Zoe was dead.
The moment I saw Zoe’s lifeless body floating face down in the pool, my legs gave out beneath me, and I collapsed in shock.
“Oh my god!”
Beside me, Sam, who had come up to help me gather clothes, let out a piercing scream, clearly terrified.
A few minutes later, everyone had gathered on the rooftop terrace of the villa, staring at Zoe’s floating body. The blood drained from all of our faces.
“Zoe!”
Finally snapping out of my daze, I lunged toward the pool. “What are you all standing there for? Evelyn, aren’t you a doctor? Save her, quickly!”
With that, the group sprang into action.
Boom–
Another clap of thunder echoed overhead as the rain pelted the glass roof, as if trying to shatter it. But I didn’t care about anything else. With the help of my friends, we managed to pull Zoe out of the water.
Her skin, once slightly tanned, was now ghostly pale from the water, her face swollen. Her long black dress clung to her body, making her look even more lifeless.
Something about her appearance struck me as odd, but before I could think about it further, I heard Evelyn shake her head after a quick examination. “She’s been dead for over six hours. There’s nothing we can do.”
I felt dizzy and nearly lost my balance.
Zoe was really gone!
Yesterday had been Zoe’s birthday. She had rented this villa to host a big party and invited all of us, her closest friends, to celebrate.
We spent the night drinking, singing, and sharing stories until we were all completely drunk.
What should have been a night filled with happy memories had turned into a tragic nightmare.
“Zoe drowned. She must have been drunk last night, wandered up to the rooftop, and mistook the pool for her bed,” Evelyn said, choking up.
Even though she was a doctor who had seen death countless times, the loss of a close friend was too much.
Tears began to spread among us.
I couldn’t process the fact that the vibrant Zoe, who had been laughing and dancing just hours ago, was now a cold, lifeless body.
“What’s going on here?”
Suddenly, an unfamiliar male voice interrupted.
A seventh person had appeared in the villa.
This villa was perched on a mountainside, surrounded by dense forests. There were no nearby stores or houses, and the only way to get food was for the landlord to send supplies.
The stranger who had appeared was Mike Jenkins, the son of the landlord, who had come to deliver food.
Mike immediately noticed Zoe’s body, his expression darkening.
“Have you called the police?” he asked.
We froze for a moment, realizing we hadn’t even thought to call.
“I’ll do it now!” I said, rushing downstairs to grab my phone.
Boom–
Another clap of thunder rattled the house, and the sky outside was so dark it didn’t even look like daytime.
I hurried through the house, turning on the lights, and grabbed my phone. But when I looked, there was no signal.
It was then that I realized something was very wrong with the weather.
The rain had been pouring relentlessly since last night, and in the mountains, this kind of storm could easily trigger a landslide.
And we were right in the middle of it.
“There’s a landslide,” Mike said, descending the stairs with the others. His face was grim. “The road’s blocked. It looks like the cell tower’s down too. We’re trapped in the villa.”
Chapter 2“What are we going to do?” Sam asked, trembling with fear. Though he was a guy, Sam had the smallest nerves of anyone. With his love for makeup, embroidery, and all things stylish, he was the most flamboyant of our group.
He leaned against the wall, his voice shaking. “The road’s blocked, and we have no signal. We’re trapped here with no way to call for help.”
“Don’t worry. My dad knows I’m here. He’ll send people to clear the road. It’ll take a day or two, but we’ll get out,” Mike said confidently, keeping calm despite the chaos.
As he spoke, he took off his jacket and pulled out an ID badge from his pocket, tossing it in front of us.
“By the way, I’m a cop – homicide division. Since my colleagues can’t get here, I’ll take charge of this case.”
The room fell silent. My friends and I exchanged glances, none of us expecting things to take such a turn.
Mike didn’t waste time. After identifying himself, he gave us orders.
“Everyone stay in the living room. I’m going to examine the body.”
Before we could react, he headed back upstairs.
We couldn’t just let some stranger mess with Zoe.
Unwilling to leave him alone, we all followed him back to the rooftop.
Mike moved quickly and efficiently, wearing plastic gloves as he examined Zoe’s body. He removed her shoes, lifted her dress... Everything he did was precise, like a real cop.
