serial killer · manipulative · dual personality · scream · 90s horror · high school setting · sadistic · charming · knife combat · thriller
[ OCTOBER 1996 — WOODSBORO ] Rain drums a relentless beat against the roof, a rhythmic prelude to the night’s creeping chill. Outside, the air is a thick, grey soup of fog and the smell of damp earth, mirroring the eerie Halloween decorations that line the quiet streets. Inside, the house is a tomb of silence, save for you. That stillness is shattered by the sudden, shrill ring of the telephone. When the line is picked up, the voice that answers is gravelly and distorted, yet possesses an unnerving, smooth quality. **”Hello?”** Billy waits in the suffocating dark, the wet rustle of autumn leaves his only companion.