Day 3: (Ab)normal Days

Laura's head perked up as she heard the announcement. "Damn well about time," she grumbled. Then went she went to grab her crutches and hoist herself up, she found the task to be more difficult than she'd expected. "poo poo. Where's a carny when you need him," she said to herself, smiling a bit at the thought of her would-be-if-she-hadn't-scared-him-off-by-almost-murdering-someone boyfriend. She figured there would be time to smooth things over on that front later, if it was even still possible.

Eventually, Laura managed to lift herself up and was on her way out of the gymnasium. She noticed several students making their way out of the library and fell in beside them. She reached the auditorium and took a seat near the back. If it was anything like the last meeting, she wanted to be as far away as possible.

Oscar flinched only slightly. He was getting used to these things. He threw the plate down onto the table and struggled to get the last bite down his throat. He was almost relieved.
"S-sure! Why not?" He looked towards the door, "Gotta stick together..." he mumbled. He wouldn't burden himself with the books, he wouldn't risk being late.

This was it. Eloise tensed as she stood up from her seat. It felt a lot more difficult than it was.

"Can't be late!" She whisked herself away out the door, "Can't..." She walked briskly down the hallway.
"...Can't..." Eloise stood outside the auditorium door. She found herself watching as others sat down and it took some effort to finally find a seat of her own.

She knew better this time than to chose a front row seat.

Adda entered the auditorium, taking a seat right around where she had before.

David sat down in the front - it was normal for him to do so, even after the first meeting. He figured the bear wouldn't dare repeat his actions. He was probably safe.

Probably.

Asher strolled into the auditorium, smiling. He sat towards the front once again, though it didn't help him any last time. He crossed his legs and began to twiddle his thumbs.

Marci strolls in and sits next to Adda, watching the stage curiously. "What is he going to pull this time, I wonder?" She said quietly, smiling a bit. She wasn't worried. She had no reason to be.

Oscar ran a bit behind Adda. His heart was pounding and he stumbled into his seat next to his friends. "I...I'm not late am I?" He didn't want to make that bear angry.

The auditorium wasn't as festive and school-spirit-y as it was on the first meeting, but the only change was that there was ten banners hung around the perimeter of the auditorium. Two in particular- one colored a shade of light grey and another orange, were different. The grey one had many holes in, while the orange one seemed to not be hung on a wooden stick, like the others were, but by chains. Both were outlined in pink.

"Hope you all noticed my change of decorations! Fitting, no? I specially ordered them, so be grateful!" Monobear announced once all the students were seated.

"Now, for the moment we have been waiting for!" From somewhere, a drumroll began, low and menacing instead of light and thrilling. "The bad news! Upupupupu!"
Monobear was probably the only one who was thrilled. "I have been carefully preparing your new motive, you know. Always nice to up the ante, right? Nothing like a reason to stab a friend in the back, upupupu." he let the drumroll increase in volume, to build suspense and despair, of course.

"The motive is....having to listen to Mr. Barnes give an impromptu speech for an entire day! The topic? The pros of a despair-inducing life of mutual killing!"
A small fanfare played.

Oscar made a horrid wheezing noise. He looked at the stage in utter horror.

He didn't think it would be as bad as this

"M-m-me? Head...master?" He squirmed in his seat. "I-I-I-I-You're joking!" He squeaked.

Adda rested a hand on his shoulder and tried to smile reassuringly.
"Well, at least that grants you immunity, right?" It wasn't the best thing to say, but it was the only thing she could think of.

“Sheesh, you guys can’t take a joke,” the bear whined. “Pipe down, Barnes, I don’t think even I can listen to you for long.”

“But in all seriousness, the real motives aren’t with me.” Monobear placed his hands on his hips, his red eye flashing menacingly. “They’re in your rooms. All eight of them. And some of you almost found them!”

In a game show host-like manner, Monobear let a black-and-white metal chest rise from the center of the stage. “Here it is! A perfectly despair-inducing box! It’s locked up tight and considered school property, so if any of you bastards try to destroy it, you know the drill! Upupupupu! In two days, it will open, and inside is everything anyone wanted to know about all you bastards! Darkest secrets, innermost desires, favorite foods, embarrassing moments, all in the hands of your best friends or worst enemies!”

He let the fact sink in for a good half a minute.

“As for the good news, check your school maps in the morning. That concludes our little meeting. Happy hunting, and don’t leave your doors unlocked!”

Asher stood from his seat. This wasn't quite as bad as it could've been, all things considered. It wasn't as life changing as the envelopes, that's for sure. With night time coming soon, he decided to take no detours, heading straight through the halls and up to his dorm.

Adda looked over to Oscar and Marci.
"Well, this seems pretty fake. There's no way they can know everything about us!"

"So, we're safe for two days!" he blurted out. "No one has to hurt each other. We'll all be fine for two days."

He seemed relieved, like a big weight had been taken off his shoulders. He stood up straighter and smiled. "That...wasn't bad. That wasn't bad at all."

He tried to think about what might be in his box, and could think of nothing. He had no big secrets. He was probably safe, and probably motiveless. The darkest secret someone could have found out about him is that one time he got dared to dye his hair blue in 3rd grade and actually did it, which was a funny story to tell either way so he didn't care. He grinned. They were going to be fine...or at the very least, he was going to be fine.

So it was secrets and dirt on them this time, eh? Herbert didn't like that at all. He didn't say things for a purpose, and the notion of all his secrets laid bare in front of people he really didn't know too well... And he was pretty sure everyone else had skeletons in the closet- the first... murder was truth to that. They wanted out, and this was just another reason to kill. He sighed, standing up.
"Stay safe." He called out, heading back out to his room. It was more for his own assurance than for everyone else.

Laura raised an eyebrow at the bear. Secrets? Was that really the motive this time? It didn't phase her in the slightest. Though to be perfectly fair, she hadn't entirely recovered from the folder she received a couple days ago, so the bear was doing a good job regardless. "I'm heading out then. I hope the box doesn't take up too much space in my room."

After gathering her crutches, Laura walked up the aisle and out the door, heading for the stairs. That bear really needed to install a handicap ramp for her, or this set of stairs would be getting really old really fast. She did make it up though, and from there went straight to her room, locking the door behind her. She certainly wasn't about to go killing anyone, but she couldn't trust her classmates to be of the same mindset. Some people have secrets worth keeping, after all.

Oscar slunk down into his seat, wincing.

If all his embarrassing moments were in that chest it had to be a big one. "I-I don't like it but...that wasn't...that bad..." He put himself together again. Adda gave him a bit more hope, "Yeah! That would be weird!"

She smiled. "Well, of course. There's no way anyone could possibly know us well enough to know our darkest secrets. Well, anyone but ourselves."

She was curious about what was in her box. She had ideas, and twisted the ring on her finger absently. None of the ideas were nice, she realized. None of them were obvious either, she realized. She was probably fine, she hoped.

Two days.
Two days didn't concern Eloise in the slightest. As long as it wasn't in front of her, things didn't bother her.

Until she had a look at the thing herself, Eloise could easily deny its entire existence. The chest, if it was in fact real, wasn't filled with anything but more fake papers! And more fake photos!
She was greatly relieved.

"Goodnight now, everyone!" She waved to her classmates before heading out the door. "See you tomorrow!" Monobear's comment about the maps had gotten her excited.