Chapter One: The Shattered Silence
The storm outside seemed endless, like the grief inside Mr. Crimson’s heart. He had been a detective for too many years, but nothing could prepare him for this case. It wasn’t just another murder—it was something far more complicated. Far more painful.
The phone rang, slicing through the silence in his office like a knife.
“Crimson,” his voice was weary, almost mechanical.
“Detective, we need you at Eastwood Drive. There’s been a murder,” the voice on the other end was cold, distant.
“I’ll be there,” Crimson replied, and with a sigh, he grabbed his coat and left.
Chapter Two: The Mansion
The mansion loomed in front of him, standing tall against the rain that pummeled the city streets. It was a magnificent house, but there was nothing magnificent about tonight.
Crimson walked through the front door, the air inside thick with dust and the heavy scent of something unspoken. The officer who greeted him at the door looked at him with sorrowful eyes, leading him down the dark hallway.
“Detective, it’s in here,” the officer muttered, his voice shaky.
Crimson entered the study. And there she was—Laura Cranston, her face frozen in an expression of horror, lying lifeless on the floor. Crimson’s heart clenched. But there, in the corner of the room, sat Michael Cranston—her husband.
His face was gaunt, his eyes red-rimmed, as if he had cried all the tears his body had to give. Crimson’s heart sank at the sight of him. This wasn’t the face of a killer. It was the face of someone broken beyond repair.
Crimson approached him slowly, his steps deliberate. “Mr. Cranston… What happened?”
Michael’s voice was barely a whisper, filled with so much pain, Crimson almost couldn’t bear to hear it.
“I… I didn’t want to,” Michael choked out. “I never wanted this. I thought… I thought I was helping her.”
Crimson studied him. “Helped her how?”
Michael looked up, his eyes wild, desperate. “She was in so much pain. She begged me… She begged me to end it. Every day, it was worse. The cancer… it was killing her. She begged me to set her free.”
Crimson’s chest tightened. “And you did?”
Michael nodded, his face a mask of torment. “I didn’t want to… but I couldn’t stand to watch her suffer anymore. I thought I was saving her. I thought… I thought I was giving her peace.”
Crimson’s gaze softened as he sat down beside Michael. There was no hate in the man’s voice. No malice. Just unbearable sorrow.
Chapter Three: Laura’s Plea
The room was cold, the walls silent, but inside Laura’s mind, there was nothing but chaos. The pain from the cancer was excruciating, gnawing at her every fiber, and no matter how many pills she swallowed or treatments she endured, nothing worked. She could barely remember the last time she felt truly alive. She was dying, slowly and painfully, and the end felt like a distant horizon she’d never reach.
But tonight, something in her snapped. The darkness of her mind was overwhelming. She couldn’t take it anymore. Not another day of this. She had to end it.
“Michael,” she whispered hoarsely, her voice barely audible over the sound of the rain tapping against the windows. She could feel her body trembling, the tears she had long since exhausted still threatening to fall. “Michael… please, you have to help me.”
Her husband, sitting beside her on the bed, looked at her with those same eyes she had fallen in love with—eyes filled with concern, with love, but now clouded with doubt. He had never wanted this. He had always promised to protect her, to stand by her, no matter the storm. But this? This was too much.
“Laura… no,” Michael whispered, his voice thick with pain. “I can’t. I can’t end it like this. I love you.”
She reached for his hand, her fingers cold and trembling as she squeezed it with all the strength she had left. “You have to,” she gasped. “You have to end this, Michael. Please… for me. You said you would do anything for me. I need you to do this. I can’t live like this anymore.”
The words hit him like a slap, each syllable cracking his soul. The woman he loved, the woman who had once been full of life, was now begging him to kill her. And he didn’t know how to respond. The thought of it made his stomach churn, his mind swirl in agony.
Laura coughed weakly, her body wracked with a spasm that shook her frame. “I can’t breathe,” she wheezed, gasping for air. “I’m suffocating. Every day it’s the same. The pain never stops, Michael. I… I want to be free.” Her voice broke into a sob. “Please, please, I can’t do it anymore.”
