User blog:TKandMit/"Confession" - Danganwiki: Convention Carnage

I let my head hang in defeat, feeling sicker than ever now. HAL directed us to make our way to expo hall in order to begin the trial; to label one of us as a murderer and have them executed before us. ''What happened to us working together to figure out a way that no one had to die? Now we have to find who the killer is and have them killed as well. How did this get so fucked up?''

“What are we doing with the body?” Axel asked the doctor. We didn’t have any means of preservation, and I suppose HAL deemed we had everything we needed to draw our conclusions already so we wouldn’t need the body anymore.

“I’ve got no idea,” Jason groaned as he cleaned his glasses. I could see that he meant to keep calm and collected but that he was restraining to show his frustration. “HAL wants all the living people at the convention center, and I don’t intend to disobey and be punished for it. We can’t do much for Jeffrey at this point. We can clean up and try to find a way to dispose of him later.”

I remembered seeing a bonesaw in the drawer of medical tools earlier. Envisioning Jason chopping up Jeffrey and tossing him away like trash made me shudder. Thinking of the trial felt slightly comforting in comparison, but still daunting as ever. I slipped off the gloves and threw them in a red biohazardous waste bin, as did Axel and Jason, as we left the infirmary and made our way down the hall.

The first thing I noticed when the doors swung open were the new additions to the giant room. Before the stage ERB was supposed to perform on, there were sixteen wooden podiums creating a circle. At one of the podiums was a sign with Jeffrey’s picture, a pink X over his face to indicate he had been eliminated. How… when was this put here?

“Matt!” Flatts ran over to me as we entered the expo hall. They were one of only seven others here so far; Rae, Amy, Cynthia, Avery, Jake, and Neo standing around and talking. Flatts came to me as Axel and Jason joined the rest. In Flatts’ right hand was one of those notebooks, detailing how Jeffrey was murdered. They stood close to me and whispered as they leafed through the notebook. “I took one of the sheets of paper and put it to the footprint we saw. It was still wet enough to stain the paper, thank god. See the design of the imprint? All we have to do is contrast and compare it to the others’ shoes and we’ll have our killer.”

“Awesome!” I was overjoyed to hear some good news. Hopefully we could just get this over with. “Jason says that the cause of death wasn’t the stabbing.”

“It wasn’t? So it was the lanyard, right?”

“Well, no, not that either. Apparently someone choked him to death with their bare hands.”

“Seriously? Yikes... So everything else was just a cover up?” Flatts massaged the back of their neck to relax themself. “I think Mindy’s involved somehow.”

“Heh, Mindy? Really?” I couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle at the statement, finding it purely ridiculous.

“That’s what I thought, too. But we found her cross necklace at the scene of the crime. It might not be related at all, but it’s quite the coincidence, don’t you think?”

“That’s crazy.”

“Yeah. Jamahl finally started doing something useful and went to get her a while ago. Pretty sure she has to attend the trial, so I think we should be able to get to the bottom of it.” Flatts spoke as their eyes studied the footprint.

I sighed. “I’ve been thinking about those notebooks, too. The 9000 Files.”

“What about them?” Flatts looked up with one of their eyebrows raised.

“They were just, there. At the scene of the crime… hiding under some towels. Whoever the mastermind behind all this placed them there to help us figure out who killed Jeffrey… but when?”

“Could be the traitor hiding among us,” they proposed. “HAL may have alerted them that a murder has taken place and gave them the files to put there.”

“It’s not nice to speak of someone behind their back,” that same icy voice spoke out through the PA system, scolding us for talking about him.

Asier threw open the doors, limping into the expo hall and followed by Erik and Jamahl. The former started to rant, “WHEN IS THE ROBOCUCK GONNA START THE TRIAL?!”

“Pay no mind to HAL, Asier,” Erik rubbed his temples. “Soon enough, we shall rid of him.”

Flatts’ face flushed. “Jamahl, what the hell?! Where’s Mindy?!”

“Calm down, mate,” The sheriff replied. “She’s comin’, Vi’s escorting her.”

