Thank you! I'm very glad that you like my writing! I try, at least. 🙂 Although, quick question, @Micearenice, that may or may not have anything to do with the story: Does your riding ostrich have a name?

Day Two, Part One (January 1'st, 2018)

The night faded into morning far too slowly in the opinions of the CBers .

Groggily, Shoshannah sat up in bed. The sunlight was streaming through the blinds she had forgotten to close in the frenzied hours of the night before. She groaned and reached out to shut them so that she could have just a few more minutes of sleep. Then she remembered.

She had been standing next to Anna and Nugget when midnight -the New Year- had struck. Behind her, almost right next to her ear, she had heard a deep-throated gasp, a small shriek. But before she could turn to see what had happened, one of the Chatterboxers in front of her stepped on her foot, sending Shoshannah toppling backwards and landing on the ground.

Anna had turned round to make sure that she was alright, then had caught sight of Sorrel's limp hand inches away from Shoshannah's face.

She had screamed and then the rest of the night had been one horrific, blurred memory.

It had been very obvious that this was no accident. Yet it seemed as though no one wanted to admit the startling and Soap-Opera-worthy truth.

That Sorrel had been murdered.

~~~

The ripping noise of a bugle -and one very badly out of tune at that- stirred the sleepy Chatterboxers from their beds.

Lydia was one of the first people to wake and greet the morning. She stepped off the last stair of the porch -with her 3 other cabin-mates trailing slowly behind her- and saw Kyt on the lawn in front of the Head Lodge, rusty bugle in hand.

She squeaked out one last jaw-clenching sound, then shook her head, stuffing the instrument back into her ever-present satchel.

Micearenice groaned as she came out of her cabin, only getting a total of 3 hours of sleep and feeling it. Kate-the-Great, who had been one of her most fervent helpers smiled sleepily and knowingly as she also exited her cabin. Kate-the-Great, along with Micearenice, Leeli and Shoshannah had spent most of the night calming people down and just trying to create some sense of order.

Cardinal yawned loudly from her perch upon Kate-the-Great's shoulder, slipping on her CAPTCHA Decoder as she did so, then said, <What was that for!?>

“Breakfast was getting cold, “Kyt said. “And I didn't want all that food to go to waste. Who knows how long you all might've slept had I not woke you up.”

“Yeah, but still,” muttered Wren to herself. “the torture device was unnecessary.”

Juniper and Aspen were the last people to emerge from their cabin. Aspen grinned brightly, trying to instill in everyone that she was alright, but the dark, bruise-like shadows beneath her eyes did not go unnoticed. Juniper was attempting to put on a brave face as well, though her weak smile was visibly hollow.

Kyt scanned the tops of their heads, her lips silently counting out numbers. As soon as she was done, she waved an arm in their general direction, signaling to the crowd of CBers to follow her to breakfast.

Everyone went without complaint, many stomachs already grumbling about their lack of food. Breakfast was held where last night's party had been -much to some people's inward chagrin. No one looked in the direction where Sorrel had been found and they all breathed a tiny sigh of relief when they saw that the party area and picnic tables had been moved out of the range and view of that particular section.

The more impatient people of the group -practically everyone from Orange Cabin- already began walking towards the buffet line until Kyt told them, “Wait, just a minute. We all need to talk.”

~~~
Kyt had them seat themselves at the picnic table, then said that they needed to make a plan. “This is your vacation time here, and I'm not the one making the rules -well, kinda. But anyways I'll just throw out what there is that you could do as far as activity-wise and you can make a rough outline of a plan. Keep in mind, though, that you'll need to make room for improvisation. Obviously, things didn't quite go as we had planned last night…what with…”

Everyone looked at the ground, not meeting people's eyes.

Kyt chewed her lip and watched them. “Okay, then. That's how it's going to be, I guess. And I know that I didn't know Sorrel very well, but I thought that since she loved the outdoors, we would bury her in the woods. There's this one special place. I'll take you out there after breakfast -and anyone else who wants to, of course- if that sounds alright to you.”

Aspen and Juniper both nodded, along with Micearenice, Shoshannah and Allie.

Evergreen cleared her throat, the asked, “So, what are those options you talked about?”

“Right. Here.” Kyt dug into her satchel once more, producing yet another purple piece of paper. The CBers gathered around and scanned the list full of all sorts of activities.

