Camp Murder (Inanimate Insanity)

Chapter 14 - Blob

The name was crossed out in thick black ink. Emotions hit Fan like a train. First confusion, then terror, then anger and deep inside him was an increasing ball of excitement. He balled up the paper in his fist.

'What type of person does this?'

Fan quickly regretted it; he reopened the paper and smoothed it's luminous surface with a shaking thumb. Pocketing the paper, the redhead joined up with the other three before they could even notice he was gone.
Though told otherwise, there was a single person he knew he could trust with the letter - Test Tube.

Fan swung into the dorm with growing excitement. He spotted Test Tube lurched over Apple's bed, green hair unkempt and hanging limply to the side.
"Test Tube, you got a minute?"
Her solemn face grew into a relieved smile as Fan approached her. "Yeah! Apple is resting; I don't see why not."

Fan slid his hand around her wrist, leading her from the bed to the outside world. They leaned against the cold wood of the dorm. The slimy surface made Test Tube's skin crawl.

Warmth radiated from Fan's body and hand as it held her wrist: she let off an involuntary flush. "D-did you discover a new method of cell division?"
"Better," Fan chirped. His anger had amounted to intense excitement. "Look!"

Test Tube took the paper from his hand. Her eyes scanned it at light-speed, taking in every gruelling detail. She pushed a pair of foggy glasses up her nose. "Golly! This- This is incredible! Fan, where did you find this?"
"It was on a tree stump. What a strange turn of events, right?"
Test Tube was grinning. "This could be the clue we need to ending the killings - Oh, Fan!"

The redhead opened his mouth to speak, interrupted when Test Tube pulled him into a hug. Fan wavered, shocked, before gripping her tightly. It was warm and comforting - something they'd both needed for a long time. He rested his cheek on hers and sighed. "I wonder what they plan to do next."

Test Tube didn't reply. For the first time in her life she didn't feel like talking statistics. She held Fan against her like the murderer would come and snatch him away.
...Not that he minded.

Incidentally, she was also the first to break the hug. Test Tube smiled awkwardly, letting her eyes wander anywhere but his face. "I-I'll take this to my lab and analyse the handwriting and fingerprints."
Fan nodded wordlessly as she broke away from the wall and into the trees.
"Wai- lab?"
But she was already gone.

-

The early-morning sun rose through the Bright Light's window. Had Marshmallow really been awake all night? She sat up in her bed. The dorm was dark - heavy shadows lurked on corners and sleeping faces. It was slightly sickening to her that Knife and Baseball had insisted in sleeping in the Cherries' and Tissues' bed.

She fell deep in thought, 'Tissues...didn't deserve to die in such a painful manner. MePhone had ignored his absence - another lawsuit dodged, I suppose. I can't help but wonder what's going on behind the scenes. For the camp councillors to ignore a disappearance - could they be involved?'

Marsh kicked the scratchy blanket off her bed. There was so much evidence to think over, yet most of the Bright Light's were so overcome with panic that they couldn't think straight. Marshmallow wasn't much better herself - every death had brought her closer to losing her marbles. At this point Bow's death was a common occurrence in her brain.

MePhone5 stood at the cliff edge. He was tall and dark, eyes shielded with sunglasses, robotic mouth cloaked in shadows.

"When will you see - I am destined to be your replacement."

Marshmallow held tightly to the shoulders of a petite girl. The girl wasn't as she usually appeared; no longer bubbly and carefree. Her eyes were wild and lost beyond repair. A jungle of pink locks tangled around her face, of which was pale and strewn with gashes.

"You're DVD and I'm Blu-Ray."

Bow broke from Marshmallow's grip, much to her horror. Marsh knew that MePhone5 had a bomb. Actually... Bow knew as well.
That didn't stop her from lunging at him. Her lips curled back in a snarl, fingers bent like claws and a scream rippling from her throat like a deranged animal.

This was not the girl Marshmallow had loved.

Bow latched onto the man. She clawed at his face, his chest, his arms - but not his hands. They delved into his trench-coat clad pocket.

Boom!
As if on cue, a button was pressed, and a life was lost.

A body landed near Marshmallow's feet. It was mangled and burnt to the point of being unrecognisable - except the girlish features of the face.

Marshmallow shuddered despite the heat. She'd never forget that face.

Her grey eyes wandered over to where Apple laid. The poor girl's head was bandaged - as well as her left arm, both legs, her fingers - and, well, every other body part imaginable. Marsh felt a pang of guilt. They'd barely spoken since their last 'encounter', and now Apple had thrown herself down the stairs and was looking like a burrito. MePhone wouldn't be happy - perhaps hungry, but not happy.

The thought made Marshmallow giggle, but she quickly stopped herself with a hand. Typical Apple. Pulling her ringlets back, she melted into the pillow. Perhaps sleeping wouldn't be too hard after all.

-

Marshmallow roused from sleep. The moments it took for her vision to focus were leisurely. She turned to Apple's bed in a mass of white ringlets. At the foot of the bed stood a blob.

'That's funny,' She internally giggled. 'Apple doesn't have a blob,'

What type of blob was this? One could only wonder. It was tall and looming, clad with something glittering. It immediately caught her eye. Her wonder was struck as to why Apple would possess something so gloriously shiny when she didn't even know what the word 'shiny' meant. The glimmering object was raised just above where the sleeping Apple's abdomen laid.

'Isn't she lucky...' Marshmallow thought, watching the object plunge into her sleeping form.

"AGH!" Apple's cries fell short when a hand covered her mouth. There was no way she could fight back; every bone in her body was damaged in some way. A cold sensation rippled through her stomach as it's contents splashed up into her face. The figure leaned into Apple's cheek and caressed it with a shaking hand. "Shh..."

Apple scanned their face with blurry eyes. She recognised them, that was for sure - but it wouldn't compute. Thoughts hit the redhead like a truck but they disappeared within a second. Desperately grasping for life, Apple latched onto their arm, only intensifying her pain more. She shook it back and forth. The figure grew panicked - they slid the knife from her body without another thought.

That was it for Apple. The knife was so mercilessly ripped from her body; consciousness was no longer an option. Her head rolled on it's pillow, red locks dangling limply, mouth dry and slightly parted.
She had been stabbed - and she was dead. So much for playing detectives.

A luminous yellow sheet of paper drifted to the corpse like an angel's feather.

-

Apologies for late updates! I'd like to make it clear that many hours of my life go into this story. I'm well rewarded with all the publicity it's received though, so a big thank you for that! Hope you enjoyed this super long chapter - morbid as it was.