“What? Why aren’t you?” Flatts questioned. “She’s a suspect and you left her alone with someone?!”

“We’re right here, don’t worry.” Vi called out, walking through the doors with Mindy close behind her, her black hair disheveled and hiding her face. The girl was a mess; obviously upset with what had happened.

“Excellent.” The PA system rang with HAL’s voice again. “Now that we are all here, we may finally begin the trial. Who murdered the Ultimate Historian, Jeffrey Newton? One of you fifteen are responsible, but will you be found guilty or get away with the murder? Choose wisely, my VIPs. All your lives depend on it. Now, take your positions. Find your podium and stand there. We shall begin.”

As directed, we walked towards the podiums and discovered that each had a single item on it. Our personal artifacts. I found my hat at one of the podiums and stood there, standing between Jake and Violet as I donned my cap. The podium with Jeffrey’s sign had his inhaler sitting on the top. Directly across from me was Flatts with a typewriter at their podium, whose face carried a look of uneasiness and dread. Despite the evidence we had found, I don’t believe any of us were prepared to pass a death penalty. Flatts laid out his copy of the 9000 File in front of them and coughed. “Alright… I think the first order of business here is to establish everyone’s alibis. According to the 9000 File, Jeffrey was murdered at around seven p.m.. At this time, I was at the infirmary with Jason, Matt, Avery, Cynthia, Neo, and Asier. The seven of us are obviously innocent as we were in the other building. Skipping us seven, I would like to hear the alibis of everyone else.” Flatts motioned their hand to the right, invoking the person closest to them to start their defense.

“Brilliant start,” Erik complimented. “I remained in the diner until approximately five thirty, joined by Jake, Jamahl, and Axel. Of us four, I left the earliest, last seeing them when I took my leave. I immediately rushed over to my hotel room where I remained until the body discovery announcement was made.”

“Can anyone attest that you were there and not off somewhere else?” Flatts asked.

Calmly, Erik answered. “No, unfortunately.”

“So you have no alibi during the approximate time of the murder?”

“Correct.”

“Alright,” Flatts said, gesturing to the next person after Erik. Mindy. “Hey Mindy, not to offend you but I have been very curious as to where you’ve been this whole time...”

The Ultimate Christian Missionary stood silent. Jamahl answered for her. “Leave her alone, Flatts. She’s been through enough.”

“She’s endured what we all have, as far as we know. That’s why we’re all here, Sheriff.” It seemed that Flatts had enough with the stubborn officer and was only looking for answers. Turning back to Mindy, she remained silent. She looked extremely antsy and paranoid, her mouth twitching as if she was trying to look for the words to defend herself, but nothing came out. Flatts sighed. “Fine. We’ll come back to Mindy. Who else?”

Going down the line, we discovered that Amy and Vi left the diner at 5 p.m. and stayed in Amy’s room until the announcement was made. Jake Stuart stayed in the diner the longest, drinking shots of Hennessy until the announcement. Jamahl left the diner at 6:30 p.m. to exercise in his room. Axel reconfirmed he had left a little after six, exactly what he told Jason and myself.

Finally, we got to Rae. “I left the diner before all of you, where I stayed in my room and locked the door. I personally have no interest in being near any of you, as you all pose a threat.”

“Can anyone confirm you went to your room?” Flatts asked.

“There was someone.” Rae snickered, pointing to the podium that had Jeffrey’s sign on it. I heard a few quiet gasps around the podiums. “He caught up with me shortly after I left. We talked in the hallway for a minute or two before I got bored of him.”

The tone of the room shifted, everyone’s attention now focused on Rae. Flatts cleared their throat again. “So Rae, you’re saying you were the last person to see Jeffrey alive? What time was this?”

“Not at all what I said, but okay. About two in the afternoon.”

“As far as we know, the last anyone else saw Jeffrey was at the diner. But you’ve just said that you saw him after that.”

“Yes, that’s true. Doesn’t mean I was the last person to see him,” Rae’s face scrunched with annoyance. “Definitely doesn’t mean I killed the guy.”

“I’m sure you understand how this looks, though.” Flatts smirked.

