31. SELF-RECRIMINATION

They say love can drive you mad. But is it love or obsession? Loving someone is when you want the best for them, even if it hurts you, but obsessing over someone is when you want them for the best of you.

Amber continued to make sure the scene looked as if Jayce and Ashton were both there. She had taken Ashton's lighter as well, when she and Jaxon were sitting under the tree.

Her murders were not stopping there.

She bent down and took some soil, applying it on Jayce's hoodie, which she was wearing. She put it at the back and at the front of the cloth, making sure they were rubbed in entirely.

Amber had committed a crime, and it was all for Jayce to be responsible for.

She turned around and walked past through the tree when she accidentally hit one of the twigs with her head and tripped. She groaned in annoyance while looking back at the hanging twig that had broken, still on the branch.

"Stupid twig crap," she stood up, and fixed herself before going back to the school

She ran towards the back wall, and from the distance, she saw firefighters already going to the cell tower, and trying to extinguish it.

She gave off a small scowl before going inside the school, and heading to the dorm buildings, hoping Jayce and Ashton wouldn't see her just entering the dorm by that time.

~~~

"I'll check on Amber first," Jayce said, stepping out of the car, "If she still needs time, is it fine if I stay at your place?"

Ashton flustered at first, then nodded, "Yeah sure, but why don't we just go to my house?"

"If Amber needs anything, it would be hard if we're far away," she replied, then proceeded to go inside the dorm building, going upstairs.

Amber, on the other hand, had gone up quickly as well, into the dorm, and putting the hoodie in Jayce's cabinet. She then continued to go under the covers of her bed and face the wall.

A knock was then heard on the dorm door. Jayce stepped in the dorm, seeing Amber under the covers, while Ashton waited outside.

"You good?" she asked.

The younger twin gave out a whimper, "Just please leave me be,"

"You want to eat something? Drink something? Need anything?" she asked back.

"No,"

Jayce pursed her lips, "Okay, if you need anything-"

"Just leave!" Amber spoke louder, sadness heard in her voice.

"Okay," she replied, nodding, "I'll be in Ash's dorm if you need anything,"

The older twin walked out of the dorm and saw Ashton there, with a thin smile planted on him.

"Let's get to your dorm,"

~~~

"Do you need anything?" Ashton asked, as he entered the dorm.

"No," Jayce replied, taking off his coat and lending it to him, "Thanks for your coat, by the way,"

"Yep, anytime," he noticed Jaxon's room that was still open.

He walked over and closed the room.

"Like you said, president," he replied, stepping away from the door, "Hands off the case,"

She gave a thin smile. Another door was also seen near Jaxon's room. Eric's. It was closed off completely.

"Hands off the case," she replied.

"What do you want for dinner?" he asked.

"Up to you," she responded, "Literally up to you. Whatever you want, and not about my steak burgers,"

"I was about to order steak burgers though," he pouted, "Anyways, if you don't want steak burgers, will instant noodles do? I've been craving them,"

"Yeah sure," she replied.

"Okay, president, just wait on the couch,"

She went over and sat on the couch, and slouched on it as Ashton prepared the instant noodles from the cupboard. It seemed that he and his two friends had partied a lot with noodles.

He was boiling some water when Jayce interrupted in between, "Do you think if we met as friends instead we'd be lovers by now?"

"It's not too late to be lovers," he replied as he poured the water into the noodles.

She flinched for a while, "I still find it funny,"

"Find what funny?" he replied, walking towards her with the cup of noodles on both his hands.

"How you fell in love with me," a grin formed on her face.

He scoffed and sat down, giving her the cup of noodles, "Well, you did catch my eye since the first time we met in the hallway,"

"Is that a compliment?"

"I was supposed to be proud that I thought you were pretty, but then you twisted my arm,"

"And everything went down from then on," she snorted, "That was a lot of things that happened the past few months,"

"But now, we're friends. And I'll try my best to make you comfortable with me despite my feelings," Ashton thinly smiled.

