Most of the rest of the day was spent searching for Marble, with the idea that she was either hiding as the murderer, or lying dead somewhere as another victim. They searched every place they could think of, but other than an unmade bed in Cabin 5, there was no trace.
"WHERE COULD SHE BE?" Envelope asked to nobody in particular after they met up in front of the mess hall again.
"I have an idea," offered TV. "Yesterday, when I started making the quesadillas, Marble came into the kitchen and took some food and a bottle of water. The only conclusion I can draw with this is that she went out into the forest."
Marshmallow scratched her head. "But why would she do that? Something smells fishy here."
TV just shrugged. "There's a considerable amount of forest out there, and going through it does not look easy. So it'd be almost impossible to find her. Until she appears again, I suggest we stop worrying about it."
--------------------
Flower sat on her bed, staring at her phone dejectedly. For some reason, Oodle had let those who owned phones keep them, although - obviously - there wasn't any internet or cell service, so she couldn't try calling for help even if she wanted to.
But that wasn't what she was doing. Flower was actually looking at an old picture of her and 3D-Printed Naily when they were about 11 years old. They had known each other since they were very little and went to the same elementary school, before 3D moved to another town after 5th grade. They went to separate middle and high schools and eventually grew apart, but Flower still had many fond memories of her. In the photo, the two had arms around each other's shoulders and were grinning at the camera. It was taken by her mother on an older phone and was later transferred to Flower's newer one.
A single tear rolled down her cheek. She wiped it away quickly. So much had changed since then... in high school, most emotions were perceived as a weakness (at least, by a lot of the "popular" girls) and so Flower chose to never betray any in public. But the murder mystery made it nigh impossible.
"Who's that?"
Flower shrieked and leapt away from WL4, fumbling with her phone. She didn't even realize he had entered the cabin. "D-don't scare me like that, you creep!"
"What?" he asked, genuinely curious. "I was just wondering."
Flower took a deep, shaky breath and wiped away her tear. "It's nobody."
"Doesn't seem like nobody to me. Don't think I didn't see that tear!" WL4 smiled slyly. "Come on. You always act like the stereotypical 'popular girl' - oh, look at me, I have to shower twice a day and do a bunch of other pointless stuff to look perfect so that I can have a good social status!" He said this last part in a high-pitched voice that sounded nothing like Flower's. "-but you ain't fooling me, gal." He hopped onto his own bed and crossed his legs as he sat. "So tell me. Who's your friend?"
Flower was at a complete loss for words. Slowly, almost in a trance, she sat back down on her bed. "It was 3D," she whispered.
WL4's smile melted. "Oh. Oh, shit."
"We were really good friends when we were younger, and then she m-moved away, and... and then..." She stopped talking, a few more tears soundlessly leaking from her eyes.
WL4 didn't move, but he did speak. "I've lost people, too. And 3D and I weren't exactly friends, like you two once were..." In fact, she despised me ever since I stole those 50 bucks from her. He didn't voice this thought, though. "But she was a fun asshole. I enjoyed her company, and I'll miss her too."
They were both silent for another minute. "Well, I know I can be rude and arrogant-"
Flower snorted. "That's not even the half of it."
WL4 just grinned. "-and I'm not very good at giving advice, but if you ever need it, I'll probably be in the lounge, playing console games 24/7." WL4 slid off his bed and went out the open door.
Flower sniffed and wiped away the rest of her tears. Somehow, she felt a little better.
The next day, Bowling Ball was looking through the Arts and Crafts cabin when Marshmallow entered. He looked up. "Hey!" he greeted, waving at her.
She waved back at him. "Do you know where the more crafty supplies are?" the girl asked. "Like fuse beads, pipe cleaners, scissors, glue - that sort of stuff? I want to make a collage of some sorts."
"I don't. I'm actually looking right now, but most of the stuff on this floor seems to be more for regular drawing, or painting, or whatever."
"I think... those supplies are upstairs," spoke Dicey. Bowling Ball looked back at the younger boy, who was using watercolor paint - he was quiet enough that BB kept forgetting he was there. "Suitcase is... also up there."
Marshmallow smiled. "Great! Thanks... uh, Dicey?" The boy nodded. "Thanks, Dicey."
Bowling Ball stood up and the duo headed up the steps together. The second floor consisted of one hallway with two doors on each side. They entered the first door on the right, which was slightly ajar, to find several shelves filled with all sorts of things. "Score!" Marshmallow said.
Then they saw Suitcase, sitting in one of the corners, hugging her legs close to her chest. She was breathing rapidly and had a panicked look in her eyes. "Suitcase!" Bowling Ball cried. He and Marshmallow rushed over to the distressed girl. "Are you alright? What happened??"
Suitcase kept breathing rapidly. Marshmallow reached for her, but Suitcase put out a hand to stop her. "I'll... be fine..." she wheezed. "Just... gimme a minute."
After a few seconds her breathing began to slow, and she relaxed her body slightly. She closed her eyes. "I'm... alright," the girl said, still breathing hard but much more slowly now. "I'm alright. I'm good. It was just a panic attack."
"That looked rough," Marshmallow said sympathetically. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Suitcase shook her head. "I think it was just this whole situation that got me. I've been getting better at dealing with the attacks, but..." She didn't finish her sentence, but the other two knew what she meant.
Footsteps. Marshmallow glanced up to see Dicey walking in the hallway. He spotted them, froze, then slowly reached out and quietly closed the door to their room.
"Then let's talk about something else!" Bowling Ball tried to lift the mood. "To get our minds off this place."
Suitcase smiled a little as BB and Marshmallow sat down on opposite sides of her. "Like what?"
BB scratched his chin. "What's up with Bottle?"
"Huh?"
"She's always going on about 'preventing death' or whatever, which I'm all for, but the phrasing seems a little weird."
"Oh!" Marshmallow giggled. "I know what you're talking about. Sometime last year, our school-" She gestured to Suitcase and herself. "-took some classes to visit Bottle's school. She's part of this group called... uhm..."
"Death P.A.C.T," Suitcase filled in.
"Yeah!"
Bowling Ball was confused. "That doesn't sound very... good."
"I thought the same thing at first, but it's just an acronym." Suitcase counted out to five on her hand. "Death Prevention And Creating... Trust, I think. Bottle and seven others. They're dedicated to, well, preventing suicide and self-harm in the school by talking to students who might need it. They're basically a therapy group of sorts."
"Huh," BB said, interested. "That sounds like something more schools should have."
Marshmallow nodded agreement. "This may sound corny, but Bottle alone is like a beacon of light. Her goofiness and constant cheerful attitude really helps students get out of their funk! Or so I've heard."
"Yeah." Suitcase's smile slowly faded away as she remembered something sour. Under her breath, she mumbled, "She helped me once, too..."
Bowling Ball and Marshmallow exchanged surprised glances. But before either could respond, all three of them heard the sudden noises of someone falling down a set of stairs.
sorry not sorry