Plagued: a companion to Whodunnit

The Seventh Day

"We've been here seven days," Cameron stated. Esther look over at him as he smoothed out on the madras shirt he had been wearing for the past three days.

"Rest," she said. "On the seventh day God rested."

"What about the eighth?"

"There is no eighth day. The seventh day is the end," Valerie said cynically. She was listening in from behind the corner to where the elevators were.

"I disagree," Esther said, "I think the eighth day is when God goes back to work."

"God's not at work now, thats for sure," Cam said.

"How can you be so sure? God damns the evil," Valerie said darkly.

"I am not evil," Cam said, which dove into an awkwardness. They all just studied each other.

"I know who the killer is," Valerie said finally.

They looked at her and she pulled out the revolver. Eleanor gulped down her breath. The pistol was waved right at her face.

"No confessions, huh?"

No one would look at her.

"Valerie, let's put that away and talk this over. We all will keep each other safe once we know who is who."

"Shut up Cameron! I know who the killer is," she said again, "And I'm gonna let them finish their work. I decided that you all are sick, evil people. And you deserve to die."

Valerie looked down and met eyes with one of the guests. "I will make a deal, I wont kill you if you wont kill me. Fair is fair, you can finish these others off for all I care."

She left with the gun and a wicked smile. The newspaper was in her hand, carried behind her back as she walked to the elevator.

"What the hell on fire?!" Eleanor shouted, "She's mad. She is helping the killer. She is-she is a-"

"Murderer." Esther said.

"No," Cam said, "She's just a scared girl. And like all scared girls, she means exactly what she says she will do. A woman is like a bag of tea, put them in hot water and you'll see just how strong she is."

Later that evening they found her dead. Her skin was a slimy grey that they all were so used to seeing. Her expression was blank, as id she was asleep. A card sat by her as well as a few leaves in a blunt. The card read "Black Locust" and Eleanor's thin smile, ajar from where she suckled on the blunt, seemed to sink into a frown.

Valerie came down again as she heard the commotion. She wasn't surprised to see Eleanor dead. She was ready to see one last dead body and then the whole thing would be over. The two of them bound to their deal, could walk away and forget the day they visited Hell, frozen over and still frightening.

Esther and Cam were worried. Either Val was manipulating them or one of the two was the killer.

Valerie went back upstairs and the two sat in silence. Cam said he had to go to the bathroom and Esther was uneasy. She hurried to the elevator.

The building was old and the doors were tricky. They opened up to reveal the darkness of the shaft. A void where there was no elevator. She looked up and saw it was way up on the third floor.

Cam got out and walked over to the elevator as well. Esther explained the problem. She told him it was way up high. He leaned in to inspect and thats when she pushed him. Hard as ever, and watched him fall into the black. In a malevolent whisper she said "After the locusts came darkness."

A gun shot, but missed.

"Next one's going in your skull," Valerie warned.

"We made a deal. A deal with the devil!"

"I know."

She lowered the gun.

"How did you find out it was me?"

"Jackson said last year a girl came to visit. By now I know that that girl was you. I found that newspaper in my room, which must be the room where you stayed last year. You probably left it behind."

"Yes, but I got another copy."

"We all were in that newspaper, even you. Odara was the writer, and she met with you didn't she?"

"Odara came to my community, yes. She interviewed me about our sect that broke off the Amish Church. The Devoted Willers. She called us a cult, but lo and behold she was a hoodoo practitioner, that heathen. She mailed me this newspaper in 2005 after she wrote it. I was a teenager and about to leave my community for what we call Leaving the Garden."

"Why did you pick us?"

"You all were sinners and part of Leaving the Garden is you find the Ten Evil. It was so easy that all of you were in that paper."

Her eyes, black as pitch, showed a deep passion, a devilish pride in her actions.

"Each of you did exactly as you were commanded against. Do you know all ten of them?"

Valerie lifted the gun in threat.

"No? There be but one God, worship no idols, do not use the LORD's name in vain, remember the sabbath, honor thy mother and father, thou shalt not murder, do not commit adultery, steal not other's possessions, do not bear false witness, and covet nothing."

Valerie began to shake in fear. Adultery. She was guilty of it. "You won't kill me Esther. And I won't kill you!"

That's when Valerie saw it. A rope with a noose. Esther walked up to it and put it over her neck as she stood up on a chair.

"I have to die, Valerie. It's the way back to the Garden. These are the plagues of Egypt. They all were. The Nile turned to blood, the frogs, the locust, the darkness. And now I, free from perpetual slavery, can be led free back to the Promised Land," Esther spoke, her head leaned back to face the ceiling, "Deliver me from evil!"

Esther kicked the chair out from her feet and dangled in the air. Her legs kicked in a frenzy. It took Valerie's breath away.

"No!" Valerie screamed.

She ran to her, planning to save her but Esther went limp. Out from her hand, Esther lost the grip she had on a vial and a crumbled up paper.

Valerie looked at the items and bent down in a slow-motion grace. In her palm, she read the label: Blue Cohosh. She read the card and looked up at Esther.

"You godless woman," she was screaming, "Damn you to hell!"

Valerie fell to the floor and broke down into tears. Beside her was the note. It read in the blackest of ink: "Firstborn Son."