Topher’s view ~
Upon entering the gym, there was no sign of any monochrome puppet anywhere. We all stood around waiting for the rest to come back, and in hopes that they had information. Everyone was making no conversation with me, and left to talk with other people. I instantly became self-conscious, why was everyone avoiding me?
I couldn’t hold it back any longer, I demanded to get answers. I made my way over to Geno, who was standing by himself, looking up at the ceiling. His face instantly turnt to me, and his lips warped into a smile.
"Do... you know what's up with everyone?" I asked. Geno scoffed, and then looked around at everyone. He adjusted his jacket, and then replied.
"These guys think it was ye' who dunnit," Geno said, his green eyes piercing into my soul, "But I don’t see how a weakling like you coulda done such a thing".
"But, why? There is no way I could do anything like that..." I responded, getting a little teary. My hair felt horrible, and I knew it was crazily out of place, but I was more worried about being blamed than anything. Geno didn’t respond, but instead looked back at the entrance. Nick, Dylan, Mina and Maggie all walked in. Mina's cat hoodie covered her head completely, it was a complete mystery how she could walk straight.
The instant they walked in, the ground started to vibrate vigorously. Like dominos, we all fell to the floor, hands over our heads. The quake was followed by a loud smashing sound. The floor was lifted high into the sky, and yells echoed throughout the hall. I couldn’t see anything, I was too busy clinging on for dear life.
"Everyone stay calm!" I heard Jessica shout, while being tossed side to side by the strong moving motions of the floor. The shaking came to an abrupt stop after that, and I quickly made my way back to my feet. My heart skipped a beat. A giant Monopug face was erected right where the stage once stood. Rubble was scattered all over the floor. The statues mouth was wide open, and its tongue winded out in front of it, just like a set of stairs.
"What the hell?" Dylan stuttered, slowly rising to his feet. Monopug walked in through the gym door, wearing a devious smile.
"It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Well, I hope you’re excited as I am for the trial! Just make yourself inside the mouth, and let’s get started!" Monopug said.
"You want us to go into the mouth, that disgusting," Tim replied, sticking out his tongue.
"Adventure into the mouth, coming this summer" Heather giggled, skipping her way over to the mouth.
"Heather, wait!" I called out, but I was too late. She had already climbed into the statues wide mouth. Tim laughed and quickly followed in suit behind her, jumping his way over to the statue.
"Let’s go, we can’t waste time," Maggie stated, following behind the crazy duo. I followed just behind Maggie. The tongue was squishy, and was extremely disturbing to walk on. I braced myself for the worst, and climbed my way into the gaping mouth.
I was expecting a room, but instead was greeted by a steel room, with a door at the end. The air was surprisingly cold, and my breath was visible in translucent patches. One by one we all made our way into the metal space, including Monopug. The ground started to shake again, but the floor started to move downwards. We were in an elevator.
No-one's view ~
The group were all deep in thought during the journey, no one spoke a word. It might have been because Monopug was in the same area, or maybe everyone was just scared to talk. The shaft would occasionally shake violently, sending a few people flying to the sides. It felt like forever before the doors finally opened to reveal the next area.
The room was large, and was well lit. The room was painted golden, and was shaped like a circle. Glorious patterns were plastered onto the wall, and a set of podiums were arranged in a circle. Monopug leaped over to a giant throne at the end of the circle, and gestured for everyone to take a podium. No one questioned it, and took their places.
Everyone noticed two pictures standing on two of the podiums. One had Dexter’s face, and had a pink cross smothered on it, which maintained the shape of a brush, and the other had James' face, which also had a pink cross on it, along with an explosion sign on top. Everyone exchanged grim looks.
"Upupu! Let’s get started then shall we? Let the trail commence!" Monopug yelled.
"You haven’t told us what we need to do," Alfonso pointed out, raising his eyebrow.
Monopug rolled his eyes. “Okay, okay, here’s the rules. The whole point of this trial is to detect the murderer! Discover the murderer, and I will... dispose of them" He let out a chuckle "But, if you guess incorrectly, and the murderer was not discovered, I will kill everyone except the real culprit! Now, start already, I’m getting bored!”
