Camp Murder (Inanimate Insanity)

Chapter 4 - Break In

The following day was, as one might expect, tense. The contestants had been called to the elimination stage where MePhone and MePad stood. MePad looked pristine as per usual, but the same could not be said for the host.

MePhone's hair was only slightly out of place. The bags beneath his eyes were only slightly visible and he filled up his suit only slightly too much. Anyone with a keen eye could see that he was just as stressed as the rest of them.

"All of you!" MePhone snapped in a familiarly deep, rich voice. The crowd of contestants hushed.
"Shut up! Ok. Great. As you're all well aware, there was a fatal accident yesterday. Might I elaborate," he paused. "Accident."

"Bullcrap!" Microphone, from the opposing team (Grand Slams), called from the middle of the crowd. Her silvery hair was frizzy and hung limply as if she hadn't brushed it in ages.
"If they just fell," she continued loudly, each contestant captivated with her voice. "Why was there a struggle? Blood on the floor? Roof tiles on the floor?"
"Yeah!" A few members of her team agreed in unison.

Fan noted that the Grand Slams seemed rather headstrong right off the bat. (*knee slap*)

"I'll bet he was decked by the little red kid." A golden-toned boy scoffed, earning some 'Ooh's from the others.
"Shut your mouth, Trophy!" Paintbrush spat his name as if it was a sharp object in their mouth.
"Standing up for your boyfriend, freak?" The jock scorned.

"What part of shut up don't you understand?" MePhone growled with a gravelly edge to his voice.
He brushed back his windswept hair and sighed. "As I was saying, something unfortunate happened to Cherries. It wasn't a murder, ya'hear? Just a coincidence."

"Sir," MePad cut-in calmly. "If it is any help to your conscience, Cherries is not dead. Both are just suffering with some blunt-force trauma."

"That what happened to Bow, too?" A stocky boy grinned and high fived his taller friend.
Nickel - Fan recognised him.
"Anyway," MePhone was clearly getting frustrated by the disobedient crowd. "There's gonna be a challenge tomorrow. Today's a rest day so, um... go collect stamps or whatever."

The group disbanded.

Grey clouds hung heavily over the forest. Everything seemed rather devoid of color that day; even the candy mountains standing miles off. Mist clung to the grass and thickened the air.

Fan rested his head against the cool brick of the dorm. Thoughts raced through his mind at a million miles per hour, each one darker and more captivating than the other.
"Fan?"
He tucked his knees to his chest.
"Fan."
A tear rolled down his cheek.

"Yo! Flatface! Anyone in?"

Snapping out of his trance, Fan looked up from his pity party to see Lightbulb and Test Tube. "Oh, hi."
The two sat beside him, Test Tube making sure to sit on her lab coat as to not get wet.

"I think," Lightbulb leaned so close to him that he could feel her breath on his cheek. "I think that we should break into the room the Cherries are in and interrogate them."
"What?" Test Tube's jaw dropped.
"What?"
"It's just...that's a bit unethical, don't you think?"

Lightbulb's forehead creased with thought. "Yeah, kinda. So, you game?"
Fan stood up with an effort. "I don't know if I can even look at them the same way without seeing that horrifying image in my head. I thought I had killed them, Lightbulb, I-"
The blonde stood up and held his shoulders tightly. "Calm it down, paperboy. No bad vibes here."

Fan couldn't conceal a smile. "Yeah. Okay. I guess we can...try to find out what happened."

The three of them headed off in the direction of the host quarters;  where the assistants and MePhone lived during the show. (Though Toilet slept on the grass sometimes.)

The building was nothing special: a little hut made of wood and covered in ivy and leaves.
"Wow. Great camouflage." Fan snarked.

"Cherries should be resting somewhere in here!" Lightbulb announced as if it wasn't obvious. She hooked onto a wooden plank as a few splintery chips fell from the wall.

Fan was dumbstruck. "You're going to climb it?"
Lightbulb smirked and pulled her wavy hair back. "We're going to climb it!"
Test Tube almost dropped the lab coat that was resting on her arm. "What? N-no! I cant climb that! There's a two in one-thousand chance that we'll fall!"
Fan rested a comforting hand on her arm.

'She's shaking so much. I've never seen her so scared.'

"There's no need to be like that, Testy. Here! Watch!"
Lightbulb began pulling herself skilfully up the side of the hut. Whether it was skill or pure optimism, Fan couldn't tell.

The duo watched from the floor in astonishment as she hung from the roof. "See? Nothing to- AGH!"

Time stopped in its tracks as Lightbulb lost her grip. Her arms were outstretched but there was no way she was going to reattach to the wall.
The air parted around her body.

She was falling- falling fast.