Even though Jason had known Mikad would be the victim, it didn’t make it any easier. Navini fainted as soon as the cover of the vent had been removed, and Cole began crying and hyperventilating. Jason, unable to tear his eyes off the bloody mess that was supposed to be Mikad, awkwardly shuffled over to Cole to try and reassure him.

“Aaaaaaaahh!” someone screamed. Dahinko had just returned, Skyler and Lavender having tagged along with him. Lavender sighed and Skyler let out a gasp in shock. Immediately, Lavender rushed to the vent.

“Someone help me. He’s slipping,” Lavender stated. It was true – due to all the blood and the removal of the grate as a support, Mikad’s body began sliding out of the vent. Paler than ever, Skyler headed to the vent and helped Lavender retrieve the body.

“I’m going to need a shower after this,” Skyler muttered.

“Tell me about it,” Jason said as he felt his hair, which was now sticky with blood. The bookshelf flipped open once more, and Selena walked in, apparently not the least bit shocked to find a dead body in the vent.

“Well, this isn’t any fun. Anyone with half a brain knew he would be the next victim,” Selena commented. Everyone pretended to ignore her. The bookshelf spun again, but this time, it stopped after completing a 90 degree turn, allowing people to enter and exit at will. Jason suspected that Brian had something to do with this, but since there were no cameras in this room, Brian couldn’t make himself appear to tell them. Hang on. If Brian can’t see in this room, then how does he know how the killer murdered Mikad? Jason thought.

“Brian probably already knows,” Lavender said aloud, having had the same thought. “Or maybe the killer will tell him when they go in the room to explain the murder. Either way, Brian will know the answer,” she explained.

“Ugh. There, I moved it,” Skyler said, somewhat disgusted. Mikad’s bloody mess of a corpse now lay on his bed, immediately drenching the covers into a scarlet-red color. From here, it was easier to see the large slash across Mikad’s neck. After having stepped away from the body, Skyler went to see Dahinko, who looked no better than Cole or Navini.

“Oh, and since you didn’t listen to me last time, no one wake up Navini – an easy out is something rather lovely, don’t you think?” Selena reiterated. As if in spite, Navini came to, looking really pale, like she would pass out again at any moment. Selena frowned, and began to investigate Mikad’s body.

“I’m… sorry guys,” Navini apologized. “I don’t think I’m… in a condition to do an autopsy right now…”

“It’s alright,” Lavender replied. “We can figure it out ourselves. But, you don’t plan on not doing anything during the investigation, right? Look what happened to Lola!”

“Unless you and Mikad have another sob story,” Selena interjected. “If so, out with it. I’d like to get my pretending to care out of the way.”

“You’re actually a demon, you know that?” Navini spat the words. Selena reveled in it.

“I’ve been called worse,” Selena replied. Navini rolled her eyes and got up, seeming more determined than earlier. “Good!” Selena exclaimed. “You might be a bit of competition after all! There’s no fun in having an easy out, you know.” Satisfied, Selena walked out of the room. Everyone in the room simultaneously rolled their eyes.

“Um… If you, uh, want, I’d like to, um, do the, um, autopsy, ha, ha…” Cole stammered. Jason nodded, and Cole set out to work.

“Jason, Dahinko, can you help me up into the vent? There’s something I’d like to see,” Lavender asked. They both nodded. Dahinko got onto Jason’s shoulders, and Lavender onto his. Lavender’s upper body was in the vent, seeming looking around. “I could use a flashlight,” she mentioned, her voice echoed by the vent. Jason started hearing taps on the metal, indicating that she was feeling her way in the vent. “Hm. Nothing except more blood. Alright, I can come down,” Lavender sighed disappointedly. Jason hoisted her and Dahinko down, a weight having been lifted from his shoulders. “Looks like the vent isn’t going to be that important of a clue,” Lavender remarked.

“Honestly, the how doesn’t interest me that much,” Dahinko mentioned. “I’m more interested in the why behind it. I mean, he was obviously slashed with a knife in the throat before being stabbed. A child could figure that out, right? But why? Why kill him now?”

