Chapter Text
"Annie?"
"Is she awake..?"
I sat up with a gasp.
"Thank god you're okay!" Someone hugged me, so I pulled back and rubbed my eyes until two figures came into focus.
"Jackson? Where are we? Who is that?" Millions of questions flooded my brain.
"I don't know the answer to either of those questions. C'mon, the others are waiting," Jackson helped me to my feet.
"Others?"
Jackson led me out of the cramped bedroom and into a hallway-dining room mix. A small crowd of ten other people stood in the strange house. None of them were even faguely familiar. Whispers of "Where are we?" and "Who is she?" ran around the room.
"Is that the last one? Can't have anyone hiding," A man, who looked to be a few years older than me, pointed at me.
"Yeah, last one. Only Charlotte and I went to wake her up. You can check the other rooms, though," Jackson shrugged.
"I will be doing that now, actually," The man walked away to check the room I had walked out of.
"Well then, should we introduce ourselves? Unless we want to call each other 'Suspect One' and 'Suspect Two', of course," A girl- Charlotte- said, clasping her hands together with a faint smile on her lips.
"Right. I'm Jackson. That's Annie," Jackson gestured to me.
The introductions went around the room, until everyone's names were said. There was me, Jackson, Charlotte, Ezra, Jojo, Vinny, Colleen, Miguel, Jo, Elaina, Arielle, and Austin. Just by looking at them, Arielle seemed a little.. shifty.
"Charlotte, why did you say suspect?" I asked.
"You didn't tell her?" Charlotte stared wide-eyed at Jackson, who shook his head.
"We found a note as to why we're here," Charlotte sighed, "it seems that we're part of some elaborate game. They've placed two killers in this room, and we need to figure out who before we're all dead. With that being said, check your pocket. There'll be a note that says your role."
Frowning, half from confusion and half from disgust, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a slip of paper.
"Don't read it aloud," Vinny suggested.
You are a survivor. You are on the good team. Your objective is to help the psychic and investigator find the murderer and vote them out, then you will be free.
"Well, that isn't helpful at all," I muttered, and Miguel laughed.
"I like this girl already!" He said after the laughter subsided.
"Do survivors just do nothing?" I whispered to Jackson, who sighed in relief.
"I don't think we do."
"Someone find the food, I'm hungry as fu-"
"HEY HEY HEY NO SWEARING HERE, MIGUEL! THIS ISN'T MIDDLE SCHOOL ANYMORE!" Jo yelled, storming up to him. "NO CURSING!"
"Okay, GOSH! Stop yelling at me you.." Miguel paused to find a replacement. "Witch. Not a swear. Happy Halloween, witch." He smiled. Jo rolled her eyes and went to go find food.
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"You alright?" Jackson sat next to me on the rickety old green couch a few hours later. The sun was setting quickly, and people had found the camera in the corner of every room, which we couldn't even use. We all assumed that it was whoever put us here watching us.
Jo had found some stale bread and expired cheese, and Austin decided the cheese was better than anything. He was in the bathroom throwing up. Everyone else was scattered around in various rooms, but not far enough to raise suspicions. Nobody spoke in more than a low murmur.
"Yeah, I'm just.. scared? Bothered? I dunno, man. It's weird," I responded, not able to find the right word.
"I get it. This is stressful. I don't expect you to not overthink things," He playfully nudged me, getting me to smile weakly.
"Haha, very funny. Seriously, though.. do you think tha-" I was cut off by the lights powering off, and a blood-curdling scream.
"STOP BEING A BABY, WHOEVER THAT WAS, IT'S JUST A POWER OUTAGE!" A voice called, but no response was given.
"What the heck was that?" I said, poking the space next to me.
"First of all, I get that you can't see, but that's my eye, second of all, it's probably someone being a baby, like Vinny said."
"That was Vinny?"
A few minutes later, the lights were back on, and another scream was heard, followed by a thud.
"THE LIGHTS ARE LITERALLY BACK ON, WHAT ARE YOU SCREAMING ABOU-" Miguel yelled, but then stopped. His face paled and his eyes widened. Jackson and I stood up and walked over to see what he was looking at, and I was shaken to my core.
Elaina laid dead on the ground, blood pooling around them. A twisted knife stuck out of their stomach, and Arielle had passed out beside her. A wrinkled slip of paper was placed on their forehead, which read:
You are the Assassin. You get one kill. Use it wisely to help the murderer. Do not get caught.
"I'm gonna throw up," Jo ran to the bathroom and pounded on the door.
"Well, that wasn't a very wise kill.." Jackson mumbled.
"AUSTIN! GET YOUR BUTT OUT OF THERE!" She screeched, and Austin stumbled out, flopping onto the couch with a groan.
"Who did this..?" Ezra whispered.
"Well, gotta find out who, obviously. Before we all look like this," Miguel commented bluntly. He didn't seem to be one to sugarcoat anything.
"Okay.. so let's start by saying where we were. I was in the kitchen with Jo and Elaina. We heard footsteps going away, but I thought she was gonna go check on Austin.. but.. apparently not.." Colleen's words got quieter and quieter, until the last word was barely audible.
