Category : Books-Fiction

Sub Category : Suspense/Mystery

Joey doesn't cry. He's the host of this party; there's nine other people looking to him for guidance. He can't afford to let them see him cry.

But inside, he's a writhing, screaming mess of sobs on the ground. It's as if someone ran him over with a steamroller, then set his crushed, flattened body on fire, just to prove a point.

His brain is assaulted with memories—Shane snarking about random celebrities, Shane laughing at Joey's lame jokes, Shane and Joey hanging out together talking about the stupidest things. Years of collabs, smirks, and genuine friendship...and now Shane's gone, killed by the very party Joey worked so hard to plan.

It's my fault. My party. My responsibility. I'm the reason he's dead.

Mixed with the avalanche of grief for Shane are a few specks of genuine fear. He's scared for his life and, more importantly, the lives of the nine other YouTubers he invited here tonight. If Shane can die...what's to stop all of his other friends from suddenly dropping dead too?

He can't let that happen.

As GloZell shakes Shane's body and everyone else races into the room, Joey pushes back the basketball-sized lump in his throat and prepares to face his guests. He's going to figure out who did this, lock the sicko in 1920s jail forever, then return to 2016 and try to live in a world without Shane Dawson.

 

Sierra still doesn't believe it.

Sure, her group didn't figure out that stupid riddle fast enough, but that doesn't matter. Shane isn't dead. This is all part of his disgusting prank, and frankly, she doesn't find it funny anymore. A part of her wants to kick Shane right in the nuts—if he's going to be such a heartless jerk to all of his friends, some retribution is clearly in order.

Then again, she should probably play along for the cameras. She can always kick Shane in the nuts once it's over.

"What happened?" asks Joey as Team Letters and Words enters the room.

"We opened the book," Sierra explains, adjusting her tiara as she does so. "We were so close!"

"Well, he's dead now," Joey fumes, "because of you guys!"

Sierra's hands fly to her chest in outrage. Prank or no prank, she does not appreciate the implication that she and her friends are responsible for Shane's "death." "It's not our fault!"

"We found our key in, like, a few seconds." Joey's tone is low and fierce, and he seems to be shaking with...anger? Grief? Something.

Everyone starts talking at once, flinging angry words every which way. Justine kneels down and puts her gloved hand on Shane's shoulder, as if to protect him from the pandemonium he's caused.

"Hold on!" It's Matt who finally shuts everyone up, holding out his arms like a cop slowing traffic. "We gotta figure out who killed him first!"

No one killed him! Sierra wants to scream. He's not dead! He's fine, this is a prank, a YouTube video, everything's fine, please let everything be fine, please...

 

Shane's gone, and that sucks, but Matt doesn't have time to wallow in sadness. Not when there's a murderer on the loose.

"No, you know who killed him, probably?" Lele gestures to Tim, who's standing on the other side of Shane's body with an irritated look on his face. "I mean, what are you? Aren't you, like, a murderer?"

"No, no, no, no, no!" Not Tim. It wasn't Tim. I'll bet my life on it if I have to.

"I don't kill my friends," says Tim, somehow managing to keep his voice calm despite the fact that he's just been accused of murder. "I just kill people who owe money to me, all right?" He's still playing up his Mobster character despite everything that's happened, and Matt's got to hand it to him; that takes dedication.

(He himself abandoned the Professor long ago.)

"Does he owe money to you?" Joey wants to know.

For the second time in five minutes, everyone starts shouting at once. As for Matt, he narrows his eyes at the blonde girl who just tried to pin the murder on one of the few friends he has here. The same girl who was bossing everyone around during the box thing...the same girl who made it perfectly clear she wanted this house for herself...

If anyone here is capable of murder, it's Lele Pons. He's sure of it.

 

Now that Shane's officially...passed on, Eva knows she's next. She was there; she saw what the maid was doing. If the other guests don't kill her (she can tell that several of them still hold her responsible), Sarah surely will.

Justine waves her hand around for several seconds, trying to get the group's attention. Once she has the floor, she speaks, panic and confusion rushing every word. "What do we do with the body? I don't care who killed him—we need to get rid of it!"

Oh, don't worry about the body, Justine, the bitter part of Eva's mind replies. The maid'll take care of it. She'll probably throw him in a ditch somewhere, or chop him up into teeny tiny pieces, or use his head for our next meal... The thought makes her ill.