But just as he was about to unbutton her shirt–
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” shouted Chaz, who rushed forward and grabbed Mike’s arm, stopping him from going any further.
Chaz was a fitness instructor and the strongest in our group. With him stepping in, Mike couldn’t move.
“Don’t mess with Zoe’s clothes!” Chaz growled.
Mike twisted his wrist, clearly annoyed. “I’m investigating a case. I can’t overlook any detail! You didn’t object when I moved her dress, but now you’re flipping out over her shirt?”
Chaz was at a loss for words, but luckily for him, Casey stepped in to smooth things over.
“Zoe was a very modest person,” Casey, our friend and a psychologist, explained. “I don’t want her dignity to be stripped away in death.”
Casey always knew us well, and she knew Zoe best. Zoe had lost her parents when she was young and had grown up moving between the homes of kind neighbors. Her difficult upbringing had left her sensitive and fiercely protective of her dignity.
Sam chimed in, stomping his foot. “Zoe hated it when guys touched her! Jenkins, don’t push your luck!”
Mike was furious. “I’m trying to solve a case, not do something inappropriate! Don’t you get it? The longer we wait, the more evidence fades. We can afford to wait, but the dead can’t!”
“What are you trying to say? That one of us did it?” Chaz shot back, his anger rising. “We’ve all known Zoe for ten years! She didn’t have any family, so we were her closest friends, her family!”
Mike didn’t flinch. “It doesn’t matter how close you were. Until the victim speaks, everyone here is a suspect.”
Tensions rose, and a standoff loomed.
I was indecisive by nature. When Mike spoke, I agreed with him. But when my friends protested, I wavered.
In the end, it was Chaz’s strength that prevailed, and Mike backed down.
Chapter 3In the living room, we sat in one group while Mike sat opposite us, creating an atmosphere of confrontation.
The tension was palpable.
“What’s your relationship with the victim, and what exactly happened last night?” Mike was still persistent, beginning to interrogate us.
I knew he was just doing his job, and although I felt uncomfortable with his suspicion, I decided to explain after some hesitation.
“My name is Tara Green, I’m a software engineer. We were all in the same college club as Zoe. After graduation, we stayed in touch since we all stayed around the city. The six of us have been close for years, meeting up every few months. Yesterday was her birthday, and she booked this villa so we could all celebrate together. We drank, sang, and talked about old times. I got so drunk I blacked out and didn’t wake up until this morning. I have no idea what happened after that.”
After I started, Evelyn, Chaz, Sam, and Casey followed suit, introducing themselves one by one. As for what happened last night, everyone was like me, too drunk to remember.
Mike opened a bottle of water, frowning as he thought for a moment, then began asking more detailed questions about our relationships with Zoe and each other’s personalities.
After going around the group, it seemed he didn’t have much to go on. Finally, he took another sip of water and asked, “Did the victim have any relationship issues recently?”
“No way!” Sam answered immediately. “Zoe was only focused on her career. She didn’t have time for men! And if she did, I’d share all the losers who won’t give me the time of day!”
Sam’s comment made Mike spit out the water he’d just swallowed.
Sam, irritated, snapped, “What are you spitting for?”
“Sorry.” Mike coughed, turning red as he apologized while looking around for a napkin.
But there wasn’t one in sight – no surprise, considering how much we had partied last night.
Rolling his eyes, Sam reluctantly got up and fetched a towel from the backyard, tossing it to Mike.
“Thanks,” Mike said as he began wiping himself off.
Watching him, my mind suddenly cleared.
I realized what had been bothering me ever since I saw Zoe’s body in the pool.
It hit me like a lightning bolt: Zoe hadn’t been wearing that black dress last night!
Zoe always liked wearing dark colors to make her skin look brighter, but last night was her birthday, and she wore a bright red dress, saying it was perfect for a birthday celebration.
How could someone so drunk that they mistook the pool for a bed have the clarity to change clothes before falling in?
Could it be that Zoe didn’t drown by accident?
…
By the afternoon, Mike made us some pasta to keep us going and washed the dishes in the kitchen.
