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I hate your font.

Sammy was sleeping soundly after an exhaustive night of tiptoeing around people, trying not to piss them off and develop good relations. It had taken her a while to settle her nerves down after all the excitement and adrenaline of rushing to save Jensen. Finally, she was almost into REM sleep, when suddenly, she thought she heard someone pounding at the door. With a sound that loud, and knowing there was someone freezing their butts off in the snow, she groaned and forced her eyes open. It sucks being the only responsible one around here.... Sammy thought to herself as she slowly sat up, her eyes barely open swinging her legs over the side to stand. She sighed as she debated putting on a jacket before deciding not to out of laziness and compensating with socks. Trying her best to be silent, she padded down the stairs and to the door, noticing that the knocking had stopped. False alarm? Arrrrgh......damn snow....well...better safe than sorry. Sammy thought as a scenario of a death in the snow being her fault because she was too lazy to answer the door. What if it's an axe murderer? We are in a cabin...lodge...thing. Don't these things happen? No, just in movies. Which are fake. Answer the door, before they get hypothermia. She steeled herself for the cold and opened the door a crack, immediately regretting that she did not being the jacket. "Oh, you've got to be...who the heck leaves a child unattended here anyway?!" Sammy took a breath before opening the door wide and catching the poor girl before throwing her as gently as she could possibly do onto the floor to close the gate of the ice storm outside. Already she was freezing, but she felt worse for the girl was must have been out there for a great deal of time. If only I had more knowledge...I could help more. The only thing Sammy could do for the girl was bring the blanket from her own bed and give it to the girl. Man, I sure hope she's okay. Such a young life wasted.

 

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❝To be or not to be—I wish that were really a choice.❞​

It was cold but that was only one of the reasons that Jessica woke up at night. She was getting a bad feeling about something. She was not sure what that something was, but it was a strong enough feeling to wake her up. Jake was still asleep beside her and his warmth was giving her comfort. Even so, her eyes stared out blankly at the white ceiling above her, arms folded against her stomach. Part of her wanted to reach out and wake his sleeping form, but the other part knew he needed his rest. Her cheeks burned again, toes curling and brushing against his own before she pulled herself up, deciding finally to go and get something to drink. It was morning now, and she was half asleep, but she forced herself out of the comfortable, but tangled sheets around her and ran a finger through her dark hair, a short yawn leaving her before she pulled herself up.

Going immediately to the corner of the room, she picked up her blouse, one of them many scattered clothing items across the plush carpet. She groaned, a hand running through her hair again as she collected the rest of them, slipping back into her clothes from yesterday, not possessing nearly enough patience at that moment to dress in any of the things she had brought. She looked down at Jake’s sleeping figure for a second more, sighing after and making her way to the front door. She headed downstairs and towards the lobby.

She had been right about nearly everyone being cleared out. The place was virtually empty. It made it easier to tell just how big it was, and how many people had been there earlier to fill it out. But there was something eerie about it. It was too empty. There were no working; no one had cleaned up the mess. Maybe the staff had gotten that time off? But it still didn’t make much sense to her. Roaming the halls in search of a vending machine, or the cafeteria, Jessica began to feel more and more out of balance. Something was weird about this all. The quiet. There was a weight to it.

Jessica groaned again, eyes fixed on the windows. The snow had piled up high. It would definitely be a while before they could hitch a ride back home, but that was beside the point. In her sleepiness, she was completely missing the sticky cold feeling at her toes. She paused, staring up at the ceiling first, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“What the hell?†She shifted; eyes locked on the pool of a red something, probably wine, and sticking to her toes; slipping through the cracks, the tiles of the main lobby being at a slight arch. That was when she realized that it wasn’t wine, it couldn’t have been wine. Which was when her chin lifted, and her irises adjusted to the sight before her.
Angela. Sprawled out on the floor, a chef’s knife lodged into her heart, eyes staring blankly at the ceiling before her, party dress soaked with blood and lips parted. Beside her there was a note. ‘Ready or Not, Here I Come.’

