Restless Nightmare- a Hermitcraft Murder Mystery

Chapter 35

"No no no he's not dead," Xisuma muttered, heart thumping like crazy as he stumbled over to the bed. "C'mon, wake up!"

He shook Mumbo hard but he didn't even flinch. Xisuma fell to his knees in defeat. Mumbo was dead and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Well, everyone's dead." He sat down with a short, hopeless sigh.

Bdubs stood at the room entrance, watching in shock. He slowly turned around and strolled down the hallway, staring down at the brown floor tiles. He took a seat on a wooden chair at the dinner table, spinning to the side and sighing.

He finally looked up to see Stress leaning against the kitchen counter with her head down, as she rolled a few apples to the side.

Xisuma finally gave up on trying to wake his friend up. He dragged himself down the hallway, drained from hope. He then entered the living room and slid down against the wall.

Minutes passed, no one making a sound. It stayed this way for a while, the silence seeming to go on forever until one of the three spoke up.

"Welp, we're doomed." Bdubs simply stated. "The murderer is one of us, but I guess we can't do anything about it."

The two looked up at him, then back at the floor, nodding. They already knew that, but the way Bdubs said it as if he just accepted it made it even more depressing.

"I- guess this is the end?" Stress piped up, giving a weak smile. A tear formed in her eye. "It was nice being friends with you guys, I'm gonna miss the fun times we had together..."

She stood up, where Bdubs came and gave her a hug. Xisuma slowly got up and joined the group hug.

Respawning was off, meaning everyone who had died wasn't coming back. One of the three, more like two, were going to be next. The murderer had won and that was an accepted fact between the three.

The three returned to their previous seatings and kept silent.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The clock buzzed, as the only source of sound, along with chirping crickets out in the wilderness.

X took a small key out of his pocket and began spinning it around on the floor, its metal edges bumping on the wooden tiles. The other two stared at it in boredom.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The ticking sound of the clock sounded louder than ever. It felt weird, because usually the cabin was never this quiet. Sure, it was night, but the hermits weren't unfamiliar with staying up late. Things just seemed so lonely without anyone around, just the three of them sitting in silence, two knowing they've lost.

Bdubs checked his watch and sighed.

9:38 PM

He sipped his cup of coffee and gently stirred it before adjusting his fixed headband.

Stress took her phone out, typing her simple passcode. She opened the Hermitcraft group chat and expected the message she received.

Unable to connect to network.

It read, obviously. She sighed quietly and slammed her phone down on the counter. As she did so, Xisuma spoke up.

"If the murderer isn't False, it's gotta be you, Bdubs." He explained with the last bit of hope he had to solve the case, "You came up with the idea to go camping and you helped set it up. Who else would it be?"

"I know, this is all my fault, we shouldn't have gone further with the idea to go camping. But how was I supposed to know this was gonna happen?!" Bdubs blurted out, "You probably turned off respawning, who else would have access to it?"

"I swear I didn't! Why would I even want you guys to die?!"

"And why would I?!"

"Guys- let's not fight okay-" Stress attempted, unsurprisingly getting cut off. She just sighed, knowing it would be impossible to stop their fighting at a time like this. There wasn't even a point in doing so, as this was the only chance to maybe find a clue to solve the case.

Maybe one of them would slip up and reveal something only the murderer would know. But the murderer was clearly smart with their decisions and choice of words as they managed to make it to the final three without getting caught. It was near to impossible they would slip up at a time like this.

"I don't know why you wanna kill us but you do!" X shouted, his voice echoing the room.

"THAT'S REALLY ALL THE PROOF YOU GOT?!" Bdubs yelled back, a tad bit louder than he should've.

The two continued to argue for a few minutes before Bdubs proved X wrong and the argument ended. Just like that, it was over. No one dared to spark a new fight, nobody wanted to either. They were all too exhausted and just saw no point in doing so. All their arguments led to nothing.

Another ten minutes of sad silence.

All Xisuma could wonder about was if his friends were stuck in the void or they had respawned. Maybe it was just a glitch all along, as Mumbo claimed? X had just given up at this point, he felt as if he let down the hermits. He thought he failed to protect them. He thought it was his fault.

Well, at least he appeared to be upset.

Meanwhile, Bdubs knew Xisuma wasn't the murderer, he only argued back so X wouldn't suspect him. Bdubs knew who it was.

He looked over at a certain someone.

The three sat in silence for a while longer, each stuck in their own minds. All they could do now was wait for the next death, and maybe for an explanation. They were all gonna get killed off and that was a fact, but they at least wanted their questions to be answered. They wanted to know the murderer's motive before they died.

"We're the last three, pretty lucky if you think about it." Stress sighed, faintly chuckling. She didn't even stutter, nor cry, she had already lost all hope. They all had at that moment.

"I kinda wanna shorten it to two..."