The world seemed to stop moving. Gradually, everyone looked up and saw Henry’s mutilated corpse. For a moment, everyone simply stared. Finally, someone screamed again. Jason was brought back to the brutal reality - Henry had been murdered. While he wasn't particularly fond of Henry, Jason still felt a pang of remorse that he had been unable to help. Henry had been tortured - that much was clear. The blood trickling from his wrists, ankles and mouth were enough of an indication. Jason heard a thud. He turned around to witness Michael almost carrying an unconscious Lola. Everyone of his senses seemed slow and dull. It took him a while to even realize that Lelina was still screaming in horror. Lavender rushed over to her in an attempt to calm her. Before everyone could wrap their heads around this sudden development, Brian decided to interfere.

“Oh, would you look at that! I had a feeling he made good first victim material… Oh well! Now’s when the fun part begins!”

“Who…” Jason seemed unable to formulate a sentence. He had so many questions! Why is Henry dead? Why was he tortured? Why was he the first victim? And yet even with all these questions, only one found its way out of his mouth. “Who did this?”

“I don't know. Maybe… The world's finest killer, perhaps? Bwahahahaha!” Brian laughed, a high pitched yet cold and distant laugh. “You should have seen the looks on your faces when you found the body. Priceless, I tell you! Still, it’d be no fun for anyone if the killer simply picked you off one by one! So instead, I've thought of a much better alternative. We're going to play an exciting round of Guess the Killer! And here's how you play!” Brian hopped onto the table so that everyone could see him. Slowly, everyone ripped their eyes off of Henry’s corpse and forced themselves to look at Brian. “What's going to happen is that you're going to play the detectives! You're going to have to figure out why and how Henry was killed! And I want details, people - a simple knife to the heart and because why not won't cut it!”

“And if we refuse to play this sadistic game of yours?” Dexter asked. Jason already knew the answer.

“Glad you asked! For those who don't want to play… I believe Henry serves as a fine example of what will happen, don't you think?” Brian laughed again.

“Interesting,” Selena spoke up, everyone turning to face her. “But what are the stakes here? What if we get every minute detail correct?”

“Immunity, of course! Ah, I forgot to explain the stakes, didn't I?” Brian grinned sheepishly. “For those of you who are amazing detectives, you will receive immunity for the evening! And among those that don't have immunity, one of you will do worse than anyone else! That person will be… Shall we say, corrected? Informed of their mistakes? Don't worry, I'll ensure they never get it wrong again!” Again, Brian laughed. Despite the whimsical nature of the laugh, it seemed anything but warm and friendly. Brian had to clutch his stomach from laughing too hard. “Ahem. Anyways! I think that's everything, really! If I forgot anything, just shout for me and I'll come running! Bye-bye! Have fun playing! And good luck to all!” With that, Brian flickered out.

Everyone slowly looked around the room. Jason saw a whole spectrum of emotions in the room - excitement, anger, disbelief, sadness - but one emotion was plainly written on everyone's face. Fear. No one seemed to trust the others. After all, one of them had just murdered Henry! Breaking the incredible tension in the room, Selena walked over to Henry’s suspended corpse and began studying it.

“Hmm… We're not going to get very far unless we can lower him. Any ideas? He is shackled to the wall.” Selena asked bluntly. A few turned to look at her in disbelief. Others scrambled to try and find a way to lower Henry. However, in spite of a few days’ worth of investigation, Jason hadn't noticed anything that they could use to lower him. Instead, Jason decided to investigate the place he had last seen Henry - the kitchen.

Immediately, Jason noticed the large hole in the right wall of the kitchen. The wall usually had nothing on it, so finding a large hole was an abnormality to say the least. Upon investigating it, Jason realized that the hole led to a stone path that curved towards the dining room, before dropping down. The hole was barely large enough for Jason to stand fully upright in. Upon coming to the drop, he noticed that it was very steep, and he could not make out the bottom of the path. I shouldn't try to go down there. Before he could make any further decisions, a glimmer of silver caught his eye. A metallic switch was carefully embedded in the walls of the path, so that it was out of view even when the wall wasn't present. Curious as to what it was for, Jason flicked the switch. At first, nothing happened. Then, Jason heard a grinding and startled shouts from the dining room. He rushed out of the kitchen. He looked where everyone was staring and pointing. Henry’s body had just disappeared.

“What happened?” Jason asked Lavender, who was helping Lelina to her feet.

“We heard a grind, and Henry’s body started going into the wall. Then, it dropped out of our sights! What happened to it?” Lavender seemed somewhat confused.

“H...Henry is… D...dead… Wh...Why..?” Lelina managed to utter a few words. Lavender patted her on the back.

“I've got a feeling Henry’s about to take a trip to the kitchen,” Jason guessed. With Lavender and Lelina tagging along, Jason made his way back to the kitchen.

