prologue: the aftermath

SUNDAY: October 27th, 2026

Everything felt like a rush, no amount of bright light or sting of a needle made Benjamin's gaze focus. The constant voices of paramedics and police officers made him wanna rip his ears off his head. He was on the verge of death and yet he didn't even flinch once, the idea of death never scared him. Not even now as blood stained his flesh, a parting gift from Andy.

He wanted to sob into an endless pile of despair at the thought of Andy. He had everything he could've wanted and then he watched it burn into nothing. That's what he told the sheriff when the man asked him what happened inside the theater. A fire, that's what took poor Andy's life away, a fire.

Not a blade stabbing his flesh until he stopped moving, Benjamin didn't feel any guilt. Not even when he sat beside Claire and watched the girl start to write her next idea into her notes app. Broadway in big bolded letters that's what she wrote before she let herself be taken away by the ambulance.

"Is there anyone you'd like us to call?" Benjamin looked at the sheriff, the man looked like he wanted to quit already. "No, my parents are out of town" he stopped speaking after that and let himself sink into the gurney as the doors of the ambulance shut.

He could still see the bright flames, the school looked better this way. He didn't think he'd last this long, yet somehow he did, he just wished he could've stopped Nadia and Gwendolyn too. The girls were missing and while most said they likely died in the fire he knew deep down that wasn't the truth.

—

5:00AM
Nadia Montgomery's house

The place was a mess when the sheriff and his deputy approached the home. Blood stained the girl's carpet and her closet was empty aside from a few loose shirts she left behind. Her bed was flipped over and a huge hole rested along the seams. "Looks like the girl planned her escape, there's no way she'll last a day".

The sheriff pointed his flashlight towards the window seeing it was wide open. "She couldn't have gotten far, looks like she panicked and packed what she could. Left out the window in hopes of getting away before we learned who she was".

The deputy walked towards the closet "I don't understand what can cause someone to go crazy. You saw the news right? A bunch of teenagers decided to wear a stupid mask and kill each other". The deputy pointed his flashlight into the closet, his eyes widening as a knife slammed into his throat.

The sheriff wasn't paying much attention as he looked down at the girls desk that was covered in dirty bandages. "Looks like she patched herself up here before she left, the other one, Gwendolyn Evans is reported missing as well. Likely the girls are working together on getting out of town".

The man sighed deeply as he looked up "oh shit" behind him stood Nadia. The girl looked rough as she pointed a gun straight at his face, his partner laid on the ground grasping onto his throat desperately. The girl smirked softly "did you think I'd let you into my room? My rides not here yet, figured I'd kill some time by getting rid of a few loose ends".

The sheriff sneered angrily "you won't get far kid, backup will get here long before you can even get out of town. You're a wanted woman now, so is your little partner Gwendolyn. You girls won't last a day out there on the run, we'll find you".

Nadia sighed "you can try, but you won't be doing much with a bullet in your skull". The man didn't have enough time to reach for his gun, Nadia pulled the trigger and the sheriff flew back into her desk. She rolled her eyes as she let the gun lower and she turned towards the deputy on the ground.

"Looks like you're the new sheriff, that's if you survive bleeding out" the girl walked towards her window quickly. The bright lights of a car driving down the road made her carefully move away from the window. She could hear the loud screech of brakes and she felt her heart sink, she knew that sound perfectly. The same one that often woke her most mornings before school. Kieran had a habit of never fixing his breaks and he drove past her house nearly every morning for school.

It was like her own personal alarm and yet tonight was different. She licked her lips to ease her nerves as she pushed the gun into her back pocket and climbed out of her window. She could see him sitting inside the car muttering to himself as she looked around the neighborhood. He jumped when she opened the passenger door and climbed inside.

"What are you doing here?" he looked at her, and she felt her heart stop. He looked better now that he wasn't covered in blood and ripped clothes. She could see the outline of thick bandages hidden beneath his shirt and she saw the hospital band around his wrist. The bright orange color made her get a headache as the boy hit the lock button for the doors.

The girl didn't have enough time to even process what the boy's intentions were. His lips were crashing into hers as he gripped her face, she would've killed him but deep down she knew she'd never do it. She let out a soft breath as she leaned into him and let her lips mend more into his. He moved back after a few seconds and let out a heavy breath "I'm getting you out of here, no one else knows I'm here".

"Kieran you can't do that, if the police even knew you spoke to me, let alone tried to help me leave town you'd be in trouble. Don't do this Kieran". The boy started the car "it's too late, I'm already doing it, I'll drop you off at the bus stop. Just get far away from this place and don't look back once".

"Kieran, I'm sorry for everything I did" she looked at him as he drove down the road. He looked miserable, the way he held himself made her wanna sob as she held onto him until he felt better. He'd likely never be able to see her the same as before, the bright girl with a big future that would be shared with him.

That future changed the second she put on the mask, the moment she claimed her first victim and watched them bleed, she became a complete stranger. Kieran didn't recognize the girl beside him, not even with her fresh set of clothes and thick bandages wrapped around her face. He saw her eyes, saw the same light in them and yet it looked so much darker.

How was it possible he lost her? He barely had her and yet he was watching her spiral into darkness. She would never be happy again, not while she's on the run from the police. She hurt and killed people, and yet Kieran still wanted to hold her hand and kiss her until she smiled or told him she loved him back.