"You don't have to try, I already am comfy,"

~~~

"I don't want to disturb Amber," Jayce said, "And I also will not sleep in my jersey," she continued, "So, can I- um-"

"Use my clothes?" Ashton continued, grinning as he washed the forks, "Just get them from my wardrobe, president,"

"Thanks," she pursed her lips, feeling the awkwardness but she wasn't going to sleep in her jersey at all.

Ashton chuckled softly in the kitchen as he took out the knife from his coat, which was still having the gloss of blood on it. He also decided to wash it out.

Jayce looked through his wardrobe, filled with all sorts of clothes, but she just needed a tee and a pair of pants. She ended up getting his sweatpants and white tee and proceeded to go to the bathroom to change. And his pants, which were obviously larger, seemed to fit on her nicely.

She tucked the tee in the pants and brushed her hair, and folded her jersey and walked out, finding Ashton already in the living room, watching whatever he had in mind on Netflix.

"I always thought those sweatpants were ugly but I guess it depends on who wears them," he commented.

She scoffed, "So, you're saying you're ugly?"

"I never said that I looked ugly when I wore it," he scowled.

"And so, I look pretty when I wear it?" she asked back, teasing him.

"You think?"

"Anyways," Jayce changed the subject, "Where am I sleeping?"

"Where do you think?" Ashton replied, raising a brow.

"The couch?" she pouted, asking.

He snorted, "I'm not mean, president. You can have my room,"

"Oh," she said, rather surprised, "Okay, thanks,"

"By the way," he interrupted, "Remember when I said I wanted to host a Christmas Ball?"

"Yeah, I've added it to the list of events for the year. Why?" she asked.

"So the thing is, it's called a ball because it has dancing. And when dancing in a ball, you need a partner, so it's kinda like prom but on Christmas but basically that's that-" he spoke like a 5-year-old.

"Your point?" she asked.

"Right, my point. My point is do you want to be my partner for the Christmas Ball? For the dance?" Ashton pursed his lips as he asked, his heart thumped against his chest.

"I have no problem with that," Jayce replied, "It's only dance partners, and it can also help win back our reputation as student council president and vice president,"

"Yeah, also that,"

"Then I'm cool with it. Overall, we're doing it as friends," she said rather innocently.

He bitterly replied, "Yeah, as friends,"

"I'll tell the notice out," she said, "For the dance,"

All of a sudden, she yawned. It was just 7pm in the evening, but that was it. She was sleepy.

"Time for bed, president," Ashton remarked.

She gave a soft scowl before standing up and headed to his bedroom, "Thanks for lending your room by the way,"

"Yep, okay, welcome," he responded.

Jayce got onto his bed, and he probably got the warmest mattress ever. She slid under his covers and shut her eyes, some part of her saying that this could probably be the best sleep she ever had.

Hours passed, and it was midnight now, and she had fallen into a deep sleep. Ashton soon got tired as well after walking back and forth and eating snacks, not doing anything. He lied on the couch, finding himself shivering to death. It was cold, he needed a blanket, and most of all, he needed his bed.

It would seem rather weird if he just jumped in bed with Jayce and slept opposite of her, but he was freezing, and he couldn't just freeze.

Out of his crazy mind, Ashton went inside his room, finding Jayce sound asleep in the dark. He gave a small smile, seeing himself as someone mental, before he walked over and slept on the other side of the bed, under the covers, finding warmth.

It was just sleep, right?

~~~

On the other hand, Amber was preparing her magnificent plan once again. The cell towers were still burning, as the mess she caused was rather huge.

Amber put back the hoodie on her, and went out of the dorm building, around midnight as well. She used the back wall, and proceeded to bolt towards where the entire station of transmission towers for electricity were at.

The girl, who had Ashton's lighter with her, bent down and burnt one of the towers with a flick of her flame, the tower started to flash. The town was a free town, and none of these towers were guarded much as no harm was thought to be made to make the town a living grave.

As the transmission towers burned, all the CCTV cameras, lights and electricity went down, sending an entire blackout to the entire town.

Before going to her next target, she went and passed by a petrol station, taking one entire container of oil, stealing it, for her 'magnificent' mass murder. She was more insane than Jayce was.

She then continued to take out her phone and look at the screenshot she had made for the Walkers' house address. Why? Because they were the Walkers.

With no CCTV cameras, she had all the time in the world to do anything she wanted without getting recorded.

The now-insane girl started walking towards the Walkers' house, avoiding anyone who could see her. It was lucky enough that the Walkers lived alone in the entire hill they lived in, but she was rather worried about the amount of people doing a demonstration for the stop in funding the school.

Amber shook those thoughts off, and yes, it was midnight, and there were not many people near the house, and so she used the path from behind. She climbed up the wall, and started to pour the oil around the house. On the grass and on the walls.

She covered herself with the hoodie, and the people outside noticed.

"Hey, who are you?" one of them asked. All they could see was her hoodie.

