I walk up the stairs of Eastwood High and the dead leaves crunch under my black doc martens. “It just doesn’t make sense though. Why would a preppy know it all be the final girl in a nineties slasher?” I said.

“Well it would be like, a plot twist, y’know?” Ashton remarked.

“Maverick back me up here!” I said as I looked over at him to my left. He shrugged, “She’s right dude. The final girl is always someone like, Avery.” He gestured to me, “Weird and quiet.” Maverick said and then quickly added, “I mean, no offense.”

“None taken.” I said as I push open the double doors. The three of us navigate our way through the crowd of people in the hall, all the way to my locker. It was really like _our_ locker though. Kelsey was already waiting there for us, fixing her platinum blonde, curly hair in the tiny mirror on the inside of the door. She turned towards us and gave a little wave.

“OMG you guys! Major Halloween news! Fear Forest has all new characters, and themes, they added Jason, and Freddy Krueger so it’s going to be _totally_ epic this year!” She smiled so brightly and I couldn’t help but chuckle. “That’s good, last year their actors were really unenthusiastic. I’m excited for a change.” Ashton responded, with a grin on his face.

“Well that girl who was sobbing behind us thought otherwise.” Maverick added with a laugh, “I’m also glad Halloween is on a Saturday this year because now I can stay up late watching Friday The 13th and my mom won’t be all upset about me not getting enough sleep for school.”

“Yeah I can’t believe it’s already a day away.” I said with amazement.

As we went our different ways to class I couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread creep up my neck. I turned around and saw a shadow round the corner but I couldn’t tell who it was. I ignored it and went to history class.

Later that day, at the end of school I waited outside for Ashton. He had been my ride to school ever since he got his license because he lived five minutes away. When I saw him walk out the door I watched him walk towards the car. That day he was wearing a _Scream_ graphic tee with a black zip up hoodie, Converse shoes, and a friendship bracelet I made him in eighth grade. He ran a hand through his black hair and gave me a slight smile, “Hey. Ready to go?” He asked.

“Yeah, can I stay at your place tonight though? My mom is working a night shift at the hospital tonight and I don’t want to be home alone. We can watch horror movies?” I asked him with a tinge of pleading in my voice as I got into the passenger seat of his Jeep. “Of course. My parents are going to dinner tonight so we can watch the movies on the TV instead of my laptop this time.” He said as he put the key into the ignition.

My mom usually worked night shifts because of the extra pay. My dad and mom got divorced and he never shows his face around here anymore. He lives a few blocks down and even though he “loved” me, he never texts. I don’t even have his number. He never asks for me to come over. He started a new life with his wife and three kids. Mom never told me why they divorced but one time I found police records on my moms bed with my dads name on them, Steven Jewett. But I never thought much of them…

I came back to reality as we pulled out of the parking lot.

The rest of the ride was silent. We never talked a lot on car rides because we both appreciated silence with a little background music.

After I got out of the car I spun around. I swear I saw someone following us, they had just been there! I didn’t start panicking though, I couldn’t. Especially infront of Ashton. “You okay?” I heard him ask from the front door, “What’s wrong?” He had already started walking towards me. “N- nothing I just thought I saw something. I’m fine.” I said still looking back at the other side of the street. When I turned around he was right infront of me. “Are you sure? You only stutter when you’re nervous, you can talk to me y’know.” He said, voice too soft for me to focus on anything else. I also couldn’t help but notice just how little space that was between us. Maybe a few inches. “I just thought someone was across the street. I thought they were following me because I saw someone in the hallway today too.” I said feeling too pressured to keep lying. “Okay,” he put a hand on my arm, “You’re fine. No one is going to hurt you.” His green eyes staring into mine I couldn’t help but think about the possibility of us. No. I pushed that thought down. We were just friends.

As nine o’clock hit we were already on the couch scrolling through Netflix. “Texas Chainsaw Massacre?” He asked. “Definitely. I haven’t watched that in ages.” I responded with. So we watched it. And without even realizing it, I fell asleep. I woke up the next morning at five still on the couch, but I had a blanket draped over me. I still had to go to school.

Ashton was sitting in the kitchen scrolling through Tik Tok, “Morning.” He said without looking up. “Can I borrow a hoodie? I don’t have time to go home because I don’t have my car, and it would just be easier.” I asked. God, I asked so many questions, he probably thought I was annoying. “Sure.” He stood up and I followed him to his room. He handed me a faded black zip up hoodie from the back of his closet. “You can keep it, I have too many of those things.” He chuckled. “Thanks.”

