Lies #4: Victim

Chapter 3

The backstage area was void of any and all life. Not a single person was sitting or standing around waiting for the group's return. Of course, the room was completely trashed. The beverage table was flipped over, beer spilled all over and red plastic cups scattered across the wooden floor. Chairs were broken, open boxes were tipped over with their contents cascaded everywhere. Where did everyone go? Roman stepped over a broken vase- where did this come from? Who broke this vase?- and made his way over to Olaf's and Samantha's table. There was a small puddle of wet blood on it, in the spot where Olaf would've been sitting in front of. That can't be good. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that Remus was licking beer off the floor. It would've made him puke if he hadn't seen Remus do things similar to it before. He simply sighed and turned back around to look for more clues. What could've possibly happened here? Did Valerie come back and attack someone? Could there be another explanation for this? But wasn't she trying to escape? Why would she come back?

As he was heading towards the other side of the backstage, Roman tripped over a protruding cable and landed on his hands and knees. Ouch! With his arms and legs now aching from the impact, he stood back up and looked around. There wasn't much on this side of the stage except for a tall wall of boxes with a large gap between it and the actual wall. He moseyed over to them and peeked behind it. "Holy shit!" he yelped in horror and surprise, falling backwards onto the ground. Jesus Christ superstar! Out of all the things he'd expected to find, he had not expected to see... that. I can't believe this is happening.

"What's up?" Remus came over, the shock from that man's death completely gone. In fact, he seemed even happier and excited than he was before Delores was killed. The fingers of each of his hands were rubbing against one another, and his steps were light. Roman pointed to the boxes and Remus snorted. "What, are you afraid they'll fall and crush you? Ooh, that would be fun to watch! I'd get to take that deodorant you ate this morning from your stomach for a snack!" He laughed, but Roman felt extremely disturbed. Okay, that was even stranger than usual. Remus could say weird things at times, but dissecting his own brother after watching him die just to eat some deodorant? I don't think he's okay. Maybe the death of that man had affected Remus even more deeply than Roman had previously thought. Roman shook his head, "Look behind it. You won't believe it."

Remus rolled his eyes and made his way over, poking his head behind the boxes. He then let out a laugh. "Oh dear, looks like somebody got carried away. What should we do with the body? Put it with the other one? Boy are the police going to have a field trip today! I can't imagine all the paperwork somebody's gonna have to do. Two murders and at least one murderer- a prime example of how fucked-up the world has become!" He grabbed the foot of the body and dragged it out, Olaf's head falling to the side as it scraped against the floorboards. Roman put a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from puking. If he hadn't been alarmed before, he certainly was now. What the fuck is wrong with Remus!? None of this was making sense. Yes, Remus had an issue with following social norms, but this was getting ridiculous. He acted like this that night. Roman shivered, his other hand lightly touching his neck. Remus is insane and it's all my fault.

Once Olaf had been thrown on top of Delores, Remus sat down on the floor and started picking at his nails. "Alright, so we know that the old snowman is dead. What about everyone else? We should probably look for them and find the culprit, right? Wouldn't want the police to think we did it, now do we?"

He's so calm about all of this. The murders don't bother him anymore. He directly verbally abused me. He slapped me. None of this is right. Why is he acting out so much? Usually, he's subtle about everything. But now it's like he just doesn't care. The murders must've really messed with his brain. But he was already fucked-up because of me. This is my fault. I was the one who did this to him. Whatever he does to me next, I deserve it. I deserve everything he plans to do and more. My God, he's chewing on his nails, I can't imagine being that fucked-up.