SIXTH TRIAL

[splitaseam]

[The whole trial thing must feel like the norm to everyone right now, and one can't help but wonder if this will keep happening until everyone has died.

There are three new epitaphs for Star Butterfly, Maui, and Fiddleford.

Here lies Star Butterfly
One of our most toughest girls
Went out with a pretty twirl

Here lies Maui
Claimed to be a great demigod
But it turns out he was a fraud

Here lies Fiddleford McGucket
He tried to wipe his mind
And ended up getting left behind

Well you all know what to do by now, huh?]

Don't spare any of the gory details.

Comments

[outsidethecircle]

It's obvious! You two were the only ones with knowledge in chemistry! Julia, Namine, Wendy and I wouldn't know how to do it! We're kids--Mike, too. Lefou and Maui probably don't even know what chloroform is and Jimminy would suffocate himself making it!

I'm sorry but it's the truth!

[toogoodforhim]

Anna, calm down!

[outsidethecircle]

I'm sorry that I have to tell everyone that those two are the only ones who possibly could make chloroform on purpose! But it's true and we should know that.

[kindaruledatit]

Yeah, the only possible two that we know! You know how these trials always like to turn things on their head?

[Wendy keeps an even look, even though she's not happy about any of this.]

Just. Chill. For a moment, okay? We need to go over evidence.

[outsidethecircle]

I was asking a question and he got mad at me!

[He probably thinks I did it.]

[kindaruledatit]

Of course he did! The guy he's been in love with all this time is dead!

If someone you loved was dead, and you were accused of killing them, wouldn't you be mad?

[outsidethecircle]

I wasn't accusing him!

[kindaruledatit]

Well... [Whatever anger she's got building up... suddenly dies fast. Ugh, she just feels sick.]

...Just, be careful how you say some things, okay? Sometimes it sounds wrong, and people can get angry at you for no reason.

[sixfingeredstan]

[Ford is trying his hardest to calm down; he's taking big lungfuls of air. When he answers her, his voice is a little calmer, at least.]

How...could you know what the truth is? If you weren't there, just like the rest of us, there's no way you could know what's true and what isn't. So please. Don't disrespect Fiddleford's memory with baseless conjecture unless you have actual proof that that's the case.

[chainbroke]

[ She doesn't know what to say at all. It breaks her heart to consider that anyone here did anything to hurt anyone else. She has to believe that it was all an accident and unintentional, and honestly... she really does.

But she's not going to add to the situation. So she just reaches over and squeezes Ford's hand. ]

[outsidethecircle]

I didn't even say it was true. All I was asking was if hecould have done it. I don't want to think that--you just want to blame me because my fingerprint fits!

[sixfingeredstan]

Yes, you did. [He shakes his head. His voice is surprisingly calm.] Not a moment ago. You said, "I'm sorry, but it's the truth." You don't get to backtrack, not when we were all here and heard what you said. I'm not even blaming you. I dropped it. I was willing to look past that.

[outsidethecircle]

It is true that you two probably the only ones who know how to do it!

[sixfingeredstan]

Is it? Can you verify that? Truly?

[outsidethecircle]

Think about it. Three of us didn't know what bleach is. Five of us are teenagers or nearly teenagers and the last one is a cricket.

[sixfingeredstan]

Right, and I acknowledge that. But we're also completely discounting the idea that it could have been made on accident. If the jars of moonshine and the bleach were both kept under the sink...and some of the jars were broken...it could have mixed together on accident. That's all I'm trying to say, here.

[outsidethecircle]

Breaking a glass jar is different then knocking over a bottle of bleach.

[sixfingeredstan]

Oh? How is that any different?

[outsidethecircle]

It's plastic and usually the lid is on pretty tight. It wouldn't spill that much.

[sixfingeredstan]

But if the lid wasn't on correctly, it could have.

[kindaruledatit]

The lid wasn't on at all.

It was still open when I found it.

[toogoodforhim]

Anna, it could have been an accident! Maybe it WAS someone who didn't know how those things would react.

[outsidethecircle]

We don't know that, either! A bottle of bleach doesn't just come undone if you knock it over!