On April Fools’ Day, my husband Caius’s close friend, Josephine, was performing a magic act at a talent show.
She called me onto the stage by name to help her with the box for the sawing-a-person-in-half illusion.
“Meredith, all you have to do is lie down inside. It’ll be over in a second.”
I didn’t want to go, but with Caius and our son, Leo, watching from the audience, I walked onto the stage anyway.
It was only after I lay down inside the box that I realized something was wrong.
The knife wasn’t a prop.
It was real.
I had just opened my mouth to scream when the first blade came down.
Agony tore through me.
Josephine stood beside the box, laughing into the microphone.
“Meredith is such a good actress. It looks so real.”
Laughter rippled through the audience.
Caius’s irritated voice carried from his seat.
“Meredith, stop it. Don’t embarrass yourself.”
The second cut came down, then the third.
Soon, I could barely make a sound.
Blood seeped through the cracks of the box, dripping onto the stage drop by drop.
Someone in the audience remarked, “That fake blood looks so realistic.”
My son Leo sat in the front row, clapping and laughing.
“Mom is acting so well. This is fun!”
Then I heard Caius talking to a friend beside him.
“She’s always like this. Can’t stand seeing Josephine get any attention. She always has to steal the spotlight.”
I looked at them, and all that was left in me was terror.
I wasn’t acting.
I was really going to die.
I Died The Day My Husband’s Girlfriend Did A Magic Trick. Chapter 23 Elsewhere, my mother dragged an old suitcase out of the rehabilitation center. The weather was good. Fallen leaves littered the roadside. She put the suitcase into the trunk of a taxi and gave the driver an address. It was a city very
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I Died The Day My Husband’s Girlfriend Did A Magic Trick. Chapter 22 At night, he hid in the drafty attic and took a yellowed photograph from a pocket close to his chest. It was a picture of him and me. It was his fifth birthday. I had made him a very ugly cake. He
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I Died The Day My Husband’s Girlfriend Did A Magic Trick. Chapter 21 In Caius’s third year in prison, several inmates cornered him in the restroom during rec time. The reason was simple. He screamed too often at night, and no one could sleep. They pinned him to the floor and drove their fists into
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I Died The Day My Husband’s Girlfriend Did A Magic Trick. Chapter 20 A gray prison transport van waited at the end of the hallway. When the door slammed shut, it made a heavy, final sound. During Caius’s first year in prison, he refused to eat for three days. The guards had to force-feed him.
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I Died The Day My Husband’s Girlfriend Did A Magic Trick. Chapter 19 A social worker had brought him there. Leo wore an old coat that was clearly too small, curled up in his seat, still clutching that faded teddy bear. His eyes were red, and his lips were pressed into a tight line. From
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I Died The Day My Husband’s Girlfriend Did A Magic Trick. Chapter 18 Six months later. On the day of the trial, the courtroom gallery was nearly full. My mother sat in the front row. Six months had passed. She had lost a great deal of weight, and her hair had gone almost completely white.
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I Died The Day My Husband’s Girlfriend Did A Magic Trick. Chapter 17 In the other interrogation room, Josephine had stopped crying. She leaned back in her chair, a faint smile playing on her lips. “I admit I switched the knife.” “But I wasn’t the only one involved.” “Without Caius, I couldn’t have done it.”
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I Died The Day My Husband’s Girlfriend Did A Magic Trick. Chapter 16 “When is that woman going to disappear? I can’t wait to move into your house.” “Soon. Once she’s gone, the house and everything in it will be ours.” “I tested the knife. It’s very sharp. She won’t be able to escape inside
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I Died The Day My Husband’s Girlfriend Did A Magic Trick. Chapter 15 In the hospital, my mother slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the white ceiling, then the police officer standing by her bed. “Mrs. Hawthorne, you’re awake.” She was very weak, her voice a hoarse whisper. “My daughter?” “Where
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I Died The Day My Husband’s Girlfriend Did A Magic Trick. Chapter 14 The social worker paused before continuing. “Leo, your mom has gone somewhere very far away.” “She won’t be coming back.” Leo looked up, his eyes blank. “Somewhere very far away?” “Like Grandpa, buried in the ground?” The social worker nodded, her expression
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