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 13 “Have you forgotten what you used to say about her when you were in my bed?” “You said you were sick of looking at her.” “When I drove the knife in, the box shook. You were sitting right there in the front
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I Died The Day My Husband’s Girlfriend Did A Magic Trick. Chapter 12 “It was her! It was that lunatic Josephine!” “She was the one who said she wanted to scare Meredith in the box.” “She switched the knife, too.” “I had no idea she would use a real blade!” His eyes were bloodshot, the
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I Died The Day My Husband’s Girlfriend Did A Magic Trick. Chapter 11 After returning to the interrogation room, Caius collapsed into the chair as if all his bones had been removed. He stared at the ceiling, his eyes empty. The image of that arm was burned into his mind. A long time passed before
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I Died The Day My Husband’s Girlfriend Did A Magic Trick. Chapter 10 He stared at the ring, his Adam’s apple bobbing. His entire body swayed, and he caught himself on the edge of the autopsy table. He reached out to touch the ring, but the moment his finger brushed the cold metal, he jerked
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I Died The Day My Husband’s Girlfriend Did A Magic Trick. Chapter 09 Caius stopped pacing and stared at him. The detective stood and pushed a report with a red seal across the table. “We just received word from the hospital. Your mother-in-law has been resuscitated and is temporarily out of danger.” “And the forensic
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I Died The Day My Husband’s Girlfriend Did A Magic Trick. Chapter 08 He knew that ring. The inner band was engraved with “CW & MH.” The year we got married, he’d bought it from a pawnshop. I had worn it for seven years. “Where… where did that come from?” Caius’s voice began to tremble.
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I Died The Day My Husband’s Girlfriend Did A Magic Trick. Chapter 07 Caius’s pupils contracted. He stared at the photo for a long second, but his voice remained defiant. “So what?” “That was fake blood for the performance.” “And whatever that is was probably just waste from a butcher shop.” Josephine immediately added, “The
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I Died The Day My Husband’s Girlfriend Did A Magic Trick. Chapter 06 Caius coughed, yanked off balance, and raised his hands to pry the officer’s fingers away. “You’re way out of line.” “Meredith is always pulling stunts like this. Yesterday, she pretended to be dead inside a magic box.” Josephine rushed over, her eyes
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I Died The Day My Husband’s Girlfriend Did A Magic Trick. Chapter 05 Caius froze. “What homicide?” The two officers didn’t answer him right away. Their eyes fell on my mother, collapsed on the living room floor, and their expressions changed at once. “What happened to her?” The younger officer rushed inside and crouched beside
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I Died The Day My Husband’s Girlfriend Did A Magic Trick. Chapter 04 The person standing outside wasn’t me. It was my mother. She was carrying a thermos of freshly stewed chicken soup, her face etched with confusion. “Caius, what are you talking about?” “Where is Meredith? I brought her some soup.” “I’ve been calling
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