(This is an exclusive fictional episodic mystery from The Voice staff. Each episode will release each issue. Serial fiction began in the 19th century, released in popular newspapers. Serial fiction appealed to readers because it cost less than novels. Enjoy!)
Jordin walked into the Design Lab five minutes before class started, at exactly 1:25 pm. It was unusual for her to be so early to Journalism class, not because she didn’t take it seriously, but because she never felt like she’d be judged for being late. But it certainly helped that the class was an elective. Still, she was early for the last period after an exhausting school day.
As she stepped into the room, the familiar place gave her a sense of ease. It was a big room for the small school, with about 21 seats around tables organized as a rectangle. This setup was so the editors and writers of the school newspaper, The Voice, would be able to collaborate. The floors, walls, and ceilings were all slightly different shades of white, and the walls were decorated with white boards. One wall was lined with computer screens, and another possessed a single black phone, mounted onto the wall.
On the farthest corner from the door, Evan Hendy was sitting in the editors row, silently hunched over what appeared to be a handout, furiously scribbling all over the paper.
Sitting across from Evan and the other editors were Madeline and Will. The underclassmen stared at their computers, not paying attention to the murmur in the room, focused entirely on their final product. But as Jordin crossed over to her seat in the editors row, she saw that their google doc was empty. The pair sat in silence, and Madeline glared at Will as he took a sip out of his Owala water bottle. All of a sudden, he slammed it onto the table, causing a ring in the quiet room, as well as a yelp from someone else in the room.
Jordin quickly turned her attention to the sound, to see Ms. McElroy standing frozen, with an expo marker in hand, writing “February Story Ideas” on one of the whiteboards, eyeing the duo with distaste.
She took a deep breath that almost seemed like a disappointed sigh. “Will, is everything alright?”
“Sure”, Will sarcastically replied, although he wasn’t looking at Ms. McElroy, but was glaring back at Madeline, who kept a straight face, but was clearly put off by Will’s outburst.
Just then the door burst open. Natalie and Pippa breezed into the room with matching strides. The two sat on the opposite side of the room from the editors row, and took out their laptops. It was only then Jordin noticed their hushed conversations.
“Alright everyone, it’s 1:30, are we ready to begin?” Ms. McElroy asked the class. Everyone gave Ms. McElroy their attention right as the door, letting out a final click, closed. Jordin turned her head to see Charlotte Secrist stumble into the room, and rush over to a seat left of the editor’s row. She hurriedly took out her computer, as well as a sticky note and a pen, then gave Ms. McElroy gave a deliberate nod to keep going.
“Sorry Ms. McElroy.”
“No problem. Now, how’s everyone’s stories going?”
When the writers finished their status updates, it was 1:36 pm, and the room settled back into the quiet atmosphere of work. Jordin had just reached out to a local food pantry for her article and was writing down possible interview questions.
She heard the sound of a chair scraping against the floor, and saw Charlotte Secrist standing up and ripping off a bright yellow sticky note.
All of the sudden, a familiar ring split the quiet air of the Design Lab, but this time, a splash followed.
“Oh. My. God. What the heck did you just do?!” Madeline cried, standing up to reveal a soaked computer, as Will’s water bottle laid open on the table, spilling out water like blood from a wound.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” she yelled, and with so much force, she pushed Will out of his chair into the middle of the room. The phone on the wall began to ring, but there was a faint whisper behind the shouts of Madeline and Will.
“Guys, stop it!” Charlotte begged, somehow she had made her way into the middle of the room, as if she was trying to stop the confrontation. Her fists were clenched tight, and her arms were outstretched to push the two of them away from each other.
Everyone began to stand up from their seats, but no one moved. They all stood like they were expecting Madeline and Will to turn on them. They simply watched as Will seemed to deliver a final push to Madeline and she fell back to one of the tables.
And then, without warning, the room was engulfed into darkness.
“What’s going on?” Pippa yelled, but the room was as quiet as it was dark.
Until everybody heard it, that same ring. But it sounded different. It didn’t echo. Someone had fallen onto the floor.
When the lights flickered back on, the room was still. Not even a full minute passed, and it felt like an eternity of darkness. It was silent except for the faint murmur of the phone ringing. A reminder before the worst could have happened. Everyone moved their gaze to the center of the room, everyone saw it at the same time.
In between the rectangle of organized desks laid the body of Charlotte. In a pool of blood trailing out from her head, with a metal water bottle dented and spotted. Will’s metal water bottle.
(Possible break in the story)
“Oh. My. God”, Madaline whispered. Then she let out a scream of terror.
