To the reader:

At the time I wrote this story, the time was coming for Scream 2 to be re-released. I was very depressed about Randy's death, and it was raining outside. At the same time, I had also seen the movie City of Angels. I got a little bit mushy inside and decided to write this cute little piece of cheese. To see what I actually write like, so read "Professional Victims" and/or "What Randy Saw." Thank you!

The Author

Sidney fell asleep as soon as she got back to her apartment. She didn’t bother changing after what she’d been through, just splashed some water on her face and brushed her teeth. That day, she’d not only received a phone call from a new killer, but she’d also found out that another couple had been murdered. It was only a matter of time before something else horrible was to happen.

“Sid?”
Sidney snapped to attention when she heard an achingly familiar voice. She looked around. Nobody was there.
“Sid?”
“Who’s there?” She started panicking. “Who is that? Don’t fuck with me! I’m lethal!” Sidney opened her nighttable drawer and took out a gun that she’d bought.
“Sid, put it away. Don’t be scared.”
Sidney shuddered when she recognized the voice. She wanted to answer, but she was reluctant. She didn’t even think it was real. She thought she was delusional. It was impossible, but the voice belonged to Randy.
“Randy?”
“Yeah! It’s me! Can I come in? Would you mind?”
What a ridiculous situation. There she stood, gun in hand, trembling and confused, and her dead friend was asking if he could come in. She felt like an idiot. It was either because she was talking to a dead guy or because it was Randy, of all people, asking if he could come in. He’d never asked. She nodded her head, and didn’t say a word. But then, the door opened.
In walked Randy. There he was, just standing there as if nothing was wrong. He wasn’t wearing a sheet, translucent, covered with blood, decaying…nothing. Just standing there. Like no one had even touched him, let alone stabbed him to death.
Oh, my God, Sidney thought. Please, don’t do any weird death stunts like they do in all those stupid movies you like…
“Don’t worry. I won’t.”
Sidney dropped the gun on the floor. It made a loud thump and Sidney ducked in case it went off. Randy also ducked. Sidney looked at him as if he was crazy.
“Oh. I guess I didn’t really have to do that, huh?”
"You…you’re dead.”
“Yeah?” He gave her a look that said “No duh.”
“What are you?”
“I’m dead.” The look again.
“No, are you a zombie? A ghost? The devil? What? What are you?”
“Well…” Randy sat at the foot of the bed. Sidney moved away from him. “Sid, what’s wrong? It’s me! Randy! I’m here!”
“You’re dead.”
“I’m still me, though. I haven’t changed at all. Except for the fact that I don’t age. I’m actually still twenty. I’ve found the fountain of youth: death!” He laughed maniacally.
“Get the fuck out of my room!” Sidney demanded.
“But you let me in! I don’t want to leave know.”
“Well, now I’m letting you out. Get out!”
“You don’t want me to leave.”
“Yes, I do.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I do.”
“You don’t.”
“What the hell do you want?” Sidney was backed up against the bedroom wall.
Randy looked at her, almost right through her. He was hurt. “I just wanted to see you. That’s all.”
Sidney took a deep breath. “Are you dead?”
“Well, gee, last time I checked…yes. I’m quite dead. I was stabbed to death by Billy Loomis’ mother.”
“They said she ripped up your face.”
“Oh, yeah. They fixed it. That’s what they do. They didn’t fix this, though. Check this out.” Randy unbuttoned his blue shirt and pulled it away to reveal a jagged maze of red scars. The gunshot scar in his right shoulder was also still there.
“Oh, God.”
“Sidney, don’t be scared.” Randy rebuttoned his shirt. “I came back for a reason.”
“Which is?”
“To warn you.”
Sidney sat on the bed, on the opposite side that Randy was sitting. She looked him in the eyes, those big, blue, honest eyes that wouldn’t reveal anything but the truth. “It’s happening again, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. It is.” Randy sighed.
“So, why are you warning me? I knew it.”
“I’m warning you because I know who it is this time and you don’t. But you really do.”
“Wait, what?”
Randy fiddled his thumbs in frustration. He slapped his knees and stood up to face Sidney. “I can’t tell you their name.”
“Then give me a hint! Something!”
“All I can tell you is that it’s someone you’re very close to, someone you love and trust. That’s it. That’s all I can say.”
Sidney huffed. She looked at Randy, who was helpless.
“I’m sorry,” he said. He sat back down.
Neither one of them said anything for awhile. Sidney became more and more tense. Randy just watched. There was nothing he could do now. She broke the silence.
“You’re always in the back of my mind, you know.”
“I know. I’m usually there.”
Sidney felt herself starting to cry. “I miss you, Randy.”
“Oh, Sid.”
Sidney leaned into him and he put his arms around her. She put her arms on his waist and hugged back. She just cried into him. He rubbed her back.
“Randy, I have to tell you something. When it started again last year, I had a feeling you would be killed.”
“You did? Why?”
“I don’t know. I just knew. It was a gut-wrenching, awful feeling, but I ignored it and just tried to survive. I was selfish. I’m sorry.”
