(THE SPOOPY MONTH IS UPON US!! Prepare for LOTS AND LOTS OF SITD CONTENT)

SHOT IN THE DARK MASTERLIST (find more stories here!)

~~

(This continues from the end of A Bit of Madness Part 3.)

SHOT IN THE DARK MASTERLIST (find more stories here!)

~~

I stopped writing.

My pen shook in my hand, and I quickly set it down to avoid getting splotches of ink on the paper.

She really did shoot her.

My laptop dinged cheerfully, and without a thought I reached out and closed it. I could answer that later.

I leaned back and ran my fingers through my hair… I had forgotten to gel it into a fauxhawk that morning so it was soft and fluffy. I’d considered just letting it grow out but that seemed like such a hassle….

Right, Emma.

She had shot Celine.

I leaned forward and tugged a piece of paper from my stack of notes. To be honest, there wasn’t a lot of information about the event that I didn’t already have. None of those who had been there had written much down about it, so most of what I had was second-and-third-hand, from news reports and gossip magazines.

I pulled out a fresh sheet of paper and started a summary from where I left off.

The others found Emma, shaking on the ground, with Celine’s body slumped in a chair, a bullet wound straight through her heart.

The house was oddly quiet as they removed the corpse. The storm outside was gone, freeing everyone to come and go as they please. Unsurprisingly, nobody was eager to return.

The manor burned down mere days later. They all refused to comment.

After Celine’s small funeral, the group went their separate ways.

The Colonel—whose full name Emma found out to be William J. Barnum— turned himself in as Mark "Markiplier" Barnum’s murderer. Detective Abe Eckerman had the joyless task of taking him in, and at the same time turned in his badge.

The Chef went back to culinary school, realizing that he could always refine his skills.

Benjamin the Butler became Benjamin the Office Worker, having decided that he would finally be his own master.

Emma and Damien… well, their story could be considered the most interesting out of everybody. For several months after the manor burned the two didn’t speak. Both were wracked with grief and guilt… each haunted by their own decisions.

However, one day Damien showed up at Emma’s apartment with

Clattering from the other room had me automatically shoving my extra notes and notebooks into my desk drawer. I yanked my laptop open, clicked back onto Ancestry.com and scattered some random, safe notes on the desk.

I leaned back to admire my handiwork.

Good enough.

The apartment was quiet as I opened my bedroom door, but after a few seconds I heard the tell-tale creak of our gross old couch.

The couch faced the doorway to the hall. I walked the short distance and leaned against the frame, waiting.

Dakota Farz, local law student and one of my two best friends. Also my housemate. He had his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, breathing heavily, like he was wearing an oxygen mask.

After what seemed like forever he looked up. “Hey, Liam.”

“Hey, man. Any luck?”

He shook his head wordlessly. Missing persons posters and legal documents stuck out of the folder on the coffee table in front of him. I crossed over to sit on the arm of the couch, picking up the folder.

Have you seen this girl? Asked one paper in bold type. Name: ANNA BAILEY. Age: 21. Last seen…

I looked at the next page. It was a photocopy of a missing persons report. Of course Dakota would have photocopies… but the disorganized folder was unusual.

"Liam."

I looked up.

Dakota was leaning back, his burly arms crossed over his chest. His eyebrow was raised at me. "Have you eaten at all today?"

Somehow the charm on my necklace had gotten between my teeth. I spat it out and paused to think.

Did I eat today? I'd been writing since that morning… "Uh. No."

Dakota didn't complain. He simply got up and wove through the furniture to get to the tiny kitchen, which was open to the living room. "Do we have any Korean left?"

"Think you had the rest of it already."

"Right, right."

I sat on the counter with the folder in my hands as Dakota dug through the fridge. "So did you find anything else about Anna's aunt?" he said, frowning at a moldy hunk of cheese.

"Nuh-uh." I started folding a blank sheet of paper into an origami frog.

He turned his frown to me. "You sure?"

"Look, Emma didn't write anything down about the event before it happened, and a lot of documents are classified. There's a reason they call it the 'Manor Mystery', y'know?"