It took her a moment take it in, arms slack at her side and eyebrows pushed together in confusion. In her shock, her heart hadn’t failed to start pounding in her chest, sending adrenaline rushing through her veins, boiling at her trembling fingertips. She couldn’t believe it, she couldn’t process it. Her eyes just kept staring, her toes just kept curling, and her stomach just kept flipping, until finally her voice ripped through the silence — an ear piercing, primal, impulsive shriek leaving her.




​

 

​

In other words, it is to starve.

Starve while demanding the fair, and die.​

Erika awoke with a start, the rosy fingers of dawn barely shining through the glass windows of the entrance hall. The first thing she heard was an ear-splitting scream coming from the main area of the mansion. At a guess, she'd say the lobby was the source of the noise, judging from the construction of the building. She noticed that she was still in her soaking wet clothes, but someone had been kind enough to throw a blanket around her. She made a mental note to retrieve suitable attire from somewhere, but for the time being, more pressing matters were at hand. She threw the sopping blanket off of her and set off at a run in her snow gear towards the scene of the crime.

Erika knew it was the scene of a murder that she was running towards. She knew, because she was the detective, and everywhere a detective goes, a crime must follow. So it must have been a crime, she reasoned. Once there, she would introduce herself to the poor suspects who had the misfortune of being host to her and the misfortune that followed every detective. She felt her large boots slam against the marble floor with every step, her body aching from her rest. The melted snow seeped into her skin, chilling her to the bone. But unlike last night, where she was helpless against the elements, this time she had the advantage: under her skin, the fire of the challenge of a mystery, the soul of a detective, was kindled, heating her blood and driving out any cold. All other senses were lost. All she knew was the mystery.

Erika entered the hall to see a slightly older girl half-dressed in a blouse standing immobile. More importantly, in front of her was the corpse. The corpse was that of a girl slightly younger than the living one, and was wearing a fancy dress. There was a large chef's knife sticking into the girl's chest, approximately where the heart should be. Beside the dead girl was a piece of paper with a simple message: 'Ready or not, here I come', scrawled on it. Erika's mouth twisted into a grotesque grin, her elation at the presence of the crime unable to hide itself any longer. Cogs turned, and her brain kicked into overdrive, her little grey cells processing furiously.

The girl was in a party dress, unlike the other girl. The party occurred last night, due to the signs she saw outside. The living girl had since changed out of her party dress. The dead one was still wearing hers, suggesting that the time of murder was before she got changed or went to sleep.

The dead girl most likely did not have a significant other present, as he (or she, Erika noted dryly) would notice her absence, especially before bed at a party.

Her face and extremities were left intact. The only signs of death were the knife in her chest and blood over the floor. Erika did not entirely rule out the possibility that it was simply an extremely sour prank, and resolved to perform a field autopsy as soon as she got a chance.

A cooking knife was used, implying the killer was either opportunistic, grabbing the weapon from the lodge kitchen and using it on the spur of the moment, or premeditated by someone with little access to proper weaponry, as to smuggle such a mundane knife in when so many other, more fatal options were available would be foolish.

The last thing that Erika noticed was the note. Simply placing it was a risk, due to fingerprints and the like, so there must have been a good reason to place it, she determined. Furthermore, the note only gave one piece of information, but that information was crucial. The culprit plans on killing everyone at the lodge. He's both announced this in words, and by leaving such an obvious hint for us. This gave Erika reason to suspect that the crime was premeditated, as opposed to opportunistic. Despite the fact that the note had a purpose, Erika ruled out a plotline murder, instead opting for a far simpler meaning: The note's job was to inspire the survivors with the fear of death. The motive for such a scenario was easy to construct: Some lover got jilted, and enraged, set out for revenge against the rest of his or her partner and friends. Or it was some suicidal introvert. Yes, that was the sort of scenario she would stick with for the time being.