"Hey! What are you doing!"

Amber ignored them, "All must die to keep me satisfied," she muttered and lit the lighter, dropping it on the ground where the oil was. She threw the empty container of oil to the glass that it broke and the Walkers' screams were heard from the inside.

She then ran to the back wall and jumped over, hiding back to the path, and using the woods as her cover again.

"Who was that?!" one of the demonstrators yelled, "It's burning!"

The fire started to flow to the house, trapping everyone who was in there.

Anita was seen opening the door, as fire splashed in front of her and eating her up as she screamed.

"Mom!" Milton yelled.

Leo grabbed his son and his parents-in-law, "HELP US, YOU FILTHY MORONS!" he yelled at the demonstrators.

"If we don't help them, we'll get the blame!" one of the people outside yelled.

"But they deserved it!"

"We saw who did it! If we have the same alibi, the police will believe us!" another one said.

"Let's just look like we're helping them," another one suggested.

"I'll go and tell the police, just keep acting," someone else said and ran out.

The group agreed, and made it look like they were trying to help the Walkers, but instead they were just shouting. Maybe Amber did a good thing. The Walkers had done so much that they deserved it. But the one who was going to be blamed didn't deserve to be blamed.

"HELP!" the Walkers continued to yell and scream, "PLEASE HELP!" choking in their guilt and fire.

And as the night covered it all, the house was nothing but burnt ashes of a house of greedy people.

~~~

"What do you mean there was a pool of blood in the lake?" Dave asked Sanchez.

It was 5 in the morning, and a fisherman had found a pool of blood near the cliffs in the lake.

Jaxon was confirmed as the murderer, and Jasmine and Victor had been trying to help find him, but there was no luck. It wasn't shocking news for the both of them: they had confirmed Jaxon always had a temper.

Electricity had been out for a few hours, but they had backup generators, for only some places in Syville, including the police station and the school.

"There was a pool of blood in the lake and the divers are finding out why, and it seems it's someone dead," Sanchez explained.

"Who?"

"It could be Jaxon Spencer. He seems to have been stabbed with a twig before being pushed off the cliff,"

Dave clenched his jaw, "So you're telling me right now that there's another murderer in town?"

"DETECTIVE!" someone yelled from the entrance of the police station, "THERE'S A FIRE IN THE WALKERS' HOUSE!"

Sanchez furrowed as Dave sighed, "What the heck is going on?" he cursed under his breath.

~~~

"I'll go to Jaxon's scene and you go to the Walkers'," Dave said.

"Okay," Sanchez replied.

Dave felt uneasy with all this going on, and as soon as he arrived at Jaxon's place, and confirmed it was Jaxon who died the evening before, he wanted to find out where he was pushed from.

He went up above, and did an estimation where Jaxon would have been pushed from. There was a broken branch above, and a few footsteps on the soil, knowing it belonged to whoever did this.

But there was nothing really clear there.

He turned around and went to the road, "That CCTV," he pointed to the one placed on the entrance of the lane, "We're gonna have to check the footage of that, while this road leads to the school," he concluded, "Is this revenge by one of the students?" he muttered.

Dave went to the entrance and found the security guard there.

"I need to check this CCTV camera of the school's entrance from yesterday. I'm from the police,"

"Okay," the security guard said, "This way. The backup generator just turned on so there's only files until before midnight,"

"Alright. By the way, this road, do many students use it?" he asked.

"No, not many. Most of them use the graveyard lane. Only really few people use this lane, nearly to none," the man replied.

"Can you think of who would use this lane?" Dave asked.

"Ashton Walker. He always uses this lane," the guard replied.

Dave clenched his jaw on the name. This was not good.

The guard led Dave to the camera room and clicked some buttons on the computer, "Here,"

"Thank you," he said and the guard left the room.

Dave started going back to the recording that evening and found one familiar jeep arriving at the school at approximately the same time Jaxon was murdered.

And in that jeep, was no one else but Ashton and Jayce both.

Dave was staggered, and so he did one thing: copy and delete. He took out a USB and copied the exact file for a while, then proceeded to delete it from the computer.

He walked out of the camera room and went to the guard, "This is an order from the police itself: whoever and whatever you saw entering the school using this lane yesterday, you will not tell anyone. If you do, you can be charged of violating rules made by an officer,"

The guard gulped, "Yes, Detective, I understand."

~~~

He went back to the police station and opened up his computer to the lane's entrance's CCTV camera. And that was there.

Jayce and Ashton passing through that lane exactly with a considerable amount of time to do the murder.

He had to delete it all, and again he did it: copy and delete.

