IF LOOKS COULD KILL
act one, the truth about Ophelia

post- scream v,
epilogue
✸

Starr Kimens had to fidget with her fingers as she wait for the psychiatrist. Her palms were shaking vivaciously, her skin was becoming paler by the second. Should she be feeling like heaven's light? a truth that's been hidden in the darkness, this should be relief off her chest, a burden she should no longer bare.

But deep down, she knew she didn't want the truth. The truth had sharp claws, it will dig into the skin and punctured hearts. Shatter a soul or just completely get rid of it all together.

"Miss Kimens, Are you ready?" Mrs. May smiles, making a nervous smile spread on Starr's.

"Okay." Starr wipes her palms on her jean shorts.

Mrs. May was a warm hearted women. Her office was warm, almost like a home welcoming you in with open arms.

Her crown was the luscious Afro she wore on her head, her style seemed relaxing. Long skirts that came down to her ankles, a white tank top that was covered by a hollowed—netted sweater.

"You can moves those pillows if it bothers you." Mrs. May pointed at the large pillows that took up half the couch.

Starr moves the pillow out of the way, before sitting it on her lap. It was a comfort.

"I'll start with the easy questions, get the session rolling—get you relaxed, then we'll slowly go from there, okay?" She spoke softly.

Starr nods, giving another simple, "ok."

"So tell me about today, you waking up this morning, how'd you feel about coming here? Excited, annoyed—"

"Nervous." Starr answers, "really nervous actually."

"That's normal for first comers, it's an new experiences." Mrs. May smiles, placing her palm to her heart, "I try my best to make sure it's a good one."

Starr chuckles, "Yeah. My brother told me I had no reason to be nervous."

"You're brother?" Mrs. May takes out her notepad, "you two must be close?"

Start smiles at the thought of him, "yeah, it's pretty shocking actually. Never thought we could be that just a few months ago."

"What happened to cause this change in relationship?"

Starr takes a deep breathe, "me and my brother were almost killed by my best friend and her boyfriend."

Mrs. May raises a brow, "I'd like to discuss this topic a little more if you don't mind."

Starr swallows her fears, "My best friend, Amber, she um—she killed two of my other friends before she killed my father."

"Is that what brought you two closer?" Mrs. may jots down a few notes, "the death of your father?"

"One of them. Yes." Starr sighs.

"When you booked this appointment, you noted that you've been having some hallucinations...when did those appear?" Mrs. May asked.

"Around the age of ten," Starr admits, "—but then they stopped, but they came back again."

"When exactly did those hallucinations return?" May looks up from her notepad.

"Around the time the killing started to happen..." Starr just then realizes.

"You see, sometimes hallucinations can reappear when something triggers it. These killing may have somehow caused these hallucinations to return."

Starr laughs making the psychiatrist frown, "is something wrong?"

"Sorry—it's just," Starr slows down her giggles, "the things that I'm hallucinating—aren't real."

"Well...yes, that's kind of the point." May have a soft smile yet a concerning gaze.

"No," Starr rephrased, "like, the person I'm hallucinating—I have know clue who they are."

"So you say." May smiled, causing Starr to frown.

"So I say?"

"The mind—you see," May crosses her legs, placing her arms on her knees, "it's a very powerful thing, more powerful than us humans may realize."

Starr squints. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying," she smiles, "don't underestimate the power that your brain holds."

"So you think this person that I'm seeing is real?" Starr sighs, "I'm telling you, I would know if they were real."

Mrs. May nods, "okay—okay...I want to try an exercise with you, you don't mind do you."

Starr shifts in her seat, her eyes traveling down the psychiatrist worryingly, "I guess not."

"Great...I want you to lay back on the couch, and close your eyes."

Starr does as she's told. She felt her body relax when her head hit the pillow.

"Now I want you to think of this young girl you've been imagining, are you doing that?"

Starr takes a deep breathe, "mhm."

"Now what is this persons name."

"Ophelia." Starr murmers.

May uncrosses her legs. "I want you to say that name outloud, and as you repeat it, let your mind wonder to the first thing it thinks of, okay?"

"Ophelia...Ophelia." Starr's eyes could be seen moving under her eyes lids, "Ophelia. Oph—"

"Ophelia, go away!"  A ten year old Starr orders Ophelia Burns to leave the tree she'd climb onto.

"You know." Ophelia smirks, "you shouldn't be up here, I could go tell Mrs. Sparks right now where you are."

Starr finally turned to look at Ophelia. She was wearing a blue dress, a cocky grin on her face and her eyes were locked in of Starr.

Ophelia notices the puffy red eyes on Starr, it made her giggle, "what we're you crying about?"

It's been about three days after her mothers funeral and it didn't take much gossip for the word to spread around Woodboro that the crazy lady had killed herself.

But sweet little naive Starr Kimens couldn't tell that Ophelia was teasing her, so she responded heavy-heartedly, "it's my mom...she left me—she—"

"Isn't your mom that crazy lady," Ophelia raises a brow, "that schizo-freak?"

Stare flinches, eyes hurt, "please don't call her that—she wasn't always like that- she was—"

"What's psychotic? Crazy?" Ophelia cringed.

"No." Starr hisses, teeth clenched.

"You know—I bet you're just like her," Ophelia scoffs, "I bet you that schizo-freak gene just like your mommy, huh?"

What hurt the most, was that this wasn't Ophelia first time teasing Starr. She'd been doing it ever since the start of fifth grade.

Starr was tired of it.

"Shut up!" Starr makes Ophelia stop talking, "you're just upset because my mom actually cared about me—"

"Cares about you?" Ophelia chuckles, "If she really cared about you, she never would've killed herself in the first place, silly."

"Shut up!" Starr screams, shifting her body on the tree trunk so she was completely facing Ophelia.

"Make me, schizo-freak—"

It was too late. Something viscous had took a hold of Starr, something that made a switch go off in her brain. Like a chemical—a toxin.

A piercing scream ripped from Ophelia's throat as Starr roughly shoved her off the tree, making her body tumble down the solid branches.

Starr's eyes widened as she saw Ophelia head smack again another tree trunk before slamming head first onto the rough dirt below.

It was silent...completely silent.

Starr's eyes filled with terrifying tears.

Starr opened her eyes with a deep gasp. Tears wasted no time to fall from her cheek, her body was now completely shaking. Chills covered her entire body.

"Miss Kimens," May ran to her side, "you seemed to be struggling—tell me what happened."

Starr snapped her eyes to the psychiatrist, "this was a horrible idea." Starr rushes out of the room, leaving May calling her name.

✸

          When Starr barged into her house, her eyes first landed on all the packed up boxes. She'd almost forgotten that they were leaving Woodsboro to got to college at New York.

Arlo rounds the corner, a smile on his face. "How'd it go?"

Starr doesn't respond, taking down once of the boxes and started to rummage through it.

Arlo frowns, "Starr, what are you looking for?"

"Yearbooks, I need to find the yearbooks." Starr trembles. This can't be real, this can't be real.

"Uh—its—" Arlo tried to say, but Starr had already found it.

Woodsboro Elementary School: 2013

It was as if tension was building the more Starr flipped through the book. This can't be re—

There she was. Ophelia Burns in a photo and not just something Starr was hallucinating.

Starr drops the yearbooks. "Holy shit."

✸

˙·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡ใƷ ♥●•٠·˙

word count: 1366

SIREDNOTES !—
yup....

Just in case y'all wanted a visual
of the yearbook photo (I know it's
not the best, but don't judge):