Restless Nightmare- a Hermitcraft Murder Mystery

Chapter 18

"You go first, they probably don't wanna see me." Tango spoke first, opening the cabin door for Bdubs.

"Welp, time to get shouted at." Bdubs gulped, slowly stepping outside. He made his way over to the campfire, Doc being the first one to notice him.

"What do you want?" Doc hissed. His words made the group look in his direction.

"I just found this," Bdubs huffed, handing the note to the person beside his enemy, Cleo.

Cleo began reading the writing out loud, her words slowing down near the end.

"Really bdubs? I'm disappointed. The one you're looking for is in plain sight.

Tango suspected the wrong person."

There was an unusually long silence through the group.

"That means... Keralis was innocent." Ren muttered under his breath before coming to a disturbing realization. The one who close to everyone was convinced was the murderer, wasn't, after all.

They were certain he was guilty, yet no one did anything about it. No one wanted to take the role of ending him once and for all, because he hadn't confessed yet. Without that confession, they couldn't be certain if he was actually the killer. No one wanted to kill him, only to find out he was innocent, and rot with the guilt of taking the life of one of their friends.

No one but Tango.

He knew no one would do anything, they were just too soft. And maybe he was as well, but at the mountain, it was a choice between life and death. He couldn't take any chances of being the next one gone, yet he wasn't about to end Keralis' life either. It was a simple dilemma which ended the wrong way.

Another one gone, just like that.

The thing was, Keralis was innocent and it had been confirmed now. Along with all the other victims of the murderer, he was innocent. He just picked the wrong decision the previous night and ended up on the verge between life and death. He knew he didn't have much time left and he was right.

You can't really blame him, it's the majority who decides who's to be suspected. Anyone can be accused, but it takes more than one person to get everyone against them. And that's what happened to Keralis.

There was no going back now, the hermits had to accept that they betrayed one out of the many people they'd betray sooner or later. Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time in a certain situation like this wasn't the best idea, but it was already in the past. He's really not to blame, though. Probably the ones who didn't let him defend himself or even speak before declaring he was the murderer.

Ren couldn't help but to spin around and shoot Bdubs a glare, not noticing Tango walk out of the cabin from behind him.

"So, Tango, feel any regret?" Xisuma spoke up all of a sudden, getting up and approaching the hermit. "Do you regret what you did?"

"I- uhmm..." Tango mumbled, slowly stepping backwards. He sighed and blamed himself for ever coming outside in the first place.

"Do you regret pushing Keralis off the cliff and killing him?"

"I-"

"C'mon X, he didn't mean to do it-" Bdubs attempted, stepping between the two. Xisuma sighed and proceeded to push him aside.

"TELL ME, DO YOU?!" The admin shouted, pushing Tango against the cabin wall.

"Y-YES I DO!" Tango yelped, meeting up with X's teary eyes.

"DO YOU REALIZE THAT YOU'RE A MURDERER?!"

Tango froze.

It was so quiet, no one dared to say a word. Nobody knew what got into Xisuma, he had never acted this way. Tango hadn't realized he was still staring at the admin, speechless.

"You'll get what you deserve." Xisuma growled, entering the cabin and then slamming the door shut without another word.

Silence.

"I'll leave too I guess..." Tango mumbled.

This sudden event left the group speechless.

"What's gotten into him? Xisuma never acted like this before," Bdubs spoke up.

"I don't know..."

"Maybe it's just a mood swing?" Stress suggested.

"Yeah, but why?" asked False.

No response. The group sat in silence, each still processing all that's happened. Cleo was the first to get up and leave the campfire, followed by Stress. Bdubs left next and Doc tagged along.

False, Ren, and Mumbo got together and formed a small conversation discussing their plans back at Hermitcraft when they leave the campsite, well, if.

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"What do you think they're talking about?" Zedaph asked, peeking outside the window.

"Dunno." Doc shrugged.

"Probably discussing their next target..." Cleo chuckled, obviously not being serious. Everyone she was playing cards with, which were Zedaph, Stress, and Doc, stared at her without a word, some believing her, and some thinking that's plain out stupid.

"What? I'm just joking." Cleo rolled her eyes, still mad that no one understood her sense of humour.