After our disturbing field trip to the basement and our unpleasant trip down memory lane, my friends and I decided to take the rest of the day to relax, before getting back to business with trying to escape Future Hope Academy. We all pitched in to help Grace make us a nice lunch and dinner, and then had many wonderful conversations, while eating the wonderful food. We also enjoyed doing several more group activities, before deciding to call it a night and heading back to our rooms to sleep.
For the rest of the day though, no one saw Zoe, not that that was really a surprise. However, her slight different, recent behavior and words on how this whole thing was gonna be over soon did kind of stick to me the rest of the day.
"Just what do you mean Zoe?" I asked myself. "What are you up to?"
After doing my usual nighttime routine, I just lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, while lost in deep thought.
"Harry, Bethany, Grace, and I really had fun today, even with the whole basement trip" I thought to myself. "Zoe also is slightly showing signs of being, somewhat nice. However, what exactly is she up to? And there are still, so many mysteries of this school that we have yet to get any answers for."
I then slowly started thinking about all the good friends we had lost and how we saw all that remained of them.
"Den... Laurel... Bradford... Gordon" I sadly thought to myself as tears rolled down my face.
I wiped my tears away and turned my sadness into hope.
"We'll get out of here!" I thought to myself with determination. "We'll get out of here and bring whoever has been running this awful game to justice! All of my friends who died so far, their memories won't be in vain!"
With determination flowing through my body, I peacefully went to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up early and did my usual morning routine. I then left out of my room and headed down to the cafeteria for breakfast. Grace was already there, bright and early, preparing breakfast for us. She smiled at me as I walked in.
"Good morning Annie!"
I smiled back. "Good Morning Grace."
I helped Grace finish breakfast and then we brought it out to eat, Harry and Bethany came not long after.
"Morning guys!" greeted Harry
"Good morning Harry!" I returned the greeting.
"This looks wonderful" complimented Bethany.
"Thanks!" thanked Grace. "Annie helped me out a lot too!"
"Well let's not waste anytime here, let's eat!" urged Harry.
Bethany, Harry, Grace and I sat down and enjoyed a nice breakfast, full of wonderful conversations. There was still no sign of Zoe. After we finished eating and talking, we all pitched in to help do the dishes. After that, the four of us headed out into the hallway, when the intercoms clicked on.
"Attention students!" shouted Bat Wing. "Everyone get to the main entrance! Now!" The intercoms clicked off.
A disturbing and unnerving silence fell upon us as we all glanced at each other.
"What could it be now?" asked Grace.
"That damn bat!" growled Harry. "We can't ever really relax?!"
"I am not surprised" replied Bethany. "Things must have been too happy for him."
"I don't like this guys" said Grace.
"Me either" I agreed.
"Stay strong Annie and Grace" replied Bethany. "We need to be strong, the five of us can take anything Bat Wing throws at us, as long as we all stand strong."
"Yeah!" agreed Harry. "I bet Zoe is already there, waiting for us to all put Bat Wing in his place!"
"Right" Grace slowly smiled.
I found courage inside myself. "Let's go guys!"
The four of us headed to the main entrance, with hope, courage, and determination in all our our souls. However, little did we know that when we would reach the main entrance, only despair would be there. As we reached the main entrance, we saw Bat Wing there, waiting for us. And someone was lying down next to him. And that someone was...
"Zoe!" I cried out loud.
The ultimate fashion designer, Zoe Strong, or what I should say is her body lay on the floor, right next to Bat Wing. Her chest and throat had several slash marks on it, showing red.
We all ran towards Bat Wing and Zoe's body.
"Zoe!" exclaimed Harry.
"What happen!?" roared Bethany.
"No! No! I can't take this!" cried Grace as tears began to fall down her face.
My anxiety was through the roof again as I looked at my three friends. "Who did it?" I thought to myself. Which one of them killed Zoe?"
Bat Wing laughed as we all started to panic. "Oh man! This is even better than the basement yesterday!"
