Where Are You Now, Sam? or Chaos, Space and Bananas (ESC 2022 FANFIC)

2

Detectives arrived within minutes. It was two of them: both wearing black identical suits, both actually looked identically as well, just that one was slightly thinner and shorter than the other. They looked a bit confused and something about them fell off, but it was hard to put finger on it. Maybe it's their style.

Anyway, they walked into the hall and introduced themselves.

''Hello, dear students of EBU. We arrived here after hearing about the horrible loss of your beloved friend, mister Sam Ryder...''

''Not a loss'', cut him off the other detective.

''What?''

''You said 'loss', as if he's dead.''

''Is he not?''

''We don't know that yet. That's why we're here, to find out'', corrected the taller detective and took over the introduction part from his colleague. ''Excuse my friend Keith. He's a little hungry today, and when he's hungry, he can talk a bit funny. Anyway, my name is Jim, and we are here to find out the truth. As we can see, it all looks like a kidnap. The principal, Jon Ola Sand...''

''That was our previous principal'', corrected him middle-aged man who was shaking in fear. ''My name is Martin Osterdahl.''

''Yes, okay, whatever. Your principal, this dude, got a message to pay sixty-two million euros as a ransom if you want to see Sam alive.''

''Sixty-two million?'' gaped Blanco, as his older brother Mahmood told him to stay quiet.

''Yes, we know it's a lot, but that's why we'll try to talk to everybody and find out who the kidnappers are. If we don't succeed'', detective turned to principal, ''You'll have to pay.''

''I believe in you, guys'', mister Osterdahl patted detectives' shoulders.

''First things first. The student disappears when lights go off. Do we know what was the reason behind it?'' asked Jim suspiciously.

''Probably school fountain flooded electric wires, wouldn't be the first time'', joked somebody from the back of the hall and principal was left unhappy with this remark.

''The cellar!'' suddenly exclaimed Keith. ''I think the problem was in the cellar! Show us where the cellar is'', he commanded.

Principal leaded two detectives from the hall to the corridor, pointing to his left, and at that moment Jim noticed how some kids were running away from that direction, trying to sneak through the window to run away from the school territory. ''I'll catch them!''

Maybe Keith was a bit slimmer and more fit, but he was also very likely to randomly fall while running, so Jim had a better chance to catch the fugitives. Keith left this job to his friend and came back to the hall, holding an empty wooden fruit box in his hands.

''For now, everybody that is here in this hall stays in this hall. Everybody will give me their phones. We'll put them into this box. They'll be safe here. You won't get them back until the case is closed.''

''Why, so we don't call the real officers?'' asked Ronela in irony.

''Yes'', answered Keith, standing there with a wooden box, on one side of it in capital letters was written BANAS, when I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be BANANAS. ''Put your phones here.''

''I don't have mine, somebody stole it from me when the lights went off. I'm not joking'', responded Cornelia when asked to give her phone and continued eating waffles.

''Okay, then somebody has to give me two phones'', shouted Keith.

''I lost mine too!'' exclaimed Alvan.

''Three phones, then.''

''And somebody stole my passport!'' complained Brooke unwillingly putting her phone into the wooden box. ''But guys, for real. How many thieves are here among us! Get a grip, you guys.''

As the suited detective was walking around the hall with this box, Maro asked him politely: ''Do you know what happened with the lights? Was this intentional, or just a coincidence?''

''We believe it was a part of a crime, young lady'', responded Keith. ''My colleague Keith is right now looking for evidence.''

''I thought you're Keith'', noted Sheldon.

''Yeah, it's written on your card'', agreed Konstrakta, pointing to his suit.

''That's right, then I'm Keith. Is there a difference?''

I guess there wasn't.

''Now you will all stay here and answer my questions. Because that's how detectives work'', he explained and started walking around, talking to students that might've witnessed something suspicious.

Meanwhile Jim was running for his life and actually managed to catch the fugitives by throwing banana skins on their way, causing them to fall one by one and then taking all three of them to one of the classrooms to make it an interrogation room. It was three students, called Dominika, Benjamin and Casper. Now that Jim told them to sit down and tell what happened, they didn't have any intentions to run anymore.

''Do you admit to being in the cellar when the power cut off in the whole building?''

''Yes, we were at the cellar when that happened.''

''So you also admit to causing the power shortage?''

''Yes.''

''And do you know that one of the students now is missing?''

''We saw it in the group chat.''

''Okay, I'm asking you one more time'', Jim leaned forward and asked in a threatening tone, ''Why did you turn the lights off at the hall?''

''For scientific purposes'', answered Benjamin dead seriously.

''I'm not joking'' insisted Jim.

''Neither am I.''

''Look, mister police officer'', intervened Domi, ready to save her two buddies' buts like she would always do, ''it wasn't meant to happen. We've been working on this science project for a while now and we constantly encountered some technical difficulties. We needed to have it finished until the deadline! Yes, we used some power that eventually caused power shortage in the hall but it doesn't mean we did it on purpose!''

''At least now we have something to write in the conclusions'', smiled Casper innocently.

Domi gave him a hard nudge.

''You're not helping'', whispered to him annoyed and once again turned to detective, patiently explaining. ''Look, we're just casual kids, trying to survive in this hell of a school. We're not a part of the cool squad, never at the center of the dramas, we genuinely don't care. Let us play frisbee and watch vines and we're happy. There is no reason for us to become a part of a crime. So no, we have nothing to do with the disappearance of Sam. Besides, he was a dear friend of ours. He was everyone's friend.''

Jim marked something in his notes, his glance was not seen through the dark glasses, but you could definitely feel the atmosphere in the room getting eerie. Ben and Casper sitting on the sides held Domi's hands, making sure she doesn't panic too much – they got this, they're in this together, they'll make it alive.

''Is there anyone, besides three of you, that could witness that in between the power cut you didn't leave the cellar?''

Domi, Casper and Benjamin looked at each other, with Domi taking the initiative and uncertainly saying, ''Well, Andrea could.''

''Yeah, Andrea'', agreed both guys.

''Okay, who is Andrea and how can I find her?'' asked Jim.

''She's a really good kickboxer'', smiled Ben.

''Oh my god, you're not doing us any favors'', sighed Domi, ''She was also hanging out with us while we were working on our project. You can ask her. She'll confirm our alibi.''

Jim let the three kids go, leaving them to the school principal's mercy. All in all, they were never allowed to play with electricity at school territory and cause the power shortage during the party. If that hadn't happened, maybe the missing student wouldn't have been missing in the first place.