***

Friday March 13, 2009: 5:02 PM

All of the guests crowded into the cramped living room. Annabelle sat on her father’s lap on the loveseat, her head tucked under his chin. Sean kept one arm wrapped around his little girl, while the other held Elizabeth’s hand. Michael leaned against the wall, his arms now folded across his chest, with a barren look on his tear-stained face. Donna continued to sniffle on the ground beside him, keeping her knees tightly drawn to her chest.

Jaime sat on the arm chair as he twiddled his fingers together, to pass the time. He looked as if only a tear or two had slipped from his dark brown eyes, if any at all.

On the couch opposite the loveseat Megan sat, with her legs crossed as she chewed on her fingernails. Next to her sat Natasha and Cody who now, unlike before, refused to even touch each other. Amber sat on the arm of the couch, her arms crossed her chest and her eyebrows knitted as she looked like she was really trying to concentrate on something. Hayley wasn’t too far away, she leaned against the door, looking just as confused and sad as everyone else.

This left Sydney a seat on the fireplace – a perfect view of everyone else. Her bright blue eyes wandered the room, temporarily landing on everyone else at least twice, till she finally found the courage to speak again.

“Has anyone else tried to call for help?”

“What’s the point?” Cody grumbled as he leaned forward, “Whoever is doing this cut the phone line then turned on a cell phone jammer –”

“How do you know the killer used a cell phone jammer?” Megan interrupted him.

“Because it’s the only thing that makes sense!” Cody rolled his eyes, “Now I say we find this fucke-”

“LANGUAGE!” Elizabeth covered her daughter’s ears, as if reminding the college-student that the only reason she cared about his profanity was because of her six-year old daughter.

Cody rolled his eyes again and said with a scoff, “Like me saying fucker is going to scar her now.”

Both Elizabeth’s and Sean’s eyes widened, he even looked like he was about to stand.

“Well did anyone see anyone sneak up and maybe give Emily something?” Sydney quickly asked before a fight broke out. No one answered.

“Then that means…” Haley’s voice trailed off, almost cracking as it did so.

“No,” Megan stood to her feet, “What you’re suggesting is wrong. It’s sick and wrong.”

“Then did you see anyone put anything in Emily’s drink?” Haley snapped at the brunette.

“Maybe she wasn’t murdered!” Megan suggested, “Maybe she just-”

“People don’t just fall over and die!” Amber spoke up, “There’s got to be a reason!”

“So what if she did?” Megan huffed as she crossed her arms.

“That’s not possible,” Amber shook her head.

“Maybe it was already spiked,” Donna said, “Before she came to the party.”

“No,” it was Natasha’s turn to shake her head, “I saw her grab a cup.”

“No,” Megan quickly shook her head, “I can’t believe it.”

“Well someone here is a murderer,” Cody snapped, “And it’s either somebody in this room or somebody out there.”

“But you don’t know that!” Megan continued to stress.

“Guys!” Sydney jumped to her feet, “The only thing that matters right now is finding out who killed Emily and stopping that person from killing again.”

“How?” Michael asked.

“Well, we should probably spilt up-”

“Because that works out so well in every murder mystery,” Donna grumbled.

“If the killer isn’t a party guest, then there’s only a few places he or she can hide,” Sydney continued as if she hadn’t heard Donna’s comment, “So, we’ll have to spilt up.”

“What if one of us is the murderer? What if somebody else dies because we spilt up?” Cody asked, “Are you willingly to live with that?”

Sydney didn’t answer.

“That’s what I thought,” Cody boasted as he rose to his feet and marched out of the room with a loud huff.

“Cody!” Natasha called after him, “Cody come back!”

“Anyone else have any objections?” Sydney crossed her arms over her chest and shifted on her feet.

“Sean and I won’t leave Annabelle,” Elizabeth told her younger sister.

“I understand.”

“Somebody should move her body,” Jaime spoke for the first time since the discovery of Emily’s death.

“Yeah,” Sydney nodded, “Maybe if we take it up to her room?”

“That’s a lot of deadweight to carry upstairs,” Sean commented, “Is there a room on this floor?”

“Not a bedroom,” Megan answered, “But there’s an office across the hall.”

“That’ll have to do, till the authorities arrive.”

“Has anyone tried driving to get help?” Donna spoke up, “I mean, just till they were out of range of the jammer.”

Only a second longer had passed before almost everyone in the room was jumping out of their seats and running back through the kitchen, past Cody and Natasha, and out the back doors. Amber, Haley, Michael, Cody – who now joined them – Elizabeth, and Sydney stopped almost in a line in front of the cars and starred in stunned silence.

“What…?” Haley’s voice sounded like a defeated whisper.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”Cody kicked the deflated tire in a rage, “WHAT THE IN FUCKING HELL?!”

This time, no one tried to calm him down. They watched Cody scream and kick rocks and the airless tires.

“Guys…” Sydney asked them, “What’s going to happen to us?”