“Not really. We still have the matter of Mindy’s necklace found at the scene of the crime, which we all seemed to gloss over.”

Mindy let out a squeak, overwhelmed as the attention was put on her again. “Hey Mindy, it’s okay,” I stepped in, approaching the topic differently than Flatts. “We’re not mad or anything. We’re just trying to figure out where you’ve been so we can put all of this together.”

Mindy’s focus shot to me as she blinked. Looking closely, I could see that her face and eyes were red from recently crying. She smiled slightly, somewhat surprised by my outreach to her. Finally, through staggered breaths, she began to speak. “I… I… left the diner, mad and… I was mad and hurt. By what Rae said. Using the Lord’s name in vain… again. All of you do it… but they do it to spite me, I swear. I ran off… to my room and I prayed. Went through my favorite Bible verses… John 15:13. I prayed for God’s light to shine on us and save us… I prayed harder than I ever have, to leave this awful place. I… I heard the announcement and started to cry. I was too afraid. We must have done something horrible to be put here… we don’t deserve salvage…”

“Okay, okay,” Axel blurted out. “That’s Mindy’s explanation, finally. But does anyone really think that she’d be capable of killing someone? ‘Cause one thing that’s still bothering me though, and I’m sure Erik can agree with me here, is that we literally have a cult leader here! Even if he’s ‘safe’ because he was around others and didn’t kill Jeffrey himself, he could have manipulated one of us into doing it for him.”

Erik looked at Axel with respect to his statement, while Jason appeared annoyed. “Axel, we’ve been over this,” the doctor slowly said with a tinge of anger in his voice. “It’s not the Stars; neither Xim, Lucidus, Evol, or Negative Four are responsible for this murder. Avery may have been an issue eventually, but he hasn’t come back since his alters came to light.”

“Alters?” Several people asked at once.

“Other personalities, basically,” Amy explained. “Alternates. ‘Split’ is kind of an inaccurate term with negative connotations to it.” Why does she know that?

“That’s right,” Avery spoke, once again accompanied with the voice of one of the girls. “Luci here. We spent some time with Jason and me and the other Stars healed and recouped. We keep switching back and forth because he can’t… he’s weak. He was hurt so much by that shock that we had to come out of remission and do our part and help.”

Axel shook his head in confusion. “Okay, whatever. How does that clear Avery’s name from planning out Jeffrey’s death ahead of time?”

“We share his memories. Some parts are a bit hazy, like before we all came here, and the shock certainly didn’t help. But we’ve been watching and Avery’s barely been able to hold a full conversation with anyone here, much less convince anyone to kill for him.”

“Hold on,” Rae butted in. “None of you even knew where you were this morning. Now you’re saying you’ve been watching this whole time?”

Lucidus sighed and closed their eyes, opening them a few seconds later. “The shock scattered our memories,” the voice of Ximena said. “After rest and meditation we were able to collect our thoughts. All of us can attest to Avery’s innocence.”

Rae scoffed. “Sorry, Invader Xim, but ‘all of you’ is just one person with a scatterbrain.”

“Incorrect,” Dr. Cooper countered. “As I’ve said, I was with them the entire time. I never left their side. They are innocent.”

“No offense, doctor,” Erik began with a smug look drawn on his face. His notebook was sprawled out in front of him. “But this is simply the manner of a cult leader. They do what they can to inspire sympathy, compassion, and love in others for them. They want a loyal following. I believe all this ruckus with dissociative identity disorder and the alternate personalities is nothing more than a ruse, orchestrated to feel sorry for Avery and even protect him.”

“Shut it, neckbeard,” the voice of Evol scoffed while Avery put his hands on his hips.

“Sorry, Avery. You were this close to having me fooled, but I know better. You’ve done an excellent job on the others, however. Something we should expect from the Ultimate Cult Leader.”

“Alright!” I yelled out to detract from the heated back-and-forths. “We’re not getting anywhere. We’ve heard everyone’s alibis. I think it’s time to move on. Let’s address exactly how Jeffrey died.”

