You're onto something but are we sure that OP never touched the knife? If he did, even with Serges finger prints on it, Serge could spin it around and say either that it was his knife but that 1) he handed it to OP earlier because OP wanted to check it out, or 2) it was on the table and OP grabbed it.

Do we know when OP called the cops? I doubt he ran straight to the police. Most likely he went home, probably told his family what happened or even tried to get them to come with him to the car so they could leave town ASAP. When in danger you always think of the people you need to protect first. It's rare that people remain focused and logical during these situations. But if he did go to the police immediately, it's still important that they actually did draw blood to determine that the drug was in his system at the moment of his confession. If they didn't, there's no proof, and it might be too late to have it tested now. Their best bet is to get a strand of hair tested because drugs can usually be detected in hair far longer than blood or saliva.

The amount of deaths Serge committed to isn't alarming and wouldn't raise eyebrows unless OP was able to give a detailed description of them. Such as exact time and location, and what the victims looked like.

Not necessarily. Right now OP is the only person connecting Serge to the crime. He is the only witness. If he dies, Serge has an opportunity to spin it around and claim that it was OP who killed Paul. OP's motive? Self defense, because Paul attacked him because he thought he was sleeping with Jess. Serge can then claim that he himself was the only witness and that OP tried to frame him, but got cold feet and then commited suicide out of guilt. Jess can probably verify that Paul suspected that she was having an affair with OP, which makes the lie very believable.

Put up a flyer somewhere/put it in mailboxes telling people to call you if they have memories of people who no longer exist. That way you can figure out if this is something that's happened to others as well or if the only disappearances are related to people you are close with.

If it's the first then hopefully you'll have a handful of people out there to work with to solve all of this. If it's the latter then at least you'll know that it's about you. You are the target here, for whatever reason. In that case it's pretty simple: cut ties with people, and they won't be forgotten by others, only you.

I bet there are other people out there experiencing the same thing, though. After all, young children have had "imaginary friends" since forever, right? It's a concept so common that nobody bats an eye. But what if those friends aren't imaginary? Just forgotten, like yours?

There's nothing you could have done. Basile most likely though it was his bad luck that caused his father's accident. That if he hadn't been on the phone with his father that day, his father would still have been alive. This kid was carrying an enormous guilt on his shoulders.

That's why, with Quentin, he saw a second chance. Here was this kid who had survived death, and Basile saw an opportunity to protect him from further harm. He couldn't protect his father, who lost his life (there's your -1), but with Quentin surviving he was given a chance to keep another person alive and safe (+1). In Basile's mind it was probably as bizarre as this:

one must die for another to live. So because his father lost his life, death would allow another person (Quentin) to survive what might have otherwise killed him.

Either that, or he thought that his father's soul might have somehow ended up in Quentin, and that this was his "second chance".

Either way, I think that in Basile's mind the two accidents were connected.

He most likely suffered from a combination of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD, common in trauma victims) and schizophrenia. The latter causing him to hear voices and seeing things, the first causing him to zone out of reality, get stuck in his own head and suffer from nightmares. He would make up a world in his head where his father was still alive, and Quentin could still walk. A "what might have been" world, and he would feed off of those false memories, laugh and smile, even though he knew it wasn't real and would never happen.

Schizophrenia might also explain his personality change (attacking you, saying nasty things). He most likely had a voice in his head taking control over him in those moments, guiding him and telling him what to do.

The dark figure holding him by the throat in the drawing could possibly be that voice. It could also be that it was just a manifestation of how he was fighting guilt or reality (emptiness/darkness).

At least that's my take on it. I could be wrong.

>It was a heart. It looked like it had been torn out of a small animal. Dark liquid pooled at the corners of the container, and I fought the urge to vomit.

.... Better go check if your dog's okay.

You're a mirror, aren't you?

Child molesters. Serial killers. Rapists. The school bully. Animal abusers. The world is full of bad people. People that, as long as they remain alive, cause pain and suffering to innocent lives. No sane person would want to murder people just to stay alive, you say. Are you sure?

If you could save innocent lives by taking out the bad guys and in return live for hundreds of years, wouldn't you be tempted? Wouldn't you want to? In a sane world people wouldn't ruin other people's lives. But the world isn't sane. It hasn't been for a very long time, if it ever was.

In the end, it's all about your perspective. A monster, or a hero. Either way, lives are changed forever.