Page 50 of Little Psycho

“Just keep your fucking mouth shut.”Dom brushes past him and heads for the door, pausing for Ash and me to hurry and join him.

Once the three of us step outside, the cold night air wrapping around us, I exhale the deep breath I didn’t even realize I was holding.We walk in silence, avoiding each other’s nervous gaze, all thinking the same thing: where the fuck is Calista, and what twisted game is she going to play next?

Even though it’s going on four in the morning, Ash’s cell rings with his father’s ringtone, causing us all to freeze on the sidewalk.While he steps off to the side to answer it, Dom turns to face me, speaking in hushed tones as if he doesn’t want Ash to overhear.

“Why do I feel like she’s coming after us?”he asks, and I can tell that she has him fucking spooked, but he isn’t the only one.

The psychological games she’s playing are fucking with all of us, and not knowing what her next move is eats away at my mind, and most likely Dom’s and Ash’s too.

“She is coming after us, Dom.We fucking hurt her.Betrayed her.We ruined the trust and love she once had for us,” I explain, jumping at the sound of an approaching car with its right headlight out, which strangely enough catches my eye.

With a grim expression on his face, Ash walks back over to us, staring blankly at the ground as he slides his cell into his pocket.“I have to go,” he says bluntly, still refusing to look at us.

“What now?”I groan, afraid to hear what’s about to come out of his mouth.

“I’m not sure.My father just said he needed me for something, and if I refused, he threatened to send the cops to our place to pick me up.”A sad, fearful expression mixes on his face, turning his usual bright eyes dim and soft.

We nod in understanding as we prepare to part ways, still left with the looming feeling of dread in my stomach.Taking a deep inhale of my cigarette, I watch Ash walk away before turning to Dom with a look of urgency in my eyes.

“We need to try to find her before she finds us,” I state firmly, and with a shared look of determination, we set off into the night in search of Calista, uncertain of what will happen when we finally confront her.

* * *

After spendingthe next two hours searching the street for Cali with absolutely no luck, Dom and I reluctantly head back to our apartment, nerves heavily twisting in my core.

“What if she’s here?”I whisper, sticking the key into the lock on our door, frantically looking around and behind us to make sure we weren’t followed.

“Then we fucking deal with it.We try to reason with her as best we can.”

“And if that doesn’t work?”I turn the knob but pause, looking deeply into Dom’s eyes.

“Then we kill her before she kills us.Period.”He shrugs, nodding at me to open the door so we can get inside.

I shudder at the thought of it all coming down to that, but knowing Calista like I do—like I used to—I can’t say I would do it.We’re backed into a corner with no idea how to get out of the mess that she’s created—or did we create it?

As we step inside, I instantly feel like she’s watching, waiting, ready to strike at any moment.With each passing second, it feels like we’re falling faster and deeper into her trap.But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little intrigued.

The apartment is dark, except for the blue neon light hanging above my bedroom door, so I flip the switch in the living room to brighten the place up.I breathe, relieved when I don’t see any sign of Cali, but I know that doesn’t necessarily mean that she isn’t here or hasn’t been here.She could be hiding, waiting for us…

“You want a drink, Kill?”Dom asks, kicking his Nikes off by the door before striding with purpose to the kitchen.

“Yeah, grab me a Bud,” I call after him, plopping down on the couch and letting the cushions swallow me whole.

Just like any other night, I toss baggies of coke and heroin onto the table, my mouth watering at the sight of them, illuminated by the swinging, flickering light hanging above the table.As I wait for Dom to return, my eyes sweep around the living room out of boredom, eventually landing on something tucked under the recliner across from me, completely out of place.I swallow hard, hesitating before getting up to investigate.

Crouching down, I reach under the chair and feel around until my hand hits something.I pull it out cautiously, looking at it before dropping it to the ground as I stand back up.Footsteps approaching behind me make me freeze, slowly turning around as I begin to pray under my breath that it isn’t Cali here to kill me.

“What’s got you so fucking spooked this time, Kill?”I hear Dom’s low voice and finish turning around to face him.

“There’s...there’s a mask under the chair,” I tell him, hearing my heartbeat race in my ears.

“It might not have gotten put away with the others from the other night.”He shrugs, handing me a beer and flashing me a smile to help settle my nerves.

I shake my head confidently, pointing to the mask that’s now on the floor.“No, Dom, it’s not one of our masks.And besides, it’s covered in fresh, wet blood.”I gulp, a chilling feeling entering my body that turns me into a terrified mess.

He walks over and crouches down to grab the mask off the floor.Inspecting it, the color drains from his face and the blood on it transfers to his hands, freaking him out.He switches the mask on, revealing bright red lights around the eyes and mouth, dropping it back on the ground in a panic.

“It’s gotta be hers because we only have Ghostface masks, which means she was...”He pauses, gulps, and his complexion turns even whiter.“She was here.”

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