RING!

Ring!

Ring—

"Hello?" Mia Hicks answered her phone, voice raspy as per usual.

You probably wouldn't expect someone involved in the 2011 Woodsboro Murders to pick up the phone so quickly—especially when she had no clue who was calling her—but here Mia was, in the dead of night, all alone in her bedroom, answering.   For being so good at following horror movie rules, Mia was breaking multiple of them in this one move.

"Hello, Mia." a sinister voice replied, deep and manly.  The Hicks' knew this voice too well—anyone who lived in the town would.  It belonged to the ever-so-famous, Ghostface.  The masked killer that haunted Woodsboro, California every couple of years since the 90's, slashing up teens until eventually a final girl—usually by the name of Sidney Prescott—and her friends unmasked and slaughtered the figure.

Mia's thoughts were further implied when the dark voice continued to say, "What's your favorite scary movie?"  

The blonde girl rolled her eyes, and pretended to think.  She could at least be more original.

"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." Mia answered sarcastically.  If she was going to be truthful, she didn't really have a favorite horror movie.  Ever since her mother was almost shot in the 2011 murder—Mia praises the lord for bullet proofs vests on the daily—the Hicks girl spent her days watching movies from the horror genre, taking notes and listening to rules, as one does.

Because of this, Mia's seen practically every decent horror movie out there and finds it rather hard to pick a favorite.  Almost every movie ends one way or another—a final girl survives to continue the sequel, or everyone ends up dead.

A groan came from the phone, "Oh, come on! You have a terrible taste in movies!"

"Hello, Mindy." the Hicks girl replied in amusement, a smirk on her face.

Just like herself, Mindy Meeks-Martin was your go-to horror person and definitely had opinions when it came to which ones were good and which ones sucked.  Therefore, whenever Mia wanted to get a kick at the girl, she'd claim to like one of Mindy's least favorites, as she did now.

"You're seriously no fun to prank anymore." Mindy said from the other end of the call, and Mia could hear her fake frown through the phone, "Every time you give me an answer that causes my horror-movie heart to shatter."

Mia gave another eye roll and laid back on her bed, putting her phone on speaker mode so she didn't need to keep it right up to her ear. "I have to keep the fun between us somehow, because this—" she made a gesture, as if Mindy was in the room with her, "—isn't very original."

"I'm just trying to keep you on edge." the Meeks-Martin girl replied, "You can never get too comfortable in Woodsboro.  For all you know, I'm actually Ghostface pretending to be Melinda Meeks-Martin."

Mia gave a look, "Yeah, right.  I doubt Ghostface would have such strong feelings about Sweeney Todd."

"Hey, speaking of horror movies, you broke like a shit-ton of rules just by answering my call." Mindy changed the subject, "You picked up the phone when it was No Caller ID, it's late at night, and you're all alone."  She tsked, "Randy Meeks is looking down at you with a frown from his holy throne."

Mia laughed, "My apologies to your uncle, but I know it's you."

"But do you?"

"I do."

"Fine, it's always me." Mindy admitted, "But that doesn't mean it will always be me.  An actual killer could be on the other end one of these times, and it would suck if you died—You really give off final girl energy."

"Thanks, Mind." Mia ignored the comment about her dying, continuing on for the conversation.  While most friends would converse about the newest drama, or schoolwork, Mindy's usually consisted of some mention of Ghostface, her uncle Randy Meeks—may he rest in peace—and horror in general.   Mia had grown custom to death comments, as had the rest of their small friend group.  

"But, I doubt I'll be murdered tonight.  Wes is with me, and it wouldn't be very Ghostface of Ghostface to attack me with other people in the house. Not if I'm the first kill." Mia finished, thinking through the past Ghostface attacks.  Usually, the first kill happens late at night—check—to a teenager all alone in their home—negative.  Lucky for Mia, her brother happened to be home, and she found it unlikely that she'd be murdered with someone else in the house.

"I suppose it wouldn't, but you never know." Mindy continued, her voice normal and casual, as if everyone spent phone calls talking about murder—it was a Woodsboro thing. "Maybe you're so involved in this conversation that Wes' screams for help are going unnoticed—"

"Jesus, Mindy." another voice came through the other end of the phone, belonging to Mindy's twin brother, Chad.   "No need to get so gruesome.  It's not like anyone's actually going to die from Ghostface."

"Never say never, Chad." Mia replied, rolling over so she was now lying on her stomach, feet crossed above her.  It wasn't unusual for Chad Meeks-Martin to join their horror convos, usually chastising Mindy for saying something gruesome.  "And, I don't think Mindy can help it.  She's a gruesome person."

