Chapter 1: Trial

David was defending him. He was flattered. And to think the kid would be screaming at him. Looks like his fears were unjustified now. Though, a booby trap? He never heard about a booby trap.

"I never 'eard about no log booby trap. But that pulls quoite an interestin' point- the killer prolly targeted him because of it. 'S easier ta kill a wounded zebra than ta try shootin' a new 'un."
He paused.
"Now, sonly a theory. Maybe it's unconnected and tha killer got lucky."

"So, do you mean that the killer had to have been with him when he got hit with that log? I would be the only way to know about it-after all, that's' not something someone would brag about. But still, it seems a bit to perfect to have not been a reason to target him. You'd be pretty winded and disheveled after that."

Laura shook her head. "No, that's too far-fetched an assumption. Besides, if Jaden was really that disoriented from this log you guys keep mentioning, wouldn't he have stayed in his room all night?" Mulling it over, Laura started going off on a tangent. "Unless he was in his room, and some asshole managed to get in and murder him in his sleep. Can we get some kind of confirmation on this? If Jaden was out last night, someone must have seen him. And if so, they'd know if he seemed alert or not."

Of course, Laura had another reason for suggesting this. Whoever would fess up to seeing Jaden couldn't possibly be the murderer. They wouldn't have the balls. She would bet her bottom dollar that Herbert would keep his mouth shut about it.

"I saw him last night, way before 2 a.m. I was patrolling around the bottom floor before I took a break in the main office." he nodded. He had seen a few students in the room now, so they'd know he wasn't lying. "He looked pretty out of it, now that I think back. Didn't seem all there, you know?" he sighed. "Someone who wanted to...do anything would've done it pretty easily to him."

Oscar had hesitated the entire trial, even through being thrown into suspicion at least once. Finally he spoke up.
"W-Way before 2 A.m. and h-he looked bad? I bet he'd be heading to his room... I-If that's the case, and he really did...look pretty bad...anyone could've just seen him and decided to have made a move."
He then reconsidered everything once more.
"W-well, except if the murderer didn't use the chains...or had to sneak up on him...it was probably premeditated..."

Finally he flew into a defensive position. "Look! It wasn't me!" He held up his hand, which was still bandaged by Adda, "I couldn't have done nothing! I was in the ki-kitchen and...it even looked like someone had been there..." Oscar couldn't handle the pressure very well.

In the end it was completely useless.

She looked at Oscar carefully. "Oscar, you mentioned it looked like someone was in the kitchen during the time of the murder. Did you see anything out of the ordinary? Was anything obviously missing?" she paused to think.
"Most of us skipped dinner, thinking back. It would make sense for some of us to go down like you did, and if someone noticed Jaden's weakness there. They could easily follow him back to his room and kill him." The word was getting easier to say. It upset her a bit, but she didn't show it. "If anyone's got any information about the kitchen, now would be a great time to share it."

"When I was down at the kitchen, I definitely saw there was something weird- a disturbance. But there wasn't any solid evidence there."

Laura let out en exasperated moan and leaned heavily on her left crutch. "That's all well and good, but what kind of food was taken isn't all that important, is it? We now know two things: One, that Jaden was definitely walking around last night. And Two, that there was stuff missing from the kitchen." She stopped and thought for a moment. "Unless any of you feel the need to mention that you stopped by for a midnight snack, it's safe to assume Jaden took some food from the kitchen and was going to bring it back to his room. I did the same thing early last night..."

She took another pause. "poo poo, I think I lost my train of thought again..." she muttered, lowering her hat over her face.

Eloise picked up from there. "I can't disprove any of those things! In fact, let's review all the things we know. It's funny we haven't done that already," she gave herself a second to gather her thoughts.

She started from the very beginning, "well, there's the obvious. Jaden was killed at around 2 last night. It's...clear he was strangled using an object instead of hands and the closest we have to that object right now is his chains. The bruising matches up pretty well..." She recalled what she discovered during the investigation.
"The only other bruise on him is from the log that hit him in the Main Office," she now felt bad for laughing at the time, "but he was up and about during the night, meaning he wasn't completely out from that. He probably didn't fight back when he was attacked, so maybe it all caught up to him then..."
She looked around the room, it was someone else's turn to add something. She weakly hoped it wouldn't be an accusation.

Asher shifted a bit by his stand. He knew what he wanted to do, and he couldn't back down once he started.
"Y'know, I'm going to apologize before I start. But if we don't start ruling out some key suspects..." He sighed, and his eyes locked on Alex.
"Alex, around that time you were with Herbert, right? But he was fast asleep. Combined with that, being a bit insane, and the fact that you're a kick boxer- You could easily have killed Jaden! It wouldn't have been difficult for you to be able to get someone, whether they were exhausted or running on adrenaline!"