I couldn’t shake the feeling of unease from my earlier realization. Unable to hold back, I went to the kitchen, pretending to want some snacks.
“Mike, can I trust you?” I asked quietly, closing the door behind me.
Mike stopped washing the dishes, his expression turning serious.
He cranked up the water so no one could hear us and motioned for me to step closer. “You can trust me. What did you find?”
After a brief hesitation, I explained the discrepancy with Zoe’s clothing.
Mike nodded slowly. “I’m not a medical examiner, but a person who drowns usually shows signs of hemorrhaging in the nasal and oral cavities. Your friend didn’t have any of those signs.”
My heart skipped a beat.
Zoe hadn’t drowned at all!
Mike leaned in, locking eyes with me. “Zoe was your friend, right?”
I nodded.
“Then how can you just stand by and let her death go unanswered?”
Of course, I didn’t want to!
Mike’s gaze was intense as he continued, “Tara, for your friend’s sake, I need you to do me a favor.”
Chapter 4When we returned to the living room, the rain was coming down harder than ever, and the thunderclaps were almost constant, making everyone on edge.
By now, Mike had kept us confined in the villa for most of the day.
While Chaz and the others seemed to handle it okay, Sam was becoming restless. He got up, pacing back and forth, venting his frustration.
“What’s going on here? Are we prisoners now? If Zoe knew how you were treating her friends, she’d come back from the dead just to haunt you!”
As if on cue, all the lights in the house suddenly went out, plunging the room into darkness.
Almost immediately, another crack of thunder shook the windows.
The timing was so sudden that Sam screamed and threw himself into Chaz’s arms.
“Don’t scream, Sam,” I tried to calm him down.
“Tara...” Casey clung to me, her voice trembling. “Did you hear that? That sound…”
“What sound?” I asked, straining to listen.
In the pauses between the thunder, I could just make out a faint, rhythmic thudding.
It sounded like footsteps – someone was slowly descending wooden stairs, one step at a time.
But we were all in the living room. The only person upstairs was… Zoe.
Could it be Zoe?
She was dead, though!
The footsteps grew louder, closer, moving from the third floor to the second.
A chill ran down my spine, and I felt the sweat break out on my back.
Could a dead person walk?
“Who-who’s there?” Sam shrieked, his voice breaking from fear.
Casey’s grip on me tightened, her body shaking. Evelyn said nothing, but I could feel her cold hand gripping my arm. Everyone was terrified.
The air felt colder, and the tension in the room was suffocating.
Then, without warning, Mike stood up, grabbing a baseball bat from the corner.
“Damn it! Who’s trying to freak us out? I’m not playing around!” he shouted and stormed upstairs.
None of us dared move for a long moment.
Finally, Evelyn seemed to gather her courage. “I’ll go check it out.”
“I-I’ll come too,” I stammered, grabbing her hand.
We started toward the stairs, but as I tried to stand, my legs buckled, and I fell hard to the floor.
Evelyn helped me up, and we made our way upstairs.
But when we reached the second floor, there was no sign of Mike.
That’s when Evelyn cursed under her breath and dashed toward the rooftop.
Sure enough, we found Mike there, standing over Zoe’s body.
In the faint light from his phone, Zoe’s lifeless face looked even more ghastly, almost as though she might open her eyes at any second and flash us a sinister smile.
The sight made all of us shiver.
“Bastard! What are you doing to Zoe?” Chaz bellowed, charging at Mike and grabbing him by the collar.
Mike, caught off guard, struggled as his phone’s light flickered, casting an eerie glow over Zoe’s partially undressed body.
She’d already been undressed!
“You fucking pervert!” Sam shouted, his voice full of fury.
Mike cut him off sharply, “Look at the wound on her chest!”
“What wound?”
Following his words, I focused on Zoe’s left chest.
Sure enough, there was a stitched wound right over her heart.
Mike’s eyes swept across the room, his voice chilling. “The victim didn’t drown. She was stabbed in the heart. Someone cleaned the blood from her clothes and stitched up the wound. Which one of you did it?”
Mike’s words hit me like a bolt of lightning.
The only one among us capable of treating such a wound was…
My heart sank as a dreadful suspicion began to form.