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CRIME STORY : “NOT ALL DONUTS COME OUT WITH HOLES” (COSIMO MONTANARI)

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CRIME STORY : “NOT ALL DONUTS COME OUT WITH HOLES” (COSIMO MONTANARI)

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“This donut is really spicy!” “Detective Cooper! You are always the same… you don’t want to eat all the variety of donuts of this place?” “No, Foster… we are paid so little that it would take me ten years to do it” “You are always complaining, oh Cooper…” “BIP, BU, BIP”. The radio of detective Cooper started ringing. “Detective Cooper!!! There has just been a murder at the 13th in donut street! Please, come now!” The detective and the agent run out of the donut shop and reached the place in question with the police’s car. The scientific police was already analyzing the area while the detective was observing the victim: the women, Sarah Hawk, had been hit in the head with a big hammer, and she worked at the donut shop where the police officers always had breakfast. “That’s awful!” “Foster, you can’t have really thought that…” “Sorry, but their donuts are delicious!” “Come with me, we have to return to the police station to look into the case”. While the detective was consulting the files in the station, he was informed that on the hammer there were the fingerprints of Sarah’s neighbour. The detective Cooper turned on the siren and reversed the car. He wanted to catch the criminal before he could kill someone else, or before he could escape from the police. When he got there, he found the FBI who had caught the criminal. Sarah’s neighbour, in the past, was a wanted criminal who had changed his identity. However, detective Cooper knew that he wasn’t the real criminal, because he had no valid reasons to kill her and they had a good relationship. That night, the detective watched carefully the case files and he discovered that Sarah’s and his brother’s donut shop became famous in a short time thanks to the recipe for make spicy donuts. Immediately he took the keys of the car, the gun, and the badge, then he drove on the icing road. When he reached the place, he parked the car and he went on foot to the house of Sarah’s brother, Axel. He knew that the target of the criminal, that is, to obtain the recipe for spicy donuts. Instantly a dark figure appeared from a bush. Cooper thought it was time to follow him, because the man burgled the back door and he came into the house. Axel was awake, and he went down to see who had entered into his house.  He received a punch  by the misterious man who shouted: “ Axel! I know that you and your sister stole my idea of spicy donuts!” Axel, dismayed, replied: “William!! So you were the one who killed my sister!!” “You and your sister have ruined my life and my career, and you will do her same end!!” Before he hit him with the neighbour’s hammer, Cooper took a pan and hit him hard in the head. Axel was helped by an ambulance, and the criminal was brought in the police station by the detective Cooper. The next day all the police officers cheered the detective with a very big box of donuts which was given to them by Axel!

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A: We think that he committed a suicide.

B: Why do you think so?

A: Well, first of all we found him with a gun in his hand...

B: We are not here to joke around... Be serious...

A: Ok, we also asked the neighbours some questions, they said that he was depressed for a long time, and they seem to not remember the last time they saw him…There's no reason for someone to kill him, so we deduced that it is a suicide...

B: Yes, yes, I can see your point, but something seems wrong...

A: We already checked for a possible intrusion, but none of the locks or windows has been broken.

B: I understand, but one of the neighbours said something about seeing someone sneaking out from the victim's door just after the shot... It's not something that you can put aside...

A: Just as we said before no one broke into his house, unless they were someone he knew...

B: Perhaps, but who?

A: We don't know yet.

B: We are here to find it, that’s our job.

A: Do some researches about what he did in these days.

B: Let’s take the proofs and analyse them to find some clues.

A: A part from the gun, we noticed that he took some pills in order to calm himself down, we think...

B: No, it doesn't make any sense. What else?

A: Well, we checked the phone records, we saw that he called this number several times.

B: So, what are you waiting for? Call it!

C: Hello, who is speaking?

B: Good afternoon, I'm an agent from the FBI, last night there was a suicide, the victim called this number and...

C: What? No! Impossible! My son! How can this be real?!?

B: We are very sorry Ma'am, please calm down… Can we meet? We need to ask you some questions about your son. I know that it's hard to bear... But, try to... We need your collaboration in order to solve this case.

[…]

C: Yes... Well, it's been a month since my son lost his job, he called me to say this, and day by day, he started to be more pessimistic about his life and about the fact that he couldn't find a new job. I tried to help him, to give hope, saying that I would support him, but he didn’t want, he said that he would find a solution, no matter what… I wasn’t sure about what he was thinking, he was a mystery for me, but to think that he committed a suicide all of a sudden… No! He couldn’t, he is not like that…

B: We also think so… I have to ask you if perhaps there’s someone who had a reason to do this.

C: I don’t know, he didn’t mention anyone… no wait, how was she called…

B: Who is she?

C: She was one of his ex-colleagues, she is the only one who kept in touch with my son even after he lost his job, he said that she was so kind with him, I don’t think she is the one you are searching for.

B: We can’t say that for certain. Thank you for your collaboration, we will solve this case for sure, no matter what.

[…]

B: Please, contact her and bring her to me.

A: Yes, I’ll go at her work place.

B: Thank you, just ask her for some information about him.

[…]

A: Hello, I’m searching for a certain Jenny.

J: Yes, it’s me. How can I help you?

Xhesika Desari

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It was the third case in the last fifteen days between 6 and 21 April 1987. Mr. Bucciarati was a detective for 15 years but he couldn' t understand anything about these crimes. The killer hadn't left trace. Each of his victims was found without clothes, without injuries, without hair and also without the hands. There was no way for SID to find out the identities of the victims.  Bucciarati thought to interrogate all the people who lived in the main road where the corpses where found, in "Via del Parione" near the Arno. After a few days Bucciarati figured out the identity of the last two victims: the first one was a certain Michele Fugo, a man of 32 years, he had no family or other affections like the second victim Elisa Ghirga, a 47- year-old woman. The two victims were known only by some neighbors, they had worked in two different shops in  the road where they lived. It was impossible to find out some clues. It was the 19 May, in the whole Florence there were policemen that asked to the people if they knew the names of the victims, but no one knew them, it seemed like they were out of the world. Bucciarati didn't give up but he had no ideas about how to catch this extremely clever murderer. While he was thinking under the cathedral of St. Mary of the flower something hit his head, it was a drop of blood. He decided to enter in the cathedral where he found a letter from the killer. The message was so mysterious, almost incomprehensible.  Bucciarati spent the whole night thinking about the letter but at the sunrise his mind was enlightened, he gathered the police force and ordered them to head at Lungarno Soderini. There the police force and Bucciarati found a man who was trying to kill himself. For the way he was dressed it seemed to be a priest. Before jumping into the river the priest revealed the truth: he was the murderer. He killed the three because of their action: they threatened him every Sunday, he had to pay them every time or they would kill someone he cared about. One day the priest didn't have money for them so they murdered his brother who lived outside Florence. The following week, the priest killed the murderers in the same way as his brother was killed. He tried to ignore his guilt but he couldn't resist anymore so he wrote that letter and he scared himself leaving part of the blood where he put the letter in the moment when Bucciarati was there, now, he decided to kill himself drowning in the river with a ball of iron tied to the foot. He wanted to see the river for one last time  After the revelation he jumped in to the river dying after few seconds, the police didn't save him in time.

