Day Two: Abnormal Days

He looked at the bear and jumped a little. "H-hello." he said, trying to sound intimidating even though his voice cracked halfway through.

He wanted to say 'Thanks for not killing me!' at the same time, but figured that would be cliche. And suspicious. And he still didn't feel like dying yet.

"T-this is all your fault, right? It's gotta be."

"Look, bear, if there's something you want to tell us, say it. We're done here, unless you've got something else in mind, which I'm sure you do," Asher growled. He was fed up with this. This wasn't rehearsal- this was the main performance. And he didn't like being led along, not knowing what to do or say to others.

"Ques...tions?" Oscar seemed to slowly come to his senses, the more he didn't look at the corpse and the harder he shut his eyelids. But he had so many questions, not too even count the ones he could possibly ask Mr. Geist. Instead he left his question hanging in the air.
"Sir...we'll...help her..." He eventually got out. He had to say something to this Albert guy, and it was the most he could promise. There was concern in his voice that even Oscar picked up.

He then saw monobear, and went back into a state of terror.

Albert smiled a bit. "So, you're..." he stopped there, laughing lightly. He placed his hands on Oscar's shoulders, which was a bit awkward considering it was Adda's body doing it, and trying to look stern at that. "I trust you and Marci can look out for her. But if you do anything to hurt my Addy," he cut off there. He could tell that this Oscar kid wasn't capable of even crushing a fly. When the bear spoke, he pulled out a notebook covered in little ghost doodles and stepped to the back a bit before beginning to take little notes. This wasn't a conversation for him to get involved in.

Marci smiled, slowly regaining her composure. "Thank you, sir. I'd never even consider hurting her. I don't think I'd consider hurting anyone." She was being honest, really. She wouldn't touch Adda or Oscar, because they wouldn't hurt her. She trusted them at the very least.

She looked at the bear and sighed. "Hello. Nice tragedy you've set up here for us."

Laura said nothing, but looked at the bear expectantly. This was what she'd been waiting for. An explanation. A reason for what was going on, anything to point her in the right direction, even if it was a dangerous one. She silently willed for her classmates to stop talking. Couldn't they sense that this was important? They were trapped. And with no hope of getting out by themselves, all they could do was follow the rules.

Monobear looked dismissive. "You're looking at me as though this is my fault! Do you see any bear claws on him? I don't see any!" He really wanted to drive the point home, "This was one of you. Who? In fact, that's exactly what you're all to figure out!" He waved his arms now, as if beginning a business pitch.

"If you'd all check your student IDs, you'll find something very handy! It's a Monobear File, an autopsy by yours truly. On said file you'll see a nice head start on your little investigation."

The monobear file read

• Victim: Jaden Masters
  
• Body: Death due to Asphyxiation. Large bruising around the throat. Large but light circular bruise on the stomach. Otherwise, little else in the way of scratches and bruises.
  
• Time: 2:15 AM

"I wish you all luck! This is still very very much life and death!" Monobear began to back away.

Asher had no idea what was going on-everything seemed so unreal now. Here they were, 9 kids, and they had to investigate a corpse? Still, he stepped forward on slightly shaking legs.
"We shouldn't all run in at once... maybe we should split into groups of three and investigate like that?" he proposed.

Herbert quickly read the file.
2:15 am? That was only...around six hours ago. And asphyxiation? That could only be caused by something... He froze, shaking his head. That put everyone except him and Alex in the running for the murderer.
He began to check around the body, to try and see if the murder could have been here. They already knew about the bruising on his neck, so perhaps the killer hid the weapon in the bathroom somewhere. He wasn't exactly keen on looking at Jaden's personal effects, but if it shifted the blame from him, then he would do it.

Laura was tempted to agree with Asher, but he was forgetting something crucial. "Wait. Shouldn't we set aside one or two people to watch the crime scene?" she suggested. "It would be pretty bad if the person responsible managed to get at some kind of evidence," she continued, her gaze shifting towards Herbert checking Jaden's body. "If the murderer manages to hide something, our chances of figuring anything out drop by... well, a lot."

Eloise was hurt by the sharp responses of her classmates and she stared at her student ID in a quiet anger.
It didn't feel right. You were supposed to all be sitting around in a kitchen, when someone gives you the bad news. Here the body was right in front of her and it seemed more like a doll to her than anything.

"Maybe...we should check for missing things? Is someone...missing anything?" she tried to add to the investigation.

Notebook clasped in his hands, Albert let Adda return to her body. He knew if this happened again, and again, then he couldn't hold her hand through it all. As a father, babying her would be just as bad as leaving her to face it all alone. He knew she was a strong girl, and could handle anything the world threw at her. Even just helping in little bits, with the initial shock, felt like a bit much-but it was all he could do for her as he was.

