Betrayal at the House in the Woods

The Last Ones Standing

Cleo was hysterical while Thomas tried to calm her down. I ended up staring at Jessy's death body, not believing my own eyes. I froze there for a while before Thomas pulled both of us out of the kitchen. He sat us down on the couch, while he himself was pacing back and forth.

"She was... marked. We should have protected her the most." Cleo sounded distant. Her eyes were staring straight but looked empty.

"I was mainly awake but I couldn't hear a thing," I said.

Thomas stopped abruptly. "Me too. This is weird."

There was that slight squeak, but that was barely anything. How come both murders were so quiet? I guessed the poison could be injected very quickly as they were muffled... The kitchen wasn't too close to our rooms. But I didn't hear Jessy leave the room while she was just next door. I guessed that squeak must have been her, and she was quiet the rest of the way, maybe not to wake anyone up...

"So, what do we do now?" Cleo asked after a long pause.

I stood up. "I know this would sound horrid, but I would like to take a look closer at the dead bodies."

Cleo looked horrified. "Why would you want to do that?"

"It might give us more clues as to how they really died."

Thomas glanced at Cleo and then me. "Okay, and then after that maybe we could move Jessy to Lilly's room and cover her up too. We can't just leave her laying on the kitchen floor."

I had no knowledge whatsoever to examine a dead body, but I would try my best. I squatted next to Jessy while Thomas and Cleo stood awkwardly next to me.

"What exactly are you looking for?" Thomas asked.

I shrugged. "I'm no pathologist, but one of the first things I might be able to try and find is a puncture wound, or any clue at all as to how the poison got into the body."

I looked closely at her skin. "Um, do we happen to have a glove or something?"

"I think I saw a box somewhere when I was cooking. Give me a sec," Cleo said as she opened one of the cupboards.

A moment later, she had found the box that she was talking about. I thanked her and put on a pair of plastic gloves. I moved Jessy's head carefully to check out her neck.

"Hmm, as I thought. Look here," I said as I pointed at a small needle puncture wound towards the back of Jessy's neck. "I bet it was similarly done to Lilly."

I didn't know what else I could look for, so the three of us carefully moved Jessy into Lilly's room and I went to check Lilly's neck. Just like I guessed, she had a similar puncture wound.

"My guess is the killer muffled them and stabbed them with a needle really quickly," I concluded.

"Without making any noises?" Thomas asked.

I shrugged. "Both times, we weren't exactly nearby, so I guess it's possible we couldn't hear them."

"And you still think someone sneaked in?"

I didn't answer Thomas' question. It was definitely suspicious that Cleo was the last person to see both of them, but I couldn't start the blame game again. After all, being the outsider, it made sense to suspect me.

"What I know is I'm not sleeping tonight," Cleo said.

I agreed. "Or at least, not in separate rooms. Maybe we can move all the mattresses and sleep in the lounge? Or take turns."

After moving 3 single mattresses into the lounge, we ended up sitting on the couch in silence for a little while.

Could it be one of these two? Or both? I didn't plan to come here to die... I would have to think fast.