Chapter 2

By 5:00 AM, yellow tape crisscrossed the door to Room 3B.

Forensic teams in white suits moved methodically inside.

The lead forensic pathologist, a Dr. Chen, spoke to Detective Miller.

I overheard snippets.

"Preliminary finding: acute poisoning. Toxin acted fast. Unconsciousness in minutes, cardiac arrest within ten."

Detective Miller turned to me again. I was in a small, sterile room at the campus police station.

"You ate and drank the same things, Sarah?"

"Yes. Pizza, wings, the punch."

"Any discomfort? Nausea? Anything?"

"Just... a little dizzy when I woke up. My head felt fuzzy."

"You said you fell asleep around 1:00 AM?"

"Yes, after we took some group selfies. We were all laughing."

A hollow sound now, that memory of laughter.

Detective Miller jotted something in his notepad.

"The pathologist estimates time of death between 1:45 AM and 2:00 AM. Almost simultaneous for four of them."

Four of them. Not five? He didn't elaborate.

My stomach churned.

"Do you remember anything after falling asleep?" Officer Davis asked gently.

I hesitated. "A dream, maybe. Their voices... calling my name. 'Sarah... wake up...'"

I shook my head. "It felt so real, but it must have been a dream."

The forensics team reported back to Miller.

"No signs of struggle. Bodies were arranged... neatly. Looks like voluntary ingestion."

Voluntary. The word hit me like a physical blow.

Then, the crime scene unit.

"Room was locked from the inside. Deadbolt. Windows secured, latched from the inside. No forced entry. Security cameras on all main exits of the house show no one entering or leaving OAX between midnight and when Ms. Miller called 911."

A closed environment.

"Collective suicide?" I whispered, horrified.

The thought was insane.

Ashley was going to grad school. Brittany had a summer internship lined up in New York. Chloe was planning a backpacking trip through Europe. Emily was pre-med. Danielle... Danielle was quiet, but she had plans too.

"They wouldn't. They had too much to live for."

Detective Miller' s eyes were sharp. "Any conflicts within the group, Sarah? Any arguments recently?"

"No," I said, too quickly.

A flash: my birthday, last month. A small cake I bought myself. The five of them "too busy" with a sorority project to even say happy birthday.

I pushed the memory down. "We were all friends."