Story Teller

[Lex van den Berghe]

And Then There Were None

Chapter 1

Dear diary:

We set off roughly twenty minutes ago. Destination: Amanda Island. I'm surprised this rickety old boat even got started. I was out on the deck for a bit but the rain in the air blew in from the side like bullets. Looks like a storms coming...

I stepped down the wet stairs into the bottom cabin and swung the door open. I took a seat in the corner and did what I typically do. I observed.

Some people I recognized. Others I had never seen before in my life. One things for sure, some of these people already know each other. Some are close friends. I can hear them whispering. In fact, I think I just heard my name...

I shrugged it off.

I reached into my pocket and gripped my wrinkled envelope to make sure it was still there. Carefully, I unfolded my invitation. It read:

Dear Lex

You are cordially invited to spend the weekend at my private mansion on the 12th of April, 2011.

Your old friend, Amanda.

(And me Erik!)

That was all it read. It was a bit odd...I hadn't seen or heard from Amanda in ages. But...what else was I going to do? A weekend at a lavish mansion sounds better to me than playing my silly little mafia games each day.

I didn't know she'd invite these others though...

There were about a dozen and a half of them crowded around the cabin. Interesting characters from the looks of it. Some people seemed to be hiding things behind their appearances. I recognized a few of them. Others I just knew by reputation. Amanda invited some interesting characters for this party, that's for sure.

"Where's your name tag?" a stranger asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Your name tag! Check your envelope."

I opened up the envelope that Amanda's letter came in. Falling out of it was a slip of paper.

"Hello, my name is: The Bastard."

How would I get anyone to be friends with me with this thing stuck on me?

"She wants each of us to wear it so we can get to know each other a bit more." the girl said as I reluctantly slapped the sticker onto my shirt.

I squinted and looked at her chest. For uhh...her nametag.

"The Chaser huh? Why do they call you that?" I asked.

"See that guy over there?" She pointed across the deck of the boat at a short stocky man. "Between you and I...I kind of have a thing for him. I just won't stop until I get him!"

The man did look pretty angelic. Can't say I blame her.

"The name's Kim by the way. You're Lex right? I've heard some stories about you..."

'Oh great...' I thought.

"Oh great! " I said.

After chatting for a bit longer, I decided I'd mingle with some of the other passengers a bit. I knew I needed to make some friends for the weekend. Can't be too sheltered.

Walking into the lower deck I saw some familiar faces. There was Colleen and Candice of course. They were shouting something about "THE C SISTAHS". I could've gone the weekend without hearing about that. Then there was Brett and Rupert. We exchanged some angry looks with one another.

There was one other girl I recognized but had never spoken to. Alicia I think her name was? Alina? Who knows. I don't even recall where I know her from.

The boat trudged along until we finally heard it.

"Land Ho!"

Phew. Finally. It was getting stuffy in that boat, and I was sick of talking. I just wanted to get the weekend started already.

I stepped out onto the deck with everyone else. The clouds parted and revealed it. Amanda Island.

The 21 of us stepped off the boat with our luggage. We had finally made it. We walked down the dock and arrived at the bottom of a large hill by the water.

"The house must be at the top of this" someone remarked.

"Well...here's to a fun filled week-"

"Ahhhhh!"

The scream was so sudden, no one knew what was going on.

Colleen was the source. She was at the other edge of the dock looking down into the water. The group ran over to her. As some people made sure she was okay, the rest of us looked down at what had caused the commotion

A body. Washing up with the surf. It looked like it had been in the water for hours.

After a few exclaims and remarks, someone finally asked the big question.

"Anyone know who he is?"

That crazy little blonde girl spoke up. "Yeah...I remember him. His name was Fabio."

Poor guy. Looks like he missed the boat. He didn't even get to have fun this weekend.

The question is...what happened to him? How did this man end up dead? I had a feeling then that this weekend would be anything but ordinary.

I was right.

And Then There Were 21


Chapter 2

We fished Fabio out of the water and placed his body under a blanket at the end of the dock. A few people ran to the end of the dock to try to flag down the boat but it was long gone. We were on our own.

"Well, let's at least head up to the mansion and tell Amanda about all of this. She'll know what to do." Her name was Danielle. I also got that from staring at her.... name tag.

The terrain was actually quite difficult. We could see the mansion at the top of the hill, but we had quite the climb ahead of us.

"Ugh this deep point." A voice said.

"Huh?"

"I said 'ugh this steep point' " He responded. He introduced himself as Rob.

