It was 11 at night, crickets chirping loud and quick indicating the warm weather, a black haired woman in a short lavender dress and beige overcoat staggered on the streets of Bukumi going home. The sound of her high heels clicking echoed in the silence. Her branded Gucci bag, which her boyfriend gifted, dangled on her left shoulders. The street was dimly lit by a single street light at the corner. The houses on the either sides of streets were eerily quite and looked almost the same. The woman was busy chatting on her phone telling her friend about her date with her boyfriend when someone approached her from behind,
"I like your bag. Can I have it?"
Police arrived at the scene when some high schoolers found a lady unconscious on the street. She wore a lavender dress and her neck was twisted backwards. Her eyes were open wide, sockets seemed like that they'll pop out. Blood seeped down her mouth staining her lavender dress. The blood was dry so the police assumed the murder happened around midnight.
"We're sending the body for autopsy." A young policeman reported, "There's no sign of struggle, sir, but how is it possible to twist someone's neck like that?"
"That's what I'm wondering." The policeman, middle aged, replied analysing the murder scene. To twist someone's neck needs a lot of strength, the culprit must be really strong physically.
The mother of the victim was crying as she watched her daughter's lifeless body and her father was trying to console her. Losing their only child in such a gruesome way and that too at such an old age the father knew that he have to be strong for her wife. Though completely broken from inside, he did not shed a single tear.
"....Nothing other than the Gucci bag is missing. It looks like a case of robbery. The security of this area will be increased. We'll catch the culprit as soon as possible." The middle aged policeman explained.
Days turned into weeks and weeks into months, the culprit was never caught. The murders never stopped. Men, women, students were murdered. All in the same gruesome way, by twisting their necks. And the police has no lead on the murderer. Security was increased, CCTV was installed on the streets but nothing stopped the murders.
The recent murders caused a huge commotion among the residents of Bukumi. The once peaceful town was now in an uproar. There once was a time, when apart from some little robberies, the crime rate of Bukumi was close to zero. Now the same Bukumi has become a playground for some murderer. Being a small town with such a small population no strict actions were taken. Murders in Bukumi remained unknown for the rest of the world. People of Bukumi lived in constant fear and pain. Since no murderer was caught people started to come up with there own theories.
"This town has been cursed." an old woman said to her neighbour in a shaky voice.
"Don't start with the stories again, grandma" the boy said, laughing.
"Tears of blood, twisted neck. It is the doing of an evil being. You young kids don't understand but this old woman knows. This town....this town is cursed."