chapter three
another friend down

The couple went over to Sam's apartment per her request, the girl demanding that everyone stays with them for the night. Madelyn quickly caught them all up on what happened at the police station, making Sam even more adamant that they all had to stay.

Now, the group was all getting ready for dinner, Tara and Chad were cooking while Mindy and Madelyn were setting the table. Nick was just watching everyone, he had offered to cook, considering it was one of the only things he was good at but Chad and Tara said they'd do it to give Nick a day off from cooking duty.

"Sam?" Mindy called from where they all stood, now in the kitchen.

"Yeah." Sam walked into the kitchen after getting the extra pillows for them all.

"We do not have to stay here." Mindy told her.

"Well, too bad. I insist. Safety in numbers." Sam stated, grabbing a bottle of wine.

"This'll be so fun." Chad spoke excitedly. "A little slumber party with the Core Six!"

"Core six?" Sam repeated.

"Yeah."

"Core six is not a thing." Nick commented.

"Did you just give us a nickname." Tara asked.

"I sure did." Chad nodded. "We've been through a lot together, and it's a pretty cool nickname. Like the avengers."

"The original avengers only had one girl in it and a green monster, so who's who, Chad?" Madelyn asked with a teasing smile.

"Still a cool nickname." Chad ignored her.

"That's debatable."

"It's extremely debatable."

"You can't just give yourself a nickname, dingus." Mindy told him.

"Of I can, dingus, because I just did." Chad argued. "Core six, up top!"

"No." Mindy shook her head.

"Down low."

"Get that away from me." Tara ordered.

"Come on."

"Not happening." Sam stated.

"Core six!"

"More like six feet under." Madelyn told him, pushing his hand away.

"Please, for the love of god." Chad begged Nick, holding his hand up in front of him.

"Don't do it." Mindy instructed.

"You know, I would like a little more respect and support from my fellow members of the core six." Chad explained to them all.

Nick rolled his eyes, patting his friend on the back. "You have all my support and respect."

"Guys, what the hell?" Anika spoke up, catching their attention.

The group all moved into the living room, where Anika had turned the news up once again. The headline being 'prime suspects Samantha Carpenter and Madelyn Riley'. "We're hearing from sources inside the homicide division that the prime suspects are none other than Samantha Carpenter and Madelyn Riley, two of the survivors of the Woodsboro killings in 2022, seen here attacking and threatening a woman on the street last night."

The video showed the footage of what happened the previous night with the girl who threw her drink on Sam. It did not put a good light on Madelyn and Sam. "In the wake of the Woodsboro tragedy last year, rumours sprouted online that Carpenter and Riley were actually responsible for the killings, blaming the crimes on Carpenter's boyfriend, Richie Kirsch and Riley's friend Amber Free—"

Sam grabbed the remote control and muted the television before swiftly moving to sit at the dining table. Madelyn rolled her eyes at the news, following behind Sam and sitting at the end of the table. Tara came over and sat down next to her sister, Madelyn zoning out of their conversation as she stared at the placement in front of her.

Tara snapped her out of daydream by placing her hand over Madelyn's. "None of us can relate to what you two are going through. And I'm really, really sorry that you have to do that alone."

"It's not your fault." Sam told her. "And I know I shouldn't care what people think. It just sucks being this hated."

"It's like—" Madelyn wiped the stray tear that fallen from her eyes. "frustrating as well that everyone here seems to know about it and comment on it all like they were there and they weren't. They have no idea what we went through, and it hard enough to live with what happened, let alone being hated for it too."

"Hey. Hey. Just a reminder, not a single person in this room hates either of you." Chad announced as he and Mindy sat down opposite Tara and Sam, Nick sitting at the other end of the table, opposite Madelyn. "Okay? We have all been through some fucked-up stuff, and we are coping with it differently. But I mean, we moved here together for one very specific reason. We're a team."

"We are the Core fucking Six." Mindy said.

"Thank you very much." Chad cheered, high fiving Mindy.

"Ah, I hate myself." Mindy rolled her eyes.

"You said it. That is what I'm talking about. It's the core six."

"Say it."

"I'm not gonna say it." Tara shook her head. "I mean yes, we're a team but..."

"It's got a nice ring to it."

"Core six!" Nick joined in, making Mindy and Chad cheer.

"I've been sleeping with Cute Boy from across the hall." Sam suddenly admitted.

There was a silence.

"Boom!" Mindy clapped.

"I fucking knew it! I knew it, I knew it."

"You called it."

"I knew." Madelyn stated.

"What?"

"I am not an idiot, and she was with him last night." Madelyn told them. "She finally admitted it to me."

"I knew it from the day you had that hickey." Mindy explained, making everyone laugh loudly.

"I feel like we should high-five or something?"

