Fruition// A Dark Academia Murder Mystery

Gene, Grief and the Gay-me of Life

Athena and Genie kept eye contact for what felt like an eternity before they both went sprinting out of the bathroom. What awaited them sent tingles down their spines. A student. Dead.

She had long wavy blonde hair down to her hips and her eyes must have once been dazzling in their playful lake blue before they glassed over; truly a beautiful girl, except for obvious signs of her attack like the purple-blue bruises swimming across her neck. Obviously, she must have been strangled since the bruises were hand-shaped. Lightly she smelled of chloroform, but it was clear she was more than just out cold since her body lifted with air no longer.

The entire hallway was still and dead silent as the image hit them all. Genie stood next to her new comrade trying not to show fear, weakness; an odd feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. Bile pooled in her mouth and she felt as if at any moment she might need to run back to the bathroom, but her feet were rooted to the spot.

Just then, Mr. Westbrook's morbid voice rang through the loudspeakers.

"All students must report to their common rooms immediately as we consider this situation and evaluate our options. Any stragglers found loitering in the halls will be expelled without further notice. The police will arrive shortly."

The crowd of students littering the hallways dissipated, everyone moved much slower than they had just that morning. As Genie and Athena made their way through the ranks they passed one girl who was crying, hunched up against a tall boy with a sports jersey over his uniform. It took a minute but Genie vaguely registered the girl as Mckenzie, the girl she had met alongside Athena. Besides her everyone seemed numb- fragile - but numb.

Neither of the two girls spoke until they reached their common room and settled into empty spaces on the couch. Most students apparently would rather be in their dorm rooms, Genie noticed. Possibly they felt safer in a more intimate place due to the sudden chaos, or maybe they would just rather be with their friends, but it wasn't worth speculating.

She turned to Athena after a short while "who was she"

"Well her name is - was- Lilac Harper. From the beginning she always stood out because she was sent here by mistake, her parents are actually the most loving and supportive people ever, they thought this was a normal boarding school and Mr. Westbrook made it clear that he did not want them informed otherwise. She didn't mind, somehow she grew to like it here. She made it her home and in the process made a lot of other people feel at home here as well. She always was the center of attention because she had such a bubbly, airy, unique personality that it was almost impossible to avoid her. I don't think anybody disliked her, how could they? I suspect she and Appollo dated for a while... but I could never be sure. He's very secretive you know."

Genie really did not expect a biography's worth of information on this girl, she was just hoping to catch her name and console Athena a bit. It took her a minute before it hit her. Mentioning this girl's relationship with her brother wasn't really necessary, it didn't fit in with the rest of her speech. Gene had never even personally met Apollo, so why would that particular piece of information be relevant. Unless-

" You like her don't you?" she asked. 'Liked' she wanted to correct, but alas, the words were already out of her mouth and her slip-up was too minor to try to take back now.

Athena didn't respond, only looked solemnly at her lap, and Genie realized that maybe she should give her some space to grieve. Her presence was surely discomforting in more ways than one; talking about one's crush, however dead they may be, with someone only known for a day isn't exactly an ideal circumstance.

Without another word, Genie arose to leave, but a harsh grip on her wrist rendered her stuck. She turned to face the speckled green eyes brimming with tears or the terrors of love and loss.

"Stay" her voice broke, tears ran down her face, and a moment later her body suddenly became wracked with sobs. Gene quickly sat back on the couch and took her mate's limp form into her arms.

It felt necessary to say something as she placed her chin on Athena's shoulder and noticed her rough green sweater scratch against her face while watching the long fawn-colored hair wrap around her as her eyes turned raw with tears; Yet what would she say? It'll be alright; It's ok; It'll get better? She didn't want to give promises of false hope, because that would be debatably worse than saying nothing at all.

"Hang on."

Mousey, Harmon, and a boy Genie had never seen before ( but seemed vaguely recognizable) entered the common room. Right as the door was about to shut behind them, a fourth character hurled it open and waltzed past them to collapse on the loveseat on the other side of the room.

Apollo.

His face was paled and his eyes went dark, he made a strong point of walking head down.

Gene's first instinct would be to point out Athena's current state to her brother and hope he would show some tact and offer some support, but then she remembered that Lilac may have very well been his girlfriend; he needed time to grieve too. Even if his sister was miserable, he was probably graver.

Her two roommates and their apparent guest stepped over to where Athena was and each took a seat. Harmon on Mousey in one armchair and the mystery person in another (for Apollo had taken up the entirety of the loveseat).

Harmon spoke up first, which would prove to be a rare occurrence.

"Hey, Athena, what do you need"

"A distraction would be lovely" she lifted her head and gave a small smile.

"I'll get the board game!" chirped their guest.

Genie still didn't know his name, so she asked Mousey. "Oh, that's Jake. He's Mckenzie's boyfriend."

Jake, so his name was, strolled back to his chair a few minutes later with a board game tucked under his arm. He gave a cheeky smile in Genie's direction after laying it out on the table. The Game of Life.

"We call it the Gay-me of Life. It's like the original but less hetero-normative. Kind of a staple around here."

Gene smiled and let out a chuckle despite herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few long hours later, everyone had collectively decided it was time to clock in for the night. Athena, Mousey, and Harmon walked up the stairs while Genie and Jake stayed behind for cleanup.

Once everything had been tucked away into its proper place, Genie, being utterly exhausted, began to waltz towards the stairs without a goodbye. Until she felt a hand snatch her by the arm.

"What the absolute fu-"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Athena jumped into her plushy galaxy covers and fell into a deep slumber, that would be riddled with nightmares and plagued with sorrow. She had to witness Lilac's breathless corpse a million different ways, and she didn't have the luxury of waking up in between. In her sleep, her perspiring body rocked and rotated uncontrollably, trying desperately to shake her from her own inner hell.

But as she had been taught, hell shows no mercy.