Who's Next?

Three

Praise Warns

The Police came to the restaurant after Zack’s body was carried away. The friends explained the events surrounding Zack’s death to them and they promised to look into his death during their free time – the friends thought that was a joke.

“This is out of left field,” Tobey thought. “Zack is dead! How can Zack be dead? Can Zack be dead? My dad is dead, now Zack. No, it can’t be. I’m dreaming. When I get to class and sit down, I’ll realize we never left class and I have been dreaming since.”

When the seven of them entered the class they met a press conference consisting of their fellow classmates: “Is Zack dead? I hear it’s poison. Who killed Zack? Is it a rumor? Will Zack come back to life? What happened? Zack can’t be dead, can he? Did he poison himself? What has his behavior been like before today? Talk to us!”

Tobey implored them to stop asking too many questions and let them recuperate but they paid deaf ears to him and continued. The friends ignored them and went to their seat. Tobey was getting a headache from their incessant questions and Dango noticed that.

“Quiet!” Dango shouted with authority and they quieted down. No one liked Dango’s trouble. The eight turned seven friends clustered together at their usual spot in class.

When Dango shouted, Tobey heard the Holy Spirit’s voice but because of the shout, he couldn’t pick out what was said. Out of everything He said, Tobey only heard, “Judas” and “near.” He listened to hear the voice again.

There were few other students at the restaurant, so rumors of the truth and other additions to it spread round the school. The Principal called the friends for them to narrate what happened at the restaurant. She and the teachers with her were saddened and confused when they explained what happened. It was worsened by the friends’ tears that didn’t cease to flow. She called the police on her phone to confirm that they’ll do something about Zack’s situation and they said they would.

The friends had not said a word to each other since leaving the restaurant. They answered everyone they were required to answer but didn’t speak to themselves. Talking to each other would mean it was true – Zack was dead. After three hours, they got a call from the hospital that confirmed Zack’s status. Talks of placing him in a mortuary had begun and they had to come to terms with it, Zack was dead.

“Hoy se ha vuelto horrible,” Titiola cried.

“Okay, what could have happened?” Tobey got no response. Everyone was clueless about the whole situation.

“I don’t want any of you jumping to conclusions,” Titiola said. “I just want to throw a clue here. When we got to the restaurant Aizik was already there and he was sitting very close to our table.”

“And we’ve been having a little back and forth with him lately,” Dango added. “He left the class out of annoyance when we told him not to tell us the story about his aunt’s death.”

Sasha had a shocking thought and in a fearful tone she said, “Could he have killed Zack?”

Dango banged his hands on a table as if he had solved a mystery. “It’s Aizik. We must kill him before he kills the rest of us.”

“Bro, mellow.” Ulabadu nudged Dango’s shoulder with his elbow. “We are not murderers and you can’t just jump to a conclusion like that.”

“Where is Aizik?” Tobey asked.

Dango shook his head. “Somewhere, plotting how to kill the next person.”

“Dango, let’s think for a second,” Ulabadu said. “Zack was poisoned. We don’t have a seating pattern at Smells Good so anyone poisoning the drink didn’t aim for Zack but any of us. Therefore, this is not an attack on Zack but the eight of us.”