That night I was sitting in my bed and Kelsey texted me,

“OMG 😱 I just realized

who’s hoodie you were

wearing today!”

“So? We’re friends

isn’t that normal?”

“Yep sure. Totes

normal to wear

Ash’s hoodie 🤷‍♀️”

“🫤goodnight Kelsey.”

“Night! 🫶🏻”

The next morning I looked at my phone and grinned at the date at the top of my phone screen,

**_October 31st_**_ _

Finally it was Halloween. Time to watch scary movies all day and then go to Fear Forest tonight with my best friends while also eating tons of candy throughout. It was the best day of the year. My favorite holiday.

I watched a nineties horror movie marathon while eating pumpkin spice ice cream and drinking coffee but it all got interrupted by a text message from an unknown number,

**“You better stay in tonight. Kelsey would benefit from it.” **

I shrugged it off. Just a basic Halloween prank. It always happened, just not in text form. I guess they upped their game.

When Maverick texted me that they were on the way I got ready to go. I put on my Halloween costume which was a silky dark green witch dress with a black hat and sneakers. Kelsey was going as a cheerleader, Maverick was going as ghost face, and Ashton was going as a clown. It was our best costumes ever. When I saw Ashton’s black jeep pull into the driveway I grinned and got in the backseat with Kelsey.

“Who’s ready for the best Halloween _ever?_” Maverick said excitedly. We all laughed and raised our hands. “I’m so excited! You guy’s costumes are amazing!” Kelsey squeaked out. I turned on our Halloween playlist on Spotify and we drove to Fear Forest while singing at the top of our lungs. **What could go wrong?**

As we bought our tickets and waited in line to get on the haunted hayride that led to the corn maze, and haunted house walkthrough I looked over at Ashton while he was laughing with Maverick about something. He had on a suit themed around a clown and he had his black hair messy to complete the look. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Kelsey.

“Staring much? How about you just enjoy Fear Forest instead of being all pouty about the fact that Ash is your bestie.” She said with a small shrug. “Ugh fine. By the way, you make a great cheerleader.” I said back with a slight grin on my face. Then our turn was up.

We got onto the hayride and sat down. Me next to Ashton, and Kelsey next to Maverick on the opposite side of us. It was all pretty exciting, I screamed and laughed and overall the changes we’re great. Before I knew it we are all standing outside of the corn maze.

“I’ll race you to the end Ash.” Maverick says with a mischievous smile on his face. “Oh I’m gonna win!” Ashton says running into the maze after Maverick. “Well I guess it’s just us. C’mon let’s go.” Kelsey says grabbing my hand, “I don’t know, I’m not really feeling it tonight.” I replied nervously, my mind flashing back to that text message. “Well fine. I’ll go. But if you don’t go with me I might _die_!” She says eerily pointing up to the sign, “_Forbidden Cornfield_”

then she laughs and goes into the maze. I loose sight of her and I start to worry.

_I have to go in after her. _So I walk into the maze, the darkness of the stalks swallowing any light from the moon. “Kelsey? Kelsey!” I call out for her quietly. And then an ear piercing scream comes from somewhere in the middle of the field. It was her. I’m jarred from my thoughts and run towards where I heard it. Why am I so scared? It’s a “haunted” corn maze, of course she’s screaming. But something still didn’t feel right so I went to find her. “Kelsey this isn’t funny! Please come here!” I yell, louder this time. Then I am finally in the middle of the maze. Darkness is all around me now. When I look down I can’t even see my shoes. I turn on my flashlight and then point it up towards the middle of the area.

Blood. There’s blood _everywhere. _I step in a puddle of it and it’s sticky and thick, I almost pass out_. _I am already panicking but step closer to find the source. My hands are shaking so bad that I almost drop my phone, once the light meets something infront of me I recognize it immediately. It’s Kelsey. She’s on the ground bloody with multiple stab wounds in her chest and her eyes are glazed over. “Oh god! Kelsey! No no no, you have to be ok!” I scream after I check her pulse and find nothing. I needed to get help. I ran as fast as I could to find the exit.

When I finally found my way out I was out of breath from running and sobbing. Ashton and Maverick were waiting there for me and Kelsey but it was just me. “Avery? What’s wrong?” Maverick asked me worried. “We need to get help! Call 911! Kelsey’s dead!” I’m frantic and my words are between sobs, I needed to keep it together. Tears are running down my face in torrents. “Come on. We need to get back to the main building to tell someone, we can’t just wait here.” Ashton says sternly.