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Mr. Higgins was taking his usual walk just at the end of the day. He liked walking in the wood to relax and reflect on the events of the day. Walking helped him to concentrate and to have ideas for his novels or new characters. The air was warm, the landscape beautiful even though the sun was just fading and the first stars were appearing in the sky. He walked for a lot completely absent-mindedly and very soon found himself in a part of the pinewood he didn't know. At that precise moment he heard a sort of hiss coming from underground, he stopped and noticed a mound of potting soil on his right side. The sound came just from there! He cautiously approached and moved a bit of ground with his hands and with his terrible surprise the fingers of a hand appeared in the open,  he quickly began to dig and dig and so an arm and then a neck and then the face of a young woman came to light. Her eyes and hair were all covered with blood and topsoil but she was still breathing. Mr. Higgins tried to clean her face with a handkerchief from his pocket and to ri-animate the poor girl, but she was bleeding from the left shoulder. He immediately called for help. A few days later this news appeared on The Times "Miss Sabrina Dalloway, the daughter of the rich landowner Richard Dalloway, has been found safe after days of disappearance. Her health conditions are good but she risked to die buried alive. No clue and no trace of the alleged guilty. Scotland Yard is dealing with one of the most controversial and thorny crime of the story…."
Mattia Laganà

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It was a Sunday evening, I was dining alone at home, I was very tired and stressed.
After dinner I decided to have a shower but when I arrived in front of the bathroom I heard a gunshot, that came from the flat next to mine.
I left my house and I checked my neighbour‘s door.
I saw that his door was broken. I was frightened and nervous but I went in in order to know what had happened.
The body of my neighbour was lying on the floor in a pool of blood.
What a terrible situation. A tragedy!
Suddenly I discerned a shadow sneak away from the apartment.
I tried to run after him but I couldn’t reach him.
He was faster than me, but his face had something familiar.
I phoned the police to report the murder.
My neighbour had died a few meters from me and I couldn’t stop it.
The next day the police started investigating.
In my neighbour’s flat the police found a strange glove.
This clue unfortunately worried me a lot.
The glove probably belonged to my brother Steven.
I had to talk to him and to understand what had happened before the police.
I arrived to Steven’s house and I saw him in the garage that was cleaning up a bloody knife.
On his wrist he had my neighbour’a precious watch, I was shocked, but I realised that my brother was the killer, he was responsible for the death of my poor neighbour.
It was incredible but true.
I was upset but I had to report him to the police.
After two days my brother was killed by a policeman during a firefight.
-Carlotta Bavestrello

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«Hey, do you remember that thing?» «ehm... Which thing?» «Mr. T... passing away... boom...» «Oh, yes, that thing... I see» «Remember to put the... boom... Alright?» «Yes, boss».
The previous afternoon we succeeded to intercept that call. We recorded it and we've found something incredible. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself: I'm Ronny Cage, FBI detective in Boston. Besides that, that morning, an alarm rang in our office. Then, I heard a recorded voice. «Someone very very important is in danger». I was wondering who  the VIP in danger was. I asked an agent to identify the provenance of that alarm. After a while, he found that it was sent from 62 Keith Street, Boston. So, I looked for that address with a patrol, and, when we arrived, we came into a two-floor house. We tried to enter, but the door was locked. After few minutes, we smashed that. We checked the house and, at the beginning, it seemed empty, as if nobody had been there. But then, an agent found a picture of Donald Trump. My thought was "why a picture of Donald Trump?". I was laughing, but another agent told me that the president would have been in Boston for a rally in the city hall. I was still wondering who was Mr. T,  but I realized that the "very very important man" was Trump. And, how about the "boom"? I guessed that someone would have hidden a bomb. We noticed that.

The following day, me and the patrol went to Trump's rally. It was the first time I had seen a president alive. We guessed also it was necessary to wear normal clothes, so that we were unrecognizable. The hall was too crowded. We were eight, disposed in four groups: two at the exit, two in the left corner, two in the right corner, and two (me and an agent) in the middle of the crowd. After half an hour, Trump started his speech. Ten minutes later, I received a call from an agent: «We noticed a suspicious man, who's looking around». Then, I saw two men who were surreptitiously going out. We noticed we had to stop then, but, at the same moment, we couldn't scream "Stop them" without being sure, because we didn't want to avoid interrupting Trump's rally and alarming people, without a valid reason. So, I asked the two agents, who were at the exit, to distract them, talking about Trump's speech and how good he was. At the beginning, they spoke, but suddenly, one of them, maybe because he was anxious, hurt an agent and ran away with an object which seemed to be a remote control. I called immediately the 911, but when the police arrived, the man had already disappeared. The area had been closed and the other man tried to hide himself, but he was found immediately, and then, he had been arrested. The police ordered to evacuate the area, and when the hall was empty, there was a suspicious bag, probably forgotten by somebody. But finally, it had been blown up. That was the bomb the terrorists tried to hide. After two hours, the situation was under control and the police succeeded to arrest the other man. We were so proud to foil that attack, and to save the president's life. After a while, we met him. He was very very glad to be saved by us. He said: «You didn't save just me, you saved the United States of America».
At the end, the great discovery: those two men were part to a very big group, who managed to do other attacks. But I suppose this could be an intriguing story for another time.

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Sir William would have lived that boring day as always he did: he’d have woken up late, he’d have spent the breakfast time staring at the landscape of a foggy London, he’d have looked for the locomotive and he’d have smoken the wooden pipe he always took in the pocket of his black redingote, then he’d have read the journal and played chess with one of the many unknown and opportunistic people who visited him; during the entire day, he’d have shown to those visitors a quiet and cheerful face, a tender and caring voice, but he wouldn’t have hidden some sleepy and indifferent eyes, as he started being bored - and that happened suddenly and frequently -; he’d have kept lying on the big couch, lost in the consciousness of his useless existence, despite the freedom of a big richness, so that, before the abundant dinner, he’d would have filled that terrifying solitude with some chalices of prestigious wine; he’d have continued spending that nasty and bitter life, that he neither wanted to live, unless, in that day of November 1875, the big chimney, in the living room, had been blocked and it had to be repaired by a chimney sweeper.

That morning, his wife, a gentle and elegant noblewoman, welcomed a twelve-years-old child in their house. He was thin and all dirty of cinders; he wore a grey flat hat and large and tore dungarees; his feet were naked, while he was walking unstable, due to the weight of the working bag. That pragmatic little chimney sweeper started immediately working with a small brush in the living room and meeting Sir William became inevitable.

In spite of a poor condition, in spite of the burden of an unconscious exploitation, the child shew a particular and rare innocence and his big blue eyes sparkled like precious gems in front of  an unknown world - Sir William noticed that immediately. He was speechless, but he always smiled and he ran around, working, working, working, without never taking a rest. He loved his work and his cruel life, because he didn’t see any alternatives to that situation, he thought things need to be like that and never different, a better condition for him, except being a chimney sweeper, didn’t exist, so that, in his complete and pure ignorance, he had a jocund vitality.

Sitting towards the chimney, Sir William stared at the child without speaking: he had everything, nevertheless, what was that feeling of being incomplete, of having already spent his life, his ephemeral childhood? He looked at the child, then to himself, while he was lying on the couch with wine, money and power, and he considered absurd that a dirty chimney sweeper, whose name was Tom, could be happier than him. He didn’t want to understand and a weird feeling of dissatisfaction grew more and more, until it became a profound torment.

He saw in Tom the disillusion of a childhood he had wasted and, then, at the age of fifty-eight,  he couldn’t have it back anymore, he saw a dead innocence, an annoying desire of life which he envied so much. That envy grew and ate the little humanity that William conserved inside his soul. William wanted his happiness, his pleasure, his love for the poor, but special existence, but  he knew that his opportunity had already gone, he’d have been past and he felt that Death was upon his  shoulder. I don’t want to die, oh! Poor me! My only desire is having more time, the same time Tom has, more time, please, more time! he prayed a god in which he had never believed. It was that obsessive desire of time that killed definitely his remained existence; his feeling of bore was accompanied by a total and sudden nullification of his feelings, with which he could apathetically stare at Tom, who was suffocating towards him owing to stool and dust, without helping him. Tom became pale and started crying, he wanted to scream, therefore, he couldn’t breath, he grasped convulsively the air toward Sir William. His desperate eyes said I have time! I want to live!, but that young and flowered blow of life, that hopeful existence  concluded and no one would have known his premature death except the criminal whose hands weren’t dirty of blood, but his cold indifference for a tiny life, he didn’t care at all, was a terrible weapon and a terrible crime.
Tom’s eyes didn’t sparkle anymore.

