All Chapters of My Wife Pranked Me With Her Severed Hand: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

My name was Charlie Collins. I had been married for eight years and had always worked from home as a freelancer.I rarely went out, mostly relying on online design gigs to bring in an income. My wife, Alayna Watson, was pretty much my only connection to the outside world.But my life was far from boring. Alayna was a master at surprises.Right before her latest business trip, she meticulously planned a date night and prepared a gift for me.I peeked inside the box and rolled my eyes. "More of your pranks? Aren't you a little too old for this?"She grinned and leaned in to plant a kiss on my cheek. "You're never too old for fun."I didn't pull away, letting her wrap her arms around me.One thing led to another, and we tumbled from the living room couch all the way to the bedroom.After all these years of marriage, the fact that we were still so crazy about each other was largely thanks to her playful streak.If she ever stopped acting like this, I'd probably think something was

The female officer pulled out an evidence bag, carefully sealing the box and the severed limb into separate compartments.Then, she turned her gaze back to me. My face was completely devoid of color."You haven't touched it, have you?" she asked."N-No!" I stammered, my voice shaking. "I called 911 the moment I realized something was wrong."She nodded before turning to whisper a few instructions to her partner. The male officer nodded in understanding and ushered me to the side, while she stepped away to radio for backup and forensic teams."Take it easy," the male officer said. "Just tell me what happened from the beginning."I took a shaky breath and walked him through the timeline and how I had stumbled upon the gruesome discovery.As he listened to my fragmented explanation, his expression grew increasingly serious. "So, you're saying your wife brought this box home… on April Fool's Day?""Yes. She loves pranking me. She'd never miss an opportunity like that.""And when d

"Officer Newman, you've got to be kidding me, right?" I asked.Ethan didn't say a word, just kept his piercing gaze fixed on me. His stare sent a freezing shiver straight down my spine."Charlie, I know this is incredibly hard to process right now, but the cameras don't lie."He turned his computer monitor toward me. The footage was paused on a clip of me—and only me—walking into my building.I stared blankly at the screen.It was true. The streets had been empty that night, and I was the only person captured on camera. And right there in my hands, I was carrying that exact gift box.My memory began to fracture, and I desperately tried to piece it back together, but nothing made sense."C-Could the footage have been tampered with?" I asked, my voice trembling as I clutched at the final straw."If this person could successfully impersonate my wife, she could easily hack into a security system. Hacker tech is insanely advanced these days…"Ethan let out a slow sigh, a flicker of

My face was entirely bloodless, and my eyes were ringed with a bright red. I looked like a ghost.But the real ghost was currently hiding out there in the dark.It didn't take long for the tech team to bring back a second report."The security footage was definitely tampered with," the tech officer, Kevin Clark, said as he pointed to the monitor.On the screen, the alleyway outside my building was completely empty, and the timestamp was ticking along steadily."On the surface, it looks seamless. But we analyzed the underlying metadata. The timestamp is a virtual stream overlaid after the fact, and the source file shows clear signs of frame-rate rewriting.""Which means…" Ethan kept his eyes glued to the monitor."This video showing that nobody entered or left was spliced in over the original footage.""Exactly. What's more, we traced the server logs," Kevin added, his fingers flying across his keyboard. "Between 7:00 pm and 10:00 pm on April 1st, there was an anomalous remote a

"How did he die?" I asked.The tech officer shook his head. "Forensics is still processing the scene, but initial signs point to homicide. The estimated time of death is four to five days ago."Four to five days ago.That meant late March or early April. Right around the time Alayna supposedly left for her trip and right when the impostor showed up at my apartment."Captain Newman wants me to bring you over to identify something. Also, they tracked down the guest who registered for Room 308 at the budget hotel.""Who was it?""Janice Watson. Alayna's sister."Janice.The name struck my brain like a bolt of lightning.Alayna did have a sister, three years her junior. I had only met her twice, back at our wedding. I heard she had moved down south years ago, fell into drug addiction, and the family had cut ties with her long ago.Why on earth was she here?20 minutes later, the police cruiser pulled up outside Westwood Serenity Residences.Ray's apartment was on the sixth floo