Chapter 1: Trial

Herbert couldn't stand having someone trying to protect him get dragged around in the mud. And he was starting to make his own connections.
"Well, fer starters, we at least got Marci an' them other silent folks. But, didn't someone say Asher was in tha gym? Ain't they got chains an' things there? Et's possible Jaden's chains were a' red herrin' and maybe e an' Laura planned it! Can't you see 'ow buddy-buddy they are? Et's loike Machine Gun Kelly!" He said, balling his hands into fists. He could go on the offensive for his...friend too.
And he wasn't letting another friend of his die.

Having the blame turned towards him, Asher felt bad for having been pointing at others so much throughout the trial. Still, this wasn't time to begin backing down.
"I was in the gym in mid night, sure! But late night I was in the cafeteria- I even saw Oscar there! Sure, we didn't talk, but we still saw each other!" He was getting scared- coming back like this could drive the others to suspect him even more. Still, he needed to prove his point.

Oscar hadn't quite recovered from the earlier incident, but he did his best to piece together a statement. He had heard his name being mentioned and it was enough to scare him into talking.
"I-it's true!" Oscar yelped, then calming down slightly, "And he saw me, so I didn't do nothing neither!"

Now that he had spoken, he felt awkward simply standing there, he had to say something else, anything, "Err...Herbert mentioned the weapon...Th-there could be a red herring! I mean...if a murderer....p-planned it and all...enough to know to use Jaden's chains as a weapon....w-well it'd make more sense to be prepared...rather than risk grabbing the chains to begin w-with..." He was going off his earlier 'premeditated' point. The whole time he kept glancing back and forth at Laura, then turning his head around with enough force to almost snap his neck. "L-look..." he didn't finish his point, he began to choke up again instead.

Adda leaned over her stand to give Oscar a reassuring smile.
"He's right! It makes much more sense for the crime to be premeditated- it gets rid of that whole big issue of getting his chain in the first place! There's gotta be somewhere else that someone could get chains of a similar size! Like the gym, which Herbert mentioned, or even the storage closet! There is some pretty weird stuff in there, after all!"

"No! It couldn't have been premeditated!" Laura spoke up. What everyone was saying technically made sense. The murderer could have used something else as a weapon to emulate the chains on Jaden's pants. But there was an inherent flaw in that logic. "How could the murderer have known from beforehand that he would be killing Jaden? There was no reason to believe Jaden would be out and about last night. He went to his room at 8, the same as the rest of us."

Realizing it was a weak point, Laura continued. "Besides, that's a train of thought that leads nowhere. We can't go out and search for another murder weapon at this point. We have to stick with what we know."

Herbert was pretty excited. he was onto something, and he was happy to deal some killing blows.
"Adda has a point!" he exclaimed. "It was probably premeditated! Unless they wanted to frame me! The murder was premeditated, though. The victim, no. Seems like that lined up to be a happy coincidence with the chains. And we can't search for a murder weapon, but we know what it can be!" He cracked his knuckles, an almost evil glint in his eyes.
"Here's what I reckon happened. Laura and Asher both decided ta kill someone! That's why they were out'n about! Laura looked fer someone, and Asher went fer tha weapon! Nobody would expect it! But when Laura got hurt, that stopped tha train. Asher had to work fer himself! Sos after gettin' somethin' ta eat, he went back, found a tired Jaden, and hit the killin' blow with some chains he hid! And now they're tryin' ta cover it up and foist it on me'n Alex!" Herbert grinned, whipping his hands out to make a gun gesture at both students. He fired.
"So Asher's tha murderer! He's Kelly'n Laura's Kathryn!"

"That makes sense and all, except it doesn't line up with the TOD!" Asher slammed his hand down on the podium.
"I went to get food at late night, there's no way I could eat and manage to kill Jaden by or on 2:15!"

