That was a very bad impersonation, I've already been guessed correctly. *sighs and rolls eyes* 

Thanks for the diary entry, Viola?!  

This is awesome!

Top! TOP this! Toppity toppity top-pity! 

Ewww, Hazel says gutk. What? Whyyy? 

YEET

Day two, part one

Very early morning

After a long time planning, the murderer had formulated a plan. First, she needed to steal something. More than one thing. They had one very useful item with them already, but once they killed the CBer they had in mind, they could simply take everything of value they had, too.

They knew the way… they knew the actions…

They knew the purpose…

~~~~~~~~~~

Simul Stoicheo woke up earlier than she usually did, and she felt as though something was tugging on her sleeve, like a toddler begging for attention from their mother.

“Hmm,” she muttered decisively, “I need coffee.”

She glided out of her quarters, her nonexistent feet never meeting the stairs. She closed her eyes, stretched her arms up to the sky, and yawned like a lion.

And when she opened her eyes, she saw Soren Infinity hanged from the chandelier, mouth hanging slack, face pale as snow.

And then Simul Stoicheio emitted the most blood-curdling scream that had ever touched a human’s ears. It, of course, only reached her ears, but she was impressed by her own horrid shriek.

After pausing for only a moment, Simul took off for he staircase leading to the air and water dormitories, as well as their instructors’ quarters, flailing her arms like their was a swarm of hornets above her head, screaming like she was on fire. And while it took awhile for her to reach them, her guests were shaken out of their sleep when they heard her.

Simul didn’t pause for breath. She did the same to the fire, earth, and air rooms as well. She was very fast, or at least, she thought so. Soon enough, everyone was gathered in the main hall, panicking and shouting. Catsclaw and Artimerrx had the sense to grab their phones and try to call 911, but when they tried, their screens stayed black, flashing the word ERROR in red letters. Certain shouts rang out through the din-

“She’s dead! Someone died!”

“Soren! Ohmygawd!”

“Dead! Xryf! Fras zbeg ytgr!”

“Who did that to her?”

“GUYS! BE QUIET!”

The last one came from Leafpool, who had spotted something that had been lost in the mayhem- a small note pinned to the rope. Slowly, the room settled, the only sounds a squeak from a pair of hastily-shoved-on sneakers, or a sniff from someone who had been more affected (mainly Dewy and Levana). Leafy stood on tiptoe and gently, as though something horrible would instantly happen if she ripped it, peeled it from the rope hanging from the chandelier. She smoothed out the crinkly, yellowed paper, swallowed, and read aloud:

My dearest Chatterboxers,

Are you ready to play in my games? Even if you aren’t, I’m afraid you don’t have a choice. Perhaps I’ll explain to you why someday, but, well, that’s complicated. The point is, I’m your murderer. Congratulations- you’ve become subject to a murder mystery that’s nearly impossible to solve!

Now now, don’t be afraid- ah, perhaps I’ll explain that someday too. But… dear me, this is a complicated subject.

Down to business. If you would not like to suffer the same painful fate as your friend Soren here, you will kindly place all of your weapons at the entrance to the dining hall. I mean, you might die eventually, but wouldn’t you like a few more days?

I would say I regret this, but… Ah, I wouldn’t want to lie to you. Good luck, friends. Or foes, whoever you may be.

-Your murderer

“Hold up. Lemme see,” Demanded Simul. Without even waiting, she snatched the wrinkled paper from Leafy’s fingers. Simul’s eyes flew from one side to the other, scanning the letter for admins knows what. No one saw it, but in-between lines, Simul glanced up at the group, secretly scrutinizing the group for who the murderer could be. When her eyes landed on them, something that would not usually be real or believable nudged her on the arm and whispered in her ear, ‘it’s them’. She looked back down nonchalantly, knowing she had to do her part… and the murderer would do theirs.  

“Okay, uh, yeah. So, don’t panic, but we’re in big doodoo now,” Simul announced calmly like this was a regular occurance for her.

“Yeah, yeah, totally! I’m not panicking at all! No worries!” Winter cried in a high-pitched, slightly hysterical voice.

“This is the end. R.I.P all of us,” declared Leeli.

“Hmm. I’ve always wondered what death feels like,” mused Wendy.

“Ah well. I had a good run. I’ll really miss you guys,” lamented Rogue. “I wonder what Heaven looks like.”

“Okay, stop saying you’re going to die!” shouted Aqua unexpectedly. Everyone quieted and turned to look at him. His face went red as a stoplight. “You’re just… making me nervous.”

“And besides, we’re not going to die!” added Caeli, then turned and looked uncertainly at Simul. “Right?”

“O-Of course not!” Simul reassured, sounding skeptical. “Okay, guys, why don’t we have breakfast now that we’re all up? You can do whatever you want before your elemental lessons.”

“What… if we want to, y’know, leave now that there’s been a murder?” asked Marigold. Simul made a strange noise like she was breathing in through her teeth.

“If you try to leave, you’ll be sucked into the infinite abyss of warped reality between the boundaries of this magical world and your non-magical world. And while I would like to know what that feels like, I don’t think any of us are willing to test it out.”

“Ha. Great. This is just great!” screeched Wren, “we’re trapped in a magical murder mystery. Excellent. Ha.” She then paced around in small, uneven circles, muttering to herself in a mad sort of voice.

Darkking whimpered.

Terra, the Earth teacher, let out a small, impatient breath through his nose.

“Kybb,” Hazel hissed fiercely.

Dewy sniffed.

~~~~~~~~~~

“We should have a- a funeral,” Darkking deadpanned over Simul’s suggested breakfast (she lured them in with doughnuts). Levana nearly choked on her english muffin at the thought. The other guests, heads in their chins, nodded mindlessly, eyes distant. Chatter around the long oak dining table was virtually nonexistent. Seeing a fellow CBer dead had affected even the most stoic of the bunch.

Gracia was the first to rally register Darkking’ words and stood up. Her movement seemed to rouse the others, and they followed suit. They marched, a band of lifeless victims to both a murderer and a mystery, out to the back of the hill.

Most of the guests mulled around for a little while, not knowing how else to react, then walked back to the other side of the hill. The last to go inside were Levana, Dewy, Darkking, and Mor (who refused to leave her upset CBer’s side). All of them were too stubborn to have any fun for the rest of the day, so they sulked around the hallways up until it was time for elemental lessons.

Meanwhile, Devin was on a mission- make as many people super angry and annoyed with his fart guns. The other guests were scattered far and wide throughout the enormous castle, dolloped here and there like dead leaves two months after Autumn blew out. So far, Rogue had threatened to break it, Leafpool, Marigold, and Alex had shouted in his face, and Artimerrx had said it was super awesome and asked if he could borrow it.

Unfortunately, his next victim happened to be Levana, who has dealing with the loss of her dear CBer. The very introverted, very mature AE was not at all happy to hear a giant noise behind her, believe it or not. She didn’t hesitate- she got out of her seat and whirled around to face Devin, who was laughing joyously.

“Do you even care a tiny bit?” she demanded.

“No,” Devin replied gruffly. The corner of his mouth twitched, and he bit back a snort.

“Well hey, guess what? I do. So maybe you should grow up and remember what I might be going through before you walk around acting like an ignorant little kid.”

“Okay, okay! Chill out, geez…” Devin walked out, wondering it was mean not to feel anything about Soren’s death. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Well guys, looks like I just killed myself off.

I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory. Is this where it gets me, several feet ahead of me? I see it coming, do I run or fire my gun or let it be? 

Just popping in to say, eee, this is really great, Soren!! I can't wait to see where you go with it!