Bloody hands - a Hermitcraft and last life murder mystery

Chapter 1

:)

Also why are so many people reading this already?

Impulse was the first person to wake up the next morning. With a yawn, he sat up, stretching, looking over to where Tango was still snoring on his top-bunk opposite. Zedaph was below, also asleep, so he slipped down his bed silently, mildly confused but not concerned as to why Skizz wasn't in his bed just below his. Impulse shrugged it off. He'd got thirsty last night and gone downstairs to grab a drink. Then probably fallen asleep on one of the sofas due to how tired he was. That's what had normally happened in a situation like that. 

He left the room, looking down the corridor. No one else was awake, or at least, no one else had got their door open. Impulse disappeared back into his own room, snatching up a dressing gown and pulling it on as he headed downstairs, trying not to make them creak. 

Into the main area, just through a door under the stairs. Bright morning light greeted him, the pack of uno cards left  untidied on the ground. 

'Morning, Impulse!' Pearl greeted sleepily. Impulse smiled back.

'Didn't hear you get up... good night sleep?'

'Yeah, good as it could be with Jimmy sleeptalking... something to do with Scott being a salmon.' 

Impulse laughed back.

'Perfectly normal midnight conversation... do you know what's planned for today?'

'Not much yet. A lot of people wanted to do hide and seek so...' 

Impulse nodded, attention shifted to where, yes, Skizz was asleep on one of the sofas. 

'Knew it...' he muttered, walking over. 'I told him it would happen last night!"

'Saw him here this morning... decided to let him sleep.'

'Good idea... Skizz doesn't like being woken but then again,' he laughed. 'Who does?'

Right then, Lizzie entered, mumbling something about Cleo sleepwalking and Keralis sleep-talking, walking into a table and sitting down, basically asleep again. 

'Hey, Lizzie!' Pearl called over. The pink-haired player looked up in surprise, before looking over.

'Oh, hey Pearl! Hey Impulse!'

'Hi! Looks like everyone's got someone loud in their room... Jimmy sleeptalking, Tango and Skizz snore, but Skizz is downstairs and I'm used to it.'

'What, kicked him out of the room for snoring?! How cruel... though I should consider that in case Joel's annoying at night again.'

'No... got thirsty and fell asleep on the sofa.'

'I thought you said he snored.' Pearl noted. 'He's sleeping very quiet for someone who snores.'

'Not always...' But Impulse walked over anyway. 'I mean- it's not like he's dead.' He took a seat on the sofa next to Skizz. Pearl followed, eyes narrow with growing concern.

'Is... is he breathing?' She asked. Impulse looked suddenly up at her.

'What?'

'I can't see him breathing... I'll check for a pulse.' Pearl crouched down next to Skizz, taking his hand, trying to feel for- 'Impulse? I don't think there's a pulse...'

'What? B... But there has to be! Why would he be dead...' his eyes wandered to the broken glass on the ground next to him. Pearl's gaze followed his, and she picked it up, giving a tentative sniff. 

'I can't smell anything bad... but he's not moving. At all.'

'Skizz?! SKIZZ! WAKE UP!' Impulse yelled. He stopped, swallowing. A horrible silence followed. 'Skizz, please, this isn't funny- SKIZZ! SKIZZ WAKE UP!' Still nothing. Impulse cut off, beginning to sob. Pearl crouched down next to him, placing an arm around his shoulder. 

Neither of them could deny it any more.

Skizz was dead.

The first thing Grian thought when he woke up was that he should've brought a clock.

The second thing was that Scar probably had packed one. And was in the room. Asleep.

'Scar!' He whispered, leaning over the edge of the bed. 'SCAR!' Louder, but hopefully not loud enough to wake Cub or Bdubs. 'Scar. Scar. Scar. Scar. Scar. Scar. Scar. Scar. Scar...' 

His plan of waking Scar up by constantly repeating his name lasted about a minute before he got bored and his friend's name didn't sound like an actual word any more. Then he snatched some paper, tore it up and began throwing it at Scar, scrunched up, one bit at a time until finally.

'W...what?' Scar looked over tiredly, covered in paper and basically still asleep.

'What time is it?' Grian asked,

'I don't know. I don't have a clock.'

'Even among all your stuff?!' Grian signalled to the pile of bags next to Scar's bed. 'You literally brought 2 cat beds for Jellie, and you didn't bring a clock?!'

'I thought you would bring one...'

'Yeah, I know that now... I didn't know if it was morning or not.'

'Well, it's probably morning, since we went to sleep at midnight.'

'Thanks for that insight, Scar. Really needed that.'

'Just telling the truth... well, tell me when you figure out. I need more sleep.'

'Scar!' Grian snapped back. Scar turned back to him.

'What?! I'm tired! You- you think all this comes naturally?!' Scar signalled to his face. Grian snorted back.

'Alright... alright... But I won't wake you up if it is morning.'

'Ok, ok! I'll investigate the time with you...' Scar climbed out of bed, still exhausted, letting out a yawn. Grian crawled over the edge of his own bunk bed, jumping down and landing next to Scar.

'Right, let's go.' 

Grian led the way, out of the room. Immediately, they heard voices.

'It's morning, I guess.' Grian muttered, before heading off down the stairs. Pearl's voice, sounding almost desperate, with frequent interruptions by Tango. Grian looked back at Scar, frowning.

'This doesn't sound good...' Scar grimaced. 'This really doesn't sound good.'

'I- we'll just see.' Replied Grian, trying to hide his growing panic. They reached the door into the main area. It was open, and Tango stood just inside. Pearl was further in, next to where Skizz was lying on one of the sofas and Impulse was crouching, huddled against the side of the sofa crying.

'What... happened?' Scar asked, looking around. Tango and Pearl both looked over. Lizzie was also there, at one of the tables, clearly shaken. 

'Skizz is dead.' 

'...what?' Grian's blood froze at the words. Scar looked at him, eyes wide, then back at Pearl.

'Me and Impulse found him dead earlier. I was just explaining to Tango what- we saw.'

'Skizz can't be dead.' Tango argued back. 'Why would he just- die?! What kind of crap is that?!'

'We think poisoning. There was a broken glass - like it had fallen out of his hand when he... he- Oh Notch,' 

'But who would poison him?! Why would someone want him dead?! It's stupid! So he can't be dead!'

'Is there anyone else in the area? Someone else who could've done it.' Lizzie suggested. 

'I made sure the door was locked... and if Skizz really is dead...' Grian didn't finish, but Scar did for him. 

'One of us is a murderer.'