💡 Murder in the Moonlight

chapter four - frozen in warmth

When the lights go out, the murderer strikes.

My heart is thumping so heavily in my chest and a shiver runs down my spine. Each breath I take is rapid and shaky. Alab turns around as I stop in my tracks and grabs onto my other hand. His are warm, just like they were last night.

"Indah? Indah, look at me!" he holds his lantern in front of him, trying to snap me out of my frozen state. I blink a few times.

"Indah, we'll be ok. I promise!" he tries to comfort me. I don't hear anything else he says as he takes me to somewhere we can hide. All I can see are the events of last night replaying over and over. Alab's hands aren't cold like Mateo's and he still has a glimmer of life in his mesmerising eyes. But a voice in my head keeps repeating the same thing: will you fall dead in my arms next?

I must've completely zoned out for a while because it takes me a moment to realise where Alab has actually taken me. Just from looking around, I think we're in the same place we found the 4 girls earlier today. Actually, yes, we are here. I'm sitting on the same bench that Elizabeth and Colleen were at and Alab is sitting opposite me. I stare at him for a few moments. Then I remember: he can't die if I've healed him.

"Thank goodness you snapped back into reality Indah, I was really starting to worry!" If there was any undertone of genuine fear in his voice before, he wasn't letting me see it.

"Sorry," I briefly mutter.

"Don't apologise. What were you thinking about this time that made you freeze up, detective brain?" he asks softly. Mateo dying in my arms. "You."

Crickets.

"What?"

Did I just say that? Out loud?

"Not like that, silly! I was just... uh... y'know... uh... you... me... uh... oh yeah! I was just thinking about this great hiding spot you've taken me to! No killer can catch us here!" I giggle nervously. Fuck. I can't even make myself look up at him because I can feel my face being burnt a bright shade of red.

"Sure you were," he laughs. I can tell he isn't making fun of me but he's more teasing me in a you aren't very secretive way. And after a second, I let myself laugh with him.

"Alright, but in all seriousness, do we even have any potential suspects for the murderer? Or the evil team at all?" I take a breath to stop giggling. And as I think about it, I realise that we really don't have any leads or suspects. Apart from each other, we haven't cleared any of the remaining 14 people.

The 14 is short lived.

A high-pitched scream rings out through the forest, scaring even more crows. I quickly look up to count. One, two, three... six. I can't figure out whose voice I can hear but her screams are likely a cry of agony and pain. Looking into Alab's eyes, I realise what had happened.

The murderer had struck.

"Oh my god," I whisper under my breath. I push myself to my feet, ready to find the body of the victim but Alab reaches out to stop me.

"Indah, please. We can't go anywhere now or we could be killed too!" he tries to plead with me. His words sit with me for about a second before I walk away from our table. It doesn't take Alab long to catch up with me, illuminating our path forward with the lantern. I knew he wouldn't let me go by myself. His words of desperation fly over my head; I'm too consumed with narrowing down potential victims. Pairs wise, I believe this is how we'd be split: Alab and I, obviously, Adanna and Chidi, Marley and Melodie and Omar, Quinn, Thiago and Mila split somehow. We still have no clue who the Murderer is but judging by the pitch of the piercing scream I heard earlier, it's safe to say one of us girls was killed.