The Final Girl
Captivated by the violence I replay From fifteen years ago today
Spencer’s POV
“What are you forcing us to watch this time, Charnas?” Lydia, Ricky’s wife, asks as the band chills at my apartment. “And why isn’t Ophelia here? She’s usually right there with you watching horror movies.”
“She didn’t want to watch this.” I tell her. “Apparently her ex was super into this movie and they didn’t have a nice breakup or something.”
“So you’re gonna go behind her back and watch it anyway?” Joe questions. “That’s sketchy.”
“She never said I couldn’t watch it.” I point out. “She just didn’t want to watch it with me. Apparently it’s based on a true story. This girl came home from cheerleading practice to see her family hanging up on meat hooks and her boyfriend bound and gagged. The guy that did it was a disgruntled ex-employee of her father’s. He apparently had a crush on the girl and went mad when she started dating her star quarterback boyfriend.”
“Sounds like a tragic story.” Ricky states. “It's weird that O wasn’t for watching this movie. She’d be all about the true crime aspect.”
“The only movies she refuses to watch are the ones involving clowns; everything else is far game.” Joe adds. “Are you sure she’s not gonna freak out over you watching this movie? Because there seems to be more to this story than just being a movie an ex really liked.”
“Are you gonna tell me you think she has a connection to this?” I ask everyone.
“I mean we really don’t know much about her.” Patrick offers up. “We’ve known her for a couple years before you guys officially started dating. But we really don’t know her past. She could easily have had a connection to this and doesn’t want to relive it by telling us.”
“If she had a connection to this, I would have been the first to know.” I tell them. “She wouldn’t have lied about this to me.”
“Knowing how horror movie obsessed you are, you’d be the last to know if I had this type of secret.” Lydia states. “Why don’t you just ask her before we watch this movie? It doesn’t feel right to watch this now.”
“I’ll text her.” I tell them. “But I’m positive that she has no connection to this. She wouldn’t lie about something like that.”
“It’s not necessarily lying.” Patrick shrugs. “She’s just withholding information.”
**
Ophelia's POV
“You know, you’re gonna have to come clean with Spencer.” Dr. Abbott states at our next session. “He’s not gonna sell the rights to your story behind your back.”
“Not like he could,” I let out a humorless chuckle. “Someone already did that and it was a flop of a movie.”
“Are you mad about it being made into a movie or mad that it was a flop?”
“Honestly?” I ask, earning a nod. “I think I’m more mad that it was a flop. Like I knew my story wasn’t gonna be the next Halloween or Scream but if written better it could have been a little more famous. It could have been the next Silent Night, Deadly Night. It could have gotten a cult-like following. But the writers behind Terror on Oak Hill were fucking shitty. Could have contacted me and asked for my input. I would have been pissed but it would have been for the greater good. Now my tragedy is tied to a shitty horror movie.”
“Have you thought about letting Spencer in?” She asks. “The way you talk about him, it seems like you trust him more than you’ve trusted people in the past. You should be talking about this to people other than me. You don’t want this to consume your life again. We’ve worked hard to get you to open up; you don’t want to back track.”
“Trust me, I want to tell him.” I pause before sighing. “I’m terrified he’ll leave me. I don’t think I’d be able to survive if he leaves me. He has become everything to me. And I don’t want him to hear my baggage and take off.”
“And you’re not afraid that if you keep things from him, he won't do the same thing?” She says, playing devil’s advocate.
“I hate when you’re right.” I snort. “How do I even bring this up? I’ve never talked about my past. Do I bring it up in casual conversation? Do I sit him down and say that I’ve been keeping this huge secret from him? And just hope he’s okay with it?”
“He’s gonna be mad, I’m not gonna lie to you.” She starts, “But if he truly loves you, he’s gonna forgive you for keeping this from him. And then your relationship can truly start. No more lies, no more secrets.”
My phone vibrates on the table in front of me. From afar I can see Spencer’s name popping up. Dr. Abbott must see it too. “Ophelia, now is the time to tell him. You and I both know it. Today marks 15 years. It’s time you finally let someone in. Please let someone else in.”
I pick up my phone and open Spencer’s text:
Spencer: Hey babe, can we talk? It’s about Terror on Oak Hill.
Me: Is everyone at your apartment? Because we do need to talk. About alot of things. And it’ll be better if I tell everyone at the same time.
Spencer: Everything okay? You’re worrying me.
Me: I’ll be over in 15 minutes.
I put my phone away and look at Dr. Abbott; she’s smiling proudly at me. “You better be right about this.” I tell her. “I can’t lose anyone else. To death or to them leaving on their own.”
