Suspicious yet ordinary

"Blanc, what took you so long?", Maud glared at Blanc as he and his friends gathered around the fireplace. The Copperlake campsite nestled in a dense artificial forest where ardent adventurers who wished to explore nature without danger creeping at them visited. Of course, there were no such animals, to begin with, but a night at the campsite was what the visitors desired the most. 

That day, Maud as well as her colleagues decided to stay there for a night. Initially, they narrated haunted tales at someone's house for a sleepover but now that they were older and about to graduate college, things were different-even with the venue of the storytelling. Sol, a former high school friend of Blanc and Maud, was in charge of providing them a comfortable yet suitable place to scare the lives out of them but that was before she mysteriously disappeared. This was the first meeting without her and though the members were a little wistful due to her absence, they were excited to continue the tradition. 

As everyone began placing their marshmallows near the blazing fire, Maud began her story-a story that challenged her creativity.

"Remember when we were all planning on what college we should take instead of studying for the exam?". The rest nodded. "My story happens at that time when Cherry and I were in charge of our final afterschool party. Three weeks before the final exam, we decided to meet at my house for the final arrangements. Everything was set: The food, decorations- and even an assembly. We even decided to surprise our classmates with some horrible yet doable dares like 'barge into another class's party, 'convince the principal that you were the school vandal.' and my all-time favourite  'reveal the crush of your enemy out loud.'  We had prepared for the worst possibilities - even an apocalypse. Once everything was double - and triple-checked off the list, we happily dispersed our little meeting, and Cherry headed home." 

Blanc was busy devouring his marshmallows by the time Maud paused. Seth, one of his companions was opening another bag of marshmallows for the other companion, Vert. Maud began, not wondering if they were all ears to her story.

"The day that we were all hoping for finally arrived. Once the exams were over, we flung our papers in the air as if we were never planning on taking another test again. I headed off to the art room where cherry and I had left our supplies. With the help of some volunteers, we began decorating the class. In two hours, we completed the mammoth task and called the others. Soon, everyone arrived at the class with a gift in hand; we had specifically asked for one, stating that the content of the gift must be 'purely comedic and harmless.' Prior to entering the class, they were all given a chit and in it was the name of the student who was to get their gift. Our day dazzled even brighter by the second. In the end, we had a small gift ceremony. The creativity of our class was nothing I could ever think of. When it was my turn, I only hoped that my sender just followed the criteria ." 

The other three started munching on the peas Seth brought and still didn't heed her story. 

"What's scary about this?", Vert sulked. "The only suspense I see is of that Cherry girl not showing up."

"How did you know?", Maud grinned. Her listeners sighed. But Maud replied that if they thought that was it then they were in for a ride.

"Why don't you guess why Cherry never showed up?", Maud sneered. 

"Probably she was killed. I dunno.", Vert replied with a mouthful.

"Ooh! I know.", Vert raised her hand up in the air. "She was a spy." 

"What?", Seth scoffed. "There was no evidence in the story that proves your thinking!"

"How did you know?", her exact response brought in a different reaction. 

"She was?!" The three asked in unison. 

"Not exactly a spy.", Maud muttered. "There was another person who was missing along with her."

"Let me guess? She killed Cherry." Seth answered before Maud could utter a word. 

'It's the opposite- Cherry killed her." Now, the three listeners are even more puzzled than before.

"Let me specify it to you guys vividly. Cherry enrolled in the middle of her final year. But she was too vibrant that by the time our final exams approached, it felt as if she knew us since the first year. But, as you can infer by now, Cherry wasn't even as old as a high schooler and she was way older than a college graduate. When the other girl was declared missing, we headed over to Cherry's but the neighbors said that she had to move out urgently. Ironically, she was with us till the final exams. If she were there for the final exams, why couldn't she attend the afterparty? Especially since everything was paid and taken care of. But it hit me when we saw her face again - on a wanted poster. And before you open your mouth Seth, there's something else. The body of the other girl was discovered later and there was a huge hue and cry but it all died down when we found out that all the evidence pointed out to her." 

Blanc, who was unusually quiet the whole time, wondered and replied but not before he finished an entire pack of marshmallows. 

