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Misfortune
Chapter 21 - A Labyrinth of Possibilities

Chapter 21 - A Labyrinth of Possibilities

The gym looked completely different than we remembered it. There was a large throne-like chair that was now on the stage where Levi was sitting along with two smaller, less extravagant chairs on his left where Jane and Alex were sitting. Alex had his usual tranquil expression, but Jane looked like she was seconds from passing out. There was another similar chair on his right where Andrea was sitting with a huge smile on her face.

“Come! Sit! We’re just aching to get things started,” Levi said, gesturing towards a group of sixteen chairs set in a circle.

These chairs were the least extravagant of the three kinds in the room, but they had cushioning at least, which was much more than the chairs we sat in during the other times we were called into the gym. Those chairs were very uncomfortable. Each chair had a small desk in front of it with a piece of paper and a pencil sitting on top. Everyone took their seats at the desk that was labeled with their name. After getting to my seat, I saw that the paper was mostly blank, but there was information on the top that showed a map of the floor as well as the information that was on Louis’s death report. It seems like the negative space is to be used for us to write down important things we learned during the investigation. I quickly wrote down everything I remembered.

“All right!” Levi said. I never heard him sound so excited. “Let me explain the rules now that everyone is in their seats.”

“What about the empty chair?” Amber asked.

“Oh, that is where Louis would be sitting if he were still with us today. God rest his soul…” Levi said, clasping his hands in prayer.

“It’s your fucking fault he’s dead!” Carmen yelled from her seat.

“I didn’t harm a single hair on the poor fellow’s head! One of you is to blame for this tragedy, and I can’t believe you would do such a thing! Shame on his murderer! Shame!”

“Grrrrrr,” Carmen growled. She looked like her teeth were about to smash out of her head.

“Back to the topic at hand!” Levi continued. “Let me explain the rules. First things first, I’m sure you have all noticed that you get a free piece of paper and pencil that we have placed in front of each of you. How generous of us, right? You will be required to give them back at the end of the trial though!” We all rolled our eyes together in sync. “These are so you can keep track of what was said and to help you try and work out the sequence of events and cause of the murder. Some advice to the killer, make sure to write just as much as your peers or you will look suspicious!”

“Don’t give them advice!” Amber yelled.

“I’ve given you all the death report, now let me throw the killer a bone. It’s only fair. Moving on, the trial will go like this; you will all discuss your thoughts on the case and who you think could have done it, and once you all come to a consensus, or the discussion stalls for too long, I will prompt you all to vote on who committed the crime. If the majority vote picks the actual killer, then you all will get to continue living here and studying to your heart's content!” We once again all rolled our eyes. “After this, the culprit will then be publicly executed.”

“E-executed?!” Maya screamed. “G-guys I didn’t do it I swear! Please don’t kill me!”

“If you didn’t do it then you should have nothing to worry about,” Atticus said.

“Exactly!” Maya said. “We’ll probably all die if you pick me!”

“Like it could have been anyone else!” Sienna yelled from her seat.

“Now, now,” Levi said. “Let’s leave the discussion until after I explain all the rules. Now, if you all chose the wrong, you will indeed all be executed. The killer will then get to graduate and be permitted to live amongst the rest of the world again.”

“All of us?! Executed?!” Miles yelled. “This is so fucking messed up…”

“Stop interrupting,” Levi said. “You’re all so hard to manage sometimes…Lastly, my workers and I will oversee the trial and will not participate in any way unless it has to do with clarity of the rules, or something that we feel we must comment on for the sake of both the culprit and the rest of you. Now, go ahead and start your discussion!”

I tried to get all the information straight in my head and made sure to write down all the trial rules that I thought were important. Glancing around the room, the majority of us were looking terrified now that the high stakes of this trial were once again hammered into our minds. Even in a situation like this, I feel nervous about sharing my thoughts in front of so many people. The feeling of everyone looking at me and listening to my words was almost scarier to me than the thought that I might lose my life if this goes wrong. Social anxiety really fucking sucks. I just have to steel myself and participate though. Emma and I found out so much seemingly crucial information, so I can’t falter now. Keon then broke the silence.

“Okay, everyone,” he said. “We need this discussion to be orderly and we need to discuss everything in regard to the case at hand. We cannot afford to get it wrong, so everyone must participate and if you have even a small piece of seemingly insignificant information, please share it. Now, I think the first discussion we should have should be regarding the cause of death.”

“I agree,” Emma said. “The death report didn’t show any cause of death at all, and there were no external wounds to be found, so it’s difficult to say what happened.”

“If there were no external wounds, then isn’t it possible he was poisoned?” Marin asked.