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“Gloria Carlyle, 22.Time of death: yesterday, 11:20 pm”. Lucas was reading all the information about that girl found dead, under the bridge. “Her parents are devastated, they can’t see the reason why she decided to kill herself.”-said Jo, the police officer, looking sadly at the victim. “She was one of the most brilliant student of her college. A lot of her schoolmates said she was the History teacher’s favourite, Mr. Clark Walker.”- commented Lucas. “She was a nerd just like me!” But the detective Henry Morgan didn’t want to believe that Gloria committed suicide. He was a stubborn man, convinced that every detail matters. “Henry, she left the car near the bridge. In addition, we found a goodbye message at her parents’ house. Everything corresponds.”-his colleague Jo tried to convince him. “Look at her neck: there are some signs, they seem to be caused by choking. Besides, under her nails I found some ferrous dust that is probably from the bridge. Gloria may be pushed by someone and  then tried to survive grabbing the bridge.”-explained Henry, leaving Jo and Lucas speechless. Morgan's excellent intuition always surprised everyone, especially Jo. Suddenly, a policeman arrived near the detective with the phone of the victim, discovered nearby. In a second, the patrol went to the head office in order to let analyze the victim’s phone. “How did you know that Gloria didn’t kill herself?”-asked Jo to her colleague. Henry shrugged his shoulders:”A bit of luck and a lot of experience.” Later on, a blonde woman from the CSIS informed the detective and the policewoman about the information discovered. “She must’ve been very keen on History: her profile is full of emails about historical projects with a certain Clark Walker.”-observed the lady. “Anyway, the last time the victim used her phone was to chat with her boyfriend, Raul Lopez, 27, unemployed. He used to have alcohol issues. From the messages it seemed they were arguing the night Gloria died.”-explained the woman, before leaving with a malicious smile on her face, enjoying the fact that her discovery was useful for the detective. Jo couldn’t help rolling her eyes, making Henry laugh. “Don’t worry, I don’t like her.” Immediately, the policewoman started to blush. “I don’t know why you had to explain it.”-replied Jo. “Anyway, we have got a lead”-exclaimed Henry. After tracking down the house of the victim’s boyfriend, the couple arrived at the place and Jo knocked the door. A young man opened: the pain that he was feeling could be read on his face. “NYPD. We would like to ask you some questions about Gloria Carlyle.”-Jo showed to Raul her police badge, and he let them in. “Mr. Lopez, where were you last night around 11 pm?”-asked directly Henry, making the man angry. “Do you think that I killed her? I’m her boyfriend!”-Raul screamed aggressively. “We found out that you were the last person who has been in contact with Gloria. Were you arguing a lot during this period?”-Jo asked understandingly. Once he calmed down, Raul replied that his addiction to alcohol was one of the main reasons of their fights. “I am unemployed, and alcohol seemed to be the solution for every problems. But Gloria helped me to stop drinking. She promised to never leave me. But then she started to come back home very late, and every time she used different excuses. Once she told me she had visited her parents, but when I asked them, they denied that. Yesterday, she returned home late again and we started fighting, but it was different this time: she repeated many times she would’ve told me the truth if she had the possibility. Later, she decided to go out for a walk, but she never came back.” Raul confessed everything that he knew, and it was clear that he was innocent. Once outside of the house, Jo started to lose her hopes. “We are back at the start. Someone killed Gloria Clarlyle and the only thing that we know for sure is that she was very good at History!”-she exclaimed desperate. Suddenly, Henry got a brilliant intuition. “How didn’t I see that before? Her passion for History, the emails with her teacher, the fact that she returned home late…Jo, you’re a genius!”-yelled the detective, making Jo confused. “A lot of students told that the teacher Clark Walker had a weakness for Gloria. He must have taken advantage of her passion for History somehow. He is a suspected!”-he explained, before calling the head office to order to discover information about Clark Walker. Once they located the address of the teacher, as the couple arrived in front of the house, Walker started to run away and  quickly Henry began to chase him. The detective managed to get him, but Clark pulled out a gun and pointed it to Henry’s head. “Why did you do that? She was just a girl.” Mr. Walker started to laugh hysterically. “She was nothing but my pass to win the contest for the most realistic project about slavery in history. I worked all my life to receive that prize, and Gloria was exactly what I was missing in my project. I forced her to work at my project everyday and I threatened her not to tell to anybody. But when I told her she had to come with me in Florida, where the contest takes place, she refused it for her stupid boyfriend. So I decided to kill her and to incriminate Lopez. And now, you are going to die too!”. Walker laughed one more time and pointed the gun, but a punch on his face from Jo blocked him just in time. In that moment, the police patrol arrived and arrested Clark Walker. “Thanks for saving me, Jo. I had no idea you had so many brilliant skills.”- Henry smiled at the policewoman. “Well, a bit of luck and a lot of experience!”

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Sometimes we make mistakes, don't we? It is human, and I'm sure there isn't even one person in this room who has never done something they regret. We can try as much as we want to always be perfect, always do the right thing, but you know too well how hard it is sometimes. This is what happened to this woman. She committed one single mistake, do you really think she deserves to pay for it for the rest of her life?
My client has spent years working as hard as she could to feed her child and let him have all he needs. She gave up her chance to go to college and pursue a rewarding career in order to always be there for her son, Jess. Eva spent all the money she earned in rent and food and never once treated herself with a well deserved pair of new shoes. She did all of this without ever complaining, without ever making Jess feel like a burden. She was a great mother, and maybe she couldn't take her child on expensive and luxurious vacations, but whose fault is that?
It surely isn't hers. This woman was there for her family when her boyfriend and father of her child abandoned them without ever looking back. I think we can all see how hard working and dedicated this mother is, so why would you think she would have killed that man on purpose? Your Honor, you know that she couldn't have done something like that, knowing that Jess would have ended up in foster care: she loved him too much.
So this is what really happened: Mike, the man who got her pregnant and left her without even saying goodbye, came back to ask for forgiveness, but he was visibly drunk. She couldn't bare seeing him like that and she asked him to leave. He wouldn't take no for an answer and headed towards Jess's room. Maybe he just wanted to say hi to his son, but how could she be sure? Eva knew he had always been a man prone to violence, and she couldn't trust him knowing how drunk he was.
So she curled both her hands around his arm and tried to pull him away from the door, but he pushed her away, making her fall on the floor. Your Honor, my client was deeply scared - I think you would be too - and she did the first thing she could think about: she took the silver lamp, the first object she could find, and she threw it in the man's head. She didn't mean to kill him, she just wanted to keep her child safe, as she had always done.
Would you really say my client is guilty of cold blooded murder? Before answering, ask yourself this question: if somebody threatened the safety of the most important person in your life, wouldn't you do anything to keep that person safe?

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The inspector Wilson leaned back in his chair and took a long sip of coffee. It was a day like any other, the heavy rain of Pittenweem had made him wet on the way to work and as he arrived at the police station he took his usual cup of coffee. The town where he lived was really quiet, nothing had ever happened during his twenty-three years of working, in fact there was rarely need of him. Suddenly, to his surprise, the phone started ringing. Inspector Wilson picked up the receiver and a desperate voice answered:

“ Hello, hello is anybody there?”

“ Inspector Wilson, police department” replied the inspector

“ Hurry up, there has been a murder in my house”

“Just stay calm I’ll be there as soon as possible”

The inspector wrote all the information about where the house was located, took one last sip of coffee, threw down his overcoat and went through the door. It had stopped raining but in its place there was a thick grey fog. The inspector got in the car and quickly drove to the women’s house, as he arrived he walked to the door, and pressed the doorbell. There was the sound of footsteps, and then a women with the face marked by pain opened the door.

“Oh hello inspector, I was waiting for you, please come in”

Mr Wilson walked inside and was immediately impressed by the majesty of the house, but then the women interrupted his thoughts.

“The murder was committed in the study, which is the second room one the left”

“Okay, thank you”

The inspector pushed the door of the study and was horrified by the view, a pool of blood lay underneath the man. Near the man there was a book covered in blood, Mr Wilson inspected it, he thought that maybe he could see finger marks. He walked up over the body and looked at it really closely until he realized that there was a bullet wound.

While Mr Wilson continued to inspect the room the woman walked inside. The inspector asked her if she had any suspicions. The women replied that she didn’t know how it was possible that someone had killed her husband, he was so loved in the village that she couldn’t believe at her eyes. Before Mr Wilson went back to the police station, the woman advised her to talk to his husband’s brother Harry, because maybe he could tell him something useful for the investigation.

The next day Mr Wilson decided to go to visit Harry Smith, he drove straight to his house. The house was a bit old, its paint was faded with time and a window was broken. The inspector knocked at the door when a trembling voice coming from inside the house asked:

“ Who is it?”

