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Some people called it depression, and some people thought that she was going insane.
And surprisingly, there were no far from the truth.
Since she had memory, all that surrounded her was tragedy, and all came for the same fucked up thing, weather it was for fun or for a bullshit reason to do so, it all came from a mask with the face of a ghost.
And to make worse, she found out in the worst possible time, of why they were all after her.
Since that day, her life was never the same, what she thought that the person who would support her like no other and to be there were times were rough decided to wash the pain by pouring her life into drinking.
And yet, that was not comparable to leaving Tara without saying anything.
For those 5 years, all that she could think about was how bad of a person she was.
She abandoned the only person that she cared the most with someone who didn’t give two fucks about what happened to her anymore. She was at an all low, and it didn’t even matter if Tara didn’t love her anymore, she had every right to be angry at her.
That all changed when Wes called her, saying that she was attacked. She thought about going or not, but it was her sister, a girl who did not asked to be involved in this mess that she started.
So she went, she went to Woodsboro, with the hope of making things right between her and Tara, not knowing that in a matter of days, her life was about to take a turn for the worse.
Even with Sidney’s promise of “ Eventually ”, she didn’t think that there was any way for her to crawl out of the darkness that had engulfed for long time.
Since their departure to New York, the feeling of being on survival mode at all time fade away, especially when they were moving in their apartment.
Her heart filled with joy seeing Tara along with the twins in the kitchen being happy, with nothing to worry about. Minutes passed until Mindy said that they were going to the store to buy some snacks for movies that they were going to watch later on, of course, Chad said something that started something of a debate between them while exiting out of the room.
“Those two can’t live without having a fight for one day,” said Tara with a smirk on her face.
“I know, right?” responded Sam, walking towards the sofa, sitting down as she turned the tv on. “I feel like even when they get old, they will still going to fight about something…”
Tara soon joined her in the couch, sitting next to her as they both stared at the news program. They stared there for a few minutes before Tara broke the silence.
“Can I ask you something?”
Sam looked at her softly as she positioned herself better so that she could see her directly “You can always ask me anything.”
Sam saw how Tara struggled to find the right words to say what she wanted for a few seconds until she managed. “Do you think… it’s really over?
Sam looked confused for a slight moment until the wheels on her mind turned as she realized what she meant. It was something that she had been asking herself all the time since moving to the big apple, every time she looked at her back waiting for an asshole with that unmistakable dark cape with a mask to attack them.
She knew that at some point it was going to returned, but now she knew that they were alert at all times, and like hell she’ll let anyone hurt her sister.
“Being honest… no,” she said truthfully, wrapping Tara’s small hand in between hers. “I thought for sure it was done, but it feels like at any moment something will happen.“
“But at the same time, look at Sidney and Gale, they never thought about having to deal with this four times, and they’re still here. Besides, I would rather get killed than for you to be hurt—“
“That’s what scares me, Sam.” interrupted Tara, looking at her with concerned eyes, “What if…”
Sam watched as how Tara started to get quiet, with her chin beginning to shake as a stray tear fell down from her cheek, “What if one of us ends up getting killed?”
A cold shiver went down her spine as she listened to those words. She had been so caught up in believing that when all of this chaos would reach its end, she was going to be the one who would be dying at the hands of the thing her father always wanted her to be.
A killer.
But Tara dying… it seemed impossible, her brain couldn’t register it, and yet at the same time it was something that could happen. That it was a possibility.
And it was something that scared her, and the fear of losing more people that she cared about was haunting her.
“Listen…” she said, her voice firm and steady as she caressed Tara’s cheek, looking directly at her sister’s eyes. “I’m scared, just like you. Since the attack in Woodsboro, I have always been scared, but I have a responsibility… and that’s you.”
She wrapped her arms around her, hugging her against her chest, pressing a kiss on her head as she stroke her sister’s hair. “And I know I’m not the best sibling in the world, but that will never stop me to protect you. Even if I die, I will always be with you.”
Tara’s grip against her back tightened as she let out a sigh. Both of them knew that this was not fair, they never asked to be thrown into a world full of murder and fucked up people who did this for their own shitty reasons.