The three of us are sprinting to the main entrance and when we walk in I walk up to the person selling the tickets. “My friend is dead, someone needs to call 911! Please, I’m not lying!” I plead the ticket attendant. “Okay I believe you but are you sure it wasn’t a decoration?” She asks. “No! She’s dead! Please I don’t want anyone else getting hurt!” I’m hysterical now, crying and shaking. “Okay ma’am go sit down and the cops will be here soon.” So I oblige.

After the cops ask me what seemed like a million questions, I went and sat down and put my head in my hands. _Was this really happening?_ I saw the medics come around the corner and held my breath. They were carrying a body bag. I put a hand on my head and started to sob. She was really dead, this wasn’t just a joke, the text was real. Ashton walked over with tears in his eyes and sat down next to me without a word and put his arm around my shoulders. After a few minutes of silence between us he spoke, “I’m really sorry you had to find her like that. I’m just glad you’re okay.” His voice was soft but shaky. He met my gaze and lingered there for a bit but then looked away. “We should go. This place just isn’t the same anymore.” So we did. I had to get out of there anyways because the memorie of her bloody cheerleading outfit was still lingering in the back of my mind. Maverick had already gotten took home because his parents were always paranoid of something happening to him so it was just me and Ashton.

I cried softly as I looked out the window of the passenger seat. I couldn’t look back because Kelsey’s bag was still in the backseat. It had her iconic cherry lip gloss, portable mirror, money, and her pink heart shaped sunglasses that she _always_ wore. The car still smelled like her ocean scented perfume.

When we reached my house Ashton pulled into the driveway and said, “You can text me if you want to talk. I’m probably not sleeping tonight.” Then with a small wave he pulled out and left me in my dark driveway with the singular porch light. As I walked into my house my mom was crying, “I’m so sorry, honey. That must have been awful.” She tried to hug me but I pulled away, “I’m going to my room.” And then I locked the door and collapsed onto the floor and cried. This went on for hours until I was to exhausted and finally moved to my bed.

That night I slept horribly. Every time I drifted off the image of Kelsey’s dead body in that cornfield flashed into my mind and jolted me awake. And even then, when that didn’t happen I had a nightmare that I was the one getting chased and killed instead of her. I mean, I was in there with the killer at some point, it could’ve very likely been me. My god. Why did this have to happen? I put my hands over my face and cried yet again. The tenth time that night, it had to have been a world record.

Sunday went by like this; I woke up and layed in bed for at least four hours until it was noon, and then I skipped breakfast and locked my door. After that I opened my laptop and watched every single _Scream _movie. I turned on my phone after I was finished and saw thirty text notifications but decided to ignore them. At five o’clock I had dinner which consisted of a bowl of soup and one piece of bread. Then at six I got back into bed and tried to sleep.

When I woke up on Monday sweating from a nightmare I had, I groaned. I had to go to school. This meant people looking at me and whispering things they thought I couldn’t hear, people telling me, “I’m so sorry,” or “that must have been awful.” When in reality, they didn’t care.

I pulled on Ashton’s black hoodie he gave me, and leggings I found at the back of my closet. I hated leggings but I didn’t really care about my outfit today. I just wanted to be comfortable. And ironically I was wearing all black, usually I wore dark oranges and reds, and flannel skirts. It seemed like a clichè since Kelsey had just died. Then I put on waterproof mascara (because I would definitely need it today) and that was it for makeup. I was really giving up today.

When I had walked into the school things were already different. I wasn’t with Maverick or Ashton, and Kelsey wouldn’t be waiting at my locker fixing her hair. People were already looking at me and talking. I hated it so much, I just wanted to walk out and climb under my covers to watch more horror movies. They were the only thing keeping me sane. And just like that the sorrys came in. “I’m so sorry Avery. That must have been horrible.” A kid from my grade I don’t remember the name of said as I passed by. I ignored it. This happened a bunch of other times too. People I haven’t talked to in _years_ saying they’re sorry to me. I just wanted to scream at everyone to leave me alone.

Just as I reached my locker a kid from our grade named Jonas ran upstairs from the auditorium hysterical and yelling, “Someone’s dead! Someone’s dead! Call 911!” This had to be a joke, a bad one, but a joke. This couldn’t be happening twice in the same week, but before I know it cop cars are outside the school along with the medical team and I’m still at my locker horrified. Who was it? Who had been killed _in _school? Where were my friends?! I was panicking but an officer had asked me to answer a few questions even though I had **_no_** idea what was happening. This could be a nightmare for all I care.

