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Something Was Off About My Freshman Roommate – Part Three & Epilogue



Estimated reading time — 7 minutes

To read about the horrific events caused by my freshmen roommate leading up to this, click here for the beginning and here for the 2nd part.

Had I been thinking clearly, I would have made sure that Andrea didn’t see the pictures that “Zach” left me on his iPod. But, by the time I looked up from crying, she was already viewing the images, a look of shocked horror on her face.

She asks, “Eric, what kind of monster is this?”
“He’s a psychotic killer. And I think he’s out to get me because I found out his secret. I know that he’s the one that killed the real Zach and he’s trying to stop me before I can go to the police.”
Just then, my cell phone rings. I’m surprised to see that it’s my mother who is calling. My mom never calls me this late at night…
“Hello? Mom?”
“Eric, honey, I think you better come home tonight.” Her voice sounds strained.
Starting to panic, I ask, “Mom, are you ok? What’s going on?”
“Eric, just, please come home. Your father and I need to see you.” And with that she hangs up.
I’m gripped with fear that “Zach” has somehow found his way to my parents’ house. I don’t know if he is playing a sick game, but I need to make sure my parents are safe.
“Andrea, I’ve got to go home to check on my parents. You need to go somewhere safe. Go to your parents’ place. He shouldn’t know where that is. I’ll call you when I can. Then we can go to the police.”
“Eric, I don’t want to go alone,” she retorts.
“You gotta trust me. I think “Zach” might have my parents and I don’t want you anywhere near there. Just go home as fast as you can. You’ll be safe at home with your folks.”

My mind is racing during the drive home. How could all this be happening so fast? Zach _________ was just a name on a roommate info card 8 days ago and now his killer has pretended to be him while living with me, stalked my girlfriend, killed my friend, and is now terrorizing my parents.
It’s very late when I pull into our cul-de-sac. I’m immediately shocked to see police cars with flashing lights all around my house. Could my parents have somehow contacted the police? Maybe they’ve already captured “Zach.”

I park the car and sprint toward my house. After a few seconds I hear someone yell, “There he is! Someone grab him!”
I start looking around anxiously, hoping to identify “Zach” as he’s trying to dash away. All of a sudden, the wind is knocked from me and my vision blurs. I’ve been slammed to the ground.
“What the hell!?! Get off of me! What’s going on?” I can feel my arms being twisted behind my back and I feel cuffs locking.
“Eric, you are under the arrest for the murder of Zach _________. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do will be used—“
“What are you talking about?! I didn’t kill him!” I scream. “My roommate at DePauw has been pretending to be Zach, but he’s the murderer! I can help you catch him!”
I continue to try to make the police officer understand, but he continues to escort me into my house where I see my parents sitting at the kitchen table. They look distraught and pained when they see me walk in.
“Mom? Dad? Are you guys ok? Did my roommate try to hurt you? Was he here?!” I anxiously ask.
“Eric…” my mom starts to say.
“Mom, the cops are making a mistake. They should be arresting the guy that’s been my roommate at DePauw. He’s been pretending to be my real roommate, but he murdered him! And he killed Joel!”
“Eric,” she starts again quietly. “They found something in your room…”
A large police sergeant comes over to me. “Eric, I’m Sergeant Rosado. We received a tip tonight that you might be responsible for the murder of Zach _________ two weeks ago.”
“What?!?” I yell incredulously. “That’s ludicrous. My roommate killed Zach! Who told you it was me?”
“The caller identified himself as a friend of yours from school,” responds the Sergeant. “He said you were acting strange and thought it had something to do with the death of Zach.”
“But… that doesn’t make sense…”
“We weren’t convinced either. That is until we came here and found this under your bed.”
As he said this, another cop brought in a duffle bag, the same duffle bag that had been sitting on the floor of my dorm room for the past week. “Zach’s” duffle bag.
“Does this look familiar?” As he opens the bag I can see a small cooler inside. He flips open the lid to reveal human organs and ice. A heart, a liver, and a few others.
Stunned, I blurt out, “This is crazy! I’m being set up! My roommate is framing me for the murder that he committed! Ask anyone on my floor at school. They’ll all tell you how strange he’s been acting all week! Call Andrea. She’ll tell you how he’s been leaving origami flowers in her room! He’s framing me somehow! I didn’t do this!” Tears begin to stream down my face.
“Son,” Sergeant Rosada says. “You’re going to need to come with us tonight.”

