Why does Huck have to pretend that he was "murder"?

mean murdered

It all starts out as a game to Huck, but later becomes all too real as Jim has been accused of the "murder," and Jim is the one person that Huck is trying to help. When Huck ran away, he did it to escape Pap's constant abuse. He faked his own death so that he wouldn't have to go back. By the time he found Jim, people had already accused the runaway slave of his murder...... it's a very large, vicious circle.