“What if we chose one thing to do everyday?” said Winterbranch.

“Yeah, so then no one feels pressured and we all have some time to regroup,” put in Elementgirl.

“What should we do today then?” Leeli asked. “There are lot's of things…”

“Well, weather probably has to factor in to some of them,” observed Kate-the-Great. “Like the tubing and horseback riding. I don't want to go swimming if it's raining.”

“Which makes Winterbranch's plan even more logical,” Anna told them. “I say we should go hiking while it's not too hot out.”

The weather was quite pleasant that day. Though a little cooler than the day before, the sun was still shining and the sky was cloudless. However, many of the outdoors people Chatterboxers expected the day the grow warmer as it progressed.

“Hiking sounds like a good idea,” Elementgirl told them.

“I agree,” said Shoshannah. “but we all need to be in agreement, or at least the majority of us.” She turned to the other CBers, who, up until that point, had remained quiet. “Who here thinks that today's a good day to go hiking and save tubing and riding and all the other stuff for some other day?”

“I do!” said Allie.

“Kind of like a commendation to…to Sorrel? To go hiking in the woods? I think she would have liked it.” Juniper said, and Shoshannah smiled warmly.

Catsclaw, Reganam, Brian and Bennet huddled for a moment, then turned and said, “That's cool with us.”

Cardinal, Clockwork Sparrow, Legendria, Lydia, Wren and Azkiel nodded their heads enthusiastically.

“Okay then! You've figured it out?” asked Kyt. “You can go right ahead and have breakfast.”

The Chatterboxers formed a receiving line and began filling their plates with the bacon, eggs, pancakes and oranges that were set out for them.

“And while I'm at it,” Kyt told them. “Breakfast will be served at this time every morning, as well as lunch at noon, a snack at midday and dinner at 5:30.”

Breakfast was a more quiet affair, most of them already using what conversation civility that they had due to lack of sleep when planning out their day. There were many yawns throughout, and they were all looking forward to getting some fresh air and exercise to help wake them up when they went hiking.

~~~
As soon as breakfast was over, Kyt led a small party of Chatterboxers through a trail where Sorrel was soon to be buried. Right before they started off, Kyt turned to the remaining group and said, “Oh, and if you're looking for something to do while we're gone, you could do me and Rueben a favor and maybe take down those party streamers and lights? If you do -not saying you have to- just set them in a pile on one of those tables.”

Then they were off. Some of the CBers were wary of the decorations, not wanting to go anywhere near where Sorrel had been found.

However, Leeli, Evergreen and Elementgirl set to the task eagerly.

Together, the three of them -soon joined by Winterbranch, Brian and Lydia- pushed one of the wood tables directly underneath the lights. They stood onto the tables, then began disconnecting the lights and streamers from the tree branches that had ensnared them.

It was slow going, filled with impossible knots and tangles, but they soon had a rapidly growing pile of decorations folded neatly onto one of the tables.

That is, all was going well, until Elementgirl came upon a large open wire in one of the lights. “Uh-oh. This one's broken, so we'd better not put it into the pile. Lemme just untangle it, then-”

Unexpectedly, a surge of electricity raced through the wire, meeting Elementgirl's bare fingers and sending thousands of volts of electricity coursing through her body.

She cried out once -hair standing on end with her skin and clothes blackened- then fell backwards off the table. Dead.

~~

What makes you think I know?! If I knew what was killing off my guests, would I continue on as if nothing happened?! Murder is not the best thing to draw in costomers, you know. Oops. Ahem *Coughs* What? I -no, uh- of course I didn't say anything about murder….*Laughs awkwardly*

OH, COME ON! i just want a vacation, and somebody gets MURDERED and i have to WORK on my VACATION. grrrrr… anyway, @micearenice, i agree with your assumptions. Also, the murderer is very good at not leaving any evidence… Kyt, in the next post, could you have me and Lydia investigate both of the crime scenes?

Cassy is a fine name for an ostrich! I have an AE named Cassia myself (Goes by Cass)! Only in my other life, of course, when I'm not Kyt :3

I'm also only conveying to everyone what is happening at my resort while you are residing there. But if your in-story self feels the need to go investigating with Lydia, Catsclaw, then I must write it in. No promises, however.