Game of Fates

Chapter XIII

I walked out and followed Ava.

She was always reckless. While playing sports, she was always the type to rely on instinct (it worked about half the time). This time, though, I didn't expect her recklessness and feelings really get to her. Did she even realize what could happen? I didn't know.

I opened the Hawthornes' door. "Hey, is Ava he-"

"Just show us your email, Amy!" shouted Ava. She had her hand firmly clenched around Amy's neck, and shoved her against the wall.

"H-Hey... W-Wait, I-"

"Ava? Stop, you could kill her!" I yelled. I never thought I would've been able to say that so casually.

She let go. "Just answer me, please."

"Ava, where'd you get this info from? It's not true," asserted Amy, now sitting on the floor. "Here's a screenshot of my e-mail. Now do you believe me?"

She stretched her arm out and held her phone in front of her. Ava crouched down to look more closely. "You're right... Sorry about threatening you."

"It's fine, I guess," replied Amy, flustered as she stood up. "So, where did you hear that rumor from?" Fuck.

"Er, well..." stuttered Ava.

"I'll go get a snack," I said, just to get away.

I closed the door and turned on my way out, and casually feigned a smirk as I panted. I ended up walking down the stairs as if nothing happened, and let myself fall on the couch in our lounge. Of course, I wasn't the only one there.

"Oh, hi Angel," greeted Kiara. "Do you know anything?"

I sighed. "I guess. Though thanks to that of which I think I know, me and Ava got ourselves screwed..."

"Huh?" reacted Lillian. "What do you mean?"

"First of all, sorry for not saying this earlier," I apologized. "On the night the Katie and Brett incident happened... I saw something else. Keep it a secret, though!"

"Depends..." remarked Kiara. "But go on."

"So, I overheard the twins that night," I started. "I couldn't tell who was who, since their voices were pretty muffled, but they were saying things like 'not getting caught' as well as 'only you can know about this'. Things like that... Actually, pretty sure that's about it."

Kiara pondered. "Huh, interesting... I kinda see why you didn't tell us before, but I'm still rather disappointed. Regardless, anything else?"

"What did you mean by 'getting yourselves screwed', or something?" asked Lillian.

I slouched to the side. "Well, you know how Ava is... I decided I'd tell her, and..."

"She tried to get an answer out of the twins?" guessed Lillian.

I swallowed. "Well, just Amy. But yeah."

"Jesus Christ..." sighed Kiara. "So, this is obviously something we can't just discuss on the table, yeah?"

"Obviously," agreed Lillian.

Kiara hesitated for a bit. "As your class president, I mean, this goes without saying, but I can't afford any more casualties!"

"So, what's your plan?" asked Lillian. Then I realized something.

"Thinking about it, the next killer's somebody wearing red, right?" I contributed. "So... It's gotta be-"

"...Angel, that adds nothing," Lillian pointed out. "They both like wearing red."

"No, but..." I stuttered. Juliet... She was the one behind FATE itself, even if she wasn't behind all the killing, if there was anyone responsible to begin with. "Amy doesn't wear red all the time. She just wears it sometimes. But Pip wears her gloves all the time. And... Considering it's Juliet, or rather a program made by Juliet, who's sending these messages... Juliet would know Pip well enough. Everyone only wears red sometimes, but Pip always wears red. So, like... wouldn't the 'wearing red' statement be a giveaway of some sort? There's no way some program would be able to predict the colour of clothes we're wearing!"

We waited a few counts. I was right, wasn't I? Kind of.

Lillian snapped and pointed. "But somehow, FATE predicted everyone's deaths... Can we pause and recap for a moment?"

"What you said... It's a good point, too," admitted Kiara. "It makes me wonder, though, if Juliet's even dead to begin with. We've seen Charlie's, Brett's, and Katie's bodies, but where's Juliet's? We need some kind of confirmation..."

"Shouldn't finding out the next killer be prioritized first, though-"

Kiara then interrupted me. "That's what I'm getting at here," she clarified. "If Juliet is alive somehow, and this is some kind of game, it changes pretty much everything. Put some thought into it, and you'll see why."

Then, it clicked.

"Juliet... is watching-"

"And it could be more than that," added Kiara. "But, of course, we don't have any chances of finding her, dead or not. We're trapped here. The gates out of campus are permanently shut, and we can't text anyone outside the walls of this dorm complex."

"Hold on! So, how'd Ava get in?" Lillian cut in. "There weren't any guards, as far as I know-"

Then, I looked to my left, where Kiara was facing. Pip was sliding down the wooden stairway rails, and jumped off. She approached us. "How's y'all?" she asked.

"Depends. Do you honestly think we can be in a good mood right now?" replied Kiara. "For me, no. We're stressed here, alright? People are dying, for fuck's sake."

Pip sat next to me. "So, who do you think the next killer is?" she asked. So we smirked.

No way was I going to admit what we had been talking about these past few minutes-

"Why're you all smiling like that?" she questioned further.

Kiara gulped. "You wouldn't be mad if I said we think you're the most likely one, would you? Let me explain."

"Huh, how interesting... Go on, I'm listening."

The three of us explained our whole train of thought from that time, minus the part about me eavesdropping nights before.

"Wowie, that's all?" Pip expressed right after. "It would help if we looked at each body more closely. Where's Charlie, where's Brett, and where's Katie? I'm willing to take a lookie at them." The only thought that raced through my mind after hearing Pip's proposal was, "OH HELL NO!"

"...You sure?" replied Lillian, looking off to her side, clearly disgusted. "...Please don't mess up, or anything. The last thing I want is hearing that the corpse exploded, or something."

"Nah, no way am I gonna let that happen!" bickered Pip. "You can trust me, right?"

I looked at her with a confused stare. "After all we told you? I dont think-"

"It's all we have, Angel," Kiara interrupted. "Alright, Pip. You can do it, but under one condition, yeah?"

"Yeah, fine, whatever. So, what is it?"

"Actually, nevermind. Two conditions," said Kiara, crossing her arms. "Number one, just as none of us haven't, you can't move the bodies anywhere; you have to leave them as is. And number two, you have to do it with Lillian-"

"Why me? This is so sudden-"

"Look at yourself. You're not wearing red, are you? So we know you're not gonna kill anyone any time soon." True... and I'm sure Lillian thought the same.

"Alright, I accept," said Pip.

"Brett's and Charlie's bodies are in the room Allie and Charlie used to be in together. I haven't touched Katie's, though, so it's likely still in her room. Oh, but the rooms are locked-"

"Fuck you, Kiara," cursed Pip.

"Pip," Lillian called. "No swearing. And Kiara knows how to pick locks, anyway." There was a problem with that, though...

"...You expect Kiara to pick Charlie's lock, too?" I pointed out.

Lillian swallowed. "Didn't... think about that. Thanks, Angel."

Kiara adjusted herself in her seat. "I trusted Jared with the keys to Charlie's room. Go ask him when you need to look at Brett and Charlie."

"Alrighty," affirmed Pip. We didn't have much to say past that.

Ava soon came down, panting a bit.