Poe Party (Rewritten) - Heliot

Chapter 9: The Sleeper

Ernest and the others joined Edgar, Annabel and the Constables in the hall by the staircase.

"Who died this time?" Oscar laughed.

They looked back up the staircase to see Lenore standing there. She gave them an awkward smile and looked down to HG slumped on the staircase at her feet.

"I can't do this anymore!" Annabel said. "Constables, someone is killing us off one by one! We are trapped in this mansion, and they threaten to kill us if we try to get help! First it way my dear Eduardo Dantes, then Louisa May Alcott-"

Charlotte joined in, "Then Shelley, Dostoevsky, George Eliot, Agatha Christie-"

Edgar nodded. "The fortune-teller, HG Wells..."

"And then, uh, oh..." They paused.

"Mark Twain!" Charlotte said. "No, no, sorry, um... it was.. uh. Ralph Waldo Emerson."

"Emily Dickinson!" Annabel said.

"Oh, the cat," Ernest said.

"All murdered," Annabel continued, "and one of us is the killer!"

"I have a costume ball to attend next week, I would prefer not to die tonight!" Charlotte said haughtily. "The theme is 'Under the Sea' - have you ever heard of a more creative idea?"

"Edgar brilliantly realized that the authors are being killed off in a manner which befits their writing," Annabel said.

"This is some serious information you've been hiding from us," Jimmy said.

"Yes, yes, yes. Even in cases of self-defence, murder is often punishable by death. Which is why I always say, get this down-" Jim said, "DON'T DO MURDER!"

"Fine." Edgar put out his hands, wrists together. "Take us all away, officers. I always knew I would spend my final days in a dark cell with naught but the crow of a raven's call: Nevermore."

"Well, that was too much, but on the contrary, I think we can help," Jim said. Edgar put his hands down. "I have been in a situation much like this before." He told some story about a serial killer on the ship. The two officers ended up finishing their drinks.

"Is that really what we should be doing- yep, they are doing it anyway," Edgar sighed.

"Idiots, all around me. What has my afterlife become?" Lenore stated from the stairs.

"Okay, now we are ready to get to work. Funnily enough, the first course I took in Constable Academy was 'What to do in Case Your Dinner Party Turns Into a Mass Homicide'." He took out a pamphlet. "And the first rule is, 'Don't... drink... anything'..." The policemen looked at each other and then fell down.

"Well, not gonna say I didn't see that coming," Lenore said.

"This is awful!" Annabel sniffed. "Oh, Edgar!" She sobbed into his shoulder and he awkwardly patted her back.

"Well, we can't leave any more dead bodies around. To the vault, boys!" Edgar said.

"Uh- no, excuse me," Charlotte said. "We are all going to the vault. I'm not staying here alone with the crying cupcake and Miss Havisham." Oscar laughed and she pushed him away.

"What's all this about Oscar and Eddie at a party?" Lenore asked.

"Oh, oh that? That was nothing! I don't remember- the vault, right? We were going to the vault."

"No, no, no," Ernest said. "You remember - you're as sharp as a tack!"

Annabel stepped towards him. "What was it, Oscar?"

"Eddie and I knew each other from a party that we met at. Last year. Huh? That's all."

Ernest laughed. "That's definitely not all."

"Nothing too scandalous - although, clearly, that depends on your definition of 'scandalous'..."

"Are you saying...?" Annabel hesitated.

"Your boy and I were a thing. For a night. I don't know. He rebuffed me at the end. I never knew why..."

They all started bickering more and more. Ernest's head was starting to hurt.