THE SHADOW

That was our first visit to Paris or to Europe and we were rather excited to be there. France was an intellectual and a cultural attraction to us from our university days and that was the very reason for our excitement. The year was 1984 and if I need to get the exact month, I may have to go through my old passport. I had been to Canada via Moscow in 1974, exactly a decade ago, for my first postgraduate studies, but Canada or the place where I was living was rather a dull place compared to Paris, or Europe in general.

But, thank God, l didn’t go to that hotel , because in the one I nearly booked ,  a murder happened in the year 1567 . In the same hotel, in the same year they were celebrating a wedding, the bride was killed hours before the wedding , someone found her in the bedroom, but it wasn’t her bedroom, it was her mistress’ bedroom.

This whole story started when I was living in Canada, there are a lot of weird people there by the way. But anyway, one day I was supposed to meet my friends at the bar in front of my flat, but for no reason, they didn’t show up, it was like the destiny, trust me, you will find out.

So there I was, all alone at a Canadian bar, I got tired of waiting but, suddenly, when I was about to leave, an old man came to me saying : «Hold up , trust me, you want to hear what I got for you». Even though that he looked like a homeless I stayed with him.

So he started:

-Hi, Charles

+ How do you even know my name?

-Oh God, I didn’t  know that I was that marginalized by society

-Charles, I’m the homeless who has been living at your door for 5 years!

+Oh I’m so sorry, I’m just always so busy, sorry, I didn’t realized that you were there

-Don’t worry, my name is Jack by the way. I have heard that you are getting married at Plet’s hotel, aren’t you?

+Yes!! You are so snitch! You shouldn’t hear others´ conversations. It’s none of your business.

-Well, I’m sorry but do you know what happened in that hotel?

+No, why?, what happened there?                                           

-Well, here it is. In 1567, a couple was getting married, like you and your couple in a couple of months, at Plet´s hotel.There was a lot of stuff going on there that night. It was crazy. However, people just knew that a women appeared dead at the same time the wedding was getting prepared. So I really recommend you not getting married there.

+That is actually a really tragic story, but we have been organising this for a year, so we are not going to cancel our wedding just for a story that a stranger just told me.

-All right. Don’t call me if someone appears dead! I might be a homeless, but I do have feeling. Is my opinion different  than just another guy´s?                   

The homeless left (annoyed), worried as he was sure that someone of the hotel will die. However, he couldn’t do anything about it. Then, Charles went home to tell what had just happened to his future wife.

He arrived home. Anyone was at home, so he just waited. He knew that her girlfriend was with his mom, and by the way, she really hates his future wife, just because of her skin color. Crazy, isn’t it? Yes, Charles’ mom is a fucking racist.

Charles was so pissed about that, he couldn’t just get the fact that his mom doesn’t like her, he was actually afraid if something happened.

20 minutes later, Mary, his women, arrived. He told her what had happened. She shared the same thoughts: That guy was crazy.

We were always talking about that, but, like everything in this life, we just forgot about it. Months after, I haven’t even realized it yet but we were on our way to Paris.

The couple arrived to the hotel, because they had to prepare all the things. They asked the hotel if Charles´ story was actually true. Unluckily the hotel said it was true, however it hasn’t happened again.

A day before the wedding, the people started to arrive at the hotel, just to be ready to celebrate the stag-party with their friends.

Everyone arrived, family, friends, teachers from their older school… They all were happy and excited about it.

The night arrived. That means the party was on. It was a big party with views at the Eiffel´s tower. It was in the penthouse of the hotel with waiters and also shows. It just showed that they had been preparing it along time ago. All the people were having fun. But not for much longer….

Everyone went to their rooms to sleep, all of them were so tired and tomorrow was the big day. Charles found her mom walking around the hall-way at like 1 am, she was just a bit drunk, so he went back to his room.

The morning after, Charles got up. He realised that Mary wasn’t there.

Where was she?

He went to her friends´ room just to check if she was there. She wasn’t.

Then he asked her dad, and again, no one knew where she was.

He went to the reception and he saw the police saying:

-Good morning, I am Bastian Aubriot, general commissioner of the southern district, a women has just appeared dead in the fifth floor.

+My girlfriend disappeared, have you seen a 25 years old woman called Mary?

-Well, Sir, I don’t want to be dramatic or insolent, but we just found a dead women who seems 27, her ID says she is called Mary McGuiness. We can let you see her and tell us if it’s your woman.

+This can’t be happening to me (he said barely breathing). I should have  listened to the homeless. Can I see her?

-Yes, of course. We will open a case because we think that it might be a murder. She appeared in a bedroom without clothes, do you know what was doing her in a room naked?

+That is impossible! We were getting married today.

-She was with another person last night right here, do you know who could’ve done a thing like this ?

+No! I said that she wasn’t with another men

The officer was right there were two glasses in the room, the bed sheets were messed up, blood everywhere…

He left, he was so stressed and feeling lost. Charles couldn´t even think that she was sleeping with another fella. And why was she murder?

He went to the room where her future wife was murdered a couple of hours ago. That women was definitely Mary.

The commissioner found a wallet of the men who she was sleeping with. His name was Lucas Granth. He was a businessman.

But how could Lucas do that if that room was booked with his name, it would be too obvious.

Charles ran to the policeman to tell him what he had found. The policeman started to look for him. He found that he just took a 2 passengers flight to Florida.

So who murder her?

-Lucas Granth, the men who was sleeping with that night.

-Charles, because he found that he was sleeping with another boy

-Charles´ mother, because she hates her.

                                          THE END