"Sometimes I can't believe we're twins." Chad sighed.

"The feeling's mutual, bubs."

"Leave your twin banter to your own time." the Hicks scoffed.

"Someone's cranky." Chad's voice came through again.  She imagined the boy sitting next to his sister, having stopped whatever he was previously doing to enter the conversation himself.  "Is Mindy keeping you up past your bedtime?"

"No, I was up anyway watching Friends." Mia denied his words, "What about you? Shouldn't you be in bed early for football practice?"

"I would be, but Mindy has brought me into a Stab marathon that I sadly can't escape." Chad sighed, though he knew he wasn't too disappointed.  While he wasn't as big a horror fan as his twin, Chad wouldn't hesitate to watch a Stab movie, especially if it showed their uncle.  

For a man they'd never met, they sure did worship the name Randy Meeks.

"Third one this week?" Mia raised a brow.

"They're my comfort movies, don't judge." Mindy was the one who replied.  Her phone was probably in between the two twins so each of their words came through clearly.  "Wanna FaceTime?"

The Hicks gave a nod, grabbing her phone so she'd be able to accept the request coming from her friend, "Yeah, it would probably be better if I stopped calling from No Caller ID.   If Ghostface came back and they looked through my phone, I'd look better if I didn't have a ten minute call with an unknown caller."

"Smart girl." the Meeks-Martin girl replied before hanging up on her friend.  A few seconds later, the incoming face time notification appeared at the top of Mia's screen, the blonde girl allowing it without hesitation. 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Mia Hicks stayed on call with the Meeks-Martin twins for another few hours until she eventually grew tired and fell asleep listening to her two friends arguing.  Some people would probably feel embarrassed by dozing off in the middle of a call, but the blonde girl had never felt that way.  She knew Mindy and Chad wouldn't make fun of her—they've done it too.

That's what Mia liked about being friends with the twins—they didn't judge.  

None of her friends did, really. They were a tight-knit group of kids who, while all having different personalities, somehow came together—said group of kids consisting of; Tara Carpenter, Amber Freeman, Liz Mckenzie, the Meeks-Martin twins, and of course, Mia and her twin, Wes.

If she were being honest, Mia truly only enjoyed four out of the six's company—the four being Tara, the twins and her brother.  She'd known them the longest, had grown to trust them more than Amber and Liv, who were more-so newbies to the group.

Then again, Mia didn't really trust any of her friends in Woodsboro.  Not when her mother was involved in the 2011 Murders, involved with Ghostface.  They'd all trusted Jill Roberts only for her to be revealed as a killer, and Mia Hicks wasn't going to take any chances.  As much as her and Mindy discussed their deaths, she truly didn't want to die at seventeen. 

She didn't want to die early at all—did anyone, really? Mia never wanted to find herself in the position of getting attacked by Ghostface, on the floor, getting stabbed.  It was a possible reality, yes, but was it her desired reality, hell no.

So, the only people Mia had ever fully trusted in her life were her mother and her twin brother—the two people who shared her blood.  And while, yes, Wes or her mom could become Ghostface....the Hicks girl found it more unlikely.

Speaking of people of her own blood, it had been Wes who had awoken Mia from her slumber, roughly shaking her until her eyes snapped open.  

Mia, with half open eyes, looked at the bleached-blonde boy, confused on why he'd awoken her so abruptly.  "Wes? What the fuck? It's like—" she squinted towards her phone screen,  reading the number 2, "—two in the morning."

"Mia—"

"Did you wet the bed? Because, that's not really a me problem—" the girl raised a brow, speaking sarcastically. 

But, then, Wes raised his voice, "Mia! Stop talking!"

The girl closed her mouth.  Wes never yelled, and certainly not at his sister—they were always very jokey to each other, and rarely fought, unlike Chad and Mindy.  If Wes was yelling, he was in a state of panic.  And if he was panicking.....something was wrong.  Really wrong.

Mia's attitude quickly changed, and she sat upright in her bed.  Giving her brother the room to speak, she asked, "Wes, what happened?" She could sense that her twin was scared, and—almost out of instinct—wanted to comfort him.

  "I'm sorry for yelling, but.....Tara was attacked." 

Mia's jaw dropped. Was he playing with her?  Did he think it was funny, joking about their close friend getting attacked? Without warning, the Hicks girl spoke her thoughts out loud, "Are you fucking around with me? Wes, you can't pull shit like that, you're not Mindy—"

Wes shook his head, "I'm not joking, Mi."

