1 First

It was really dark that evening, there were no stars that day, the sky was black. A woman in her thirties, was walking down an alley which was the shortcut to her house where many people didn't pass by, there were no lights there. Suddenly, the woman felt as if someone was following her, the sound of the footsteps, "Tip-tap." The woman had a bad feeling and started walking faster, and so did the footsteps; she ran as fast as she could, and so did the person behind her. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her, out of breath, the man said, "Why are you running? You didn't even give me a chance to even call you out." She recognises her boyfriend and sighs in relief.

After saying the situation to her boyfriend, they were walking together as she was to scared now to go home alone. Some blocks before she reached her home, her boyfriend suddenly stopped and grabbed her hand tight. She could see a smile in his eyes, she teased him, "Why? Are you that happy to walk me home? Hmmm?" She never imagined and it and never could but… he slowly took out something wrapped in a hanky and the woman said excitedly, "Is this a surprise or something? What is inside?" He replied with a big smile, "Yes… it's a gift, a very beautiful gift." He slowly unwrapped it and it was something that she could never imagine… it was a shiny, sharp, butcher's knife. The woman got scared and tried to runaway but her boyfriend was holding her hand tight, he let out a big smile and said, "This… is your gift." In a second, blood splattered on the ground, leaving it red; his hand got painted in red including his clothes and face. The dark night, the dark alley… was painted in red.

The next morning came and when someone was passing through the alley, he screamed and fell on the ground; he immediately called for emergency. When the police reached there, the saw how the whole site was painted in blood. The case was started at once. The two best detectives in the city took part in it and they started investigating without taking a breath. It was evening when they came back to the station and reported to the chief. The chief said, "So… Detective Emma and Detective Henry. What is it? Did you… find anything yet?" "Yes, Sir", said Det. Henry. Det. Emma said, "We found that the woman's name was, Lily. She was in her early thirties and lived alone. Her parents died long ago and she doesn't have any other family members. She worked at WY Company and was kind to all of her co-workers. In her neighbourhood everyone knows that she has a boyfriend." "And… where is the boyfriend now?" asked the chief. "We cannot find where her boyfriend is yet and we have also tried calling him but it seems that it switched off. So… he is one of the prime suspects now, Sir." Replied Henry.

It was night already and Emma had to go home early so Henry offered to give her a ride home. When Emma reached home, she saw that no one was home and thought that they just went out. When she opened the door to her bedroom, she couldn't believe her eyes and saw that her room was decorated with balloons and Elios (her husband) was with a cake, singing Happy Birthday. Emma got shocked and said, "Today was my birthday? I didn't even remember about it." "What???" Elios said being surprised, "You have been so busy at work that you even forgot your birthday. How can you do this?" Emma gave out a big smile. After celebrating, Emma went back to her office; she only came home to wash up. She didn't want to leave but had to as the case was very serious for her. Elios said that he would give her a ride till there.

When Emma was going in, she turned back to see Elios and waved him bye. When Emma went in, Elios's smile disappeared. Morning came fast and Emma went home to check again. The night when Emma was not home, Elios stood in front of the mirror and by looking a video, he was practicing how to smile. In the video they said, "First, let's take a look at a happy face. You shouldn't exaggerate it. Can you see what's different? First, wrinkles form around your eyes. Second, your cheeks rise. Third, the wrinkles around your eyes move. What do you think? You look quite happy, don't you?" "Yes… I do look happy…" Elios mumbled to himself. When Emma came home, she saw Elios cooking breakfast. Emma on the other hand, didn't know any of the household chores.

That evening, it was a family gathering with Emma's parents. Emma's parents didn't really like Elios and was against the marriage. They wanted Emma to marry a man who had the same standards as them and not lower than them. Even though, Elios tried his best to blend in with them, he couldn't. After the gathering, Elios didn't even say a word and went to bed.

After many days of investigation, the case was closed. No matter how much they tried, they couldn't find out the culprit. There was not even a single clue of who did it; they tried to search for her boyfriend but couldn't. Even the neighbours couldn't describe the face of him as they only saw him from the backside. There was not even a single CCTV in the neighbourhood. But after the incident, there were CCTVs installed in the neighbourhood and even at the alley where the incident took place.