Chapter 1

 

Fourteen years later

 

Hallie’s POV

 

“Hallie, would you and Jess carry these boxes up to the attic for me, please?”

 

“Sure, Mom,” I replied, grunting as I picked up one of the big cardboard storage boxes sitting at my mother’s feet.  

 

My thirteen year old sister, Jessica, bent over and lifted another box, and we carried them up the steps that led to our attic.  

 

“Where do we put them?” Jess asked, red-faced from the weight of the box. 

 

“I dunno, let’s just set them over there with those other boxes,” I said, motioning to a stack of boxes in one corner of the attic.   We carried the boxes over and set them down with a thud.  

 

“Wonder what’s in all these boxes,” Jess said, pulling back the flap of one of the old dusty ones that had obviously been up there for awhile.   “Hey cool!” she exclaimed.

 

“What?” I asked, peering into the box.

 

“It’s a bunch of old pictures and stuff.   Must be some of Mom’s old keepsakes,” she replied, dragging the box out into the room so we could see it better. 

 

“Oh cool,” I said, pulling one of the framed pictures out of the box.   “Look, it’s Mom and Dad.”   I showed her a picture of my parents, Josh and Julie Benton, standing together, their arms around each other.  My mom was dressed in a fancy yellow dress, and my dad had a nice suit on.   They were very young too, probably in their early twenties.

”Is that a wedding picture?” Jess asked, squinting at the picture.   It looked like a fancy party or reception, from the looks of the room they were standing in. 

 

“Maybe.  But it’s not from their wedding,” I said.   I had seen pictures from my parents’ wedding. 

 

“Whose wedding, I wonder?” 

 

I shrugged.   “Look on the back.  Maybe it says.”

 

Jess carefully removed the picture from its frame and looked on the back.   Sure enough, there was writing on it.  

 

Sonny and Heidi’s wedding,

September 9, 2009

 

“Oh, it’s Heidi’s wedding!” I said.  

 

Heidi Hunter was one of my mom’s best friends.   She used to live in Virginia when I had been younger, but her second husband, Chad Hunter, had gotten a job transfer to Lexington, Kentucky, where we lived, so they and their two kids, Sonny and Abigail, had moved there.   Our families were close and got together all the time.   Her son Sonny was sixteen, just a few months younger than me, and her daughter Abby was about Jess’s age. 

 

Jess took another picture out of the box.   It was another one from Heidi’s wedding, and this was one of her and her first husband, Sonny Williams.   I had never met Sonny; he had died before I was born.   He was the younger Sonny’s real father, but Sonny Jr. had never met him either.  

 

“How did he die?” Jess asked me, pointing to Sonny’s smiling face. 

 

I shrugged.  “I don’t know,” I said.  “We should ask Mom sometime.”

 

“Oh, look, it’s Brian and Leighanne!” she exclaimed, pointing to another picture of a couple holding a baby.   Brian and Leighanne Littrell were another couple our parents were good friends with.   They also lived close by.   Brian had actually grown up in Lexington and had moved his family back there a few years earlier.  

 

“Oh, that must be Hope,” I said, referring to the baby in Leighanne’s arms.   Hope was their firstborn.   She was a senior in college now, at twenty two.   We didn’t see her much though.   But Brian and Leighanne had another kid, their son Sean, who was thirteen, like Jess.  

 

Jess and I continued to sort through the pictures.   We found one of our mom standing with a tall blonde man, a light-haired woman, and a girl that looked about the same age as Jess. 

 

“Who are those people with Mom?” Jess asked. 

 

I shrugged.  “I don’t know I said.   Look, Mom’s pregnant in it.   Probably with me,” I said, pointing out her pregnant stomach.  

 

The picture wasn’t in a frame, so Jess just flipped it over to look on the back.  Unlike the other pictures, there was nothing written on it, no names or date or anything. 

 

“Let’s go ask who they are,” Jess said, jumping up and running downstairs.   I followed after her, curious myself. 

 

“Hey, Mom!” Jess called, coming into the living room, where Mom was dusting some furniture.  “Who are these people?”   She handed Mom the photo.

 

Mom studied it, her eyes narrowing.   “Where did you get this?” she asked, looking from Jess to me.

 

“In the attic,” I said.  “We found a box of old pictures of you and your friends and stuff.”

 

“You girls know you shouldn’t go rooting through all that stuff.   You better not have made a mess,” she scolded, but I had a feeling she wasn’t really annoyed with us.   There was something deeper than that.   Her face looked troubled.

 

“We didn’t,” Jess assured her.

 

“What’s wrong, Mom?” I asked, noticing the way she kept staring at the picture.   “Who is that?”

 

“This is my friend Nick Carter,” she said, pointing to the man.   “And that’s his daughter Megan.   She was your age then, Jess.”

 

“How old is she now?” Jess wanted to know.

 

Mom thought for a moment.  “Oh… that was taken a long time ago, when I was expecting Hallie.   She’d have to be about thirty by now.”

 

“Oh,” Jess said.

 

“Who’s the woman?” I asked, studying the smiling lady standing next to Nick.

 

 “That’s Sammy,” she said softly. 

 

“Who’s Sammy?  His wife?”

 

“She was his wife, yes,” Mom said, sitting down on the couch, her eyes never leaving the picture.

 

“What happened to her?” I asked.

 

“She died, I’m afraid,” Mom replied sadly.   

 

“Aw.  That’s so sad.   How did she die?” Jess asked.

 

“Oh, that’s a long story, honey,” Mom said, purposefully trying to avoid having to tell it.

 

“Tell us,” Jess insisted.