Sure enough, after waiting for a few moments, the grinding sound intensified, and Henry’s body, along with the wall it was suspended to, came rocketing into the kitchen. It slid into place, Henry’s head lolling down to his chest. Lelina gave out a startled cry. Everyone in the dining room came into the kitchen to see what had happened, and most also gave a startled cry upon seeing Henry.

“Ah, much better! Now we can properly investigate! Thank you, Jason!” Selena said and gave Jason a pleasant smile. Then, she approached Herny and began scrutinizing him. Others took a little longer before they approached the body. Jason decided to look around the kitchen before approaching Henry’s body.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the kitchen at first. Everything was where it should be. The silver platter that had held all of the hot dogs Henry was eating was completely empty, save for a few crumbs of hot dog bun. Next to the platter, a note that was slobbered with ketchup was tossed aside. It said:

To my sweet Henry,

Navini

Jason concluded pretty quickly that Navini had probably not sent this note. More than likely, the hot dogs had been cooked by Henry’s killer, and the note was simply so that Henry could not resist eating them. To be fair, Henry would probably have eaten anything that came from Navini, so the killer probably used that to fool him. Had anyone been seen cooking hot dogs today? He looked around at everyone in the room. Most were currently focused on Henry’s body. A few, like A and Mikad, were talking amongst each other about various things. Jason decided to ask around.

“Huh? Hot dogs? Man, that's not important right now!” A seemed furious that Jason would even ask such a question.

“Please, A. This is very important,” Jason pressured A into talking.

“Alright, alright! Fine. I didn't see anyone in the kitchen today. There, you happy now?” A turned his back to Jason, refusing to answer any more questions. It seemed that A wouldn't be of much help during this investigation.

“What's this?” Navini had just walked over to the platter, and picked up the note. “Huh? I never wrote this!”

“I figured as much,” Jason told Navini. “In any case, could you think of anyone that could have?”

“Hmm…” Navini seemed to be trying to bring back a distant memory. “Nope! Nobody I can think of!”

“Oh,” Jason said, trying to hide his disappointment. “Well… Thanks anyway, I guess.”

“But still… Why did this happen?” Navini spoke softly. “I know I didn't like him and, yeah, he was a bit of a stalker, but… I would never have wished this onto him! This is just so cruel!” Jason nodded in agreement. He then noticed that the crowd around Henry’s body had thinned consoderably. Reluctantly, he wen to investigate his body.

The first thing Jason noticed was that someone had closed Henry’s eyes, making him seem a lot less horrifying. Jason was thankful for that. However, they had left his mout gagged, probably to preserve the crime scene, which Jason was also thankful for. The cloth that was used as an impromptu gag was pulled and cut, indicating that Henry had been biting it.

“This is so… Brutal! Was the spear really necessary?” Navini added. “Sigh…”

“The spear does seem kind of overkill,” Jason agreed. “But there must be a purpose to it. Why..?” Jason looked around for hints that the spear had a higher purpose. The spear had gone through the entirety of Henry’s lower abdomen, the sharp end now completely covered in blood. As was the handle, Jason noticed.

“Huh?” Navini stepped closer to Henry’s body.

“Did you notice something?” Jason asked, curious.

“Maybe, but…” Navini seemed hesitant to say anything. “I'd need to perform an autopsy, just to be sure…”

“An autopsy? Can you properly do that?” Jason asked, dubious of Navini’s medical capabilities.

“Actually, yes! I happen to know quite a bit about the human body - costume design requires a basic knowledge of all the parts, so you don't harm the person wearing it, especially if you're going to dress up as someone with a lot of spikes or dangerous parts. Sorry, I rambled, didn't I?” Navini quickly apologized. “But yeah, if you want me to I can perform the basics of an autopsy.”