Madeline and Will were the closest to Charlotte’s body, standing in the middle of the desks. She was sprawled out in between them. Madaline had a splatter of blood on her shoe, although it was possible it was just sprayed from the actual attack. Evan was the third closest to the body, standing on the opposite side of the desks, outside the circle. His hands were up as if he was surrendering to something, and he had bewildered expressions. Ms. McElroy stood frozen to the left of Evan, still with the Expo Marker in hand, but she had been gripping it so hard, some of the ink began to spill onto her hands. Thank god the ink wasn’t red. Jordin stood next to Ms. McElroy and observed the room. Pipa and Natalie were standing still, staring at the body. Natalie brought her hands to her head and let out a scream of terror, and her shriek only amplified Madeleine’s volume.
“OH MY GOD, Will, What did you do to her?!?!?!?!”
“I didn’t do anything!” he cried
Ms. McElroy began to walk over to the two, “Guys, you need to stop” she cautiously warned. The pair clearly didn’t hear her, as they kept arguing.
“That’s your water bottle! Oh my god oh my god, did you kill her?”, Madaline spat.
“No I didn’t, I swear! The lights went out and I just stood still. I’ve been right here the whole time!”
Without thinking, Jordin ran to Charlotte, and collapsed onto her knees. “Charlotte, can you hear me?” But it was as clear as day, Charlotte wouldn’t wake up. Jordin laid her eyes on where the water bottle must’ve hit, oh god she thought. She hadn’t seen anything this horrible in her life. She turned her head down to look at Charlotte’s hands, the rest was just so much worse. The watch on Charlotte’s wrist said it was 1:43 pm.
“You had just as much opportunity to do it as I did!” Will countered.
“Why would I want to hurt her?” Madeline replied.
“Stop fighting!” Evan shouted, joining Ms. McElroy in the middle of the room with unease. Right by Charlotte’s body.
Pipa joined “Madeline you were also so close to Charlotte!”
Jordin paid no attention to the chaos around her, and she noticed something clenched in Charlotte’s right palm, something bright yellow. Jordin carefully opened her palm and took out the paper. It was the sticky note Charlotte had been writing on earlier, and in thick black sharpie, the words “Fair is Foul, Foul is Fair” was scribbled on the note.
Jordin stood up. “Everyone be quiet! Arguing isn’t going to get us anywhere. We need to figure this out.”
“Do you mean solve the murder?” Natalie asked, astounded.
“That’s ridiculous, we should get help first!” Ms. McElroy said.
Evan chimed in, “But what if the killer leaves the room? We don’t know what they’d do!”
“No, I’m getting out of here” Natalie spat.
Pipa yelled “Natalie don’t- you know what else could happen!”
Natalie ignored her and she began to walk to the door, but then her phone began to ring in her pocket. She stared at it with confusion, then tapped on her phone. When she did this, the same phone ringing on the wall stopped too, and muffled breathing sounded out of both devices.
“Do not leave the room” the voice was dark, distorted, but the message was eerily clear.
The mysterious voice continued, “The next person to leave the room dies”.
STOP HERE TDY
The room froze. The only sound in the room was the faint static of the phones. And then a click. Whoever that was on the other end had hung up. Natalie stood still with her hand on the doorknob. It was Evan who was the first to break the silence.
“Natalie, step away from the door. It isn’t safe”.
Natalie whispered barely loud enough for Jordin to hear her say “Is there someone out there trying to hurt us here?!”.
Madeline walked out of the circle of desks, to the door, grabbed Natalie by her wrist, and pulled her away from the door. Natalie just allowed herself to be led. Madeline sat Natalie down on the farthest corner from the door, where Evan was standing. Closest to where Charlotte’s lifeless body laid.
“The voice…” Natalie said, dazed with fear. Pippa crossed to the corner to comfort her friend. And whispered to her in a hushed voice.
Ms. McElroy joined them at the corner. “Natalie, it’s okay”.
“Are we going to talk about it?” Will asked from across the room.
“What?” Madeline sharply replied.
“The elephant in the room. The fact someone’s watching us, and trying to kill us?”.
“Not Charlotte’s dead body?” Madaline spat.
Jordin watched the scene carefully, when she remembered the crumpled up paper in her hand.
“Everyone!” Jordin stopped the bickering in the room. She was beginning to think she was good at getting people’s attention. Jordin uncrumpled the sticky note, and held it up for the staff to see.
“I found this in Charlotte’s hand. I kind of remember her grabbing it before Will and Madeleine’s fight”. Will shot Madeline a judgy look.
“Let me see that”, Pipa said, grabbing the sticky note with care from Jordin’s hand. Jordin saw on her watch the time was 1:50 PM.
Natailie repeated, as if in a trance “The Voice”.
