Day 1
I've always been fascinated by time loop movies. I could watch them non-stop. But if I did, I would wouldn’t be able to do anything else, so... that wouldn’t work. I actually do a lot of fun stuff. Like, hanging out with friends, going on parties, singing karaoke on karaoke bars... Can you imagine being in a real time loop movie? It would be so great!”
I was thinking about that while walking on the street and accidentally bumped into a man who held a take-away coffee mug, and he spilled hot coffee all over my clothes. I screamed high, so everyone could hear. I wasforced. Everyone turned around and stared at me. The man furrowed his eyebrows.
“I’m so sorry! I was in a hurry-”
“Run if you’re in a hurry”, I murmured.
The man ran away. My best friend, Matt, called me and I answered the call.
"Hey, Laney!”
“Hello, Matt!”
“You are invited to my parent-free party, my house, it begins in about one hour.”
“I’m coming!”
"Great!”
Matt turned off the call.
Matt’s parties were always a blast. I remember when he invited a fake celebrity (look-alike). I didn’t know that she was fake until he told me, and he didn’t tell anyone else. Because he knew me the best. And he knew I didn’t take things too seriously. Just like him. I knew that this party would be a blast too.
Suddenly, a guy, probably a teenager like me, came and showed a news magazine for me, holding it veryclose to my eyes. I didn’t recognize him from anywhere.
"This news paper was from yesterday! Is this a nightmare, Or am I going mad!?”
I looked at the text and the image in the newspaper.
“The Masked Killer has escaped from the prison, killing teenagers again. The police promise that they will give a 10 000 dollars reward to the one that catches them.”
Someone wearing a squirrel mask and a black hoodie was on the front page image.
“I don’t think this newspaper was from yesterday, because I was here-”
"No!” It can’t be! No one believes me... What’s happening!?”
I walked away from him, thinking he seemed cringe. I know I like time loop movies but I’ve never seen someone act as if life was arealtime loop movie. But if I thought I was in a real time loop horror movie, I would’ve probably been acting like that too.
I went to Matt’s house, because I wanted to help him with the decorations, the snacks, and everything before the party started. I knocked at the door. It took a while until he opened.
"Hey, Laney!”
“Hey!“, I answered, looking at his black suit and blue tie.
He usually wore casual clothes, like, a red hoodie and blue jeans, at his parties. But now, he was all dressed up.
"Wow, you’re looking...”
"Stunning? Hilarious? Different?”
“I would choose different.”
“I know. It’ll be fun to see everyone’s reactions to my new outfit. Comein!”
I walked in to his huge house and looked around. I was always fascinated by how big his (and his parents) house was. And it could fit so many people in it.
“Your house is sooo cool!”
“Uh-huh? So... what do you think about me, then?”
“You’re cooler”, I said, laughing softly.
He laughed too. We had the same sense of humor and we’d had it since we first met, at kindergarten. I remember that Matt imitated the janitor and he had no idea that he stood behind him, with a grumpy face.
There was a huge pool in the garden outside the house. Then, I remembered. I forgot to put on my bikini underneath my clothes.
“Oh no, I forgot my bikini!”
"I don’t mind.”
“But I do. It’s always so fun. Swimming, lying on the floaty, passing the beach ball...”
“I know”, Matt said, smiling understandably.
I sighed deeply. We heard a knock at the door. Matt opened the door, greeting the guest. None of us had ever seen her before. She looked a lot like a young Audrey Hepburn, but modernized. She held two beer bottles, smiling.
"Sooo, I’ve heard there’s a party here.”
Matt hesitated inviting her in.
"Yeah-”
“-Thanks for the invitation!”
“You’re welcome, I guess..?”
"Wow, you have an amazing house...”
“Thank you!”
She looked at me and Matt, it seemed like she was studying us.
“You two really fit together as a couple.”
Matt and I got quiet for a moment. Then, we burst into laughter.
“We’re best friends, we’re not in a relationship“, Matt said, still laughing.