“That would make sense based on the lack of external wounds,” Carmen said. “What could possibly be used as a poison though? We locked up most of the dangerous substances in the housekeeping quarters and Keon and I checked it and nothing of note was taken.”

“Maybe it has to do with something that was always outside the dorms,” Mia said in her usual soft voice.

“Ryder, you examined the body with me,” Keon said. “Did you see anything that suggested that he was poisoned?”

Everyone looked over at me and my greatest fear was realized. (You were examining the body closer than I was!) I thought to myself. Regardless of my fear, I know what I need to mention.

“...There were marks around his neck,” I said.

“What kind of marks?” Carmen asked.

“Thin, but slightly deep, all the way around his neck,” I said.

“Precisely,” Keon said. “I don’t think he was poisoned at all. I believe that he was choked to death.”

“Even if that’s what you believe, it doesn’t prove that he was killed that way,” Cyrus said. “He could have easily been choked before and then poisoned after while he was out cold.”

“No one had access to any sort of poison that could work that quickly,” Keon said.

“What about in the kitchen?” Amber asked. “Could anything from there be used as a fast-acting poison?”

“No,” Marin said. “There were no ingredients in there that could kill someone that quickly.”

“I suppose that’s an answer we can trust since she’s the Ultimate Baker,” Emma said.

“I promise,” Marin said. “There’s no chance.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“So, looks like we can rule out poison,” Atticus said. “That would leave choking as the only option due to the lack of external wounds.”

“Wh-what about the bracelet?” Miles said. “Maybe his was the poisoned one and that’s how he died.”

“Incorrect,” Atticus said. “If you were paying attention during the start of all of this, they said that there was only water within the supposedly poisoned bracelet.”

“I see…” Miles said. Seems like he didn’t have the energy to clap back at Atticus like before.

“Alright, so let’s consider that the end of the discussion on his cause of death,” Keon said. “The next logical step would be to find the murder weapon. Any ideas?”

“You said the marks were thin, Ryder?” Carmen asked.

“Yes,” I said. “They looked like they were made with some sort of small, thin object that would have been long enough to wrap around his neck.”

“I don’t think there’s anything that could be used as a tool for choking that was left in our dorms,” Amber said.

“What are you talking about?” Cyrus said. “You could literally use anything made out of cloth for something like that. A pillowcase, a blanket, clothes, anything!”

When Cyrus mentioned clothes, I suddenly felt like I knew exactly what the murder weapon was.

“What about a bra?” I said. “I don’t really know if it would be sturdy enough or not.”

“I suppose it’s possible,” Emma said.

“Do we have any sort of hard evidence to prove that?” Atticus asked.

“We actually found a small hook near the body,” I said. “Emma said that it was likely a bra hook.”

“Yes. That’s exactly what it was,” Emma said.

“So, it was knocked off due to the force of being used to strangle someone,” Carmen said. “I guess that makes sense.”

“Doesn’t that mean that it was a girl who did it?” Conrad said.

“You can’t just put the blame on us!” Sienna barked.

“No, I think he’s right,” Emma said. “I find it very hard to believe that a boy would be able to take a girl's bra for an extended period of time at this place because we all only have one bra.”

“They could have just taken it out of the dryer during the night or something,” Sienna said.

“I guess they could have…” Emma said.

“Nope, that’s impossible,” Keon said. “The driers and washers have locks on them. There’s no way someone could open it without the key.”

“Couldn’t they just get the key from Jane’s pocket or something?” Marin asked.

“No,” Carmen said. “The key itself is kept in a locked drawer that has a passcode.”

“You all seem to know a lot about the housekeeping quarters,” Cyrus said. “There must be something I don’t understand if you’re all able to search so freely there with Jane always being there.” I looked over at Jane and she was white as a sheet.

“Just drop it,” Keon said. “Back to the topic at hand, I think we can assume that it was a girl then since there was no way for a boy to get their hands on a bra. The owner of the bra would probably notice that it was damaged too and since no one has spoken up about it, it’s probably because they are the ones who caused the damage.”

“Thank god I won’t get any suspicion,” Cyrus said. “You guys seem to want to blame everything on me.”

“Quiet,” Carmen said. “So, let’s now assume that the cause of death was choking, the murder weapon was a bra, and the killer was female. Where does that lead us now?”

“To the difficult part…” Emma said. “How did they do it?”

“They did it because they were their roommate!” Sienna said. “How could anyone else have gotten into the room?”

“I guess that’s our next question,” Keon said. “How did they get into the room?”

“Before that, I think we really should discuss the case of Maya,” Atticus said. “The question of whether or not she could have done it should come before that.”

“I guess that does make more sense,” Keon said.