“Fair is Foul, Foul is Fair” Pipa read off the note. “That’s from Macbeth. Act One scene One or two – I can’t remember. I do know that it was a reference to the betrayal later in the play”.
Evan replied “Do you think she was trying to tell us something?”.
“Not all of us”, Ms. McElroy said. “Whoever killed Charlotte… has to be one of us. And they have to be working with the voice we heard. Maybe Charlotte knew who it was, and was trying to warn us?”.
“Warn us what?” Madeline questioned.
“I don’t know. It’s a far-fetched theory” Ms. McElroy responded.
“You’re right, Ms. McElroy,” said Jordin, “someone in here has to be the killer. The blackout was too short for anyone else to come in. The murder weapon was too close. The door was closed, and we would have heard it open. We all had the opportunity to… hurt her”.
“You’re right,” Evan mumbled.
Natalie muttered for the third time “The voice”.
“Okay you have got to get a grip” Will complained to Natalie.
“I swear I know that voice!” Natalie countered.
“Who is it?” Will questioned.
“What do you think I’ve been trying to figure out for the past five minutes?” Natalie defended.
Madeline joined into the exchange, she seemed eager for an opportunity to make Will upset. “Yeah, she’s not stupid you know!”.
“Okay this is unnecessary Madeleine”, Ms. McElroy scolded.
“Focus Everyone!” Evan snapped. “Why would someone want to kill Charlotte?”
“Shouldn’t we start with opportunity?” Pippa corrected.
Evan became frustrated and exclaimed, “I don’t care about your passion for English. Agatha Christie isn’t in the room with us, she died sometime in the 70s, so I don’t see the point in whatever order she assesses this situation in. We should talk about why we are even in this situation! You know, I was going to meet Charlotte after this class for an article, and if someone’s stalking her, I would’ve been collateral damage.”
Pippa, “Geez”.
“Okay okay” Jordin started “If she was trying to warn us, then maybe she knew something, and someone here killed her for it.”
“We need to find more information,” said Ms. McElroy. “We don’t have enough to go off right now.”
“Why don’t we search Charlotte’s laptop? Will, can you pass it to me?”
Will nodded and passed the laptop to Jordin, she opened it but quickly realized they needed the password in order to get in.
“Shoot,” Jordin said. Evan looked onto the screen and understood immediately. “Why don’t we use her fingerprint?” He suggested.
“It requires the password, she must’ve shut it off before standing up,” Jordin said while putting the laptop down.
“Let me try it,” said Evan.
Pippa spoke up, “While he’s doing that, maybe we should search her backpack?” Pippa stood and dragged the bag to her feet. She unzipped the top, then turned it over to let the contents fall out onto the floor. Collectively, the whole group sat down and began sorting through Charlotte’s things.
The main contents were textbooks, notebooks and writing utensils. Jordin thought a notable one was the cat paw pen, she didn’t think Charlotte was the type to have one, but nothing was sticking out to her.
Pippa and Natalie began to flip through her notebooks, and Evan was typing on Charlotte’s computer. The rest were searching through all possible corners of her bag. Possibly hoping for the answers to be in a hidden zipped pocket. And yet, it seemed like a normal bag.
And Jordin observed again that Pippa and Natalie were whispering in hushed voices. ‘What could be so important to gossip about at a time like this’ she thought.
Suddenly, Will stood up, holding a light blue book with the title of ‘2025-2026 Weekly Planner’ in a golden cursive font. The kind you’d find at target.
“Look!” Will exclaimed, flipping to the most recently filled out page, which was just this week.
“She was going to meet someone called ‘MB’ after class today”.
“Who could ‘MB’ be?” Said Madeline, puzzled.
“And, where was the meeting point?” Asked Jordin.
“It just says, ‘the castle’” said Will.
Jordin paused for a second with a puzzled expression on her face before saying, “The meeting place at least has to be a code name. I don’t know about the initials”.
As far as Jordin could remember, nobody close to Charlotte had the initials ‘MB’, so why did it seem so familiar?
“Maybe it doesn’t have to do with any of this”, said Evan. “I mean – we just can’t be sure what’s connected to what”.
“But – this was obviously planned right? The lights just don’t shut off at the perfect moment. Someone has to be behind it.” Madeline pointed out.
Everyone in the room nodded with agreement.
Will chimed in, “What is damaging enough to kill someone for. This is a high school Journalism class, the last real argument we’ve had before… you know” Will paused “Was over what kind of doughnuts to order. Charlotte seemed like a really nice person. I don’t understand why she was killed”.