“That'd be great, Navini. Thanks!” Jason added cheerfully. Navini, clearly happy to have something to do, set out to her autopsy and asked that others leave her be. Jason continued to investigate the body. He decided to leave the murder weapon for now, and focused instead on the shackles. They were made of a rusted metal, the kind used in dungeons in medieval times to shackle a prisoner to the wall. The back of the shackles were covered in blood. The blood traced back to Henry’s wrists and ankles, which had been slit open. They were probably used to hold Henry in place, but why was that necessary? Surely the killer could have just stabbed Henry once and gotten it over with… However, the important part here was the slit wrists and ankles. Why? Were the shackles not enough? A lot of blood had poured down Henry’s arms, and a lot was on the wall, smeared there. There was no rhyme or reason to the blood smearing - someone had evidently wiped it all over the wall near Henry’s legs, but there was no clear motive to it. Aside from these strange details, nothing stood out to Jason. The murder weapon was evident - the combat knife sticking out of his chest. However, Jason had to ask - did it really kill Henry? The spear was coated with a lot of blood. Combined with the slits on his wrists and ankles, shouldn't blood loss have killed him first? Examining the handle of the knife, he found that it was covered with blood. Not just the part immediately leading to the blade - the part where you would grip the handle was also coated in it. The blood on a certain section seemed to make a pattern, although what it was Jason could not tell. A thought then occurred to Jason - how did the killer put the shackles on the wall? Examining the shackles revealed that they were bolted to the wall. The shackles had a small keyhole in them, meaning that there was a key somewhere. How had Jason not noticed such a strange ornament before? And more importantly, why hadn't Henry? Jason pressed his palm to the wall in order to examine the shackles more. To his surprise, he felt the wall give way and flip, Henry’s body along with it. Navini jumped back, and everyone still in the kitchen gave a curious glance to the event that had unfolded. The wall had pivoted backwards into the tunnel. Jason looked at the other side of the wall. It did not have any shackles or indications of any kind. He closed the wall completely, allowing no gaps, and saw that the wall was perfectly aligned with the rest of the wall. If you didn't know it was there, there was no way of just guessing. That explained why Henry hadn't been a little bit more cautious, and why no one had even seen these shackles beforehand. Jason pivoted the wall again so that Henry’s body was visible. Navini carried on with her autopsy, and the other guests still in the kitchen continued with whatever it was that they were doing. Making a mental note to talk to Navini later, Jason left the kitchen and went upstairs to Henry’s room.

Going up to Henry’s room revealed that the door had been unlocked. Others were already busy investigating. Lavender was helping Lelina stay up and about, Selena was poking around here and there, and Axel was currently checking out the shower rooms. On the bedside table, Jason noticed the comically oversized fork that Henry had been carrying on the first day. Apart from that minor detail, it looked every bit like Jason’s. The bedsheets were on the floor, along with one of the pillows.

“Hm?” Selena picked up a thin scrap of paper. Checking over her shoulders to make sure no one had seen her, she slipped it into her dress, so that it was pressed up against a ribbon of cloth worn like a belt around her waist. Jason was the only one who seemingly noticed. Knowing that a crime scene or an important scene shouldn't be tampered with, he decided to confront Selena.

“What's in your pocket?” Jason asked Selena. She turned around, clearly startled.

“A note, of course. Why do you ask?” She said calmly.

“You aren't supposed to remove evidence from the scene, Selena,” Jason spoke firmly, knowing that showing uncertainty in front of Selena was the last thing anyone would ever want to do. She smiled menacingly.

“Where's your proof that that was evidence? What if that was just a random scrap of paper that I dropped?” Selena guessed. Jason looked sternly at her, unconvinced. Finally, she sighed.

“Allow me to explain my thought process behind this, Jason,” Selena began. Her voice took on a syrupy tone, the one you would use to talk to someone you think is far below you. “This game will be survival of the fittest, and those who don't play dirty will end up dying next! I'm trying to do all that I can to survive, Jason. Wouldn't you do the same in my shoes?” She asked. “Sigh… I suppose there's no fooling you, Mr. Detective. But you'd be well off to remember this - we’re not all going to play by the rules here. Some of us will try to get out way in any way possible,” she added ominously. “Oh well. Since there's no fooling you, I'll make an exception and put you on my level for now. Here,” she said unceremoniously, and took the note out of her dress before nearly shoving it in Jason’s face. Jason barely had time to read the note before she pulled it back and stuffed it in her dress. Before Jason could ask any questions, she walked elegantly out of the room. The note had said:

Meet me in the kitchen,

Navini

Once again, Jason knew this had probably been written to lure Henry down into the kitchen. Navini probably didn't even know this note existed! Speaking of Navini, he remembered he had to go talk to her about her autopsy. He took a quick look around the room to ensure he hadn't missed anything. Satisfied, he headed back down into the kitchen.

Before he did that, something caught his attention. Lavender had walked into the hallway that only contained three doors. Why would she feel the need to go there? Jason decided to follow her. Navini surely hadn't already completed her autopsy, so Jason decided he could spare the time to investigate what might well be a fruitless endeavor. Pushing the door that led to the other hallway, Lavender was nowhere to be seen. However, he noticed that one of the three doors (the one on Jason’s left) was slightly adjar. He pushed it open only an inch, peeking inside. At first, all he saw was books, books and more books. He pushed it open completely. When he walked in, he noticed that he was now in an enormous library. Huge bookshelves created narrow passages in between, and at the end of the luxurious dark blue carpet was a small area with two plush chairs, and a reading lamp in between that was currently on. Jason noticed that Vivian and Lelina currently occupied the two. Vivian was as distracted as she always was, and Lelina was very pale, clearly not over Henry’s death. Jason took one step towards them. Then, he jumped.

“Found it!”

Lavender emerged from one of the narrow passages, shouting very loudly in the very quiet library. She was holding a thin brown tome entitled The Study of Talent. She rushed back to an equally startled Lelina and Vivian, who still hadn't even noticed Lavender.