Ashton met my gaze and hurried over. He looked sad and panicked at the same time.

“Avery, it was Maverick. He’s dead.” Ashton says this breathlessly with tears already filling his eyes. I really can’t believe it. I start crying and panicking. Ashton was down there, he could’ve been the one who was killed. Wait…

_Ashton was down there…_

“Everyone else is leaving, we should go too.” He says it no longer showing sadness. It’s strange, but I can’t help but wonder…

“O-okay…” if this were a horror movie I would be yelling at the screen to not go home all alone with the obvious suspect, but I’m too frozen with the realization that my closest friends are dead. All except one. One who was at every crime scene, one who wasn’t seen during the murders, one who is connected with the victims, **_stop overthinking this_**. You know Ashton, he wouldn’t kill anyone. Would he?

As I’m walking out of the building with Ashton, Jonas, the guy who found Maverick, is speaking with a cop. He barely looks distraught now. Jonas is a junior in school like me and it didn’t used to be just me, Kelsey, Maverick and Ashton in a group. Jonas used to be our best friend too, until last year when we all got into a huge fight about how he talked about us behind our backs. Now we haven’t spoken since then. He joined the theater club and made new friends.

I’m sitting next to Ashton and I must’ve looked nervous. “Are you okay?” He asked this as if our friends weren’t dead. “No im not okay! Our friends are **_dead_** and it could be either of us next! Who knows the motive, maybe they just wanted to kill off our entire friend group!” I’m nearly in tears at this point and in shaking. I’m on edge so much that when Ashton pulled out his phone I thought I was about to die. I flinched and he flashed me a strange look, “It’s just my phone, why did you flinch?” He puts it away and looks at me for a moment but I won’t meet his eyes. “I’m sorry I just… never mind.” I look out the window. “Drop me off here. Please.” Ashton looks at me like I’m dumb. “What? Why? I’m offering you a ride home but you want dropped off at a random sidewalk in town?” He looks desperate now, “Just… stay in the car… I’ll drive you home.” He locks the door. “Ashton, _let me out_.” I’m shaking and I clench my fists to stop looking scared. I can’t read his expression but he unlocks the car and stares at me as he pulls out of the parking spot. I let out my breath and start my walk home.

Leaves crunch under my feet as I look around to make sure I’m not being followed. Why was he acting like that? _Maybe_… No! Stop thinking like that. I put in my AirPods and turn on my fall playlist. Oh Klahoma by Jack Stauber always took my mind off everything.

I walk into my house and see my moms purse on the table. She must’ve gotten off early. “Mom? I’m home. I need to talk to you.” I walk into the kitchen and look around. Maybe she’s in her bedroom. I quickly realize it’s too quiet, when my mom wasn’t calling someone from work, she was blaring My Chemical Romance from her room. Something was off. “Mom?” I call her name again but still no reply. I step out of the kitchen and turn into the living room and scream. Written on the wall in blood is four words,

**_ Having Fun Yet?

_**Underneath the words is my mothers body. Blood **_covering_** her work scrubs, neck snapped at a disturbing angle, arm cut off at the shoulder, leg broken and her insides are no longer on the inside. I try to cry, try to scream, but I’m too frozen by fear. I open my phone to call 911 but check life 360 first. Ashton turned his location off at 12:45. Right after he had dropped me off on the street.

I spoke to the operator and gave her my location and what happened. Police and medical services were in my front yard in minutes. Now being at every crime scene in town got me a trip down to the station, I sat in a questioning room and waited for a detective to come talk to me. When he walked in I broke into tears. “It wasn’t me! I know who did it, don’t waste time here, it’s Ashton Hallowes! Please, don’t let him hurt anyone else!” At this point I’m so tired of all of this and just want to go home but now the memory of my living room haunts me whenever I close my eyes.

I explain everything to the detective and he stands up. “We will go talk with your friend but if we have no evidence he is guilty, we can’t take him into custody. I appreciate your honesty and cooperation. Have a good day ma’am.” And just like that I’m driving home with blurry eyes filled with tears. I had no one left.

