Slenderverse One-shots

Wrong Place, Wrong Time ⊗ MH

A03 request: Pre-Marble Hornets where Jay finds Brian's body and Tim finds him holding the murder weapon, which makes him think Jay did it.

Jay wandered the halls of the abandoned building nervously. The place gave him a creepy vibe but he couldn't leave, not without finding Brian or Alex. The two had come to film a scene for Alex's student film—something about this being the character Brian's burned out school—and today he was supposed to be meeting them here to go over script revisions for the scene. Yet... neither of them had followed up nor were they answering his messages and none of the other crew members had heard anything either. So here he was, wandering in a building with peeling paint that was covered in graffiti.

"Alex? Brian?" His voice echoed as he called out for them, hoping they were just in another part of the building.

Silence. He swallowed and continued going. There was no reason to be scared. It wasn't like he was searching the place in the dark. Still, the further in he went the more noticeable a lingering smell became. It grew, overwhelming the scent of mildew, dead leaves, and probably asbestos. Jay's nose wrinkled and he covered it with the sleeve of his brown jacket. Something was rotting, likely a dead animal given the forest that surrounded this place. A gag escaped him.

Jay was so preoccupied that he jumped as metal clattered across the dirty floor. He looked down, swearing his heart stopped as he saw the metal pipe with what looked like dried blood on the end. A shuddering breath escaped him as he shakily reached down and picked it up. A few drops of blood trailed the ground and he cautiously followed them, aware this was probably the worst choice he could be making. At least now he had the pipe to defend himself.

The stench grew stronger as he followed the splatters into one of the rooms. The makeshift weapon nearly dropped from his hand. Jay's vision became blurred upon seeing the figure slumped on the ground as tears welled in his eyes. Brian. The man's face was covered in drying blood and his hair was stained a dark rusty color with it. His throat felt dry as he walked over and crouched down, hesitantly reaching a hand out to close his friend's eyes.

"What happened? Who could've done this—Why would someone do this? Did they get Alex? Oh fuck... Fuck, what if he's dead in one of these rooms too?" He stood, knowing he should try to look and hoping he might be able to save Alex... Even if the guy had been getting snippy with them lately, they were still friends.

Footsteps crunched outside on fallen pieces of paint and drywall. Jay's heart began pounding even faster, his grip on the pipe tightening. The idea that the killer might still be in the building had barely crossed his mind amidst the panic of finding Brian's corpse. And now, he was trapped in a small room. Jay's mind raced, reminding him of all the things he had yet to do; he didn't want to die. Not here. Not now. Not where no one would ever think to look for him.

***

Tim froze as he turned into the room he'd heard scuffling sounds coming from. He was hoping to find Brian, given he'd gotten concerned after Jay contacted everyone asking if they'd heard from him. The man hadn't expected to find his best friend dead with Jay standing over the body. He froze for a moment, his brain trying to process what he was seeing. It wasn't, it couldn't be, possible.

"No... No, no, no, no, no!" The word kept repeating in his mind.

He felt like something snapped inside of him as Jay took a half step forward. "Tim I—"

There was a crack as his fist made contact with the taller man's nose, causing Jay's head to whip to the side. He barely allowed the man to stumble back before ramming him against the wall, sending another punch to Jay's gut. The thin man doubled over just as Tim grabbed a fist full of his hair and threw him to the side, sending Jay to the ground.

Jay stared at him, fear reflected in his wide gaze. He curled in on himself as Tim sent a heavy kick to his ribs, his voice snarling with rage. "You fucking asshole! He was our friend."

"Tim please..." Jay coughed, desperately trying to shield himself.

"You killed him." The accusation was final and un-open to listening to reason.

His head felt like it was buzzing at this point. His action felt less and less like his own with each blow he rained down on Jay. The haze of anger clouded his rationale. He knew deep down he shouldn't kill Jay, that it wouldn't do Brian any good, but he couldn't think through the fog to process just how much damage he was doing.

Tiring, his blows weakened and slowed to a stop. Tim blinked, feeling the static rising from his mind to find he was straddling Jay; his fists were covered with the other man's blood, which was also smeared across Jay's face. He panted and continued staring at the script supervisor, watching the blood drip onto the floor.

"Oh shit...!" Panic flooded through him when he saw Jay lying limp on the floor. Had he killed him? He hadn't meant to take it that far.

The guilt continued to rise as he scrambled off the man and back onto his feet, his eyes darting around the room as if expecting someone to be watching. His gaze fell back to Brian and the pipe. Tim let out a stuttering breath, feeling sick. The body wasn't far in decomposition but it definitely wasn't new enough for Jay to have killed him recently. Had he been wrong?

"Oh fuck, what did I do?" He glanced down at Jay before running out, he didn't want to know if he'd killed the man or if he was just unconscious. This never should have happened; he never should have taken Alex here. Maybe then they'd still be alive.

The hospital was already a place full of bad memories for him and now there was this to pile on there. He grabbed his head and collapsed to his knees in the hallway. His head was pounding and the stress brought on by the grief and fight made him feel sick. Tim gave a choked sob. His life had been getting better; he'd gotten into college, made friends, was keeping up with doctor visits and medications... All of it felt like it was crumbling down around him.

Finally finding the strength to stand, he forced himself to return to the room. He crouched next to Jay, reaching a shaky hand out to his throat... A long breath escaped as he felt a pulse. Tim hadn't wanted to become a murderer. Still, he didn't know the whole story here. He picked Jay up; he could take the man to a hospital... and then he'd leave. Where, he wasn't sure. Just away from this mess. Alex's film was falling apart anyway. He needed time to process losing his closest friend and solve his own problems.