Trust can kill

Nothing is more deadly than ignorance. Some know this, others find out the hard way. And sometimes, the people with the darkest and most twisted minds take advantage of this. They walk in the street with the rest of us, they look normal, they say normal things and do things just like you and me do things. But their minds are different. And we don't ever see it.

Except for the unlucky few that do.

The sun shone through the trees, spilling light into the house of Sasha Bowens. It was eight o'clock in the morning on a Saturday, it was a bright and beautiful day in the city of Manhattan, people were out and about, walking, running, bicycling, doing all the things they couldn't do during the long and tedious work week. Except for Sasha. In her case, she had a long fun day of absolutely nothing planned out and she wasn't going to miss that for anything. As the sound of children laughing and playing came from outside, the sound of snoring resonated inside, as if to drown out the sound of the active world right outside her walls. She slept comfortably for a few more hours until the siren of a police car racing by roused her from her slumber. She opened her eyes slowly, not appreciating the the brightness of the midday sun on her eyes.

Sasha was a brunette, she stood at about five foot five. She wasn't the size of a supermodel or anything like that, she knew that and was okay with it. Her most defined and probably her favorite part of her body were her eyes. She had the most beautiful blue eyes, all her life she had heard nothing but compliments about them, so she loved them especially.

Sasha was not like most college students, she didn't spend all her time hanging out with friends, going to parties, getting drunk or getting high. She enjoyed her alone time at home with her Siamese cat Dinkleberry. She enjoyed random trips to the library to check out books she had never read before, exploring whole new worlds without leaving the comfort of her favorite chair. When she ordered food online she always ordered delivery cause she didn't like driving if she didn't have to. She didn't let a whole lot of people get very close to her, she was a private person with a private life and she didn't mind that. Some wondered why she never looked for a boyfriend, but she was always afraid of rejection so she never really tried when it came to guys, and nobody she had ever met had ever showed any real interest in her. So she didn't really try. And she was okay with that. "I have Dinkleberry" she always told herself.

When she woke up she dragged herself out of bed and began to make herself breakfast. She hadn't been gifted with the ability to cook incredible meals but she knew the basics: Everything tastes better with butter. She fried a few eggs as best she could and then fried up some bacon. Dinkleberry hopped up on her hind legs and pawed at her, meowing and begging for a little taste of the delicious human food she was making. "Alright, just a little bit" she said and broke off a little piece of bacon for her. she gobbled it up and purred happily as she got her way slinking away into the living room of her apartment. "You spoiled little thing" Sasha commented as the cat walked away. She ate her food in the living room, then put her plate away as she opened up the book she had been working on for a while.

The next few hours melted away as she immersed herself in her book. The next thing she knew it was three o'clock in the afternoon and she had finished her book. Closing it with the kind of satisfaction you only get from finishing things, she set the book on the end table by her chair and let out a sigh. "I'm out of reading material" she thought to herself suddenly, realizing that what she just finished was the last book she had checked out from the library. She loved going to the library but she didn't like having to get there. She had a a car but rarely liked driving it, so she used taxi's and Uber to get around the city, sometimes the subway. She got up from her chair in annoyance knowing that a trip to the library was imminent and that she should put on real clothes, thinking that her onesie probably wouldn't be good to wear in public unless she wanted lots of unwanted attention and staring.

She wandered through the aisles, taking in everything that she loved about this place. The smell of thousands of pages of books both old and new hung in the air. All the options of all the different writers and authors who were creative enough to come up with millions of different worlds she could be instantly transported to. Sasha always had a hard time picking which books she wanted to pick out because the library she went to only had a limit of five books at a time. She was in the middle of choosing between Delia Owens', 'Where The Crawdads Sing' and Juliette Wade's 'Mazes of Power' when she heard a strangers voice behind her, "Hey can you help me with something?"

She turned around, annoyed that somebody was bothering her, in her happy place of all places. But as she turned around and saw his face she instantly forgot everything, her annoyance at being disturbed, which book she was going to pick, absolutely everything except for this strangers beautiful face. He was the most striking man she had ever seen and been this close to simultaneously, he had blonde hair and Hazel eyes that looked reserved and mysterious, he had a defined face with a trimmed and neat beard that she normally thought looked weird on people, but on him it looked incredible. It wasn't until he repeated himself that Sasha realized that she was staring. Embarrassed she answered "I'm sorry, I don't work here"

"I know" he replied, "I've seen you here before a few time and noticed that you seem to take your reading very seriously. I was wondering if you had any recommendations for me or if there's any books that you might think I'd like. I don't come here often."