“I figured I'd find something about this in here somewhere…” Lavender asked. “And I don't know who you're trying to hide from Jason but you're doing a horrid job at it.” Startled, Jason walked up to the three girls.

“How did you know this room would be open?” Jason asked Lavender.

“Just a hunch. I figured Brian would try to hide some evidence, and I tried all of the other doors beforehand. I was wondering where he'd hide it and of course a library makes sense. When you want to hide a tree, use a forest, right?” Lavender replied. Jason didn't get the metaphor until she pulled out s sheet of paper from the book. The paper was wrinkled, and a different color than the old, yellowed book.

“Would you look at that?” Lavender said in shock. Jason leaned over to read the note’s contents. It read:

Alexia Delfin Ariana Beverly Vincent Alfonzo Francis Helmsburg ← TO BE CONFIRMED Henry Suntor

“What… Is that?” Lelina asked, scanning the paper with her eyes.

“Oh, Alexia Delfin! I've heard of her!” Vivian exclaimed. Everyone turned to look at her. “She's the best bartender in the world! My mother used to always go to her bar… Wonder what became of her?”

“Why is her name crossed out though?” Lavender asked. Jason looked at Vincent and Ariana’s names again. The answer dawned on him.

“It's a hit list,” he said slowly, realizing what this was. “Is there another part to the note?” Jason asked hurriedly. Lavender flipped through the book.

“No, not in this book… I figured if anything were to be hidden in Francis Helmsburg’s house, it would be in a book about talent. But I don't think we have time to scan the entire library…”

“W...wait… Why bother hiding the note a-at all? If he wanted to g...get rid of it, he'd have b...burned it!” Lelina exclaimed.

“I think he wanted us to find it,” Lavender explained. “Brian thinks this is a game, right? So he'd think of this as the super secret hint, if you will.”

“I'm going to guess that the rest of the note is somewhere around here as well…” Jason hypothesized. “And if I had to guess, I’d say all of our names are on that very hit list.”

“Aww! I liked Alexia’s drinks! She used a lot of flowers for those tropical cocktails of hers…” Vivian protested. Then she went back to staring at her flower.

“Still… This is troubling news. That means that the killer managed to get to some of the invited from when they were invited to when the party happened,” Lavender said.

“Doesn't that mean that the note has a prior attachment to it? Or does it just start with these two?” Jason asked.

“T...there's probably a...a part one for the n...note, so to speak, heh,” Lelina agreed.

“I wonder… What does this have to do with Henry?” Lavender asked, both to the others and to herself. The four were left to ponder on this.

“I've got to go… Navini’s waiting for me…” Jason excused himself from the room. The girls looked at him as he was leaving, and for some reason, Jason felt uneasy.

Returning to the kitchen, Jason felt a brief wave of repulsion crawl over him when he saw Henry’s body again. Despite his extensive training in the subject, Jason had never handled a murder case before - rather, Ariana had been in charge of that, while Jason focused on robbery and other offenses of that nature. Therefore, he was not accustomed to seeing dead bodies. Navini seemed to be, as she was scrutinizing every detail of Henry.

“Are you finished?” Jason asked. Navini was startled, and turned around to face Jason.

“Yeah, just about. I'm still not used to him being dead - I keep thinking he's going to wake up and tease me about how I've been touching him all over…” Navini mentioned. Where have you been touching him then? Jason thought. “That aside, I did find a few interesting things about Henry,” Navini added.

“Really? What were they?” Jason was now curious. What had Navini found out? Was it useful to the investigation at all?

“Well, one thing that stood out to me was the placement of the spear,” Navini began. Seeing Jason’s curious glance, she elaborated. “Well, it's positioned in a way that makes it right below the rib cage, and therefore all the vital organs. Not only that, but the spear was twisted around Henry’s body quite a bit - in some parts of his stomach, the hole is much wider, indicating that it was turned a lot. But that's the thing - for all the damage it caused, well, really the only thing it caused was blood loss! None of the vital organs were even so much as scratched! So I'm thinking the spear wouldn't have been enough to kill him. It must have hurt like crazy, maybe even made him lose consciousness, but it didn't kill him.” Navini gave Jason some time to think. The spear wasn't meant to kill Henry? Then what was it for? “And another thing I noticed. The gag - it kind of seems like an afterthought,” Navini added. “Well, for one, the killer was awfully elaborate with the way they killed him - I mean, a spear and wall shackles? Where did they even get those?” Jason hadn't thought of that. Of all of the curious decorations and paintings in the house, spears were not among them. He wondered if they were maybe tucked away in another room. “Sorry, I rambled, didn't I? What I'm trying to say is that the gag seems very impromptu. I took it out of his body to examine it, and I found that is was just a dishcloth! Nothing fancy about it! Heck, if Henry wasn't writhing in pain, he probably could have removed it with just his mouth! Speaking of which, I found the keys to the shackles. Again, their disposal was clearly not a priority,” Navini mentioned.

