Wednesday, October 26, 2016

#4 The Murderer

Irony. That’s what it was: irony.
Irony that Sail had been given a tiny white card with the words “murderer” spelled out when she walked into the 7th floor that night. It was like whoever creepy mastermind who orchestrated this whole murder mystery party knew about the pool of blood, and the chandelier, and the countless other pranks she’d been a part of this year.
Now, awkwardly standing on the edge of the party, Sail pulled at her blue velvet dress and focused on the glass of water in her hand, avoiding eye contact with all of the furtive glances of her neighbors probably searching for the murderer. She shouldn’t be here. She should be back in her shoebox apartment on the phone with Noel talking about the article he was writing about her.
Sail was about to bail on the party when Paul Paul stood up on a chair, assumed the stance of a detective, and gleefully called out, “I do believe we have our murderer,” he paused and everyone silently leaned forward. He raised his hand and steadily pointed straight across the room to where Sail was standing. “ It is Ms. Sail Vanleer.”
A few people faked screamed, Paul Paul grinned, and one little girl glared at Sail so deeply, it seemed like she really thought Sail was a murderer. Red flooded Sail’s cheeks, and the water in her glass splashed over the sides because of her shaking hands. There was no reason to be embarrassed, it wasn’t like she was an actual murderer, but it felt real.
Then the lights went out, offering Sail a short relief. Someone screamed- a real one this time-, and when the lights came back on, a body was lying on the floor.
For a moment, only Sail saw the body because everyone's gaze were still fixed on her, but then a girl in a long green dress gasped, heads turned, and everyone saw it; a real murder mystery had just been handed to them on a silver platter.
And even though Sail knew that this whole party was fake, and that her role had just been some coincidence, she knew that the image of her face and a dead body would forever be engraved in minds of every resident of Winthrop Place.

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