Lies #4: Victim

Chapter 6

The tears just wouldn't stop. They flooded down Roman's face, wetting his hands and falling to the wooden floor beneath him. It was impossible to feel anything but the guilt, the agony from what he'd done. His poor brother- what was going on in his mind? What had caused Remus to do something like this? I should have listened to him more, maybe he was dealing with something and I didn't notice because I'm too self-absorbed? That had to be it- yes, it was his fault. It couldn't have been Remus's fault. I'm the one in the wrong. He deserves so much better than me as a brother. Roman was the reason for the murders today, not anybody else. He wasn't going to make excuses for himself. If I had just loved him, none of this would've happened.

"Hey," a hand set itself onto his shoulder. "You okay, Roman?" It was Terrence. He crouched down to Roman's level and looked up at his face, but Roman refused to look back at him. "What's wrong, man?" He wouldn't understand. I don't deserve to admit what I'm feeling right now. I deserve to feel this way. When Roman didn't respond, Terrence sighed and stood back up, flashing a glance at Valerie. "What happened to you guys?"

"Well," Valerie sat down on one of the lined-up chairs, the light bulbs casting strange shadows on her face. "Roman's brother killed that other guy, so I took off. Seems like Roman found him and believed him when he said I was the murderer. I found them on the stage over Dilara's dead body and we managed to escape. Do you know anything about that?"

Terrence blinked and then shook his head, "No? Roman, did you and Remus kill him?"

Roman glared at him through misty eyes, "Of course not. It must've been somebody else. What're you doing here, anyways? I don't remember giving you a tracking device to find us." He wiped the tears from his face, cracking the whip down on himself. You don't deserve to cry. Terrence shrugged, "I knew that Valerie was innocent, so after everyone went their separate ways, I went to find her. I found that dead guy and didn't know where to go, so I just started wandering. I heard voices from in here, and you know the rest." He thought for a moment before continuing. "I guess we can just stay here until the cops show up. Anyone that runs away is going to be a prime subject for their investigation, and you both can provide evidence against Remus. We don't wanna get arrested for doing nothing. Or is there something else that I'm forgetting?" After a moment's hesitation, he shook his head. "Nope, I don't think so."

"There is," Roman sat up, the last of his tears fading. "Not only do the others not know about Remus, but there's another murderer running around. Remus couldn't have killed Dilara, he was across the building with me. Nobody else knows that, though- the killer could be anyone. We have to warn them. Also, staying here could just end up with getting us killed if we're found. Staying in one place is a bad idea- Remus will definitely be on the move to find more people."

"How do you know that?" Valerie narrowed her eyes. "You sound like you've been through this before."

Shaking his head, Roman stood up and went over to the door. "I just know my brother. Now that he's actually killed someone, I don't think he's going to stop. He's always been disturbed- I just didn't think it could possibly get this far." But it did because I pushed him so far. If I hadn't said all those things, he would still be okay. He would be happy. He wouldn't be a murderer! The guilt resurfaced, but he refused to dwell on it. I need to make sure nobody suffers because of my past actions. Since Roman was the one who caused this situation, he was going to be the one to fix it. And if we run into Remus... To protect these people, he would do what needed to be done. Capturing him and handing him over to the police was the best thing to do, although he felt horrible about it. He was the one who created what Remus had become, and yet Remus was going to pay the price for it.

"Look," Terrence bit his lip nervously, "I get what you're saying, but right now? I'm kinda worried about our safety, not anyone else's. I don't want to do any self-sacrificial shit. There's a psychopath out there- no, two psychopaths- and we could run into either one! If we stay in here and hear someone coming, at least we can hide."