This is my entry for Weekly Wattpad Contest number 50. I chose to do Contest 5: write about a party where the lights keep going out and people are getting murdered.

Thanks to Contests and TimberWoolf   for hosting.

"Ugh! What happened to the lights?!" a high pitched, clearly annoyed voice screamed. "I knew we should've never used this old, rickety building. It's clearly got faulty wiring!"

"It's a historic building," an imperceptibly soft, almost childlike female voice responded.  No one really heard more than a whisper in the wind, so no one realized she'd spoken.

The lights came back up and everyone looked around. Misa was still sipping her drink off in the corner of the room, always the silent observer. Josianys shrunk into herself, her eyes going back to the ground where they usually settled, as one hand fiddled with the end of her dress. Calliope rolled her eyes, her arms folded in front of her chest and a look of clear frustration written across her face. Byron sat in his chair, sighing in frustration as he put his phone back in his pocket and mumbled something about finally getting his phone out. Julius alone stared down at the ground where the body of Amanita laid, a puddle of blood forming beneath her unmoving body and her eyes staring blankly back at him.

After a few moments, everyone else followed his line of sight. Misa looked unaffected, as if she'd seen it already, was expecting it, or simply couldn't care less. Or maybe she was simply that good an actress. Josianys dropped her glass and covered her mouth as she turned her head while Byron widened his eyes in surprise and whistled. Calliope, ever the self-proclaimed drama queen, screamed in horror, covered her eyes, and turned away as she cried.

"Amanita..." Julius finally mumbled, his deep voice cracking as he held back tears.  He fell to kneeling at her side and grasped her still-warm hand.

"Wh-what happened?" Josianys asked in a small voice.

"She fell on a knife, then rolled over so we could see it," Misa said dryly as she rolled her eyes.  "What do you think happened?"

"Some-someone killed her. Someone in this room killed her," Calliope said fearfully, her hands shaking at her sides.

"Or she accidentally killed herself because she heard your shrill voice and got frightened and fell onto the knife," Bryon responded.

"This isn't funny!" Calliope scratched.

"There!  That voice.  She heard it and it scared her so she backpedaled and started to fall, but thought 'I should fall forward instead' but she forgot about the knife in her hand."

"Byron," Josianys whispered, looking over at him with tear-filled eyes, "not the time."

Byron sighed.  "Fine. Whatever.  Let's just call the cops so we can get out of here as soon as possible."

"Right, because that'll work.  The police will come and ask us some questions and then just allow us to go home," Misa laughed dryly.  "We're the only five who're here.  One of us did it.  At best, unless someone confesses, we're all spending the next 48 hours in an interrogation room.  As soon as possible isn't so soon."

"What?!?" Calliope screamed.  "No! No! No!  That just doesn't work for me.  I'm finally the lead in an On-Broadway musical.  I can't miss a performance because one of you degenerates that I for some reason still spend time with decided to kill someone! Who did it?! Just admit it and turn yourself in! Some of us have a life that means something. We can't carve 48 hours out of our life to sit in a room because you just had to kill someone!"

"Calm down, Drama Queen of Over Acting," Byron sighed.

"No I will not 'calm down'!  It was you, wasn't it? You never liked Amanita.  You said she was a walking contradiction and it gave you a headache on top of the toothache she gave you from being too sweet." Calliope turned to Misa.  "Or maybe it was you!  You always said she was faker than a three dollar bill."

"I stand by that assessment," Misa stated.  "But I didn't kill her.  If I were going to kill someone, I wouldn't be in the same room as that person when it happened. I'd be in a different country if possible.  So if she'd died two weeks ago while I was on my tour in Europe, then yeah, it might've been me.  My money's on Julius. Probably got jealous of all the time our leading lady over there was spending with that director she's been doing lots of movies with.  What's his name? Like, Derek or Deacon or Dominick... Jones or something?"

"You can't blame the widow, Misa," Josianys whispered. "At least give him time to grieve his wife before adding problems onto his plate."

Misa shrugged. "It's usually the spouse."

"Look, I'm calling the police! Maybe if I call, they'll realize it probably wasn't me and they'll let me go to my show tomorrow," Calliope said as she pulled out her phone and began dialing 911.  She put the phone to her ear when suddenly...

The lights went out again.

"Not again," Josianys mumbled.

A piercing scream echoed through the room, followed by the sound of something large hitting the ground.  Next, they saw the light of a smart phone that had landed face up on the floor.

As the lights came back on, everyone's worst fears were realized.

"Maybe I was wrong," Byron said.  "Now that I think about it, it'd be hard to fall on your own knife and accidentally kill yourself then roll over onto your back."

"Were you seriously considering that?" Josianys asked.  "I thought it was just one of your sick, unfunny jokes."

Byron shrugged.

