The Mirror Mansion

Chapter VII: The Deduction Deduction

Deduct
   To take away or remove.

Deduct
   To deduce. To prove.

   "What the heck?! Is that... M-mars?!" Tyler yelled loudly as he looked at the body in front of him. "Just... J-just... Just what happened Carl?!"
   "I have no idea! I was just talking to myself and then suddenly, she fell in front of me!" Carl yelled at Tyler in anger and shock.
The remaining teammates rushed to see the body and Chelsea and Haley screamed and Celeste fainted against her sister.
The shock that rose upon them was sudden and a familiar laugh filled the skies as if thunder roared and the sound of a sigh after the laugh sounded like rain brewing in the humidity.
The sound caused several birds to squawk angrily in protest as they flew off their perches in a hurry and the trees swayed as if there were a light breeze. Of course, there wasn't.
   "You monster!!!" Jin roared at the sky and the sky roared back throwing Jin off balance but he remained angered as his brows furrowed and his teeth remained grit.
   "What did I tell you, you children? Someone would die sooner or later, right? Right?" Richard said as his voice echoed.
Haley seemed to have tears pricking her eyes but she didn't let them fall as she slowly took a peek at Mars' body and then yelped and looked away.
She even whimpered when Tyler forced himself to even glance at Mars' body.
   "Are you okay?" Selene asked Haley as she slowly gave Haley a look.
   "No! I don't like seeing her dead!" Haley yelped in fear and tears began to form on her cheeks.
Tyler sighed sadly as he forced himself to inspect Mars for a certain clue or what not.
There was no blood on her clothing but there were scratches all over her lycra jumpsuit and none on her, and there was a rope mark around her neck which shows that she's been choked to death.
Ropes... probably from the makeshit tent...
But her facial expression... She didn't look like she struggled much or anything. She looked a little calm. Maybe too calm?
   "And now that the body has been found... You may all return to the mansion. Congratulations." Richard laughed. "But, you must find Mars' killer within a day. Five hours, three hundred minutes, eighteen thousand seconds... Celeste would know. Don't you? Celeste, dear?"
Celeste had fainted and said nothing as she was silently cradled by her sister who seemed both confused and slightly disturbed.
   'But why would Celeste know about pinpointed calculations?" Tyler asked himself mentally.
A flash of white then came from the makeshift tent and the remaining teammates looked inside.
A mirror had appeared. In the shape of a door... The mirror that leads to their escape...
   "Feel free to come and go to this island as you please. But remember, when five hours ends, you must return to the round table." Richard chuckled.
   "Oh, ja, Entschuldigung, I forgot to mention that you must eliminate the killer out of all of you. If you deduce correctly, they get deducted. A wrong choice, and only the killer stays while the rest of you get eliminated. Auf wiederschein!" Richard then said enthusiastically.
Tyler and the others exchanged nervous looks and then chose to return back to the mansion in hopes of finding something useful or something hidden in another one's room.
They all began to suspect one another. Tyler then thought about the fact that you must now trust no one.
Yet, what if they could be trusted? Weren't  Haley and Celeste and Selene innocent enough? But what if they had a dark side? Like Selene.
And then again, Celeste being able to do pinpointed times... Doesn't seem likely. It seems like something only Selene or Geoffrey could or even would do.
Some do seem to have a reason to be against Mars however...
Ryan finds her annoying, So does Chelsea, she's insulted Celeste and some of the others... And maybe... Maybe Carl is just pretending to be close with her? Marco seemed to have a grudge against her back then too...
Tyler thought about all this and began to concoct theories in his head. Or even plans as he walked towards the mirror leading back to the mansion.
   'Maybe scouring her room might work...'