"Shut the fuck up!" roared Harry.
"How can this be?!" I thought to myself over and over again.
Grace continued to sob, as Bethany just looked speechless. Harry looked like he was ready to punch something.
"Oh man!, what despair!" laughed Bat Wing. He then got serious. "But listen here students, this time the class trial is gonna be a little different."
"Little different?" questioned Grace. "How so?"
"Well as always, I'm gonna give you guys two hours to investigate. And of course at the class trial, if you vote wrong, then everyone besides the killer will die."
"Get to the point!" demanded Harry.
"Do not tease us" growled Bethany.
"Man, you kids are so super disrespectful to your elders" frowned Bat Wing. "But anyway, if you vote for the correct person as the killer, they'll die of course. However, the survivors will then be allowed to leave Future Hope Academy."
All four of us gasped in shock.
"What!?" cried Grace.
"Are you serious?!" demanded Harry.
"How can we trust you?" asked Bethany.
Bat Wing laughed again. "Settle down children! Honestly, even after our little field trip to the basement yesterday, this game has gotten too boring for me! Even with someone killing our dear Zoe, it is still boring! And having four people doing a trial is just lame! I'm ready for this to all end, so anyone still standing after this last class trial will be allowed to leave!"
My anxiety was sky high, just what was going on here?
"This is...This is..." Bethany tried to say.
Bat Wing continued to laugh at us. "I think you guys should get the deal by now, unless you're all really damn stupid."
"Fuck off!" yelled Harry.
"But..." I began with. "You're telling the truth? If we identify Zoe's killer, you'll let us go?"
"You got it!" laughed Bat Wing. "I'll even watch over her body, so all four of you can investigate. This time, you'll really need all the help you can get!"
This was all too much for me and it was happening so fast. Even though I understood everything, I couldn't help but shake in confusion. My three friends and I looked at each other for a few moments.
Harry then got really angry. "Why did one of you have to kill Zoe?! Why?! We were all suppose to escape from this fuckhole together!"
Grace then got really angry and turned to Harry. "Don't put all the blame on us! You could easily be the killer!"
"The Fuck I..
"STOP!" demanded Bethany, who was also getting really angry.
Harry, Grace, and I turned to look at Bethany, the former two still looking really angry.
"Stop fighting each other!" She growled. "I know this is all so sudden, but if Bat Wing is telling the truth, we can finally escape from this prison!"
"Bethany..." I tried to say..
"Don't think you're in charge Bethany!" interrupted Harry. "You just might be the killer as well!"
The accusation made Bethany even more angry. "Watch who you're accusing!"
"We're all suspcious here!" added in Grace. "All four of us have the chance of being the killer!"
"Guys please!" I pleaded.
"Shit! This is just fucking shit!" yelled Harry. "I just... I can't act like we're all good friends here! One of you killed Zoe!"
"Stop putting everything on us!" shot back Grace. "You're only making yourself look more suspicious!"
"Enough! Cease this at once!" ordered Bethany.
"Oh man, this is great!" laughed Bat Wing.
"Stop trying to take control Bethany!" shot back Grace. "You're not in charge here!"
"Grace... What are you?!" asked Bethany.
"I'm not listening to any of you!" shouted Harry. "Not now, not when we're so close to getting out of here!"
Bethany seemed to struggle with controlling her anger, before exploding. "Fine! I can figure this out myself! I'll reveal which on of you killed Zoe and escape from this place!"
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How could Grace, Harry, and Bethany be acting like this?
Bat Wing continued laughing. "You guys got your final file and your two hours start now, so get to it!"
Harry pulled out his phone and quickly looked at it, before turned his angry glare back on the rest of us. "I'm out of here!" Harry quickly ran off.
"Harry!" I called after him.
"Whatever!" replied Grace. "I'm gonna solve this case all by myself!" Grace then ran off as well.
"Grace!" I cried.