They stayed there for what felt like years until Tara slowly separated from her, looking up with teary eyes as her lips began to curved into a smile. “Didn’t know you were good at comforting people.”
“Trust me, I’m not. But for you, I’m willing to make an exception.”
Tara let out a little giggle as a familiar pair of people walked through the entrance door, holding bags full of food and drinks, leaving them on the table while Chad was doing the same.
Later on, she found herself in the same position in the couch with Tara asleep in her arms, curled up against her shoulder while Mindy and Chad were discussing about a scene in the movie that they were watching.
Even though she wasn’t really paying much attention to what they were saying, the feeling of being around people that she loved was beautiful and comforting, and that says a lot, given the fact for the last few years, that same feeling was only a faded memory of her past.
And right now, as she closed her eyes, she wishes that the scene in front of her could only last forever, but deep down she knew that it was only a matter of time before it gets torn apart by blood, and death.
She hopes that she can do something to protect it.
Time seemed to go fast at where she was now, for one moment she is happy at her apartment with nothing to worry about, to having to watch her back every day all over again.
A series of killings had happened within a matter of a week, and with the arrival of a shrine where clothes and possessions of victims of twenty years ago where kept safe.
Sam had already accepted the fact that sooner or later she would join the list of victims of the crimes occurred in New York.
In reality, she was supposed to be in it, but instead, Anika took her place.
A girl who did not deserved it. A person who barely knew them and yet, she was one of the few people to believe her when the rumors of her being the one to commit such atrocities were placed online.
The guilt only got worse when Gale got attacked. Even if they weren’t on the best terms, she still had a sense of gratitude for the woman.
At that time, she knew that the only way to end it was to go where they were. To put an end to this nightmare that has been happening for far too long. Of course, Tara and the others did not accept this as they went with her.
She then realized that it was a mistake for them to come with her. Mindy was missing dead , her mind corrected her, and she had to hold back her sister as they both watched as how Chad got stabbed infinite times until his body went limp to the floor.
She had lost them, and it was all her fault.
Later on, for a moment the mastermind behind all of this was Kirby, that only lasted a few minutes before the killers revealed themselves as the family of Richie. Their reasons where only just for pure vengeance, revenge on what supposedly she did to her shitty ex-boyfriend.
They tried to make her into what she they thought she was, but even she knew that she was never going to let them do it.
Sam and Tara then saw a door that could led them to an exit of the building, both of them being careful against the attackers as they reached the second floor.
“Careful...” said Tara, who was behind her. As soon as she was able to get over the balcony, her sister followed, but before she could’ve put even just one leg over, a gunshot echoed through out the entire theater. From the corner of her eye, Sam saw how Tara stumbled while she shrieked, her body moving by itself to grab her before she fell. A laugh could be heard coming from Bailey as his son appeared below her sister’s feet.
A red dot appeared on Tara’s arm as she desperately tried to crawl to her, but the blood that was on her wound in her arm made her hands so fucking slippery.
“It’s okay—“
“I can’t—“ she cried, trying as hard as she could despite the blood making it near impossible. “I can’t crawl…”
Ethan swung his knife to Tara’s legs, missing it by an inch as she screamed “No!”
She knew that her arms would eventually give up, adding the fact that her right arm was almost numb due to the blood that kept flowing from her wound on her shoulder, but nothing was going to make her to let go.
Nobody was going to force her.
A loud and screeching noise from her side caught her attention, Quinn was already there, knife in hand with her mouth full of blood, but a smirk could be seen on her face.
“I always wanted to stick something in you, Tara!” yelled Ethan, smiling like psychopath as he pointed his knife to her sister.
“Fuck you!”
“FUCK YOU!”
She knew she had to make a choice as soon as possible, but her mind was blank, her nerves beginning to creep on her whilst Quinn was slowly making her way to her, the tip of her knife was against the railing, making a screeching noise just to play with her.
“Sam.”
Sam looked down where Tara was hanging, both of her eyes locked with hers as her grip was slipping, “Let me go.”
What?