As they walk me out of the house and to a squad car, I can hear my father ask the sergeant if it’s possible that I’m telling the truth. Is it possible that my roommate is framing me? I hear the sergeant respond that they’d look into it, but that it’s very unlikely.
I spend a long, sleepless night in a holding cell at the police station. A few times I try to plead with the officer on duty to talk to my friends at DePauw. I tell him to ask them about the guy that I’ve been sharing a room with. He just ignores me.
Late the next morning, I’m taken to an interrogation room. Sergeant Rosado walks in holding a manila folder and sits down.

“Eric, can you tell me, in detail, about this person who has been your roommate this past week?” he asks.

So, I tell him all about my roommate “Zach.” I tell him about all the weird things that he did that week: the staring out the window, the sleeping without bed sheets, the late night walks, and the creepily staring at me while I slept at night. I then go into detail about what happened the day before, starting with my discovery of the news article revealing that the real Zach had been murdered two weeks ago. I share about meeting with Joel after class and then having him to go to the police while I went to check on Andrea because I thought “Zach” was after her. And finally, I explain to him about driving down to Andrea’s and finding out “Zach” had been coming there at night and how we found an origami flower and iPod with the images of the murdered Joel on it that had been left by the door while we talked.

“So you have to stop him. He killed the real Zach and he killed Joel yesterday.”

Sergeant Rosado just stares at me and sighs. “Eric, we went up to your dorm room this morning to verify your story. We found this.” With that he opens the manila folder to reveal a set of photographs. The pictures show the same scene that I saw on the iPod that “Zach” left me. But the police photos were taken further back to reveal that Joel was killed and placed into my bed in my dorm room. I stare at them in shock.

“He killed Joel in my room… These are just like the pictures that he left for me on the Ipod—“
“An iPod that only has your and Andrea’s fingerprints on it.”
I pause. “I’m not sure I follow…”
He continued, “Don’t you find it peculiar that there is nothing on the other bed in your dorm room?
Isn’t it strange that your roommate doesn’t have any clothes or personal possessions?”
“That’s what I’ve been saying!” I scream. “He’s always been super weird. He’s a psychopath!”

“Eric,” he calmly says. “We talked to the other people that live on your floor. No one has ever seen or heard of this roommate of yours. The teachers say they’ve never had this ‘Zach’ in any of their classes. Eric, you’ve been living alone for the past week. You never had a roommate.”

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EPILOGUE

The hearing and the trial went by in a blur for me. I was tried and convicted for the murders of both Zach and Joel. Additionally, they are currently trying to link me to two similar unresolved murders that happened in the past month, all in Indiana.

I never got to speak to Andrea again and I only saw her once during the whole process. It was when she testified on the stand about her relationship with me and about what happened to her that fateful week. She only looked at me once and I could see the revulsion and fear on her face.

It didn’t make sense! I don’t remember doing any of these things. I pleaded with them that I was framed and that if Joel were still alive, he could confirm meeting my roommate, the real killer. He knew how crazy “Zach” was and he helped me figure everything out. The prosecuting lawyer said it was awfully convenient that the only other person who had seen or spoken to my supposed “roommate” was now dead.

After the trial, they put me in a prison for the criminally insane. They said I have dissociative personality disorder; that’s why I don’t remember killing anyone. I’ve been here for months now and I’ve been told this so often that I’m starting to believe that maybe they’re right. Maybe I did kill those people…

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This morning, I received a letter. A rare surprise in this hellhole. I opened it up to see a folded origami flower and picture. On the flower was written a note in handwriting that I immediately recognized:

She looks so peaceful when she sleeps, Eric. I envy that.

The picture was the photograph of Andrea that was taken from my nightstand.

Credit To – legendaryhero27

This is the last entry in a small miniseries that was posted in three parts. For the prior two entries, you may visit the links at the start of the post or track the Freshman Roommate Series tag to see all three posts.

This story first appeared on reddit’s /nosleep/ board and is being hosted here with permission from the original author.

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Copyright Statement: Unless explicitly stated, all stories published on Creepypasta.com are the property of (and under copyright to) their respective authors, and may not be narrated or performed under any circumstance.

74 thoughts on “Something Was Off About My Freshman Roommate – Part Three & Epilogue”

    1. It’s proof that he was assigned a roommate, but the actual Zach was said to be murdered 2 weeks before the start of school. The info card was sent before that.

  1. DUN DUN DUN! HOLY SHITCRACKER I WAS TOTALLY RIGHT THE ENDING WAS THE BEST PART I’M DEFINITELY FAVORITING THIS ONE K BAI

  2. Jane The Killer

    The ending made me mad! Like it was good and all but it makes me mad how he got framed and I feel horoible for him!! I would have liked it better if he didn’t get framed but it was good.