“ I’m the inspector Wilson, I have to ask you some questions” replied the inspector

“Oh okay come in”

Mr Wilson entered in the house and started talking to Mr Smith, he asked him some questions about his brother and he discovered that they had some common business. The inspector thought that the attitude of the man  was really strange, he seemed really upset for the death of his brother but at the same time at every question he seemed to be more and more nervous, he thought he was hiding something. After the meeting with Mr Smith, the inspector decided to go back to the women’s house, as he arrived the women told Mr Wilson that she had found a preliminary agreement to sell the land the brothers had in common, dating to the day of the murder. She also told him that her husband had decided to refuse the offer and then he phoned his brothers and they started arguing. The inspector realized that Harry Smith was involved in the death of his brother and now they had to make him confess. Mr Wilson ordered the women to invite Mr Smith at her house, then he decided to put a hidden microphone inside it, so just in case Mr Smith confessed he would arrested him.

Mr Smith came quickly to his sister in low’s house. She started accusing him of the death of her husband and he started shouting that he was innocent until he couldn't take it anymore. He admitted that he had killed his brother because he had hated him for his entire life since they where children, his brother had always been the one loved by anyone with all the luck, while he had always remained in the shadows. Mr Wilson entered in the house and handcuffed Mr Smith.

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"Silence, silence!!", the judge shouted to the courtroom. The person that everyone in the room considered the murderer was sitting compound with a terrible poker face on. When the silence returned, the judge already annoyed and irritated, continued his reading of the sentence:"Here we are all witnesses of a terrible murder, the victims were Mr. Josh Lorencraft and his wife Mrs Jeclyn Lorencraft. They were killed with cold blood. The first one was Mr. Lorencraft, he was killed in his sleep, suffocated with a pillow, whereas his wife had a different fate. She was killed with 23 stabbed wounds in different part of the body. Later on the killer tried to get rid of the corpses by setting on fire the house, but all his plans failed because the neighbors worried for all the noises called tempestively the police. Sir. Asmodeus Terryll was caught in the act, he had his hand and his clothes entirely covered with blood and near by was found the knife. He later confessed the crime, and the motivation of his action were his crazy love for Mrs. Lorencraft that dared to refuse him. Seen all above, collected all the evidence and considered his cold and unstable behavior, this court, with the consent of the low, declare Sir. Asmodeus Terryll guilty and sentence him with life imprisonment. So it is decided. "

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One for one                                    Enessa

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One for one                                    Enessa

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Vivian’s brown eyes won’t ever open again. She’s laying here in a large puddle of blood and a knife has all its blade hidden in her chest. My only emotion is pure rage. Not for the killer, but for me, her bodyguard. My duty was to protect her and to find anyone who could hurt her, but I failed. The police is here and even if everyone tries to make me exit I object with all my might. My alibi is too strong to make them think it was me and I have already told everything that could help them in the investigation, so they don’t need me to remain here. After some moments the sergeant walks to me.

“Go” he says with a hard look “Staying here won’t help neither us nor you. Take some coffee, sleep if you want, but don’t remain here”

My first thought is to answer that I cannot leave her here, all alone even in her death, but another thing comes to my mind. Although I told everything about the situation before the murder with that mysterious stalker who was after her, they can’t find him. I, as Vivian, know who the killer is. I don’t know his name or his features, but I have the certainty that we have met before. He knew too well our habits or even our reactions. I go out from the five stars hotel and I take my car. I try to think again about all the hints that he let behind him and I try to remember the acquaintances or friends that we and Vivian had in common.

Her assistant, Claire. She hasn’t any motives to kill her client. Vivian didn’t fire her or anything else. That girl has just married and now she’s on her honey moon in another State. She’s not the one who I am searching.

Bryan, her colleague. He’s an actor as well and even if he was in competition with Vivian for many thing he couldn’t kill a fly.  Not him.

Ambrosse, another actor. He’s different. That light in his eyes has never reassured me. I remember his controlled manners, so cold that for a moment I thought he was my reflection. I've connected. The only one that he tolerated was Vivian. He wasn’t rude as with everyone else. He has also precedents with sexual harassment. Maybe he made his advances and she refused him. He lost control and in that terrible frame he killed her.

My rage grows again when I press the accelerator. I know where he’s staying. The Excelsior Hotel is not so far and I reach it in ten minutes. I enter asking if he is in his room or around.

“Sorry, but he left yesterday morning”

I repeat his name. Maybe she has made a mistake, but no. Ambrosse Sullivan left yesterday at 10 o’clock. No mistake. I call him.

“Yes?” he answers with an annoyed voice.

“Vivian has been killed”

“I can read articles. Tell me things I don’t know”

“I thought it was you”

“Really?” he laughs “The gift of ubiquity is not granted to everyone”

“It was someone that knows me, you, Vivian… It must be”

“It’s more probable it was Bryan. Much more probable”

He cuts the line. Bryan? Impossible. He’s afraid of blood and knives. But I remember something. The nervousness I felt between him and Vivian, something beyond the simple rivalry. Why not try? I drive to the place where Bryan Strafford is staying and this time I have found someone. Someone dead, again. But it isn’t a murder. It’s a suicide. There is a piece of paper on the table.

“My life has come to an end. I lost everything because of your slanders, Vivian. You told everyone I was a drug addict, even a pedophile. The world  blamed me because of you. Now you are dead, as well as me”

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By Pietro Baroso

“Mori private investigations” office, Tokyo, 05/15/2020.

Suddenly the door opened up and a firm voice said: “We have a new case to solve, Kudo”.

Conan, Ran and Kogoro turned around: it was Heiji, accompanied by Osaka police’s inspector. Conan cringed, fearing the worst.

“What the hell…?!” exclaimed together Ran and Kogoro.

“Er… I mean… We have a new case to solve, let’s act ya-kudo (with brio)”.

Conan rolled his eyes: Heiji was always the same, he risked to reveal his true identity, but managed to make up at the last.

“Nevertheless… What’s the matter?” asked Kogoro.

The inspector took the floor: “I guess you all know Kazuhiko Nakamura, the famous crime novelist”. They nodded. “Well, you know, when he was teaching at the high school, one of his pupils was Hirokazu Tsugamoto, a serial killer broken out of jail some days ago. A witness affirms he has spotted him near Nakamura’s residence, so that we sent two guards in order to watch over his flat. But yesterday, the guards found him dead, hanged. All the windows and the door were locked from the inside.”

“So he committed suicide?” Kogoro asked.

“At first, we thought so,” went on the inspector “but there were two things wrong: the victim’s feet were strangely vertical, as he was on tiptoe, but, above all, the chair found under the corpse was too low to reach the rope”

“So, that means…” Kogoro said.

“Someone managed somehow to break into Nakamura’s flat, then he strangled him, and eventually staged the suicide” Heiji interrupted him. “We suspected of the serial killer, but he had been arrested in Tokyo before the murder happened. Therefore, we must investigate to find out who is guilty.”

Without further delay, they went to Osaka, to the novelist’s residence.

The flat was clean and tidy, but Conan noticed immediately some pencil chips just under the rope, and Heiji, gone to the kitchen, found a spilled trash can and a vacuum cleaner robot near it.

“That’s so strange… But…Oh!”. Conan, arrived in the meantime in the kitchen, checked the can, and found other pencil chips inside it. Then he asked to a guard man Nakamura’s height, and he was answered that the novelist was tall more or less as Heiji.

Conan sneered. He had understood all. He asked Heiji to place the can just under the rope and to get on it. Heiji did it and noticed that, if he got on tiptoe, the rope was exactly at the level of his neck. Then the young detective  asked his colleague to get off the can and spill it, and switched on the robot, which, following the last path stored, pulled the can to the kitchen.

They reported to the others what they had seen, and they agreed that the novelist committed suicide. Therefore, there was another mystery to solve: why did Nakamura staged his death in order to make it seem a murder? On whom did he want to place the blame? The only way to find it out was to know more about his private life, so they decided to ask his neighbours.

On the stairs, they ran into Hikaru Narazaki, a energetic and tattletale woman, who revealed an interesting background to Nakamura’s life: it seemed that the novelist, many years ago, had ravished the daughter of another tenant of that residence, the shareholder Keiichi Morimoto, who was hated by everyone for his cheats.

Exactly while they were talking, the lift activated, and, from the window of the lift door, they saw Morimoto himself.

“Oh, here he is. Speak of the Devil…”

Mrs. Narazaki hadn’t finished to speak yet, when they all noticed that Morimoto had put a gun to his hand, and disappeared out of their sight after shooting himself.