 

Mom sighed.   “We’ve kept it from you two for so long.   Trying to protect you, I guess.   But it’s all over now so I guess there’s no harm in telling you now.”

We both stared at her in interest.   Our family had secrets we didn’t even know about?   It seemed hard to believe; I had always thought we were just a typical, average family.   But obviously, something had happened in my mother’s past that was anything but typical.

 

“Well, it all started when your father and I were back in medical school…”

 

***

 

(AN:  Just so you’re not confused, this next part is like one big flashback of what happened in the first story.   It just summarizes the key events from “The Terror Chronicles” so that if you haven’t read it in awhile, you’ll remember what happened, who got killed, who survived, etc.)

 

 

A terrible scream sounded through the arena, and I looked up to see something plummeting down from above me.  I screamed as Nick Carter fell from his harness and landed with a heavy thud just a few feet away from me…

 

My whole body shaking, I knelt next to his body and pressed my fingertips against his neck to feel for a pulse.  I got nothing.  Frantically, I grabbed his wrist and checked there.  Still nothing.  I leaned over him and pressed my ear to his chest, but I heard nothing, no breathing, no heartbeat. 

 

Tears spilled down my cheeks, but I knew I couldn’t give up.  Maybe he could still be resuscitated.   Without any hesitation, I pinched Nick’s nose closed and put my mouth over his.   I gave him mouth to mouth first, but he still wasn’t breathing.  Then I started CPR…

 

 

 

Suddenly, I heard Brian’s terrified scream.  I whirled around to see two figures dressed in black holding a struggling Brian.  “Run!” Brian screamed, right before they threw a bag over his head to muffle his cries.

 

I turned and started to run but found myself face to face with two more men in black.  I screamed, but had no time to react.  They grabbed me, and suddenly, everything went black…

 

 

 

Suddenly, Justin whipped out a gun.  I had no time to react before I heard the shot.  I head Brian’s scream, and suddenly, it felt like a fireball had shot into my stomach.  I gasped and shrieked, falling to the ground…

 

 

 

Sonny walked on, a few feet behind Josh, who had caught up to Hope.  Suddenly, he felt an arm grab him from behind and pull him back sharply.  He tried to scream, but a hand closed over his mouth, muffling the sound.  Then, he gasped in pain as something was sharp was thrust into his back.  He was let go of and thrown to the ground.  He looked up to see a person dressed in a Scream costume leaning over him, a knife in hand.  He moaned weakly as the person plunged the knife into his stomach, and then, everything went black…

 

 

 

The knife was jammed into his stomach and then ripped back out.  Josh doubled over in pain and crumpled to the ground, gasping.  He looked up to see a second person in a Scream costume appear next to the first. The first figure cackled again and kicked Josh hard in the ribs, causing him to roll off the road and into the ditch. 

 

Josh raised his head up weakly, but collapsed against the ground again.  With horror, he heard Hope scream.  His eyes opened wide, and he forced himself up, just in time to see one of the figures hit Hope hard over the head.  She collapsed, unconscious.  Josh watched, terrified, as the people shoved her limp body into a big burlap bag and run off down the road…

 

 

 

“Die!” Britney screamed and pulled the trigger before Nick had time to react. 

 

“NO!” Sammy screamed, watching Nick jerk backwards as the bullet plunged into his flesh.  He collapsed to the ground…

 

 

 

“The internal bleeding was more severe than we had expected,” Dr. Bradley started.  “Also, there were some complications.  We tried our very best, but we couldn’t save Sonny.  I’m very sorry…”

 

 

 

I tried to swerve into the other lane to get out of the way, but it was too late.  My car struck the deer, which crashed into the passenger side. 

 

I struggled to regain control of the car, but the impact of the deer had sent us spinning out of control.  I saw the bright lights of the car coming in the opposite direction and heard the shatter of glass as the car collided into us, nearly head on…

 

 

 

“Third time da charm, eh?” Justin asked, his voice low, his blue eyes narrowed at Nick.  He grinned evilly and squeezed the trigger.

 

With a scream of terror and fury, Sammy suddenly charged into Nick, knocking him aside.  Instead of hitting Nick, the bullet struck her instead, right in the chest.  Gasping for air, Sammy collapsed to the floor…

 

 

 

“By the power invested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife,” Tim said.  “You may now kiss the bride.”

 

Tears had come to Sammy’s eyes, as well as Nick’s.  My tears streamed even faster, as I watched Nick and Sammy share their first… and last… kiss as husband and wife.

 

By the time Nick pulled back, Samantha Carter was gone…

 

 

 

The electric chair sprung to life.  I saw Justin’s entire body jolt with the surge of electricity that flowed through it.  But it was not over as soon as I had thought.  He convulsed with the electric shock for near two whole minutes. Finally, his body fell back limply into the chair…  

 

 

***

 

I stared at my mother in shock, after listening to her recount all those years of horror.   “I can’t believe it,” I murmured.  “Why didn’t you ever tell us?”

 

She shrugged.   “I didn’t want to scare you, I guess.   I should have told you girls, I know.   You’re old enough to understand now, and there’s no reason to keep it from you.   But when you were growing up, I just couldn’t bring myself to tell you.   There was no way to bring it up, and there was really no reason for you to know anyway.   But now you know.   That’s what happened to your father and I and our friends all those years ago.”

 

I shook my head, still unable to believe such a thing had happened to people that were so close to me.   It was unfathomable.   Shootings, kidnappings, murders – those were things you saw in the movies and in the news.   I lived in a nice neighborhood in the nice city of Lexington.   I never thought anything bad like that could happen to anyone I was close to, especially my own parents and my friends’ parents.   And yet, it had. 

 

And although I didn’t yet know it, it would happen again… to me.

 

***