Those are all still the same flowers though.

Do you think someone is leaving them behind as clues or threats? Dylan knows the flowers are related to Jerry (from what is seems anyway as they only really were on the funeral).
The girl has a lot of them, yeah. While she could leave the one at the door, not here on the table. Plus she seemed removed from the whole affair. If the ghost is leaving them for Dylan to find that also means the ghosts actually can manipulate with the reality.

Do you think someone is testing Dylan and wants him to slip?

Nah, different arrangements each time. The individual roses might be reoccurring, but the two bouquets are unique, I think.

Hmm, honestly I'm not sure.

If it's a clue, then clue to what? I don't think it's related to Dapper Jerry, and the other mysteries, what happened to Rob and what's Corey's deal seem irrelevant.

If it's a threat, then that may be more reasonable. If a black rose is a symbol of death, then it's effectively saying "You're dead, Dylan." Under that light, it might be Corey giving the roses, as he's implied to be a witness and the only one of note.

But… more food for thought…



This is the only guy who was present both times Dylan received a rose. Kinda hard to analyze since the dude's effectively an NPC.

Yep. My wording was bad but I meant that the kind of flower is the same. Flowers at the girl's house could be a coincidence since it is probably a common type of flowers on funerals but other than that, it is like someone is baiting Dylan. The flowers are not a part of his imagination.

I am not sure about a clue either. Just thinking aloud in case someone has a solid idea!

Agreed. He is sneaky. Maybe, maybe not. But something is probably going on with him. I THINK it is quite apparent more people are or were involved in the murder or what lead to it. Perhaps even more than Dylan who only proved to be a very convenient tool to execute it and that is it. Hm.

Hmm… that's the weird bit about this story. We know the who, why, how, when etc… yet somehow there's still a mystery.

If you're proposing that Jerry's murder was premeditated and that Dylan was effectively the gun… then that would suggest that the unknown caller who told Dylan to pick Jerry up was the one who set him up, as that was the act that set everything into motion.

But if we assume that, then you have to answer how the caller knew Dylan would take drastic action. The way Dylan narrated it, it sounded like it was a ton of bottled up emotions, not the sort of thing you readily share. Chris -might- have an inkling, but the jump from resentment to murder is pretty far. Plus, Dylan would have Chris's number.

That would also suggest that the caller is a witness… after rereading the archive… it's shaky but I think the caller might've been Robin Scott, or at least someone present to the altercation between Robin and Jerry.

So lets see if this holds water…

Rob meets Jerry, they get off extremely poorly. Corey is mysteriously absent and doesn't prevent the event from escalating. Rob gets Dylan's number and tells him to "come pick up your damn brother" at around 4:42AM.

Rob leaves the party and goes missing, but Jerry seems to think he's hiding somewhere and knows where to look.

Dylan murders Jerry.

Mmm… it seems, if anyone beyond Dylan is responsible, it might be Corey (via inaction?), or at least, whatever was put into motion that removed Corey from the picture and prevent him from stopping Jerry.

Awesome!
Since you have the tiny grey cells going let's see...

"somehow there's still a mystery"
As it should be! I remember the old tagline before the reboot. To paraphrase it: "Dylan killed Jeremy. Everything else is variable." Maybe it is still there somewhere and I am utterly blind, haha. Still, it was for the old version but it can still count.

"proposing that Jerry's murder was premeditated and that Dylan was effectively the gun"
Exactly what I am proposing BUT very carefully. There is not much to go with in regards to the hypothesis but since I doubt it is as easy as Dylan freaking out and killing Jerry... Yes. It is a strong possibility someone either set it up or used Dylan.

Realistically, nobody from school would probably harbor such strong hatred towards Jerry but this is fiction and Dylan already killed as a young adult. There could be someone twisted in the background just the same if not worse.

"a ton of bottled up emotions"
Yup. A perfect opportunity for that possible third party. Dylan hates his bro and is emotional. Make him boil over and then set it up. You get rid of Jeremy, stay clean and nobody would suspect Dylan. However, it is still risky to have have the gun out in the open so then slowly torture Dylan until he possibly admits to his crime. Perfect cover. Done.

Mind you, I am totally disregarding the ghosts for now which I should not but their origin and part is hard to guess for me at this moment.

I can agree with your little scenario. All fair points.
Hm...

It was Jeremy is dead. That's the only truth Dylan knows - everything else is variable. ;)

Huh… the tagline dodges the subject of the murderer? Interesting...

Thinking further on the issue of Rob being the caller… that still sound really reasonable to me, and explains the tone of the texts that Dylan received… but it then begs the question of who gave Rob Dylan's number. Whoever did that may be the gunman in our thought experiment. Unfortunately, as much as I like to suspect Corey here, he wasn't present to give Dylan his number.

Unfortunately, narrowing down who did give Rob Dylan's number is a bit difficult. Chris jumps to the top of the suspect list as Dylan's only friend, but the party was attended by classmates of Dylan and friends of Jeremy. It'd be very reasonable for any of them to have acquired Dylan's number via a group project or something similar. (On the subject of Chris, I still find it odd that he attended the funeral.) But on the subject of Chris, he does have an unexplored connection to Corey, which Jeremy thinks is new and uncharacteristic. It may not be unreasonable to assume that Chris was connected to the reason Corey did not attend the party if we assume that Jeremy's fight with him wasn't.

So right now, I suspect…

Rob was the texter.
Corey is a witness and may or may not have murdered Rob.
Someone at the party may be your gunman. Possibly Chris.
NPC is the black rose guy.
Chris might be responsible for Corey not attending the party.

As for the ghosts and roses, their significance is harder to pin down. Dapper Jerry seems like a manifestation of Dylan's guilt. Is he a hallucination or a demon? Likewise, is Jerry's posthumous presence the act of this comic's rules for ghosts, or was he summoned? Are the roses supernatural somehow or simply someone's idea of a symbolic threat? In either case, why is NPC dropping them off?

Awesome! I forgot how the tagline read and yeah, that is actually different. However, I do not know if that old tagline still applies here but probably since the story is the same with changes mostly elsewhere? Hm.

"Unfortunately, narrowing down who did give Rob Dylan's number is a bit difficult."
Though about it a bit and it is. But I agree with what you said. We cannot be sure HOW important that fact is IF we assume that is what happened. What is probably more important is that it happened so the question of having a number might just be that the guys had the number because... classmates.

Ya. I think the roses are real. As real as anything else so that is as much "real" as we can work with. Unfortunately, I do not have any clue and for now we can only assume what is real and what is not based on basic logic. The flowers seem to be there, the ghosts are ghosts...

I guess that's the silver lining to this scene!

If I finish the whole chapter completely, I'll probably throw in an extra page here and there!

I imagine he has one pair of boots and he never ties the laces. He is a shambolic young man.