Bliss of murder

"Come out, Come out wherever you are!", he sang, his laughter resonating in the enclosed room. The man seated in front of the handcuffed one sighed as a chill ran down his spine which he managed to hide with his frustration. "You find this funny?", the detective questioned, slamming down the yellow colored file on the wooden desk, the picture of a girl flying out, her face bloody and beaten up. 

He scoffed, a smirk adorning his innocent face. “What’s not funny about this? You should have seen…the fear in her eyes”, he grinned ear to ear, placing his cuffed hands on the table. He played with his hands, twirling around an imaginary object between his index and ring fingers. “The moment the knife pierced her soft skin…THE RELIEF”, he yelled, his blood shot eyes widening, a sickening smile plastering on his face. 

“You are disgusting!”, the young detective said, standing up from his seat and turning towards the door when her pleas mocked by him rang in his ears. 

“Please, Pl-please do-don’t ki-kill me….”, he laughed. “The way she cried, the sniffles, the metallic smell, the sound of knif-”

“ENOUGH”, the man screamed, marching towards the seated criminal and holding him by the neck. “You utter one more word and I will-”

“You will what, huh?”, the boy strained as his hands continued to tighten around his pale neck. “Kill-me?”, he laughed, forcing his voice as much as he could. The young detective widened his eyes, instantly leaving the boy’s neck and taking a few steps back. He coughed and coughed, rubbing his long fingers around the marks that had been created on his neck. 

“What a loser!”, he mocked him as his glares pierced the young man’s broken soul. Before the detective could retaliate, a low knock on the door disrupted the heavy tension in the air as a middle-aged woman walked inside the interrogation room. 

“Officer take this boy back to his cell please.”, she ordered as a man clothed in black walked in, picking up the boy by his arm and dragging him out of the room. The boy scowled at the frozen man who stood near the oak wood table as a tear rolled down his cheek, the ivory hue of his skin glistening due to the reflection of the dim light that hung from the ceiling. 

He stared at the floor, a million thoughts running through his head. The memories of happiness, the sadness shared, the multiple moments of laughter and joy and a ton of guilt weighing down on his fragile and young heart. He covered his eyes with the back of his right hand in hopes of stopping the tears that threatened to fall down. 

“Sam…Sam!”, a loud voice shattered his thoughts as a calm hand patted his hunched back. “Sorry!”, the young officer named Sam said, wiping the lone tear and facing the woman whose age mirrored his mother’s. 

“Son get a hold of yourself. You have to be strong to endure this.”, the woman said, patting Sam’s head softly. “I know. I know that very well, Mrs.Morough but that guy, he irritates me. He angers me so much that-”

“I know. I understand your pain. He angers me too, but an investigator never loses his calm and composure. We have to look at both sides of the coin. Would you like to share all the information you are aware of till now?”, Mrs.Morough asked gesturing her hands towards the desk, urging Sam to take a seat. 

Sam sat in the metal chair cushioned with leather, facing the mirrored screen that was in front of him and behind Mrs.Morough. He clasped his hands together, placing his elbows on the table and dipping his head between his hands. 

“So, Sam, what do we know?”

“Well, the boy’s name is Nick. A nineteen-year-old guy studying at the local university. The victim's name was Julie and she was well acquainted with him. They were in fact, very close.”, Sam said, lifting his head and leaning it on his left palm. 

“She was alone at her house when she was attacked. Her parents were out on a business trip for a week. Rich people they were.”, he sighed, staring at the opaque glass behind Mrs.Morough. 

Mrs.Morough opened the yellow files that laid on the table, its contents jumbled up inside. She scanned through the documents one by one, asking questions to understand the case.

“Do we know the time of death?”

“Yes. Between 11:30 to 12:00. The time during which the town had a power outage.”

“Well, any evidence that points towards our suspect?”

“A ring given to him by the victim. A platinum ring with the engravings ‘Yours only’ was found under the carpet of the study.”, Sam answered, a low glint in his eyes as he reminisced the events. 

She furrowed her eyebrows, looking up at the young man in front of her as his eyes glinted in the dimmed room. 

“She was a fragile girl, Mrs.Morough. Very clumsy, had to be taken care of always. Whenever her little fingers sifted through my hair, the relief…”, he sighed, a minty smell coating the suffocating atmosphere in the room.

“I loved her Mrs.Morough! She was my life and I was hers, but after six months, something, I don’t know what, but something changed. It cha-changed, badly. She changed. Her attitude…sh-she was no more fragile. She was no more delicate; she did not radiate the warmth.” 

“She had become cruel. She boasted about her wealth, the many assets she had gained. Sh-she started to disparage others, hurt them, torment them. All of it by boasting and sho-showing off her stupid wealth.”

“She was calm whenever she was with me but after a month or so, sh-she insulted my financial status, my family. She belittled my value for her stupid affluence. We were meant for each other, we loved each other. Was that nothing for her?”, he furrowed his eyebrows, a tear dropping on his red cheeks. 

“I made sure I was always understanding of her, but she-she took me for granted. With that little group of hers, she tortured me, gave me scars that inflicted me with great pain, pain that she didn’t even feel when she was killed.”

“The once sweet girl had become an arrogant mess, so I-I fixed it. She did not even realize it was me.”, he laughed, a maniacal shine on his face. 

“Sarah had just taken shower that night, like she usually did. The smell of sweet roses and sandalwood still lingers in my senses, driving me crazy. I sneaked into her house, with the old shiny knife of mine which I received as a gift from her on the completion of my detective exam. How naive she was!”, he laughed once again, louder than before. 

“Sam, what are you talking about?”, Mrs.Morough inquired, placing her left hand behind the back of her chair, signaling the moderator on the other side of the mirrored pane. 

“The dark night was the perfect setting for my mission and the fact that she never locks her door added to my list of benefits. I walked inside the house, my footsteps calm and quiet and there I saw her, lighting a candelabra that stood tall on the dining table.  

The squeaking of her shoes annoyed me to the point that I didn’t think of waiting anymore. I ran…I ran as fast as I could towards her and stabbed her with my knife. Oh, the joy!”

“Blood poured out from the puncture wound in her stomach, the crimson liquid was so hypnotizing that I plunged the knife deeper into her body…her screams still ring in my ears like music. The pleasure and bliss of murdering someone is so…beautiful.”, he grinned from ear to ear, staring lifelessly yet with a psychotic glint at Mrs.Morough’s aging face. 

A loud bang of the door opening grabbed the attention of both the criminal and the detective as three police officers barged in, the rattling of handcuffs echoing throughout the room. 

“Mr. Sam Wilson, you are under arrest for the murder of Sarah Lee. The case was closed three years ago and reopened as of today.”

The officers dragged Sam up from his chair, his laughs ringing in their ears but were interrupted by the weak voice of the middle-aged woman. 

“Why was Sarah lighting up a candelabra?”

“Who do you think was the cause of that power outage?”