“What?” Jason’s head shot up. “Where were they?”

“I didn't move them, you see,” Navini added. “Figured you'd want to see them as they were.” Navini walked over to the sink and victoriously swung the doors open. The small area under the sink seemed no different than before, at first glance. Navini then used her staff to point to the bottom right corner. Jason noticed a glimmer of metal and reached in to pick up the source. Sure enough, four rusty keys on an equally rusty keychain ended up in Jason's hand. To confirm that these were the right keys, Jason walked over to Henry’s body and attempted to use them. The first key didn't work, but the second did, opening up the shackle covering Henry’s right wrist. Something Jason hadn't noticed before, however, was that his wrist was swollen, as if it had been broken.

“Did you notice the swelling too? I figured that his wrist must have been sprained or broken,” Navini noted. “Also, you'll notice the cuts on his wrist - the cut itself is pretty thin. I'm not sure why that is, but it is.” Jason nodded. “There's also a slight swelling right under his hat, but no blood. He probably just hit his head on something,” she added. Jason now had a basic understanding of the state of Henry’s body. He thanked Navini and exited to the dining room. He had been left with a lot to think about - including Henry’s killer. The strange part was that even after investigating, he didn't have any concrete evidence as to who did it. Yes, Selena’s note antics were suspicious, but somehow Jason thought that she was little too obvious of a culprit, and she was saying the truth about her mentality. Jason was left with little time to think, for a few moments afterwards, a familiar voice was heard ringing through the house.

Ding-Dong! “Mic check! Mic check! Ahh! Bzzt! Can you hear me? Ahh! Mic check! Alright, I think it's wor-bzzt! I'm tired of waiting. Shall we begin? Meet me by the front of the right wing! That's the door that leads to three more doors! And if you're not there…” Dong-Ding!

Suddenly, Jason was overcome with chills. He had yet to gather all his thoughts! It was beginning? And how was Brian going to do this?

“Already? I haven't even check out his room!” Navini cried out. “Oh well… We had better show up, huh?” As she said that, she walked out of the kitchen, along with all the others left in the kitchen. Jason followed, his gaze lingering for one last time on Henry’s corpse. With the gag removed and his eyes closed, he could almost pass for someone sleeping - if you ignored anything below the head, that is. Pulling his eyes off of Henry, Jason made his way to the right wing, as Brian had referred to it. Everyone, without exception this time, was there. Jason was the last to arrive. Everyone was silent - no one could think of anything to lighten the dire mood. And yet, Jason could feel another emotion besides fear in everyone - suspicion. Even if it was just the slightest motion of an eyelid, everyone seemed to be scrutinizing the others, wondering who could have done it. The killer is probably laughing like crazy on the inside, Jason thought. Although he didn't approve of it, Jason also began to look over the other guests. Some, like A, Dexter and Arthur, had their eyes shut in concentration. Others, like Selena, Timothy and Lavender looked confident, and others still, like Dahinko, Lelina and Navini, looked worried. Skyler was attempting to comfort Dahinko, who looked extremely sick. Vicki had collapsed into Lola’s chest. Lola was awkwardly patting her on the head. Michael was staring up at the roof, Mikad and Mary mimicking him. Audrey was looking nervously around the room. Gary, Jessica and Erick were all glancing at one another, attempting to converse without sound. Axel and Bobby were simply standing at attention, ready. Vivian was, as usual, distracted by everything, Rose and Cole doing their best to keep her from wandering off. Alexandra was in the corner of the room, by herself. Everywhere Jason looked, he saw uncertainty, fear and suspicion of others. Finally, after what seemed like an interminable amount of time, the speaker in the entrance hall crackled to life.

Ding-Dong! “Bzzt! Just say what's written- oh, is this thing on? Okay, go, go, go!” Brian’s voice sounded distant, as if he had stepped far away from his microphone. “Umm… Hello! I, uh…” Another voice was suddenly speaking. This voice was much softer and lighter than Brian’s, and also much more feminine, with the same whimsical quality about it. “I will be reading your names one by one. When your name is called, you are to go alone to the room directly in front of you. You will then speak aloud on why the victim was killed and how the killer did it. Please be specific.” She spoke as if she was reading lines, almost robotic in a way. “Umm… Then we can start? Alright… Michael Ferrin.” At the mention of his name, Michael jumped up. Then, steeling himself, he walked into the hallway. The door closed behind him. Then, Jason heard another door opening, and a faint click to indicate that the door had closed. For a while, everyone stared at the door. Jason felt a multitude of irrealistic outcomes play in his head. He shook his head, chasing the thought. After what seemed like hours, Michael walked out again, looking pale but relieved. “Lelina Beauvencourt, please.” Lelina, looking to be on the verge of tears, walked in shakily. Michael, looking relieved, asked a question aloud:

“Can I go back to my room?” The speaker fumbled for a moment.

