"You have approximately 30 minutes before voting time."

The announcement is what snapped me back to reality.  All this time I had nearly forgotten about the investigation, and we've already wasted half an hour.  Great, just great.

I looked back over at the Solitary room. Reza was still kneeled by the two corpses with Mateo and Omar, his head hung low. A part of me wanted to leave him be, let him grieve for as long as he needed, but the other part of me knew that investigating the bodies was crucial at this point. I was so lost in thought that I nearly jumped out of my skin when someone tapped me on the shoulder.

"Oh, sorry," Peter apologized, "didn't mean to startle you."

"It's fine, it happens all the time."  I said, and I wasn't lying either.  Sometimes I'd just get so lost in thought that anything snapping me out of it would scare me half to death.

"...do you know those guys?" He asked, motioning towards the 3 in Solitary.

"Not personally, but I know who they are, yeah." I said. "The one in the grey coat is Mateo, the one in the blue jacket is Omar, and the one with the black hoodie is Reza."

Peter nodded. "Do you think... actually, nevermind. I really shouldn't."

"Shouldn't what?" I asked.

"I used to want to be a detective when I was in middle school. I looked for every piece of information I could find on how to be one and I don't forget a word of it." He said. "I thought if I could go in and investigate the place then maybe I could find something, but... their deaths were so... recent. It just feels disrespectful, not to mention I met you all less than a day ago. I wouldn't want some stranger poking around Eva's corpse if she ever died."

"I was thinking the same thing earlier, and now that you mention it, it does look kinda personal,"  I said.  "but we need that evidence.  It's the only way we'll ever be able to figure out what's going on here."

"...you were here before, weren't you?"  Peter asked, catching me completely off guard.

"What?"  I shot back.

"The host guy said some of you were here before.  You were one of those people, huh?"

Images started flashing through my mind.  Every person brutally murdered, every person unrightfully dragged away because we were too stupid and emotional to vote properly.

Lara, Veronica, Liza, Ash, Alex, John-

Shut up!

My skull was smashed to bits against a bed I'm standing two rooms away from. I can barely sleep, barely eat, barely do anything. I went to a hospital and they told me the same shit I already knew. The medicine they gave me didn't help, if anything it made it worse.

I shouldn't have lived through that. I'm supposed to be dead.

I shouldn't be here!  I shouldn't be here, I shouldn't be here, I shouldn't be here-

"I don't wanna talk about it."  I said coldly, looking back over to the Solitary room.

"Right, sorry," Peter apologized, "I'm really bad at boundaries."

"Yeah, work on that."  I said.  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Peter cringe at himself.  It made me feel a little guilty for being so hard on him, but at the same time, I knew I was mad at him for a reason.

"You two aren't doing what I hear you're gonna be doing, right?" Someone's familiar French accent perked up.

"How long have you been eavesdropping on us?" I asked.

"Eavesdropping?" Jean-Claude said. "Nono, it's just hard not to hear someone when they're right next to you."

"I've heard that enough in my life." I said, crossing my arms. It was always something he would say long before the first incident.

No, stop thinking about that Charlie! You've got worse things to worry about right now! 

"Well, if you want, I could try and talk to them about it. I'm sure they'll understand, especially since we don't have much time left." He said, looking over at the trio.

"I guess we don't have a lot of options." Peter said. I sighed.

"Fine, give it a shot Jean." I agreed. Jean nodded and walked up to the entrance of Solitary, looking at the broken door on the ground for a second before going to talk with the three. After a good few minutes, he finally came back out. Mateo, Reza, and Omar walked out of the room with him and settled down on the wall adjacent while Jean walked up to us.

"They'll let you, on one condition." He said.

"Which is?" I asked.

"Don't touch the bodies."

I looked over at Peter and nodded, looking back at Jean soon after. "Are you coming with us?" I asked.

"In heaven's name, no!" He answered. "I haven't eaten anything since yesterday morning and I'm already losing my appetite just thinking about that room."

"Suit yourself then." I said. 

I walked up to the doorway with Peter right behind me, taking a look inside.  It definitely didn't look this bad from a distance, not that it didn't look terrifying either way. Seungho laid against the farthest wall from the door while Miguel was in the far right corner of the room. The blood had slightly dried to the walls and floor, drying also to their clothes and skin of course.  The smell was even worse than the sight, there was no other way to describe it than horrible and any other word that meant the same.  It was starting to give me a headache, so I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself down.  Jean was right, just being here makes me want to hurl.