  3. SandMan:
    I found it frustrating, however, that once he had convinced himself that he was, in fact, “dissociative” and that why he didn’t remember the murders. After the letter, it didn’t scare me, it only made me feel bad for him.

    Tht just made me sad

  4. A great pasta that kept me on the edge of my sit….with a less than great ending. Ending was typical and seemed rushed.

  5. And here I thought this was going to be reminiscent of Arthur Morrison’s “The Thing in the Upper Room.”

    Boy, was I wrong.

  6. Man this story made me so angry. That killer is such a dickhead, even more dickish than any other killer

  7. This was a great creepypasta and I enjoyed reading it very much! The only thing I have to say about this is that when Eric finds out that Joel was murdered he didn’t have hardly any reaction at all which kinda seemed odd but overall a great pasta and I will definitely recommend this to friends! I hope to be seeing more creepypasta from you sir! or miss whoever you may be:)

  8. She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named

    He should tip off the police and then watch them take back everything they said. At least he’ll be free now…

  9. The twist at the end may have saved the story from total failure.

    I just hated the use of the origami (Heavy Rain). How can an author write up a relatively imaginative story then steal elements from a video game. It takes the story from a 8/10 to about a 6/10 for me. Originality should be key to these stories.

    I am probably being fussy but it just disappoints me to see someone take a fairly decent idea and just ruin it.

  10. Am I the only one who is bothered by the fact that no matter which interpretation of the ending you go with the story still really doesn’t make sense in context with it?

  11. I think there should be a second story to this one, a second trilogy that centers around Andrea as the main character.
    All in all, this entire pasta was delicious!

  12. This is actually how most crimes are solved, find the person with the most contact with the crime scenes and that are linked to the victims. Storys like this are the reason why I refuse to complain about successful criminal lawyers. Yeah its a made up story but there is no way I would want this to happen to me.

  13. Idk good plot but just so many stupid things.. I know it’s a story and all but he could have called the cops as soon as he had an idea and have them go to Andreas and what not.. And why would his girlfriend testify against him unless it was true? And with the letter he could show someone and he would be practically provedinnocent right there.. Idk so many plot holes that ruined it for me but I guess it was an all around good idea..

  14. Idk good plot but just so many stupid things.. I know it’s a story and all but he could have called the cops as soon as he had an idea and have them go to Andreas and what not.. And why would his girlfriend testify against him unless it was true? And with the letter he could show someone and he would be practically provedinnocent right there.. Idk so many plot holes that ruined it for me but I guess it was an all around good idea..

    1. I think the point was that Eric tried to hedge his bet by sending his friend to talk to the cops in person while he made sure Andrea was safe.

      And then showing people the letter is irrelevant. He could and probably will do that, but by then it’s implied that it will be too late for Andrea.

  15. I hadnt liked this pasta so far. Too common too silly too teenage hero. But that was an awesome ending, contratulations, I liked it.

    1. I liked the final part of the story too, it was surprisingly good. The plot twist with Eric being the psycho was pretty unpredictable for me. And what’s also great is that the author did not waste time giving too many descriptions of places, events and feelings. Deserves 10/10.

  16. At first I thought this series was going to be really good but I feel slightly disappointed by the ending.
    Also the police would never release details like “our only lead is a single origami flower” and since the original murder was in another state I’m pretty sure an alibi would have been easy to come by. I don’t know how prisons work over there either, but here prisoners are allowed visitors while on trial too. These inaccuracies just made me feel like the story was trying too hard to wrap itself up and so didn’t end the way it deserved.
    Everything else was brilliant though, I was sucked in from the start, overall a very well written pasta.

    1. The first murder wasn’t in another state. Everything took place in Indiana. How does having visits in prison make a difference?

      1. You’re right, my mistake, I’m not that good with American geography.

        And it makes a difference because “I never got to speak to Andrea again” the whole impact of the ending relies on the protagonists life being completely sabotaged, now I don’t know about you but if my partner was arrested I’m pretty sure I’d visit and give them a chance to explain themselves before I decided I feared and hated them. It just spoiled the effect for me, if a better explanation had been given for just one or two details then maybe it wouldn’t have seemed so rushed and the ending would have held up to the quality of the rest of the pasta.

        1. You have to remember that “Zach” also wanted to kill Andrea so if they let him see her there’s the possibility that he could have killed her

        2. With what, handcuffs? And you can’t kill someone when you’re talking with a f*cking wall of glass between you, unless you have powers that is.

