Something so close = One shot

Something so close...
-Samyukta

Her body lay there, lifeless, cold and clearly, dead.

Stephanie had been out the whole day and had just returned home looking forward to a long bath, some hot coffee and a long chat with her sister, Debbie. She had had a bad day at work initially which had later on turned into a complete mess. But some minor issue handling from her end had made situations much better, and as a whole, she had returned home quite satisfied with her day. Stephanie stayed with her sister, Debbie who was in her last year of her course in journalism.

She parked her car and picking up her bags walked into her house quickly, shouting an "I'm home!" as she walked in. She put her things down, hung her keys next to the door, gulped down a bit of water from a bottle lying around and settled into the couch in the living room. Still getting no response from Debbie, she made her way to the upper landing, and finding her nowhere in sight, she moved towards Debbie's room. The door was shut. "Pretty odd, " she thought, "Debbie never closes her door...". She pushed the door open and what she saw next, made her loose sleep even years after that day. Debbie lay on the ground, her wrists slit, lying in a pool of crimson blood, clearly dead.

Stephanie couldn't figure out what was going on. Her instinct told her to rush over and hug her sister tight, but her brains told her not to touch anything till she had called the police for help. She staggered slowly from the room, tears quietly rolling down her face, with a startled expression on her face, and called the police. She rushed back to her sister, with a sense of protectiveness and sat down beside her immobile sister, still crying silently. As she looked around in despair, something caught her eye. A file lay open pushed beneath her bed, with some papers sticking out. Stephanie bent under and pulled the file out, and looked at it intently. It had remarkable research about a certain case related to the murder of a young child, for which a David Licker was being tried as the main suspect. All the articles that Debbie had collected were points of view on how David couldn't possibly be the murderer, but there was no information whatsoever in the file on who the murderer was! Stephanie was about to put the file away, considering it as research for some lecture of Debbie's when she came across an article titled : "Who would it be then?". The whole article pointed to various other suspects, even extending to the police officers, the detective and even the judge preceding the trial. But at the end of the article, Debbie had, in black marker, drawn out a sign which resembled a yin yang, yet had within each half circle, not a circle of the opposite colour, but a triangle... "Debbie obviously meant to say something... But what? Had she discovered something?" Just then, she heard the police sirens moving close to her house. She hastily stuffed the file into her cupboard and rushed to let the police and the appointed detective, Frank Kirsten in, who then went through all the evidence and sat down to talk to Stephanie. "Ma'am, Debbie has, by all signs, commited suicide. Was there any reason why she could have come to such a decision?" "She didn't commit suicide, she was murdered." came a shrewd yet sure reply from Stephanie. "We'll see about that ma'am, we'll have to finish all our investigations, and then we'll get back to your beliefs. " said the detective as he and the police officer in charge walked out, leaving her in a thoroughly cleaned out house, alone. Alone.

The next week, the trial of the child's murder she had read about had declared the verdict. David had been convicted, and the case had been closed. Stephanie was preparing to leave for Debbie's funeral, when detective Frank appeared at her doorstep and walked into the house. "Well, it's been through all the tests. I personally administered them, it was suicide, Ms.Stephanie. I'm really sorry. " Stephanie, expecting the reply thought about whether she should tell the detective her sister had figured out who the murderer must have been. She decided against it, as Detective Frank left the house. As he left, his shirt sleeve rose a bit and she saw, just above his right wrist, a tattoo of a yin yang, with two triangles replacing the circles.


Comments and constructive criticism welcomed!
-Sam

Very beautifully written Sam! 🤗 You have done an awesome job. 👏

You think like Agatha Christie, just like her stories keep you guessing till the end! You have great writing skills. 👏 👏

Great plot idea, Sam.

This story could be better if you started with the narrator seeing Debbie's body. That is a better hook.

You can remove the last line too - no need for it.

Removed the last line, daadi... It was if ppl didn't get it (Lol i guess i could leave it :p :p) And added the first bit... Thankooo!

Thanks Ghungroo 😳

wow, intense story, Sam! I was glued to the screen. 👏

You're an awesome writer! Looking forward to more stories by you.

yh this is a gr888 story !!! 👏 its very sad also and the doc who murdered her sis 😭 *sniff sniff* 😭 thanks for sharing 😳 😃

Very nice story, Sam!
I really liked it :]
You have a knack for suspense, seems like!

Great story... very intriguing plot. I love mysteries and this was an awesome short story 😊 I hope to read more from you!

Nicely written.. i have seen such programs but rarely felt like reading but now i guess i will enjoy readign such stories as welll.. enjoye dreading this plot and u r a great writer... 👏 each line had a lot of power... 👏

😃 😃 wowiee lovely story...Gipping till d end 😃