"That sounds like a good plan, Asher. Oscar, Adda care to team up?" she gave them a trusting smile to Oscar, and looked at Adda curiously. Could they trust her dad? He seemed nice enough.

She looked at Jaden, and sighed - she didn't want to investigate him right now. She looked over at the sink and mirror and checked around - was anything wrong with them? Did they appear used?

Why was he laughing? He was sure that he, wait.
He couldn't be...
It was only two days! He only started acting like this after only four! Something was up, and he frankly didn't like it. Even if he needed to work here, his stability needed to come first. Nobody could know about this.
Gasping raggedly, he stood up. "Excuse...me. I need to go to my room." He said, his voice somewhat monotonous and dreary.
Why this? Why did someone kill someone? Why did he have to be stuck here? He staggered out of the room, looking like one of the living dead. He really hoped that whoever prepared his room remembered that fact about him. But he wasn't expecting it. He supposed this school would want to see him suffer. He didn't really care, he realized.

Adda was a little drowsy, like when you first wake up. She flipped through the book and let out a sigh like an exasperated teenage girl
"Dad...did you really talk like that?" she continued to read a bit, "There's a body?" She let that sink in a bit, leaving a hollow gap in her chest. She put the book away and nodded to Marci with a hollow smile.

"I can watch the crime scene," he offered, averting his eyes from Jaden's body. "I...I wouldn't be of much use anyway in this investigation, in all honesty."

He didn't want to investigate - he couldn't. He didn't know why someone would do something like that, but they had, and that's the scary part. He was in a building with a murderer, and he didn't really want to have to think about who that is.

Asher tipped his hat back a bit, "Shoot, forgot that was a thing! Still can't get over the fact that a classmate did this, I guess...Well, I'll take one of the guard positions, no problem! I'm pretty quick on my feet, y'know!" While he wasn't lying in saying this, he also didn't feel very up to investigating. Everyone's lives hang on this evidence, and he didn't want to act without a safety net above the lion's den.

Oscar nods, now finally drifting back into the investigation. He took one look at the body, spun straight around and walked towards the bed. "Maybe there's something up over here.." He really was keen to investigate anything other than the body.

He doesn't even notice Adda is back yet.

"Damnit!" Herbert hissed though his teeth. He had no headway already. He tossed a shampoo bottle out of frustration. "I was sure the killer hid it in here!"

But what if the weapon was on the body? His gaze shifted back to Jaden. He did have chains on his shirt-pants-thing. "Ey?" He called, leaning his head out of the bathroom. "I think I found tha weapon!"

He grinned a little - at least Herbert hadn't volunteered to help with him. That was good. He didn't want to be trapped outside with a would-be murderer. Though Jaden wasn't stabbed, so...he shook his head, he didn't want to accuse anyone.

"Let's get to it, then." he said simply and headed out, expecting Asher to follow.

Slightly irritated, Laura nodded to both Asher and David in turn. She had hoped someone would suggest that she be the one to guard the crime scene, so she could double-check a few things about the body. She balled her hands into fists and looked down at them. Her fingers curled neatly over her leather gloves. Apparently she would be having no such luck. "All right, you two it is then," she said, already turning to walk away from the scene. "We're counting on you."

Away from the bathroom, Laura looked at the main room of what was Jaden's dorm. "Maybe there's some evidence still in here," she said to herself. She examined his night stand and wardrobe, skipping the bed sheets because Oscar was standing right next to them. She hoped to find something, anything that could help her understand what had happened.

Asher followed after David, not noticing Laura's attitude change. Assuming they would stand on opposite sides of the door, he leaned against the door frame.
"Kinda crazy, isn't it? Feel like I'm in a dream... not a good or bad dream, just a dream..." he mused.

"You eedjits!" Herbert hissed, a little louder. "I think I found the murder weapon!" He said a little louder, balling his fists in frustration.
Goddamit he didn't want to think it could've been that goddamn chime.

Eloise steps into the investigation at last when she hears that Herbert has found something. Progress already? She slips into the bathroom now, still apprehensive.
"Oh, the weapon? What is it?" Eloise asked. Her heart was pounding.

In fact, the whole drama of the searching was almost getting her excited now, if only it wasn't a classmate...

"Nothing near the sink, it seems fine," she called out to everyone. She looked down at the body, looking at him for a second before looking over at Herbert.
"What'd you find, Herbert?" she asked. If he found the weapon, she could probably mark him off the suspicious list - probably of course, he might have hidden it there in the first place. She sighed - she was back to distrusting everyone, it seemed.