"Are you ok?" Peter asked from behind me. "I can handle this by myself if-"

"I'm fine, let's just go." I said, cutting him off. I took his following silence as an agreement and walked into the room. 

"Ugh... I've seen worse but I'll never get over that smell."  Peter said, picking up his shirt to cover his nose.

"Good god what have you seen?"  I asked.

"Um... my uh, dad used to be a dark web enthusiast."  He said.

"That sounds vaguely illegal."

Peter shook his head.  "Other 'v' word.  Very illegal."

"Ok, let's not get sidetracked."  I said.  "I'll look around Seungho and you look around Miguel.  If you find anything, tell me as soon as you can.  And remember not to touch them, got it?"

Peter nodded.  We both walked to our designated areas and started searching around.

I tried my best to ignore the smell as I took a look at the body. He was definitely stabbed, and that's all I could tell.

"10 minutes before voting." The announcer said.

"You found anything yet?"  I asked. Peter shook his head.

"Blood, blood, and more blood.  I can't see-"  He stopped himself, suddenly staring in an area next to Miguel's body.

"What are you looking at?"  I asked.

"Come over and see for yourself."

I got up and slowly approached Miguel and Peter, careful not to slip on the blood covering the floor.  When I got there, Peter pointed to Miguel's left hand.  His finger was pointed out, and along it was some sort of drawing.

"I think he tried to write something in his blood.  Cliche as it is, it's our best piece of evidence right now." He said.

I looked at the line of blood. It was in the shape of a hook, like one you'd see at the end of a fishing rod. But that was the only thing written down, and I had no idea what it meant.

"...or if it's fake." I muttered to myself.

"What'd you say?" Peter asked.

"It could be fake." I said a little louder. "What if the Murderer drew that themselves and set it up to make it look like Miguel drew it?"

"That kind of overthinking is what gets you killed here." He said. "Think of it like an American court system, innocent until proven guilty. Unless you can prove the evidence is fake, we'll treat it like it's real."

"And if we find out it's fake?"

"We'll scrap it and punch ourselves in the gut about it if that happens. But until then, it's better to consider it, because it gives us something to work with."

I stayed silent. You know how it feels to be proven wrong on something you were so sure about? I felt like that, but a little worse from how obvious the real solution looked. Never thought being told "just don't overthink it" would actually be helpful, but here I am. 

"Do you have an idea of what it could mean?"  Peter asked.  I shook my head. 

"It feels like a stretch, but I thought it looked like a fishing hook the first time I saw it."  I said.

"Do you know anyone who likes fishing that much?" 

"No, not really..."  I took a minute to think, then something popped in my memory.

"Hey, fishing licenses are expensive over here."

"Chidi."

"Who?"

I walked to the doorframe, motioning for Peter to come look with me.  He did, and I pointed to Chidi, who was sitting on one of the couches with Jojo.  "The one in the jean jacket.  He woke up in the same room as I did, and he told me he lied about his age back home so he wouldn't have to buy a fishing license.  Plus, Miguel was in the kitchen and the walls aren't exactly soundproof, so he could've been faking being asleep and actually heard our conversation."

"I'm guessing Miguel's not very close with Chidi then, if all he knew he could use as a hint was from a conversation he overheard."  Peter said.

"As far as I know, yeah.  I've never seen them hang out together, but I might be the worst person to ask about it anyway."  I said.  He nodded.

"So do we have our suspect?"  He asked. 

"...no."  I said.  "Chidi's a good guy, and he's the only thing holding Jojo together right now.  Besides, like I said, the shape looking like a fishing hook is such a huge jump anyway.  I know it's the only thing we have but... it doesn't feel right to assume anything yet."

"Hey, I don't know any of these people, so my emotional attachment is down to the basic 'it's sad when people die', but you do, and you know how they work.  Whatever your vote is, consider mine the same."  Peter said.

"Thanks."  I said.

"Investigation time is up!" The announcer said. "Please head to the kitchen table to pick up your designated tablets. This also includes the Investigator, even though they've already decided not to vote. We can't have anyone doing process of elimination now, can we?"

"Who's it gonna be?" Peter asked.

"I don't have suspicions on anyone, but I don't know what the punishment is for not voting. Vote for anyone you want." I said before thinking a little more and adding "Except for Ally."

"Is she your girlfriend, or are you a simp?" Peter asked.

"...yes."