“Ah yes, Matthew,” the doctor was pleasantly surprised, even smiling. “I’ve determined that Jeffrey wa-”

“Uh, duh?” Neo blurted out, miming a stabbing motion. “He totally got skewered!”

“NAH NAH THAT HISTORICAL BULLSHIT CUCK WAS TOTALLY CHOKED OUT BY THE LANYARD RIGHT?” Asier yelled out, tugging on his own lanyard to demonstrate.

“No, asshole.” Vi snapped. “Couldn’t have been, right? You did the same shit to me when we first got here and my lanyard tore in two. See?” Vi held up her badge, clasped on her shirt without a lanyard present as it had been destroyed. She was talking about our first day here, when Asier assaulted her and Jamahl tackled him to the ground, twisting his ankle in the process.

“Yes, what Vi said,” Jason agreed. “The lanyard was only used to hide the true method of the murder, as were the stab wounds. Under the lanyard were far darker and broader ligature marks, suggesting the true method was strangulation.”

“Jeffrey had asthma, right?” Jamahl asked. “Ya sure they didn’t just try and keep him quiet as he was screaming and coughing?”

“It’s plausible and likely upon first seeing the body, of course. But consider the amount of blood we saw at the scene of the crime. Thin, small pools. Yet, one of the stab wounds went through his heart. Another, his aorta. That sort of damage while still alive and his heart pumping would have gushed out a much, much larger volume. The heart was not pumping, thus the smaller pools. Jeffrey was stabbed after his death.”

“Let’s rewind a bit,” Jake demanded. “So whoever killed Jeff encountered them in the hallway and strangled them. Then, to cover it up, hid his wounds on his throat with the lanyard and stabbed him a few times. Then they ditched the body in the closet, where he stayed for a few hours until we were all notified about it.”

“Yeah,” said Flatts. “Matt and I were walking around ‘til we saw the closet door open, and we decided to investigate.” Flatts sighed, recounting the gruesome details. “...After we turned on the light and saw Jeffrey, that announcement came on.”

“‘A body has been discovered. Our first victim has been found dead, located on the first floor of the RnR Resorts,’” Erik Blut Von Drachen quoted HAL’s announcement. “I was curious about what that entailed. Surely, a killer would spot the body of their victim, but making an announcement when that happens would give the killer away too easily. So, HAL, how does the body discovery announcement work exactly?” Erik looked to the ceiling, his arms crossed and awaiting his answer.

“I was waiting for someone to ask me that.” HAL’s voice echoed through the large expo hall. “The killer themselves is not counted when they see their own dirty work. The body discovery announcement is only made after three other parties have spotted the cadaver.”

“Three?” I asked aloud. “But wait, hold on. It was just Flatts and myself that found Jeffrey. Just us two!”

“Meaning?” HAL asked, a light snicker following. “You’re a smart person, Matthew. What can you discern from that information?” The intercom clicked off, HAL leaving us even more questions to answer.

“Someone else… someone else saw the body before us?” Flatts asked, looking to me for the answers I didn’t have.

“But who?” I asked myself. ''Could it have been one of the people leaving the diner last? Perhaps just seeing Jeffrey’s shoe in the doorway was enough to “spot” the body.''

“Alright, time to get to the bottom of this,” Flatt said as they flipped through the pages in their copy of the 9000 File, to the impression made by the bloody footprint. “The rest of you didn’t notice this earlier, but Matt and I saw this pool of blood in the hallway with the impression of a footprint in it. When I got the chance, I took one of these sheets of paper to it and made a copy.” Flatts coughed as they looked towards their prime suspect. “Mindy… while you answered where you were all day, you never answered the damning question of why your necklace was in the hallway. I’m sorry, but I demand to see your shoes.”

Mindy’s eyes widened in fear, but nevertheless stepped out of her shoes and placed them on top of her podium. “They’re… flats?” Flatts asked upon observing them and making a note of their undersides. “They’re plain. Just, no design at all. The copy here has deep ridges and lines... So you didn’t step in his blood.”

“I… I told you. I stayed in my room all day.” Mindy whimpered, dropping her shoes on the floor and putting them back on. “I-I have no idea how my necklace got there.”