“Why, indeed...?” Lavender mumbled before losing herself in her thoughts. Jason set out to investigating the room Mikad had been staying in until now. Strangely, none of the other house guests had entered the secret room. They’ll figure it out soon enough, Jason thought. Aside from Mikad’s mangled body and the silver pistol, nothing stood out to him. He picked up the pistol to look at it. No blood, no scratches, nothing – wait. No scratches? That thought leaped out at Jason. The pistol had been thrown down the stone shaft, right? Even assuming it somehow had avoided to walls, it should have been damaged when it hit the floor. In fact, the pistol being in one piece seemed to be a bit of a stretch. The biggest mystery concerning the pistol was, of course, how it even got in this room to begin with. He’d have to ask Michael to recount the events of his capture of Mikad to get a clearer picture. Suddenly, the room erupted with screams. Jason turned around to see that everyone still alive had seen Mikad’s body.

“What the hell?” A exclaimed.

“Oh my,” Jessica commented. “And he only… yawn… just came back to us, too.”

“Why didn’t you guys tell us sooner?” Axel asked. “Brian kept dancing around the question when we asked him. He just kept on saying: “But if they found it, you should too!” and just being of no help in general.”

“That’s my brother…” Anne-Marie sighed. Jason had almost forgotten about her. She was nervously and frantically combing her hair, her hand moving vigorously back and forth. “Anything for a good show. I guess he thought it’d be entertaining to have to pick between a few people who had no idea what had happened.”

“I think we’ve already established that your brother is a psycho,” Timothy commented.

“He’s not psychotic, he’s just evil,” Anne-Marie replied. “He lacks compassion and empathy, that’s all.”

“She says that like there’s any difference,” Rose mumbled. “So, y’all have any idea what happened?” She turned to ask the group.

“Well, if you just looked at the body, the answer becomes evident,” Lavender noted.

“Well, no duh,” Rose answered. “I mean, why him? Everyone was still real suspicious of him, ya know? Doesn’t really make sense…”

“Maybe the killer sensed a bad omen, like a flower’s petals turning ever so slightly darker,” Vivian said to no one in particular. No one paid her any attention.

“It is a bit of a mystery,” Skyler answered, ignoring Vivian’s comment. “We’ll have to investigate. In the meantime, I need to wash off. I’ll be back in a few,” he added before leaving to his room.

“I’ll go wash too. I got blood all over my hair,” Jason explained. He left the room, leaving everyone else to argue over Mikad’s fate.

In truth, Jason had no intention of washing his hair. Instead, he headed straight to the entrance hall, where the dull thudding of fists hitting wood continued to resonate. Michael hadn’t even realized that everyone was in the recreation room, as he was in deep focus. Jason walked up to him and loudly cleared his throat. Michael stopped hammering on the door and turned around to look at Jason.

“Yeah? Whaddaya want?” Michael asked, clearly displeased at having been interrupted. His eyes then noticed the patch of dried blood in Jason’s hair. “Hey! What happened to you?” he asked.

“Never mind that,” Jason answered. “I need you to tell me what happened when you captured Mikad.”

“What?” Michael seemed confused. “Why do you want to know that? Did something happen?” Michael’s eyes widened. Jason nodded glumly. It seemed that Michael understood exactly what had happened. “So, we have to do it again…” He mumbled.

“Please, Michael. Can you tell me exactly what happened? In full detail?” Jason asked again.

“Alright, alright. But only because it helps with the investigation, right?” Michael asked. Jason nodded. “Okay, then. The way I remember it… I was in the kitchen, up for a midnight snack, you know, when the door opened. I was about to say hi when I noticed who had walked in. I crouched so he couldn’t see me, and then, I jumped him. He tried to shoot the roof to get someone’s attention, but luckily for me, no one came. I disarmed him and knocked him out. At the time, I wasn’t sure if I had killed him or not, but he seemed to be breathing, so I went with him. I shackled him to the wall, thinking it was as good a way as any, and I went in front of the kitchen to stand guard,” Michael

finished.

“Hang on; what about the pistol?” Jason asked. “You said you had thrown it down the shaft, right?”

“Actually, that was a lie,” Michael revealed with a sheepish grin. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know what happened to it. I looked for it after having left the kitchen for, I don’t know, ten minutes? I figured it would be bad if someone found it, so I was going to keep it on me, but when I went back in the kitchen, it was gone.” Jason had to wonder where exactly Michael thought he could hide it – his shorts didn’t seem very roomy.

“Gone? In ten minutes?” Jason was skeptical. Yet, what reason did Michael have to lie now?

