chapter one:
one year anniversary

MONDAY: October 27th, 2027

Waking up in a stranger's bed wasn't exactly how Benjamin pictured his morning. He barely remembered the night before, the constant bickering of loud voices and music as he danced until he couldn't breathe anymore. He remembered the taste of alcohol and the smell of sweat from lingering bodies.

The bright flashing lights as he let himself slip away into the darkness. He saw the images like a foggy storm, and no amount of blinking made him remember how he ended up here of all places. He felt the arm draped over his chest and he folded into himself as he turned to his side.

The sunlight was bright and then he heard the muffled noise of a television. He turned slightly and he could see the big boxed television in the corner of the room, in big bolded letters. THE ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE WOODSBORO HIGH SCHOOL TRAGEDY.

He felt throw up rise up his throat and he couldn't focus on a single thing as he sat up. He ignored the groan from beside him as he gripped his face and let out a shaky breath. He practically let himself fall off the bed as he grabbed his jeans off the ground and quickly threw them on before running forward to grab his hoodie and shoes.

"One year ago tragedy struck woodsboro highschool, what appeared to be a normal club turned deadly. When a killer emerged and took the life of four students. Angel Johnson, Nadia Montgomery, Gwendolyn Evans and Andy Williams. While none of the bodies were able to be recovered from the wreckage of the fire, a memorial was placed near the theater after the school was fully rebuilt".

Benjamin huffed as he grabbed his bag and then he made his way towards the door quietly. "I'm here with one of the survivors of the incident, Claire Maitland, she will be telling her side of the story when we return". Benjamin turned at the sound of movement, the boy who he couldn't remember the name of or let alone even meeting was staring at him in confusion.

His hair was a mess and he rubbed at his eyes as he let out a light yawn. "Running off already?" Benjamin rolled his eyes as he grabbed his belt from the ground. The static of the television made his head feel fuzzy. "Not much of a talker then, that's fine I guess".

Benjamin huffed as he walked towards the bed and grabbed his eyepatch that for some reason fell off. "Oh don't worry about the eye, it looks pretty cool actually. How exactly did it end up like that?".

Benjamin slipped the patch over his eye "like you don't know" his voice was low as he looked down at the boy. Practically everyone in woodsboro knew about the boy's story, literally everyone. He couldn't walk down a sidewalk without someone looking at him and calling him a murderer.

He told his story numerous times and yet no one believed he was innocent. He told the word Andy was behind it all, that the boy used him for his own little game and then he attacked everyone. Yet somehow Benjamin was the one being blamed for it all, people said it was always the quiet shy kid.

That he had likely lied about it for attention, Andy's parents weren't fond of the boy when he showed up to his house with flowers. He remembered the harsh states and the sobs he heard and then he stopped even going near the house altogether.

He took the long way to work every morning, he'd never drive past the highschool or even Andy's house again. Not unless he had no choice, the thought of it made him wanna throw up as he walked towards the doorway and pulled the door open.

A year, an entire year had passed since everything happened. It's no wonder he woke up dazed and out of it "I wouldn't go out that way, my parents will kill me if they knew I had a guy over last night".

Benjamin turned "and that's my problem?" the boy pointed towards the window "by all means go out that way, promise the fall won't kill you or anything. And if it does then my bad". Benjamin rolled his eyes as he pushed the door shut "who the hell still lives with their parents at this age? You look thirty dude".

The boy scoffed "I'm twenty two, and I'm just staying here for the weekend, gotta get back to New York for work and college life. How old are you then? Since you wanna judge me".

"Nineteen, but I'm gonna be twenty in a few months" he walked towards the window pulling it open. They were on the second floor of the house and while Benjamin would be creeped out by possibly hurting himself. He didn't really care, not with what today meant. He'd go home and the news reporters would be waiting and he'd wanna cry or scream.

As he climbed onto the ledge of the roof the boy who he didn't know the name of stuck his head out the window. "Also who the hells Andy? You kept calling me Andy last night" Benjamin lost his footing and slipped right off the roof.

He groaned as he landed into a bush, he could hear the muffled shouts of someone calling his name as he stood up and walked off towards his car. It was parked beside the road and he could see the harsh graffiti on the side of it as he got inside. No amount of paint or scrubbing made the words fade away, no amount of hiding or leaving made the eyes look away.