“Swing and a miss,” Rae laughed at Flatts’ failure. “You know, just because someone didn’t step in some blood doesn’t prove their innocent. Could have been any poor sap walking down the hallway. Hell, could have been Jeffrey himself, the killer fumbling with his body while trying to dispose of him.”

“Could the necklace have been the item the traitor stole from Mindy, as part of the motive?” Cynthia asked as she nervously leafed through pages of her own beloved item, a novel by P.N. Flatts.

“Shouldn’t it be on her podium?” Amy asked, lifting the necklace into view of the crowd. “I’ve had it ever since I found it.”

Mindy lifted up her actual item, a heavily worn pocket bible with a dark red leather cover. “My bible was stolen by the traitor and HAL. I… uh…” Mindy trailed off, lost in thought.

“Hold on a second, Mindy.” Her pausing so suddenly reminded me of something she said earlier. “You said you were in your room all day, praying and reading your bible. If your bible was stolen, that would have been impossible.”

“I… I… I d-didn’t…” Mindy struggled to regain her composure. The glaring hole in her defense was blown wide open and she was lost on what to do.

“Jesus Christ, Mindy,” Rae laughed to themself. “I’ve just been fucking around with you this whole time, I didn’t want you to have a nervous breakdown.”

“What are you talking about?” Flatts asked the Ultimate Stage Actor. Rae’s smirk quickly erased itself as they also grew a blank stare. Again, the whole room’s attention shifted to the actor. Flatts repeated the question.

Rae finally put on a smile again. “Heheh. Alright, fine. I stole Mindy’s necklace last night. Thought it would look nice with my collection of jewelry… that’s the whole reason I was trying to play up to her in the first place. I just wanted her necklace. Heh. Thought it was funny that the first motive also had to do with stolen items, kinda considered it a happy coincidence.” Rae exhaled and shrugged. “But yeah, my dumb ass dropped it in the hall earlier on the way from the diner to my room. Must’ve dropped it when I talked to Jeffrey on the way there. Didn’t notice until Amy picked it up, and by then, it was too late to reclaim it. Oops!”

Others started asking questions among themselves. Mindy herself looked dreadful, in shock with what was happening around her. “W-what?” I asked Rae, confused by the statement. “I could have sworn I saw Mindy wearing it this morning...”

“Yeah alright, Matt,” Rae mocked my objection, laughing again. “You found out your stupid hat was missing and ran off immediately. Then all that shit happened with you and Avery getting electrocuted. Did you even say two words to Mindy this morning?”

“I… I guess not.”

“We’re getting off track!” Flatts yelled. “You saw Jeffrey last, and you had Mindy’s necklace on you! You’re definitely the killer!” The others rallied and agreed with Flatts.

“What?!” Rae yelled out in surprise, “N-no, no… I’ve been trying to stay away from you crazy fucks this whole time. The last thing I wanted to do was get involved with this shit.”

“What did you say this morning, love?” Cynthia asked the actor. “Oh, right. ‘I can’t wait to see which one of you dies first.’”

Jamahl pounded the top of his podium. “They found Jeffrey in the hall and killed him right then and there! Hell, they probably planted the necklace to pin it on Mindy!”

“I didn’t!” Rae roared, pointing at the officer accusing them. The swift motion opened their sleeve, releasing a knife towards him and lodging into his podium, narrowly missing him. “...Shit.”

“What the fuck?!” several people yelled out in shock of the accidental attack. “You had a knife up your sleeve this whole time?!” Axel concluded. “And that’s a kitchen knife, just like the one used to stab Jeffrey. You took those from the diner this morning, didn’t you? And you used one to cover up the murder!”

“That’s… that’s just all a coincidence,” Rae pressured. “I thought the knife looked pretty so I took it!” Frantically, they stepped out of their shoes, picked them up, and threw them at Flatts. “Compare them yourself! My shoes won’t match the bloody footprint either!”

Flatts dodged the shoes with ease before chuckling and calmly responding. “Even so… it’s just like you said, Rae. Maybe it was just the killer fumbling with Jeffrey’s dead body, limply stepping on his own blood before being disposed of in the storage room. That’s what happened, wasn’t it?”

