Flicker: Part 4 (Reedsy Cast)

Author’s Note:

Hey everyone! I hope you all are well! Here is Part 4 to my Reedsy Cast, which before writing I made this hAnDy dAnDy spreadsheet with everyone’s roles and who’s POV to do next, and WOW is it a LIFE SAVER-

Also, this doesn’t quite fit with the prompt, but by the time I was almost done, I realized I went way off from what I was planning, and I don’t have too much time to fix it so- pretend this is related to the prompt and let’s move on :’D

Small note, I’m curious to see who you guys think is the Murderer, Detective, etc. Feel free to post theories in the comments!

But I’m getting ahead of myself, onto Part 4!

~~~

-Camryn-

Lying on my bed, I started to sketch in my journal. Being a mole was kind of boring, I hadn’t gotten too much information, only that Ashlyn wrote down my name in her journal, so she must be Mind Reader, the other mole, or something along those lines. I also checked Maddie the second night, but no one visited her, or wrote down her name. Kind of a bust.

I sighed, hoping the murderer got eliminated quickly. Will I die tonight? Mole isn’t the most interesting role, most of the time it feels pretty useless.

I continued to sketch, although they weren’t the best. My ethereal lake looked more like a puddle of sludge.

My door banged open, and I screamed as loud as I could. From underneath the figure’s cloak, I recognized a grin.

Everything flashed back to me. The reason why we were all here.

I stumbled from the bed, and tried to run past her as I reached for the door, which somehow shut before I could reach it. I tried to turn the handle, but it was stuck, as if someone was holding it from the other end.

Was it the person from the TV?

Or was it… someone else?

“Don’t try to leave, let’s make this quick,” she said, walking closer to me.

I backed up against the wall, fumbling for words.

“Speechless? Not surprised.”

“Don’t do this,” I whispered, and shut my eyes, bracing for pain.

“You know fully well why I have to.”

And she was right. It was all our fault this was happening to us.

~~~

-Isla-

The previous night, I dreamt of a cloaked figure giving me a warm pie for dinner, with a knife stuck right in the center. The figure pulled it out, and aimed for my heart. I quickly pivoted as the knife flew, as it hit Cleo. I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I turned to see the figure lift off it's hood to reveal Chris, as he aimed a gun to my forehead.

I woke up, and decided that heading to the living area to possibly be murdered would be better than sleeping some more.

Which was a good thing, since everyone was awake and looking at a piece of paper on the table. I already knew what it said, since Chris and I were the ones to put it there. Even so, I still took a glance and re-read it, so no one would suspect me of anything.

“Who- who wrote that?” she stuttered, backing up.

“Mind Reader from Good team, if we’re to trust whoever wrote it...” B muttered.

“What if they’re lying?” asked Cora, “They could totally be Evil Mind Reader, and they’d be pinning the blame on Ellie if she’s good.”

“Are you good or evil?” asked Maddie, turning to Ellie.

“I-I’m-” her voice petered to silence.

“It’s true, isn’t it?” whispered Ashlyn.

“I- yes...”

She looked down guiltily, wrapping her arms around her waist.

“I’m sorry. I’m not murderer-”

“How do we know that?” I asked.

“I… guess we’ll see, won’t we,” Chris said. Not a question. A statement.

And yet I nodded. But something felt off.

“Wait, who died last night?” I asked.

No one spoke. Chris took a deep breath, and whispered a name.

“Camryn.”

I gasped, trying to hold back my tears. He was so kind. And the murderer killed him.

“I can’t believe someone would do that...” said B.

“Me neither. Who do you think did it?” asked Ashlyn.

“No clue, but we have to take down whoever it was,” said Maddie.

The room seemed to get smaller with each word, until it was too much for me.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered, as I sprinted towards my room. I shut the door, and sat on my bed, shaking. I tried taking deep breaths to calm myself down, but it was a struggle. Two people have already died. First Aiden. Now Camryn. Who was going to be next?

I felt the urge to use my power to bring Camryn back, but I knew I had to wait until Detective was gone. They were our only hope now, I couldn’t use my Savior powers on Camryn yet. Even if he really did deserve to be saved.

I heard my door open and close softly. I glanced towards Chris, wiping my tears.