"Well, they couldn't have all died in a more convenient way…"

"They didn't all die," I said, cautiously. "At least two eyewitnesses escaped, the butler and the chef. They… may have surviving descendants. I've been trying to find them," I said quickly as Dakota's eyes lit up with hope, as well as indignation that I hadn't told him right away. "But they did everything they could to get off the grid. Whatever it was that happened… they don't want anyone to find out. But I'll keep looking, don't worry."

He seemed satisfied with my explanation, and turned back to the fridge.

We ended up eating cold fried chicken and waffles. Under the pretense of doing more research, I retreated to my room as soon as I finished the dishes.

My bedroom door felt rough against my back, even through the barrier of my shirt. Slowly, I slid to the floor and put my head in my hands.

She's fine. There's no reason to worry. I know exactly where she is.

A compact mirror was heavy in my palm. I didn't even remember taking it out of my pocket.

No. That's a last resort. Things are different, now.

I'd tell Dakota… eventually. It just wasn't the right time.

I had time.

For once, I had time.

~~

To follow (and take part in) Emma and Damien’s story, go here.

~~

(Have you been paying attention?)

SHOT IN THE DARK MASTERLIST (find more stories here!)

~~

The room is too bright.

Dakota cracks his eyes open, then immediately closes them again, a pained groan biting past his teeth.

"Hey, man. Welcome back to the land of the living."

The brightness lessens, and he opens his eyes again, attempting to find the source of the cheerful voice.

Liam, his roommate, is sitting on the arm of the couch at his feet. There's a rubik's cube in his hands, which he is solving rapidly without looking at it. He's chewing on his star-shaped necklace.

A familiar scenario, except waking up on the couch with a headache is not typical.

Liam gives him a gap-toothed grin at his questioning look, spitting out the necklace. Despite the smile, however, his dark eyes are shadowed with concern. "You fell. Hit your head. Did you forget to take your iron again?"

"My… iron?" Dakota shifts, trying to sit up.

"You can't keep forgetting that, Dak." Liam drops to his feet and sets the completed cube on the coffee table. "I mean, I know you try to eat steak and stuff pretty often, but a deficiency isn't gonna let ya—"

"I didn't fall."

Dakota raises his hand to feel the back of his head. It seems a tender lump quickly formed.

If I fainted, it's highly unlikely that I would have fallen backward.

He looks up at Liam, who's wearing an expression that, at a glance, could be interpreted as barely-restrained concern.

But Dakota knows Liam, and he knows when he's lying.

"What happened, Li?"

The boy's face is unreadable. He opens his mouth to speak, but closes it again. He seems pensive. Dakota starts to speak again but Liam interrupts him. "I'm… I was going to tell you something, actually. It's… well, it's something I probably should have told you already."

Dakota pauses, slowly sitting up and leaning against the back of the couch.

His head is pounding.

… Yeah, that sounds right. Liam was going to tell him something. "What is it, then?"

Liam blows a puff of air from his cheeks. "I… I really appreciate that you, like. Give me privacy and stuff. That means a lot to me, y'know?"

Dakota raises an eyebrow. "Uh, sure."

"Well, I just… I've been pretty unfair to you. So… as thanks for, y'know, taking me in and stuff, I thought I'd tell you something about me. Just so we're… even."

"Dude, you don't have to—"

"Just— just let me? Please?"

Dakota shakes his head at Liam's puppy-dog eyes. "Alright, yeah. Go on."

Liam rubs his hands together nervously, then shoves them in his pockets. "I wanted… I wanted to tell you my name. My real, full name."

It's hard to figure out why that's the thing Liam wants to share with him, but he doesn't want to ruin this moment. After all, it seems important to him. So Dakota nods.

"Go ahead."

"My name is…"

Liam bites his lips together, staring at the ground.

"My name is William."

He lifts his head, and there's something in his eyes Dakota has never quite seen before. For just a moment, he seems… much, much older.

"William J. Barnum, Jr."

~~~

~~

~