“Weird, right? I didn’t think too much about it at the time. I figured since it was gone, who cares? As long as it wasn’t incriminating me, right?” Michael laughed boisterously. Jason scratched his head. None of this made sense! He had to investigate the kitchen; the blood in his hair could wait. Michael headed upstairs to try and find where everyone else was.

Upon entering the kitchen, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The rotating wall was showing the side with the shackles, still bloodstained, but aside from that, nothing seemed weird. Jason had to think. Logically, if Michael was standing guard for the ten minutes he was out of the kitchen for, this means that someone was in the room when Michael and Mikad fought. Where would they have been hiding? The only possible place was… Under the sink! Jason rushed to the sink and swung the doors open. At first glance, nothing seemed to be there. However, something caught his eye. Right below the keys to the shackles lay a camo combat knife. Jason rushed to grab the knife and took a good look at it. Hidden underneath it were two silver bullets. Two bullets? The killer’s signature knife? This visit to the kitchen had raised more questions than it had answered. Looking at the doors underneath the sink, Jason noticed that one of them seemed to have had some paint scraped off. In fact, a pile of wood shavings and paint bits lay in the corner of the small section under the sink. Jason noticed that some of them were much darker than others, the otherwise white paint having been turned into a dark gray. Leaving the kitchen, Jason was left with a lot to think about. He headed for his room, hoping to take a shower to wash off the blood and mull over the new information he had discovered.

As he let the water from the shower wash out the blood in his hair, he thought over what he had learned from his investigation in the kitchen and by talking to Michael. Michael only mentioned one shot from Mikad’s gun, but Jason had very clearly seen two bullets in the kitchen. What did it mean? Did Michael somehow only see and hear one bullet? But a gunshot in such proximity – there was no way he hadn’t heard it. Then was he lying? Why would he lie? Despite him wanting to ask questions to Michael, he knew it would be dangerous – Michael was no doubt on edge, and if Jason asked the wrong question… Besides, other people would soon be flooding Michael with questions, and he was probably in his room to avoid talking to them altogether. Then where could he learn the truth? The answer dawned on him after a few minutes. He leaped out of the shower, threw some clothes on, and rushed to find the person who could answer his question.

“Yeah? What is it?” Rose asked a breathless Jason, who had just run around the house to try and find her. Eventually, he had found her in the main hall, observing Michael, who was still hammering away at the door.

“This morning...,” Jason began, “you mentioned that you had heard a gunshot from the kitchen, right?”

“Oh yeah, that. Well, I did, but I don’t see what it has to do with anything,” Rose replied.

“Well, the gunshot isn’t what I wanted to ask about. Well, kind of,” Jason explained. “When you heard the shot, how many shots did you hear? One or two?”

“So, you’re askin’ me if I heard one or two gunshots? Well, lemme see…,” Rose thought about it for a while. “Hmm… Well, I can’t be too sure,” she finally answered. “Cause, I got woken up by something, and then a few seconds later, I heard the gunshot. You’re sayin’ that there were two gunshots, right?” Jason nodded in reply. “Then… maybe that’s what woke me up! This might seem like a bit of a stretch, but maybe you should try askin’ Vivian what she heard. If you can make sense of anything she says,” she suggested. “Well, whaddaya know. There she is now!” As soon as Rose stopped speaking, Vivian came twirling into the main hall.

“Jason, Rose,” Vivian curtsied. “What brings you two into this hallway on this fine day?”

“You act like we have a choice,” Rose muttered. “There’s been another murder, you know!”

“Another murder? Who was it this time?” Vivian asked dreamily. “My flowers whisper Mikad’s name into my ears… Are they correct?” Jason nodded glumly.

“Your flowers whisper things to you? Yup. You’re crazy,” Rose concluded.

“Nonsense! Someone who cannot speak the language of the flora cannot judge those who do,” Vivian rebutted. Rose rolled her eyes.

“In any case…” Jason tried to change the subject. “Vivian, do you remember what you heard this morning? The gunshot, specifically?”

“Ah, yes, the battle of two earths for a fair flower’s heart…” Vivian answered dreamily.

“Right…” Jason answered, confused at the analogy. “Well, in this, uh, battle, how many gunshots did you hear?”

“The battle was fought, and when all seemed lost, the other side retaliated. It all happened in an instant,” Vivian replied. “I do not know that which my flowers did not hear, you see,” she elaborated. Jason was somehow even more confused.