"Your theory is inherently flawed, Herbert!" Laura said, shaking. "If I was nothing but a scout looking for someone for Asher to kill, why would I have chosen Alex, the strongest one out of all of us? And why would I have tried to attack him?" She realized her testimony wasn't making her look good, but if she let the suspicion be thrown on Asher for her own stupidity the previous night, she would never be able to forgive herself. "Besides, I wasn't thinking last night! I couldn't have made some sort of plot to kill someone with Asher! I was totally out of it!"

"Et's clean when ya think of it!" Herbert crossed his arms.
"We all know Alex es as strong as a bloody starved polar bear. Facin' him's like tryin' to move a mountain. The fact ya called 'im a murderer an' violent an' all hinged on it! Yan' Asher wanted to pin et on onna us! An' ya can always lie about eatin'! If ya took food, then ya could've hid it somewhere fore tha murder!"
he looked so self satisfied, as a hunter showing his trophies, perhaps a bit too boldly. "S'only thing now is fer yall to confess!"

"I think Laura's right here, Herbert. Besides, we don't have enough evidence to actually make someone confess For all we know, it could be any of us - hell, from your point of you, you might think it's me!" He sighed and fixed his hat.
"This whole line of thought is hypothetical and that's not what we really need right now, is it? We need facts." He shook his head. "Sadly, it seems that we don't got any more. We're stuck."

"Tsk tsk...Looks like your time is almost up too!" Monobear chose that final statement to interject. "What a shame, really!" Monobear looked anything but disappointed, he couldn't wait for what was coming up.

"I think you should all make a finishing statement. That's actually a command. We'll mix things up a bit, Smith, you're up!" He was picking on Herbert again, moving his hand from rested under his head to pointed dramatically.

Herbert actually wanted to go last, when his statement would be fresh in everyone's minds and not able to be refuted. he huffed angrily, his almost ecstatic attitude gone.
"Woll, lemme say I'm sticking behind my guns. Eveythin's a mess, and the murderers made it like that! It all connects when ya think of it! Asher killed Jaden, and Laura n' him made sure that it was gonna be me or Alex takin' tha windfall! They can argue all they want, but it's one of the few things that makes heads o' tails around here!" He recrossed his hands, turning his head up in a snobbish way.
"Ah ain't anyone lettin' me be called a murderer!"
He hoped nobody could see his hand subtly entering his jacket to grip the handle of a knife, angling so he could slash his own throat if all he did proved to be for naught.

It was time for the finale. Eloise, for once, was completely speechless.

This was completely screwed up to begin with, and somehow they managed to make it even worse from there. They really screwed up.

"I'm sorry but it...all sounds so far-fetched," Eloise only knew she could trust Laura. She had her confession and Eloise felt she could respect that that was that. "All we know is that they somehow managed to strangle him...without having to knock him out or anything..." He could've been very tired. Maybe he was even sleeping outside his dorm by mistake. The "what if's" bombarded Eloise as she made her last statement and she began to get a headache.
"They must've been strong," It was down to Gym Class, minus Laura. "...And Asher seems to have a alibi. I'm...sorry, but I'm going to have to be suspicious of...you and Alex..." She quietly looked them over, with a sad expression and then turned away.

He looked at Eloise and sighed, tipping his hat in a failed attempt to obscure his eyes. Of course his hat was too small and it was just a dumb movie thing regardless so it didn't quite work out.

"Eh...I don't have much to say. Just...don't make a dumb decision. Think about who it is, even if that person's your best friend, if you think it's them...it might be them." he sighed. He realized he was probably only saying that because he didn't think anyone here considered him their friend yet, so he had nothing to lose. "Do it for Jaden, he deserves some form of...whats the word...retribution, that's it...doesn't he?"

"Really, I'd much prefer to be the Switzerland of this one - I don't wanna accuse anyone. So...until I gotta...pick someone, I'm gonna do just that." Of course he could say that all he wanted, pretending that he was smart. But in all reality, he was just scared - and he had a feeling they all were.

