All Chapters of The Prank My Husband Left Me Was His Severed Hand: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

My name was Gina. I had been married for eight years and haven’t worked a single day since the wedding. I rarely went out and my husband, Michael, was my only real connection to the outside world. But my life was far from boring as Michael had a knack for keeping things exciting.Before his latest business trip, he meticulously planned a date night and bought me a gift.I peeked inside the gift box and rolled my eyes. "Another one of your creepy pranks? Aren’t you a little too old for this?"He chuckled, leaning in to plant a kiss on my lips. "Never too old. Deal with it."I didn't pull away, letting him draw me into his embrace. One thing led to another and before we knew it, we had tumbled from the living room couch straight into the bedroom. After all these years, the fact that we were still practically inseparable was largely thanks to his playful streak. If he ever stopped being childish, I would probably think something was seriously wrong.Just as Michael pull

"You didn't touch it, did you?""N-no!" I stammered, my voice shaking. "As soon as I realized something was wrong, I called 911."He nodded, giving a few quiet instructions to the female officer. She nodded back and led me to the side, while he stepped away to call the precinct for backup."Take it easy," she said gently, pulling out a notepad. "Just tell me what happened from the beginning."I took a shaky breath, doing my best to lay out the timeline and how I had stumbled upon the hand. As my disjointed explanation went on, the officer's expression grew increasingly grim."You're saying Michael brought this box home on... April Fools' Day?""Yes. He loves playing pranks on me. He'd never miss a chance on April Fools'.""And when did he leave for his business trip?""The very next morning."The two officers exchanged a quick, heavy look. At that exact moment, my stomach dropped, and a terrifying wave of foreboding washed over me."Is there a problem?"The female offi

I froze, my brain completely short-circuiting."What... what do you mean?" I rasped. The words hovered in the air, entering my ears but failing to register in my mind."Detective Logan, you're joking, right?"The detective didn't say a word. She just stared at me with a quiet intensity that sent a violent shiver down my spine."Gina, I know this is incredibly hard to process right now," she said gently. "But the footage doesn't lie."She turned her tablet toward me. The video was frozen on a frame of me walking into my apartment building completely alone.I stared at the screen, my eyes wide. It was true. The streets had been empty that night and I was the only soul captured on camera. In my hands, I was carrying the exact gift box.My memories began to violently churn. I tried desperately to piece things together but nothing made sense."The footage could be tampered with, right?" I stammered, grasping at the final straw. "If that man could fake being my husban

My face was deathly pale and my eyes were bloodshot. I looked like a ghost. Meanwhile, the real ghost was currently lurking out there in some dark corner.The tech unit quickly returned with their second report."The surveillance footage was definitely tampered with," an analyst named Marcus said, pointing at the screen. On the monitor, the street under my apartment building was completely empty, the timestamp ticking away steadily. "On the surface, it looks seamless, but we analyzed the underlying metadata. The timestamp is a virtual stream overlaid after the fact. “The frame rate of the source file shows clear signs of being rewritten.""Which means..." Detective Logan stared at the screen. "...This video showing nobody entering or leaving was swapped in.""Exactly. And we traced the server logs." Marcus tapped furiously on his keyboard. "Between seven and ten on the night of April first, there was an anomalous remote access log. “The physical location of that IP addr

Dead? "How did she die?"The technician shook his head. "The scene is still being processed but the preliminary finding is homicide. “The estimated time of death is roughly four to five days ago."Four to five days ago. That would put it at the end of March or the beginning of April. That was exactly around the time Michael supposedly left for his "business trip," and right when the fake Michael came to my house."Detective Logan wants me to bring you over to identify the body. “Also, we ran the guest registration for Room 308 at the motel.""Who was it?""Evan Miller. Michael's brother."Evan. The name hit my brain like a flash of lightning.Michael did have a younger brother, three years his junior. I had only met him twice at our wedding. I heard he had moved down south years ago, fell into a severe drug addiction and the family had completely cut ties with him. Why on earth was he here?Twenty minutes later, the cruiser pulled up outside the Promenade apar