"The Core Six High Five—may we, please?" Chad asked, holding his hand in the air.

"Don't call it that, but we'll do the high five." Tara stated, interlocking her hand with Chad's. Nick and Madelyn shared a look across the table.

They all joined in on the high five with a laugh. Sam's phone then began to ring, the girl taking it out of her pocket to see who was ringing her. Tara quickly grabbed it with a gasp. They all began to fit over the phone.

"Is that him?" Mindy asked.

"No, Tara. Not right now." Sam told her sister, who placed the phone between herself and Madelyn.

"Hey, what are your intentions?" Tara asked.

"They better be good, Tara's great with a gun." Madelyn added with a laugh.

"That's right."

"It's fine. I'll call him back." Sam took the phone off of Tara, declining the call.

"Poor guy."

"Okay." A thud was suddenly heard.

"Quinn and her gentleman caller are back at it again." Tara observed.

"She's getting it too? Okay." Mindy spoke in a sing-song tone, causing them all to laugh.

Suddenly, there phones all buzzed at the same time. Each of them grabbed their phones from their pockets to see an airdrop notification from Danny. Madelyn furrowed her eyebrows as she clicked on the accept button, a photo of Ghostface attacking Quinn popping up.

They all looked up at each other, sharing a look.

"Help! Stop!"

And with that the group were all rushing out of their seats. Both Tara and Madelyn headed to Quinn's bedroom but Nick and Chad grabbed them, pulling them towards the others that were now stood by the sofa. The clanging stopped, the group all staring at the door with scared looked.

"Run."

The door swung open, Quinn's body being thrown out of it, falling straight into Anika that caused her to fall to the floor. Sam, Mindy and Madelyn rolled Quinn's body off of Anika, causing the girl to scream at the sight of a dead body for the first time.

"Guys, come on!" Tara shouted as her and Chad bolted out of the door. Nick stood up, pulling Madelyn towards the door slowly, careful not to draw attention to them.

"Oh, fuck." Mindy stated as Ghostface ran at her, slicing her shoulder.

"Mindy!" Anika exclaimed. "Stay the fuck back!"

Sam ran towards the kitchen as Anika grabbed Ghostface's leg, causing him to stop and turn to her. Ghostface grabbed Anika's throat, squeezing it.

"No." Madelyn stated. Nick tried to stop her as she pushed out of his grip and rushed over to where Anika was writhing under Ghostface. "Fuck off bitch."

Madelyn grabbed the Ghostface costume, pulling the person off of Anika and throwing him back towards Quinn's bedroom door. She kicked him twice harshly, "I am so over this—"

As she spun to kick him once more, the Ghostface moved quicker, stabbing her in the abdomen before pushing her to the floor harshly, causing her to land on her wrist. He took a step forward to attack her again when Nick kicked his legs out from underneath him. Ghostface recovered quickly, slicing Nick's legs and kicking him into the dining chair so he tripped over the chairs and landed on his head.

Madelyn winced before she spun around. Nick was okay, the boy now searching for some kind of weapon. Madelyn turned, crawling over to see if Mindy was okay.

"Minds? Mindy? Are you alright?" She asked frantically.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Are you—Anika!" Mindy shouted.

Madelyn spun to see Ghostface holding Anika up against the fireplace by her neck, his knife stabbed into her stomach. Anika let out a ear-piercing scream as the Ghostface twisted his knife. Madelyn looked around for any sign of where Sam was.

"Sam!" She shouted loudly, hoping to gain her attention.

"Hey!" Sam ran into the living room again. The ghostface spun to face her only coming face to face with the knife holder from the kitchen.

Madelyn got up, helping Mindy up quickly before moving to help Anika. The four girls as well as Nick who quickly followed behind them ran into Quinn's bedroom, slamming the door shut behind them. Sam locked the door, holding the doorknob so the door stayed shut. Tha banging on the door suddenly stopped, the group sharing scared looked.

Sam looked at them, "Bathroom door." She whispered.

Nick quickly got up, hobbling over to the bathroom, "Oh shit, that guy's dead."

Ghostface then appeared at the door, Nick moving to shut it, but Ghostface was already too far inside, the door slamming into him. Sam rushed to help as they moved backwards into the bedroom, allowing Ghostface into the bathroom but not the bedroom as they shut the door and held it shut. Nick locked it, keeping his back against it as Sam and Mindy pushed Quinn's cabinet in front of it.

Madelyn sat in front of a very scared and heavily bleeding Anika. "You're gonna be okay."

"Hey!" A shout caught Sam's attention, the girl rushing to the window and opening it leaving Mindy and Nick leant up against the cabinet. The group all looked over to see what she was doing, looking at the ladder that now spread between their apartment and Danny's.

"You have to come one at a time." Madelyn heard Danny shout.