Even so, she had to acknowledge another possibility. The note told them "I am planning to kill more of you". Such a note would force the lodgers to behave in a restricted manner, to protect themselves, while giving the impression that the girl's death was not an act of revenge against her specifically. It's possible that the killer only wanted to murder her, and then left the note to prevent everyone else from snooping around. It all depended on how much intelligence Erika credited the culprit with. Considering the setting, a teenage party loaded with drugs, hormones and overflowing emotions, she very much doubted that the culprit's intellect was anywhere near equal to her own.

Finally snapping back to reality, although it had only been a few seconds, Erika curtsied in her hiking outfit, and cordially introduced herself to Jessica. "Hello, my name is Erika Furudo. I was separated from my group in the snowstorm, and was given shelter in this house. But that is neither here nor there, for we have a significantly more pressing issue at hand: specifically, the problem of the culprit who killed this young girl. The good news is, I'm a detective. I solve problems like this for fun."

Pleased with her approach, Erika launched into her interrogation of the girl.

"What is the desceased's name?

"How old was she?

"Who was her significant other?

"What was her relationship with other suspects?

"Did anyone hold a grudge against her?

"What are the personal details of all people currently staying in this lodge?

"Where are the kitchens located?"

and finally...

"Do you have any duct tape?"


The detective has started her investigations. Now none are safe from her all seeing eyes, all hearing ears, and penetrating questions. She will undoubtedly solve the riddle of this tale.

 

​

o A terrible sight,
We're scared tonight.
Dying in a winter wonderland...

His body lurched up to fast as the scream shook his eardrum. A groan escaped his lips as all feelings of goodness left him. His head was being held by his hand as his body adjusted to the new position he was in. Slowly he rose up to his feet. Shivering as his blood flow returned to it's normal pumping and whatnot. His eyes quickly glanced about for the most important thing too him. She wasn't here. His eyes frowned as he quickly covered his nakedness with pants and shoes. Once that was done, he was out the door and down the stairs. Oblivious to the source of the scream and the eerie atmosphere that had settled upon the lodge. His voice shouted out for her. Until the scream began to take on a familiarity. Jake had never heard Jessica's voice reach that pitch. Ever. His legs propelled him even further as he feared the worse, fear becoming a power that got him too her in seconds, his arms wrapped warmly around her shoulders.

"What's wrong?! Are you okay?!" His circled her until her face was in his upper chest and neck. It was while he was holding her that he noted two things. One. There was another presence with them. And two. There was a substance on the floor, that didn't look quite right. "Jess? What's going on here?" It was all he wanted too know as he turned to confront of the person before him. But that turn allowed him to see the body of Angela. It was all he could do not to scream.

 

The scream reverberated through Sammy's eardrums jolting her awake again as she was about to enter REM sleep. A gasp came out of her as her eyes quickly scanned the room for the source of that piercing sound. Sammy noticed that she had been sleeping against the wall with her head laying on a nearby table. She didn't go back to her bed after attending to that girl apparently. However, she realized that sleeping against a wall was the worst way to sleep as she was very stiff and had a hard time standing up. Ack...my back...god, that scream's like a siren... Shortly after standing up, she caught sight of the blur of a person hurrying down the stairs to the site of the screaming that had ceased thankfully. Then after stretching Sammy casually followed where the person went. Upon entering the cafeteria she exclaimed grumpily,"What's with the screaming so early in the morning?! What, do you think we're in some kind of cheap, cliched horror-" It was then that Sammy saw the body and meekly finished her sentence, her once drowsy drooping eyes going wide with terror and shock,"-movie..."

 

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❝To be or not to be—I wish that were really a choice.❞​

The warmth of her boyfriend provided her with little comfort. Her mind was racing and her heart was pounding, the contact with her eyes made towards Angela’s body cut off due to Jake standing in front of her. It was hard to breathe, she noticed. Her chest felt so tight, and her heart felt so constricted that she thought she might pass out. She resisted, but only focusing on ceasing the trembling of her body against Jake’s warmer one. There were others there. She barely recognized them, if she recognized them at all, and she was too busy taking in what the smaller girl was asking her to focus in on their appearances or their voices.