Every time they spoke of Charlotte, Jordin looked over to her body, lifeless on the floor. It felt so wrong to ignore it. Was that voice really going to do something to them? And, how could nobody see them? Hadn’t the rest of the school had the blackout, so there should have been maintenance walking around – right? Shouldn’t Mr. Wong be lurking in the hallway, and have seen the desperate situation they were in? Everything seemed too isolated.
“How’s the computer going, Evan?” Ms. McElroy asked.
Evan turned the computer around to the group to reveal a ‘Locked Out Alert’ which was pending for three hours. “I tried every password I could think of. Some stuff that had to do with theatre, and her name but, I just don’t know her that well. I didn’t mean to lock us out”.
“It’s alright” Ms. McElroy said.
Once again, Natalie and Pippa found themselves next to each other, seeming to gossip. All of the sudden, Natalie said something loud to the group.
“I just don’t understand why any of this is happening,” Natalie began, while tearing up. “Why are we stuck here and why is someone dead?”.
“One of us did this,” Madeline started. “And may I remind all of you, it was Will’s water bottle?”.
“Stop blaming me for this! You could have as easily done the same. I didn’t do anything.” Will spat.
Pippa spoke up “Why are you guys fighting so much?”.
Will and Madeline became quiet very quickly.
“This could be related to the death” said Pippa. “Just tell us”.
“Fine.” Madeline said reluctantly. “A couple of weeks ago…” she stopped and took a deep breath. “I was so busy with service outside of school, and just school in general. I lost track of time and I realized I had a really big Spanish test the next day that would determine my grade. And…” She began to tear up, “I snuck into the Spanish room for test answers, and I copied them onto my computer”.
Will stood frozen, it seemed like with the feeling of dread.
Madeline continued, “And, it really seemed like it was going to work, and I wasn’t ever going to do anything like that again. But then while working on an article…” Will put his head down. “Will went on my computer and found the copy. And, he threatened to tell Ms. McGuire if I didn’t” Jordin cut her off.
“So Madeline you cheated, and Will, you blackmailed her?” Jordin asked.
Will stood still with his head down and his hands shoved in his pockets. Everyone was staring at him, but he didn’t give a reaction.
Jordin pressed onwards “Why?” she asked him.
Will took a deep breath. “Becasue I needed it”.
“What could you possibly need that money for?”
“It’s none of your business” Will hissed.
Natalie grew red and blurted out “It is for Charlotte’s dead body over there. She has every right to know why this might be happening”.
“Fine. I take the money and invest it into the S&P 500 where I can make even more earnings with an average annual 8-10% return rate, by 65 I’ll be a millionaire”.
“What is wrong with you?” Jordin asked.
“No, that’s actually really smart”. Said Evan, and the group collectively shot glares at him.
“Geez, okay, a lot of my friends are in the investment club” he defended.
Jordin turned her attention to Natalie and Pippa, “And, what on earth have you two been whispering about since the beginning of class? It can’t possibly be that important to still be whispering about after… all of this”.
Pippa and Natalie exchanged a glance, and then Pippa nodded to Natalie.
“Okay, fine” Natalie started. “A couple of weeks ago Pippa and I…”
Pippa cut Natlie off “We started selling unreleased copies of the newspaper. We know it’s wrong, but-”
Natalie continued “-We just thought it would help people want to buy the real copies, but selling them the unfinished ones. And it definitely helped to have a few extra bucks lying around to save for college”.
Everyone in the room was silent.
Suddenly there was the familiar ring of a water bottle falling. Everyone took a sharp breath and saw it was only Evan who had dropped an Owala water bottle.
“Sorry,” he said.
Ms. McElroy took a breath. “So you’ve been exploiting the newspaper?”
“No…” Pipa corrected, “We’ve been trying to advertise”.
“That’s it!” Jordin exclaimed. “The newspaper!”
“What?” Madaline replied.
“Everything is connected to the newspaper. Everything is about the newspaper”. Jordin stood up and grabbed Charlotte’s computer, opening it to reveal the time of 1:59 pm.
“Pipa” Jordin started, “Do you still have the sticky note?”
Pipa nodded and handed her the note.
“Fair is foul, foul is fair,” said Jordin. “What if someone’s trying to take over the newspaper?”
“Oh my god” Pipa said, causing the room to go silent, “MB means MacBeth, and the Castle is this class”.
“Everything that was going on was related to the newspaper.” Madaline said to herself.
“The voice…” Natalie said.
Jordin stood up to see Charlotte’s body, as if she had the answers. She studied her, sprawled out on the floor, lifeless. She couldn’t believe they didn’t even try to save her. Her head was turned away from the group, probably because of the water bottle hit. But where was the water bottle? It was missing.
The phone on the wall began to crackle again, splitting the tense silence of the room, with the sound of someone on the other line. Whoever was calling took a deep breath and said,
“So who did it?”