"Well, guess I'm suspect number 1 now," Misa sighed as she moved from leaning on the wall to sitting in a chair.  "I'm pretty sure I'm the only one here who has something against both of them. Except Josianys, of course, but she doesn't have the stomach for it."

Julius hadn't moved.  If he knew there was a second body, he showed no sign that he knew.

Josianys didn't say a word as she stared at Calliope's body, but it was clear that there were plenty of thoughts going through her head.  She simply stood there staring and allowed tears to roll down her cheeks.

"Whoever it is, please kill me next," Julius whispered so lowly it almost went unheard.  "I don't want to live in a world without her."

Josianys looked at her brother, the tears flowing more freely now.  "W-wait, Julius... d-don't day that.  You can't die too."

He didn't respond.  He simply knelt there, unmoving as his words hung in the air.  The silence that followed was deafening, no one knowing how to respond or even if they should.

Then the lights went out once again.  The silence remained, but even in the silence, only the killer heard the whispered "Thank you" moments before the lights came back on.

There on the floor, Julius laid next to Amanita, holding her hand as if letting go would mean floating away from each other.

"Our numbers are dwindling and I don't like my odds," Byron sighed.  "But I've gotta say, until this moment, I kinda thought it was Josianys."

Josianys turned her head toward Byron.  "Huh?"

"It's always the quiet ones, right?  Besides, Amanita stole your brother and Calliope stole your spotlight. Made sense."

"Yeah, but it could still be her," Misa said with a shrug. "A mercy killing for her brother."

"I could never... I wouldn't kill someone.  I... I..."

"Mmmmm, no, Misa makes a good point.  Seems most like something you'd do," Byron said with a nod. "Misa doesn't have a heart, so she'd never kill someone for mercy. She might've saved him for last just because he begged to die.  And I... get squeamish around blood."

"Oh, it's definitely Byron," Misa said.  "Since when are you squeamish around blood? People in school called you a freak because of your obsession with blood, remember?"

"That was a long time ago. People change."

"Yet you've been looking at the blood pooling around these bodies with no trouble at all," Misa said as she rolled her eyes. "Sure, you're squeamish."

"I think I'm going to be sick," Josianys said shakily as she walked over to a chair and took a seat.  "Shouldn't we call the police? We never really got through to them, right?"

"Yeah... I'm not doing it," Byron said as he put his hands up. "One of you two is the killer and the last time someone tried to call the police, they died.  How about we all just leave these rotting bodies behind, fine a nice place to hide out in, and pretend this never happened."

"That's my brother," Josianys said weakly as she wiped away stray tears.

"I'm just saying that... not again," Byron sighed.

In the next few moments, all that could be heard was a gasp, followed by a few seconds of laughter. Then there was a loud thud moments before the lights came back on.

Misa looked between Josianys and Byron then chuckled.  "So what did Byron do that made you kill him? Was it the thing about leaving and forgetting about your brother?"

"I-I didn't.  I swear I... I really didn't," Josianys stuttered fearfully as she looked at Byron's now dead body. She tried to stand, but her legs wouldn't hold her and she fell back into her chair. "Why...? Why did you...?"

"Look, Jojo, I hate most people, including most of you, but not enough to kill because of it. I mean, Amanita was fake. Lied through her teeth and pretended to be a good person even though she wasn't. I mean, I doesn't need to tell you. She manipulated your brother so much he basically never spoke to any of us, including you, and was so dependent on her he asked to die. And Calliope was the most annoying person I've ever had the displeasure of meeting, let alone being stuck in a friend group with. So selfish and rude and at times cruel. Plus her voice really did reach a high enough pitch to crack glass, I swear. And Byron, well who makes a joke about accidentally killing yourself right after someone dies and in front of that person's significant other? That's just bad taste and careless and all types of rude.

"But Julius, I had no reason to kill him. I mean, at one time I loved him. I guess you could argue that because I loved him I wanted to grant his wish to be released from pain and heartache, but I don't know. I have to think there was another way. Besides, I haven't killed you, though that could be because I like you so much. You're one of the only people, other than your brother before Amanita, that was worth anything in this friend group. But why would I tell you all of this if I was the actual killer?"

"Misa...?" If there was no fear in Josianys' eyes before, there certainly was now. Misa only called her Jojo when she was trying to soothe her, usually after Misa had done something especially unforgivable.

But it made sense. If someone was going to figure out how to remotely control the lights and avoid suspicion by both putting it on herself and putting it on someone else, it was Misa. If someone was going to kill and get away with it, it was Misa. But Misa hadn't done anything cruel or unforgivable in years.

The lights went out again.

"Don't worry, Jojo. I chose the most painless poison I could find to put into your drink. I wish you hadn't come tonight, but you'll be with everyone else soon."

When the lights came on once more, there were five dead bodies, and no sign of Misa.