A House Closer to Death ||| Book 1: The Game that Ended it All

Round 1, Chapter 3: A Waste of Precious Time

What the hell is she doing?  She knows she's only putting more people at risk by taking the fall, right? Why? She doesn't even know who I am and yet-

Oh. Oh, wait.

This isn't about me.  This is about protecting them.

She's her next closest friend, and he's the crush of another friend. No matter who the majority believes, someone she holds dear will either cry or die.  She's doing this for the sake of their safety.

Wow... what a way to make me feel even worse...

I feel so guilty... but not guilty enough to speak, I guess. 

"Wh-what?!"  Sabrina looked at Veronica like she was crazy.  The rest of us were in complete stunned silence.  Veronica?  Of all people to murder Lara like that, it was her best friend?

"I killed Lara.  I-I got assigned the role and... and I-"

"Zip it!  We don't need any more of an explanation from you!"  Sabrina growled.

"But that doesn't make sense. What about the black hair?" Jojo asked.

"Ash's prediction was half right. I planted it as fake evidence." Veronica kept her head down as she spoke, refusing to look at anyone in the face.

The speakers crackled to life once more, bringing in our newest announcement.

"Alrighty, is everyone ready to vote?" It asked.

"Yeah, I believe so," Sabrina said, continuing to glare at Veronica.

"Great! Because that was a rhetorical question. The tablets should be on the table now, remember to pick the one with your name on it and click on your suspect. The Investigator is the only one that can't vote at this time, but they will still be having a tablet so no one can just use the process of elimination to find out who it is. The player with the most votes will be forcefully removed from the house."

"But... where do they go?" Dan asked.

"That is none of your concern. Just hope that you don't end up finding out anytime soon.  Good luck!"  And with that, it shut off once more.

Looking over to the kitchen table, there were a bunch of tablets lying face down on the surface like the speaker said they would be.  The cases were all a plain grey, each with our own names engraved on the back of them.  It didn't take long for us to find our own, and we began voting.  The thing I found odd was that there was still an icon to vote for myself, so I guess I'd have to be extra careful.

It was pretty obvious who we were all gonna choose at that point.  I hesitantly tapped on Veronica's icon, and as soon as I did the screen dinged and went blank with nothing but a green checkmark appearing on it.  I set it back down on the table.  After a few minutes, everyone had set theirs back down, and as the speaker turned on again, the tablets disappeared into thin air.

"The votes have been cast.  The players believe the Murderer is Veronica."

"Welp.  We all know where this is going." Sabrina sighed.

"I'm sorry..."  Veronica muttered.

"The conclusion is..."

"Incorrect.  The Murderer remains on the loose."

My eyes widened in complete shock.  There was a collection of gasps before we all turned to look at Veronica in silence.  The girl stared at the ground, not even daring to look at the rest of us.