Partners In Crime

21 Story Time

"So, what do you think now? Still think this side quest was a waste of time?"
Chelsea stubbornly crossed her arms.
"Save it. The way I see it it's pretty dumb for the Chatter Box to say what's practically on alibi all on tape.

Jokes aside, Chelsea had a point.
Maddie must have been "convinced"  to squeal to the police because Rodney would be ruined with what's in there. Maddie too since she was the one who bought the escape items. But if she was going down, she might as well do it under her terms. But Rodney wasn't having it. So, to buy him some time, he strong-armed the girl not to spill the beans. That much is obvious, meaning Maddie had finally opened her eyes.

But what exactly did Rodeny blackmail Maddie with? And what did she mean she "found an out?"

It was made abundantly clear that this was more complex than anticipated and unfortunately, the tape wasn't exactly bending over backwards to supply all the answers.

So what now?

They can't give the evidence machine to the Head or confront Maddie either. Two of those options were out of the question, with the former being that they didn't want to jump the gun until they had all the facts.
And by the looks of things, they haven't got much. However, it isn't a total loss. After all, with the little information given, they can pretty much stitch together what went down. That's when Derick had an epiphany. Recalling everything in careful consideration up to this point, he swallowed hard.

"I know what to do," Derick said randomly, breaking the suspenseful silence. His voice was heavy. "More specifically,  I know who to go to next."
"Don't you mean we?" is the question Chelsea never thought she'd hear herself ask.
"You keep going through the recorder to see if there are any clues."
"What about Maddie?"
"We should be able to do this right under her nose. She won't suspect a thing and even then, she won't think it'll be us."
"Should be?" Chelsea repeated. She did not like the sound of that. She needed that reassurance. After hearing what she's capable of deep within her diary, she won't want to go within a ten-foot pole of the gruesome girl. Who knows what she'd do to her if she found out? Meanwhile, Derick isn't so scared, simply because he knows he has complete protection.
"We'll keep this on the down low until we know for sure she's the culprit."
"She's not now?"
"Right now, she's our main suspect."
Derick turned to leave. There was a staircase, as long and wide as a mountain, ascending to the main door. He took the vents instead. Chelsea didn't so much as blink. She didn't so much do anything. She just sat there, her hair devoured the chair and it appeared she was sitting on pure gold.
She looked at the voice recorder. She took it and placed it in her humongous handbag. She stood up and headed to the door.
"Sorry, Ricky. But change of plans."

_________________________

It was pure, unmitigated torture.
Johnty was here for less than two weeks and was already driven up the walls.
Some say what happened to him was a necessary evil. And he tried to make the best out of a bad situation. But there's only so much he can take.

He kept counting down the hours, desperately waiting for isolation to be over. It doesn't help he's been made to work and the teachers were watching him like a hawk. They were outside the room with a single door embedded in a soundproof wall separating them and the boy. There was no way out and only remained a toilet, table and chair. There's even a laundry chute where the teachers were rained down on the recommended work. The iso room is practically a prison cell. All that lacked was bars. That would've been the cherry on top. He won't put it past them.

Johnty flinched when he heard something from above. A pause, then a distant scream. It got louder and louder until a student vomited out of the chute. He crashed onto the table. Remarkably, it didn't collapse. Johnty was stunned to see a familiar face lying there, delirious.