(Draft #10. Thanks to June Theriot! They picked this draft, and I was excited to finally finish this one! If you want to know what leads to this, you can read End of a Horror Movie.)

———

Lindy is reminded very quickly that this isn’t a horror movie.

This is real life.

She gets her seat belt unbuckled, but Raya next to her struggles because of the misshaped side of the car. Her frantic pulling emphasizing her fear.

This Phantom Man, as Lindy names him in her head, gets closer and closer, dragging his bat on the ground. Like a killer with a knife on the stairs. Taunting. Deliberately slow. He wants to extend his time with them.

“Raya, are you ok?” She whispers. Raya whips her head up, eyes bright and wild. “Am I ok?! I’m currently a sitting duck for Mr. Killer over there!” Raya exclaims. Lindy likes her name better.

Lindy reaches into her pocket and is thankful it didn’t fall out from the crash. Retracting the blade, she quickly cuts through Raya’s seat belt. “You carry a knife?” Raya asks, surprise in her tone.

In a more casual situation, she would normally shrug like it isn’t a big deal. “Yeah. My mom likes me to be prepared.”

Doing a once over on Raya, Lindy questions, “Are you hurt?” It is hard to tell since she did not look in the best condition before getting in a car crash. Who knows what was from the crash and what was from the horror she experienced earlier.

“Beyond than I was before? Yes.”

Her eyes scan the floor, searching for something specific. She spots the lavender purple at Raya’s feet, “Grab my keychain that is on the ground by your feet.”

“Why?” Raya asks, doing what she was told. “It has pepper spray, a flashing alarm, and a self defense tool,” Lindy answers, almost mechanically listing the tools as she finally bangs her door open.

“Wow,” Raya breathes, maybe from being impressed at her preparedness or perhaps shock.

“Yeah now we run!” Lindy breaks out in a sprint the second she feels the cool air. She hears Raya follow her pace as she echoes her footsteps. The Phantom Man is alarmingly close. Maybe forty feet from the car.

“Run where?”

“Anywhere! There has to be a place nearby!” Lindy shouts. Even with her saying that, she imagines her normal rides on this back road. There are no houses visible from the street. The forest will be their best bet.

They weave through the trees and dodge low hanging branches. Little twigs and sharp leaves cut into her skin, but Lindy and Raya keeps going.

Without the ability to look back whether from necessity or fear, Lindy isn’t sure if the Phantom Man is close by. They just have to get out from the back roads and there will be more traffic. Someone to help.

“Maybe we should go back to the cabin,” Raya suggests, but her voice trembles. Lindy gets why. Her friends were murdered there. She definitely does not want to go back. It would provide shelter.

But shelter is not safety.

“In every horror movie I’ve ever watched, going back to where the attack originally happened never goes well. A creepy cabin in the woods? Not a smart move.”

“This isn’t a freaking movie!” Raya screeches.

“I am well aware, but that man certainly has watched a lot if he wants to find his perfect, real final girl. We need to think like him,” Lindy justifies, slightly out of breath. She is not used to this much physical exertion.

Maybe from exhaustion after all she has been through, Raya practically collapses onto the ground. She rubs her calves, hoping for strength and feeling to return swiftly. “Wow my mom never wanting me to watch them is now going to bite me in the ass,” she jokes.

Lindy waves it off. “I’ve watched enough for us both. We should keep going until we hit the main road. We can get help there.”

“Is that what a final girl would do?”

Keeping her eyes and ears peeled, Lindy gives the best answer she can. It might sound a bit like a tagline or corny. But hey, if the shoe fits.

“No. You were right. This isn’t a movie. This is what a smart person would do in real life.”