"Yeah!“, I said, smiling amused.
She smiled back, looking at both of us.
"Okay, then.”
We started decorating, and putting out soda, beer, wine, and snacks. Matt was outside, filling the pool with water.
“What’s your name?“, I asked her.
She sighed deeply while putting a large bottle of soda on a table.
"Phew!”
She dried her sweaty forehead with the palm of her hand.
“My name’s Cee. Nice to meet you!”
We shook hands.
"Nice to meet you too!", I said, smiling.
Matt was recently finished filling the pool when other guests started to come. Guests that he recognized and knew since before. He waved to them and they waved back, happily.
“Whats up, Matt?“, Simon shouted, giving Matt a high five.
"Good, how are you?”
“I’m great!”
"Awesome, man.”
I looked out through the window and saw that guests already had started arriving. Matt gave me a sign to come. I walked to Matt and the guests, that I also knew, and we started talking.
Suddenly, the power went out, and everything went black. It was already pretty dark, since the month was November. Cee ran out to us, shocked.
“What happened!?”
Simon rolled his eyes.
“The power went out, have you never seen a power outage?”
"Yes, of course I have.”
Simon looked away from her, sighing, and started talking to his friends.
Cee grinned widely. No one saw that she took two tranquilizer darts out of her black chino pockets. She shot Matt, and then she shot me.
Simon stared at her.
“What have you done!?”
"Don’t tell anyone or I’ll shoot you too.”
Simon ran away, the fastest he could, shocked and scared.
Matt and I woke up in Matt’s basement, tied up to two separate chairs.
I looked around, confused.
“Where am I...?“, Matt asked, sleepy.
Suddenly, I remembered what happened. Cee shot us with tranquilizer darts. But why didn’t she shoot Simon? And what does she want from us?
Cee walked down the stairs to the basement.
“So you don’t know why you’re here...?”
Matt shook his head, he was shaking anxiously.
“If I told you two a secret... would you believe me?”
“Don’t kill us!“, Matt exclaimed.
I thought about the newspaper that the hysterical stranger showed me this morning.
“Are you... ”The Masked Killer“?
Cee nodded.
"Mm-hmm!”
Matt moved a lot. He was probably feeling uncomfortable. Cee looked at Matt with an amused expression.
"Honestly, I don’t think that will help. You won’t get free from those ropes through moving. Right, Laney...?”
“Go to hell!“, I shouted.
Cee looked at me with a “fake” surprised expression.
“What do you mean?”
Then, Cee started to laugh maniacally.
"You are in hell now. Because I’m going to kill you!”
"Why are you doing this to us!?“, Matt screamed, sweaty by the warm, shining lights in the ceiling.”
“I’m a killer! Isn’t that obvious?”
Police cars were coming, we could hear them from the basement.
“The police is coming!“, I exclaimed, looking at one of the basement windows, in an attempt to get Cee out of the basement.
“Wait here...“, she muttered, and walked up the basement stairs to handle the cops.
I moved my arms back and forth and sideways to try to loosen the ropes. It worked after one whole minute. Cee was probably already on her way now. But I didn’t care so much about that, I was mostly focused on untying Matt. I untied him and put a chair under the basement window, so we could escape.
“What if we’ll die?“, Matt said, with sadness in his thin voice. He usually had a medium-deep voice, with enthusiasm (whenever he was in a good mood), but now, he had a voice I think I’ve never heard before.
“We won’t, I can promise you that”, I said, trying to sound optimistic, but I knew I told him a lie. The chance to get out of here alive was less than 50 percent.
Matt nodded, hesitatingly but approving.
“Okay, Laney. I believe you.”
I jumped out of the window first, then Matt jumped out. Unfortunately, when we got there, Cee came running to us, almost as fast as a cheetah, and pushed us against the house wall. She was strong. The back of our heads bled! And we were too vulnerable to do something.Then, she shot us both in our hearts, holding two guns at the same time.