"Probably because you killed him!" shouts Sierra.

"I honestly think it was Eva!" Joey's accusation feels like a shot to the heart—a shot she knew damn well was coming to kill her. "She was the last to be seen with him!"

At this point, Eva's fighting back tears. "It was not me!"

"Who had a motive to kill him?" asks Matt, still playing detective. "Did anyone hang out with him before we came here?"

And that's when all the pieces fall into place.

The maid was disposing of a body, yes. She saw that, and so did Shane, which explains why someone would...silence him. But just because she had a body doesn't necessarily mean she was the murderer. She's an accomplice...she's an employee...the real killer must've ordered her to get rid of it...which can only mean that the real killer is—

"I think Joey was the person who killed him!" She knows full well she's risking her life by outing him now, but she's already a dead girl walking, so what the hell does she care? "And he's gonna kill us all!"

 

"I agree!" shouts GloZell, glad she's not the only one who's got her eye on Joey Graceffa. "It's Joey!" She turns to Joey, who's staring at her with that innocent who-me grin still plastered on his face. "Don't be lookin' at me all cute and fine! You a killer!"

Joey opens his mouth, but Eva shouts him down before he has the chance to say a word. "All I'm saying is, we found our clue exceptionally quick...with the help of Joey!"

"With the help of me?" Joey's keeping up that I-can't-believe-you'd-ever-suspect-little-ol'-me act he's got going on. "It was GloZell who found it!"

Nuh-uh, no, you are not pinning this one on me, sweetheart. "It's your house!"

"Who was sitting next to Shane at dinner?" asks Matt.

Several people shout Justine's name. Justine herself shrinks back into a corner, looking like she wants to clap her fancy little heels together three times and leave this topsy-turvy world. GloZell can't say she blames her.

Joey's name is also brought up, and Joey (of course) immediately responds with "No, I wasn't sitting next to him."

"You were very close to him," Matt points out. "You were in proximity."

"I was two seats away!"

Matt then turns his attention to GloZell. "You were sitting right next to him as well!"

As the guests continue to bicker and fight among themselves, GloZell glances at the glamour and fanciness around her. Twenty minutes ago, she was dying to be a part of it. She had it all planned out: she was gonna get herself into Joey's good graces, convince him to let her stay in the house with him, then live in the lap of luxury for the rest of her life. The 1920s thing wasn't even that big of a deal; after all, she'd be rich, so what would it matter?

But now that a guy she's known for years has gone and died in this damn house, she can't help but wonder: Is it worth being with Joey for all this? Is he really going to stay in this house, this mansion, this...crime scene?

At any rate, she sure as hell can't live here.

 

Tim's been to a few parties, and he's seen some crazy stuff go down, but this is the first time he's been to a party where someone actually died, and...yeah, in all honesty, he liked it better at that one college bash when some drunk frat guy wore a toga and tried to teach everyone how to perform Greek dancing.

And that's saying something, because that night was weird.

"Guys..." Eva, now the lone survivor of the Dawson-Gutowski Mystery Adventure Trip, is clearly shaking in her fancy 1920s heels. "What if it's none of us, and it's...the maid?"

Lele bursts out laughing. "Look at her!" she squeals, pointing to the stony-faced cleaning lady.

Eva ignores Lele's hysterics. "She served the head!"

"No, the cook is the one who prepared the dessert," says Tim, figuring he might as well add something to the conversation instead of just standing around looking cool.

Joey takes the opportunity to search Shane's body for clues. At first, Tim thinks he's gonna take his wallet (and he's jealous, because he wants to take his wallet), but after about a minute, he pulls yet another old-looking piece of paper out of Shane's coat pocket. "Listen to this!"

If you're reading this, I have failed in my mission. My killer is not who you might think it is; it's the house itself...

Everyone gasps.

Tim raises an eyebrow. That doesn't make any sense; how can a freakin' house kill somebody? What the hell have I gotten myself into?

Joey keeps reading.

...which is possessed of an ancient evil that has locked it in time.

I came here tonight with the intention of destroying it. I am a member of a secret organization known as the Society Against Evil, and we've been battling this wicked force for centuries.

There are four artifacts, which the evil has hidden behind a series of puzzles and clues. If they can be gathered, and a binding ritual can be performed, the evil will be locked away.

However, to complete the final task to retrieve each artifact, the group must vote on two people who must undertake a dark challenge.