“I…” It was the only thing she could really whimper out, though her head was racing with other forms of choppy utterance and exclamations. She took a deep breath, clutching to Jake’s shirt oblivious to how hard before pulling her head back from the fabric in an attempt to clear her mind. “Her name was Angela…She was s-seventeen, I think? Maybe eighteen…Nobody liked her.”

It sounded awful to say, especially I such a wavering and quiet voice. But blunt honesty seemed to be all she knew right now. The rest of the questions were blurring together into an overall oblivion, the answers either failing her or seeming utterly irrelevant. Why would she have duct tape? How would she know where the kitchens were? Though she was sure they could easily find it with some snooping around.

This reminded her once again that Angela had been stabbed. That she had been murdered. That there was no one else there. That it was in the middle of a snow storm, and she was alone. They were alone.




​

 

​

In other words, it is to starve.

Starve while demanding the fair, and die.​

Erika clicked her tongue at the lack of answers. Clearly this was going to be difficult. Why did people have to be so insecure? Show them one corpse and the next thing you know, they're curled up in a corner, sobbing. They didn't even like the victim, so it wasn't as though they mourned her death. Normal people were so sensitive! She suspected that their shock was a result of them having to suddenly re-evaluate their mortality. After all, a direct threat had been made on their lives. She'd have to question them later, when they weren't so inactive.

Erika looked at them, taking in the situation, analysing their characters. There were three so far, four if you counted Angela. One was a petite Asian, while the other two were clearly a couple. The girl, Erika picked up, was called Jessica, but the boy was unknown. He appeared to be focusing on Jessica. After a moment of thought, Erika understood everything, and how she could use it to her advantage. The Asian seemed easily irritable, but as she seemed to have shut up, Erika decided to put her off until later. She decided that the boy would be unlikely to follow her orders, or respect her authority. Guys always had to try to play the hero in this sort of situation, and that would impede her progress. Fortunately, he had a girlfriend (or possibly a sister, Erika noted). Either way, he'd follow her wishes, and prioritise her safety. With that deduction, Erika chose her target.

Talking to Jessica, but addressing everyone, she said, "Everyone, please listen. I understand that this must be a huge shock to you, but standing here won't help us now. As cruel as it sounds, we cannot revive the dead. So I ask that you shift your focus from Angela, this unloved child, and instead engage your little grey cells in the task of your own survival. There will be plenty of time to mourn her later. For now, we need to take action."

So saying, Erika moved towards Angela's corpse and nudged it with her foot, being careful not to get blood on her clothes. "Angela, if this is a practical joke, I recommend you stop right now. Continuing to play such charades will prove to be detrimental to your well being." She bent down to the unmoving body, and stared into the eyes, her fingers nimbly dancing over the knife in its torso, never making contact, a mocking smile twitching at the corners of her mouth. "If you are, in fact, dead, I do apologise for what I'm about to do. But you see, I must be certain, for the safety of all involved." She reached into the pocket of her coat, and removed a serrated hunting knife used in her hiking expeditions. She looked lovingly at it, then, licking her lips, adjusted the grip on the knife, placed the point on the jugular vein, and pushed down, sinking the knife deep into the corpse. She nodded contentedly, as she noted no change in Angela's expression. Even so, she pulled the knife out, and carefully examined it, holding it delicately on the point and the handle with a finger on each hand. After looking at the blood for a long moment, she stood up, satisfied that there was fresh blood on the blade, and that Angela's death was genuine.

Again nudging the corpse, which was now dripping its last drops of blood from its neck, she smirked, saying, "It appears you were really dead all along. But I had to confirm it myself. Be grateful, for your name has been cleared by the great Erika Furudo. Any crime that occurs from this point on cannot be your fault. By being dead, you are exonerated."