“So, if I’m to translate that into English,” Rose joked, “what would that say?”

“Exactly what I said,” Vivian replied. “The battle took two tries to be completed. After all, no side wanted to lose the flower’s undying love, you see?” Vivian added, and twirled away before anyone could ask anything else. Rose stood there, dumbfounded, while Jason tried to make sense of what he had just heard.

“Hang on. If there were two battles…” Jason thought aloud.

“Don’t try to make sense of that mumbo-jumbo,” Rose suggested. “I seriously think she’s crazy. Too bad the world’s best crazy helper or translator isn’t here,” Rose chuckled. To Jason, however, Vivian had cleared everything up. He now had a thorough understanding of the case. Now, only one thing was missing…

Ding-Dong! “Hello! Hello! Can you all -bzzt!- me? Good, good! Now, you must know the drill by now. No crying that I didn’t give you enough time, either! I managed to figure it out pretty quickly! Oh, and I want details this time. When exactly did the killer pick Mikad as their target? Consider this a super secret special hint – Mikad wasn’t the original target! Now, enough spoilers – let’s get on with the main event! Everyone report in front of the hallway, as usual! Oh, and bonus points for anyone who finds Anne-Marie – I have no idea where she’s vanished off to. Later!” Dong-Ding!

“What? Already?” Rose complained. “He barely gave us enough time! What about Cole’s autopsy report? We haven’t gotten any details at all!”

“I don’t think there’s much to learn from his body,” Michael replied. He had stopped punching the wall when Brian’s announcement had come on, and had now joined Jason and Rose in front of the hallway. “I mean, he was stabbed, right? Unless there’s anything else?”

“Haven’t you seen Mikad’s body, Michael?” Jason asked. Michael shook his head.

“Nope! But Lavender gave me a pretty good understanding of what happened. He got his neck slashed and he was stuffed in a vent, right? Simple as that. But what was all that about not being the original target? As if we’re supposed to know who was originally targeted!”

“In any case, I’d still like to talk to Cole,” Jason said. “I’m curious as to what he found. Maybe there was something useful.” People began filing into the main hall and waiting near the hallway. Even Gary had been forced out of his room in order to attend. Jason had to wonder how long Gary would last – shutting himself away from everyone was surely not the best survival strategy. Eventually, Cole walked into the hallway, trembling like a leaf, accompanied by Lavender. “Hey, Cole!” Jason exclaimed and motioned for him to come talk to him. Cole walked towards Jason, Lavender accompanying him. “I was just wondering about your autopsy report,” Jason asked when he had come close enough.

“Oh, ah, that, ha…,” Cole stammered nervously. “Um… To be, uh, entirely honest, I’m, uh, not sure if I found, uh, anything important, ha, ha… I mean, maybe, but, uh, I don’t, uh, think so…”

“It’s mostly things we already knew,” Lavender summarized. “Died from blood loss, stabbed in the heart, etcetera. There was one thing that was kind of interesting, though, wasn’t there?” Lavender nudged Cole.

“Oh, uh, you mean, uh, that, right?” Cole asked. “Well, uh, he had a, um, huge cut on his, uh, chest, near where the heart was… My theory is that he, uh, was slashed, but why, I, uh, don’t know… We also found a bloodied-up stepladder, and a poncho and some gloves, bloodied too, ha…” Cole looked extremely worried.

“To be honest, I’m unsure why he was slashed, either,” Lavender confessed. “Brian did me no favors by adding that slight complication of that “find the original target” nonsense. Was there evidence in the secret room somewhere?”

“Were you in the secret room the entire time?” Jason asked. Lavender nodded, and Cole vigorously shook his head ‘yes’. “Then am I the only one who looked in the kitchen?”

“The kitchen?” Lavender asked, intrigued. “Of course! I should have known there would be something there. What did you find?” she asked. Before Jason could answer, the speakers crackled to life.

Ding-Dong! “Hello, hello! So, are we ready? No more talking! That means you, Jason. Oh, and thank you to Selena for finding Anne-Marie for me! It won’t save you if you get it wrong, but it, um… Puts in a few points with me, I guess. It just wouldn’t be the same without her, right? Anyways, without further ado, here’s Anne-Marie! Come on, get over here!” … “Ow, ow, ow! Ok, I get it brother, stop pulling my hair! Okay, um, hello everyone… I guess we have to start, huh? Okay… Axel Rider, please.”