Arrived in a hurry upstairs, where the lift stopped, to wait for them there were the corpse and big spry graffiti written on the lift door: sayonara (farewell).

Kogoro and the inspector agreed it was a suicide, but Conan and Heiji didn’t think so: in fact, there were some wrong details.

First of all, the lift camera was obscured by the spray. The residence keeper affirmed that the last footage showed someone’s right hand spraying on the camera. But Morimoto was left-handed, in fact he held the gun on his left hand. He couldn’t write sayonara with the right hand. Lastly, the watch on the victim’s wrist was still, although it was a self-winding model: someone had put it on the corpse’s wrist after killing him.

Since the guards confirmed that nobody hadn’t exited from the residence, the murderer must be at his flat. As well as Nakamura, Narazaki and Morimoto, three other people lived in the residence: worker Bajiru Ocha, cartoonist Ayumi Muzukashii and special effects artist Shogo Iwai.

All of them were involved in Morimoto’s shares. The shareholder gifted his customers of a self-winding watch like the one that was found on his wrist. It seemed that all of them were cheated by him, so they had a motive.

Another thing to find out was how the murderer gave the appearance that Morimoto had killed himself.

They had been thinking for half an hour, without finding a solution, until Kogoro asked: “Shall we phone Kudo? These two brats don’t make one!

“Two… Don’t make one… I got it!” Conan sneered again. He had found the guilty. But he had to prove it.

As usual, he shot a soporific needle to Kogoro and, with his modulator-bowtie, imitating his voice, he started his reconstruction:

“Two don’t make one… This is the key of the case. Well, since the graffiti sayonara occupies large part of the window, it’s hard to distinguish what’s over the glass. Ran, could you please attach your tablet to the glass and play a video?” Ran did it, and the video seemed actual, even though the tablet occupied half of the glass. “You see, the graffiti makes easy to hide the tablet edges, so that what you see seems real. It was enough to create a video representing Morimoto killing himself with two tablets and showing it us at the right moment, in order to make us think he committed suicide. But actually, the shareholder was already dead, and the murderer had just to act his performance… Or rather… HER performance. Right, Mrs. Muzukashii? Who better than a cartoonist owns two tablets and is able to do such an accurate video? Besides, you are the only customer of Morimoto who doesn’t hold his watch. That’s because you, being right-handed, held it on your right wrist, and, after shooting to him, it contained gunshot residue, so you had to get rid of it, and what’s better than switch it with Morimoto’s? I’m sure that, if we frisk your flat, we’ll found his watch.”

Conan’s words were followed by a minute of total silence.Then she confessed:

“I didn’t do it for my shares. They weren’t too bad. I killed him for Nakamura. He wasn’t just my master, my mentor… I… I… I loved him… I couldn’t accept his suicide because of that old geezer who blackmailed him because of his daughter’s ravish. A few days ago, before his suicide, he gifted me of an autograph copy of his last novel. At page 15 of chapter 5, there were three letters highlighted: fu, ku and shu… Fukushu (revenge)… I immediately got it. On 15 May 2005 he, got drunk, ravished Morimoto’s daughter. Exactly 15 years ago. He was asking me to avenge him. He had planned all details: often he said me that he would have brought him to Hell. And I’m proud because I achieved his last wish.

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by Francesca Piovini
“THE PRAYING MANTIS STRIKES AGAIN!!” this is what the agent Bruce O’Conner was reading on the headline of one of the most famous news papers in all Manhattan, he had been working on this case for weeks without any proof except a note with a praying mantis on it that was found in the mouth of all the victims. O’Conner was constantly thinking about the fact that all the victims were men “it’s a proof or not?”, this one small track could have made huge strides forward, they didn’t know anything about the serial killers, any videos , any digital footprint, any name, in that moment anything could help the FBI in their searches, the killers had already done five victims and he or she didn’t seem to want to stop the play.

It was a Friday morning when Bruce’s phone rang, the sixth victim, in an hotel in the 40th street, Bruce put on his clothes and went to the crime scene, and for his happiness  this time there was a track, a world  written by the victim, “a name, a damned name” thought O’Conner, it seemed the name Olivia, “a woman? How could a woman stab such a stout man?” it seemed impossible to his  eyes… Anyway O’Conner now had a trail and intended to follow it, he started searching on the databases the name Olivia, but he couldn’t found anything, only an Oliver Twik, so he decided to go to his mother house to ask for him. When he arrived in Miami, where the   Oliver’s  mother lived, she told him that she hadn’t known anything about her son for years since he left to go to New York to build a new life. After few other questions, Bruce left without anything important, he had only discovered that Oliver had left because of his father’s mistreatment because he was gay, and that Oliver’s father died in a car crash two years ago.

Three days after Bruce found a friend of Oliver, a woman called Lycia, that told him that she had seen Oliver the last time four months ago in a cafè and that he told her that he probably wanted to change his gender… Bruce started thinking “and if Oliver is now Olivia? But why he killed all this men? What they have in common?”, by chance or lucky, one of his colleagues, Stuart, brought him another track, from the chronology of the phones of all the victims they have found a number in common and a chat whit this number to meet and have a sexual meeting, even if they were all married men. Then O’Conner decided to write to this number from his phone and ask her for a meeting, two hours after she answered with some questions : “Are you married? Are you searching for violent sexual practices? Have you ever hurt one of you family member? As you know all these things are requested for our meeting”, Bruce, a bit confused lied and said yes, so the stranger told him an hour and a place and to come to this hotel alone. The team immediately thought of a plan: Bruce would go alone with a microphone on and the other agents would settle in the neighboring rooms and at the signal they would intervene. In order to follow the plan O’Conner Wednesday went to the hotel alone and when he arrived to his room he found a woman , very stout, in a sexy dress with a black Venetian mask on, she advanced towards him and started to take his clothes off, after they lied in bed , in a split second , she pulled out form a band around her thigh under her dress a knife and tried to kill O’Conner, he immediately gave the signal and fought against the woman until his colleagues arrived and caught her.                                                                                                                                                    It was done, O’Conner found in her purse the note with the praying mantis on and she, or better an old him, said that he was mistreated from his father in his childhood, and that his father also betrayed his mother and hurt her, so he decided to kill him with a fake car crash and after his change of gender he decided to find and kill all the men like his father to free all the wives and the children who were forced to suffer what he had suffered without  being able to defend themselves.

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Lisa and Jane were good friends and they were living in a cottage. It was friday, after having seen a movie with their friends, they decided to come back home on foot. It was summer, the evening was hot and the sky full of good colors. After a while they walked to arrive home and Lisa asked Jane if she wanted to have a drink. They talked for a lot and the sky became dark and creepy; while Lisa and Jane were walking something behind the girls scared them, there were suspicious steps.

They started to run but steps seemed to be more near; finally Lisa and Jane arrived at home but Jane, a lot afraid, couln't put the key in the lock, they looked behind them: a man with a knife was going to kill them!

But… the phone rang and Lisa waked up all of a sudden in her bed.

The end.
Simone

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THE BIG BAD OCTOPUS
It was a gloomy day and it was very hot because it was summer. I was swimming in a little lake near a dense dark forest to refresh myself. At first I decided to stay near the shore because I was alone and the water of the lake was very cold, but I really wanted to see how deep the lake was. Then I started to swim towards the centre of the lake but a big and strong tentacle rolled up around my left foot  and it dragged me to the bottom of the lake . A few seconds later I couldn't breathe anymore and i was drowning into the seaweeds of the cold lake. Finally the tentacle released my leg and I returned to the shore with difficulty. Suddenly I woke up in my bed and as I scared as I was I realized that it was just a bad dream!

