"I'm so happy," Sirius giggled, his blue eyes glinting as they wandered over the small brown cabinet. "I've been wanting to show this stuff to you for ages, but I never got the opportunity- until now..."

I stared at him, unable to say a word. A bead of sweat ran down my cheek- or maybe it was a tear? Either way, I couldn't wipe it off. I couldn't move at all. I just couldn't. All I could do was stare at his... collection, as he called it.

"This one," he almost purred, taking a small glass case out of the cabinet and showing it to me. Inside was a small plastic cap, the kind that you'd see on a bike tire's valve. It was transparent, pink with silver glitter particles inside it.

"This is from Stacy Cowell. September 3rd 2020. Pretty smile, long brown hair, cute green eyes," Sirius reminisced, his tone almost loving. "We went to this cozy little bar at the edge of town. She came by bike, since she didn't want to pay for a cab and didn't know I had a car. We talked for hours, really hit it off, didn't get too drunk. When it was late, she left, since she had to pick her niece up from kindergarten while her brother was at work. Her tire went flat about a mile into the forest, where I picked her up, just like that."

He giggled again, and I felt another tear running down my cheek.

Who was this man? Where had the sweet, smart, slightly shy guy with the amazing taste in music and the awful taste in pizza gone? Where was the man who'd dramatically pretend to yawn and put his arm around me on movie nights, only for both of us to laugh our asses off at the idea of doing something so cheesy? Where was the man who came over at 3 AM to comfort me after my asshole ex boyfriend dumped me for spending too much time with my friends and not enough with him?

Where was Sirius?

Because this giggling maniac in front of me was NOT my Sirius.

"Oh, and this one!" he gasped, his normally cool and soothing blue eyes lighting up with almost manic glee. "Millie Morrison, the girl with the double name and the double pigtails, you remember her, right? We went on a double blind date that one time in July, 2019, where you first met Jared. I know he turned out to be a jerk, but Millie was really sweet."

Sirius grinned and held another glass case right under my nose. When my eyes adjusted, I recognized the small object as one of the metal hair clips the cute blonde had worn that night.

"She went to the bathroom and dropped one of her clips, so I stuck a tracker to it before she came back and then put it in her hair so she wouldn't notice while putting it on."

He sighed dreamily, admiring the souvenir from all sides before putting it back in the cabinet.

I shook my head, desperate to look away, to get away, to put as much distance as possible between me and this sicko and his cabinet of nightmares.

As I did, the gag around my mouth came loose, and I managed to gasp out half a sentence, the first words I could think of.

"Sirius, please, we're friends, I-"

Immediately, his hand gripped my shoulder and pressed me back in my chair. It was unbelievable how strong his grip was. He definitely didn't look imposing from the outside, yet his hand was like an iron vice as he fixed my gag with deceptive gentleness.

"Shhh, Katie," he hushed me, putting a finger over his lips, his eyes gleaming like sapphires- sapphires with the flames of hell burning behind them.

"Shh. Don't say anything. I know we're friends. Best friends, in fact. For all of our lives. As long as I can remember. Way back since kindergarten, right?"

Sirius giggled again. I'd never heard him giggle before. I wasn't sure anymore if this was some alternate personality, some demon from hell that had slipped into my best friend's skin and turned him into this monster... or if this was the true Sirius, and the man I'd known for over 15 years had been nothing but a mask, an illusion, a trap set by a hunter to trick his prey.

He got closer, holding my head in place so I couldn't turn. Then, I felt his breath tickle my ear as he let out a shaky sigh.

"I've loved you ever since, Katie," he whispered. "But I never said anything. I knew you didn't feel the same, and I didn't want to make things awkward between us. You wanted to be friends. And I was fine with that. Until last night, that is. I'm sure you remember."

Grinning, he brought my phone up to my eye. On the screen, my Messages were opened- specifically, my chat with Sirius.

'hey', I'd texted him at 23:34, just a little over 8 hours earlier. 'can we talk? if ur even awake ofc'

'Sure, what's up?' was his response at 23:35.

'i just feel rly shitty rn. its been almost a year since jared left and all the guys i tried to date since sucked. i dunno but i feel like there's something wrong with me. maybe some witch cursed me to only meet assholes or something lol. idk. it sucks'

'Of course there's nothing wrong with you. You're perfect just the way you are. Do you want to come over and watch a movie or something? I'll order pizza.'

'lol id love to but i'm way too drunk to drive rn lmao'

'I can pick you up. Be there in 5?'

'haha sweet. thanks si i love you'

Those last three words were staring at me, taunting me, burning themselves into my eyes. Those three words were all it took to turn my best friend into-

"That makes it official, doesn't it?" this strange man giggled next to me, his hot breath making me want to scream and cry and shower in boiling hot water until my ears fell off.

"Please..." I managed to mumble through the gag, only for his other hand to clasp around my jaw, shutting me up for good.

"You don't have to ask, Katie. Of course, I'll be gentle with you. We're friends, right? Our final memory together should be a happy one. After all, it's the part of you that I'll keep in my heart, forever and ever and ever."