Who Killed the Weekends? An Agatha Christie-Inspired Campus Mystery | By Lim Zhen Ping
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| by @charlottelkaix |
Friday evening.
The victim was alive and well, full of bright plans, promises of café runs, gaming marathons, maybe even a quick getaway back home. Students everywhere toasted the weekend with bubble tea and relief.
But by Sunday night, the weekends were gone. Murdered.
The case was baffling, but the suspects? All too familiar.
The Crime Scene
The victim: Two short days of freedom, cut down in their prime.
The witnesses: Students, bleary-eyed, clutching coffee on Monday morning, swearing they’d only blinked.
The detective: You, dear reader, are summoned to uncover the culprits and solve the mystery before the next weekend vanishes too.
Case File #1: Assignments (AKA The Silent Assassin)
They don’t storm in dramatically. No, assignments prefer subtlety. A lurking presence in your To-Do List. They whisper: “It’s just 200 words each section. Only a few pages.”
One moment, you’re starting a simple draft. Next, you’re knee-deep in references, adjusting margins, and googling “Harvard referencing style” for the twentieth time.
By the time you look up, the whole Saturday has vanished.
Motive: To rob you of free time in the name of productivity.
Alibi: “I’m literally your future job prospect.”
Case File #2: Club Meetings (AKA The Social Charmer)
They smile and wave, inviting you into the warmth of a community. “It’ll only be an hour,” they promise.
Except that hour turns into a brainstorming session, rehearsal, and spontaneous mamak dinner run. Before you know it, your day has been swallowed whole.
But unlike the cold-blooded Assignments, Club Meetings steal your time with laughter, new ideas, and inside jokes you didn’t know you needed.
Motive: To consume your schedule under the guise of friendship.
Alibi: “At least you got free food and a new friend’s Instagram handle.”
Case File #3: Part-Time Jobs (AKA The Necessary Evil)
Not the most cunning, but perhaps the most relentless. The Saturday shift that eats away your golden hours also keeps your wallet alive. It’s not glamorous, but it’s survival.
Motive: To trade your weekend freedom for rent, food, and that overpriced oat milk and matcha latte habit.
Alibi: “Would you rather starve and live under a bridge?”
Case File #4: Netflix Binges (AKA The Siren)
The most suspicious of all. Netflix doesn’t hide its intent. It lures you in openly: “Next episode plays in 5…4…3…”
You surrender, thinking, “Just one more.” But “just one more” becomes the entire season. Suddenly, you’ve gained encyclopedic knowledge of fictional characters’ love triangles but lost an entire Sunday.
Motive: To entertain, distract, and comfort.
Alibi: “You deserved a break. Besides, now you’re culturally relevant.”
Case File #5: Sleep (AKA The Double Agent)
Ah, sleep. A curious suspect. At once saviour and thief. It promises restoration, but sometimes it swallows your Saturday and Sunday mornings whole, leaving you groggy and guilty at noon.
Motive: To heal your overworked brain.
Alibi: “Don’t you dare accuse me. You literally need me.”
The Interrogation
Assignments insist they’re innocent: “If you managed your time, I’d never get the chance!”
Clubs swear they mean well: “We’re not stealing time, we’re building and strengthening relationship bonds!”
Jobs shrug unapologetically: “You signed the contract.”
Netflix refuses to speak, still buffering.
Sleep smirks: “Without me, you’d collapse.”
Each suspect has a motive. Each suspect had access. Each one left evidence behind: Google Docs, meeting minutes, payslips, snack wrappers, and the eternal comfort of a pillow.
The Twist Ending
You gather everyone for the dramatic reveal.
And the truth emerges: it wasn’t one suspect. It was all of them. Together.
Assignments chipped away hours. Clubs spirited away afternoons. Jobs claimed entire days. Netflix and Sleep did the “rest”. Piece by piece, they carved away at the weekend until it was gone.
But like any good Christie tale, the story isn’t quite so simple.
Because here’s the twist you didn’t see coming: maybe the weekend wasn’t murdered at all.
Assignments nudged us closer to our future.
Clubs gave us community and belonging.
Jobs gave us independence.
Netflix gave us comfort when we needed it.
Sleep gave us sanity to keep going.
The weekend didn’t vanish, but transformed. From a block of “free time” into a messy patchwork of things that, in their own ways, keep us alive, connected, and growing.
Case Closed — Or Maybe Not
Sure, the weekend still feels too short. It always will. But perhaps that’s only because we’re cramming so much life into it.
Final Verdict: The weekend wasn’t killed. It just changed its identity.
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