"You two go first. Mindy!" Sam told them, referring to Mindy and Anika.

"What? No."

"Mindy."

"Someone needs to hold the door." Mindy told her.

"Nick's got it." Madelyn stated.

"Nick can barely stand right now." Mindy said. "Nick go first, we'll send Anika after you Sam. Go!"

Nick moved over, climbing onto the ladder and towards Danny's apartment. Madelyn looked around, grabbing one of Quinn's jumpers and tying it around Anika's waist as a final attempt to stop the bleeding.

Once Nick was across the ladder, Sam went next, the three girls urging her along.

"She's losing a lot of blood!" Mindy exclaimed referring to Anika.

"Say something more positive!" Anika stressed.

When Sam was across the ladder, Mindy moved the cabinet so it was across the gap, Madelyn rushing to take her place. Despite, losing blood from the stab wound in her abdomen, the girl felt fine, having tied something around it to momentarily stop the bleeding.

Mindy urged Anika to go first but Anika refused.

"You have to go."

"Mindy, no! I'll be right behind you, I promise."

Mindy let out a small sob, kissing her girlfriend before spinning and climbing out the window. Mindy moved quickly, trying her best to get across with her bleeding arm. Madelyn tried her best to push against the cabinet as the ghostface kept hitting it.

"Baby, you can't stop." Anika urged her.

"Come on! Come on!" Mindy shouted, being in the apartment.

"Maddie, you gotta go." Anika told her as Madelyn rushed over to help Anika get out the window.

"No, Anika, you have to go, you have to get over there otherwise you won't make it. You're bleeding too much, you have to go now and get help." Madelyn told her. "I'll be right behind you, I swear. Please, please just go."

The girls spun around with a sob at the sound of the cabinet nearly falling over. Anika looked at Madelyn, before shoving her gently so she was the closest to the window. "Go!"

Madelyn let out a breath before sighing, spinning around and climbing out the window. She held onto the ladder, trying her hardest not to look down as she slid across it carefully.

"Maddie, Mads, baby, look at me." Nick's voice carried causing her to look up. "Deep breathes and careful movements, you got his."

Madelyn nodded, moving along the ladder as quickly as possible without falling.

"Come on Mads!" Sam called, holding her hand out when she got close enough. Madelyn grabbed onto her hand, allowing the girl to pull her through the window.

"Anika, come on!" Madelyn shouted as Sam wrapped her arms around her.

"Go!" Danny urged.

Madelyn held onto the ladder tightly, now being right at the window in front of Danny. They all urged her along.

"Oh, god! I can't do it, I can't do it!" Anika cried.

"Don't look down!"

"Look at me!" Mindy shouted. "You can do it!"

"You're doing good."

"You're doing so well!" Madelyn called as Anika very slowly made her way across the ladder. The girl was making good movement when the group all froze. Ghostface now being stood in the window of Quinn's bedroom.

"What?"

"Anika, you have to move right now!" Mindy practically screamed.

Anika turned to see Ghostface, letting out a scream as she cried. "No, God! Please, no!"

"Anika, you got to move!" Sam hurried her.

"No!" Anika shook her head.

The Ghostface stabbed his knife into the window sill, grabbing the ladder and lifting it and slamming it back down, causing Anika to jerk around. The girl screamed loudly in fear.

"No! Baby, I don't wanna die!"

"No, Anika."

Nick suddenly grabbed random things from Danny's apartment, launching them out of the window so they hit the Ghostface, which many of them did allowing Anika to move every so often across without falling.

"No, no, no, no, Anika, grab my hand." Madelyn shouted, leaning as far out the window as she possibly could, Nick still throwing things at the Ghostface. "I got you."

Mindy held onto Madelyn as she leant further and further out the window, allowing her to grab Anika's hand tightly. The girl began to pull Anika towards her but then Ghostface began to turn the ladder on it's side.

And with one last jerk, Anika slipped from Madelyn's grip and fell off the ladder, falling down towards the floor with a scream. She hit the dustbin before landing on the floor, now silent and covered in blood.

Madelyn's mouth dropped, her arm staying out the window with a small scream before she moved to hug Mindy, the girl sobbing loudly at the death of her girlfriend. Madelyn sobbed with her, holding her best friend close as they stared down at Anika's body.

Sam wrapped her arms around Mindy and Madelyn as they cried. Anika was one of Madelyn's best friends and she loved her so much. She thought she'd never have to go through losing another best friend after Wes and yet here she was.

And this friend, she could've saved.

( 💌 ) isobel's notes
anika deserved SO much better fr

TAYLOR SWIFT SANG YOU ARE IN
LOVE LAST NIGHT AND I WANNA CRY
ITS MY FAV SONG EVER
more sadness next chap 🫣