Page 151 of Stay Scared

“That still counts as work.”

“It was off-site.”

I laugh once, and he looks irritated. I step around him and find another stack of papers. Expense sheets. Vendor logs. Maintenance schedules. They’re annotated in the same hand as the protocol. Different subject, same obsession.

“What happens when Crimson Night closes for the night?”

“I review what happened.”

“And when you finish?”

“I start the next day.”

“You built a haunted attraction and somehow made your private life more alarming than the attraction.”

Ash looks at me. “I do not like losing track of things.”

“That much has been established.”

“That includes people.”

The words come lower. I stop moving.

Ash’s stare stays on mine. “If something matters to me, I want to know where it is. What changed. Who touched it. What can reach it.”

“That is less affection and more evidence storage.”

“I did not say it was healthy.”

“That was almost self-aware.”

His mouth tightens. “Do not get used to it.”

I look at the tables around us. His handwriting. His diagrams. His schedules. Eighteen months of Ash Langston turned into paper. Every answer I have gotten about him eventually finds its way back here.

“Take Crimson Night out of the answer.”

Ash’s expression changes. “What?”

“The building. Decay Brigade. Final Girl Protocol. Rook. Pretend none of it exists.”

“That would make several current problems considerably easier.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

I lean against the edge of the table. “What do you actually like?”

Ash looks at me. The silence lasts long enough that I start smiling.

“That is horrifying.”

“I am considering the question.”

“You shouldn’t need this much time.”

“You removed most of my available answers.”