The room was cold, the heaters didn’t seem to be working well. The chair I was sitting on wasn’t the most comfortable either, and I had to sit on the edge of my seat because of the disgusting yellow stain near the backrest of the chair. In the opposite corner of the room was the best chair; the cleanest. I wanted to get up and sit there so badly but I didn’t know how the guards would react. They watched me from next to the door of the waiting room. I didn’t know exactly what I was waiting for, probably more police officers to take me away somewhere for even more questioning. They’d already run their mouths when I let them into my apartment after they told me about their colleague's death. Now I was on some ‘suspect’ list and I’d had to wait in this dingy room in a dirty chair for an hour.
I finally made the decision to get up, ignoring one of the guards who rushed forward to push me back into my seat. I knocked his hand away and sat in the clean seat in the corner. “I’m sorry,” I said sheepishly, “But that chair is terrible,” I pointed at the stain.
He smiled, apologetically, picked the bad seat up and left the room. The last guard in the room watched me intently as though I would find a way to get him out of the room as well. I just ignored him. I’d done nothing wrong, so I didn’t have anything to worry about. I checked the time on my watch, it was almost 10 am. I sighed and let my head fall onto my hand, and let my eyes close, out of boredom.
A man walked into the room 10 minutes after the first guard left. Said guard was right behind him. “Please have a seat, sir,” the guard motioned towards one of the remaining seats.
“Thank you, Darvis,” the man nodded at him, smiling. “Hopefully, I’ll be out of here soon,”
He was another suspect, I guessed. I laid back in my chair, watching him from under half-closed eyes. He had black hair and striking grey eyes. He wore a police uniform, and his name tag read the word ‘Durchdenwald’ in small white print. Sounded German.
“What are you looking at?” he said, smirking at me. His tone was light and playful, and he seemed to be more of a jokester personality-wise.
I nodded in acknowledgement, but didn’t say anything.
A few more minutes passed until four more people entered the room. An asian girl, who seemed only a few years younger than me, led a younger boy through the door. I presumed they were siblings, as they had the same high nose bridge, bright hazel eyes. and plump, full lips. The girl’s hair was long and the colour of coal, but her brother’s hair was a darker brown. As they passed by me, the girl swept her curtain bangs out of her face so she could see better. Our eyes met… They were cold.
“What?” she grumbled vaguely in my direction, but I just shook my head, and watched as her brother leapt up onto a chair and began to swing his legs, briskly; his glasses slowly creeping down his nose.
Following behind them was another girl, who looked my age. Her dark brown hair was styled into two neat plaits, and she wore glasses in front of her warm, brown eyes. She looked at me as she passed by to sit in a chair 2 seats away from me and her freckled cheeks lifted in an adorable smile. “Hi~” she whispered.
“Hi,” I smiled back at her. She seemed friendly. Seemed.
Lastly, came a man. It was hard to tell how old he was, but he was definitely the oldest out of the suspects. He lumbered into the room, his sunglasses flashing in the artificial light and his dark ginger hair like a lion’s mane around his head. Although he was inside and seated, he didn’t take off his glasses to reveal his eyes, so I couldn’t tell where he was looking.
The room had begun to fill up with more people; there were now 7 of us in the room; 5 of us were ‘suspects’ and the two guards still stood at the door.
I felt a pair of burning eyes on me, and from the corner of my eye, I could see it was the Asian girl. Her eyes were glued to me and I was almost certain she wasn’t blinking. I hated the way she looked at me, her eyes blank, cold. And, yet, they were so beautiful, the gold depths shining in the light from the lightbulb bolted into the ceiling.
After what felt like hours of waiting, a new officer walked into the small room. I was bored beyond belief at that point, and the room was starting to feel too small.
“Hello, ladies and gentlemen,” he said, nodding at each of us in turn. “I’m Detective Hym. Nice to meet you all!” he smiled, “You may be wondering what you’re doing here?”
Durchdenwald rolled his eyes, “Something to do with a ‘suspect’ list,” he muttered.
“Yes, Jr. Detective Durchdenwald,” the officer nodded, vigorously. “Yes, indeed. Now, we would usually not let you see each other, and interrogate you all separately. However, we’d like to conduct a little experiment,”
“No,” the Asian girl spoke up.
“Please, let me finish, Miss. Park,” Detective Hym said, holding his hand up to silence her, “We would like to conduct an experiment. We’ll put you together in a house we’ve rented, and figure out the killer from there. There’ll be police officers on patrol there, and CCTV cameras monitored by them in almost every room. I say almost because we’ll give you some level of privacy. It’ll be a comfortable living space for all of you, as we catch the murderer among you,”
“What?” The brother said, confused, “There’s a murderer among us?”
“Wim, were you even listening when the cops came to our house?” his sister asked and he shook his head. “It’ll be okay,” she ruffled his hair.
“Yes, it will,” Detective Hym said, “You’ll be 100% safe there,” his grin broadened.
“GET OFF OF ME!” a scream echoed from behind the closed door before it was almost ripped off its hinges as a smartly-dressed woman was pushed into the room. “I WILL SUE YOU!” she screamed, in hysteria. She was an average height, brown-haired woman, with the dress and attitude of a rich, obnoxious, egoistic woman. “UNHAND ME!” she screamed again, as one of the guards quite forcefully pushed her into a seat. “I HAVE DONE NOTHING AGAINST THE LAW! THIS IS GOING AGAINST MY RIGHTS!! YOU WILL FACE MY LAWYER!” her voice grew in octaves, and I rested my head in my hands as I developed a migraine.
“For God’s sake!” Durchdenwald growled, “Shut up, woman,”
“NO! I WILL NOT!” She screamed, “I HAVE MORE MONEY THAN ALL OF YOU COMBINED… IN FACT, I HAVE TRIPLE OF THAT! I AM CLEARLY OF SUPERIOR CLASS! WHY DO I NEED TO BE DETAINED IN THIS WAY?!”
I groaned as she sobbed uncontrollably, although I suspected her cheeks were dry. Another man walked into the room with yet another guard. “I am so sorry,” he addressed the rest of us, “My wife is being a bit too loud, although I do agree with her, of course,” he smiled a fake-rich smile, and I wanted to punch his face in.
“You see,” he continued, still flashing his brilliant white teeth, “We are the Flowerhest couple of the AvaCado tech company,” he smirked, stroking his black-haired goatee. “So, we have the money and rights to not be part of this commoner’s business,” he adjusted his designer suit, particularly to draw ours eyes to the piece, “Ladies and gentlemen, I am Cado Flowerhest!”
“And that doesn’t mean nothing here,” Hym interrupted him, “Please take a seat, sir, you, like everyone else here, are on the ‘suspect’ list for the murder of my colleague,”
Cado’s face fell.
The radio on his hip crackled, “Hym, are you on the radio, sir? It’s time to go. The vans are ready,”
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