"Do not waste your breath on them, Annie" instructed Bethany as she pulled out her phone to look at the file. "One of them is most likely the killer, though of course, you are also a possibility as well."
"What...Bethany!?" I cried.
"Be quiet and start investigating." Bethany ran off.
I watched Bethany run off and started sobbing. I just couldn't believe everything that just happened and how the others were reacting.
Bat Wing laughed at me. "Wow! That is just harsh! But you can't really blame them too much! Only four of you remain and one of you is the killer!"
I ignored Bat Wing as I continued to sob for a little bit, and being lost in my anxiety. After a few minutes, I wiped away my tears and pulled my phone out to check the final file.
The file was real short and useless. All it said was Zoe's cause of death was due to slashes on her stomach. There was no time of death or anything else.
"What kind of file is this?" I asked myself.
I turned to Bat Wing. "This file isn't helpful at all, I can tell how Zoe died by just looking at her body. When did she die?"
Bat Wing laughed. "Figure it out yourself!"
I glared at Bat Wing, before turning my attention to Zoe's body, just for one last look at it. Unfortunately, there was still nothing there that would help us identify the killer. I sighed and turned my attention back to Bat Wing, I just had so many weird feelings right now, both about this murder and Bat Wing himself.
"Bat Wing is definitely hiding something from us" I thought to myself.
I pondered the situation a bit more, before leaving the crime scene to investigate elsewhere. I ended up at the library to investigate, since Zoe spent most of her time there. I headed in to investigate and ran into Harry there.
"Harry...Hi.." I greeted.
Harry seemed uninterested in talking to me, but returned the greeting. "Hey Annie."
It was suddenly awkward to be around Harry again. "Have you...Did you find anything here in the library?"
"No, nothing here."
"Oh, okay..."
It was awkward silence for the next few seconds.
"Look Harry..." I tried to say.
"Stop it Annie, just stop talking" interrupted Harry.
I was shocked at Harry's words.
"This whole thing is a major shitstorm Annie" continued Harry. "But the truth is, one of us killed Zoe and whoever did that will have to die, so the rest of us can finally get out of here."
I just got more shocked at what Harry was saying, I couldn't believe it.
Harry turned away from me. "I can't cross you off as a suspect yet Annie, but out of the three of you, I do feel that the killer is more likely to be Bethany or Grace, unless evidence says otherwise, so while I can't really believe in you, you aren't my main focus and I do hope it stays that way during the trial.
"Harry!..." I tried to say again.
"Don't waste time trying to get us to be a team here Annie, we can't be that close with only four of us left and one of us being a killer, so just go investigate elsewhere, the library has nothing here." Harry then ran past me out of the library, leaving me to feel shit and almost starting to cry again.
"They all fallen into despair" I thought to myself. "Bethany, Grace, and Harry...They all fallen into despair and only trust themselves right now."
After getting over my shock, I continued my investigation in the library for a while, even though I still had hope and believed in all of my friends, Harry could be the killer and lied about the library having no evidence, so I had to search. But it did seem like he was telling the truth, as I found no evidence in the library. I left the library a bit down, knowing I had wasted time and found nothing, but a little relieved to know that Harry was most likely not lying, and therefore was most likely not the killer.
My investigation then took me to the game room, where we had our first murder take place. Grace was in there investigating. I walked in and greeted her.
"Hey Grace!"
Grace was scared by my greeting and jumped around to face me, looking scared, but then her expression turned to annoyance. "Don't do that Annie!"
"Sorry..." I legit felt bad if I actually scared her, but it hurt knowing she would get so annoyed at an accident like that.
"What do you want Annie?" Grace asked crossing her arms.
I was once again shocked at how my friend was talking to me. "Grace...What?..."
"Speak up or shut up, we can't afford to waste time now."
I was even closer to sobbing again. "I'm just here...to invest..."
"Don't bother, I already checked all over the game room." Grace turned away from you. "Go somewhere else."
"Grace..."