A childhood crush, that's all it was meant to be and yet it felt like an endless stream of tears as he parked his car across from the bus stop. He loved her, far more than he loved himself and watching her leave would be the hardest thing he could ever do.

"Don't come looking for me" the girl opened the door and he couldn't find it in himself to look at her. He knew this would be the last time he ever saw her, he wanted to remember the before. The sneaky smiles she'd send his way in class as he'd write down his notes. The way her hand would graze his whenever he opened the theater door for her to walk inside.

The glances they'd send one another while they worked on the stage. The way he'd drive past her house every morning and see her head sticking outside her bedroom window as she watched him. He wanted those moments to stay inside his head forever, not the ones that taunted him.

"Why'd you do it" he could sense the hesitation in the air as she pushed her bag over her shoulder. She knew what he meant, the mask was practically engraved into his vision whenever he'd close his eyes. The sight of her helpless body on the ground was burned into his eyelids, yet here she was alive and well.

"Because I knew I'd lose you" she pushed the door shut and he watched as she walked away. He could shout and scream all he wanted but he couldn't go with her, not if he wanted to lose himself too.

With the sun coming up in the distance and the nightmare of what happened yesterday fading away. Kieran didn't know what to do, so he just drove and he didn't look back once.

—

MONDAY: October 28th, 2026

High school was canceled, with the entire right side of the building being burnt to a crisp. The place was shut down and deemed not safe to attend, so of course every single student was wandering around woodsboro with nothing to do. While the school held big caution signs on the main doors and thick yellow caution tape around the windows, no one cared.

Photos were taken and others watched, for the drama club it was different. Everyone was off doing their own thing but Benjamin Crowell was right near the main entrance of the school. He was hidden pretty well due to his thick hoodie he wore to shield himself from any reporters. When he noticed no prying eyes he pulled open the doors and slipped inside the building undetected.

Normally the boy wouldn't willingly show up to school when it was closed down. His reasons were beyond understanding but he knew the others would show up if they knew he was even here. So the second he caught sight of everyone wandering along the hallways he smacked himself slightly and made his way straight for the theater.

"I mean the place could look way better" Benjamin pushed himself behind a pair of lockers when he spotted Claire walk past with Alexandra. The girls held tightly onto one another's hands as they looked around at the burnt walls and lockers. "Claire the school literally burned, I doubt its first thought was looking good while it happened".

Claire scoffed as she tried to force her locker open "I did not pay that stupid security guard out there money for nothing. This locker better open or I swear...". Benjamin kept walking, he pushed his hoodie over his head as he spotted the thick caution tape in the distance. He knew the theater was likely closed off the most but he knew exactly where the entrance was.

"Oh come on! You can't be serious, I left my football uniform in the locker room and the entire place burnt. Why couldn't the fire have gone past the locker room and gone to Mrs.Riley's room".

"You can easily replace a football uniform, why did you make me drive you here anyways Alex? Don't you own a car?". Alex shrugged at Kieran as he adjudged the box in his arms, while Benjamin couldn't see what was inside he imagined it was full of his things from his locker.

"Well it sorta was like gone when I woke up this morning. My dad said I didn't deserve a car since I nearly got killed by some nerd". Kieran sighed deeply "at least my car is still intact, a bird flew into it this morning so I had to drive all the way to the shop".

Benjamin kept walking before he pulled open a storage room door beside the theater. He walked inside and shut the door before he let out a heavy breath. The big hole in the wall was surprisingly left untouched by police as he crawled through it carefully. The theater was a mess and he could see the damage of the fire as he walked onto the stage.

He pulled back a light and grabbed hold of a ghostface mask. The same one Andy wore, he blew the dust and dirt off of it before he wiped it with his sleeve. It looked burnt and messy as he pushed it into his backpack and he made his way towards the wall.

He crawled through the hole again and slipped straight out the storage room before he quickly ran down the hallway towards the exit. "Benjamin?" he turned at the sight of Vivian, the girl smiling at him slightly as she approached him.

"Oh hey Viv" he looked down at her as she looked at him "you getting your things from your locker too? I just ran into Alix and Claire, you should've seen the way Claire ripped her locker door off".

Ben chuckled weakly "I just grabbed my work uniform, I left it in my locker and I sorta work today. I gotta get going, or else I'll be late". He left and Vivian sighed softly as she looked down at the box in her arms. Since her locker was across from Benjamin's she went ahead and grabbed his things for him.

She watched the boy closely as he slipped past a few wandering locals and got into his car and drove off. She knew he was likely hiding something, she'd figured it out eventually, hopefully.

—
authors notes:
I couldn't help myself. As I was writing this and thinking of the outcome of this book I kept telling myself (you could totally do another book for this). So I was thinking of doing a third book where it's them in Hollywood on a film set kinda like scream 3. This series is definitely a trilogy and I imagine that's a good end to the story overall. But it was mainly just an idea I had so idk yet. Anyways no questions required for this chapter since it's the prologue. Kept it simple with a little backstory. The first act is mainly the drama club and then it goes into the present with everyone else. Figured since I have to wait for opinions it makes sense to do a little refreshment on the drama club before the new characters are introduced. Anyways enjoy this chapter!