"Maud, weren't we in the same high school? If I can recall it all properly, after the final exam, you hit your head on the ground and were in the hospital for a month. Cherry had conducted the party alone."

The other two listeners sipped their milk teas as if they were watching a soap opera. 

"Me? In the hospital?" Maud quipped. "It was you who hit your head. You didn't even attend the party."

"I did and that girl, Sol is still alive ."

"She can't be! I remember her cold dead gaze when the ambulance took her in a stretcher." 

"Maud." Blanc sighed. "You hit your head pretty bad that day. There's no way you'd come, let alone coordinate the party."

After an hour of arguing, they declared that was that and proceeded to the next story.

"Mine.", Blanc said. "Also begins three weeks before the final exams. Our party, as you all know, was conducted by Cherry and Maud. Although I don't quite agree with Maud's story, I will tell you what I was doing that day."

All eyes, this time, were at Blanc as he ate his fill of Seth's peas and proceeded to take another handful of them. Once he cleared his mouth, the others waited patiently to hear his story.

"I was busy studying for my chemistry exam when my mom knocked on my door, announcing that Er Tiao, a neighbor of mine, had come to visit me. I told her to chase him off but she told me to mind my manners, probably because I had studied for far too long and his coming gave her a proper opportunity to kick me out for a while."

He paused again and tried to get his hands on some peas but failed as Vert swooped the last of Seth's peas. 

"Anyways", he replied agitated while the other three began eating Vert's sunflower seeds. "Er Tiao and I went outside for a while and I thought of asking why he wasn't cramming his head at the moment but he was the school's topper so there was no need for him to sweat it. We ate our fill of cold savory ice cream and after a little chat, headed off homeward for this exam was really cracking our heads. In a few days, my head ached and my neck turned stiff so my mother recommended me to lounge outside again. Er Tiao couldn't join me this time so I was about to call Maud when I spotted Cherry and her at the art store next to the school. I wanted to join in but for some reason, I didn't stir. From what I could see, you were holding a bottle in your hand while Cherry was holding charts in one hand and party poppers in another. Did the shop run out of bags? was my initial thought but the shopkeeper, when I asked, replied that you didn't want the bag when asked and that bottle wasn't bought from there. I thought it was suspicious that you were holding an unidentified bottle in broad daylight. To this day, I never bothered to ask. But, Maud, when I found out why, I was shocked but it all made sense ."

Vert and Seth waited anxiously for him to continue but Maud already knew it was going to be stupid.

"It was the glue from another shop and they didn't have enough for paper bags." Blanc ran to the seat farthest from the three. "But that wasn't it - that hurts, Seth! - The day arrived finally but just as I was hoping to my class, I heard a big commotion in the art class. I had a lot of friends in the arts club and I was even a former member of the club but imagine to my surprise when I saw Maud lying on the floor with blood oozing out of her forehead. I remember turning dizzy but I never woke up at the hospital that day."

Vert and Seth put their thinking caps on as they analyzed the situation but Vert left for a while to attend a call. Both of their stories looked convincing enough to be true but this Cherry girl was already gone and neither of them kept in contact with her. 

"Blanc.", Vert replied when the other two headed to the car to bring the sleeping bags as they watched their site. "Looks like Maud were the one who had a long slumber that day."

"Then go tell her.", he muttered. 

"I would have.", she replied, hesitating. "But if I am right then we may have to run."

"Why?" 

"It was the constable. They discovered her body. Her body was found in the river, But she told me she was going to our school's art room that day."

Just then, Maud arrived with three sleeping bags and Seth was nowhere in sight. 

"Where's Seth?", Blanc replied, his voice cold. 

"He said he got a call from the constable while I was unlocking the car. He told me to relay a message to Blanc saying that the constable tried to reach out to you but you didn't respond and then I don't know why but he left me there and drove the car."

"Do you think she found out that we were intelligence officers?", Vert mouthed the words to Blanc as Maud placed the blankets near their tent." 

"I dunno," Blanc replied. "But I sure do hope that Seth has got our back otherwise we will be mauled by the animal."