“Yup! No problem! Just make sure to listen to the announcements very carefully to hear if you got it right!” It was Brian’s voice that answered. Michael walked as fast as he could to not be running and headed up to his room. This went on, people being called and leaving, until only five remained. Lavender, Jason, Rose and A all looked nervously at Vivian, who had just been called.

“Oh, it's my turn! See you all later, I guess!” Vivian, not worried about seemingly anything, entered the room. The remaining four looked at her nervously. Surprisingly, she took the shortest amount of time to depict the crime, and another name was called out afterwards.

“Um… Hm… Oh, ok, I guess. A, please.”

A, looking worried, walked in.

“Aww! I was kinda hoping we'd get to hear his first name,” Rose complained. “Ah well! Guess that's just another mystery to solve, huh?” That was the only bit of conversation Rose was able to spark up. Lavender and Jason were completely silent beside her.

“Jason Harlon.”

Jason jumped. At that moment, A walked out of the room, looking paler than before. He hurriedly made his way back to his room. Careful not to let his nerves betray him, Jason walked confidently into the hallway. Then, he pulled on the doorknob to the center room. Oh, right. Jason instead pushed the door open.

The room was quite bare. In the center was a large, open space that was only defined by an opulent gold rug spread out to cover the floor. Bookshelves were aligned neatly on the walls, a thin layer of dust having already spread on the books. At the center of each wall hung a crude crayon drawing of a stickman sitting on a pile of money - Jason could only guess that Francis had younger relatives that he was awfully proud of. Aside from that, the room was empty. A simple light hung from the ceiling, and as with the rest of the house, there were no windows of any kind. Unsure of what to do, Jason stepped into the center of the room.

“Do I just say everything out loud?” Jason asked, unsure of who he was asking. There was no reply, just silence. After a moment of waiting, Jason decided it would be best to just get on with it. He started describing the crime that has unfolded…

“What's this?” Herny gasped as he bent over to grab a note on the floor. The note read:

Meet me in the kitchen,

Navini

“Why, Navini! I never could have guessed. I had better prepare myself, then!” After having said that, Henry was unsure of what to do. Eventually, he decided to just ignore the preparations and just go naturel, as the French would say. He headed down to the kitchen, ignoring everyone else along the way. When he arrived, a most peculiar sight awaited him. Several dozen hot dogs were laid out on a plate, and with his favorite condiments no less. Another note was present. Henry didn't even notice the note until he was already through about five hot dogs. Eventually, his eyes noticed it, and with a messy hand, he picked it up, slobbering ketchup all over it. This note read:

To my sweet Henry,

Navini

“Oh, my! I really must thank her later for showing her amour in such a way!” Henry said between bites, stuffing hot dog after hot dog down his throat. People came and went, but he did not notice them. Eventually, after he had downed the entire plate of hot dogs, he set out on finding Navini. And everything went black.

When Henry awoke, he awoke to startling pain. His wrist was now bleeding, as were his ankles. They felt like they were on fire. He looked around, trying to bring his wrist to him. He then found out that all his limbs had been shackled to the wall. He tried to scream for help, but his voice had been muffled by a dishcloth in his mouth, tied up like a gag. And in front of him stood the perpetrator, holding a knife in their hand, the hand in question covered in blood. On the counter behind them was a spear, and Henry was afraid of what that might be for. Terrified, Henry could only watch. They picked up the knife and carefully cut a perfect circle in Henry’s left wrist. Henry reeled in pain, the fresh cut smacking against the cold metal shackle. They seemed to almost laugh at the reaction. Then, they picked up the spear, and in one swift movement, slammed it into Henry’s side. Henry’s eyes shot wide open in pain, his mouth attempting to scream but him being unable to. The killer started spinning the spear around, enjoying Henry’s pain. Finally, they finished it. The spear had gone through Henry’s entire body. But Henry was not dead. Hanging on the edge of consciousness, Henry managed to see a camo combat knife plunge towards his chest. Henry didn't move after that, his eyes still wide open in terror. The killer then set out to work. They locked the door to kitchen and began washing their hands. Once they were satisfied that most of the blood was down the drain and out of sight, they flipped the wall panel Henry was now shackled to. This will make for a nice surprise, they thought. They then activated the switch, knowing where Henry's body would end up. Satisfied, they made sure nothing in the kitchen could incriminate them. Then, they exited the kitchen and walked into an empty dining room. Later that night, when the group discovered Henry’s body, they allowed a small laugh before they pretended to be in shock like everyone else. There was no way anyone would find out who they were.