“...No… I didn’t…” Rae had a hard time catching their breath.

“Okay, okay. Let’s all calm down for a second before we reach a verdict.” I tried to diffuse the situation as best as I could, but with the developments it felt like the others desperately wanted Rae’s punishment. Something still didn’t sound right and I felt like we had to get to the bottom of it. “Let’s rewind and go over this all again. Rae stole Mindy’s necklace last night, and this morning when they left they waited for someone to come out, someone they could isolate and kill. That person happened to be Jeffrey, who Rae attacked in the hallway. Jeffrey, an asthmatic, would have been easily strangled to death. To cover up their method of killing him, they wrapped his lanyard around his throat. Using one of the kitchen knives they stole from the diner, they stabbed him to further cover up the true manner of the crime.” Rae turned their head away from me, looking down in the shame of guilt. “To make it look like a true aggravated assault that happened in the heat of the moment, Rae viciously stabbed Jeffrey eleven times in the chest. This created a spew of blood on the floor, and Jeffrey’s own lifeless body stepped in it, leaving a footprint. Rae ditched Jeffrey in the nearby storage closet and decided to plant some fake evidence to throw suspicion onto someone else; Mindy, with Mindy’s own iconic necklace left at the scene of the crime. Isn’t that right, Rae?”

“...Fuck it,” Rae sniffed. “What’s the point in denying it anymore? You’re just gonna keep saying the same shit no matter how much I say I didn’t. God damn it. Yeah. Alright? You got me. All you said was true.”

“Everything?” my voice cracked, surprised that I was able to deduce it perfectly.

“Yeah! No need to rub it in, asshole!”

“You stabbed Jeffrey eleven times to cover it up?” I asked again to clarify that was their official statement.

Rae was fuming from my badgering and was more than ready to serve their penance. “Yes! You got me, can we just get on with the vote now?!”

“Actually, Rae… Jeffrey was stabbed seven times,” Dr. Cooper corrected, looking at his notes from earlier. “Excellent job, Matthew.”

“Haha,” I chuckled. “Knew something was up. You’re a liar, Rae.”

“Well… heh. Can’t believe I fell for that shit.” Rae’s demeanor changed from unhinged to perfectly calm once again. “You got me good there, Matt.”

“What the hell?!” Axel yelled. “You stole a knife from the diner just to make you look suspicious?”

Flatts threw their hands up in frustration. “Why the fuck would you lie about murdering someone?”

“It would have been perfect, wouldn’t it?” Rae asked. “HAL said when this all started, if you all vote for the wrong person as guilty, they get to survive and leave the school while everyone else dies for getting it wrong.”

Neo looked perplexed. “Uh, pretty sure he said that only the actual killer gets freed, right?”

“Oh, really? Huh.” Rae shrugged. In response, many of us groaned to their haphazard behavior.

“I can’t believe this bitch almost got us all killed!” Jamahl yelled, pounding his podium again.

Mindy shot a glare at the officer, seemingly annoyed with something he said. “Jamahl…” her voice cracked.

“Hey, what’s going on with you two?” Vi asked. She walked here with Mindy and obviously showed concern with her. Is there something they haven't said yet?

Jamahl shared a look at Mindy and sighed. “Damn it,” he scratched his head. “I apologize, everyone. It was me... I killed Jeffrey.”

All of us gasped but before we can ask for clarification, Mindy screamed, “But it wasn’t his fault! He was protecting me!”

Jamahl pulled Rae’s knife out of his podium and threw it to the ground behind him, out of the way of the others. He kept his head hung low, not holding eye contact with any of us. “I left the diner at six thirty, to go to my room. Walking through the lobby of the hotel, I heard someone scream. Running over, I found them. Her and Jeff, at the storage closet.”

“I was praying… just not in my room and not with my bible.” Mindy clutched the holy book in her hands, tightly against her chest. “I was praying in the closet; I was treating it like a confessional. Somewhere isolated from the rest of you guys, somewhere I figured no one would bother me… I left finally, and he was there, just smiling at me. I asked what he was doing and he pulled the knife out of his sleeve and lunged at me.”