          And you’re not thinking about how “Andrea” might have felt. She’s informed that the partner she trusted so much is the killer of someone whos mutilated pictures she’s seen. I don’t suppose any sane woman can bear to go near someone like that.

  17. ABSOLUTELY EPIC! I have to agree with the above posts though that more to this story would be awesome. Leaving it as is does have its merit though. Leaving it open ended like that leaves us as readers to create whatever we choose. Keep up the good work!

  18. Hey!

    The awaited conclusion! I think another important thing for murderpastas is their conclusion – with any creepy, but especially with any thriller or murders. Someone has to be responsible, has to have a reason to be responsible and the plot must resolve itself in a timely manner. It doesn’t need to be resolved entirely, especially since it’s a creepy, but the explanation and motives for the killer must not feel like a cop-out.
    Without this, the killer again threatens to cross into the unbelievable, and the whole story feels like a cheap exercise in tension or worse, just an excuse to kill characters horribly.

    IMO this pasta’s conclusion was well done, doubling as an unexpected twist. The setup was laid out since the beginning, but the ambiguity was such that we the readers couldn’t cross out any possibilities since there are a lot of ‘red herrings’; sure, ‘Zach’ only had a duffel bag and an Ipod going for him, but he had a personality that suggested his reality. For me, the Eric’s reaction was the highlight, acting very believably in the face of accusations.

    Still, I found some parts missing. The alternate personality doesn’t seem to have any motive except psychosis, and I felt some exploration of Eric’s history could’ve heightened the ambiguity and left more clues.

    For me personally, the stinger at the end acted as a sort of escape hatch, giving an almighty shrug: ‘There might’ve been some external actor’. If that’s truly what was implied, then it raises a lot more nagging questions about the killer. Perhaps this was intentional to heighten ambiguity, but for me it felt a bit close to a flip-flop.

    Overall I thought series was a true thriller, continuing it’s breakneck pacing until the end. The prose is very clear and simple. In each entry the layers of the plot are stripped while maintaining the tension, and while I had a few problems with the conclusion, it remains exemplary. Good work! 8.5/10

    1. I think you’re right about the red herring, but I don’t think the ending was ambiguous. I sounds like the real killer orchestrated all of his actions to frame Eric, making his friends and family doubt his mental state, and pinning the murders on him.

      Perhaps the final letter was just to taunt Eric, letting him know he’s not crazy, but won’t be able to do anything to stop the killer.

      1. It’s possible. I sort of took it to possibly mean that Eric’s super efficient murder personality is able to get out and take ‘revenge’ on Andrea.

        I mean, the killer, whether external or internal, doesn’t seem to have any limitations on what he can do, so we can’t rule out any possibility. We ended up knowing little about him in the end, tho perhaps that’s intentional.

        1. I agree with everything but one, about how the letter was to make Eric sane.

          I think the letter may have just been from Eric himself and that it was scheduled to be sent when it was sent, making Eric believe in his innocence. It is made clear in how the letter only contained the photo of Andrea that he kept and NOT pictures of her being brutally murdered.

          I thought it was Joel as the story progressed but it got debunked by those pictures in the ipod. So that’s a job well done proving me wrong, though the author could have added more to mislead the readers into thinking that the murderer really was Zach.

    1. Kaos McPunchfist

      Yea, i was a little disapointed we didn’t learn anything about the killer at all.

      I was hoping this story would become some sort of inverted “Red Dragon” thing, with the innocent trying to prevent murders by the psychopath while under heavy scrutiny and often survailence by the law. That would be kind of awsome.

      Maybe later even add some magical elements, similar to “Demonata”, i don’t know.

      1. I personally thought that when he received the letter, that almost in itself would have been enough to get a re-trial, that, and the fact that the DNA/fingerprints besides those from the main character, should have been enough to at least get him out of jail/prison.

        1. Actualy all the mail in/out of any pris/jail facility is screened, so the prison should have seen the note and picture. PS. You look so scerene when you sleep, I envy it.

    1. This was great. I personally would have enjoyed if the He didn’t end up in jail. I never like that. Innocents being prosacutted for crimes they did not commit. I enjoyed the first 2 :)

      1. Larry Heinichen

        I vote for a part four where he gets out of jail after his girlfriend is killed, finds “Zach” and murders the fuck out of that douchebag

    2. I found it frustrating, however, that once he had convinced himself that he was, in fact, “dissociative” and that why he didn’t remember the murders. After the letter, it didn’t scare me, it only made me feel bad for him.

        1. Justwannadisqus

          No. There’s no twist. It actually played out exactly how you read it. Thought maybe he did do it but the letter and photo he received at the end tells us that he actually was very much set up.

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