Axel jumped after hearing his name called. Reluctantly, he made his way to the interrogation room. After what seemed like an eternity, he came back, looking paler than before, and left to his room. One by one, everyone went into the room. Eventually, only Jason and Cole were left, waiting on Navini, who seemed to be taking longer than everyone else. Jason began to be worried. What was taking her so long? Finally, after having spent double the time anyone else spent in there, she left, her face freshly soaked with tears. Are you okay? Jason mouthed to her. She shook her head and ran off to her room. Jason was suddenly worried for her life.

“Cole Dendricks,” Anne-Marie said through the speakers. Cole nervously made his way over to the room, and after taking a third of the time Navini had, he left. Jason was left alone in the hallway. Strangely enough, Anne-Marie did not seem to be calling his name. Jason waited patiently. After a few minutes of silence, Jason walked into the room without being called. Once in the room, he stood in the center, waiting for some sort of reply.

“Oh! Jason! Uh, sorry about that,” Brian’s voice crackled through the speakers. “I forgot to put you on my list… Well, you may begin!” he added, and after a fit of laughter, the speakers died out. Jason sighed and began telling the story of Mikad’s murder…

“Man, I am starving,” Mikad thought aloud as he made his way down to the kitchen. “Who knew dried food could have so little in terms of actual calories?” Mikad made his way down to the kitchen. No one should be up now, he thought. However, when he opened the door to the kitchen, he saw the one person he didn’t want to see – Michael Ferrin. However, it seemed that he hadn’t noticed Mikad yet. Mikad looked around the room, and just as he was about to leave, he noticed something. The two doors beneath the sink were slightly ajar, and through them, Mikad noticed a pair of eyes staring at Michael. Normally, Mikad would have sprinted the other way, but that was when he noticed the camo combat knife peeking out of the door, ready to stab Michael with. He acted without thinking – he shot the person who was behind the doors. However, since Michael was in the way, he missed, the bullet instead hitting the door instead of the target. Michael turned around, shocked by the gunshot, and saw Mikad in the doorway. Michael easily grabbed Mikad and pinned him to the ground.

“HEY! What do you think you’re doing, trying to shoot me, you little murderer?” Michael spat in Mikad’s face.

“Wait! Please! I was only-”

“You think I give a damn? You tried to kill me, punk!” Michael roared.

“Help! Someone, help!” Mikad began yelling. He tried to fire at the person in the sink again, but Michael had pressed his hand onto Mikad’s wrist, and the shot ricocheted off the wall and hit the roof. Michael, in a fit of rage, used both his fists and smacked Mikad over the head. Mikad became limp, his gun dropping out of his hands. For all Michael was concerned with, Mikad had just tried to kill him. It was perfect! There was no way they wouldn’t believe him now. For safekeeping, Michael decided to shackle Mikad on the wall. He left the kitchen to stand guard. After a few minutes, he remembered the silver pistol that Mikad had more than likely dropped somewhere. He went back in to grab the pistol and keep it, but when he returned to the kitchen, the gun was gone. Shrugging, Michael left the kitchen to stand guard.

Beneath the sink, the world’s best killer had to supress a fit of laughter. They now held both the bullets and the silver pistol. If they were lucky, everyone else would kill Mikad, and they would be able to continue with their original plan of killing Michael. But why not simply kill Mikad here? Well, there was no fun there. On top of that, Michael was now standing guard in front of the kitchen. There was no way out for them. They would have to wait until everyone had gathered, and they would then be able to leave. That was when they thought of a plan to kill Mikad instead – a plan that seemed much more fun than killing Michael.

