. Her eyes focused on the movie on the TV set but her mind more on her conversation. “Okay, Ted, you sound loaded. What’s up?”

“Who’s Ted?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, my bad…” Cici realized her error. Just who was she talking to? “I thought you were somebody else.”

“That’s okay.”

“Whom are you calling for?” Cici scowled a bit. “Nobody’s here.”

“Where is everybody?”

“We’re co-sponsoring the acid rain mixer at Phi Gamma Alpha tonight.”

“Why aren’t you there?” The voice asked.

“I’m sober sister.” Cici explained. “I need to be here in case a drunk sister calls and needs a ride.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Drink with your brain, that’s our motto.” Cici continued. “Whom are you calling for?”

“What if I said you?”

“What if I said good-bye?” Cici rolled eyes a bit unnerved.

“Why would you do that?”

“Why do you always answer a question with a question?”

“I’m inquisitive.”

“And I’m impatient.” Cici took another annoyed breath. “Do you want me to leave a message for someone?”

“Do you want to die tonight, Cici?”

Cici’s eyes rounded and she clicked off the phone with a mixture of fear and nervous tension. It was slowly building to a fearful sense she was being watched. She glanced around the sorority house and started realizing just how spooky the house was without her eleven other sisters with her. The phone chirped again. Trying to shoo off her feelings of dread, she answered it again.

“Omega Beta Zeta…” Her voice answered with a tone of nervous fear in it.

“So, was it Teddy?” It was Sara again.

“No some creep…” Cici struggled a bit to rise to her feet. She stood up erect on the floor again and lightly treaded toward the foyer. “…. Trying to scare me.”

She advanced upon the front entrance to lock it or at least check the lock.

“That movie Stab is bringing out all the crazies…” Sara told her.

There was a creak from an upper floor. Cici’s head cocked up to the noise.

“S***…” She didn’t like swearing. That word was an accident considering how spooky the house had become for her.

“What is it?” Sara asked through the phone. She had heard Cici curse, but she had not heard the reason for the word.

“I heard a noise.” Cici’s head cocked upward. She looked up the staircase looking for a person to appear… a scream ready in her lungs if anything appeared to her.

“Where?”

“Upstairs…” Cici nervously advanced on the stairs wondering if it was just the normal sound of the structure creaking from the cold night air or if they just had a resident ghost. Her senses became heightened, a tingling from the back of her skull screaming out danger to her, but what was it? Where was it?! She heard the creak again coming from directly over her head on the top landing. Whatever it was was on the top landing listening to her!! She accidentally cursed again, her regal blue eyes trying to see up and around the railings and rising stairs blocking her view. “Hello? Hello…” She tried calling.

Sarah was still on the phone. She was humming and mimicking the very thematic yet very appropriate theme from the Friday The 13^th movie. Cici did not need the connotations of what that famous theme implied.

“Stop that…”

“I can’t believe you’re alone in that house.” Sarah spoke.

“I don’t think I’m alone.” Cici was imagining all sorts of things with her. She could feel a presence near her. The upstairs landing creaked again. “I’m out of here!!” She turned and ran for the front door, nearly forgetting to unlock it as she fumbled through that tiny chore and nearly made it down the front steps of the porch.

“You’re breaking up… where are you?” Sarah could barely hear Cici. The further Cici got from the house, the weaker her connection became.

“Outside…” Cici stopped on the front sidewalk.

“Don’t panic, Cici…” Sarah’s voice was being buried by crackling and static on the line. “Call campus security…”

“Okay…” Cici clicked of the line and stood outside the house, looking back through the open front entrance and through the foyer to the back of the house. She clicked the number for the campus police.

“Campus security…” A voice came through the bad signal breaking up into static.

“I’m calling from Omega Beta Zeta.” Cici began.

“Hello?” The officer had not heard her.

“Can you hear me now?” Cici stepped back on the porch trying to improve the signal. She so did not want to go into the house, but the signal was getting worse the more she drifted from it. “Hello?” The phone couldn’t hold the signal and clicked off. Cici cursed again and tapped the number for security again. It sounded clear this time as she stepped into the foyer and stood outside the living room area once again. “I’m calling from Omega Beta Zeta! Someone’s harassing me…” All she was getting was static! It wasn’t the signal… the freaking battery was running low! She was barely getting a voice escaping past the warping and struggling signal. “Hello???” She cursed again. She could still feel the impalpable taste of dread in the house. If she was psychic, her spirit guides would be screaming at her to get out of the house. That tingling to the back of her head was getting worse. Forget campus security! She had to get as far out of the house right now! She turned on her heel and felt something impede her path… Her voice shrieked in sync with her antagonist.