“I didn’t do it!” Maya yelled with tears in her eyes.

“She is a girl and was the person with the easiest path…” Amber said.

“There’s no need to suspect her,” Mia said suddenly.

“Well, you’re pretty biased, Mia,” Keon said.

“That has nothing to do with it,” she said. “I have proof.”

“Then let’s hear it, shrimp,” Sienna said.

“Maya couldn’t have used a bra to kill him because she’s too flat,” Mia said.

“S-stop!” Maya protested.

“She doesn’t even wear a bra,” Mia continued. “See?” She then pulled down the shoulder of Maya’s shirt. Everyone looked and then quickly looked away. She was correct, there was no bra strap present.

“M-Mia!” Maya yelped.

“I-I see,” Keon said. “I guess we can move on now then.”

“They could be lying,” Cyrus said. “Maybe she just left it in her room and her sister is colluding with her.”

“She’d have nothing to gain from that,” Emma said. “Only one person can graduate. It’s in the rulebook.”

“That is correct,” Levi added. “Only one person gets to graduate. No exceptions.”

“What if he wasn’t choked with a bra after all?” Miles added.

“There would be no reason for there to be a bra hook there then,” Carmen said. “Let’s not go backwards until we actually hit a brick wall.”

“We’re moving on,” Keon said. “Let’s get back to the original question. Someone must have been in the room other than Louis and Maya, and they more than likely committed the crime. Maya, were you present last night? You must have seen someone.”

“I-I locked myself in the bathroom,” Maya said, still flustered.

“The whole night?” Keon asked.

“I thought Louis was going to kill me!” Maya said.

“Why did you think that?” Carmen asked.

“He told me that he had the poisoned bracelet and I was the closest person to him, so I was sure he’d try to kill me and escape…” Maya said.

“I suppose that does make a bit of sense,” Atticus said. “Since we are operating off of the idea that you didn’t commit the crime, and the fact that you would have no motive to not tell us who killed Louis, we should just drop it.”

“I agree,” Keon said. “That’ll make it much more difficult to find out how someone got into the room though.”

“We should start the discussion then,” Carmen said. “Anyone have somewhere they’d like to start?”

“I do,” Robbie said. Everyone seemed taken aback by his sudden participation. “I try not to interfere very much with you all, but I figured I’d throw you a bone to show good faith.”

“Is that right?” Carmen said. “Then, let’s hear it.”

“The key to this case lies in one thing,” Robbie said. “The facial recognition door locks. That’s all I’ll add. I’ll leave the rest to you all.”

The facial recognition locks? I guess that does make sense. I doubt there’s another way to get in if you can’t get past that lock. If we assume that Louis didn’t let someone in the door, then they would have to have found a way to bypass it. But…how?

“I take that to mean you already know what happened?” Keon asked.

“Of course,” Robbie said. “All the information is there after all. I’d prefer to let you all solve it though. This is a team effort!”

“All of our lives are on the line!” Conrad barked. “Just tell us the damn answer!”

“C’mon now! You’re all so close! Look how far you’ve gotten!” Robbie said. “I’ll give you one more hint since you are all such good kids though. Everything you’ve worked out so far is correct. Now, I’m giving you all the silent treatment.”

“Can we really trust this guy?” Miles asked.

“This doesn’t change a thing,” Keon said. “We are already basing all of this off of the idea that what we’ve worked out is true, and the facial recognition locks are the obvious next step since we’re looking at an outside perpetrator who was not let into the room by either Maya or Louis.”

“Okay, so then about the locks, how could someone have gotten in? It doesn’t seem like it would be possible…” Amber said.

“There’s an easy explanation,” Cyrus said.

“Wh-what is it?” Amber asked.

“It’s literally the simplest thing ever,” Cyrus said. “How have you all not figured it out yet? Jesus…” Everyone was quiet.

“Just ignore him,” Keon said. “He’s only trying to make things more difficult.”

“Really?” Cyrus said. “It’s not like I want to die either. Just use the last couple brain cells you’ve got, and it should be enough to figure it out.”

I think I know what Cyrus is thinking. He definitely seems to relish knowing something that we don’t, and like Robbie, does not want to give that information up easily for whatever reason. Looks like I’m going to have to say something.

“If they have the same face, then the lock might let them in,” I said. “Is that what you mean?”

“I’m glad someone’s actually paying attention here,” Cyrus said. “Exactly. And because of that, why don’t you tell everyone who the culprit is?”

Fuck, now everything is on my shoulders. I know the answer he’s getting at, but can we really say that she’s the culprit? Either way, I must give them an answer.

“Mia,” I said. “She’s Maya’s twin, so she most likely would be able to enter if she let her hair down and went up to the lock.”