Tears slipped down her face, and in that moment, she looked so fragile—so broken—that Michael felt the sharp sting of helplessness burn through him. He had always been her protector, her knight in shining armor. But now, he was nothing but a man standing at the edge of a precipice, unsure of what to do.
“Laura…” His voice was barely a whisper, thick with the ache of love and fear. “I can’t kill you. I can’t do that. You’re my life. I don’t want to lose you.”
Laura’s eyes, once bright with laughter, were now dull, filled with tears of exhaustion and resignation. She reached out and gently cupped his cheek with her hand, her touch so tender, so loving that it nearly shattered his heart.
“I’m already lost,” she murmured, her voice cracking. “I’m slipping away from you, piece by piece. Every moment I stay, I hurt. Every breath I take, it’s like a knife stabbing deeper into me. I can’t live like this anymore. But you… You can end it. You can set me free. Please, Michael… I don’t want to die like this. Please, let me go.”
Her words were like a slow burn, consuming him, and Michael felt his resolve shatter. His heart broke for her—he saw the woman she had once been, vibrant, full of dreams, now withered under the crushing weight of illness. The pain in her voice, the desperation in her eyes… it was too much to ignore.
But still, the thought of taking her life, of ending it all with a single pull of the trigger, seemed too monstrous, too unimaginable.
“Michael,” she whispered again, her voice barely above a breath. “Please. If you love me… let me go.”
Chapter Four: The Final Decision
The night stretched on, and the hours seemed to blur together as Michael sat by Laura’s side. The decision was suffocating him, pressing down on him with a force he couldn’t escape. His mind screamed that it was wrong, that no one had the right to take another life, even if it was out of love. But Laura… his wife, the love of his life, was in unbearable pain. She was begging for release, and every moment of hesitation made her suffer more.
“Laura,” he whispered, his voice hoarse with emotion. “I love you. But I can’t…”
“Michael, please,” she interrupted, her voice filled with quiet desperation. “I can’t live like this. I’m not living anymore… I’m just existing. And I’m not even existing well. I can’t stand it. I’m so tired. Please, set me free.”
Tears welled in his eyes, and his hand shook as he reached for hers. The gun, which had been left on the nightstand, felt like a weight he could no longer ignore. It was the tool, the instrument that would bring her peace. He knew she was right—she couldn’t bear to go on.
“I… I don’t know if I can do this,” he whispered, his voice cracking. “I love you too much.”
Laura’s fingers gripped his tightly, her face pale, her breath shallow. She whispered the words that would break his heart forever:
“If you love me, Michael… You’ll do this. Please. I need you to be strong for both of us.”
And in that moment, something inside Michael shattered completely. His mind screamed, his soul ached, but his heart… his heart told him there was no other choice. For her, for the woman he had sworn to protect, he raised the gun.
“Forgive me,” he whispered.
And as the cold steel pressed against her temple, he pulled the trigger.
Chapter Five: The Innocent Gun
The gunshot echoed through the house, a deafening sound that pierced the night. Crimson, still trying to piece together the fragments of the case, had learned the truth. Michael’s act wasn’t one of malice. It was a tragic decision born of love. A man trying to save his wife from a pain so deep that it twisted everything in him.
The pain of it all—the way Michael had been trapped between love and duty, between mercy and murder—had consumed him. And yet, in that moment of unbearable loss, Michael had given Laura what she had asked for: peace. She had begged him to set her free, and with one agonizing, heartbreaking decision, he had.
Crimson sat alone in his office, the case now finished. The song Five Four Three Two One by AURORA echoed softly through the room. The lyrics, once haunting and distant, now felt deeply personal.
“Five, four, three, two, one
All the pain is gone
You can’t fight it, can’t deny it
But it doesn’t make it right…”
He closed his eyes, letting the song wrap around him, understanding now. Michael had not killed out of anger. He had not been a monster. He had been a man who loved so deeply, it tore him apart.
“Five, four, three, two, one
Oh, what have we done?
Time slips through our hands, so fast
All the things we never ask…”
The answer was clear now. The pain was gone for Laura, but for Michael? The pain would never leave him. Not ever.
The End