“I’m proud of you, Ophelia. You’ve come a long way.”
**
I’m leaning up against the wall right outside of Spencer’s apartment. In my hands are pictures of my family, my boyfriend, my life before L.A. There are also pictures of the crime scene, the threatening letters leading up to the crime and even more threatening letters from family and friends of the killer after the crime. My heart is racing as I begin to think about everything. I’m worried about how everyone is gonna react to this news. I’m worried about how Spencer is gonna react. I can’t lose him. I can’t lose another boy I love more than life itself. Spencer has seriously been my saving grace this last year. He has shown me love. I’m hoping that doesn’t change once I let him into the deepest, darkest part of me.
I take a deep breath before I get to my feet and knock on Spencer’s door. He quickly opens it up and a look of concern washes over him as he looks at me. He must see how stressed I feel. He pulls me into a hug and I squeeze him tightly before pulling away.
“Is everyone here?” I ask him.
“Is everything okay?” He asks me. “You have me a little worried.”
“I’m gonna tell you everything.” I tell him. “But you’ve got to promise me that you won’t be mad at me for keeping this from you.”
“What are you going to tell me?” He asks. “You’ve been acting weird since I brought up Terror on Oak Hill.”
“I’m gonna explain everything.” I repeat myself. “But promise me you won’t be mad.”
“I promise.” He tells me. “Now come on, let’s get inside.” He grabs my free hand and guides me inside. I can feel all eyes on me as soon as we walk into the living room. “Okay, we’re all here. What are you going to tell us?”
I toss down all the pictures and letters onto Spencer’s coffee table. “Terror on Oak Hill made a mockery of the Oak Hill Slayings. The person that sold them the rights only gave half the story. They only shared the monster’s side of things despite knowing my side of the story. They made it seem like the killer was this love struck boy that just lost his mind because the girl led him on. They didn’t show the letters she got leading up to the slayings. They didn’t show the trauma she felt. The writers only cared about making a quick buck. They didn’t want another slasher flick that showed a powerful final girl. Not like the final girl in this story is powerful. She managed to get away because of dumb luck. They didn’t know how to write a slasher flick. They didn’t know the dynamics that go behind a good slash flick.”
Spencer is the first to go to the pile of pictures. His jaw drops when he looks at the picture of me and my parents. It was a picture taken a couple weeks prior. It was a picture taken before our homecoming game. I was in my cheerleading outfit.
“You’re Ophelia Danvers.” He states. “Your parents and boyfriend were part of this.You walked in on this man killing your parents.” All eyes are on me. I can feel my chest tightening and tears forming in my eyes. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Last time I opened up to someone, the rights to this story were sold to the highest bidder.” I swallow the lump in my throat. “And I didn’t want you guys to look at me differently. I didn’t want to be treated differently. When people realize you're a legit Final Girl, they start acting like you’re this goddess. That’s not who I am. I’m not this heroine in a movie. I’m no Sidney Prescott.”
“The killer was unhinged.” Lydia states as she and Ricky read over the letters I got. “How can the writers of the movie only show his side of the story? These letters show he was love sick; or just plain sick in general.”
“I can’t believe you survived this.” Dan is the next one to speak. “Is he still alive? If you don’t mind me asking?”
“I didn’t kill him.” I assure them. “I managed to get to my dad’s shotgun collection. When I shot him, I managed to hit one of his vertebrae. He’s paralyzed from the neck down. He’s currently being hospitalized at some kind of mental health hospital. He got to plead insanity and since he’s severely injured, they thought a normal prison wasn’t the viable option for him.”
“Why are you telling all of this now?” Joe asks.
“It’s been 15 years; 15 years today.” I tell them. “And my therapist thought it would be a good idea to come clean. She wants me to open up to more people. She doesn’t want me to be closed off anymore. And I agree with her. I trust you guys and I do want to talk about this more. It’ll be good for my healing, I think.”
Spencer has been quiet. He’s now looking at a picture of me and my boyfriend. His muscles are tightening as he continues to stare at the picture. I’m not able to read him. “Spencer, can you please say something? You’ve been staring at that picture for a while.”
He looks up at me and there is so much concern in his hazel eyes. He puts down the picture and walks over to him, immediately pulling me into a hug. “I’ll never let something like this happen to you again. I swear on my life.”
I pull away, frowning. “Please don’t swear on your life.”
“Why not?”
“Because all the nightmares I’ve been having; they’re of you dying in front of me.” I finally admit to him. “The last time someone swore on their lives, I walked into them getting killed..”