“Jeffrey… he was trying to kill you?” I was shocked. The victim was the villain the whole time, the one who started this godforsaken killing game.

Axel put his face in his hands. “The knife. He must’ve taken it while we were all focused on Avery at the diner. He even said he’d “take it easy” the rest of the day to make him look completely innocent.”

“Good lord,” Jason rubbed his eyes, “Jeffrey had a small cut on his forearm. He must have punctured his own skin when concealing the weapon.”

Jamahl nodded. “I reckon he’d been desperate for his inhaler and couldn’t wait for someone else to move things along. Maybe he saw himself as an easy target, so he took it into his own hands. He targeted someone like Mindy, a girl who couldn’t defend herself, completely ready to kill her. She tried to run from him and that’s when he grabbed her necklace, snapping it off and falling to the ground. She screamed and I came running as fast I could. The way I grabbed him, I… I just choked him. I forgot he couldn’t breathe right… and to be honest, I can’t really say I’m sorry I killed him. I saved an innocent person because of that.”

“I guess I was one of the three that saw the dead body, so that HAL can make the announcement...” Mindy concluded. “Jamahl told me to just get out of there, that he’d take care of it…”

“Yeah. I didn’t know what else to do. My instinct was to come clean, but I figured it’d count as a murder and HAL would have me killed. That’s why I hid it this long.”

“So that’s why you were protecting the scene of the crime so much,” Flatts concluded. “You didn’t want anyone getting too close and finding something you may have left behind.”

“Yeah… I actually convinced myself I could get away with it. But right there, with Rae’s flimsy attitude towards life and death… I can’t save one life and just damn the rest of you for it. So yeah. It was me.”

“That’s one thing I wasn’t lying about, actually,” Rae added. “I did talk to Jeffrey. He was just kind of lingering in the halls for a while. Not too far away from the storage closet, where Mindy must have been. Come to think of it, the way he was acting was pretty suspicious.”

“As for the footprint,” Jamahl stepped out of his boot, passing it to Flatts. “It wasn’t Jeffrey’s after all.”

Flatts sighed. “It’s a match… there’s even a faint bloodstain still in the grit. God… now I feel bad for trying so hard to find who did it.”

“Don’t be, mate. Not your fault.” Jamahl smiled.

The intercom started again. “Ah, I see there have been some confessions made,” HAL noted. “Is everyone ready to vote for who is guilty?”

“W-wait!” Mindy screamed. “He did it to help me!”

“A murder is a murder. Accidental or self-defense, someone snuffed out the life of another. It is voting time. Under each of your podiums is a sheet of paper and a pencil. Write the name of your suspect on the paper.”

I found the sheet and pencil and laid it out on top of my podium. ''This feels like torture… Jamahl was doing a good thing and we’re punishing him for it? I can’t do this to him.''

After everyone had finished writing, HAL began to tally the votes. “Of fifteen votes, we have thirteen for Jamahl. The others, votes for the victim himself. How cute. Be careful playing with life and death, you two. Mindy, Matthew. Even Jamahl owned up to his crime.”

“It isn’t right,” I gritted my teeth in disgust with the mastermind’s rationale. “Jeffrey was the guilty one here. Do you expect Jamahl to just stand by and let someone die?!”

“Morality is not my place to judge. Just mortality. And speaking of which… it is punishment time.”

GAME OVER:

JAMAHL MAJELLAN HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY

''From nowhere, a massive shackle attached to a chain flew out and coiled itself around the officer’s neck tightly, eliciting a choked gasp from him, as he instinctively gripped it and attempted to pry it off. This proved fruitless however, as the binds were far too strong and tight for him to break. Then, the chains started retracting from where they came from, dragging Jamahl harshly on the ground the whole entire way, a few of us rushed out attempting to help, but the speed at which he was being ripped away from us was far faster than any of us present. Suddenly, he disappeared from our sight, and all that was left from the hall he was dragged down was a white void. The doors to which slammed shut, and our attention turned towards the screen HAL had been present on, as it flickered to light with something that was not himself.''

