"LAYLA KILLED HERSELF." The words hung in the air like a toxic hurricane, filling the room, making my stomach hurt.

Rucker pushed off the wall with a giant smile. "I was right. I said it first. Me — right here." He pointed to himself. "Me."

He was the first one to bring it up, jokingly, but I didn't put too much into it, not until I saw that Tiran's clue was missing from the floor.

Jookie let out a cackling laugh. "What's your proof?"

"Everything," I said, pushing his machete away from me. "In the video, she downed the roofies in the common room. She must've seen them when she fell into the clues."

"Give me the play by play from beginning to end or this means nothing," Jookie said, tapping my pinky with the machete.

I snatched my hand away, lips curling in disgust. "After her cleansing failed, she probably realized that she wouldn't make it long in the house because everyone wanted her dead."

"And?" Jookie blew out a breath. "You're boring me. Hurry up before I cut your finger off just to amuse myself."

"Layla always planned on killing herself. After she kidnapped us, she planned on killing all of us and then herself. But when that failed, she knew that she'd have a target on her back and wouldn't last long," I said, giving Jookie an evil stare. How the fuck did Tini kiss this ass? "While running away from Rucker, she came into the common room and knocked things over and that's when she saw the pills on the floor and took them all. If you look at the footage closely in slow motion, you see her putting her hands to lips. That's when she consumed the pills."

That's what Jookie meant when he said, "It's what's not there." Tiran's clue never moved, even after he died, but ever since we found Layla's body, it wasn't there. I didn't notice that tiny detail until two hours ago. His missing clue made everything else fall into place.

"That's why she was staggering around in the rest of the footage," I said, cutting Jookie off before he could rant about my boringness again. "The proof is in the bottle that she threw away in the laundry room."

"That's what we found under the radiator," Khan said, snapping his fingers. "The bottle."

"Yeah, but it was too burned for us to realize what it was at the time." I turned back to Jookie. "She grabbed the paper and pen to write an apology to me in case she died before saying it to my face. That's why she was at my door. She wanted to apologize before she died, and she didn't want to be alone. I was the closest thing to family that she had."

That's what hurt the most. That she was dying, and I could've helped her not be alone in her final breaths, but I didn't. Just like with my family. I wasn't there for them in their final moments either. I probably would've been dead if I was there, but that what-if still stabbed at my chest sometimes.

Jookie yawned. "What about the pen in her eye?"

"From looking at the footage and the scuff marks on the floor, we can tell that she was stumbling a lot," I said, pointing to the shitty marks on the floor. "She probably tripped and couldn't catch herself in time and fell onto the pen that was probably in her hand."

Jookie raised the machete in the air, moving it from side to side. "How'd she get into your room?"

"Duke," I said, folding my arms. "When I was trying to leave, he kept wedging his head in between the door and I didn't want to hurt him, so I gently closed it, but I don't think I closed it enough, so it must've still been open a crack. So when she knocked on my door again, it probably just slide open."

"What about the red hair in her mouth?" Jookie asked, eyeing me.

"Chi planted it," I said, eyeing Chi in the corner.

"Yup, I did," she said before smiling at Gmie and Demo. "So I could trick those bitches and it worked."

"You stupid, bitch." Gmie almost booked it across the room, but Jookie whistled, stopping her.

"No one has time for this useless drama right now," he said, rolling his eyes.

Chi let out a maniacal laugh, ignoring him. "Demo deserved what she got, and now you have no one. Demo has one eye and a missing finger. She can't help you do shit anymore. Have fun winning now, snobby bitch. Cause this slut right here is gonna get your ass. Watch."

Gmie snorted. "I'm not afraid of some bitch who sucks dicks for quarters, okay?" She pointed to Layla's corpse. "Come at me, and you'll end up just like that bitch."

"Will you shut the fuck up?" I snapped at Gmie, bringing her attention to me. "You talk all this shit, all the time. Cursing at people and bullying people. You bullied the shit out of Layla. You're one of the reasons she's dead."

"That's what happens to weak bitches, okay?" Gmie glared at me. "They die. She was weak and she was bringing everyone else down. I'm glad she's dead."

It took everything in me not to put hands on this bitch, and I just laughed. "You know what? I can't even blame just you. We all killed her, every single one of us." I zeroed in on Jookie. "Especially you and this fucking game."

Jookie giggled, throwing his head back. "And why would you say that?"

"She didn't belong here," I said, clenching my fist. "She wasn't a killer, was she? That was her secret. She didn't belong. She was around death her whole life, but she never once killed anyone. You assholes put an innocent girl in a house filled with killers."

That's something else that I held back from my team. Layla wasn't like us; she was an innocent girl. Yes, her family was nuts, but she never killed a soul.

I knew that as the days here passed, Layla's mental health declined slowly. Everyone could see that. She talked to walls and to herself, and she whispered and ranted about hearing God and Zimmie's voice in her head. Hell, she covered herself in shit and tried to cleanse us with it.

But that wasn't her fault. The house changed her, warping her mind into something that drove her over the edge into darkness and madness.

