Murder Mystery

Chapter 5

Blake's POV:

Yesterday was the first round of this hellish game. A few hours after the 1st round, X showed us our dorms. He said we were allowed to spend most of our time in there, except for when we have the game obviously. Some of the players stayed in the dorms the second they were shown to us and haven't come out since. To be honest, I don't blame them, ever since we found out Carly lost a life, the lobby had very dark energy, it felt like it was feeding off of us, off of our despair. Regardless, Joseph, Carly, and Ana have been there since the game ended. I wanted to do the same, I wanted to try and be there for Carly, but the energy was too weird, so I left after around 2 hours. When everyone was still in the lobby, we had an idea to start trying to think of a plan, a way for all of us to survive. Joseph said we would try and think of a plan today, but nobody has tried to bring it up yet. I should probably do it.

-End of Blake POV-

"Guys, C'mon! We should think of something before the next round starts!" says Blake.

"You're right, I was planning to bring it up but I didn't know when. Should I get everyone out of their dorms?" says Joseph.

"Alright, I'll wait."

Joseph starts walking over to the dorm area, "Got it, see you in a bit."

Blake takes a seat on one of the couches in the lobby. The atmosphere feels better than it did yesterday which makes sitting in there actually tolerable. Blake sees Ana and Carly sitting on the floor of the lobby. Carly's regained a bit of her composure again while Ana is whispering something to her. I assume it's to help calm her down. Ana's been doing that since the round finished yesterday, I have no idea if those two have even gotten any sleep. The lobby becomes more full so we can make a plan. I count how many people there are to see if everyone's here yet. There are 5. The only people that aren't here yet are Joseph and Lexi.

"Can we get this started yet? Joseph was literally banging on my door for me to get out so we could think of a plan," says Chase.

"Yeah, I kinda just want to get this over with, I wanna go back to my dorm," says Rachel.

"We can't yet. Everyone needs to be here and Joseph and Lexi aren't here yet," responds Blake.

"Couldn't someone go get them? We need to start already and we don't know when X will make us start the game," says Ana.

"That's probably a good idea, I'll go and get them," says Blake. He walks out of the lobby into the room where the dorms are.

"Joseph! Lexi! Hurry up guys, we need to start thinking of a plan!" For a few seconds, there's no response.

"Guys..?"

"My bad Blake! Didn't hear you till now!" responds Joseph.

"Dude! You scared me! I thought something happened to you two!

"Calm down kid, it's fine. It's just that Lexi doesn't wanna come out of her dorm."

"What? Why? Does she know we're trying to think of a plan?"

"Yeah, she knows. I've told her multiple times but she just doesn't wanna come out."

Lexi blurts out something from her dorm, "I just told you why! I'm not good at thinking! I wouldn't be able to help."

"Lexi, you don't know that! Come out of there, I'm sure you'll be able to help us!" says Joseph.

"I've already told you no! I'm telling you, I can't think! I'm stupid! I've already had multiple people tell me that, I'm not having you do that too."

"Lexi, what on earth are you talking about? Who told you that you couldn't think?"

Lexi sighs, "People!"

"That's not very descriptive, Lexi. C'mon, tell us the truth," says Joseph.

"Everyone that I'm around. My social worker had one talk with me and thought that I was dumb. So did my caregivers, and the other kids at my orphanage. I could go on if you really wanna know."

Blake and Joseph share a look of shock and on their end, it's quiet for a bit.

Joseph starts whispering to Blake, "I don't know what to say back."

"I do, move," says Blake.

"Lexi? Lexi, can you hear me?" says Blake.

"Yeah, I can hear you."

"Lexi, I know how it feels to be judged because of a certain thing. People make fun of me and judge me for how blunt I am all the time, it's the reason why I only have 2 friends. But, you can't let people get to you, people are gonna judge you no matter what, so you might as well do something you enjoy while you get judged. You need to learn how not to take what people say to heart," says Blake.

"I know, I know, Blake. But it's so hard to not take it to heart," says Lexi.

"I know it is, I'm still trying even after years. It takes practice but you'll be able to get there sooner or later, ok?" says Blake.

"Alright."

"Can you please come out now? I promise that no one is gonna call you stupid," says Blake.

At first, it's silent on Lexi's end. Then, you can hear footsteps coming closer to the door. Once she opens the door, she gives Joseph and Blake a smile, "Thanks."

"It's no problem, let's hurry up now, we don't know when X is gonna start the round," says Blake.

As they all walk into the lobby, they sit down on the same couch.

"So, are we ready to get started?" says Chase.

"Yeah, of course. To get started, I was thinking, there's no possible way to fully ensure that we'll all survive, so I was thinking that the next most efficient way would be to hide for the whole round. This would go for everyone who has gotten the innocent role. There may not be a way to 100% ensure we will survive, but we will make it hard for the murderer," says Joseph.

"That's a great idea, Joseph! I think it'll definitely have less of us die!" says Rachel.

"Well, that's my goal, so let's hope it works," says Joseph.

"Wait, wouldn't we forget about this plan?" asks Chase.

"X said that we would forget what happened during the rounds, not anywhere else. I'm pretty sure if we forgot what happened here too, X would tell us," says Blake.

"Precisely right, Blake. Does anyone have something we could add to the plan?" says Joseph.

"I do. I was thinking that if the murderer and sheriff are battling each other, that we would still stay in our hiding spots. We don't know if the sheriff is someone who is good at shooting guns. If we go to see who is battling, the sheriff could shoot us instead of the murderer by mistake," says Ana.

"That's a good idea Ana, we'll add that to the plan. Does anyone else have an idea we could add?" says Joseph.

"Um... I think I have something but I'm not sure," says Lexi.

"That's great Lexi, what is it?" says Joseph.

"Um, so what I was thinking was that we could-"

"Hello players! It's X here! Sorry to cut Lexi off but the 2nd round is about to start! Get ready to be teleported in about 15 seconds!"

"Are you kidding me? You definitely planned to cut Lexi off, X!" says Carly.

"Lexi, we don't have time now, tell us your idea after the round, ok?" says Joseph.

"Ok..."

"This is such bullshit!" says Blake out of frustration.

"Calm down. You knew this was coming," mutters Rachel.

"TELEPORTING TO MANSION" says a robotic voice that fills the whole room.

As the robotic voice speaks, Chase could've sworn he saw Rachel smile. A malicious smile. The type of smile that sends a chill down your spine.

"What the hell..." he whispers to himself.