The Precise Art Of Staying Alive

Chapter 33 - The Precise Art Of What They Heard

It took until noon for me to muster up the energy to change into the baggiest, warmest clothes that I had and hours after that to do anything other than sit silently, listening to music. Nicole brought me breakfast and lunch, both of which I picked at half-heartedly. The food tasted sour in my mouth, but I was too exhausted and too bored to argue. No one pressed me to do anything more, and I suspected that they didn't feel like doing anything either. River left sometime in the morning, going into the town for a couple of hours, and returned at around three. When they walked in the door, cheeks flushed from the cold, I got a burst of energy and stood up, hurriedly pulling my blankets up with me when I caught a blast of the cold air from the open door.

"I'm ready." Was all I said, dropping the blankets as the door closed. River nodded, offering me a sympathetic smile.

"Great! I'll get the others." They disappeared into the hallway and I busied myself patting down my hair, which, thanks to River, was relatively knot-free. A few minutes later, Theo and Nicole appeared and I sat back on my chair, passing the blankets to the side. It turned out, I needn't have bothered about smoothing my hair. Theo's posture was slumped, his typically neat hair sticking up in every direction, and Nicole's eyes were ringed with grey, the colour deepening as it got closer to her under eyes and a few stray hairs escaped her typically perfect bun. Even River had soft purple shadows beneath their eyes and blue veins creeped across their porcelain skin, which paler than usual. I was sure I looked a worse sight that all of them combined, but it was clear that everything that had happened had taken a toll on all of us. No one attempted to sit, everyone standing nervously, except for me. Feeling awkward, I stood up, putting an arm on the chair to steady myself, and fixed my gaze on Theo.

"Well, what did you want to tell us?"

"I was considering the murder, and how it may've occurred. If we're acting on the assumption that Nadia was killed in the study, which is highly likely considering the obstacles that would prevent someone dragging her body from somewhere else to the study, then we should've heard someone walk into the study. Every time someone leaves their room, I can hear them walking down the hall, and I would assume that everyone else can too. But, in all of the time that Nadia was in the study, except for her entering the study, I didn't hear a thing."

"Then it couldn't have been one of us who killed her." River said, sounding relieved.

"Unless he killed her." Nicole said abruptly, looking at Theo, and he flinched.

"No, I hear the footsteps, and I'm sure you do too." River said quickly. Nicole nodded.

"That's true, but we need to take into account every possibility." Nicole admitted.

"Rhea, did you hear anything?" River asked, turning to me. I shook my head regretfully.

"I was out of it, dealing with everything that had happened. But if she'd screamed, or made a noise, I probably would've heard it." I said, wanting to make up for my lack of helpfulness. Maybe if I'd just kept my head on, Nadia wouldn't have been dead. No, don't think like that. But it's true.

"So she knew them." Theo said lowly.

"Or she never saw it coming." Nicole suggested. Both options made me feel sick, but I ignored it, trying to focus myself. You've already had your time to break down. Now, you need to solve this.

"But if it was an outsider, how did they get into the house?" I said.

"House keys, windows? I don't know. That's the thing right, none of us know anything. We're just going around in circles." River said tiredly, tucking a strand of hair behind their ear and twisting it around their finger distractedly. Theo sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly.

"You're right, we need to collect ourselves and organise our thoughts. There's got to be something that provides us with an idea of what happened." He said, frowning.

"Perhaps we should leave this for another time. Our thoughts are too scattered to make sense of anything. The investigation would be a mess." Nicole suggested.

"We can't. We don't have enough time. I'll get a pen and paper, and write everything down, that way it'll be organised. We can test to see how much we hear from the other rooms. Please Nicole, I can't leave this!" I begged.

"Fine, but we need to be cautious about this." Nicole said, her expression making it clear she was reluctant to continue.

"Thank you." I said earnestly, before turning to everyone, "You should all go upstairs, and we'll test different sound from different rooms. After that, we can finish up - for now." I said, walking to the kitchen to get a pad of paper and pen. I followed them up quickly, and soon we were all standing in my room. I looked around the group, trying to find the quietest person, before singling out River.

"River, can you walk to your room and then to the study, go in and scream? Then maybe talk, like you're greeting someone, and make an exclamation." River slipped out the door, closing it behind them, and I could hear the faint creak of floorboards as they made their way to their room, paused, and walked back past my room and to what I assumed was the study. Their footsteps were quiet, but the floorboards gave away their movement. There was a moment of silence, and then a high, shrill scream, shocking me, despite the fact that I knew it was coming. Then, I heard nothing. I started to note down the sounds, how loud they were and who made them, under a column titled "Rhea's room". A couple of minutes later, River came back into the room, their brow furrowed slightly.

"Was it good enough?"

"It was perfect. Now, you're going to need to do it again four times." I led us to Nicole's room across the hall, where we repeated the entire thing. After that, we went to Theo and then finally to River's room. After River had completed everything, I went next, handing the notebook to River to write down notes in. They would be better at taking notes anyway. I did the same thing that River did, everyone moving from each of our rooms, and after I was finished, Theo and Nicole went next. Every time, we could hear the footsteps and the scream, but never any conversations or exclamations. A little over an hour later, we reconvened in my room, everyone exhausted from the tedious investigation.

"So, if none of us could go out of our rooms without being heard, who killed Nadia, and how did they get up here?" I asked, rubbing my aching head.

"I have no idea. We've proven it's almost impossible." Nicole sighed. I slumped on my bed, hugging a spare pillow.

"None of this makes sense." I exclaimed.

"I know." Theo said quietly, standing up and going to the door.

"I'm assuming I'll see you all for dinner?" Theo asked, and when River nodded, opened the door, walking out into the hallway. River followed him, and Nicole was left sitting on a spare chair.

"Are you okay?" Nicole asked hesitantly. I gave her a slight smile.

"I'm better, thank you. I don't think anyone's okay." I said softly. Nicole paused for a second, before standing up and making her way to the door.

"I know Rhy. This sucks, it sucks so much. Soon though, it'll be in the past, and we can forget everything." The thing was, I wasn't sure that I could.