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in the eighteenth century, in the heart of London, there was a huge castle, it had a very dark and had many towers and many rooms. despite this, it was the home of the elegant Sir Andrew and his family, made up of his beautiful wife and sweet daughter. in town he was well known for his kindness and tranquility. he had no enemies and was highly respected. but one night a frightening event occurred: Sir Andrew heard a sinister voice downstairs, accompanied by the sound of broken glass. the man quickly ran into the dining room, which looked like a large canteen, and found all the windows and supplies broken. he looked out the window and saw the shadow of a tall and hunchbacked man with disheveled hair who quickly moved further and further away. the following morning the main square of the city was full of people, all frightened and angry. Sir Andrew was trying to understand what happened: a man with a sinister face stole all the houses in the city. this man was called mister Warden, so he signed himself in a scratch on a wall. heard the news Sir Andrew closed himself in the castle with his family to protect himself from any threat. during the night he was tormented by the vision of that man who had little of human and much of a monster. an unknown voice resounded inside his head, saying "nobody has to come near him, don't give him food". the next morning he discovered excruciating news: the modest family who lived in a small house near his castle had been killed, and all the poor victims had a big cut on the neck, the signature of Mr. Warden. it was then that Sir Andrew was even more frightened by the danger to his family and his castle. he ordered servants to barricade all the windows and doors that were there and he closed himself in his room, trembling. the night came faster than usual and the man heard again those unknown voices, which said "he killed his family ...". the following morning there was a disaster: his wife was found dead together with her daughter in one of the towers, with the same cut on the neck. Sir Andrew was desperate and only a few hours later he noticed that no window had been shattered and no door had been opened. while making this observation, the voices that he listen to the day before were more clear. the guards of the large prison castle came to pick him up to take him on the electric chair along with some big chains. as he came out of his cell, in a fragment of a mirror, he saw the dark and dark gaze of Mr. Warden

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In the middle of the night - Sara Avallato

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In the middle of the night - Sara Avallato

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It was the middle of the night when the sound of something heavy falling on the ground woke me up. I looked around in my room but everything seemed at its place, so I figured something must have happened in my mother’s bedroom, which was right next to mine.

I got up trying to be as silent as possible and slowly walked towards the door. Just before leaving my room I tried to look outside but everything was dark, the only things I could see were the shapes of the pieces of furniture.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of someone screaming, and then running with heavy steps. Then, it just stopped. I wanted to help my mother, but I couldn’t bring myself to enter her room, I was stuck because of the fear.

Then, I finally found the courage to move and grabbed my tennis racket to hit the intruder, because I didn’t own any other weapon.

I ran towards the room as fast as I could, when a cold hand curled around my arm and pulled me in the kitchen. I was shivering, scared that the intruder had found me, but I soon realized that it was my mother, who was extremely pale and visibly scared. She whispered that someone had tried to choke her while she was asleep and that she had fought back, managing to hit him in the head with the lamp on the bedside table. He had then fainted and she ran away to hide and call the police.

I was so relieved that she wasn’t hurt! We called for help right away but we couldn’t stay calm knowing that somebody who tried to attack us was in our house. We held our hands and entered her bedroom together to check that that man was actually dead.

But, to our surprise, nobody was  in the room and the window was wide open. The man had left.

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That night was like no ordinary night, you could feel that something evil was in the air.

The moon was hanging high in the dark sky and the rain was pouring down.

While I was walking home the moon distracted me so much that I forgot to look where I was going. I tripped over an old rotten log and cut my knee. But my eye weren’t looking at the newly fresh cut wound on my leg, my attention was caught on looking at a very old ruined house. Just in front of my eyes there was an old sign. The words “enter at your very own risk” looked as if they had been written in blood. A mixture of curiosity ad anxiety convinced me to enter the house. There was a huge and scary wooden door, as I opened it a little shiver went down my spine, my mind was telling me “Don’t enter, don’t do it” but I decided to go on.

Just walked through the door I heard a strange noise coming from upstairs. I had to explore.

I started to climb up the old stairs. Every time I touched a step it squeaked and made me much more scared. Finally I arrived at the top and I noticed that a strange light was coming from the door just in front of me. I turned the ice cold handle and opened the door, then someone unknown pushed me inside the room. I started screaming, then I turned around to see who had been. In front of me there was a horrifying man, he was two meters tall, his face was pale, and his eyes red as the blood. He pulled out a knife and with a terrifying smile said:

“I warned you not to enter”. I managed to open the door and I started running. I ran as fast as I could, I got out of that house but  because of the heavy rain I could see nothing. I was trying to see where to go but the steps of the men were ever closer and the last thing that I heard was:
“No one here gets out alive.”

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Just a nightmare..                  Moras Benedetta

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Just a nightmare..                  Moras Benedetta

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It was an icy November night when I suddenly woke up, I was wheezing besides I was all sweaty since I had already had a terrible nightmare where my family and I were all killed. In order to fall asleep again I started to watch the rain out of the window, I realized that it wasn't just raining, it was snowing!I was about to close my eyes when i started to hear strange noises from the living room, the door was creaking and in addition someone was whispering but I couldn't recognize the voices, they weren't my parents. I called my sister but we had not had time to get out from beds that the door of our room was violently closed. I heard my parents shouting and then nothing. There was an unsettling silence, my sister immediately closed my mouth and then we decided to hide inside our wardrobe, in order to save our lives. I was completely paralized , at the same time I couldn't hold back my tears , was it another bad dream?. We were waiting in a terryifing hush but we weren't able to hear anything. I was keeping my eyes closed when, at a certain point, the door of the closet suddenly opened, then a voice: "It wasn't just a nightmare..".

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by Francesca

It was a dark night of October , my family and I were on holiday in a little dreary village in the mountain, we were staying in a scary hotel on the top of a ravine because it was the only left.

The second evening that we were there , my sister and I decided to go outside to look at the stars because  there were no clouds, while we were walking a bit far away from the hotel the wind started to blow very hard and the whole sky was covered by a lot of clouds.

My sister started being afraid so she persuaded me to come back to the hotel and while we were returning we heard some howls , and there, right in front of us, there were three wolves!

I was immediately petrified by fear and my sister screamed very loud , after a few seconds we started running through the wood to the lake, I was so scared that I couldn’t even see where I was going because my eyes were full of tears.

After the fastest run of my life we arrived at the lake and I screamed to my sister to jump in it even if it was very cold, there the wolves couldn’t find us.

We stayed in the lake for almost an hour and I couldn’t feel my legs that were frozen , I kept looking at my sister but I was feeling that I couldn’t breath easily , I started going down and seeing the water darker and darker , I stopped feeling myself cold , I stopped feeling at all.

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That night of November - Benedetta Cirillo

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That night of November - Benedetta Cirillo

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It was a rainy evening of November. My family and I decided to go on vacation to celebrate my mum's birthday. She loves being in contact with nature, so my dad booked an old cottage to please her. We were truly excited for the experience we were going to live, especially my mum, who couldn't wait to enjoy her birthday with us. But then, when we arrived, we found out that the cottage was completely isolated: around us, there weren't any houses or buildings. "Dad, where are we?"-asked my younger sister, but he didn't reply. He seemed very thoughtful. Later,  we managed to go into the cottage. The inside was big, yet devastated: it seemed to be about to fall at any moment. Besides, there was a horrible smell that I couldn't identify. "This is horrific!"-yelled my sister and i couldn't agree more. "Well, at least we can say we tried, can't we?"- said my mum, trying to defuse the situation. "Shall we go back home, honey?". Again, my father didn't say anything. He was looking outside, from the old window. "I spent a lot of money in order to make you happy."- he whispered, and I could hear something unusual in his voice-"and this is all you have to say?!"- he started screaming with anger, but when he turned his face to us, he had a creepy smile on his face. I was terrified, and so were my mum and my sister as well. My father pulled out a little knife and started to chase us. Immediately, the three of us ran to the second floor to the cottage, where there was a long hallway with a door at the end of it. "If we reach that room, we will be safe!"- I yelled to my mum and my sister, I could feel the fear all over me. We were o close to that room, but my father was faster: he reached that door before us and he was standing in front of us, laughing. He dangerously pointed the knife against my mum's neck, and the last thing I managed to hear that night was my father's terryfing voice whispering-"Happy birthday, honey."

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I was driving along a very beautiful coast, when I came to a long bridge. I had to cross that, to arrive in the place I had to go.

Suddenly, while I was crossing that, I saw some enormous creatures which seemed to attack me. I realised they were killer whales, which jumped trying to eat me. I was so frightened that I got goosebumps. My teeth were chattering.
At the beginning, I thought I was already dead. But then, I tried to increase my speed, so that killer whales wouldn't kill me.

