Bottle 11: The Final Clue

The group gathered in the living room once more, the note from the duffle bag placed carefully on the coffee table. The fire had burned down to embers, casting flickering shadows that danced across their faces. Abby read the note aloud, her voice steady but tense.

"Seven friends gathered together for a night of horror”

Abby paused, her eyes scanning the page. "Everything you need to know is in the bottles. Trust the wine."

"Trust the wine?" Eve repeated, her tone incredulous. "What the hell does that mean? Trust that Sara is a psycho?”

“Hey!!” Sara shouted back. “Trust that he knows what you did!”

“And what do you think I did?” Eve was immediately interrupted.

“Shut it ladies!” Abby set the note down, her mind racing. "Trust the wine. If there is a clue, this must be it, right?"

Traci leaned forward; her gaze fixed on the scratched bottles they’d found earlier. "I know what you did Eve. Sara is a psycho, and Abby is a cat person.”

Eve hesitated. "None of this makes sense. Like, what in the hell does Abby liking cats have to do with wine or the murder?"

Abby nodded. "Maybe we should see what was also delivered?”

“The crate!” Traci said excitedly.

The group bundled up against the cold, stepping outside into the biting night air. The box on the front porch of the lake house, the beam of their flashlights cutting through the darkness. Every creak of the wood underfoot sent shivers down their spines.

"This is insane," Sara muttered, pulling her jacket tighter around herself. "What are we even looking for?"

"We’ll know when we find it," Abby replied, though she wasn’t entirely sure she believed it.

After what felt like forever, the group re-entered the house. They placed the large wooden crate on the floor of the foyer. Abby stepped forward cautiously, pulling away the label only to reveal a carved insignia of a wine bottle.

"This is it," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

She pried the crate open, revealing a collection of bottles, each marked with a single word.