We got to the top and approached the front of the mansion. It was incredibly large, which made it somewhat daunting. If only I knew how much would go down in this place during our stay...

Austin pounded on the door and shouted Amanda's name.

"Why isn't she answering?" he asked, puzzled.

"Austin that's the garden shed."

Everyone turned to face Austin who was about 20 yards away from the group and the mansion itself, knocking away on the wrong door.

"Oh. Right." He said, clearly embarrassed.

I decided to take initiative and went to open the door, only to find it had already been opened. I pushed on it and it slowly swung all the way open with a large creak.

The 21 of us stepped into the foyer of the mansion. No sign of Amanda.

"Hey! Over here." Todd yelled. He led us to the living room where we found a note. The note was on a table in front of the fire place. A large portrait of Amanda and her hat hung above the fire.

Erinn grabbed the note and read it out loud.

"Hey everyone! I invited the best of my best friends to have some fun here for the weekend. You twenty one have been invited for your bravery, your determination, your thirst, your passion, your likability.

Unfortunately, I'll have to meet up with you later. I've gone to China but I should be back soon. I'll be keeping up a blog if you wanna read along with it! Have fun until I get back. Try not to kill each other. Let's get this party started!

P.S. There's friend chicken in the freezer if you get hungry."

And with that, Bob Dawg was gone.

After reading Amanda's note, we decided the best thing to do was to split up into three different groups. We knew Amanda would be livid if we left, but we couldn't wait around for her to return, we had a death on our hands.

The first group decided to head back down to the shore in order to watch over Fabio's body. This group consisted of Colleen, Austin, Brett, Darrah, Jenna, Russell, and Kim.

The other group wanted to stay inside the mansion and check things out. This lazy group consisted of Brendan, Dan, Danielle, Erinn, Bob Dawg, Hunter, and Rob.

We figured it'd be best if some people explored the island a bit. We thought maybe there would be a boat or something so we could get out of here. Unfortunately, I got stuck with this group, the rejects. Candice was with me, thank god. Rupert, Jimmy, Sierra, Todd and Alicia tagged along.

Amazingly, Sierra managed to find booze, got drunk off her ass, and talked shit about all of us to each other right at the start of our trek across the island. Then she miraculously sobered up right away. I just wanted to know where she got that booze from!

We moved down towards the shore in order to scan it for a small boat or something. That's when we heard it. Screams. We looked down towards the shore and saw the first group all on the end of the dock. One of them however, had fallen in the water. It was Darrah. My group ran down to the dock to see what was going on.

Jimmy immediately started to laugh and mock her.

"Shut the fuck up Jimmy. Now get the fuck in here and help me you fucking turtle. You now I can't really swim." She yelled.

No one really said anything.

"Is ANYONE gonna fucking help me!"

Silence.

"Lex, do you hate me?"

"Yes!" I said with a large grin on my face.

She was beginning to struggle now. She began to cough up water and sink lower and lower. The rest of us just stood and watched.

"None of you are coming to Weed March with me this year!"

Those were her final words before she sank below the surface. After that, she was gone.

After a minute of nothing but silence, we did what any ordinary, humane person would do.

"looooooooooooooooooooooooooool"

And Then There Were 20


Chapter 3

After the cheering about Darrah's demise ended, we once again split off into our groups. At the front of the pack was myself, Candice, Rupert and Jimmy. Things were going well until he arrived.

"Hey whats up?"

"Jesus Rob you scared me half to death." Candice said. "What are you doing out here?"

"The craziest shit was happening back with my group at the mansion. We were all off doing our own thing and then we found Bob Dawg...DEAD! Someone killed him. Friend chicken was shoved down his throat. We were all panicking and didn't know what to do. Then out of no where, Erinn walked into the bathroom and found that Brendan had killed himself. I guess the pressure got to him. I decided it was a good time to get out of there, so I met up with you guys."

None of us really knew what to say. This weekend was turning very sour, very fast. I thought it was kind of fun! ;D

"Alright Rob, you can stick with us. Why don't you join me up here in the front of the pack." Candice said.

"Uhhh.." Rob looked over at Sierra as she gave him a sinister nod. It was a signal. "I think I'm alright back here with Sierra."

"Excuse me?" Candice said, feeling somewhat betrayed.

The click of a knife was heard. Candice turned around just in time to feel one slip into her stomach. The knife belonged to Sierra.

"He's done listening to you." Sierra said to a stunned Candice.

