Dead To Me- An Empires SMP S2 Murder Mystery

~4~

Pix

It was a nice, sunny morning. Certainly not the morning I would have expected to receive bad news on. I read the letter over and over again. Katherine? Dead?! Yesterday?!? It couldn't be! Lizzie or Joel must have been playing a prank or something. 

But in my heart, I knew it was true.

But what had actually happened? The letter didn't include much information at all! Was it a sickness? An accident? Or worse...? I decided to write back.

Dear Jimmy

That's unfortunate to hear. I hope you are okay.

Also, I'm sorry if you don't want to speak about it, but how did she die?

Nice to hear from you

Pixl

There. That seemed good enough. I would get answers from that. I put down my book and quill and mailed the letter. Just as I was doing so, I heard a voice behind me.

"Have you heard the news?" False asked, walking towards me.

"Yeah, I did. Do you have any idea how it happened?" why was I so desperate for answers? I didn't know.

"No, that's what I was coming to ask you about. This was all very...sudden."

"Yeah."

"Also, I was going to check on Joey. He would have taken this loss hard. Wanna come?"

"Sure, you're right." I thought about how attached to Katherine Joey had become. This would not be a fun visit. "Alright, lets go."

We flew to the Eversea, False dodging and weaving through trees and clouds like she always did. I laughed at her when she struck a tree and fell down. I helped her to her feet, crying with laughter. We took to the skies again, landing near his lighthouse, which on closer inspection was actually a creeper farm. We started to walk from there.

"You think he's okay?" I asked, stepping around pieces of bamboo and sticks.

"I hope he is...but you know what he's like." False said, stopping to marvel at the glorious architecture of the Eversea shoreline. Many whites and reds and browns mixed together to make such beautiful scenery. We continued on the path until we reached his pirate ship, where he usually was, but we couldn't see him on board.

"This is weird, he's usually right here, all the time." I said, jumping onto the deck and helping False up behind me.

"Yeah, this is-" False was cut off by a faint thump below deck, followed by a small yell.

We looked at each other, before racing to the trapdoor near the back of the ship and climbing down the ladder. We crashed onto the floor in a heap, stood up, and looked around us.

There he was near the cartography table, dead on the ground, blood flowing everywhere.

Fresh blood.

"Joey!" False screamed, rushing to his side.

"What happened?!" I exclaimed.

"Joey, can you hear me?!"

"False, he's flippin dead! Of course he can't hear you!"

"What do you expect me to say!?"

"I don't know?!" We were screaming gibberish at this point.

"What do we do?" asked False in a small voice.

I sighed and looked back down at the body. "We should probably-" I spotted something on the bench out of the corner of my eye. It looked like...a note?

I ran over and grabbed it. "False...what is this?"

"Shut up and read it!" she exclaimed, hurrying over.

"It says...

I have no right to live. I have disappointed myself and my friends. I could never recover from such a sin. So it's decided. I have to go. 

But I must finish this quickly. I hear voices, they are moving closer! 

I want whoever reads this note to know that I was not murdered. Not like Katherine. I was killed by my own blade. For the good of my friends." I read, in a sombre voice. My voice was barely a whisper by the time I had finished.

Complete.

Silence.

I glanced over at False who looked back at me, shaking her head in disbelief. What did this mean?

"We need to inform the sheriff. Immediately." said False. "I'll go, you stay here, with..."

"Okay." I agreed quickly, watching her take to the skies through the tiny window below deck.

I looked back over at Joey, sighing. What had he done?