“I’ve got an idea! Stay here!” Mikad rushed out of the kitchen, leaving Navini behind. Mikad rushed into the secret room, thinking of using the blankets there as an impromptu rope. However, the second he hopped off the bookshelf, his eyes noticed the pistol. Immediately, his eyes widened considerably. He turned to reach the bookshelf, but at that moment, it turned, and someone entered the secret room. Someone who shouldn’t have known about the secret room. Mikad, forced to back away, looked panicked. The killer smiled, taking a knife out and waving it in Mikad’s direction. Frantic, Mikad tried to tackle them out of the way, but the killer was much stronger than they let on. They easily caught Mikad and, wanting to make this easier, slit his throat. Mikad collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony for a few short seconds. Then, the light left his eyes, never to return. For good measure, the killer also slit his chest, and then stabbed the knife into Mikad’s heart. Mikad was bleeding quite a lot, but the killer had work to do. They had brought plenty of equipment with them. Using gloves and a poncho, they covered themselves up and moved Mikad’s body under the vent. Using a stepladder and a screwdriver, they moved Mikad’s body into the vent, and resealed it very loosely, so those idiots could eventually find his body. The killer knew that Brian would wait a while before the trumpets went off, in order to give them time to dispose of everything. Almost as if Michael was working with them, he provided a nice distraction while he hammered on the door. Finally, they used the blankets in Mikad’s room to soak up the blood, making sure only a puddle beneath the vent was left. Then, they stashed everything away, dumping the retractable stepladder into the trunk. The poncho and gloves followed suit, and they brought the screwdriver back with them. Conveniently, everyone had left the hallway, and they were able to return to their room without being seen to wash off the blood. Then, once they were cleaned and dried, the trumpets sounded, and they pretended to act surprised and angry with everyone else. Deep down, they were relieved everything had gone according to plan.

“…and that’s everything that happened in this murder,” Jason concluded. Nothing seemed to be missing, either. He had confirmed that Michael had indeed been the original target, and that the killer had been trapped under the sink for some while, though whether they were still there before Jason woke up, he had no idea. It seemed complete. He then proceeded to leave the room. The minute he re-entered the main hallway, he was face to face with Lavender.

“So?” she asked. Jason shrugged. “Who was the original target? I’m guessing there were clues in the kitchen, right?”

“Yeah. A combat knife and two bullets,” Jason confirmed.

“It was Michael! I should have known,” Lavender exclaimed. “And here I thought you might have been the original target, Jason.”

“Me? On what basis?” Jason asked, intrigued.

“Well, again, you’re not supposed to be here, remember?” Lavender explained. “On top of that, you’re being a real thorn in Brian’s side right now…”

“You can say that again. He forgot I even had to tell what happened,” Jason mumbled.

“He forgot?” Lavender asked. Jason nodded. “That is… very strange, to say the least.”

“Apparently, he forgot to put me on the list,” Jason told her. “I don’t buy it, to be honest.”

“Neither do I,” Lavender stated. “Still… I am curious. Why would he forget about you?”

Ding-Dong! “Ahem! Hello -bzzt!-one! I have the results for immunity. Immunity tonight goes to… Jason Harlon! Congratulations! As for everyone else, well, let’s just say that no one should feel safe tonight! Bwahahahahaha! Good night!” Dong-Ding!

“Well, congratulations, I suppose,” Lavender sighed after Brian had stopped talking. “It seems you were right. Maybe you should tell Michael about it?” With that, she headed back to her room. Jason contemplated telling Michael that he was the original target. Eventually, he decided it was the right thing to do. He headed upstairs and knocked on Michael’s door.

After several minutes of waiting, Jason began to be worried. He leaned against the door, trying to hear anything. He could hear someone quietly sobbing inside. He knocked again. The sobbing stopped, and the door swung open.

“Yeah? What do you want?” Michael asked, his eyes wet.

“I was wondering if I could talk to you about something,” Jason asked. Michael nodded and let him into his room. Proportionally, it was identical to Jason’s, but on every wall hung a belt that Michael had presumably won from his boxing matches. On a hook above his bed hung two bright green boxing gloves. His closet’s door was open, and Jason could see that the person hosting this party had neglected to give Michael any shirts. Instead, the closet housed several carbon copies of Michael’s skin-tight shorts. Aside from those things, Michael’s room was identical to Jason’s in every way.

“So? What did you want to tell me?” Michael asked, clearly displeased at having been bothered.

“I thought you should know something,” Jason began. “As you heard through the speakers, I got immunity. The reason I did was because of you, ironically. When you told me about the pistol in the kitchen, I went to go check it out. I found two bullets and a combat knife under the sink,” Jason continued. Michael’s eyes widened, as if he was realizing what Jason was insinuating. “Michael, why didn’t you tell me that Mikad had tried to shoot you twice?”

“I didn’t think much of it, to be honest,” Michael grunted. “He tried to kill me either way – what did it matter that he shot once or twice?”

“It mattered greatly, actually,” Jason countered. “In actuality, Mikad didn’t try to shoot you when he shot in your direction – he was trying to save your life.”