“Hey,” he sat down next to me, “Are you okay?”

“Not really,” I mumbled, “First Aiden. Now Camryn? And Cleo vanished into thin air! It’s only day three, and we’re going to have to vote someone else out soon.”

“I get what you mean. But,” he waited until I looked at him, “We just have to find out who the murderer is. Then it’ll be easier from there.”

“We’re still going to have to figure out who’s good and evil though.”

“Yeah, but they’re stuck just like us. Maybe they’ll reveal their roles after we eliminate the murderer?”

I snorted, “Yeah, who wouldn’t love to sacrifice themselves, not knowing if they’d survive or what happens when you’re voted off.”

He sighed, “Look, we’ll figure this out, ok?”

I reluctantly nodded, and stood up. “I… guess it’s time to vote off someone.”

“Yeah,” he stood up, and tangled his fingers with mine. He gave my hand a quick squeeze, let go, and opened the door.

Everyone had their backs turned away from us. Before I could ask why, I heard static coming from the TV, and the figure said in a low voice, “I guess you all know who you’re voting off?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” B said, rolling her eyes. “You could make this a little easier for us and let us all go.”

“But where’s the fun in that?” The figure smiled in glee.

“Look, we don’t have time for this,” Maddie complained, “Let’s just vote and get this over with.”

“I see,” The figure seemed to frown, “Well, go ahead and vote if you’re so sure.”

Everyone pulled out their journals. I quickly opened mine, and quickly wrote Ellie’s name.

“The person voted off tonight is...” We all held our breaths.

“Ellie. Quite the majority there, if you ask me.”

Ellie trembled as she started to fade away, whispering a quick apology as she disappeared.

~~~

“Time to read the journals!” The figure stated, “Camryn and Ellie’s journals are on the table, check them out if you want.”

“Ok, how do you keep doing that?” Ashlyn asked, as she picked up one of the journals.

“You don’t know?” The figure smirked.

The TV turned off before Ashlyn could respond.

“Well, I’ll read Camryn’s first, I guess...” she muttered, as she opened to the first page.

“Ok, I’m just going to get to the point. I’m Mole for Good team. Nothing too special about that… all I’ve found out is that Ashlyn wrote my name in her journal, so she must be one of the Mind Readers, or the other mole. Or maybe. Or is she doctor? No, wasn’t that Aiden? I’m losing track, it’s hard to tell who’s what role. I might need to figure out a better way to keep track.”

“That’s the end of the entry,” Ashlyn said, as she picked up Ellie’s journal.

“Well, I was Mole, for Evil team. Which is kind of pointless. I’ve found zero information whatsoever. I honestly feel like Cora is a little suspicious, even though she’s revealed herself, she hasn’t said much. Is that just me?”

“Well, that’s all from both of them,” muttered Cora, clearly slightly annoyed at Ellie’s journal entry.

“So, Ashlyn?” Maddie asked, “What role are you?”

“I-I can’t say,” She looked down.

“You can’t say?” asked B.

“If I’m good, then Murderer will just kill me straight away. If I’m evil, you all will just vote me out. What do you expect?”

“Well, what role are you, not whether you’re good or evil.”

She fidgeted with her hands as she muttered, “Mind Reader.”

Chris and I glanced at each other, knowing what this meant.

~~~

Thank you to everyone who participated in my first Reedsy Cast!

Cleo/Cookie Carla: https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/cookie-carla/

Camryn/Chase Dova: https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/chase-dova/

B/B.W: 

https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/b-w/

Maddie/Abigail Cross: https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/edbcba/

Ashlyn/Wolf Warrior: https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/wolf-warrior-e4a694/

Chris/Celeste:

https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/0466a8/

Ellie/Anonymous:

(You know who you are ;) )

Isla/Sia Sharma:

https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/42b041/

Cora/Sienna:

https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/a97cef/

Word Count: 1484 words

Roles revealed so FAR:

Chris - Mind Reader, Good

Cleo - Mage, Evil

Isla - Savior, Good

B - ?

Aiden - Doctor, Good

Ashlyn - Mind Reader, Evil

Maddie - ?

Ellie - Mole, Evil

Camryn - Mole, Good

Cora - ?