As people began to slow down to think, Asher felt a wave of exhaustion crash over him. Everything began to sink in.
Someone was going to die soon.

"I've told you all my story, and where I was at the time of the crime. All I can say now..." he let out a breath, one that he seemed to have held onto for the whole trial.

"If you're going to suspect me, there's nothing I can say now to change your mind- it takes evidence, time, and a solid alibi. I don't have that. No one has that. So, please. Accept what Laura said, and just... leave her out of this. It took so much to confess to the events of last night." With that, he tipped the brim of his hat over his eyes to avert the gazes of the others. This was one show he didn't want to be the star of.

Alex really didn't know what to say at this point. As much as he liked Herbert sticking up for him, he couldn't help but feel like a failure. They both ended up getting accused, and someone outright said it was possibly him!
"I-I..." he said, legitimately confused "I don't know. Everything is so confusing. The fact we know someone's going to d-die... I...I don't know what I can say. Just, please, be fair."

"I...I just wanna say that...I...I trusted all of you, I honestly did, and..." she shook her head and looked down. "The evidence points to someone who's strong and smart enough to go after Jaden when he was at his absoulte weakest. Someone who knew how to take another person down."

Marci sighed. "I don't have an alibi, I'll be honest. But I'm confident enough that you all realize that I don't fit the cut to be the culprit. And if you want some form of proof, remember when we received our folders. Mine was fine - I didn't react harshly to it. I had, and still have no motive to do something this horrible." she looked around and swallowed, hoping that she didn't just make herself more suspicious.

Adda looked down at her shoes.
"All I have to say is I'm sorry. If I hadn't freaked out, then the investigation could've gone right...we would've been able to avenge Jaden properly and this... this just feels like a mockery. I still want to believe none of you did this! But I know, that that's just being naive. So please, just make the choice you feel is right."

"For once, I agree with Adda." Laura stared down at her feet before continuing. "I don't really suppose you all have any reason to trust me," she said quietly. "And that's fine. I get it. But don't make the mistake of trusting anyone, then." Her tone was solemn. "Don't let anyone's words change your mind. Figure it out for yourself."

She rested her crutches against her podium, and stood up straight as best she could to make her next statement. "That being said..." She cracked her knuckles. "If you fuckers get Asher killed just because he was stupid enough to be nice to me, I'll end your sorry lives."

That may have been the second threat on his life Oscar had heard this entire trial.

"I-I..." He attempted to make a motivational speech like his classmates, but found himself choking up. It finally truly dawned on him that someone here killed someone. Someone was going to die. They were going to kill them.

"This...isn't right..." His voice was cracked and miserable. Adda was even blaming herself for all this. Oscar held the podium to keep himself from shaking too much, "Just...look at the evidence..." There wasn't any, " and...god, if you killed someone...how can you....just let this go on?!" He was becoming entirely too emotional. He wished for a confession, just something to make this easier.
"I...just...don't die."

It was the best advice he gave that whole day.

Monobear grinned and waved his arms in the air, as if to direct the attention back to him.

"Wonderful! You can all vote now! Your student IDs are all set now!" And sure enough, on every screen, a grid with each student's icon appeared.
"Choose the culprit. Choose wisely."

Herbert didn't hesitate to choose which button to press. It was Asher. Definitely Asher.

He pressed the button with Asher's face on it.

With some reserve, Adda pressed the button with Laura's face on it. Though she really appreciated the help today, something about her attitude throughout the trial rubbed her the wrong way.

Laura already knew the person she was voting for.

"Sorry pal," she said as she selected Alex's face. "I appreciate you keeping me out of trouble, but I'm not that grateful."

Marci sighed, looking down. She knew her choice, but she certainly wasn't happy about it, even if she didn't know him. She didn't want to make this choice.

I'm sorry, she thought quietly.

Marci pressed the button with Alex's face on it.