“Save my life? By shooting me?” Michael looked confused.

“There was someone underneath the sink yesterday night,” Jason revealed. “The world’s best killer, to be exact. And you were their target that night.” Michael’s eyes widened even more. “When Mikad walked in, he noticed them under the sink, and he tried to shoot them. When he did-”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. I panicked and thought he was shooting me. And when I went to the bathroom that night, the killer left the room. So, basically, you came here to chastise me about capturing Mikad?” Michael concluded.

“No, not really,” Jason answered. “I just thought you should have known that you were the original target. Which means that you can’t be the killer. Anyone else can be.”

“I guess that’s a relief,” Michael sighed. “Still… It’s my fault Mikad is dead, right? No one else’s…”

“Michael…” Jason wasn’t sure what to answer. Michael seemed at a loss. Jason decided it would be best if he left Michael alone for the night. Exhausted, Jason returned to his room and collapsed onto his bed, drifting into a deep sleep.

The next morning, Jason was very cautious as he exited his room. He kept waiting to hear a scream, a shout, or a plea for help, and yet nothing came. No one was in the hallway, either. Cautiously, he headed down to the dining room, where to his surprise, everyone had gathered. Even Gary had left his room to partake. Surprisingly, both Navini and Michael were present. If Jason had to pick who would have been punished, it would have been one of those two.

“Jason!” Lavender exclaimed when he walked in. Everyone turned to look at him. “I thought you were the one who… you know…”

“T…that couldn’t have b…been possible, r…right?” Lelina mumbled. “He h…had immunity…”

“You never know,” Selena hummed. “Who knows what that psycho baby has planned? In any case, take a seat, Jason. I’m excited to see what comes next.”

“Good morning, everyone,” someone yawned behind Jason. Anne-Marie walked into the room, her long hair dragging on the floor behind her. “Oh! Everyone is here. What a surprise! Now, which seat is mine?” she asked. No one answered, so she simply sat on the empty seat next to Selena. Jason sat down, anxious as to what was going to occur. Jason felt as though he was suffocating in the tense atmosphere. Everyone was glancing around nervously, as if they expected their neighbour to drop dead on the spot. Jason noticed that to his left, a picture of Mikad hung on his chair, having also been crossed out with a bright red X. A silver bullet lay in his plate. Jason thought that Brian paying tribute to the dead was a bit of an odd thing – although maybe it served as a perpetual reminder of what was at stake, rather than it being a tribute. Jason would have thought that the first thing Brian would have thought to put there was the silver pistol, but perhaps Brian couldn’t exit his hiding spot for fear of being seen. On top of that, if the killer went to retrieve it, it would only attract more suspicion onto them. Picking up one of the silver bullets in the kitchen did seem much more simple. Suddenly, Brian fizzled into the room, and even blaring sirens and strobe lights wouldn’t have announced a louder entrance. Everyone, including Anne-Marie, turned to look at him. He reveled in the fearful and tense atmosphere he had just created.

“Howdy everyone! Boy, everyone looks so glum this morning. Gee, I wonder why…?” Brian asked himself. “Oh, that’s right! I have to punish one of you! Hmm… Eenie, meenie, minie… Who to pick, who to pick? I won’t hide it from you guys – there are several people I could pick right now. Hmm…” Everyone was on edge. Beads of sweat were forming on Michael’s forehead, and Lelina looked just about ready to pass out. Selena was the only one who was eagerly looking at Brian, anticipating his next move. “I’ve got it! Now, how do I do it…?” Brian asked himself. He began walking across the table, his feet fizzling through the plates and silverware. Everyone’s eyes were glued to his every move, the tension in the room almost bone-crushing. “A-ha! I’ve got it!” He said, stopping at the other end of the table. He dramatically raised his hand and, savoring the tense looks on everyone’s face, snapped his fingers.

A gunshot could be heard resonating across the room.

It was slow. Blood began trickling from their forehead. It seemed that they hadn’t even realized what had just happened. Eventually, their hand went up to their head and felt the bullet hole. Then, they collapsed, their eyes wide open. They had been staring at Sir Francis Helmsburg’s portrait, which now had a hole the size of a bullet.

Behind the portrait, Jason saw a glimmer of silver.

Jason should have known. He had even warned them that it was coming. His eyes wide open as his burly form collapsed to the floor, Michael Ferrin should have known he would be the next one punished.

SURVIVORS: 21