The Holiday Party

Holiday Party

The email was sent at 7:00 EST. The message was simple:

Join us for the annual Holiday Party. The Party will be held on Saturday December 15 at 7:00 pm. The Party will be held at the Snowline Restaurant, the address is 1587 Hwy 41 N. We look forward to seeing you all for such a delightful time.

The email was not signed but it looks like it was sent to everyone at Homestyle Department Stores.

Sue worked in the men’s department of Homestyle. She just started her a few months ago and had never got to experience the holiday party. She would surely be going.

John was a veteran at the company and has been working in appliances since he was 20, now that he was 40 he decided that perhaps he should go to the Holiday Party. He always gets the email but never goes. Why not do something new?

Timothy was a younger man who had been with the company for about three years. His department was sporting goods. He liked to be outside hunting and fishing, so naturally he loved his job. He had gone to the other holiday parties; they were lame but always had drinks available for all employees, no matter what age.

On December 15, the three pulled up to the restaurant. The Snowline looked…deserted. Were they in the right place?

“Hi, I’m Sue, are you guys here for the Holiday Party?”

Tim looking a bit confused replied, “Yes, but this doesn’t seem right. I’m Tim by the way.”

John looked at the building before responding, “I’m John, maybe we are here early, let’s go in and see if anyone is there, maybe they need help.”

The three entered the empty, deserted restaurant. It looked as if the restaurant had been closed for years. Everything was covered in at least an inch of dust. Spider webs could be found in every corner. There must be a mistake.

The three of them continued into the restaurant where they found a bar. The bar was oddly cleaned. There were three clean glasses sitting on the bar next to a bottle of wine and a bottle of whiskey. When they got to the bar, they saw an envelope and opened it. Inside was a note, the note was not addressed but read simply:

If you are here, you MUST commit a serious crime.

“What the hell is this?” Tim asked.

“This has to be a joke, right?” Sue inquired.

“I don’t think this is a joke at all,” John replied.

“How will they know if we commit a crime?” Sue asked.

John looked around and nodded his head at three different places in the room, “there are cameras that are recording.”

“What happens if we don’t commit a crime?” Tim asked.

“I don’t know and honestly, I don’t want to find out. Lets start thinking of a crime to commit,” John said.

“It has to be a serious crime, not just any little crime. What type of crime is serious?” Tim inquired.

Both John and Sue replied, “Murder.”

“WHAT? You cannot be serious; we cannot murder someone, can we?”

Sighing, Sue responded, “Tim, I don’t think we have a choice, I don’t know what they, whoever they are, would do to us.”

“We need to decide who we have to kill, I’ve been thinking of a few people. I don’t know them well but I have three people in mind,” John said.

“Have you thought about this before, John?,” Sue asked, “Who do you suggest we sacrifice?”

“Three people that I’ve seen walking around the department store are Linda, Charles, and William. I don’t know much about them but I see them every day. Surely whoever sent us the email wants us to choose someone that works with us, so they can make sure we follow through,” John explained.

Linda was a single mother of three. Her husband had passed away and she was left holding the pieces together. Her job title is cashier.

Charles was an elderly man. He always worked and didn’t see why at the age of 80 he needed to stop working. He enjoyed it. Charles was a door greeter.

William was barley an adult, he has a love of marijuana and cheated with his drug test. He lives with his mother, but only to take care of here. She has kidney failure. William stocked shelves.

Sue, Tim, and John did not know the stories of the three John suggested killing. John chose these three because he would always just see them walking around. He didn’t know what their actual job was, he thought they were lazy.

“I have only been working at Homestyle for a few months I don’t know who any of these people are, I’m not going to be able to pick, I will leave it to you two,” Sue said while grabbing the wine bottle, the glass is not needed as she was not sharing.

Tim poured a glass of whiskey for himself, gesturing to John. John declined but said, “I think we should choose who after the how.”

“We need to make it look like an accident or maybe a suicide, that way we don’t get caught,” Tim said.

“Everyone has to have their name on their lunches in the breakroom, what if we add some poison to their lunch? There are no cameras in the breakroom, it would be easy to do and not get caught,” Sue suggested.

“How very womanly of you to suggest poison,” Tim sneered.

“Well what do you suggest?” Sue retorted.

“I think we find out which car is theirs and cut the break lines, they will be unable to stop and will get killed in an accident,” Tim said.

“Your plan is flawed Tim,” John commented, “What happens if there is no traffic, or if they don’t get killed, just injured? They could fix their breaks before anything serious happens. I think as “girly” as it sounds, poison may be the right choice, though it may take some time.”

“I can deal with that, we want small doses so it will go undetected until it is too late,” Sue said.

The guys looked at each other and nodded. It was decided, death by poison.

“Now that the how is decided, who is the who?” Tim asked.

“I suggest Charles, he is old it should be easy and not take as long,” John said.

“Yes, but since he is old, doesn’t he see the doctor more. Maybe not the best choice,” Sue pointed out, “What about this…Linda, was it?”

“Linda could be good but I think she may have children, I don’t think I could knowingly kill a mother and leave her kids as orphans,” Tim said.

“I suppose you are right,” John said.

“So that leaves William. Do we know anything about him?” Sue asked.

“No, I don’t know anything about him,” Tim responded. “We should kill William, I won’t feel as bad since I know nothing about him.”

They all thought about this for a minute before John asked, “So William will be killed by poison?”

Looking at each other and then back at John, Sue and Tim responded back “Yes.”