“What are you forcing us to watch this time, Charnas?” Lydia, Ricky’s wife, asks as the band chills at my apartment. “And why isn’t Ophelia here? She’s usually right there with you watching horror movies.”
“She didn’t want to watch this.” I tell her. “Apparently her ex was super into this movie and they didn’t have a nice breakup or something.”
“So you’re gonna go behind her back and watch it anyway?” Joe questions. “That’s sketchy.”
“She never said I couldn’t watch it.” I point out. “She just didn’t want to watch it with me. Apparently it’s based on a true story. This girl came home from cheerleading practice to see her family hanging up on meat hooks and her boyfriend bound and gagged. The guy that did it was a disgruntled ex-employee of her father’s. He apparently had a crush on the girl and went mad when she started dating her star quarterback boyfriend.”
“Sounds like a tragic story.” Ricky states. “It's weird that O wasn’t for watching this movie. She’d be all about the true crime aspect.”
“The only movies she refuses to watch are the ones involving clowns; everything else is far game.” Joe adds. “Are you sure she’s not gonna freak out over you watching this movie? Because there seems to be more to this story than just being a movie an ex really liked.”
“Are you gonna tell me you think she has a connection to this?” I ask everyone.
“I mean we really don’t know much about her.” Patrick offers up. “We’ve known her for a couple years before you guys officially started dating. But we really don’t know her past. She could easily have had a connection to this and doesn’t want to relive it by telling us.”
“If she had a connection to this, I would have been the first to know.” I tell them. “She wouldn’t have lied about this to me.”
“Knowing how horror movie obsessed you are, you’d be the last to know if I had this type of secret.” Lydia states. “Why don’t you just ask her before we watch this movie? It doesn’t feel right to watch this now.”
“I’ll text her.” I tell them. “But I’m positive that she has no connection to this. She wouldn’t lie about something like that.”
“It’s not necessarily lying.” Patrick shrugs. “She’s just withholding information.”
**
Ophelia's POV
“You know, you’re gonna have to come clean with Spencer.” Dr. Abbott states at our next session. “He’s not gonna sell the rights to your story behind your back.”
“Not like he could,” I let out a humorless chuckle. “Someone already did that and it was a flop of a movie.”
“Are you mad about it being made into a movie or mad that it was a flop?”
“Honestly?” I ask, earning a nod. “I think I’m more mad that it was a flop. Like I knew my story wasn’t gonna be the next Halloween or Scream but if written better it could have been a little more famous. It could have been the next Silent Night, Deadly Night. It could have gotten a cult-like following. But the writers behind Terror on Oak Hill were fucking shitty. Could have contacted me and asked for my input. I would have been pissed but it would have been for the greater good. Now my tragedy is tied to a shitty horror movie.”
“Have you thought about letting Spencer in?” She asks. “The way you talk about him, it seems like you trust him more than you’ve trusted people in the past. You should be talking about this to people other than me. You don’t want this to consume your life again. We’ve worked hard to get you to open up; you don’t want to back track.”
“Trust me, I want to tell him.” I pause before sighing. “I’m terrified he’ll leave me. I don’t think I’d be able to survive if he leaves me. He has become everything to me. And I don’t want him to hear my baggage and take off.”
“And you’re not afraid that if you keep things from him, he won't do the same thing?” She says, playing devil’s advocate.
“I hate when you’re right.” I snort. “How do I even bring this up? I’ve never talked about my past. Do I bring it up in casual conversation? Do I sit him down and say that I’ve been keeping this huge secret from him? And just hope he’s okay with it?”
“He’s gonna be mad, I’m not gonna lie to you.” She starts, “But if he truly loves you, he’s gonna forgive you for keeping this from him. And then your relationship can truly start. No more lies, no more secrets.”
My phone vibrates on the table in front of me. From afar I can see Spencer’s name popping up. Dr. Abbott must see it too. “Ophelia, now is the time to tell him. You and I both know it. Today marks 15 years. It’s time you finally let someone in. Please let someone else in.”
I pick up my phone and open Spencer’s text:
Spencer: Hey babe, can we talk? It’s about Terror on Oak Hill.
Me: Is everyone at your apartment? Because we do need to talk. About alot of things. And it’ll be better if I tell everyone at the same time.
Spencer: Everything okay? You’re worrying me.
Me: I’ll be over in 15 minutes.
I put my phone away and look at Dr. Abbott; she’s smiling proudly at me. “You better be right about this.” I tell her. “I can’t lose anyone else. To death or to them leaving on their own.”
“I’m proud of you, Ophelia. You’ve come a long way.”