"Alright, yeah, Alex might be a ten on the crazy scale, I agree, but the body didn't show any signs of being kicked, did it? So that's not a fair point to make." he frowned. "Alex is just as likely as everyone else with a not-so-good alibi, if we're gonna go down the let's-accuse-everyone route. Which seems kinda necessary."

He sighed. "That's...who has unconfirmed alibis, again, exactly?"

"I don't mean it like that; I wouldn't accuse someone of murder on such a small reason. But I'm just saying that he's got a good build, and could keep up with someone like that. He's also generally been one of the more... aggressive peers."
Asher scratched the back of his head.
"But, like I said, sorry if the claim seemed baseless. I'll drop it. The only one with a confirmed alibi is you, since Monobear kinda announced it, right?"

"I am not a psychotic! Nor am I insane!" Alex hissed, crossing his arms angrily.
He pinched between his eyes for a brief moment. Oh how he hated explaining the inner workings of his mind to everyone. Though he was probably understating it. He had psychotic tendencies, especially with the hallucinations, but if he was stretched farther without drugs, he would've progressed to aggression. He really didn't want to talk about the first time it appeared. He grit his teeth, thankful that he wasn't in a more irritable mood. His drugs were working, and the gamble he took by taking more than the usual dose was paying off.
"And when have I shown aggression? Even when I was a verifiable wreck, I never hurt anyone. Besides, if anything, I avoided confrontation. You're basing your view on a stereotype, and progressing further would just mar the minds of others. And I'm not good with weaponry. I use my fists. I'm trained to incapacitate a foe til they cannot resist, and deal the killing strike."
He paused.
"And don't think I cannot hear you all subtly insulting me. May I also state that we merely know David was in the office by the end of nighttime. Your alibi is just as paper-thin as mine and everyone else's. And also, a carny has experience with ropes, do they not? It would be like second nature to use one, and chains would be rather similar."
he closed his eyes, looking rather irritated.
"Anyone else care to question my mental stability?"

Adda held her hands together, looking to the sides before starting.
"Um... before we start accusing each other of this, can we summarize what we know? Like, what we've decided... Just to make sure we're all on the same page! Not like I'm getting confused or anything..."
She looked down to her feet...
"Sorry for interrupting for such a memory lapse on my part..."

Laura grinded her teeth impatiently while she waited for Adda to stop talking. "We've already done that over and over. How about you let the people actually involved talk about the serious stuff?" Her tone was harsh, but in her mind justified. People had been sidetracking the issue of this case with recaps and obvious discussions for too long. There had to be something new, or they would just keep going in circles. And Laura hated simple circles. They made such boring tracks.

"What we know is that we've got one lunatic that belongs in an asylum and one trigger-happy hunter who had it out for the poor kid in the first place. But let's ignore the latter for a moment." Her piercing stare turned to Alex. "You've shown plenty of aggression. I think we both know what I'm talking about. And Eloise does too." For a moment, she glanced at Eloise, hoping to see a reassuring look on the other girl's face that she would back up her next claim.

A fire sparked in her eyes, and her left hand balled into a fist. "You're the one who attacked me last night! I wouldn't have gotten away without Eloise's help! You could have killed me! So yeah, you've shown aggression. Lots of it. Asshole!"

Alex shook his head, a sly grin on his face.
"I believe it was you who was the lunatic last night. You reminded me much of a monkey, the way you were grappling with me. If anything, my mental state was much clearer than yours. You sounded like some bitch in heat, and I can't help but notice you're acting much like that now." He couldn't help show some contempt in his voice.
"My own mental health was the cherry to your little cake of lies, wasn't it? Admit it to me, you were planning to kill someone, and I just happened to come along. Though it is your word against mine. I don't know if Eloise saw the initial rush."

Eloise wasn't expecting the attention back on her so soon, and she even hesitated before testifying. Of course this was going to come up eventually.
"Yeah, I helped Laura when he broke her leg." Suddenly she stopped. It was late at night and Eloise hadn't doubted it until now. She really didn't see the first blow.
"I walked in...just as they were fighting..." She became apprehensive. She recalled Alex screaming for help. She had to drag Laura to her room. It didn't fit right. She turned to Laura with a concerned expression, it hurt her to doubt her friend.

"What...did happen?"

"You... doubt me?" Her words were hollow, as if she didn't quite understand what she had to say. If Eloise didn't trust her, then who would? She didn't know if her friend of only a couple days had seen the beginning of the fight or not, but it had never occurred to her that Eloise would hesitate to back her up in a pinch, whether she knew all the facts or not. Laura thought for a long moment, then sighed. She slumped down on her crutches, utterly defeated.

"Alright, alright. I'm not going to lie anymore. I attacked Alex. No. I tried to kill him," she began. But she knew she couldn't stop there. She had already admitted to one attempted murder, there was no point to holding anything back. "And I'm glad I did," she said. "I wasn't just trying to attack Alex. I didn't care who it was," her gaze turned to Oscar, and she felt a pang of guilt just from looking at the innocent boy. "You were the first target. Closest to my room, I didn't even think about what I was doing, I..." She wanted to admit everything. How Alex was right. She was crazy. How she had been so distraught by those damned letters that she would have done anything to leave the school. But she couldn't. It would only sound like excuses.