Talking again to Jessica, Erika calmly told her, "Ideally I'd want to seal this room for the police, but seeing as this is the lobby, that's hardly practical. Instead, let us drape a sheet over the deceased, and inform the others of what has happened here. They don't need to see this sight? After that, we should gather tools imperative to our survival. The most pressing of these are duct tape and a pen, although strong rope may also prove to be useful."

Casting a mindful glance at Jessica, and well aware of her own state, she added, "This will also give us an opportunity to get more suitable clothes."

Clapping her hands to break the spell of terror upon everyone, she said cheerily,

"Quickly now, let's get to work. Every moment we spend standing around is a moment the killer could be using to slit the throats of our dear friends, so we best check on them quickly. But don't split up! The loner being picked off is too much like B-grade horror for my liking."

Erika lifted the cover from one of the sofas in the lobby and draped it over Angela's corpse. She then smiled at the group, and gestured towards the door, compelling them to follow her lead.

 

Alex quickly awoke from the ear piercing shriek. He quickly jolted out of bed and ran down the hallway, still in his boxers and T-shirt. He finally made his way to the lobby to see a few people there. They all looked mortified, except for one. Alex looked around the room to see what was wrong. No furniture fell down, nobody seemed hurt physically, everything seemed normal. Then he started to see the group follow the very serious one. "Hey guys," Alex said. "Wait!" He ran to them and he heard his feet make a squish! sound. He quickly lifted his barefeet to see blood dripping from it. Alex stared in disbelief and screamed. On the floor holding his foot, he stared at the group who glared at him and gulped.

OOC: Also, Jayn, are you still making the border things for the posts, like Pika's? If so, I'd like to make a request when the time is appropiate. Thanks~!

 

"BLIMPS FLOAT MY PLANE!" Yelled Jensen as his head shot up and eyes opened in response to a scream. "Ehh?" He groaned, sitting up. The scream that had woken him up was already out of his mind, replaced by a searing headache. He took his hand out of his pants and wiped the drool from his mouth. "Where the heeeellll?" Waiting for an answer to his pseudo-question, he stood up...and then fell right back down. "Mothersonofafuckingbitch," he groaned. Once again, he tried standing up. Second time was the charm. He looked around, it was dark. "Where the women at?" He asked himself, remembering he was at a party. The last few hours were a blur. He remembered snow, someone trying to steal a drink, and then getting enough liquid courage to look for Angela. She was annoying, but easy, so he heard. After that...well, here he was waking up in the hallway. He looked down and smiled. "Heyy, buddy," he picked up his best friend, the bottle of alcohol from earlier. The glass was still cold, even though the cap was gone. He let it spill some more as he picked it up. "Where'd you go? I missed you so," he started singing lightly, noticing the glass was less than half filled. "Seems like it's been forever since you've been home," he started humming the Fort Minor song as he walked. He took a swig of the alcohol as he entered the lobby, unsure of where he was going. He heard people talking and turned the corner, leaving the bottle on a desk. I'll get you later, pal, He thought to his "best friend" and continued walking. Eyebrow cocked, the half-drunk, half-hungover teen kept walked to the others, stopping next to the taller guy. He looked around, ignoring what was being said, and smiled the goofiest smile he could, nodding to each person. Then he looked down, noticed Angela and thought, On her back again? Damn, I should have known. He nudged Jake, ready to make a joke about Angela being like a turtle before he realized what was going on. He looked back at the body, stopped smiling, and muttered, "Dude."

 

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o A terrible sight,
We're scared tonight.
Dying in a winter wonderland...

Zombie like he held Jessica as they shuffled after the detective. It was like waking up all over again, as soon as that nudge came in contact with his body. Startled into clutching his lover again, his gaze was able to register their friend, Jensen. He started to open his mouth to say something, knowing something slanderous was going to come out of his mouth. But then Angela's slightly swaying corpse stopped him and instead he gave a grim and a knowing nod at Jensen's recognition.

((Brain Dead Fuzzy is Brain Dead.))

