The Quietus

Chapter Seventeen

"Alright, no, there is no way I'm drinking that." Preston glares at the cup in Liberty's hand. It smelt horrible and the color was a disgusting brown color.

"It's your dare Preston, you gotta drink it." Damian smirks. This was his revenge for Preston making him eat a sardine earlier. Liberty sighed and handed the cup to Preston before walking over and talking to Jax.

"What's even in this?" He asks, holding it an arms length away from himself.

"I'm not sure, I kinda just grabbed random stuff from the pantry and threw it in." Damian shrugs. Preston takes the smallest sip physically possible and gags.

"Oh my gosh that's horrible." He complains. Without a second thought he turns and dumps the rest down the sink. "I'm never doing anything like this again." He quickly grabs a new cup and fills it with water, hoping to wash the taste out of his mouth. "I hate you so much Damian."

There was a scream and everyone looked at each other.

"We forgot about Tristan and River!"

In the nursery Tristan and somehow manage to get the music to stop playing and had figured out a way to calm down River. Now the younger teen was sound asleep, curled up against him. Tristan was positive it had been twenty minutes by now but he wasn't sure and was starting to grow a little tired himself.

He ended up dozing off for about twenty minutes but was woken up by the sound of a scream. "River?" He asks. It was a lot colder then it had been when he had fallen asleep and it took him a second to realize River wasn't on him anymore.

He felt around the wall for a second before flipping on the light. River was curled up in a ball in the corner, his body trembling. "River. Come on River, it's okay."

"S-sorry. I thought I heard something." He mumbled. The room wasn't any less terrifying in the light but at least now Tristan could make sure he was okay: usually when they heard a scream someone was dying.

Tristan sat down and pulled River closer to him to comfort him. "You're alright River. I think it's been twenty min-" the door burst open, Nova and Liberty were standing there.

"Are you guys okay, we heard screaming?" Nova was breathing heavily but still managed to make out some words.

"We're fine. We fell asleep and he had a nightmare. Now if we're done with this stupid game I'm going back to locking myself in my room." Tristan stood up, helping River up well he was at it.

"Alright. Sorry we forgot about you guys."

"Yeah, whatever." With that, Tristan pulled River out of the room and the others just kind of stood there.

"Hey, Tristan, River! You guys should join us for dinner tonight! I'm gonna cook." Nova says before they disappear into their room.

"Yeah, 'Kay, I guess."

"We'll come down later." And the door was closed then promptly locked.

"Those two are starting to look pretty suspicious." Liberty says.

"I don't know, their cautiousness almost makes me think they aren't the murderer." Preston replies.

"I guess."

Nova and Damian left to the kitchen where they begun to cooking together, their laughing could be heard from the living room where the other four all sat. "Guys, it'll be done soon so one of you should go get Tristan and River."

"They seemed to be having fun." Hope comments. "I wonder what they're making."

"I'm sure we'll know soon enough." Liberty stood. "Hey Jax would you come help me?" She asks. The liar nods and follows her upstairs leaving Hope and Preston alone.

"I think I'll go... grab something from my room." Preston mumbled after sitting in silence for a couple minutes.

Liberty knocked on the door to which was once again answered by a shirtless Tristan. "What?"

"You're like an obnoxious older brother, it's hilarious. Also why are you never wearing a shirt." Liberty asks.

"Because when River says something stupid and I run out of things to throw at him I take of my shirt and throw that." Tristan shrugs. "I figured it would be more appreciated then my throwing a knife at him." He adds. Somewhere from out of sight River yells that it's highly appreciated. "Now what do you want."

"It's time for dinner." Liberty smiles.

"Alright, River did you find Cate?"

"Yup! She was asleep under the bed in a pile of your dirty clothes." River says, crawling out from under the older boy's bed, carefully holding the rat. "Clean up your side of the room!"

"Did you just tell me what to do?"

"N-no."

"Hm, and here I was thinking you weren't a spineless child."

"I hate you." River stared before setting Cate on Tristan's bed and walking past the others at the door. "Let's go!"

The four walked to the kitchen just as Nova and Damian were finishing setting the table and the entire group was complete when Hope and Preston walked in moments later. "This is the first time everyone in the house has eaten together." Nova smiles.

"Yeah..." the group occasionally spoke but for the most part they were pretty quiet. Nova and Liberty managed to hold a conversation and tried to get the others to join but it hardly worked.

Preston was the first to excuse himself, followed by Jax then Tristan and River, Liberty left moments after and Hope was the last to leave so Damian and Nova could clean up.

Hours later everyone was asleep. Or so the house thought but when a scream woke everyone time seemed to slow down.

Hope was the first one at the scene, covered from head to toe in blood as she kneeled over the body. The scream seemed to have been her own. They were downstairs in the nursery when the other founds them, the children's drawings on the walls were splattered in blood and stuff.

"Someone smashed his head in!" Nova looked horrified. "I was hoping maybe it would stop finally. Maybe we could all be friends and find a different way to escape!"

"One of us is a murder Nova! This isn't all fun am games." Liberty says. Hope stopped crying and looked up at all of them.

"Why would someone do this? Why do they keep dying?" She asks.

"Come on Hope, let's get you cleaned up." Nova and Liberty lead her out of the room to the bathroom upstairs, allowing River to be able to see the corpse.

His face pales and Tristan quickly pulled him away, towards the downstairs bathroom where he threw up from the sight of the bashed in skull. Tears were filling his eyes and they steadily streamed down his face. "I wanna go home."

"I know."

Damian and Jax cleaned up the body well the other all calmed down the youngest two of the group before they all met in the living room. Nova sat on Damian's lap well Jax and Liberty sat closely, their faces solemn. Tristan and River were sitting on the floor by the wall on the other side of the stairs and Hope sat alone in a chair.

"We can't put this off anymore. We need to find out who the murderer is." Liberty says.

"How?" River asks.

"Easy, we look through all the murders and see what doesn't quite add up."