When I pulled into the driveway I saw Ashton waiting on the porch. _Oh no._ I got out but had to play it cool, so I walked over and started to cry. “Avery! I’m so sorry… I can’t believe this is happening.” He pulled me into a hug and I sobbed. Even though I had my suspicions he was still my best friend. I decided to confront him. “Why did you turn your location off after you dropped me off?” I stepped back and he looked confused. “Because my house had no internet when I got home, it always turns off when there’s no internet.” He suddenly looked hurt, “You didn’t think… Really?” He takes my hand, “You really think I could do this?” I pull my hand away and his expression turns sad. “You’ve been at every single… murder.” The word was like a bad taste in my mouth. “You have to admit it sounds pretty bad for you…” I step back again. I don’t know if it’s just in my head but he suddenly looks nervous. “I’m sorry you think that about me. I’ll see you later.” He walks past me and our shoulders brush. “Ashton wait, don’t go. I didn’t mean-“

I suddenly feel bad and not sure if he’s the right guy. But if not him then who? I watch as he pulls out of the driveway and then walk inside. I think I made a mistake. My mind flashes to the day Jonas joined the theater club. That took lots of acting.

I lock myself in my room for the night and collapse onto my bed. I’m so exhausted from this past few days and I just need to sleep. But I can’t. I pull out my phone and decide to text Ashton.

“I’m sorry. I just don’t

know who to trust anymore.”

“You don’t mean it.”

“I do, please can we talk?

I’m still awake, just come

over and we can talk.”

“You sure I’m not

going to kill you

like the psycho that I am?”

“Shut up. That’s not

what I meant earlier.”

“On my way.”

I had a bad feeling about this but even if he is the murderer at least if I die then I’ll be with my friends and mom again. I sit on the couch anxiously waiting for the doorbell to ring. I hear thunder and flinch. I’ve been so on edge lately it’s ridiculous. Then the doorbell rang.

I hurry to the door and swing it open. He’s standing there, green eyes looking down at me. “I can’t stay long. Can we talk out here?” I nod and close the door behind me as I step onto the porch. It’s raining so there is a haze in the darkness of the night. “I’m so sorry, I was exhausted and delusional, and my life is literally falling apart infront of my eyes.” I put my head in my hands. “It’s okay. I believe you. Just don’t blame this on yourself, I know how you think.” I look up at him and he takes a step closer and grabs my hand. “I should probably go, I have stuff to do at home.” He is at least three inches away from me at this point and I can’t focus on anything else, and before I know it he’s pulling me closer.

I wrap my hands around his neck and he pulls me closer until our lips are touching. I don’t want him to stop but he pulls away. “I need to go, my mom needs help cleaning the house. I promise I’ll come back later. Don’t leave, I don’t want anything to happen to you.” I nod still stunned by the kiss and he smiles. Then he hurry’s to his car so he doesn’t get too wet from the rain.

After about half and hour of sitting in my room to nervous to go into the living room because of what happened earlier, I hear a knock at the door. Ashton must have been back. I open the door and no one is there. There are no street lights on, and it’s deadly quiet. “Hello?” I don’t hear any response and I’m already on edge. My phone chimes, the same number that texted me before Kelsey…

**“You shouldn’t lock the door. Just let me in, I’ll be there in a few seconds.” **

I slam the door shut and hurry to lock it, my fingers slipping over the locks. I look back at my phone, no signal. I run over to the kitchen and grab the emergency cell. No signal. _This isn’t happening._ Then as I am hurrying to my bedroom I hear a window break. The bathroom window. _The bathroom_, _blocking the exit_. Then footsteps that sound familiar but I can’t place why. I grab the closest thing I can find that is close to a weapon, it’s a lamp. I see a shadow illuminated by the moon light through the window in the kitchen just past the bathroom. As they turn the corner im terrified. They have a knife in their hand already crusted with blood. Their ungloved hands were also covered in thick blood not dry yet. _Someone else has to be dead_. My mind flashed to Ashton. No. He wasn’t gone. I look down at the killers shoes, they haven’t seen me yet but I haven’t seen their face. _Jonas_. The killer is wearing Jonas’s shoes and jeans. It was him? Jonas killed who used to be his closest friends? It all made sense though… but before I could continue to piece it all together Jonas turned towards me. He was wearing Mavericks ghost face mask that he had worn on Halloween. He lunged and slashed my arm and tried to grab me but I ran towards my bedroom and I slammed shut the door and hurriedly unlocked my window. I lived in a one story house so it was easy to get onto the lawn and start sprinting. I looked back and my house was silent. No sign of a killer or a psycho in a ghost face mask. That didn’t matter. I sprinted as fast as I could to Ashton’s house. Once I got there I could call the police and wait with him, safe and secure.

