Caught Between Hope and Despair

Chapter 7: Haunting Futures

A/N- Hello fellow.. Normal people! Yes, I am alive, and yes it is summer (for me and probably for a lot of you). Sorry for going really quiet, I just had to deal with something that happened to me on the last day of school, so I kinda had no motivation to write until I started to forgive and forget.

But enough about my personal life, so shaddup :D Hopefully constant updates will resume smoothly.

-hug time anybody? CMERE!

~

The following day all 12, now 13, of us met in our meeting place, which was basically the place in the main building where all of us first met up. Erin thought it was a good idea to let everyone know about Saeko's existence on this island. Me and Lauren just went with it.

For the whole day, plus the day before, none of us have seen Monogram anywhere. He didn't even bother crashing our meeting. He's probably bored as hell right now if he's watching us. Unless he was planning some evil diabolical plan to entertain himself, plus torture us, I would assume that he is.

So the meeting was a bit of a "meh," since Saeko didn't really say much, only complaining that it was not a big deal. She also shrugged occasionally for some reason.

"What if Saeko was replaced by someone during the process of us going to the island? Think about it, someone could have done it in order to intrude the island." Christian suggested, breaking the silence.

"Who would do that? We still haven't figured out the process on how we got here. Plus, I think it's a silly idea to do that." Sebastian said.

"I guess since our numbers dwindled after the trial, Saeko was able to come here." Montana said.

"But the thing is, why take only 16 instead of all of us? It seems like the person managed to glitch a system or something." Patrizia questioned.

"Maybe Monogram runs this system we're questioning, although we don't really know what he truly is." Samiksha said.

"Monogram has artificial intelligence and probably was the one who brought us here, obviously. Whoever intruded his "system" of his must be really talented and skilled." Erin said.

"But the thing is, who would do this?" Katy said questionably.

"Guys, this is just a theory, something else could be going on under our noses that we shouldn't know about. So let's just get back to this topic another time when we hopefully have more information about it." Howie said.

"Right. Is there anything else anybody wants to talk about before we go?" Lauren asked.

"Well, after the trial, I realized that one of the buildings next to this one was open, all the other ones were locked as usual." Camryn said.

"Oh yeah? Which one was it?" I asked.

"Well, uh, it was the building that looked like a library." Camryn replied.

"You guys wanna check it out?" Tara asked everyone.

Everyone agreed, and we all exited the room and headed over to the building.

~

"It's open, but it sure is dark in here." Katy said.

"Anyone find a light switch?" Christian asked.

"I can't seem to find any..." Saeko muttered.

"Well, there are candles, but I don't see any light bulbs. Heck, there's a chandelier on the ceiling!" Lauren said, pointing directly up above her.

"Can I swing on it?" I asked.

"Now, now, this is not the time to have those type of behaviors happen here in my library. Just... no." Monogram's voice said just as the doors closed and the windows were suddenly blocked, leaving all of us in complete darkness.

"What the-" I said, looking around.

"Hmm, it seems a bit dim. Let me take care of that." A loud clapping sound was heard and all of the candles inside the building lit up all at the same time.

"Yoohoo! I'm right here!" Monogram said, and I turned my head towards the center of the room, where Monogram was.

"What's all this about?" I heard Christian ask.

"You really think you can have a nice, relaxing break from me for a while? Think again! I've prepared a very mysterious motive to keep me entertained!" Monogram said darkly, smirking.

"Already?" Lauren muttered.

"The fun never ends, that's what they say!" Monogram replied, crossing his arms.

"Well, not for us anyway..." Patrizia murmured.

"And I see all of you got lured into my trap. That was easier than I thought." Monogram said, now grinning.

"I can't believe this is all my fault..." Camryn muttered as Tara sighed.

"Oh, relax, Camryn and Tara, it was going to happen today, so don't be so hard on yourselves." Monogram said, giggling a little.

"Well, I guess we just had to speed up the process..." Tara muttered.

Mono laughed. "Now, shall I get on with the show? Come on, a little applause would be nice."

The whole room was silent.

"What, no? Alright, fine. Welcome to the main Demetania island's library. Let us say that, I might have spruced up this library a little to my liking. Full of darkness, despair, you know what I mean." Monogram explained.

I think a few of us rolled our eyes just now.

"Oh, but what's this? A crystal ball, right out of my pocket. As a true reward, I'll be foretelling the future, hoping it might, well, help you guys out a little."

'Since when did he ever learn how to do that?' I thought to myself as the room continued to be silent.

"There will be a trial tomorrow. I'm not going to tell who will be murdered, but I can tell you this, one of you is plotting murder at this moment."

A few of us gasped.

"Ah, yes, but there is another way that the future may go tomorrow. Suicide."

'Huh?'

"One of you may become a sacrifice. Tempted by a person hidden in the shadows, a person who is one of you. He or she will be tempted to stop the murder from happening by killing yourself. Therefore, we hold a class trial." Monogram explained. "Oh, and there is no way you can escape the temptation, even though all of you are hearing this now. The person in the shadows probably has its ways, I guess."

None of us still didn't say anything.

"Speechless, eh? Now, what will it be? homicide or suicide? I will gladly let all of you guys go, and I certainly cannot wait for tomorrow! Such mystery is bound to happen soon! Mono out!" The doors were suddenly unlocked and the windows were unblocked, letting light in just as the candles were extinguished.

Monogram disappeared and we were left stunned, looking at each other.

We weren't going to sleep tonight.