Nevertheless, while I was driving so fast that I was losing control, a terrible black whale, bigger than the others, bumped my car. After that, I fell into the sea.
I succeeded to go out of the car (if I hadn't done that, I would have died because the water was entering), and I had an idea: try to swim as fast as possible. The water of the sea was freezing (it was winter), but I still tried to do it. I had no choice. I was swimming to the other part of the land, but a big whale ate me.
I couldn't escape, because it was too late, the whale had already closed her mouth. All was dark inside the mouth of the whale.

Finally, I suddenly got up. It was late, I slept too much. "It was only a nightmare, it was only a nightmare", I thought. But the following morning, I was driving a very beautiful coast, when I arrived to a long bridge. "It was similar to the bridge I had to cross in the nightmare, what the hell!".

But then, I saw something strange. Some big whales were jumping on the sea. I remembered my terrible nightmare and I said "not even now". So, I changed my route. Finally, I reached the destination. Yes, I was an hour late, but, let's look on the bright side: I am still alive.

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It was a day like any other in my house in the woods outside the city, i bought it cheaply because of strange ghost legends that wandered around the woods but i didn't believe them and I thought that I had made a good deal.
It was about six in the evening and it was getting dark so I went for a walk with my dog when he started growling against an unspecified point in the woods. I thought he had simply seen some wild animal wandering around the area but it looked very upset and it pulled the leash very hard. At one point the leash slipped out of my hands and my dog ran in the direction he was growling at until i lost sight of him and heard his yelp. At that point i started to get scared because not only what happened wasn't normal but also because i saw a dark silhouette come out of the woods and head towards me. I panicked and i started running trying to escape, then i remembered a small wood control station not too far from my position and i started to head towards it. Meanwhile it had already become night and everything was completely dark. I felt the presence of the figure approaching me but i finally saw the station and i rushed inside where there was a forest ranger who as soon as he saw me he helped me enter. Finally I was safe and secure in the light of the station. The last thing I remember of that story was the words of the guard who said: "What is that figure?" But all this belongs to the past now, I don't care anymore, because now I am part of this wonderful forest too.

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The White Embrace of Fear  by Quacquaro Filiberto

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The White Embrace of Fear  by Quacquaro Filiberto

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Outside there was a wonderful evening of April. We entered inside at 7.00 pm. No one welcomed us, it seemed that white and grimy place was abandoned. there was nothing  just a neon light on the ceiling that didn't even light all the  big room.  Me and a friend were there to celebrate the promotion with the other colleagues.  An employee organised the party but at the last minute he said he wouldn't have come.  while we were waiting for someone we started feel a presence in the room. Before we realized a man in a man in tuxedo came out from a dark spot. In all that darkness we couldn't see his face, he was wearing a white hat and maybe a white mask. He told us to follow him in the party hall and  not to worry about that room because that was a secondary  entrance and no one cleaned up it. After those words we understood. We followed him through a murky corridor  where not even the walls were visible. After that long corridor we arrived in the party hall but we immediately noticed the "party hall" was exactly identical to the previous room where we entered but much smaller almost stuffy. Meanwhile the man in a tuxedo suddenly disappeared. The door of the corridor  was quickly closed. The air was oppressive and creepy, the fear was wrapping our hearts more and more. There was a blackout. After few seconds light turned on but i was totally alone. I tried to shout the name of my friend but my screams became noiseless and no one answered.  A black hole appeared in the wall. In there the man in a tuxedo  was looking at me with a face far from being human. His empty eyes and his pale skin exuded evil and sadism while he held the bloody corpse of my friend. It was too dark and there was too blood to see if he killed him with a knife or with his own hands. He left the dead body and he started approaching me until he disappeared in the darkness. My heartbeat was going crazy, I lost emotions, I don't even now what to do, I just understood that I was the next one.

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A night to forget. What to do?          -Xhesika 

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A night to forget. What to do?          -Xhesika 

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It was night already and I was sleeping, when a strange noise woke me up, it sounded like someone who was sharpening a knife. I was scared, thinking about getting up or not, I was terrified at the idea that it could be true.

I took all my courage and went to the place where the sound was, the kitchen.

Someone was there, but who? The lights were off.

My heart was beating so fast and loudly, I went on tiptoe near them, trembling so much.

That person turned all of a sudden, smiling at me, they knew that someone was looking at them, I saw their face, it was my father.

I took a sigh of relief, but at the same time I thought why he was there and why he had a knife in his hand. I couldn't finish my thoughts that he started running after me. He went crazy.

I tried to call him, perhaps he was only joking. He didn't reply.

I started running to my room and locked the door.

My dad was trying to open it, the fear grew inside me. What to do?

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It was a normal rainy winter morning, it was 6:30 in the morning and all was still outside the only sound that was heard was the scream of the train, I woke up as every morning to the sound of my alarm clock, I put my foot out of the blankets and I felt the cold enter my body, I had the strange feeling of being observed, but I knew that everyone in my family was sleeping except my dog ​​who would have given me good morning, I dressed quickly in order not to miss the train that would take me to school, I went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast, there was a great figure in the kitchen, still as if to wait for me, it was my father "you scared me! are you going to work early today?" I asked, but he remained in silence, with his big eyes on me, I asked him if he hadn't heard me and I repeated the question, but I didn't have an answer again, "are you tired?" I asked him even if in reality I had the impression that he was awake, I started to take my cup when continuing to wake up he took my hand, I realized only at that moment, that he had a knife in his other hand, I started to scream , but I had no answer, I managed to remove my hand and run away on the terrace and he did the same, I was afraid I saw him advance with a rigid step as possessed and while he said his first word of the day "kill", he started to hit me, when lowering me he fell off the terrace and I saw him fall, until I was woken up by my alarm clock I had the impression that it was not just a dream and that everything would start all over again

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The weather outside the car was stormy and cold, but nothing would have had the strength to dampen my enthusiasm, I couldn't stop smiling. My family and I were going on holiday, we couldn't stand anymore the city where we lived, its jam, smog and noise. The Tuscan countryside stretched in front of my eyes while I was listening to some rock music. My parents were truly excited, even if my dad seemed a bit anxious too, when we arrived at our destination, actually when I saw the huge castle where we were going to spend our holiday, I was speechless.

My dad told me it was one of my grandfather's residences; I knew my ancestors were quite rich, but I would have never thought that much.

After a delicious dinner I decided to go to bed, I wanted to be rested for the day after, I would have gone on exploration in the grounds around the castle. Once I arrived in my room, I got really scared. There was a woman in the room! But before I could scream, she humbly explained to me that she was the cleaning woman. I was really curious about the castle's history and that kind woman was pleased to answer my questions. I found out that the structure was built in the XVIII century, it has been my family's property since it was livable.

She said me that nobody wanted to buy the castle, as it happened for the other residences of my grandfather. I couldn't believe that everyone in the cities around thought that the castle was haunted.

The cleaning woman didn't want to go ahead with the story, but I persuaded her. She said that, in addition to the fact that the castle was haunted, my family had been cursed. Everyone with my blood would have gone crazy in that building, as it happened to my grandfather and his ancestors.

I wasn't really scared; how could ghosts, spells and curses be real? I thanked the old woman and she went out after warning me to be careful. I was tired, it didn't take me too long to fall asleep.

In the middle of the night I heard some strange noises, I opened my eyes and I saw a figure who was staring at me. I tried to scream but his hand covered my mouth.

I was truly scared before I understood it was my dad.

<<What's up, Dad?>> I said, while I was shaking.

<<I need you to see something, follow me.>>

<<Where are we going?>> I was following my dad out of the castle, I had a lot of questions but it seemed like he wasn't even listening to me. We arrived to a shore of a lake, it was as marvelous as scary.

<<You don't know the story, do you?>> He asked me after some minutes of silence, while he was fumbling with some ropes.

<<What are you talking about?>>

<<The curse>> he answered shaking.

<<Yes, I know it, the cleaning woman told me. Dad what are you doing?>> I was really anxious and confused.

<<The cleaning woman? We don't have one!>> he exclaimed, I didn't know what to answer.

<<I'm so sorry, darling. I need to do this>> he said crying. He tied his wrist to mine. What was happening? Was I dreaming?

<<We need to stop this, we need to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of all. We can't let this bloody, crazy and cursed offspring continue.>> he was sobbing <<I'm really sorry, but we need to do so.>>

He pulled a gun out of his pocket . I screamed, yet nobody could help me.