~~~

Dave, with a heavy heart, went to the Walkers' place and found Sanchez there. Burnt bodies were being taken out of the house.

"Survivors?" he asked.

"None," Sanchez shook his head, "But this was found," he took out a lighter which was half-burnt and gave it to Dave.

"Keep it," he said, "Any witnesses on who did it?"

"They said someone with a black hoodie. A girl most likely,"

Dave's heart thumped, his mind filled with anxiety, "Sanchez, I need you to come with me, but please don't tell anyone about anything you found or heard to anyone, you understand?"

Sanchez furrowed, "Okay,"

~~~

"So, you're saying Jayce could've done it?" Sanchez panicked.

"Yes, I need you to stay silent about it, because I swear to God, I will finish this. I will clean all this mess. Jayce didn't do it, Ashton did. You remember that." Dave justified. It was very much wrong of him.

The two arrived at the dorm building and hurried up to the twins' dorm.

Dave knocked loudly on the door, and Amber, who was having her beauty-murder sleep woke up in shock and opened the door.

"Amber!" Dave exclaimed, she flinched, "Where's your sister?"

She gave a sly thought in her head, "With Ashton, in his dorm, why?"

Dave ignored her question and went inside, going through their stuff.

"Dad, what's wrong?" she asked innocently, as if she didn't do anything.

He froze at the sight of the black hoodie. He took it and saw the soil from the forest on it, along with some ashes from the fire.

"Dad?"

Dave took out the lighter Sanchez found at the Walkers, "Do you know who this belongs to?"

"Yeah, to Ashton," Amber said, "I saw Jayce use it to light her cigarette at his house two days ago," she continued, "Do you mind telling me something?"

Dave held his daughter by the two shoulders, "I need you to listen to me and not say anything about this to anyone, okay?"

"Dad, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Your sister is going somewhere today, and she will probably never see you again but I need you to promise me you won't tell anything about me being here and anything, okay? Promise?" he asked again.

"Okay I promise," she replied hastily.

Dave took a backpack and put in a bunch of random stuff, including the hoodie, in it, that seemed Jayce would need and went outside, looking at Sanchez.

"Ashton killed Jaxon and his family. That's all you have to know," he said, giving the lighter to Sanchez, "He burned down the towers to cut off signal and electricity,"

"What are you doing?"

"I need you to arrest Ashton Walker and carry on with the case. I'll be back by the end of the week. I just need you to sort things out and make sure to not tell anyone what I said. Ashton Walker is a murderer." he turned the facts around to protect his daughter, "Understand?"

"Understood." Sanchez doubted for a second but he knew Dave loved his daughter very much.

"Amber, where is Ashton's dorm?" he asked.

~~~

Jayce woke up to the light tickling in her eyes and the warmth around her, embracing her as if in a hug. Her heart jumped when she saw Ashton who had himself wrapped around her and that he had glided in his sleep onto hugging her.

"Not gonna lie, he sleeps kinda cute too," she muttered towards herself and fixed her position, allowing him to sleep more comfortably.

She played with his hair, as he drifted in such a sound sleep.

Jayce could smile all day, looking at her Sleeping Beauty sleep, "Thank you, for existing,"

Suddenly, a knock on the door came, loudly. Like banging.

She flustered, and that startled Ashton awake. He flinched at how he was grabbing tight onto Jayce and he immediately backed off. She couldn't laugh anymore about it as someone was banging on the dorm door.

Ashton stepped out of bed and flinched at who was banging the door this early morning. It was a school day, but he doubted that anyone would have wanted to wake him up.

Jayce followed behind him, fixing her hair at the same time.

Ashton opened the door and a gun was immediately pointed at him. He flinched and backed away, putting his hands up in the air.

"Ashton-" Jayce's words were cut off when Sanchez and Dave came to view, "Dad, what the heck is this?" she gritted her teeth.

She stepped forward, about to stand in front of Ashton who had Sanchez's gun pointed at him when Dave grabbed her towards him. He jerked his head to Sanchez who put down his gun and took out handcuffs.

"Dad! What the actual heck-?" Jayce continued to ask, yelling in her tone.

"Ashton Walker," Sanchez said as he handcuffed Ash's hands, "You have been charged of the murder of Jaxon Spencer and the Walkers. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you."