Clues for Seven

Crimson

It was all six of us, a group of friends running from the same thing. Sumi, Blu, Blaine, Finn, Ivy, and me, Crimson. The inseparable six.

Then it shortened down to five. Then four.

Three.

Two.

One.

But that's not important right now.

I live in my little rundown apartment. Nothing happens, it's all the same. Occasionally I'll get a heads up, then move out to somewhere new and have to change my name.

But its fine, as long as they don't find me. And they didn't. They didn't, because O found me first.

Blu

After the falling out, as Blaine likes to refer to it, we lost contact with everyone. We stuck together and left the rest.

Blu and Blaine. The twins.

We live in our little house in the rural area down Quiet Moon and like to respect the neighborhood's name. We only go outside when absolutely necessary. We don't socialize with the neighbors that much.

When we got the letter, I knew we only had a matter of time before the authorities caught up to us. We had no choice. We changed, took showers, and snook into our car.

We were on our way.

Ivy

I try to live my life to the fullest. Life isn't always fair, but we just have to roll with the punches.

When I got my letter, I chewed on the green ribbon for a few minutes as I read over the short message over and over until it was fully memorized in my head;

We know who you're running from, Ivy.

We can help fix that.

Come to dinner, wear flexible clothing. Don't come in your car, we'll send a cab over.

-O

I walked to my closet. I pulled out a box hidden under a floorboard. I've waited for this moment, I thought, pulling out the contents, my whole life.

Sumi

I silently hand myself one last pill, the left side of my face burning with pain. My sister cleans my face again, the alcohol stinging so badly I roar with pain, fanning my face frantically with my face.

She sighed. " You need to stop getting into fights, Sumino. There is more than enough of trouble we're in." Her Chinese roots showed in her eyes and face, her lips cupping into a heart-shape.

" Nyoko, don't worry." I smiled and held her to my chest. She buried her face in my shoulder. " That's what I was worried you were going to say." her voice was muffled as our doorbell rang, and a letter slipped through the mailslot. She went and picked it up.

It's a letter tied with a plum-colored ribbon.

Finn

The cab rolls into my driveway, and I hesitantly climb in, my trenchcoat sticking out against the dark pavement.

The letter is in my pocket, and I ask the cab driver what we're going. He smiles and says nothing.

By the time I realized my white shoes are smeared with red, we're already at the place, a Victorian-era house with five other people waiting.

Blaine

We all stared at each other, the mood tense.

" Long time...no see?" Finn croaked, rubbing his neck.

Crimson breathed in loudly. " Ok, we all know we fell out almost four years ago, but for the sake of whatever's going on, let's just put everything aside, and be friends for tonight. Or maybe we go back to how it used to be" She looked at all of us.

We all nodded, and it soon relaxed. I ached, almost forgetting how much I missed being in the past.

We all took a step forward on the steps as the door creaked open, the smell of chives and cheap deodorant wafting through the doorway, where nobody seemed to be there. As if the door opened by itself.

Crimson

We screamed as the door slammed shut behind us. We whipped around to see a girl of twelve or thirteen years, who had a scientist coat around her waist and shiny orchid-colored boots.

" Oh, grow up." she rolled her eyes, a staff-like cane in her hand. She circled all of us one by one. She examined someone behind me, and a knowing look flashed in her hazel eyes.

"Come along." She walked briskly down the hall, and we followed her.

" Can we-" I was interrupted.

" Put your jackets away? Sure, if your okay with them turning into chew toys for Apollo and Atlas." She looked back at us, and two massive German Shepards ran up, flanking her protectively.

I saw Sumi tighten his grip on the jacket he held.

We were escorted to the dining room, with seven chairs. Each table had a card with an animal on it. The girl asked us to choose the one we were drawn to.

A peacock, a wolf, a snake, a horse, a fox, a swine, and a goat.

I was drawn to the wolf, and Blu sat with the peacock. The girl sat in the seat in the head of the table, owning the card with the muscular horse. Sumi sat with the swine, Finn sat with the fox, and Blaine was contented with the goat. Another girl walked in and sat next to the girl, dressed in all black. She took the seat with a card I couldn't tell what it was.

As the maids brought a spicy meat broth, she nodded at me. She placed her feet on the chair next to her, her hand laying on her cane. I stared back and took a bite. She nodded again approvingly.

" Why are we here?" I asked, but she held up a finger, to tell her to wait.

Blu

" Are any of you aware of what we call, the seven deadly sins?" she asked, flexing her hand. We all looked at each other and nodded.

" To start, I'm Orchid. But please; she scowled as if the name annoyed her a great deal; O is fine." She took a sip of her soup. " I know you all are running from the law, are you not?"

We all stared at each other fearfully. The girl shuddered.

"So what if we are?" Sumi asked angrily. She laughed at his reaction, the dogs prickling their ears.

" I'm only saying I called you here because you all had something in common. And you all knew each other before the hem, falling out. Now, all of you are innocent of what you were accused of, except for one of you. " We all looked at each other in disbelief. " I have called the FBI, and they will be here in, say an hour?"

We all nodded slowly. O continued.

" You have one hour to figure out who it is. As you can see, there are eight of us. One of us doesn't belong here." We all looked at each other. Then the lights went out. We all screamed as seven huge thumps landed in the table and three gunshots rang out.

Sumi

The lights flickered again, and we all breathed in relief as no one seemed to be hurt. Until Blu screamed again and pointed at O. Her face slumped in her bowl, the green broth turning red.

I ran over my instincts as a nurse kicking in. I checked her pulse.

" She's alive!" I shouted, and we all carried her to the other side, remembering the couch we could lay her on. As I helped stop the bleeding, we saw seven boxes, the same color our ribbons were, on the table. The girl had a black one.

We pulled out different objects. Crimson pulled out a rope. Blaine pulled out a wrench, while Ivy had a dagger. Blu had a pipe, and I pulled out a candlestick. The girl pulled out a letter.

We all placed the objects in the center of the table, and read the note the girl had. She was sobbing. As I looked closer, she looked very similar to O, and I realized she was her sister.

We all read the note.

Finn

The seven sins are the seven people. Find the one who sticks out amongst the rest, that is who's guilty.

Remember;

people aren't who they seem.

the dark will hold the light.

an innocent and the guilty with switch roles

We all looked at each other, the suspicious feeling escalating.

Before we began I realized three things;

We had one hour before the police came. The girl in black's dress peeked out from her sweater, in an ivy green. The cards on the table were gone.

" We're going to have to do this together," Crimson said quietly.

We all nodded meekly, the three questions and O's life hanging over our heads.

Where?

What?

And Who?