“... And that's what I think happened,” Jason finished his tale. One thing was missing though. Why? Why had the killer gone through all the trouble of torturing Henry, and why had they chosen Henry to begin with? “The only reason I can think of… Is that Henry was vulnerable. His affection towards food and Navini made him an easy target.” Something was still nagging at him, though. He had missed something, he was sure of it. And yet he couldn't think of what it was. Frustrated, he left the room. Lavender and Rose briefly looked up at him when he left.

“Rose Stravor.” The voice said. Rose hastily made her way in. Jason did not stay to watch, and instead made his way back to his room.

He collapsed on his bed almost immediately. For some reason, Jason felt incredibly exhausted. Even so, he couldn't bring his eyes to close, so he lay staring at the ceiling.

“Lavender Greenwood.” Jason gave a cursory glance to the speaker in his room. It seemed that the entire house was privy to whose turn it was. Lavender seemed to know a thing or two about the investigation. One thing Jason had forgotten to ask was why she figured that something was hidden at all. Lavender clearly knew something she was hiding. “Um… Thank you very much for participating. I… Um… We are currently tallying the results. We’ll say who has immunity shortly, so please listen well!” Dong-Ding! Lavender had taken very little time to say her case. Was she that confident, or was she as clueless as most? The minutes seemed to go by in slow motion. Jason was waiting, the tension biting at him. What was going to happen? Suddenly, someone knocked at the door. Jason jumped up from his bed. Steeling himself, he opened the door. Lavender was standing in the hallway.

“Could I come in?” she asked. Not waiting for an answer, she pushed Jason out of the way and sat on his bed. Curious, Jason waited for her to start talking. “I don't know where I should begin…”

“What did you want to talk about?” Jason asked.

“About tonight. When they announce immunity, my name will probably be in there. I know people will immediately be suspicious of them. I trust you, Jason. If I tell you why Henry was killed, do you think you could return the favor?” Jason hesitated for a moment. Lavender was very confident that she had gotten it right. If she was the only name called, she would have suspicion immediately drawn onto her. Plus, Jason wanted to know the reason Henry was killed. He decided to trust Lavender for the time being. He nodded.

“The reason Henry was killed…” Lavender begun, then hesitated herself, as if debating whether telling someone was a right decision or not. Eventually, she made up her mind, and continued. “Well, what I deducted was that he was never supposed to show up to the party,” she said, a note of dramatic in her voice.

“Never supposed to show up? What does that mean?” Jason was legitimately at a loss. How could she know this?

“Well, it's just me guessing, but doesn't twenty-seven seem like an odd number? Why not thirty or twenty-five instead? My thought was that we were supposed to be twenty-five, killer included, which would make a nice, round number. However, Henry wasn't supposed to be among us. I'm guessing the killer decided to finish Henry off… Perhaps they attempted to kill Henry prior to the party, but were unable to? Well, now I'm just assuming. Regardless, the hit list in the library proves as much. Assuming Francis is dead, Henry would have been next, and considering the tearing on the list, I would want to assume that Henry was supposed to be the last victim.”

“Hang on. You're acting as if Francis is confirmed dead. He could very well be behind this! Or are you suggesting that a toddler is the mastermind?” Jason protested.

“I know it sounds incredulous. Quite frankly, Francis might very well be alive - I don't have any idea on the matter. However, the killer clearly thinks he’s dead, so they targeted Henry next. Look at the way the note is torn,” she said, and pulled out the note Jason had observed earlier in the library. “See? The top part of the note is ripped like if it was torn, but the bottom is a perfectly horizontal cut. I assumed this meant that the note had names prior to these, but none after. Which means…”

“Henry wasn't supposed to be here after all!” Jason completed her thought, now realizing what she meant. “But wait - the way you're talking now, it seems like you realized it immediately. Why didn't you-” but Jason was interrupted.

Ding-Dong! “Ahem! Hello everyone! Long time no see! Well, hear, I guess. Anyways,” Brian’s whimsical yet chilling voice had replaced the feminine voice Jason had heard earlier. “The immunity winners are here! Well, winner, I should say. Immunity this evening goes to…” Brian began tapping furiously, like a drumroll. “Lavender Greenwood! Congratulations! You've escaped punishment tonight! As for the rest of you… Well, one of you clearly wasn't paying attention tonight! Try harder next time! Well, I'd say that, but there won't BE a next time! Bwahahahahahaha! See you tomorrow!” Dong-Ding!

Jason looked at Lavender for a moment. That undoubtedly proved that she was correct in her assumption. Then, he remembered what he was saying before Brian announced everything.

“Why didn't you tell Lelina, Vivian and I? We could have had immunity too!” Jason complained. Lavender stood up and headed to the door. She put her hand on the doorknob and turned to Jason to speak.

“I don't trust either of them. The killer could be anyone, and although I'd hate to think it could be one of them, the possibility remains. They could have spotted what I did as well, you know.”