Grace turned back to me annoyed. "Look Annie, I don't wanna be harsh, but this is life and death right here, and it is way bigger than any of the other trials. Once we vote for the correct killer, the remaining three can leave."
"She's acting just like how Harry was!" I thought to myself. "Despair!"
"Of course, right now either yourself, Bethany, or Harry can be the killer, but I do believe it won't be you as opposed to Bethany and Harry. And I really hope it isn't you Annie, I like to walk out of this school with you, but whoever killed Zoe has to own up to what they did."
Grace uncrossed her arms and ran out of the game room, leaving me to sob a bit.
"I can't do this alone!" I cried to myself. "I need all of them to have hope, so we can end this killing game once and for all!"After sobbing a bit, I checked out the game room for clues, as I couldn't just believe Grace's words, but they appeared true. Finding nothing, I ran out of the game room to continue investigating with the time I had left.
I next ended up by the dorm rooms. I saw Bethany walking out of Zoe's room.
"Bethany!" I called to her.
Bethany turned to look at me, no emotion showed in her eyes. "Have you been investigating Annie?"
Even with everything that has happened since discovering Zoe's body, Bethany's lack of greeting both shocked and hurt me. "Yes...I have."
"Well keep at it." Bethany turned around and started to walk away.
"Wait Bethany!"
Bethany turned around, looking quite annoyed. "What is it Annie? We don't have much time left."
I started to cry again. "Why are you guys acting like this? Why are...Why are you guys falling to despair!?"
Bethany got a little angry. "Shut your mouth girl! Don't you realize the situation we're in now?! This is it! This is our chance to finally escape from this hellhole! That is all that matters!"
"But..."
"Shut up!" Bethany looked really enraged now. "Just shut up and get back to investigating. Don't bother with the dorm rooms, I already checked them out. Also, I still think out of my three suspects, you are the least likely to be the killer, but you never know." Bethany turned around again and walked away from me.
I sobbed for a bit more, but then I finally got it together and quickly investigated all of the dorm rooms as fast as I could. Like Harry and Grace, Bethany could be the killer, so I couldn't believe her words, I had to make sure myself there wasn't any clues hidden in any of the dorm rooms. But for the third time, what I was told appeared legit, as I found nothing of suspicion in anyone's rooms.
I sat against the wall in the hallway to really think, while I could. I knew I only had minutes left, but I still had to keep going while I could. My thoughts turned to those two "clues" that Bat Wing had showed us. Those newspaper headlines and what appeared to be a class photo of all of us. We never truly discovered the meaning of those clues, and most people seemed to brush them off as fake. But for some reason, I felt now they would be most relevant, I knew I would bring them up in the trial, and hopefully we would work together to discover their meanings.
"Attention final four!" I hadn't heard the intercoms click on as I was so deep in thought.
"Your last investigation ends now!" shouted Bat Wing. "Time to get this show on the road! Get your asses to the courtroom! Now!" The intercoms clicked off.
I immediately got up and headed for the courtroom. I was ready to finish this and hopefully by the end, there would be only hope and no despair.
I was the last to arrive to the courtroom. Bat Wing was waiting there with Harry, Grace, and Bethany. All three weren't looking at each other and didn't seem to notice my entrance.
"Awesome! The gang is all here!" exclaimed Bat Wing. "I hope you guys are ready for this!"
"We are!" I stated determinedly.
Bat Wing just laughed at me. "But will that be enough to discover the identity of Zoe's killer? We shall see! Everyone, get in the courtroom!"
Bat Wing immediately opened the door and flew in. One by one, the rest of us followed.
"We can do this!" I thought to myself. "We will end this soon!"
However, the dark truth hit me right away, even though I already knew it.
"But who killed Zoe?" I asked myself. "Bethany? Harry? Grace? Which one of them did it? Why did they do?"
I came close to sobbing again. If we solve this murder, only two of my friends and myself will get to walk out of this school finally. Whoever killed Zoe, whoever betrayed our trust, will have be executed by Bat Wing.