Tragically, one of them will die.

But to help you along the way, the Society Against Evil has marked the clues with their symbol.

The symbol...of course, the one on that telegram, it must be...

You have until sunrise to recover the artifacts before you are trapped here forever. What lies ahead will not be easy, but I'm afraid you have no other choice if you want to get back to 2016.

Good luck, guys. Whatever happens...I'm glad I got the chance to know you.

Signed,
Shane Dawson

 

For the next minute or so, silence reigns over the room. All eyes are on Shane's body, as if they expect it to start doing cartwheels or something.

Hey, it could happen. After being served a human head for dessert, Andrea's prepared for anything.

To be honest, before they found that note, she hadn't the foggiest idea who killed Shane. After all, they just got here; she doesn't feel like he made any bad blood with anyone yet.

Bad blood...too soon, Andrea. Too soon.

But now it turns out it's the house that offed him (how is that even—never mind), and the rest of them have to...they have to...

"Okay, so there's an evil spirit running 'round here," says GloZell, finally breaking the silence, "but we gotta find like, what, four of these lil' things? Or we gon' be stuck in the house?"

Thank you, GloZell, for summing that up.

Joey's house, once so splendid, now menaces Andrea's frazzled mind—it's not even a house anymore, it's a freakin' death trap. Even if they do as the letter says and find those four artifacts, four of the guests are still going to join Shane in death. And that's if they find the artifacts in time. If they don't, they'll stay here forever—stuck in the wrong decade, separated from their families and friends, trapped in a house that's clearly out to kill them all...the thought alone is enough to make her shudder.

Well, one thing for sure—she'd rather die than get stuck in 1920. So if the group votes, and she's chosen for death...she's strangely fine with it. After all, out of everyone here, she (stupid little Andrea Brooks, doesn't even know what a Fixer is) is clearly the most expendable.

Besides, anything's better than being trapped in this hellhole for eternity.

 

Lele does not want to die.

She came here tonight to have a good time—have some drinks, make some friends, maybe steal some kisses. She did not come here to get caught in some sort of creepy And Then There Were None-type nightmare. Especially if it could very well get her killed.

I mean, come on, I'm only twenty, I'm too young to die, I don't want this...

Not that she wants any of the others to die, either. Sure, Matt is a bit bipolar, and sure, Tim's whole Mobster thing freaks her out, but none of them deserve to be murdered by group vote. She's already seen one death tonight (ugh, if we'd only been faster...); she doesn't need to see any more. Besides, the last thing she wants is to have blood on her hands.

So when Joey holds up a hand and says "Guys, I think we should leave, follow me, I have a car that can take us out of here," she's practically the first one out the door.

Next thing she knows, she's racing down the porch steps with Joey, Eva, and Justine. Sierra, Andrea, Oli, Matt, and Tim are right behind them, but GloZell is having a bit of trouble running in all that fancy bling she's got on.

"Just a moment," says Arthur, who's bringing up the rear. "Wait for GloZell."

"Wait for GloZell!" Tim shouts at the others.

But Lele's in too much of a panic to wait for anyone. She's practically sprinting (in heels, mind you, which are killing her feet right now, but hey, better her feet than her) after Joey, Eva, and Justine, who are almost to the car.

The car...the same time-traveling car that brought them all to this evil-infested house in the first place.

"We're not gonna fit in one car," says Matt to no one in particular, and Lele wonders if they're going to have to play that Volkswagen Beetle game from way back when. How many YouTubers can we fit into a tiny 1920s automobile?

GloZell's still being a slowpoke, so of course Tim's staying with her, shouting "We can't leave GloZell in the 1920s!"

"Please don't leave me in the 1920s," begs GloZell as she finally reaches the steps. "It wasn't a good year for us."

"Guys, wait!" screams Sierra. She's almost at the bottom of the steps, but she looks about ready to burst into tears at this point. "These shoes hurt so bad!"

And then—boom.

The time-traveling car—their ticket home—explodes in a flash of fire and light. Everyone screams, GloZell shrieks "Jesus!", Justine takes off running back towards the house, and Lele...Lele watches, dumbstruck, as her only escape route goes up in smoke.

There's no way out. They've got to play this house's twisted game, and somebody's going to die. No—four somebodies. And counting Shane, that makes five people who are never going to see 2016 ever again.

Lele will do anything—anything—to make sure she isn't one of them.