 

Sammy was immediately sickened by the act that the little girl did. She would've voiced her protest but she was still a little numb from seeing a dead body. Throughout the demonstration, Sammy looked away, disgusted by the blood and the fact that little miss detective had to prove that Angela was dead by making her bleed more. Checking for a pulse was too much of a hassle? When the girl was finally done, Sammy took note that she had a knife. And that she could probably take care of herself. Sammy also made a mental note to specifically not "baby" the girl as young as she is, since the girl had proved that she was probably smart and able. Though Sammy acknowledged the fact that this newcomer that she had recently rescued from a chilly death was most likely some kind of genius maybe, she still didn't like the way she spoke. As if she were some aristocratic little princess, schooled in Latin and many other languages, looking down on the rest of the populace. Sammy felt a little rebellious at the girl's suggestion and decided not to follow her. They had to do something with the body, but she sure as hell didn't want to touch it. At least not without some gloves. And some kind of cleaning solution. And maybe a hazmat suit for good measure. It was then that two other guys came down the stairs having been woken up by Jessica's screaming. Just like she had. American girls and their high pitched shrills...

 

❝Making friends is hard...but partying never hurt this much.❞​

Alex noticed that the group decided to continue on. However, he saw one stay behind. She looked quite familiar. Then he remembered that she was the one who was with the drunk girl and drunk boy outside. Speaking of him, he felt a rush of wind pass him as the boy from before came rushing from behind.

Alex decided to get up and wipe the blood that was on his foot on the floor, hoping it would come off. It sickened him as he saw the red smear on the white tile floor. He walked up to the girl from before and timidly said, ”H-hello.” He had never seen a dead body before and just the thought of one made him sick to his stomach. However, when he actually saw Angela on the floor, as dead and as cold as a killer's eyes, he couldn't even speak properly.

Then, making a referal to a killer, he looked around catiously. Finally, he came to the realization that somebody in this group is the murderer; he knew that the murder wouldn't stop killing until every single person is dead. And that included him.

 

Sammy nodded at the boy and said a quiet, toneless, "Hey." Poor guy. No one should have to see a dead body. Especially one that was as young as he was. Sure, he's only around 2-3 years younger, but that was still very young in Sammy's eyes. It appears that we've split into two groups. Sammy sighed exasperated as she reluctantly came to a grim conclusion. Ugh...if we continue to be separated we might be picked off one by one as she said. Urgh... "Hey, buddy. Let's go guys. We better catch up to them. Before something terrible happens," said Sammy, trying to sound cheerful. Normal. As if she didn't just see a dead body bleeding. Though as hard as she tried to forget about it, the image of Angela's soulless eyes haunted her mind. Geez, this really is turning into a bad horror movie.

 

❝Making friends is hard...but partying never hurt this much.❞​

Alex nodded. He stared at the body under the white cover. He couldn't believe this was happening. When he tried to look away, he couldn't. He was petrified and was scared to even move a muscle. "Y-yeah," he timidly said. "G-good idea." Alex paused. "W-what is your name?" He couldn't believe he asked that. After all that he and the girl had seen something terrible, and he had the nerve to ask such a pointless question like "What's your name?".

Alex shook away the thought. He continued to stare at the covered body. This all seemed like a bad dream... yeah, that was it. This was a dream and he was asleep right now. When he woke up the next morning, everything would be normal and he could go snowboarding. Maybe take a nice ride on the ski lift. Maybe even meet someone nice to talk with. Hoping his wish would come true, he closed his eyes and repeatedly thought, 'This is just a dream. This is just a dream.' Just to help himself wake up, he even gave himself a quick pinch.

Alex opened one eye very slowly. Everything was the same. He sighed and shed a few tears. It was all over for him. He knew that sooner or later that he would... well, pass on. As cliche and dramatic as it sounded, he knew that he couldn't stop the inevitable. Alex finally opened both eyes and looked at the girl again. Because he knew that he was eventually going to die, he decided to not waste the remainder of his teenage life sulking. "Let's go," he said with more confidence.