<<Help! What are you doing? Stop!!!>> I tried to hit him but the bullet was faster than my fist.

The dead body of my dad fell into the deep water and I followed him, pulled by the rope closed around my wrist.

My screams were swallowed up by the lake.

Did I have to blame my blood?

Was I really drowning or was I dreaming?

I couldn't know.

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It was a rainy night in autumn. I was walking, feeling the cold of the water touching my skin under the heavy coat I was wearing, but my chills were caused by a misgiving, not by the bad weather. In the dark the only light was shown by the moon. That big, red, gloomy moon.

There was nobody, only me and that growing feeling of anxiety. I tried to convince myself that it wasn’t justified, that 9th Avenue was the same street I walked that morning, when I went to Charlotte’s house, but it was useless. My eyes were running from side to side to recognize every minimal movement, but a black cloud covered the moon, so everything was drowned in the darkness.

For a moment it was impossible to see anything, but a lightning shown me the street again and, with it,  a tall figure. He was a man, I was sure about it. He was wearing a long black coat and the hair was dark as well. But as the lightning passed I was blind again, so I wasn’t able to see anything else about him.

That wasn’t my problem, since  what was only a feeling began to be pure dread. I remembered the newspapers and the frightening news about a killer who murdered five young women and as soon as I thought that I started walking faster, almost running. My mind was thinking of all the terrible things that happened to those girls and the more I thought about it, the more my breath accelerated until I had to stop to take a breath. I looked around trying to figure out if the man was still there or not. I calmed down a bit, maybe it was my imagination or maybe he was only someone who was coming back home as me. My heart slowed down and my breath was normal as before. I was about to start walking when I felt something sharp and colder than the rain on my neck. I swallowed.

“You all run, but never fast enough” a warm voice whispered behind me.

My eyes opened  wide and a strangled sound came from my lips. The knife made his way through my soft flesh and the world began to darken.

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VICTIM OF HIS OWN CRAZINESS - Giulia

- She was a beautiful and clever girl, my judges! Oh, you don’t know how much I was...I am proud of her- he desperately covers his old and pale face - I worked as a Sous-Chef for a long time and, when I returned tired at home, I found her cheerful smile, her eyes full of affection that silently said to me “Welcome home, daddy”. In moments like that I understood I was incredibly lucky, because there was such a strong and clever girl with me. -

- And now?! Now I’m unemployed, without money, without home and without...her smile!- he started crying convulsively - Everyday I’m more and more convinced I didn’t deserve her, my dear judges; I haven’t been a real father for her, I always left her alone: you know, I stayed at the restaurant all day- he interrupts himself to take a profound breath, because he is talking fast and sometimes sobbing like an excellent actor - ...and, in spite of that, she grew perfectly, I assure you; I r-really, really don’t comprehend why she decided to commit suicide- he keeps fixing his hands or the wooden table in front of him - I don’t comprehend, I don’t comprehend - he repeats more to himself than to the judges - so smart, so clever, so generous -.

A middle-aged woman, with a sad and compassionate smile on her face, stands up and starts walking around the tribunal, as if she is looking for the right words, suddenly she stops and says - Father’s love can’t lie, it wins everything- she looks at the man with a  proud attitude, because she strongly believes in the importance and intelligence of her speech.

In the meanwhile, the man’s eyes seems empty and inexpressive, however, he continues smiling, lost in his thoughts. Someone, who didn’t hear the speech before, would find him a bit creepy and mysterious; despite that, after the father’s monologue, the judges are sure about his innocence. In this moment, what they don’t know is that a beautiful and clever voice is whispering into his weird mind - You love me so much, right daddy? So much that you keep my favourite white dress...but, oh!, it’s all covered by MY beautiful and clever blood, (do you) see it? Wha-what does it happen to it? - the voice is intentionally childish and annoying - Don’t worry, don’t worry, my dear - it adds, laughing - the judges are blinded by your pure innocence and also you must convince yourself, because you didn’t kill me, did you? You aren’t a pusher, are you? I don’t know anything, no no, and I will never know anything. You only are a failure without money with which you should repay all the debts and the people you tried to deceive, without enough alcohol to forgot your sins and your uselessness and obviously without your beautiful and clever daughter -

The man, who has never been a father, but a human whose economic interests overcome his humanity, was obsessed (so much that he couldn’t neither sleep) by the easy, fast and crazy idea that, day after day, was growing into his mind: fear? obsession? sin? Everything’d have been vanished with a simple and fatal choice: father or monster, who did he want to be? - You are too clever, you knew everything and early all the people will know...why are you like that? Why were you born? If you had been only a bit stupid, nothing of that would have happened, because I love you, my dear, you know -.

The voice stays in silence; now he is alone with the burden of his monstrosity, he feels so gross that he can’t do anything except hysterically laughing and saying - I don’t deserve you, my dear - and finally he adds -Poor and blind judges, I confess -.

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TRAP AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA - Carlotta

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TRAP AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA - Carlotta

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It was a dark November evening and after dinner I decided to go to bed because I was terribly tired.
At midnight I received a strange message by my aunt Fiona and after that three silent calls.
I became troubled and restless.
it was very late but I was afraid my aunt was sick.
Probably she needed some help.
I got in my car and I left to reach my aunt. The weather was bad and a terrible , fearful storm blew up.
I had to reach the house along the coast where my aunt lived.
The sea had swelled and a big wave swept my car.
In a few seconds I was catapulted in the black, cold sea.
I struggled to rise to the surface and suddenly I went back on the seafloor.
I didn't understand, some whales attacked me.
They wanted to kill me. They made terrible cries.
The whales were going crazy. When one of them opened the monstrous mouth, I saw my aunt's pearl necklace to sparkle and I understood everything. I would have ended up the same.
The moment before I was devoured I remembered the prophecy that some years before a sorceress foretold us during a scary seance :"You will die together in the sea".
Aunt Fiona said me that It was a nonsense, but now It was too real.

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By Bora.

Is was a very cold night, one of the coldest that I can remember, even if is pretty normal here in Nowhere City to have this temperatures, I would never forget what happened that night. I was with my family at home, we had just finished dinner and we were searching for some board games to play together, I was pretty bored when suddenly my sister came out with the Ouija board. For me it was pretty interesting no one in the room believed in ghosts or spirits and I was also very keen on creepy stories, so we started to play. Initially nothing happened, we asked some questions but of course there was no response. Suddenly when we wanted to stop the planchet moved. The silence invaded all the room, we were scared and confused. My dad took courage and asked: "What's your name? Are you a good Spirit or a evil One?". The planchet moved fast on the board and said: " Lucy". We were really scared and we wanted to stop immediately the game, we asked if we could stop but the Ghost got mad, starting to knock to the windows, open the oven and the fridge in the kitchen and messing all the chairs in the dining room. We were terrified that much that we hugged each other very tightly, shouting to the Ghost to stop. All of a sudden everything calmed down, we thought that It was all over, but It wasn't. My dad acted strange. He went to the kitchen and picked a knife, his eyes were completely white… he was POSSESED by the Ghost!! We started screaming and running all over the house, searching for a hiding spot. I went straight into my room and I hid into my closet. I felt safe there, but I was not… I could hear clearly someone coming into my room, he opened the door…. makes two steps in and….BATUM.. my dad was lying down on the floor unconscious. I sneaked out from my hiding and look out what happened. Later I found out that The Ghost was really gone and my dad didn't remember anything. This was terrifying and we won't never mess up again with that board.

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Last year, I and my parents went to Scotland to visit Loch Ness.

The hotel was a big, ancient and wonderful castle. On the first day we decided  to visit the lake by boat. I was very scared at the idea, but I convinced myself to go. Despite my expectations, the trip was very nice and we didn’t see strange things such as… well… monsters, for example?

That night, I was admiring the beautiful landscape at the window alone in my room. Suddenly, I heard a cry. I couldn’t comprehend what it was: it was neither human-ish nor animal-ish. I got so scared that I couldn’t move anymore.

Then, I heard some strange feet noises, as someone was reaching me. I turned around and I saw my father with an evil smile on his face, and a knife on his hand. He said “I caught you”, and then he moved the knife towards me. I screamed, and I closed my eyes. All round me became strangely dark. I was still breathing, though.

Then I realised it was just a nightmare. Luckily.