Everyone in this town hated him, maybe moving would be a good idea but he didn't even really know where to go. He didn't even do everything last year and yet the blame was all on him. It wasn't his fault Andy decided to brutally stab him a few times and then traumatized half of the drama club.

Benjamin drove in silence, his head still felt fuzzy and he knew the second he got home his mother would disown him for not being home. The only time she cared enough was whenever the cameras were around, she claimed she was a good mother and that her son was simply just troubled. She was the first one to even smile at the cameras when they first appeared on their lawn the year prior. With the one year anniversary being today he wasn't surprised to see her outside surrounded by reporters and smiling.

Benjamin grumbled under his breath as he parked his car in the driveway. He could hear the constant flashes of cameras going off as he prepared himself for what awaited. He got out of the car ignoring the crowd that slowly emerged around him as he tried to walk towards his front door.

He didn't listen to any of the questions "Benjamin! Is it true you're the one who set the school on fire!" he could practically see the stares he got. "Benjamin, why did you kill your classmates! Why aren't you being punished for the lives you took!".

Benjamin slammed the door shut and ran up the stairs towards his room. He let out a heavy breath as he pushed the door shut with his foot "someone totally got laid last night, your shirts backwards".

Benjamin jumped at the sudden sight of Claire, the girl was lying on his bed flipping through one of his books. "I can't believe you even own this book, I mean I thought the stab movies were lame".

She sat up throwing the book weakly to the side of the bed as Benjamin huffed. "How did you even get in here? My windows locked" he made sure of it as he tried to open it. "Your mother let me inside, she was practically all starstruck, I think she thinks we're dating or something".

Benjamin set his bag down beside his desk as Claire stood up off the bed "I mean your dating life is depressing, so who was the lucky guy from last night? I mean there's no other explanation for why you weren't home". Benjamin glared at Claire "why exactly are you here? I haven't seen you in months".

Claire chuckled softly "came to make sure you didn't do anything drastic, plus we're all meeting at the diner later for a little get together. Just came to tell you since you didn't answer the group chat when I asked if everyone could attend. For the most part everyone said yes, we're just hoping you'll show up".

"If I say yes will you leave?" the girl pinched his cheeks slightly "oh and leave you all alone to rot in your bed. That wouldn't be very fun. We could go hang out somewhere, I'm working on a few scripts to turn in for that director in New York. I think he's really interested in my work".

Benjamin blinked as he sat down on his bed "he's likely just trying to get an autograph at this rate. You're like pretty famous Claire, you're welcome". His sarcastic tone made the girl roll her eyes as she sat down beside him "you're still blaming yourself for what happened last year, it wasn't even your fault that Andy went batshit crazy and tried to kill everyone".

"I mean it sorta is, it all started because of me. He told me that, you got all the fame from it and I got the other end of it where people call me a psycho. There's so many articles online about me and half of them aren't even true, it's rumors and gossip".

"You know people will always side with who they think is right, maybe if you actually did an interview with someone and told your story then they wouldn't blame you for what happened".

"I don't care about interviews, I just want my life back. I never asked to be thrown into this situation, I should've just died in that stupid theater like I wanted, at least I wouldn't be around to hear what people have to say about me behind my back".

"You survived, you could've let yourself stay inside that theater and burn but you got out. Clearly you didn't wanna die if you're still here". Benjamin sighed "but is it worth it? Me still being here?".

"That's something you'll find to figure out yourself Ben, stop punishing yourself and just let it all go".

—
authors notes:
a little basic first chapter, while the first act is more of a little recap of things you've missed during the two years I didn't write for. It mainly focuses around each characters suffering and how they're processing things, the first chapter of course focuses on Benjamin  with a little bit of Claire. I always started briefly writing act two which is when the new characters come in and I can't wait to get that chapter out because it's literally so epic!

TO ENSURE YOU'VE READ THIS
answer this question (required)
who do you think the killer is this time?

doing a little early  prediction because why not! I know we don't know anything at all yet and none of the chapters are out with the new characters but I like seeing people's guesses long before they know the lore and backstory's of everyone. Who knows maybe if you just happen to guess it right your character will survive all the way to the end!