Bloody Souvenirs

Chapter 9

NOTE: Important chapter. Please do not skip or skim over.

"So, umm...." I said, desperately wracking my brain for something to break the ice in this conversation.

"Yeah." Ashton said, clearly not trying as hard as me.

You see, right now I was doing something I would absolutely never do if I had the choice: sitting on the living room couch and trying to make small talk with Ashton. Matt was taking a bath when Ashton had come and he hadn't come out till now. I decided I couldn't leave him sitting on his own, because I'm so etiquette conscious. Kidding, Ashton had asked me to stay.

"Do you have a girlfriend, Ashton?" I asked, finally finding something to say.

He laughed and I realized how that must have come across to him. I mentally facepalmed myself. "No, I don't, Kat. Do you?"

I smirked and decided to play a little, "No Ashton, I sure don't have a girlfriend."

His eyes widened in realization and he smirked, "So, you do have a boyfriend."

This time, it was my turn to laugh, "No Ashton, not that either."

Ashton smiled and made a big show of sighing in relief, "Phew!"

I blushed at how he was acting, clearly trying to flirt. Add flirting to the list of things I'm exceptionally bad at.

"Ugh, Matt I swear even girls don't take that long!" I muttered to myself.

Unfortunately, Ashton heard me. He chuckled quietly, "What, you can't bear to sit with me?"

"Jesus, Ashton, you know that's not what I meant." I defended myself.

He smirked, "Short-tempered, impatient and feisty. Just like I know you to be. You haven't changed a bit."

"Haven't I?" I asked out loud. It was meant as a rhetorical question but Ashton answered me anyway.

"No, you haven't." he said. Then, suddenly lowering his voice as if not meaning me to hear, he said, "What a shame."

I quirked a brow as my blood suddenly boiled, "What did you just say?"

Just then, Matt emerged from his room and down the stairs. He looked from me to Ashton and back at me, probably trying to decipher what the ruckus was all about.

"Hey mate." he said to Ashton. Ashton just nodded in return.

I blew a strand of hair out of my face and got up to leave. "Whoa, hey Kat, what's the matter?" Matt asked.

"Nothing. I'm just...going to be in my room for a while." And with that, I quickly jogged up the stairs and into my room, closing the door shut behind me.

"How dare he!?" I thought to myself, then sighed. "Let it go, Kat. It's not worth it."

I went and sat down on my bed, drawing my knees up to my chest. I scoffed, "And here I thought maybe Ashton could be my friend."

Just then, my eyes fell on my bookshelf. Up there, sitting among the numerous other books, was the file I had borrowed from the library the other day. 'Psychology Of A Serial Killer'.

Curious, I picked it up and started flipping through it. Somebody had made it with utmost neatness and intricateness. A school project, maybe? It contained various topics like motives, methods, reasons, backgrounds etc.

I shrugged. "Perhaps this would give me some insight as to why the hell that sicko has been going around town killing people." I thought. I didn't have anything better to do anyway so I sat on the bed cross-legged and opened the file up in front of me and started reading.