"You are correct, my detective peach," Jookie said before grinning. "Layla had a fucked-up childhood, shitty parents, a jealous sister, and a psycho, rapist guardian. Poor girl, boo hoo. But she never killed anyone. Her daddy wanted her to kill, but she wouldn't — she couldn't. She never had it in her." Jookie shrugged and smiled. "Killing really isn't for everybody. It truly is an art."

Ignoring his last statement, I continued on, shaking my head. "But still, even when she tried to kill us, she was trying to free us — free us from a game that would probably never let us go." That's what her last journal entry said. She believed that everyone would die fighting for an end that would never come.

"You're kidding me, right?" Chi pressed a hand to her neck. "Layla really never killed anyone?"

"Nope, never," Jookie said, looking bored.

"That bitch kidnapped me, tied me up and shoved her shit down my throat," Gmie said, voice rising. "And she never killed anyone? Bullshit."

"Thirteen contestants entered this house," Jookie said, staring at all of us. "Twelve killers and one innocent."

"I didn't kill anyone," I almost said, but I stopped myself when Jookie gazed at me like he could read my thoughts.

"Layla was the only innocent," he said before grinning at me.

My entire scalp blazed, as my heart thumped to its own rhythm against my ribcage. Layla was the only innocent — what the hell did that mean? I never killed anyone before. Never.

But the way Jookie stared at me made me realize that he knew something I didn't. Wait, no. This couldn't be possible. I never killed anyone before coming here. I would remember something like that. I would. Right?

"The brain does mysterious things under emotional trauma," my therapist said before. "It can repress events or make people believe things that never happened. The brain is truly a terrifying yet exciting enigma."

She used to tell me this a lot when I was younger, but I never paid much attention. Could I really not remember doing something? Did my mind block it out?

No. It wasn't possible. I would be in jail if I murdered someone and didn't remember, but why was I here then?

All those unanswered questions shocked my mind, making everything blurry and tingly. Was I truly a murderer? Was I blacking out and killing people? Was I truly my mother's daughter?

"You alright?" Rucker asked me, grabbing my arm before I stumbled. He came in close, eyes locking onto mine. "You're sweating—"

"I-I'm fine," I said, wiping my forehead while avoiding Jookie's giddy face.

"You alright, my sweet peach?" Jookie asked, walking toward me.

I coughed and glowered at him. "Just continue with the damn show, okay?"

"You're acting very stupid, my ignorant peach." Jookie swung that machete near me, missing me on purpose before sliding the sharp edge against my neck. "Getting an attitude with someone who could kill you like that." He snapped his fingers. "Not smart. Not smart indeed."

Head throbbing, I glared at him and said nothing. He was right. He could kill me, and my head and heart hurt too much to think of a comeback.

Jookie giggled and lowered the machete. "Let's get back on track." He looked at me. "You gave us the theory of Layla killing herself, and then you blamed us. So, who killed her? All of us or herself? You gotta make a choice."

I let out a sigh, trying to calm myself and focus. "Everyone contributed to her death by treating her like she was weak and didn't matter. Like she was disposable." Except me.

I kept helping and saving her until the darkness came, and I pushed her over the edge. She thought I was the last good thing in the house, and when I choked her, she lost all hope and that made her snap.

"But she physically killed herself," I said, gritting my teeth.

Jookie cocked his head, grinning. "Did she?"

"Yes," I said, glaring at him. "I know you're trying to trick me. I'm not stupid. I know I'm right." He was trying to fuck with me yet again, along with messing with my emotions, confusing me and making me feel guilty at the same time.

"Oh, really?" he asked, pretending to look dumbfounded.

"You're a sad excuse for a person," I said through clenched teeth, which prompted him to run up to me and push me away from everyone else before placing his lips against my ear.

"I'm the sad excuse for a person when you're the one not being yourself?" he whispered, breath caressing the shell of my ear. "Where's the real you, huh? Blocking her away like some weak bitch, huh?"

In an instant, Tini flooded me like a shockwave. "But you miss this weak bitch huh, Jookie," I said, licking his ear, which made him jump back, surprise written on his face.

Then she left like that, almost like she was never there.

Jookie coughed, trying to cover his shocked demeanor as everyone's eyes went to us. "Betinia has one theory," Jookie said before wiping his face and pants, trying to get himself together. "Let's go to someone else—"

"I'm going with Betinia's answer," Yaz said, standing behind me.

"Me too," Rucker said, joining her.

"We all contributed," Khan said, coming in third.

"Yes," Sebastian agreed, standing with everyone else.

Rolling his eyes, Jookie swirled to Chi. "And you?"

Chi jumped behind Rucker. "Me too. I'm with them."

"I agree with her," Fee said, nodding to me.

Gmie was the only one left. Did she dislike me enough to lose her finger?

Her eyes focused on me, brimming with disdain and anger. "I hate you, but I think you're right. Layla killed herself."

Jookie sighed, throwing his arms in the air before staring at me, eyes flickering with different emotions, until settling on disappointment. "You guys can all thank Betinia for your missing finger." He grinned at me widely, but it didn't quite meet his eyes like normal. "Because she's wrong."

I jerked back, eyes widening. Wrong? How the hell was I wrong?

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