I don’t even knock I just run in. “Ashton?! I need help!” I hear footsteps and he appears, hair messy and hands dripping with water **freshly washed**. I walk over and hug him. I’m so glad he is alive. “What’s wrong? Did you hear about Jonas?” His eyes are looking into mine, but something wasn’t right. He was hiding something. “No? What happened to Jonas?” I step back. If Jonas wasn’t the killer… then who was? “Yeah he’s dead. He got murdered a few hours ago.” He steps towards me and pulls me into another hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay… why is there blood on your shirt?” I showed him my arm. “The killer, he came after me next. I almost died… I need to go rinse it out first before we call the cops.” I hurried to the bathroom and looked in the sink… blood. I gasped and turned towards the hallway. Ashton was walking towards me. “Avery, wait!” I slammed the door muffling his words and locked it. “It’s not what you think!” He tries to turn the knob, “Let me in! I didn’t do it!” He pounds on the door. “Let me just talk to you!” Another try at the knob. “You never should’ve told me about Jonas! You could’ve gotten an easy kill, but I outsmarted you!” Laughing now since I survived this whole situation, I opened the window and was facing a corn field. I turned back to see Ashton finally getting the door open. “What do you mean?! I didn’t kill _anyone_! I’ve been here the whole night!!” He looks sad and angry at the same time. I hear two footsteps behind me and I gasp, if Ashton was inside then who was outside with me? Ashton’s eyes grow wide with fear and he yells one word, “RUN!” So I do.

I’m sprinting as fast as my legs can carry me. I run down the street and Ashton pulls up next to me in his jeep. “Get in! Hurry!” I open the door with the car barely stopping and get into the passenger seat. He turns around to see if they are still following us but it’s just a dark street. “Oh man, that’s my parents car.” A green Buick passes us heading towards his house. “We have to go back and warn them!” He turns around in the middle of the street and speeds down the road.

We burst through the door but it’s quiet. The car is in the driveway but his parents don’t seem to be home. “Mom? Dad?” Ashton calls them but no answer. We walk into the kitchen and see a figure towering over the two lifeless body’s off Ashton’s parents. There is blood coating the walls and the white tile on the floor. The scent is strong and metallic and I feel like im about to pass out. I gasp and the killer turns around. With no mask this time I can see every detail of the killers face and I recognize it immediately. “Dad…” “Avery…” his hands are bloody and the knife is pointed at us. “Put the phone on the ground! Don’t move!” He yells at us with that booming voice he always had and we oblige. We both put our phones on the ground and then my dad speaks again. “Come here Ashton. Don’t make me hurt you just yet.” And Ashton has no choice but to listen. My dad grabs Ashton’s neck and turns him to face me. “You are so grown up. I just wanted some time with you so I came to find you.” He speaks so calmly it’s nerve wracking. “But now that my cover is blown I’ll have to kill Ashton here, and then frame you by slicing my arm.” “No please, kill me instead! Ashton doesn’t deserve to die!” I glance at Ashton and he gives me a sympathetic smile, though his eyes look sad. And he says quietly three simple words, “I love you.” Then stands up and fights my dads strength before stabbing him with his pocket knife. But before he had done that, my dad’s knife had gone right through Ashton’s chest. He crumpled to the floor and I see tears in his eyes.

I rush over and hold him in my arms. “You can’t go! Please just try and fight it. The cops will be here soon, I’ll call right now! The paramedics can help! Please…” I’m sobbing and my tears are falling onto his shirt. “It’s too late, I’ve lost too much blood,” he coughs and blood coats his teeth, “I will always love you, even though it sounds cliche.” A small but sad laugh escapes his lips and then with that he exhales one last time. A tear rolls down my cheek and I already hear sirens even though I didn’t call.

I walk out of the house tears making my face feel sticky and warm, and Ashton’s blood coats my shirt like a sticky blanket. I put my hands up and I’m blinded by the police lights. And then I speak,

“The killer is dead. He’s in there, and his name is Steven Jewett.”

But before I can take another step I hear footsteps behind me. An evil laugh follows. “Haven’t you ever seen Scream? There is always an accomplice.” I turn around to see Ashton standing behind me with blood all over himself and a knife in his hand. Ashton plunges the knife into my stomach and twists it three times. As my vision is fading he leans over and whispers into my ear with a grin on his face, “Never trust the love interest, darling.”