Third Time’s A Charm 

Cookie cutter family, nice suburban neighborhood, higher class, freshly paved sidewalks, and roads. Yet no one expected what was happening inside these homes. She saw a car pull up to their driveway, but no one ever came in. Evalyn was not expecting her husband to be home so early that day. She was concerned so she opened the front door questioning why her husband wasn't coming in. What if he forgot his key? she thought. She opened the door, but to her surprise, once again, no one was there. As soon as she was about to take a step outside, a man in all black, about 6 '4, knocked her out with one of her decorative flower plants she had right outside her front door. She immediately collapsed on the floor in between her doorway and foyer. The man quickly dragged her inside, and as she bled tremendously, she left a path of blood from the front door, all the way to where the man dragged her to the kitchen, the way snails leave a trail of slime. 

Richard was his name. He and Evalyn went to the same grade school up until he was expelled for harassing a classmate. No one had seen him since. Richard had always been obsessed with Evalyn. Throughout the years his obsession only increased. He had been watching Evalyn ever since. He knew her whole life, her daily schedule, and even knew she was five months pregnant. Richard was furious Evalyn never chose him. He tracked her every second of every day. All because he wanted to be with her. What she didn't know was that he indeed was with her at every event. He was at her wedding, at her mother's funeral, and even outside the doctor's office when she went to get her ultrasounds and checkups. Richard wanted nothing more in life than to be in Evelyn's life and her in his. 

His intentions were never to harm Evalyn but he knew he had to get through her in some way. Hours passed and she wouldn't wake up. The pile of blood only grew spreading throughout the kitchen floor.  Richard began to worry more and more. 

“It's gonna be okay. I'm going to take care of you and our baby,” Richard said to Evalyn as if she could hear.  Richard's delusional mind thought everything he was doing was in  Evelyn's best interest. He began to worry and stress as Evalyn wouldn't wake up. He began pacing back in fourth while biting his nails as if that was going to help the situation. As much coordinated as he had while stalking Evalyn, he didn't have much of a plan after this. All he knew was he wanted nothing more than to be with her. In the fourth grade, everyone resented Richard. Evalyn was the only one who took notice of Richard. In her defense, she was just being nice, even though Richard took it as more throughout the years. 

As more time passed, Richard continued to stress. Not a single ounce of him wanted to hurt her or even knock her out. His guilt only spread like vines. 

“911, what is your emergency?” 

“Uh, yes hello, I came home to my wife unconscious on our kitchen floor. There's blood everywhere. Please send an ambulance immediately.” 

He panicked. As soon as he got off the phone with the dispatcher, he instantly regretted it.  He thought they were going to take her away from her and he'd never get the chance to be with her again. Richard practically ransacked their house looking for sheets to wrap her in. He thought, I could take care of her, myself, and our baby.  

Down in one of the east halls of the house, he found a closet with extra sheets, pillow, and blankets. He grabbed a few, laid them down next to Evalyn and carefully rolled her over it. Wrapping her like a burrito, he put her in the backseat of his beat-up old truck. He managed to do all this just before the cops and ambulance arrived. As they were driving away, he saw them pass by and pull into the house. Richard then looked in his rearview mirror, smirked, and just waved. He then proceeded to speed back to his place to get Evalyn the “proper care” he thought she needed. 

The police started knocking at the door but no one answered. Shortly after, Evalyn’s husband pulled into the driveway. He carried concern and fear in his face, only thinking about Evalyn and the baby. 

“What the hell is going on!” screamed Lyon at the first responders. 

He pushed them all aside from the doorway while they were trying to ask him questions but none of it processed through his mind, he was solely concerned about his wife and child. The cops immediately stopped him and started to question him. 

“Sir! You called just about twenty minutes ago telling us your wife was bleeding out on the kitchen floor.” 

Chad knew he did not call the cops or in fact anyone at that point. 

“Officer, I think you might have the wrong house, I did not make any calls so will you please just let me get home to my wife.”  

“Of course, we just need to make sure all is well since we did receive a call from this exact address.” 

As soon as Lyon opened the door, he saw the trail of blood going into the kitchen. The cops noticed it immediately after he did. They all ran along the blood trail, but the cops spread throughout the house looking in every room while Lyon vigorously screamed out Evalyn’s name. The cops held him down as a suspect of this scene. Lyon refused and fought back but that made the cops even more aggressive and furious, but not as much as Lyon was to find his wife and where the blood came from. A wild amount of questions were rushing through his mind. Whose blood was this? Was it Evalyn’s? Did she kill someone? Was she okay? Did a raccoon sneak in and she tried to fight it off?

“I didn't do it!” Lyon yelled at the investigator while cuffed on to the table of the interrogating room where only a table, two chairs, huge mirror, and a hanging light from what looked like a basement room.  

“Lyon, your last two wives went missing. Is the third just a coincidence?” Asked the investigator. 

“I told you I didn't do it!” said Lyon hysterically crying. “How would I have done anything? I got to my house right after you guys arrived. You guys are just wasting your time and mine when we should be looking for my wife! You know she's pregnant too?” 

“We did not know that, sir, but as soon as we get our story aligned and you tell us what you did with her we'll be out of here in no time.” 

The cops found no evidence of who took and injured Evalyn. With Lyon’s past, they thought they had every right to arrest him, so they did. Not only was Lyon falsely accused, he lost his wife and his baby. Evalyn and Richard were never to be seen again.