"What the fuck!" the blonde didn't mean to be so loud with her exclaim, but she couldn't help it. Her friend had been attacked. Tara had been attacked.  "She was attacked!? What the fuck? Is-Is she okay?"

"Mom texted me—" As her brother started talking, Mia snatched her phone from beside her, tapping on the screen so it lit up.  Her eyes were quick to catch on to the texting chain her mother had left her moments ago, which she assumed to be about Tara based on the multiple messages. "—and said she's at the hospital right now."

Mia listened to her brother's words, but her eyes skimmed over her phone's background.  It was a picture of their friend group—including Amber and Liv.  In the front and center of the photo was Tara, smiling with her hands cupping her face, happy.  Mia couldn't even look at her, not with the image of her being injured in a hospital bed at the front of her mind. 

"When you say attacked—"

Wes already knew what she meant and was quick to answer, "Stabbed. Mom said she was stabbed multiple times and that she was barely breathing when the cops arrived."

"Holy shit."  Mia exclaimed, wide eyed.  She couldn't believe what she'd just been told.  One of her closest friends had been attacked. Tara had almost died.  For as Mindy joked about one of them being attacked, it didn't make hearing this information any easier.   Joking and real life were very different things.  

"Mom thinks she's gonna be okay." Wes continued, voice quieter than before as the situation really set in.  "I'm, uh, gonna go check on her as soon as they allow visitors—I'm sure everyone else is going to wanna come too."

Mia nodded solemnly, a frown on her face as she looked at her twin.  While she herself felt horrible about the situation—her close friend had almost been murdered after all—she knew Wes felt worse.

While he'd never say it out loud, Mia knew Wes had a crush on Tara Carpenter.   She was the first one who knew—twin perks—and would always make fun of him for it....until now, that is.   The Hicks' girl didn't know what (almost) losing the one you loved felt like.  She'd been asleep, and for all she knew, her brother could have been having a panic attack because of the thoughts.

Mia didn't ever want to know what that felt like.

Breaking the small silence, Wes spoke up again, "Could you tell Mindy? I'd rather only have to break the news to one of them...."

"Hey," Mia stood up, getting off of her bed. Her brother's watery blue eyes met hers, and Mia could see the amount of worry he was in.  Though they'd gotten word that the Carpenter girl was stable, she could see that Wes was still scared that he could lose Tara—she could admit that she too had the thought looming on her mind.  Tara could still die.

But, Mia pushed those thoughts aside and wrapped her arms around her twin, showing him comfort.  Wes tightly grabbed on to his sister, showing that he needed the embrace.  She hated seeing her brother like this.  While he hadn't been stabbed, Tara's attack still pained him like the knife that pierced her skin—as it did to Mia, and would to some degree to the rest of the friend group.

"She's okay."  Mia whispered, holding on to her brother.  She was trying to reassure Wes and herself with her words.  "Tara's okay—she's gonna stay okay.  Mom won't let anything else happen."

But, as she whispered reassuring words into her brother's ear, Mia couldn't help but think the awful truth.  One of her friends was lying.   

She'd seen too many horror movies to blame this attack on a psycho—it was never just a psycho in Woodsboro.  No, this psycho was someone she and Tara both saw as close, someone who could easily shake off suspicion. 

As the Stab movies said.....It was always someone you know.   

And Mia was going to do whatever she could to figure out who the fuck it was.

mara's misc!

mia; not wanting to ever experience the feeling that is losing a loved one.

me; laughs in author.

anyway, that's chapter one!!  normally, i don't enjoy writing filler but i honestly enjoyed writing the phone call between mindy & mia, (plus chad).   the meeks-martin twins are two of my favorite characters, and i'm already enjoying writing their dynamic.

i also liked my little wes/mia moment.  i'm giving them scenes when i can because.....well.....

i didn't mean for there to be two sets of twins in this fic, it just happened.  i have a really, really, bad habit of making my ocs twins with a main character and it needs to stop, (carla is nancy's twin, elora is billy's twin, cassia is harry's twin, etc).

this chapter turned out to be a decent length, but i'm not sure how long chapters will generally be! i usually try for like 2000/3000 words, but scenes, (even with adding them together), that who knows.  but, i'll try to make chapters worth your while even if they are only like 1000 words. 

the next chapter will be the first chapter where i'm actually involved in the movie and i'm so excited.  i'm so ready to write mia's bond with the core four, as well as with amber, whom she's still weary of.....and for good reason.

hope you enjoyed <3 see you back with chapter two!