Banished

As soon as we entered the room where I had slept, Purple went to search under the bed, Yellow leaned against the nearest wall, and Blue began exploring the rest of the room. The youth and I stood in awkward silence, unsure of what to do.

After five minutes of searching, Yellow grew impatient. "Are you even searching?" he asked, his tone annoyed.

"Why don't you just shut up if you're not helping?" Purple snapped at him from under the bed.

"Because I'm graceful enough to bless you with the beautiful song of my voice, and I don't want to get dirty while cosplaying as a snake on the floor," Yellow retorted with a smug look.

"Firstly, I'd rather have a shoe shoved down my throat than hear your voice. Secondly, you'll phase through the dust and dirt on the ground and won't get dirty, dumbass," Purple hissed back.

"Would you two stop arguing!" the youth sighed in frustration. Yellow was about to make a sharp comeback but was interrupted by Blue. "I can hear something," Blue announced. We all perked up our ears and listened intently, and faintly, we heard crying.

"It's coming from over there," the youth exclaimed, pointing towards the only door in the room. Purple swiftly walked through the door, and the rest of us followed closely behind.

We stepped into a kitchen where a distraught monster sat at a table, holding an urn in her hands. Blue began to speak, but I felt awkward just standing there, observing someone else's grief. Yellow, on the other hand, casually walked to the monster's side and examined the urn. "It has the name Tim written on it," he remarked before glancing back at us. However, his gaze shifted past us, and he froze for a moment. After a few seconds, an evil smirk spread across his face, mirroring the expression on the door.

We all turned to look at the door we had exited from, and indeed, the name "Tim" was written on it.

"You said you fell asleep beside a boy, but when you woke up, he wasn't there. That's what you told us, but I don't believe you," Yellow began, relishing the attention he received. "I think you had a fresh corpse to keep you company." His smirk grew into a smile while I tried to defend myself, but only incoherent gibberish came out of my mouth.

"Come on, that's insane, and you know it. Why would she withhold such details?" the youth defended me.

"Because it wasn't just any corpse," Yellow resumed. "If I'm not mistaken, and I never am, it was the corpse of her victim."

The weight of those words hung heavily in the air as everyone processed the information.

"That's insane," the youth finally uttered. "The boy couldn't have been cremated in less than a day."

A wave of relief washed over me upon hearing his logical reasoning. "Monsters turn into dust when they're killed," Blue interjected, and in an instant, everything came crashing down again. All eyes turned to Purple, who also wore Yellow's evil grin.

"Yes, it all makes sense now!" Purple turned to me, her smile stretching from ear to ear. "You aren't living longer because you expend your magic slower; it's because you have your magic plus the boy's!"

Silence enveloped the room, interrupted only by Purple's excited giggles and the monster's cries of despair.

"That's horrible," Blue whispered.

"No, it's fantastic. If it hadn't happened, we would have never known how to extend our lifespans," Purple began, still wearing a grin.

"I suggest you start stretching, because we have a long day of killing ahead of us."

Purple's words were met with silence, followed by disgusted stares from the rest of us.

Purple took an angry breath before grabbing my wrists. "Fine, let's go," she started pulling me along with her.

"No, I'm not a murderer, and I have no intention of becoming one," I protested, resisting her pull.

She stopped and looked at me with a blank expression. I could see a reflection in her big, round glasses as her eyes flickered with uncertainty.

"They seem to think otherwise," she nodded towards the group behind me, their stares of disgust not limited to Purple but extending to me as well.

Purple resumed dragging me, but this time, I didn't resist.