"I can confirm that. I was in the dining room with Miguel, and we both saw those three sitting on the counters, talking," Charlotte nodded, then looked at Miguel, who surprisingly, also nodded.
"Anyone know where Arielle was?" I blurted out, which made Miguel shake his head and smile.
"We don't know where she is. Personally, I think the little naïve sweet girl thing that she has going on is an act," Miguel said, "it's too much."
"I actually agree with that," Vinny chimed in, "nobody is that innocent. I mean, we're all what? Sixteen? Seventeen? Maybe even eighteen?"
"Nineteen," Colleen pointed to herself.
"Sixteen to nineteen age group, so, all of us are either almost adults or adults. Arielle acts a bit like what you'd expect a ten year old to act like," Vinny explained. Ezra opened their mouth to say something, but Vinny clearly knew what they were going to bring up.
"Yes, Ezra, I have seen a sensitive seventeen year old. However, it's not that severe," Vinny glared at them.
"What if they're traumatized?" Jackson raised his eyebrows. "We don't know what's happened to them."
"While I just love hearing about trauma, this conversation has completely derailed itself. Vinny, where were you when the lights went out?" Miguel had an odd look on his face.
"Of course it's me.." Vinny mumbled, "I was in the bedroom reading."
"No, you fricking weren't," Austin scoffed, leaning against a wall, looking to Jo, who nodded in approval.
"Yes, I was. You were busy puking, so, you can't contradict that," Vinny's face paled a little bit, which was extremely suspicious. I looked to Jackson, who also seemed to notice it.
"I took a break. I went to lay down went I wasn't nauseous anymore, then went back a few minutes later. You were in the garage, weren't you?" Austin pushed himself up off the wall, and walked over to a door that was closed the whole time, and opened it.
The garage was an empty black room with a lightbulb hanging from a string on the ceiling, a chair, and a rope.
"I wasn't in the garage, I was in the bedroom. In the corner," Vinny crossed his arms.
"So, why didn't you mention that before? So now, I have a question. Are you trying to come off as less suspicous by making up lies afterwards?" Charlotte butted in. Vinny was looking very bad.
"I didn't lie about anything. Also, the way you worded that wasn't a question at all, which you obviously knew, it was an empty accusation," Vinny replied calmly. "Call it.. withholding information. I was trying to see if anyone would pounce on that, like Austin did. So, really, I think we should be looking at Austin."
"Oh please, blame the sick guy more. He's just some person who acts like a popular middle school boy," Jo scoffed, "he's immature."
"I wonder why you're the one saying that, Jo," Jackson rolled his eyes.
"I swear to god, if you bring up a "oH yOu'Re In A ReLaTiOnShIp, YoU pRoTeCt EaCh OtHeR," you're sorely mistaken. No offense, Austin," Jo said, looking at Austin, who shrugged.
"I never said that, I wanted to say tha-" Jackson was cut off by the sound of static.
"Hello, contestants! Wait.. is this thing on..?" A voice, coming from the camera, boomed.
"Oh, green light, that's on. Anyways, hi! As fun as it is to watch you all argue back and forth about Jo and Austin's love lives, it's time to vote someone out!"
Miguel burst into laughter. "They have love lives?!"
"Just because no girl, nor boy, wants you, Miguel, doesn't mean it's the same for us," Jo pointed out, ending Miguel's laughing.
"So, go to the table. There will be iPads with voting systems on them. Tap the name you think killed the girl! If you're deciding it's nobody, click skip!" The voice chirped, and everybody went to the table, picking up a screen. The voting GUI was extremely simple. Just a navy background with everybody's names in big white letters.
"Vinny," I mouthed, looking at Jackson, who nodded in agreement.
About thirty seconds later, the voice came back.
"Okay! The votes are in, everybody! Drumroll please.." The voice paused. "I said, DRUMROLL, PLEASE."
Everybody started hitting the table, then stopped.
"Vinny! Congratulations, man!" Applause from one person started. The person talking through the cameras. Vinny paled, and his jaw dropped.
"It wasn't me, I swear! I didn't ki-" Vinny started. Arielle stirred, waking up, but nobody paid any attention to her.
"Everyone, take Vinny's arms, and go to the garage. Lock him in, and I'll take him! I will tell you when you may unlock it, then I'll say if you were right or wrong!" The voice commanded, and everybody turned to Vinny.
"You'll regret this! It wasn't me!" Vinny pleaded, "don't listen to her!"
"Sorry, man. I don't wanna find out what happens if we don't. No hard feelings, okay?" Jo said gently, taking his hand. "Let's go."
Once the door was locked, we heard another one open. Then, a scream and a gunshot. Then two. Then three. Then so many, it sounded like some sort of cruel game. Everybody blankly stared at the closed door, with the same thought of, Should we help him?
"Vinny has been eliminated, and now, the moment you have all been waiting for.."
I grabbed onto Jackson's arm, nervous and hopeful. Were we right? Would we be let free? Was the game over?
"Incorrect! Vinny was a survivor! The game shall continue!"