**
I’m leaning up against the wall right outside of Spencer’s apartment. In my hands are pictures of my family, my boyfriend, my life before L.A. There are also pictures of the crime scene, the threatening letters leading up to the crime and even more threatening letters from family and friends of the killer after the crime. My heart is racing as I begin to think about everything. I’m worried about how everyone is gonna react to this news. I’m worried about how Spencer is gonna react. I can’t lose him. I can’t lose another boy I love more than life itself. Spencer has seriously been my saving grace this last year. He has shown me love. I’m hoping that doesn’t change once I let him into the deepest, darkest part of me.
I take a deep breath before I get to my feet and knock on Spencer’s door. He quickly opens it up and a look of concern washes over him as he looks at me. He must see how stressed I feel. He pulls me into a hug and I squeeze him tightly before pulling away.
“Is everyone here?” I ask him.
“Is everything okay?” He asks me. “You have me a little worried.”
“I’m gonna tell you everything.” I tell him. “But you’ve got to promise me that you won’t be mad at me for keeping this from you.”
“What are you going to tell me?” He asks. “You’ve been acting weird since I brought up Terror on Oak Hill.”
“I’m gonna explain everything.” I repeat myself. “But promise me you won’t be mad.”
“I promise.” He tells me. “Now come on, let’s get inside.” He grabs my free hand and guides me inside. I can feel all eyes on me as soon as we walk into the living room. “Okay, we’re all here. What are you going to tell us?”
I toss down all the pictures and letters onto Spencer’s coffee table. “Terror on Oak Hill made a mockery of the Oak Hill Slayings. The person that sold them the rights only gave half the story. They only shared the monster’s side of things despite knowing my side of the story. They made it seem like the killer was this love struck boy that just lost his mind because the girl led him on. They didn’t show the letters she got leading up to the slayings. They didn’t show the trauma she felt. The writers only cared about making a quick buck. They didn’t want another slasher flick that showed a powerful final girl. Not like the final girl in this story is powerful. She managed to get away because of dumb luck. They didn’t know how to write a slasher flick. They didn’t know the dynamics that go behind a good slash flick.”
Spencer is the first to go to the pile of pictures. His jaw drops when he looks at the picture of me and my parents. It was a picture taken a couple weeks prior. It was a picture taken before our homecoming game. I was in my cheerleading outfit.
“You’re Ophelia Danvers.” He states. “Your parents and boyfriend were part of this.You walked in on this man killing your parents.” All eyes are on me. I can feel my chest tightening and tears forming in my eyes. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Last time I opened up to someone, the rights to this story were sold to the highest bidder.” I swallow the lump in my throat. “And I didn’t want you guys to look at me differently. I didn’t want to be treated differently. When people realize you're a legit Final Girl, they start acting like you’re this goddess. That’s not who I am. I’m not this heroine in a movie. I’m no Sidney Prescott.”
“The killer was unhinged.” Lydia states as she and Ricky read over the letters I got. “How can the writers of the movie only show his side of the story? These letters show he was love sick; or just plain sick in general.”
“I can’t believe you survived this.” Dan is the next one to speak. “Is he still alive? If you don’t mind me asking?”
“I didn’t kill him.” I assure them. “I managed to get to my dad’s shotgun collection. When I shot him, I managed to hit one of his vertebrae. He’s paralyzed from the neck down. He’s currently being hospitalized at some kind of mental health hospital. He got to plead insanity and since he’s severely injured, they thought a normal prison wasn’t the viable option for him.”
“Why are you telling all of this now?” Joe asks.
“It’s been 15 years; 15 years today.” I tell them. “And my therapist thought it would be a good idea to come clean. She wants me to open up to more people. She doesn’t want me to be closed off anymore. And I agree with her. I trust you guys and I do want to talk about this more. It’ll be good for my healing, I think.”
Spencer has been quiet. He’s now looking at a picture of me and my boyfriend. His muscles are tightening as he continues to stare at the picture. I’m not able to read him. “Spencer, can you please say something? You’ve been staring at that picture for a while.”
He looks up at me and there is so much concern in his hazel eyes. He puts down the picture and walks over to him, immediately pulling me into a hug. “I’ll never let something like this happen to you again. I swear on my life.”
I pull away, frowning. “Please don’t swear on your life.”
“Why not?”
“Because all the nightmares I’ve been having; they’re of you dying in front of me.” I finally admit to him. “The last time someone swore on their lives, I walked into them getting killed..”
♠ ♠ ♠
chapter title credit: Stabbing in the Dark by Ice Nine Killscomment&subscribe?