Jimmy, Todd and Alicia each walked over to her and stabbed her right in the side. She gasped for help, but Rupert and I were powerless to do anything. She looked up to Rob and pleaded for him to help her. As a tear rolled down his face, he pulled out a knife and stuck it right into her back. Candice fell onto the wet ground. She was dead.

And Then There Were 17


Chapter 4

"Wait a minute...you two were friends?" Sierra asked Rob angrily.

"Uhh...yeah...I thought you knew..."

"WHAT THE FUCK. WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME. YOU'RE UNBELIEVABLE!"

That's when the crazy bitch Sierra stuck a gun in her mouth and pulled the trigger.

Thank God. Though legend says, the crazy fucking bitch still haunts this area and refuses to leave...

Night began to fall and my awful group somehow managed to get separated. I found myself regrouped with Rupert, Austin, Rob, Danielle, Jenna, and Jimmy. I had no idea where the other group went or what they were up to.

We started to make our way back to the mansion since it was getting dark. Somehow, we lost Jimmy and Danielle along the way. Not long after, they were each found dead with a knife in each of their backs. Who could've done such a thing!

We must've gotten lost at some point, because we came to a steep cliff that needed to be climbed in order to continue.

"Alright guys, let's make our way up this." I said to the group,

Rupert and I made it to the top, and I extended my hand out to help Jenna out. An unusual friendly gesture from me! That's when Rob stuck his hand out and grabbed onto mine, cutting Jenna. She was so shocked that she lost her footing. Jenna yelled for help but it was too late. I couldn't catch her. She plummeted down the side of the cliff, breaking her neck on a rock below. It was horrible. (((((((DIES)))))))

It was getting to be morning. Still no sight of the mansion. How big was this island!

That's when things truly got interesting.

Myself, Rupert and Rob continued through the woods. I was leading the pack when I heard a noise. A click.

I turned back to see Rupert and Rob, both frozen in their tracks.

"What are you two doing? C'mon we gotta get back to the mansion." I said. That's when I noticed it. Each of them had their foot on a trip wire. I traced it with my eyes as it went up a tree and saw that it was attached to a spiked log, ready to make them into swiss cheese.

"Uhhh...hold on I'll find something to replace your weight with." I searched everywhere but only came up with one rock large enough. "Guys...this was all I could found. It'll only work on one of you..."

Rob began to sob knowing that he was done for.

"Alright Lex, put it on my wire and let's get outta here." Rupert said.

I had other plans. I looked Rupert into the eyes and smiled. He knew after looking at me what was about to happen. I quickly set it down on Rob's wire and Rob jumped off of it.

"DON'T DO THIS!" Rupert yelled.

"Happy Birthday." I replied.

Rob and I walked away and left Rupert alone, cursing at me. About a minute later, we heard the trap trigger followed by a large TWACK.

"Goodbye Rupert." I said with my head hung low.

And Then There Were 11


Chapter 5

"There it is!" Rob yelled.

Finally, back to the mansion. We entered through the back door and found the remaining guests there. By then, there were only 10 of us. As the two groups merged into one, we heard a noise come from the kitchen. We followed the trail of blood and chicken bone to find Bob Dawg. He was alive. Injured, but alive.

"Bob Dawg, am I happy to see you!" Erinn exclaimed.

Then he died. Again.

We all exchanged stories about what we had been through overnight. We had to eat something, so someone made some sandwiches and put them out for us.

"Man, I'm just glad we're all together again." Hunter began as he bit into his sandwich "I was getting tired of all this --"

He stopped. Hunter clutched his throat and began to gurgle. Myself, Erinn, Rob and Alicia tried to help him but it was too late. He fell onto the hardwood floor, dead.

Rob finally broke the silence, "The sandwich...something must've been in it...someone poisoned it..."

The nine of us all stepped back and looked around the room. It was clear, none of us trusted each other.


So his is where I'm at now, diary. It's clear that not all of us came here to have a fun weekend. Some of us have other motives. Some are here for revenge.

All I know is, I don't trust any of these guys, and they don't trust me. We still have to survive the weekend for the boat to get here to pick us up. For all I know, only one of us might survive and outlast the rest. I just need to watch my back and make sure that I make it there and get the hell off of this island.

If you're reading this, maybe I made it, maybe I didn't. All I can hope is that I'll go down swinging.

P.S. Amanda. You need to buy more booze for this mansion. I better see one more Thirsty Thursday before I die.


Sincerely, The Bastard.

And Then There Were Nine

[Lex van den Berghe]

*Modified to fix italics*