“No.” Her voice trembled as she tightened her hold on her baby sister’s hands. Over her dead body that they will hurt her, but she was defenseless against the three of them. The gun that she took from Kirby was out of her reach.
“Yeah, let her go, Sam, come on.”
Tara looked at her again with pleading eyes as her nails were digging in her skin, her feet dangling as Ethan swung his knife again.
“Trust me…” her eyes went to her own knife that was strapped against her hip, Sam followed her gaze as her head started to work again, realizing what her sister wanted to do.
“You have to let me go.”
It was a simple frase, yet to Sam, it felt like the most difficult thing to understand.
And a hell of a commitment as well.
She always had the difficult choice of letting go something that you love, like when she let go of her sister five years ago when she was still a baby.
But now, it came from her. And if she trusted Tara, which she did, more than anything in this fucking world, she had to trust herself.
Her good arm hold her sister while the other retrieved the sharp blade, giving it to Tara. She looked at her with a small smile as she nodded.
And before she knew it, she let go.
Being as quick as she could be, she grabbed the gun that was on the floor and pointed towards Quinn, who stopped at her tracks. She heard screams coming out of the first floor, her blood ran cold as she thought the worst. But from the corner of her eye, she watched as Tara had stabbed Ethan through his mouth, making gurgling noises as she took it out, his body collapsing to the floor were he lay there, unmoving.
‘That’s my girl.’
Sam smirked as Quinn looked at the scene with horror and fear, her knife still in hand as it started to tremble, “Looks like your down another brother…”
Quinn let out a scream full of rage as Sam pulled the trigger, a hole appearing in the redhead’s forehead as she went down, revealing the figure of her father looking terrified.
“Always gotta shoot them in the head...” She reminded, pointing the gun in the exact same spot where she shot her daughter, only to find it empty.
“Fuck.”
With no other option, she charged at the man, who began to ran as well at her. Their bodies collided with each other as a shot was let loose. A grappling battle was happening for a few seconds until the both of them slipped out of the balcony, feeling her head hit the concrete floor as her eyes saw nothing more.
She thought that she had been out for quite a while, yet only minutes passed as a hand on her shoulders with a voice was crying out her name. A familiar one.
As she opened her eyes, she saw Tara above her, tears in her eyes as she clutched to her with one hand, her gaze going from her to the slumped figure of Bailey a few feet from the both of them.
With difficulty, she pushed herself up, wincing as glass began to dig into her palms. As her vision cleared and took a better look at Tara, her blood ran cold. Tara was holding her side, where blood began to consume the blue fabric of her shirt, her fingers shaking as she tried to stop the wound.
Forgetting about her pain, she reached out with her two hands on her sister’s wound. Her hands trapped Tara’s, pushing frantically against it as much pressure as she could. She pushed herself up on her knees as she pulled the both of them off the floor, taking them as far as she could from the last member of the psycho family.
She took her to the stage, stopping just at the middle of it as she tell Tara to kneel so that she could manage her wound better.
“You’re gonna be fine,” Sam murmurs, her eyes surveying the whole room as if another deluded asshole would come out of nowhere to hurt them. She checks Bailey’s body anxiously once again, aware that at any moment he could wake up.
Her attention was back to her sister, who’s breathing has calmed down a bit, knowing well of the danger that they still were in.
“You’re going to be okay, I promise you.” Sam says, pressing a kiss against Tara’s forehead as she pull her to her arms, one arm on her wound as the other wrapped itself around Tara’s shaking frame.
This is all your fault, she’s hurt because of you, this wouldn’t have happened if you were more careful, if you did not exist—
“Sam..” whispered Tara, kicking her out of her trance as she was leaning against her, almost as if she was dead weight. “W-What are we going to do?”
Her gaze was turned to were Bailey was, his body has not move but she knew he would wake up at any moment now. She had to act now or else they were dead.
“Okay, listen…” said Sam, her voice quiet and steady as she gripped Tara’s shoulders, her eyes locked with hers. “I need you to hide, who he wants is me right now and he is not going to stop until he kills me.”
Tara looked at her with shocked eyes, already wanting to protest but she knew this was a do or die situation, and right now she could count on Sam.