“Alright, but then why are you telling me now?” Jason retorted. Somehow, before she even said the answer, he realized why.

“I said we were supposed to be twenty-five, Jason. Which means someone else wasn't supposed to be here. Of course, since you're here because of someone else's invitation - someone who, might I add, is crossed out on the hit list - it means that the other person who wasn't supposed to be here was you. That's why I think you're the least likely candidate in being the killer. It would make a lot more sense to believe that the killer wouldn't come up with an elaborate excuse to show up to the party, but would rather impersonate someone who was supposed to be here to begin with. I'd watch your back if I were you, Jason.” With that ominous note, she opened the door and shut it behind her, giving Jason no time to reply.

Jason lay on his bed, his eyes somehow even more open than they had been before Lavender had walked in. Not only had he been completely wrong in guessing the motive behind Henry’s murder, Lavender’s revelation was shocking. Henry wasn't supposed to be here? Of course, he had already known that he himself wasn't supposed to be here. After all, Ariana was supposed to have taken her place here. Did that make him a likely victim in the near future? Somehow, he knew he wasn't going to be punished. Then, who? Who failed so badly that Brian was going to kill them? And even that seemed unlikely! How would he kill them? He felt within him that tonight was going to be a sleepless night. Somehow, going to the kitchen felt somewhat wrong. Jason instead headed to the library, and he began looking at the books available. They were all works of nonfiction, Jason noticed, and were classed alphabetically. Disappointed, Jason remembered that the recreation room had fantasy novels in it. Before leaving, however, Jason decided to have a look at the book in which the hit list was hidden. The Study of Talent was a thin book hidden in between two much bigger books. The author was Sir Francis Helmsburg. Wait, Jason thought. Sir Francis authored this book? This really was the perfect book to hide something in. However, when Jason opened it, he found most of the pages torn up beyond recognition. The pages had not been ripped out - rather, they had been slashed up, a hole going clean through most of the pages, denting the cover at the back. In their fury, someone had stabbed right through its contents. Jason would not have been able to decipher anything. Disappointed, he put the book back. A sudden fatigue washed over him, and he headed to his room. He fell right to sleep.

The next morning, Jason’s eyes felt like lead. He barely managed to get himself out of bed. He decided to wake up by taking a shower. After his shower, his mind felt a lot clearer. He dressed himself and headed downstairs. Going into the dining room, he felt a solemn and depressing atmosphere. Everyone wore glum expressions. Jason noticed that the name tags from the initial party were back. However, at his seat, the name tag with Ariana Beverly had been clumsily scribbled out, and in bright red crayon was written JASON HARLIN. Jason cringed a little when seeing his name misspelt. He hastily flipped it over so that no one noticed. He noticed that A had done the same thing. Selena was busy congratulating Lavender with exaggerated movements, the latter of whom looked extremely uncomfortable. No one else was talking or making any noise. It seemed they were all anticipating that someone would not show up, and yet as time went on, it became clear that everyone had shown up. Everyone was sitting nervously, no one caring to go the kitchen. It was at that moment that Jason noticed the empty seat that belonged to Henry. Well, it should have been empty. Instead, someone had hung a frame with Henry’s picture in it. In bright red crayon, someone had drawn a large X on his picture. In his plate, as opposed to his name tag, the oversized fork he had owned was placed so that the tips were pointing to his picture. Jason thought this was an odd touch - who would have bothered to do such a thing? As if in answer to his thought, Brian suddenly appeared, wearing a huge smile that contrasted with everyone’s glum looks.

“Howdy everyone! Boy, it feels like I just walked into a funeral! What gives?” He looked around at everyone, most of whom glared appropriately back at him. “Bwahahahaha! What's with your scary expressions? Oh well - you couldn't help it if you tried! But let's get right to the main event! I'm sure you're all wondering the same thing - everyone is here! Does that mean Brian isn't going to punish someone? Well, to that I have one thing to say…” Brian paused, then he pushed something in the room he was actually in. “Don't get too comfortable!”

It all happened fast. In the blink of an eye, even. Spears, similar to the one that had pierced Henry, shot out of the floor from a barely visible trapdoor. No one reacted quickly enough. And even though everyone’s reaction should have been to help them, Jason and the others could only stare. The world around them froze. The spears met their target with a horrible sound of pierced flesh and blood spurting. The victim managed to look down before the spears retreated into the trap and their body slumped onto the table, smearing blood all over the white tablecloth. Everyone simply stared for a few moments. Shakily, Navini was the first to get up, and she checked them for a pulse.

Jason knew the answer she was going to give before she even gave it.

“Nothing,” she said simply. Everyone stared for a moment, emotions having been replaced with shock and fear.

He could never have seen it coming. The world's best actor, Erick Orbison, was slumped over on the table, blood pouring out of countless open wounds on his body.

SURVIVORS : 25