Monopug's speech was followed by a deadly silence, but Heather was quick to break it. "It's obviously going to be someone who wasn’t in their room right?" Heather said with a smug smile.
"Yeah, but the only people we know were not in their room was Topher, Mina and Maggie..." Nick followed, while looking at the trio. "Mina and Maggie were in the cafeteria, and Topher warned them about the body..."
"Hm? So those three all had good opportunities to kill Dexter" Alfonso said.
"Heh, I’m so smart," smiled Heather, putting her hands on her hips.
The students looked at the trio. Mina and Maggie were looking directly at each other, and Topher was holding his arm nervously.
"So you want our alibi?" Maggie questioned, Alfonso nodded.
"We were in the cafeteria, as Nick said, and there is nothing else to it," Maggie replied abruptly.
"How can we trust that, you ain’t helping yourself here," argued Geno. Mina put her hoodie down, revealing her deep brown hair.
"You know, they could be working together, they could easily take Dexter down," Suggested Tim. He winked at Heather, who was clapping at him.
"They couldn’t have, only one of them would be able to leave," Gel replied, "It says in the rules, only the actual murderer can leave, isn’t that right Monopug?" Monopug suddenly jolted up, as if he was woken from a deep slumber.
"Upupu! This is true! Just to think, you could have been onto something," Monopug chuckled, before going back to his slumped position
"Well, that puts a hole in our trail..." Nick silently said.
"How were they both in the cafeteria in the first place? I still don’t believe this alibi just yet," Snorted Alfonso, not accepting defeat.
Mina opened her mouth to reply, but Maggie interrupted her. "Don’t you remember, me and Mina can speak without talking, it’s my power remember? Not like some walls can prevent my ability from working, Mina was simply hungry, and was scared of becoming a victim." Maggie seemed pretty wound up, her face coloured red. "We even have people to vouch for us, isn’t that right, Gel, Topher, Nick and Dylan?"
The three nodded in unison.
"I went to get a drink, and those two were in the cafeteria at the time, I doubt they could commit a murder in such a little time from then and the estimated murder time," supported Gel, her cheeks becoming puffy.
"The murder time was around 2:30 right? We found the body at 2:35, I agree that is a little too quick..." Nick stuttered.
"What if the cafeteria clock was wrong? They could have easily changed it to make it look like it had only been a little while..." Adam suggested, but Maggie quickly responded.
"There is no way to reach the clock, it too high, even on a ladder". Everyone slowly nodded, and went back to the conversation.
"Let’s...Move onto another subject, How about the murder weapon?" Jessica said.
"We found a knife hidden in book, it was covered in blood, so it could have easily been the murder weapon..." Adam added.
"The cause of death was the stab wounds to his back, so it seems plausible". Alfonso put his hand to his chin, and then pointed at Nick. "You said earlier it looked like a knife from the kitchen, was it?"
"Uh, y... yes it was, one was missing from the holder," replied nick nervously. To everyone's surprise, Monopug pulled out the bloody kitchen knife from inside his stomach. "*gulp* specifically that one".
"What I want to know is how you knew that’s what the knife looked like," Alfonso questioned, "If I remember correctly, your team did not explore the cafeteria".
Everyone fell silent and looked at Nick. Nick's eyes were wide open, and his breathing intensified.
"Well, uh, um..." Nick began
"It’s not Nick, he has a good reason for knowing the look of the knifes" Maggie interrupted. Nick let out a sigh of relief, and let Maggie continue. "Nick entered the cafeteria to get a drink, therefore he must of at least have a glimpse of the knifes".
"He could have hidden it, just like it was hidden in the book!" Heather added, waving her hands to get everyone's attention.
"Impossible, he had nowhere to hide it without it being easily seen by me and Mina," Maggie complained. The group was getting nowhere. Time was slowly ticking down, and instead of getting rid of puzzles, they just added to the never ending collection...
[[Have a chapter in your life, friends: 3]]
[[This mystery business is so tricky without making the culprit completely obvious xD Never mind, it’s fun to make :D If you enjoyed this amazing chapter feel free to leave a comment and even leave a little like :3 Thank you, and until next time ~]]