''To our bewilderment, the screen showed a seemingly run down metropolitan city. Vandalized buildings, broken windows, and trash littered everywhere, it was clear that it was not exactly a place that was well taken care of by the community or law. Standing there was Jamahl, who seemed to have no idea where he was or how he got there. Then suddenly, he was bashed over the head by what appeared to be a nightstick similar to the ones an average cop would use.''

POLICE BRUTALITY!

Ultimate Sheriff Jamahl Majellan's Execution: Executed

''When Jamahl awoke, he found himself in the same area, on his knees. He attempted to stand up, but couldn't for reasons unknown to him. Try as he might, he could not force himself on his feet, feeling a pulling at his wrists whenever he would do so. He looked down to his sides to figure this out, and then his answer came to him. Both of his hands were handcuffed, with a different set on each wrist, the other cuff was linked to the back of a police car similar to the ones he himself drove. There were no keys in sight for Jamahl to escape from this predicament.''

''Then he noticed a bright red flash from both cars, and in them he could see what looked to be red eyes similar to HAL's. Before he could question what this meant he then heard the sounds of engines running, ones he was all too familiar with. He looked at the cars and indeed both were started, and ready to go. Immediately he understood what was about to happen. Rather than scream out or beg he proceeded to close his eyes, accepting his fate, though still he sweat hard, perhaps internally panicking. The wheels began turning on the cars, and he could tell they were going to start moving them soon.''

What followed after that was a scene I don't think any of us were ever prepared for, nor was it something we, or anybody for that matter, should ever have to witness.

''We stood there, horrified as we watched our friend be torn in two as the two cars took off. At the speed they went, the poor man hadn't the time to let out a scream or any sort of noise, and a pool-full of blood exploded from the two halves alongside a mass of innards and bones.''

''I wanted desperately to look away, and I got the feeling everyone there did. But somehow for some reason, we kept watching, beside ourselves with terror, Mindy even screaming at the fate of the one who protected her. No matter how much we wanted to look away, we couldn't. It was as if something was forcing us to focus on the screen.''

There were only two things that remained in tact from what was once Officer Majellan: his hat, and his badge, both of which found their way into a mud puddle that was on the street where he once stood.

''And as if that wasn't had enough, we soon heard distant engines. The two cars came speeding back, but in reverse, dangling both halves of the bisected Jamahl with them. As if mocking him, the two cars rammed into each other at full speeds, crushing what was left of the one known as the Ultimate Sheriff.''

The screen zoomed out from that horrible sight and it was finally over.

''I looked to everyone, and all their faces had the exact same look of shocked horror that I'm sure that I had. Even the likes of Asier and Rae, two of the most standoffish and negative people I had met couldn't bring themselves to say anything or have any expression beyond that of a terrified grimace and a face filled with fear, and what seemed to be sorrow.''

''In all my years of living I had never felt anything even close to what I and everyone else was feeling. This feeling of complete horror, dread and melancholy.''

''Was this... true despair?''

That was the only thing on my mind as the scene of where Jamahl Majellan's last breaths were faded away, replaced by the haunting red eye I had come to loathe.

Matthew Wonder - The Ultimate Electrician.

Asier Cassidy McKass - The Ultimate White Nationalist.

Neo Greene - The Ultimate Fanatic.

Jamahl Majellan - The UltiMate Sheriff.

Axel Wachow - The Ultimate Wrestler.

Rae F. Day - The Ultimate Stage Actor.

Amy Mitten - The Ultimate Vlogger.

Jeffrey Newton - The Ultimate Historian.

Cynthia Page - The Ultimate Librarian.

Jake Stuart - The Ultimate Television Host.

P.N. Flatts - The Ultimate Horror Novelist.

Vi Clementine - The Ultimate Voice Actress.

Mindy Milton - The Ultimate Christian Missionary.

Jason Cooper, M.D. - The Ultimate Doctor.

Erik Blut Von Drachen - The Ultimate Conspiracy Theorist.

Avery Maven the Thirteenth - The Ultimate Cult Leader.

Written by: Amy and Rae.