 

Sammy stared at the kid with unbelieving eyes. Why did he continuously stare at the sheet? Yeah, there's a body under there but there were more important things going on. She almost felt like smacking him on the head gently and forcibly leading him away. Answering the question he asked, she said, "Sammy." Seeing him start to cry, her heart began to ache a little. He shouldn't have seen that body. She should've stopped him. Thankfully, he recovered quickly. "Yes. Let's go," turning over to the other guy, the one she recognized as that drunk guy from last night, she asked, "Are you going to come along too?" Sammy didn't know her way around this place and was starting to worry that they won't be able to catch up to the rest of the group. She began to walk away from the scene of the crime trying to follow where the others went when she last saw them.

 

Not real. Not real. It's not ****ing real. I mean...it's just not real," Jensen kept mumbling to himself as he slapped his face with both hands constantly. He followed the others as he continued to try to convince himself that what he witnessed wasn't real. He was in a state between being drunk and being hungover. He hadn't yet recovered from smoking. That was it, he was tripping simple as that. He was tripping. But he knew he wasn't. "Jake, man...WHERE THE HELL ARE WE GOING?!" He suddenly yelled as he stopped in his footsteps. "IN CASE YOU GUYS HAVEN'T NOTICED," he began, ignoring his headache, "ANGELA, QUEEN ***** OF THE LAND, IS DEAD! Cops..ambulance...somebody, we gotta call somebody." He turned around and grabbed his head, groaning. "Oh man, what the hell happened?" He then noticed the tip in the middle of the sheet over Angela's body. It was the knife. He remembered what the girl had said, something about a killer. He had tuned her out due to his current state of mind and the shock he had went through, but now..."Oh ****...there's a killer here, isn't there?" He let out another groan before crouching over and vomiting. The taste of alcohol burned his throat as it came back up, distorted to revolting levels. I'm too young to die. This has to be a joke... He thought as the vomit stopped. He reached up and wiped his mouth before whispering, "I don't even know what my favorite scary movie is..."

 

​

In other words, it is to starve.

Starve while demanding the fair, and die.​

The detective patiently waited with the rest of the group, outside the doorway, as those inside shared a conversation. She frowned, but knew that leaving them behind at this point in time, when no duct tape had been aquired, would be foolish beyond belief. She was a detective, not a blonde horror movie bimbo, and she had no intention of becoming one. They would stick together until she could either assure the safety of a sub-group, or potentially sacrifice someone in exchange for more information. Set on her topic, she again asked Jessica, "By any chance do you have an idea of where household supplies such as duct tape would be located? It is imperative to our discovery of the culprit of this heinous crime." What Erika didn't add was that any attempts to prevent access to it would be regarded as circumstantial evidence for being the culprit. After all, Jessica seemed to be the most coherent one so far. It'd be poor work to offend her so early on in the story.

Feeling that she'd given them enough time, Erika tutted loudly from the doorway. "Please try to understand, this is a situation where there is a murderer walking around. As sad and shocking as Angela's death is, we must stay in a group. To split up at this point is to needlessly throw away lives. I must ask you to move with the rest of us, and not linger behind." Seeing that one of the teenagers was still clearly intoxicated, she re-entered the room and barely paying attention to the puddle of brown vomit, which was quickly turning a dark red from Angela's blood, gently took him by the arm. "Don't worry. You're going to be safe. After all, I'm here now. I'm the detective, the thin line separating this mystery from being a massacre. So long as you follow me, nothing will happen to you."

Subdued, the young man allowed himself to be led out the door in a daze. Erika noted that if she were to argue that the crime was an act of drunken stupidity, he'd be an ideal culprit. But deductions like that came much later. After all, it was only the opening act. For now she had to focus on gathering information and supplies. Erika noticed that the Asian girl had already joined the group. She turned back to the remaining person in the room: a young boy only a bit older than her. She smiled a refined smile at him and asked, "Are you coming? It'd be a shame for you to die here."

