The Dreadful Deed

Chapter 6

JEAN

I still don't know what to do after what I saw a while ago. Should I tell it to someone? Or should I keep it to myself? Ah! I don't know! I have been stressing myself for the past thirteen hours now! Maybe I should just go to sleep and rest for a while? Right, so that I can focus later, I have many hours left anyway. I let my self drifted to sleep so that I can rest, for sure I can solve this later.

I quickly sat up when I saw what is it, "What?! I only have three hours left?!" I screamed as I turned to our clock, it is now seven am. I must hurry and investigate already! My roommate Lexi looked at me with curiosity "Where are you going? Why are you in a hurry?" she asked.

"I'm going to investigate." I simply said, still fixing myself.

"What? I gave up on that yesterday. I really couldn't find him!" she went to her lying position while looking at me.

My hands quivered while fixing my necktie, I feel guilty. I saw a human's bones on that vase but I still haven't told anyone. But then, it is still not confirmed if that was James, but a part of me as yelling that is James' bones.

"I won't give up until I ran out of time," I turned to her "well, I'm going now." she nodded, "Goodluck!" she shouted before I exited our room and went silently to where the vase is located but my eyebrows furrowed when the vase isn't there! Maybe I'm hallucinating? Or the suspect took the vase? The vase is in between the library and the boy's dorm and now I'm certain that a boy did this. I followed the trail of the drops of soil and it led me to Room 112. This is Theodore's room. But this boy is very quiet and well, kind of peculiar. Maybe I'm just mistaken. I peeped inside the hole and I could see that Theodore is fixing the broken vase while laughing like a madman. I didn't notice that I made a noise by pushing the door farther. He looked at me through his thick glasses and he smiled at me for a second before going back to what he is doing initially.

"W-What are you doing?" my voice quivered and body won't stop shaking.

His eyes didn't leave the vase, and he chuckled at me, "Well done Jean Cooper," well-done? what?

"Since you're already here why don't you sit down and play a game with me?" he put down his vase to the side and faced me.

"W-What? What do you mean?" I can't help but stutter. I entered the lion's den without realizing it and here I am, about to be part of one of his collections.

"It's simple, it's called Chess. If you win, you will exit this room alive and you can tell your friends that I'm the one who killed James but if you lose..." he stopped for a while and looked down on the bones on the floor "You will end up like this." he said coldly. My eyes traveled swiftly at them, I looked away, nervousness eating me up because of what I saw.

"Well, is it a deal?" I know how to play chess but I'm not exactly good at it, but right now I don't have a choice. "Fine." I nodded slowly

He chuckled and began to place the Chess Board between us. I could feel my heartbeat quicken because of nervousness while this man in front of me is very calm.

"By the way, touch move rule will be applied on this game," I nodded.

"Since you're the guest here, I'll give you the fancy to pick. White or Black?"

"W-White" I answered, still feeling the coldness in his voice.

He nodded and switched the board so that the white pieces are facing me. I swallowed and make my opening move. I moved my pawn to e4 and he quickly countered my attack with pawn to e5. Our match became intense after that and it lasted for an hour, I can't stop swallowing and taking a deep breath. Beads of sweat are starting to form in my forehead, my throat went dry when I couldn't think for a perfect move to counter his. It's been 15 minutes.

I smirked when I noticed that he misplaced his queen and quickly ate it. His eyes widened at what I did and gritted his teeth. He shrugged and I still can't stop smiling. You can do this; you can win this! I looked at the clock again and only fifty minutes left. I began to tense again but quickly ignored it and focused my attention on the game before me. Think, what can I do to checkmate him? What strategy should I do to corner him? An idea popped out of my mind and I moved my queen hesitantly, he is a bit confused with my move but he shrugged it off, little did he know, I'm planning something.

"Checkmate," I said proudly as I looked at the clock again, I have fifteen minutes left! he sat there, frozen.

"Come with me, I'll report you now." I turned around to twist the doorknob but he yanked my arm to make me face him.

"Do you think it will be that easy? Do you know how much pain he caused me?"

I gritted my teeth at his words. I don't care anymore, I won fairly on our game. Because of his poor reflexes, he didn't saw it coming that I will grab his glasses to remove it and kicked his stomach so hard. Still not satisfied, I hit his nose with my elbow and the back of his neck with the side of my hand. I twisted the doorknob and dragged his unconscious body, the students passing by the hallway stopped what they were doing to watch me dragging his body to the audio-visual room.

I can hear the curious whispers and murmurs of our schoolmates and classmates.

"What happened?"

"Theodore Lacia killed James Maximillian?"

"Who could've imagined that that nerd can do such kind of thing?" the crowd agreed with Anwen.

I found a large tablet on the table at the center and quickly took it and saw the question 'Who is the killer?' I typed Theodore's full name and someone began to speak on the speaker again. "Excellent Jean Cooper! Your answer is correct! Theodore Lacia killed James Maximillian. Now that the case is closed, you may now continue your lessons. That's all" the students started their next day like nothing happened.