The Liar

"Tell me, please, do you know the answer?"

The bright light of the desk lamp shone directly in my eyes. A vague shape, which seemed to be a human hand, turned the burning light away from my eyes. The room we were in was rather small and dark, as there was only the desk lamp to light up the room. The walls were grey; the floor was grey; the table in front of me was grey; the ceiling was grey; everything had a grey colour. The light revealed five shadows in front of me. All of them were looking forward, staring at a great nothing. Their eyes were barely visible, so they could’ve been looking at me, if they even had eyes. They had, they were humans, at least, that’s what they once were. This is their fate.

 

I felt a large hand grabbing my shoulder. Not grabbing, my shoulder was probably meant to grant some support for the owner of the hand. I didn’t turn my head to see who it was, I kept my eyes focused at the shadows in front of me. I was sure no to give in to their demands. They would punish me if I didn’t tell them what they wanted to hear. I could lie, but if they found out, the punishment would be even worse. I knew who - or what - these shadows were, unfortunately I did. I didn’t want to, but I did.

 

“So,” a masculine voice said, a certain determination clearly audible in his voice, “today, your fate will be locked in time, it’s up to you where you will end up.” A false statement, of course, as one’s fate is part of his life. Some people refuse to acknowledge their fate. Actually, the bulletin boards at airports are wrong: your destination is not New York City, your destination is to go to New York City. These are different things.

 

Time seemed to be at a standstill. Was time still crawling forward, second by second? The hand on my shoulder stayed in its place, the shadows in front of me seemed frozen, the only sound in the room was my soft breathing, in and out, in and out.

Then, like someone pressed the ‘play’ button on his remote control, the hand released my shoulder. I heard some inaudible, soft muttering, a secret exchange of words, behind my back. The sound of the muttering faded.

 

“So,” the masculine voice repeated, as if he had forgotten his lines. “as you well know, you ought to tell the truth in any occasion. Don’t worry, we’ll find out who’s been lying. With some help of our friend here.” The hand - once again - grabbed my shoulder, but this time it was not to support the body it was attached to - the hand blamed me. You’re a tattletale, the hand said. I wasn’t his friend anyway, whoever the owner of the hand was. I wasn’t a tattletale either.  

 

Who am I anyway? What was my fate? Their fate was known. I knew where they would end up. But what about me? Have I just determined their fate? Is someone allowed to determine the fate of someone else? Is that even possible?

 

“I was the first one to arrive.” The sudden voice woke me up from my thoughts. The voice was deep, heavy, numb, like his heart had turned to stone. Maybe it had, who knew. I didn’t. Let’s just call him Number A for the sake of easiness.

 

I knew what they were doing. They were trying to obtain as much information from these men as possible. After that, they would ask me to point my forefinger at the liar. They knew that I knew the truth. If it wasn’t for the fun of it, they hadn’t needed me to assist them. They were just testing my loyalty towards society, and how much of a betrayer I was.  

 

“I was the second one to arrive.” Number B said. This voice sounded about the same as the other one, with a slight difference in pitch. If I could only see his facial expression.

 

“I was the third one to arrive.” Number C stated.

 

“I don’t know anything about this. I arrived somewhere in between Number A and B. One of them arrived somewhere before me, the other arrived somewhere after me.” Number D quoted.

 

“Me neither. I arrived somewhere in between Number B and C. One of them arrived somewhere before me, the other arrived somewhere after me.” Number E stated. 

 

I knew one of them was a plain liar. Should I accuse him immediately? Should I just call upon my right to remain silent (or the Fifth Amendment)? Should I just lie? A typical Prisoner Dilemma. Not a typical one, but it resembled a prisoner’s dilemma.

 

The large hand once again grabbed my shoulder. My right shoulder to be exact. A long, drawn out silence reigned the room.

 

“Now, do me a favour, my friend.” I’m not your friend. I’ve never been.

 

“Who’s the liar?”

Author's Note

It's time to put your detective skills to the test with this mystery. One of the Numbers has not been telling the truth. Do you know who it is? If yes, private message me, so you do not spoil it for the others who haven't figured it out yet :)

The puzzle going on in the foreground might be easy to solve, but what about our narrator? What purpose does the narrator serve in this situation, and besides that, who is he in the first place?

All reviews and opinions are welcome!

Reviews

[Bobby Garfield]

Well, I'm particularly bad at solving mysteries. I also don't get this Sherlock series everyone seems to be so mad about. But I enjoyed the story nonetheless because it was well-written, especially considering the fact that you are only 16. There were clever passages on fate and I liked the relatively simple, almost hard boiled style you have!

[Mister T.]

I'm glad you enjoyed it, Bobby! :)
Excuse me, what do you mean by 'hard boiled'? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?
But, anyways, thank you for taking out some of your precious time to review this story :)

[Orion]

Great story, very well thoughtout.

[Mister T.]

Thank you. :)

[Bobby Garfield]

I was thinking of hard-boiled fiction. This is a genre; often detective, police or crime stories in general and your style of writing reminded me of that. So, it is neither a good nor a bad thing in itself, but since I like hard boiled fiction it was meant as a compliment :)

[Mister T.]

Ah okay, I get it :) Sorry, English is not my first language.
Btw, you can just leave a comment below your own review, so you don't have to write another review :)

[MelissaAndres]

I love mysteries! They are the genre that I mainly read. I always want to see if I am smart enough to figure them out and I guess I'm not with this one. You have me stumped. Well written. You will have to reveal the answer soon!

[Mister T.]

Dear Melissa, I'll give you a bit of a hint: pen down the situation as the Numbers say it is. You'll find out that the order according to the Numbers is impossible. Maybe replace some Numbers here and there? I'm sure you can do it :)

[MelissaAndres]

Okay, I'll try. Never have been a whiz with numbers though. Haha!

[Mary Helda]

Wow..mystery huh!!!..i am about to message you..but this is a splendid story,you must have taken your time writing it because it seems like absolutely nothing is wrong with it....i really did enjoy reading it...

[Mister T.]

Glad you enjoyed it! :)
It indeed took me some time to write it, but it was definitely worth the time. Thank you for your kind words!

[Mary Helda]

you are welcome sweetie

[Lavorther]

Really interesting, I don't think I've ever seen a story like this on here before. It was well written, while at the same time delivering a puzzle. And I love puzzles :D

You also thought me a new word: tattletale. I hadn't heard it before, but I looked up its meaning. So, thank you for expanding my vocabulary.

There is a problem though, which is that there are two possible lairs, as far as I could see. If one of them is lying, while the other four speak the truth, there are no problems. But if the other one is lying while the rest speaks the truth, there aren't any problems either. Both seem to be a correct solution. I've messaged you which ones, as to not spoil it for others.

About the story itself, I noticed the site has replaces your dashes with apostrophes. This happened in these two sentences:
"I knew who " or what " these shadows were, unfortunately I did."
"The hand " once again " grabbed my shoulder, but this time it was not to support the body it was attached to " the hand blamed me."

There also was this sentence:
"I’m not your friend. I’ve never been. I’m not your friend. And I’ve never been."
The first two sentences are nearly identical to the second two. I would remove one pair.

[Mister T.]

Mmh.. Interesting as well. But, now that you've obtained some more information, try again ;)
Anyways, glad you enjoyed it :)
I'll fix these errors.

[Lavorther]

You've done a great job in making the statements clearer. This time I didn't encounter any problems, and I'm sure I've reached the right conclusion now.