Sasha was a little disappointed that this was all he wanted, she couldn't lie to herself, she thought that he was vey attractive and deep down wished he had been asking her out. She may like being alone, but nobody likes being alone all the time.

"Yeah, I have a little experience here" she said with a giggle and proceeded to show him all of her favorite books, starting with the ones that he looked like he might like. When she was done he thanked her and started to walk off. Sasha turned back around trying to remember what she was doing before the guy with the face of an angel had distracted her. She had just remembered what she was doing when she got a tap on her shoulder. Confused she turned around and it was the angel. He had checked out his books and looked like he was on his way out but he stopped to tell her one ,ore thing before he left.

"I lied," he said, "I didn't want to ask you about recommendations, I wanted to ask you out. I chickened out the first time but I would kick myself forever if I had missed a chance to ask out a girl as beautiful as you. Would you like to go on a date with me?

Sasha's whole brain was spinning. He liked her? He wanted to go out with her? She had never been called beautiful before by anyone, did this angelic creature really think she was beautiful? Her head was spinning so fast she could barely spit out her reply "Yes" was all she said.

He smiled, "cool, meet me tomorrow at the Starbucks downtown at one o'clock".

Then he left. He left and she stood there motionless and speechless for five minutes. Then it clicked. She was going to go on a date with the most attractive man she had ever seen. She got so excited that she ran out of the library without even checking out her books. She got an Uber home and collapsed in her chair, shaking from the pure excitement, thinking the same thought over and over, "somebody likes me, somebody really likes me".

Tomorrow came and she was lit up with pure joy and excitement, she was buzzing around her apartment getting ready and mentally preparing for her date with Mr. perfect. "I wonder how old he is? I wonder if he would like the red dress or the maybe just jeans and nice shirt?" these were the questions that kept running through her head. It was only eight o'clock. It was gonna be a long morning.

One o'clock came and she was already sitting at a table outside. Normally she would've hated being at a crowded coffee place like this but today she didn't mind one bit. She kept looking for him through the crowds. She was so wound up that she almost jumped when his voice came from behind her "I see you made it" he said as he made his way around the table to sit across from her.

"Just to start things off simply I'd like to introduce myself, my name is Jameson, what might yours be?"

"I'm Sasha"

"Sasha..what a beautiful name" he said with a slight smile "You know you have the most beautiful blue eyes that I've ever seen" Sasha blushed and he continued talking "what are some things you enjoy doing?"

So she went on to start talking about what she does for hobbies. She started out bashfully at first but slowly started to warm up to this Jameson. He asked a few more questions about her which she answered but then she wanted to know more about him.

"So what do you do for fun" she asked him. His eyes darkened for a split second, it was gone so fast she wondered if maybe she had just been seeing things. "I'm a collector, it's one of my favorite things to do. I like to take things that interest me and put them in brown paper boxes."

"Oh that's interesting" Sasha said, "what are some things you like to collect?"

There it was again, that split second of darkness that fluttered across his eyes, so she hadn't imagined it. She wondered what it meant.

"Oh I like to collect really unique things, it's hard to explain, it isn't something people really collect often so it makes it more valuable in my opinion."

Sasha wondered what it may be, he wasn't exactly answering the questions she was asking. Suddenly Jameson got up, "Seeing as though I can't explain it how about I just show you. How would you like to come to my place to see my collection?"

Her heart fluttered, was he asking to take her to his place? Was this really happening? She had never been on a date with anyone let alone been asked up to somebody's house. The thoughts about the strange look in his eyes all but disappeared "I would love to!" Sasha said almost too enthusiastically.

He smiled. "Cool, let's get going"

The drive to his place was longer than she thought it was going to be. They had been driving 45 minutes and they were still going. By this time they had left Manhattan and were driving down an old side road. She was starting to get a little nervous about going to a strangers house this many miles away without telling anybody.