“Sid, it’s okay. It’s a natural human instinct, survival. That’s why everybody is alive.”
“Then how come you’re dead? Didn’t you try to run away to save yourself?”
“Sid, when Mrs. Loomis started busting on me, I had to fight back. I ran toward it. Of course, if I had known it was actually Mrs. Loomis in that van, I would have shut my big, freaking mouth.” Sidney laughed.
“Then, I was caught off-guard. And that was that.”
“Randy, what does it feel like?”
“What does what feel like?”
“Dying. Did you know?”
“Well, after being stabbed repeatedly in the chest, I had somewhat of a feeling that I might not open my eyes if I closed them, so I didn’t. I kept focused on a handprint I’d made on the roof of the van and did everything I could to make sure I could still see it. I never closed my eyes. I was too afraid to. That’s why people die with their eyes open, I think. Because they’re too afraid.”
“Do you think you could have been saved?”
“No. Not unless someone had been right there while I was still hanging on, which wasn’t long.”
“How long did you hang on?”
“It could have been a few seconds. It felt like hours.”
“What does it feel like to be stabbed?”
Randy gave Sidney a rather flabbergasted look. “Um, it hurts! What do you expect from that? Tingling? ‘Oh, it tickles a little bit.’” He was laughing.
“So, you died in pain?”
Randy stopped. “I don’t know. I was numb. After the first couple of blows, the pain just kind of goes away. Either that, or it completely takes over.”
“What happened when you couldn’t see anymore?”
Randy laughed a little bit and looked at Sidney. “After I couldn’t see for awhile, my sight came back and I heard Tatum say, ‘Oh, my God. Billy’s mom just killed you. I’m so pissed.’”
Sidney’s face brightened. “You saw Tatum?”
“Yeah.”
“But you guys never got along.”
“We didn’t have as much in common as we do now.”
“I can’t believe it. Three years of trying to make you guys friends and death finally brings you together. I’ll be damned.”
“No, you’ll be saved.”
Sidney looked at Randy, confused.
“A little afterlife joke.”
Sidney smiled.
“If I was saved with the dirty mind I had, you’ll definitely be saved.”
“Randy?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you know when I’m…?”
“Yes. It’s not for a long, long time.”
“Does that mean that after you leave, I’ll only see you when I’m old?”
“Only if you want to wait that long.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll always be in the back of your mind, Sid. You can bring me out any time. Tonight is just special because there happens to be another killer after you.”
“Do you know who else will die?”
“No. The only people I know about are the people I affected, like you, my family, Gale, Dewey, Joel, some girl from Woodsboro that liked me…”
“Who’s Joel?”
“Gale’s cameraman. Remember? I turned his van into a crime scene. Poor guy. He’s become very compulsive about every van he drives. He checks it six times before getting in it.”
“So, you’re in all those people’s minds?”
“All of ‘em.”
“What about Gale? What’s she thinking about?”
“She’s felt guilty all this time, even responsible. But she’ll never let anyone know. Don’t tell anyone. It really bothers her.”
“Oh. I wonder whose minds I’ll be in.”
Randy thought for a moment. “I dunno, Sid. Everyone you make an impression on ends up dead. No offense.”
“None taken. It’s the truth.”
“Your father.”
“I thought I was gonna outlive my father!”
“You will! I’m just thinking of people now.”
“Don’t do that! You’ll jinx me!”
“No, don’t worry about it. You can’t change someone’s time. Anyway, your father, Gale, Dewey, Cotton…Those are the people I know of. If I were alive, you’d be in my mind.”
Sidney smiled. She had known Randy had a crush on her, since they were fourteen. “I know.”
Randy blushed. “You do?”
“I do. I’ve known since ninth grade.” She turned around and looked at Randy. “Hmm. You still blush.”
“No, I don’t!”
“Yes, you do.”
“Fine, you knew. But I never got a chance to say it to your face. It wouldn’t have mattered, obviously. Sidney, I loved you with all my heart. I would have died for you. And I did.”
Sidney was speechless. “Well, thank you, Randy. But you’re wrong. It would have mattered. Do you know what would have happened?”
“What?” Randy asked anxiously.
“I would have backed off, prompting you to do the same, and then we would have been closer than ever.”
“But you still would have never loved me back.”
“That’s not true, either. I would have just loved you in a different way. And it would have been mutual. That’s how we were.”
Randy paused before he responded. “That’s how we are.”
“Yeah.”
He held out his hand. “I love you?”
Sidney took it. “I love you.”

Sidney’s eyes flew open and she sat up in her bed. Her hands were clenched in fists. She jumped off the bed and opened the door to look down the hall. Nothing.
It had been a dream.
A dream with a message from the grave.
Sidney closed and locked the door. She went in the bathroom to wash her face again. Forgetting her hand was in a fist, she heard a clinking noise when she splashed water on her. Water dripping onto the floor, Sidney looked for the source of the noise.
On the bathroom floor was a thick silver ring. The one that Randy used to wear.