Erika then noticed a map imprinted on a panel on the wall, presumably to help guests navigate the lodge. She examined it for half a minute, then smirked. Such a simple diagram was easy for a girl with her intelligence to memorise. "I see. People, follow me. We will first examine all bedrooms for unawakened guests, then we'll move to the front desk in order to attempt to make a phone call to the outside." Of course, she knew that the phone call was completely pointless. Even if the phone lines were still up, which was unlikely, considering the conditions and the murderer, help would be unable to arrive until days later. Such is the nature of a closed circle, she thought to herself. Her real intentions were to raid the drawers for tools and records of who was staying in the lodge.

The group of people in tow, she set off at a brisk walk towards the second floor.

Hey, all these other people are boring. When can I solve the crime?

 

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❝To be or not to be—I wish that were really a choice.❞​

OOC: I'm going to start killing people off and throwing random plot twists in here soon. Be prepared.

She absorbed the words the strange was was saying, a look of uneasy stained on her face. She was still clutching tight to Jake, walking with him as they trailed along in the small group. Feeling the words piling up above her, she felt her face twist with all of the questions. Shut up. Slowly, the terror began to fade, her tight grip on Jake's clothing loosening. She realized she was still only partially dressed, and her feet were getting cold. She also noticed how eerily quiet everything was, besides them.

Without realizing it, she had drifted a few steps away from Jake, moving instead in front of him and closer to Erika. Her expression changed to a flat one, lips pressed into a tight thin line and a hand reaching up to her hair, shaking out the tangled. Her feet were sticky against the carpet, making for an uncomfortable trudge onward. Erika was asking for duct tape. Her brain registered an image of a roll, probably being the main counter—or maybe even in a storage room. But that was just simple deduction. She didn't bother mentioning this though, and replied with a thoughtless, “...I don't know.â€

Instead, her brain wrapped around the words, murderer. She looked around her, somewhere in the middle of their small group now, and her face examined everyone's. She couldn't imagine anyone here doing it. She scowled. The only thing suspicious was the detective herself. Her fingertips tingled. Finally, after thinking it through and figuring it wouldn't help the situation to be quiet about it, she muttered the thought about the storage room and counter.



​

 

Sammy gritted her teeth and frowned as she heard the young girl ask the boy if he wanted to die there. Of course she wasn't being that serious, but regardless, the boy had obviously just recovered from the idea of a killer lurking. He didn't need to be reminded of it again. She wanted to yell at her. Tell her to be kinder. More tactful. But her passive part did not allow her. So she simmered in her anger as it gradually cooled and left her more calm. She stayed a little towards the back to keep an eye out for the kid and the drunk boy from last night. Though Sammy may have looked calm or at least passive like Jessica, she was only dealing with the situation by believing that everything would be okay. Everything would turn out okay. A bad habit she picked up from someone. Though this belief kept her very calm, it didn't allow much room for panic. And sometimes panic was needed to get things done. The idea of a killer lurking behind closed doors and shadows was shoved to the far back of her mind. She didn't even let herself ponder about it. Angela had an accident. She committed suicide. Since she was lonely. And had no true friends. Yeah.

 

​

o A terrible sight,
We're scared tonight.
Dying in a winter wonderland...

So, there was a murder. Angela's. She was dead and wasn't coming back. The murderer not only killed her, but also left a message for the ones still a round. Then, all of a sudden. A detective comes mysteriously out of the snow, the day of the murder and after the party. "What. The. ****." Why were they still here? "Shouldn't there always be a nearby ranger lodge or something? Totally within walking or driving distance or something?" He looked at the familiar faces and realized his chest was heaving, just slight but still enough to say he was panicking. Once he had the realization though, he forced himself to calm down "Logic is clearly saying we're sitting ducks here. And it'd be safer with ARMED rangers, right, traveling as a group there in our snow gear should be alright?" Now he was talking more directly to the group. Calm level clarity in his voice, he hoped he was making sense to at least someone.