She always will.
“Okay, but… what about you?”
Sam looked at the mannequins that held the past killers costume, specifically looking right at one with determined eyes. “He wanted me to put on the mask…”
She looked at the floor, finding the old and cracked mask that once belonged to her father just next to Bailey. She clearly did not wanted to put it, as it resembled everything that’s wrong with her past, but right now, it looked like she didn’t had any other choice.
It didn’t looked like it, but she was sure that Billy was looking at her with proud eyes.
Plus, embracing that darker side of hers didn’t sound so bad either.
“I’m gonna give him what he wants.”
It hall happened so fast. Before she could comprehend what was happening, Bailey’s body went down with a splack, ending the nightmare that they were put in New York.
Tara saw the last bits of him imploring for his life, begging for her to not end him. But even looking at her baby sister’s eyes, she knew what decision was better for everyone.
Because it was the truth, nobody fucks with their family .
As Tara walked out to the stage, Sam soon followed her, taking off the costume that has haunted her for who knows how long. Almost as if a weight was lifted from her shoulders after the black robe fell off her shoulders.
It’s finally over.
But before she could get any closer to where her sister was, she stopped at her tracks, feeling a bolt of pain coming from her stomach, which grew by the second.
‘Something’s wrong’, her mind thought, her vision becoming blurry as her ears started to ring to the point where her head began to hurt.
She put her hands for instinct, wondering what was causing the pain on her abdomen.
A familiar liquid flowing and pooling between her fingers that smell metallic was the answer to all her pain.
“T-Tara…” she whispered, her legs about to give up. Her sister’s eyes locked into her own as she began to realize what was wrong, gasping in fear at the blood covering her white tank top.
Before she could say anything while she tried to close the distance between them as fast she could, she fell forward against Tara’s arms, the weight taking them to the ground.
“Sam! Sam!”
Her sister’s frantic yells sounded so distant, she tried make out of what she was saying, but the ringing kept on getting even worse, it was almost impossible to hear what she was trying to tell her.
She just wanted the pain to go away, but even that was hard.
Saying that Tara was scared was an understatement.
She was mortified.
Sam had collapsed against her, unable to sustain the weight as she positioned her on the ground softly, putting as much pressure as she can on where she was shot, not caring about her own wound on her side.
She could see that her sister was on pain, her breathing was ragged and her skin was losing color fast. It seemed as if she tried to say something, but she let out a grunt of pain as the blood kept on flowing.
“Shh, d-don’t try to talk, just…” even Tara could not say a word, her mind was blank, unable to register any sort of comfort word that can soothe her sister’s pain, but even if she wanted, the nerves and the fear were eating her alive. “Just… just hold on, okay? Y-You’re gonna be fine…”
A series of coughs racked Sam’s body, reminding Tara to put more pressure on the wound. In her mind she thought that she was helping, but the coughing and the blood leaking said otherwise.
“Help! Somebody help me!” Her cries resonated in the shrine, hoping for a soul to hear her, but with the passing of seconds, no one responded.
She has never felt so useless in her entire fucking life.
Her big sister was dying in her arms and there was nothing that she could do to stop it.
Out of nowhere, a scream was let loose. She looked up instantly to find Ethan, with his knife still in his hand, running towards them, but before he could’ve swung his blade, a familiar T.V. came crashing down on top of his skull.
She watched as his body twitch for mere seconds before it became very still.
She lifted her eyes to see a limping Kirby, but alive nonetheless, with a smirk on her face. “I saw that in a scary movie once…” she said, trying to catch her breath.
The smile on the older woman’s face slowly fade as her gaze found Sam’s body, whose skin had started to turn pale and eyes were closed.
“Sam?” Tara asked, her hand that was drenched in the red liquid rested on her cheek as Kirby made her way to them. “Sam, can you hear me?”
If it wasn’t for the slight whimper her sister let out, she would’ve thought she was—
‘No…’ she thinks, ‘Don’t think about it, she will be okay…’
But even that, Tara knew it was a lie, yet she couldn’t even fathom the idea of Sam not being here, it just seemed impossible.