They pulled into a remote driveway five minutes later. Her heart was pumping, she was both excited and nervous at the same time. She had never been to a guys house before so she was excited but she also had no idea what to do. Was she supposed to make a move, was she supposed to let him make the move. She had no idea. And she was still thinking about it when they stopped in the driveway. The house was a large Victorian style house with a large driveway. Sasha was slightly distracted from her rapid thinking when she saw the beautiful house. Jameson got out and went over to get her door.

"Welcome to my house." he said as she stepped out of the vehicle, "I normally wouldn't be able to afford anything like this, but my dad passed away recently and I inherited it from him."

"Oh I'm sorry for your loss," Sasha said with a little sadness in her eyes. "Should we go inside?"

He smirked " Yes lets go inside"

They walked through the front door and everything she was worried about was forgotten. The house was even more beautiful on the inside than on the outside. Everything she looked at was either gold lined, crystal or actual solid gold. "His dad must have been rich" she thought to herself.

"Here let me take your coat" Jameson said. "Would you like a drink?"

"I'd love one," she said with a smile. He disappeared around the corner. She started to wander around the house, taking it all in. She got to what she assumed was the living room and took a seat. Her mind started wandering and wondering what a kiss from him would feel like, wondering if he was a romantic lover like she had read about in some of her favorite books.

Fifteen minutes passed and she started to realize that she hadn't seen Jameson since they had arrived. All of a sudden the worry she was feeling earlier returned. She got up to go look for him, as she started to walk faster she rounded the corner and almost ran right into him. "Whoa, you going somewhere?" She heaved a sigh of relief, "I was starting to wonder where you were, I was going to start looking for you". He laughed "Yeah sorry, I had to take a phone call when I almost had our drinks finished." He handed her the drink and they walked back to the living room.

They drank their drinks and made conversation for a while after that, it was going well too. That's when Sasha remembered what they were here for. "So now that we're here, why don't you show me what it is exactly you collect." If he had that look in his eye when she asked she didn't notice it and she didn't care. He looked at her, laughed softly and said "Yeah, I keep all of my boxes in a room downstairs. Let's go check it out"

He led her to a door on the far side of the house and they went downstairs. The air had a musty smell to it that most basements had but this one had a little something extra to it that she couldn't place. The drink that he had given her must have been a strong one cause she was starting to feel a little dizzy. Jameson led her to the door he was talking about and opened it up. As she walked inside she noticed that the smell got stronger, she saw a bunch of shelves in the room filled completely with brown paper boxes. "Go ahead, open one up and see for yourself". She walked over to one of the shelves, stumbling slightly, wondering how strong that drink was she grabbed a box and brought it down. She opened the lid and paused. Her heart stopped for a split second. She knew she should scream, she wanted to scream but the shock of what she was seeing was so overwhelming that she couldn't. As she looked into the box with pure horror, the contents of the box looked back. There inside was a pair of human eyes, floating in a jar. She finally felt the scream reach her throat and as she screamed she dropped the box and jumped back. She looked back towards Jameson and there he was but he looked different. The door was closed and locked, he was standing there looking at her with the strangest look in his eyes. That darkness that she thought she had seen earlier was back and it wasn't going away. She backed up slowly, finding it harder and harder to walk. Sasha was breathing heavily, too scared to try to say anything. All she could do was stare at Jameson as he walked towards her, that lunatic smile still on his face. She suddenly noticed the knife in his hands. Another scream forced itself out of her throat, but she knew it was hopeless, she knew that nobody could hear her. He got close enough to her that she could start to smell the drink that he had drank with her earlier. The drink!! He did something to her drink, that was why she was finding it harder and harder to move. She tried to run past him to try to get to the door but she tripped and fell. she lied there staring up. Her last memory was Jameson crouching down right above her smiling down at her and saying "Thank you for a lovely evening Sasha, and thank you for the most recent addition to my collection".

Jameson walked back up the stairs whistling. He closed the door behind him and walked over to the sink. He set what he was carrying down and washed his hands. Blood slowly washed down the drain, erasing the thought of what he had just done from memory. He picked up what he had been carrying, a jar. In it was the most unique pair of eyeballs he had ever seen. Blue, the kind of blue you never forget. "Yes.. truly the most beautiful eyes Sasha my dear." he said to himself as he smiled. He set it down and went to go draw a bath for himself. "Maybe I'll visit the museum tomorrow" He said with a grin already greedy for his next prize to add to his gruesome collection.