“Jesus, Dawne…” Cici felt calm now with a person she knew. “You scared me!!!” Dawne Stockbridge was a literature major from Collinsport, Maine with a minor in art appreciation. Attractive with her stunning brown eyes and long Latino hair, she stepped back holding her hand to her chest.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” She apologized to her sorority sister. “Did anyone call for me?”

“What are you doing here?” Cici posed with the phone as she stood in the center of the foyer.

“I live here, remember?” She looked Cici over. She seemed spooked… almost terrified.

“I thought you were going to the mixer.” Cici apologized with a strained gasp and deep breath.

“Yeah…” Dawne responded partially distracted. “I’m out of change, so I’ll be out of here in a minute.” The house phone rang in Cece’s hand and Dawne grabbed it from her thinking it was for her. “Omega Beta Zeta…”

“Is Cici there?” A sepulchral voice responded.

“Yes, she is…” Dawne beamed knowingly to Cici peering up nervously to the second floor. “Who is this?”

“It’s Ted.” The voice claimed. Dawne tiredly exhaled from dealing with that loser and gestured the phone to her sorority sister. “It’s your ill-conceived boyfriend.” She handed over the phone as a flitting shadow passed into the house and into the living room beyond her line of sight. Cici turned round too late to see it. Her hand took the phone. Was it working now?

“Okay, so I’ll see you later…” Dawne turned for the front door standing open to allow all sorts of things to creep into their home. “And don’t forget to set the alarm.” She grabbed her purse. “Bye…”

“Bye…” Cici was slowly calming down. She followed Dawne to the door and closed it behind her before pressing the phone to her ear. “Hello, Ted…”

“Wish it was Ted…” It was that voice again! “Don’t forget to set the alarm!!!” It warned her.

Cici dropped the phone where she was and rushed to the alarm system at the front door. She pressed SET and typed in the code she had memorized. That done and set, she spun around, her fear as thick as ever, her eyes scanning the foyer, the room with the TV still playing and then the dining room to her right. She should be safe here. Nothing could get in now. Nothing could get it. The phone on the floor began ringing. She didn’t want to answer it. It could be that voice again, but it could be one of her sorority sisters needing a ride. They were relying on her. Not wanting to hear that voice again, Cici nervously knelt to take it from the floor. She was safe. The house was empty. The alarm was on. She clicked the phone on…

“Hello…”

The closet crashed open and something charged after her. She flashed round to spot it seconds before it touched her… a lamp from the table in the corner springing to her hand to smash into its head! Where the heck did that come from?! The black-cloaked figure in the white ghost face dropped to the floor from the ceramic lamp being cracked over his head. Dropping his cell phone and army knife, he collapsed from the blow to his head; he was only human. He dropped to his knees reeling from the concussion and turned back to Cece. She struck a pose ready to fight.

“You picked the wrong sorority sister….” She glared with a vengeance and shook off a line of silk from her wrist that had helped her seize that lamp from across the room. Her attacker grabbed his knife again and started charging her once more, but she somersaulted backward, her left foot kicking him to the chest and her right foot knocking him back over. She flipped once over the sofa and landed on her feet showing off her limber dexterity, taking a pose ready to react from his next move. Her black-cloaked attacker groaned from that physical defense. He was going to slaughter this blonde!!

He pounced on her again, his knife ready to rend through her delicate pink flesh. She dodged his swipe to her face, kicking him to the chest in the process, but not knocking him over. He spun round to stab her, but she grabbed his arm and swung him behind her. She was strong… she was fast… very fast… fast enough to psychically guess his movements on a subconscious level. The ghost-faced killer slid across the wood floor of the foyer, scrambling back to his feet and gripping his weapon tightly. From under his mask, his voice roared angrily hostile from the abuse he was taking from this skinny blonde! He jumped to his feet to meet her again…

Where’d she go?

“Huh…” He spun around. He looked behind himself to the dining room, through the foyer and around the living room. How’d she vanish like that?! He didn’t hear her racing through the house trying to escape him. He spun round and round looking for her. Where was the blonde?! Her hand reached down from the ceiling she was hanging from over his head. He looked up to her. She was sticking to the ceiling over his head like a human spider!!!