It just wasn’t right.
“T-Tara…” croaked Sam, her voice barely even a whisper, looking at her with tired eyes.
“Hey…” she responded, her voice breaking by seeing the state Sam was. “Just hold on a little bit more, okay? We’re going to get you some help and you’ll be like new, just stay with me, Sam...”
A hand on her shoulder startled her as she forgot for a moment that Kirby was there, squeezing it tightly as a reassurance of being only her. “The cops are coming, try to keep her awake while I try to open the gate.”
“Okay.” Tara answered, watching as the blonde woman limped it’s way to the gate, trying to find anything that would unlock the chains around it.
Her attention was back on her sister as she stroke her hair softly, wishing she could take away the pain away.
“T-Tara, I-I’m…” said Sam, her fingers digging into her skirt. “I-I’m sorry…”
“…What?”
“I’m s-sorry f-for everything…” Tears began to fall from her eyes as she coughed out blood, Tara could see it on the corner of her mouth. “I-I mean it… I’m s-so sorry…”
“F-For putting your life t-through so m-much pain… I never wanted…” Sam had began to cry, almost as if she was a little girl all over again. “I never wanted… f-for you to go through this…”
Sam could feel her body shutting down, she was amazed that she hadn’t died already despite the pool of blood around her and Tara.
But she had to say it.
This feeling of guilt has been a constant remind her of how much of a failure she was to everyone she ever cared about, of how much pain and suffering she has caused.
Of how much heartbreak and horror she has brought to her baby sister’s life.
And that feeling was probably… no, it was going to be with her even after she is dead.
And honestly, she was fine with it as long as Tara was okay.
“No, Sam…” she whispered, holding her hand in between her small ones. “It was never your fault. Never, do you understand?”
She meant it, with her whole heart, she always knew that her sister was never the cause of this fucked up killing spree of innocent people.
“I-I got to grew up because of you. I got to live because of you, if it wasn’t for you I probably wouldn’t even be here. I can care less about those five years that you left, you came back and…”
What seemed like a sob came out of her throat as tears fell from her face. “…a-and that was best thing that ever happened in my life.”
To Sam, it felt like as if the weight that she had been holding for far too long completely vanished.
And for the first time in a while, she smiled, because now she knew that she did a good job at protecting her.
“I-I love you…”
Tara leaned forward, pressing her lips against her forehead, tears dripping down to her hair as she whispered “I-I love you too…you’re going to be okay...”
She cradled her head against her chest, finding the thumping of her heart comforting as she closed her eyes. The nightmare was over, and her sister was okay.
There was nothing more that she could’ve asked for.
Tara heard the chains broke, the sense of hope skyrocketed as she held Sam close “Sam, they’re here, Sam…” The cops came running towards Kirby whilst Danny, came towards them.
“Oh god…” he whispered, seeing the state that Sam was. A pool of blood had already formed and her skin was white like a ghost. He reached out to grab her hand, trying to feel a pulse on her wrist, praying to any god that existed that she had one.
But even he knew, as much as it fucking hurt him, that she wasn’t here anymore.
But he stayed, for a solid minute, trying to feel it, but it never came.
Tara looked up to see Danny’s face, a defeated expression could be seen while he held her sister’s hand.
Her body went numb by seeing the sadness in his face, because that meant the truth.
The reality that she didn’t wanted to happen.
“No…no…” she whispered, her attention back at Sam. Her features were relaxed, peaceful, almost as if she was asleep.
“Sam…?” she said, gently tapping her cheek, her tears falling into her face as she trembled. “Sam, open your eyes…”
No response.
“Sam, this isn’t funny…”
No answer.
“Sam.”
Nothing.
“Sam…Sam!”
Gone.
“No, no, no!”
She hunched over, hugging her sister’s head against her chest while shaking her head in denial, rocking back and forth as the people around her just watched and listened to her cries. “Please wake up! Sam, wake up! Please! Please, Sam!”
No matter how much she begged or how much she cried, Sam will never be able to answer her.
“S-Sammy, please…”
Gone.
Her whole world was gone.