***

   'Not much to find...' Tyler thought as he left Marie or Mars' room. She stayed alone in that room because there were five females... He couldn't check the others' rooms because obviously, they would protest.
In the male's dorm however, no such weapons were found. And, how would do bring a weapon here anyway? The mirror only appeared now.
Tyler sighed as he trudged back and forth in Room One. He then stared at the mirror and saw Carl walk through it with a mournful look on his face.
   'He must have been hurt...' Tyler thought and then sighed.
He decided to walk through the mirror. He then saw Carl examining Mars' wounds on her neck and checking the ropes of the tent and such but then grabbing a rock from the ground and hurling it at a bush in anguish.
   "Did you find anything Carl?" Tyler asked and Carl turned aeound and sighed.
   "I didn't. But the rope marks on her neck just don't match the ropes from the tent is all I could find." He sighed.
Tyler snapped. 'Ropes that aren't from the tent?! Who could get a hold of those?!'
   "How did you know they weren't from the tent?" Tyler asked him.
   "They were thicker than the ropes for the tent. Don't suspect me. I cared about Mars a lot. As a bud! Why?" Carl then asked Tyler.
   "Thicker ropes... Do you know where we could get those on this island?" Tyler asked him.
   "Nope. Maybe someone found something in the forests though... Like a hut or something." Carl sighed.
   'Or, you found the hut. Carl.' Tyler thought to himself. Maybe Carl did kill her. He was only playing pitiful and innocent. But a hut on this island? Not very likely. But in this crazy, slaughter house, maybe there would be something...
   "Should we search again?" He asked Tyler.
Tyler nodded and then walked to the mirror to call back the others to restart the search.
   "Oh yeah, Tyler, by the way," Carl said.
   "Yeah, Carl?" Tyler asked him before entering the mirror back to the mansion.
   "There was this strange bruise on her head head." Carl said.
   Tyler nodded and looked at the mirror. "I'll keep that in mind. Now let's go. We have to talk to the others."
As soon as Tyler and Carl got there, they quickly ran to the round table where all the others were gathered and were thinking about the saddening murder.
   "We can't continue the search. We'll run out of time. We should just think about what was used to... To... to murder her." Selene sighed but even she looked paler than usual.
   "Ropes. Ropes thicker than the ones for the tent. Carl examined them." Tyler pointed out.
   "Then couldn't he be the killer?!" Ryan suddenly exclaimed as if he found the answer.
   "Stop accusing me! Just because me and Mars were buds, doesn't mean that you have to pick on me now that she's gone!" Carl retorted angrily.
   "Shut up!!!" Haley suddenly yelled at the top of her voice.
The hallways echoed with her shout and the shout rang in the ears of her fellow teammates. They all grew silent. But seeing Haley shout was unusual however. Almost suspicious. But she seemed to be more hurt. She had no relationship with her as a friend, but was always timid and caring.
Ryan's face fell into disappointment and so did Carl's. The others seemed to have grown more depressed with what happened that they xould barely think straight.
   "Carl said that there might be a shed on the island." Tyler said quietly.
   "Then isn't he the most suspicious?" Chelsea said not seeming to feel guilty or depressed at all.
   "So are you. You don't seem sad about Mars' death at all." Jin sighed.
   "Mars was always such a scruffy one. So rowdy and reckless and... Well... Rude and careless! I for one know that she would sure to get herself into a fight if someone dared try to strangle her." Chelsea sighed.
   "Mars was in a fight?" Marco asked Chelsea in suspicion.
   "She always acts that way. Like she'll rough you up if you anger her or something." She replied gruffly.
   "But she had no scratches on her skin. Only on her jumpsuit." Jin then said. "Maybe, she didn't fight with her killer then?"
   "But what if she did?" Haley asked softly.
Tyler then looked around slowly and then looked down. Maybe she did... Or maybe she got just her jumpsuit roughed up in the jungle because of the sharp branches and numerous plants. But... She was the more agile one. The fighter. A simple jungle can't leave a bruise or strangle her.
   'Sharp branches? Jungle plants?' Tyler asked himself in confusion. What started up all that?
   Carl then slammed his hand on the table. His eyes were shining with hope and knowledge. He then blurted out his thoughts. "What if the culprit didn't use the ropes from the tent at all?! What if they used the vines that dangled from the trees?!" Carl exclaimed.
Tyler snapped. So did everyone else. It seemed to make sense!
   "So that's what they used to choke her?!" Haley gasped.
   "You're strangely lively today, aren't you Haley?" Chelsea asked her.
Haley shrunk away but at the same time seemed furious with Chelsea.
   "Stop picking on her." Tyler sighed. "Anyway, we have what we think is the murder weapon. We don't know when or where she was murdered. Or the killer's reason to kill her."
   "What doesn't make you suspicious Tyler?" Marco asked suddenly.
   "Me?!" Tyler exclaimed in shock.
   "You seem to be able to piece everything together. Like you know the killers plot. Because... Well, you planned it? Maybe?" Marco said in suspicion.
   Tyler facepalmed and groaned angrily. "I have no such reason to go against Mars! I was the one with the least clue about this mansion and I even came last! I knew her the least!"
   "Defensive, much?" Marco said as he rose an eyebrow and crossed his arms.
   "Who thinks negatively of her? The most?" Geoffrey asked them sighing irritatedly.
   "Ryan. And Chelsea." Celeste said disappointedly. "But she does tend to annoy everyone..."
   "It wasn't me!" They both shouted in unison.
   "Then who is the culprit...?" Haley whispered and sadly adjusted her glasses. "They choked her, hurt her, killed her and bruised her..."
   "It's terrible..." Celeste mumbled as she snuggled sadly in her sisters long hair.
   "Well... Do we have all that we need to know?" Tyler asked.
   "Maybe... And we have at least three more hours. And do we need to know where she was killed? It'll be hard to find it. The island is bigger on foot than it was up on that weird plane trip." Jin said.
   "Well then, we shan't look again! I'm glad that the minute we came back from that horrific island, our proper attires have returned from those... Terrible jumpsuits!" Ryan said as if in great pain.
James sighed and shook his head. "So... That's all that we have gathered?"
Tyler was surprised to see James talk for himself for once but nodded in a bit of surprise.
   "I guess we should search again..." Selene said as she comforted her younger sister.
   "We probably should. By partners again. And be wary of your partner too. You won't really know who to trust much at this rate." Carl said.
   "Are we all in for it?" Carl asked them.
   "Fine." Ryan huffed.
And all the others agreed. They agreed to search again for more clues leading to the culprit.
And the plans continued to be re-discussed and planned. For the next couple of hours.
However, among those saddened and worried souls was one soul who was absoloutely free of regret. Feeling that their heaviest burdened was just taken free from their shoulders.
How pitiful. If they were ever found out, they'd die.
But under their mask of their usual demeanour, was a smirk. A smirk of success. To the death of the one they've loathed the most.
And all that was left was to leave the trial in triumph.
Simple.
All they had to do, was wait under their mask...
Until the time to reveal their true colors and intentions arises.

Till the trial comes.