“Hi, pudding…” She lifted him off his feet and swung him hard against the ceiling, knocking the knife from his hand on the first on the first impact, swinging him back hard again to hit another part of the ceiling She smacked him back and forth as hard as she could by the scruff of his costume like a rag doll she really hated. His voice screaming and bellowing from the pain, he smacked the ceiling back and forth about eleven to twelve times. Sticking to the ceiling by her left hand and stocking feet, Cici gritted her teeth as she smacked him around. Was he unconscious yet? No one could go through that much abuse and stay conscious. Something ripped from the black costume, and Ghost-Face flew from her next swing out of her grip, through the foyer into the dining room, and surfed the length of the dining room table before hitting the far wall. She looked at the black fabric in her hand. Ghost-Face groaned in pain and reached up to the table to lift himself up, his head was all swimmy as he tried to think. There was something very weird about this girl!!!

“I hate my life…” He grabbed a silver candlestick and came running to bash Cici’s head in. She vaulted back to the floor and landed in a pose. Reeling her right arm forward, she started shooting long streams of nylon from her wrist, grabbing the candlestick with it and jerking it from his hand from where she was. Removed of that weapon, Ghost-Face looked at his empty hand and realized he was in trouble now. There was something seriously wrong with his girl! He had to get out of here before she killed him!! He turned for the kitchen and felt something grab him. Next thing he knew, he was pulled off his feet and pulled back through the dining room. Cici jumped up, kicked him hard once more, and held on to him through her catch line, jerking him back and kicking him again with her other foot! Landing on her feet once more, she pulled him back once again, shooting a giant spider-web from her left wrist to catch him.

His head passing in and out of consciousness, the blood rushing to his head as he hung upside-down, Ghost-Face was trussed up in a giant web. Groaning in pain from the repeated concussions, blows to his spine and internal injuries, he could do nothing as his mask was ripped off.

“Mickey!!!” Cici recognized him. He was one of her own classmates! “What the hell is wrong with you?!!!”

“Me? Me??” Mickey felt blood dripping from his mouth and nose. “What the heck is wrong with you? What the hell are you?!!! Why couldn’t you just let me kill you?!!!!”

The phone began ringing. Cici grabbed it with another web fired from her wrist. She plucked it from the air on the next ring.

“Hello….” She responded in a singsong little voice.

“Cici, it’s me Sidney…” She sounded concerned. “Dawne’s here and she said you sounded upset. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, just fine….” Cici wandered from Mickey. She looked around the damage from the fight. “Um, how’s things with you?”

“Several of the girls and I are coming by…”

The burglar alarm went off. Mickey had slid out of his costume and had bolted out through the kitchen. Cici looked back at his costume left in her web. She screamed that four-letter word again and dropped the phone to chase after him from busting her secret. Coming up on the sorority, Sidney looked at her phone confused, a human form escaping away from her direction unseen. Racing from the Omega Beta Zeta sorority house, Mickey was limping a bit as he wiped his bleeding noise and hopped on his one good leg. He had to warn the rest. There was something seriously wrong with Cici! Toward the commons area, he heard voices and discovered a few of his fraternity brothers.

“Derek! Mike! Russell!” He coughed and limped toward them without his Ghost-Face costume and clad in just a t-shirt and jeans. “You got to help me! Cici just beat the crap out of me!!!”

“Cici?” Derek scoffed with a laugh. “Cici did this to you? What are you on, dude?” His frat brothers started laughing. Among them, Randy Meeks smirked a bit trying to refrain from the amusement.

“I’m telling you the truth!” Mickey was adamant. “She’s a freak! She was…” He looked over the heads of his fraternity brothers. Behind then on the roof of the administration building, Cici had swung through the air from a web off the bell tower and landed on the roof. She was watching him from afar.

“She’s right there!!!” Mickey tried to point her out and she ducked out of sight. Derek and the guys only saw empty night sky and a haunted looking college roof.

“Dude, I didn’t even know you dropped acid.” Randy tried not to laugh.

Three stories upon the roof, Cici heard her cell phone ringing. She answered it with a whisper.

“Hello?”

“Cici…” It was Sidney Prescott again. “Where are you, and why is there a giant spider web blocking the inside of the front door?”

END

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