Melodramatic Short Stories & Pervert Crime Novels

The day before our wedding, my fiancé invites our family onto a cruise ship. He says he wants to test the authenticity of my feelings for him. He shoves my mother off the ship when the waves are at their choppiest. Then, he jumps into the water, too. I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. I panic, not knowing what to do. My mother had already choked on a lot of water, but she pushed me away weakly. She cried, "Save Adrian first! He can't swim!" However, after I drag Adrian Lawson onto land and go back for my mother, I find that she's already stopped breathing. Adrian watches me cry, his expression frosty. "Drop the act. Your mother was a swimmer when she was younger—how can she be dead? I can't believe you didn't save me first. "Vi is right—you don't love me enough. Our wedding is postponed. It'll happen only after you've reflected on your mistakes and I've received an apology from you and your mother." After that, he leaves while holding Vivian Sinclair's hand. He doesn't know that my mother can no longer swim after a major illness a few years back. He's shoved her to her death.

When I finally met my online boyfriend in person, he asked what I wanted in a future husband. I didn't even have to think. "He can't be named Jamie Bloom." He looked completely lost, but I didn't explain. Because a fortune-teller once told me I'd die at the hands of a man named Jamie Bloom. That evening, he went to take a shower, and a message popped up on his phone. One glance, and my blood ran cold. "Jamie, sweetie, you got there and didn't even text Mom to say you made it safe?"

I live alone. At eleven o'clock on a rainy night, an unexpected call came through. The voice on the other end said my car window was left open and urged me to go downstairs. Cautious as a woman should be, I didn't act rashly. Instead, I called the property security office, only to discover that even the security was fake. It hit me suddenly—I was ensnared in a vast conspiracy. Someone was orchestrating all of this. But for what purpose?

I suspected someone was impersonating my husband. Maybe it wasn't even human. Because lately, Luther had been acting far too strange. After more than ten years of being left-handed, he'd suddenly started using his right hand. The birthmark on his thigh had disappeared too. But the strangest thing happened this morning. As he crossed the balcony on his way out, the morning light slanted across the floor. And somehow, he cast two shadows. One in front. One behind. Yet whenever he held me, I could still hear the strong, steady beat of his heart. I told myself I was being paranoid. Until that evening. I had the TV on while I cooked in the kitchen when the news anchor suddenly cut in with a breaking report. “Authorities have identified the body of the man who drowned in Lake Yandee last week.” “The deceased has been identified as Luther Miller, male...” My mind went completely blank. Behind me, the front door opened softly. Then Luther's gentle voice drifted in. “Honey, I'm home.” My entire body started shaking. I spun around and raised the kitchen knife toward him. “Who the hell are you?”

On our third wedding anniversary, my husband drove me out to the coast. As the sun set, he pointed to a lighthouse in the distance. "Beautiful, isn't it? Look at that red tower." My iced coffee slipped from my hand. My husband is red-green color-blind. He can't tell red from green. Yet here he was, describing a color he couldn't possibly see.