"And I wasn't going to stop there. I would have tried every room in this school until I managed to... to..." Tears welled up in her eyes and she couldn't keep up with her own story. "I don't know what I was thinking, dammit! I didn't want any of this! If Alex hadn't broken my loving legs, I really would have killed one of you!"

Asher stared across the room. Where was the girl he was joking with before? The one that he was starting to have feelings for? Sure, it had only been two days, but...he thought he knew her. He thought he was experiencing his first love- that in these twisted halls, he might even get his first kiss. He took his hat off, orange soul-piercing eyes gazing at her questioningly, slightly defeated
"You...you must've seen bad stuff in your file, right? You were sleep walking- exhausted?"
He clutched his hat tightly in his hands.
"Laura... why would you?" he paused, looked down for a second, and then his head shot up again.
"Let me trust you again! Please, if they were right before, and you did take something other than the ID, tell us- tell me! Give us something- some way to believe you, trust you!"

Laura's expression drove knives into Eloise and she began to regret doubting the girl.

And then the confession.
"You...weren't thinking..." Eloise murmured, simply repeating what Laura said. She couldn't formulate a response of her own. Eloise didn't even know how to deal with crying girls; none-the-less crying girls who just admitted to almost committing murder.

Asher seemed to be pursuing something.
"B-but you didn't do it, right? You...couldn't?"

"No! No, I didn't, I swear!" Laura's voice was earnest and pleading. She begged her classmates to believe her. "I never killed Jaden! How could I have! Alex breaking my leg was a loving godsend! I never got the chance to do anything! I..." Her left hand reached for her pockets a second time. This time she pulled out a few crumpled papers. She feverishly unraveled them, unsteady and nearly falling over. Tears were still streaming across her cheeks, and her vision blurred.

"These stupid things! They've been more trouble than they're worth!" She choked out the words as she rose her hand. Violently, she threw the papers up in the air towards the center of the ring of students. "They're just the letters from Jaden's folder! I found them on the nightstand, just like Herbert said! I just thought... I mean, I figured no one needed to see what was in them! I was just going to throw them out, I thought I was doing him a favor!"

Exhausted, Laura slumped against her podium and took deep, heavy breaths. Her back rose and fell rapidly, and she looked like an animal in a cage. "Please, believe me! I didn't kill Jaden!"

Oscar was floored. He was standing right next to Laura.

"Y-y-y-you...m-me...?" he couldn't even wrap his head around it, and at this point couldn't even remember what she said she almost did to him.
She had referred to him as a target, surely she didn't mean...

"Oh god! OH MY G-" His wild panic almost threatened to drown out her pleading. The quiet of the room was now effectively shattered. He seemed to have thrown himself into one side of the pedastool, away from Laura. "You almost KILLED ME-?!"

"Calm yerselves." Herbert yelled over the commotion rising.
It was no surprise Laura was murderous. Hell, if he could get away with it, maybe he would've too. "The fact of the matter is not who wanted or plotted ta kill, but who actually did. I'm sure a few of us had those thoughts, and only one successfully acted." He tried to be calm, but he admitted his voice shook a bit.
Though Laura was acting a bit too defensive before. It put him on edge. Even if he knew what she took, she still was a little sketchy. "To be on topic, we should be examinin' our own ali-" he cut himself off.
Like hell he wanted to discuss alibis. His was one of the flimsiest, and he wasn't going to admit it in front of eight paranoid teens.

"Well, if I recall correctly we were either sleeping, saw someone, or were completely alone. I mean, having seen someone at one time doesn't clear them all night, but we should start general- that is, the people who have no witnesses," he paused. He hadn't realized that his clenched fist had been shaking- there were so many other things on his mind now that he really just wanted for this trial to end.
"Marci, David. Other than the sleeping clowns, you two have the weakest alibis, since you were alone. What were you doing in the auditorium, or by the main office? Paint a pretty picture, please and thank you."
He spoke with what he considered authority and dignity to himself, and it felt bizarre- but not in his usual sense. It was either this, though, or lose all composure. And after recent developments, he needed to make sure everything was cleared up.

She figured she'd be targeted considering she had no base of an alibi whatsoever, but...there had to be some way to convince them that this wasn't her fault, there had to be! She tried to keep her nervousness down and think of the best way to describe her night.

"I was in the auditorium around the time of Jaden's murder, yes. I guess you could say my reason for going was too see if Monobear had left anything behind from the...I believe she was the Nurse's....death. I wanted to see if he dropped any hints or anything. Towards any of this." She gulped, realizing that made her even more suspicious. "H-he didn't of course, because he's a bear." She laughed a little, trying to stay calm. "A dumb bear. That's all he is."