💀 One crown. Five contestants. One fair competition. Or not. 💀
Delta Heights School, an all girls boarding school has just gotten spine-chilling. A harmless blackmail turns deadly when one of the five contestants for the Ms. Delta crown, an annual...
“No that’s not true.” Miley argued dropping her weapon. “It was you all along, I know it. You were so bent on winning that you had to murder the others. And you wanted to hurt us too.”
“No.” Maya protested, and spit out a mouthful of blood. “It-t w-wass V-vick-ky. Sh-she kn-knock-ked m-me out, an-nd wh-when I w-wokke upp, th-the v-vid-deo was go-gon-ne.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Tr-trusst m-me. I w-wouldd n-neverr hurrt y-you.” Another discharge of blood. “P-pleasse h-help m-me, p-pleasse.”
Something tugged at Miley’s heart and she distractedly knelt down, bending to touch Maya.
“No!” Vicky exclaimed. “She was going to kill us.”
“With what?” Miley heard herself asking. “She came empty-handed. With what do you suppose she was going to harm us with?”
“There are plenty of options in here. Miley don’t help her, she’s a murderer.”
Miley looked at Maya, bleeding and suffering and then back at Vicky. “We’ve got to help her, she’s dying.”
“I will not.” Vicky stood her ground and stepped backwards. Miley’s eyes, full of disappointment, fell to Vicky’s shoes and her heart stopped. Green running shoes. She glanced at Maya’s; black running shoes. Then she looked back at Vicky, at her facial wounds, and she realized. Tears stung Miley’s eyes, threatening to fall down any minute. “Your wounds are self-inflicted.” She said, her voice shaking.
Vicky froze and her expression was all the confirmation Miley needed. She couldn’t hold them any longer and soon big fats tears rolled down her cheeks.
“I see you’ve finally figured it out.” Vicky’s frightened voice suddenly took on a menacing tone. “Too bad though. I was willing to let you live, since it appeared you didn’t know the truth.” She took out a handkerchief from her pocket and used it to pick up the crowbar that Miley had discarded and felt its weight in her hands. “You should have just let us leave her and go. Then I won’t have to kill you too.”
“How could you do this to them? You murdered your own best friend. And now Maya too.”
“Point of correction, I had nothing to do with Maya, that was your doing. Oh look, it appears that you’re now a certified murderer.”
Miley frowned, not understanding what Vicky meant. Then she saw that Vicky wasn’t looking at her but behind her. She quickly turned around to Maya, who remained unmoving on the ground.
“Don’t even bother,” Vicky’s icy voice sliced through her with excruciating pain. “she’s dead.”
Miley swallowed and stared motionless at Maya’s still body.
“I guess both of us are now even.”
Miley slumped to the ground unable to do anything except ask, “Why?” in a quiet voice.
“I had to. Hanna had to win the competition and I had to make it happen. But I didn’t intend for it to be like this. The plan was just to steal some tickets and then put then in for Hanna. I had no idea that I would be caught and I wouldn’t have had to worry about it if you guys didn’t have your stupid meeting in our room. I was forced to deal with the issue and decided to get Hanna the shoes she wanted and ask for forgiveness. Getting the shoes were tricky enough, I was truly lucky to have an uncle who had a friend who dealt in fake limited edition shoes for cheap. They looked like the real so much that you couldn’t even tell the difference. But then Becca had to show and complicate things by threatening to report my actions. I absolutely couldn’t let her.”
“You didn’t have to kill her.”
“Oh I did. That holier-than-thou character was going to have me reported no matter what I did. So she had to go.”
“You ransacked your own room.”
“Yeah, I needed to find those tapes which didn’t exist. So I messed up the entire room, including my side so that I’d look like the victim too. Genius, right?”
“And Kellan? What did she have to do with this?”
“Well, I do feel bad for her though. Hers was kind of a useless death. I overheard her talking to Hanna about knowing who the culprit was and that she was going to tell her during the memorial at the old storage tower, something I wasn’t going to allow. It is sad though, because when we met up she had no idea that I was the bad guy and thought it was one of you guys.” She used the crowbar to gesture at her and Maya. “I accept that it was my mistake but I had to deal with it rationally. I wasn’t going to let gossip girl ruin anything for me. So she had to go too.”
“And what about Hanna? Your own best friend? Did she also have to go?”
“She lied about the video. She deserved it. If it weren’t for her lie I wouldn’t have had to kill the others. She made me do it, so it was only fair she paid for her sins.”
“Hanna never told you to kill them, you made those choices on your own. It’s your fault they’re dead, not Hanna’s.”
“Just like it’s your fault Maya is dead, right?” Vicky retorted in a taunting voice and Miley, reminded of what she had done, inhaled sharply and knit her lips close together.
“Not going to say anything? Cat got your tongue? Well, if you have nothing to say, I’d move on to the next segment –”
“You knew we were going to find the video when you overheard us in the clinic. And you followed us not because you wanted to see the video, but because you wanted to delete it.”
“Right. And since Maya had already viewed it, it seemed right that she had to die.”
“But when did you not do it yourself? Why make me do it?”
“Because you’re the culprit. The murderer and the thief. The one the police have been looking for.”
“What are you talking about? That’s you, it’s all you.”
“Don’t rush me, I was getting there. That’s was the next segment I was about to speak of. The segment where I kill you then make you take the blame for my little sins.”
Miley eyes went wide. “What?”
“You heard me. You know too much. And the Sheriff needs a culprit. And you’ve also got your prints on this beautiful weapon here.” She held up the crowbar which she still held with her handkerchief. “You become the murderer and I become the heroine for getting rid of the murderer. Case closed.”
“You can’t do that!”
“Oh trust me sweetie, I can. This position was originally meant for Maya and you would have joined me in being a heroine but you decided to be smart and play detective so I guess it’s your part now.”
“And how are you going to do it? How are you going to get rid of me?”
