Chapter 9

Daphne was wrapped in a towel, her clothes currently being washed by her. She wasn't sure how Eli would convince the others to vote for someone other than one of them this time. After all, William had already admitted to being a Peasant, and last night, Daphne overheard Kiana telling Eli that she was a Peasant. If they did some calculations, then they would know that someone was lying. Assuming that 5 had a role, there would still be a Murderer, two Twins, and one Psychic or Guardian left. With five players remaining, four roles left, and two claiming to be Peasants, it wouldn't be hard to deduce there was a liar. After blow-drying her clothes, Daphne put them back on, still feeling 5's fingers on her shirt, begging her to spare his life. She buried her head under her pillows, trying to shake off the feeling of cold fingers and desperate voices.

The next morning, Daphne woke up to the now-familiar yell. She walked to his room where the remaining players were already gathered. 5 was stabbed in the neck, a pool of dried blood around him. On the wall beside him, words painted in blood read 'The witch is black, the witch is black'.

Eli was inspecting the message. "What do you think 'the witch is black' means? None of us have black skin or black eyes."

"But Sophia has black hair," William whispered.

"Hey, hey! It's not me!" Sophia protested. "Really!"

Kiana was bent over 5's body, and she saw something clutched in his hand. "Look!" Kiana pried a small, sparkling, rhinestone button from 5's clenched fist. "Whose is this?"

Eli took it from her fingers and held it up against Sophia's shirt, which matched the missing button she had. "It's Sophia's."

"Wait, wait, wait," Sophia held up her hands. "You don't get it. I'm innocent. Really! I lost that button a few days ago. I was framed!"

"Let's say you were framed," Eli crossed his arms. "What do you think 'the witch is black' means? 'Witch' refers to a girl, and out of the three girls left, you're the only one with black hair and the only one with black clothes."

"Just think about it, okay? I'm not a Murderer! And how do you know that 5 was really the Psychic?"

"There have been no previous messages, and if 5 wasn't the Psychic, that means that the Psychic is still alive, yet no one is coming forward."

"Just think about it more! It's not me!" Sophia yelled, even though no one believed her.

"So, are we all voting Sophia?" Kiana whispered when it was the discussion time.

"What? Why are you guys going to vote for me? I already told you it's not me!" Sophia protested.

"You have to admit, all the evidence points to you. It's all very suspicious," William pointed out.

Daphne kept quiet, not wanting to say anything. She knew that if she opened her mouth, she would definitely tell the truth. It was the last death, she promised herself. After that, the game would be over because there were two Civilians and two Murderers left. Everyone pointed at Sophia, except for Sophia herself, who randomly chose Kiana, during voting time. She felt sad. The redhead she hadn't even known had died on the first day and was replaced by Kim. Nero exploded, Kim got shot, and now nine other people were dead because of her.

[The voting time is up. Sophia had the most votes. She will now be eliminated.]

Sophia exploded, and they waited for the announcement of the game to be over.

[There are now two Civilians and two Murderers left. Because of this, the Murderers win. The remaining 4 may now proceed to the 4th floor.]

"Wait, what? What do they mean, 2 Murderers?" William burst out. "3 was a Murderer! There's no way for two Murderers to be left in the game!"

"We really fooled you, didn't we?" Eli's voice shocked Kiana and William out of their confusion. They turned towards him, where he had put an arm around Daphne.

"Daphne? You were a Murderer?" Kiana's voice sounded sad.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to die," Daphne whispered. "But I didn't want you to die either, so I tried to keep you alive. I'm sorry for lying."

"Wait. This still doesn't make sense," William held up his hand. "If you two are the Murderers, then how was 3 dead in Mia's room? He isn't allowed out of his room if he isn't a Murderer, and the Murderers can't kill more than one player a night!"

"I don't know either," Daphne admitted. "I was too scared to do any killing, so I would just follow Eli around and he'd do everything for me."

"Well, if you guys really want to know, I'll explain it to you," Eli sighed.

"The first night, after I stabbed Pamela in the shoulder, Daphne went back to her room. Once she was gone, I stabbed Pamela over and over, and once she was dead, I flipped over her table, smashed up her sharpener, and broker her pencil to make it seem like there was a big fight. It was then I saw the words 'girl and boy' appear on Pamela's notebook in blood. I figured that Pamela was the Psychic and made sure to dunk the notebook in the blood so that the words could not be seen. The second day, I was going to kill William, but Daphne freaked out and decided to randomly open a door, which happened to be Sophia. It was locked, which meant that we couldn't kill anyone that night. However, it let me know that Sophia wasn't the Guardian. The next day, I overheard Mia and 3 talking together in whispers. They weren't the Murderers, so that meant they had to be the Twins. I killed Mia, then entered 3's room. After all, we could only enter one player's room per night, but once you're dead, you're no longer a player. I dragged 3 to Mia's room, then strangled Mia's dead body and bashed 3's head against the desk. I made it seem like he was a Murderer, and with the real Twins dead, I and Daphne could pretend to be the Twins. 1 was acting suspicious, so I put the pressure on him, and he seemed so suspicious that you guys voted out your own Detective. William had already told Daphne that he was a Peasant and Kiana told me that she was a Peasant as well. Assuming they were telling the truth, that meant that 5 was the Guardian. He couldn't protect himself, so I killed him then pretended he was the Psychic by painting the words on the wall and putting Sophia's button, which had fallen off a few days before, in his hand to frame him. And that's how we won this game of Murder Mystery."

Everyone stared at him, all shocked. Daphne felt more scared than before. She knew Eli could kill people easily, but she didn't think that Eli was this devious. She wondered, just how cunning could Eli be?