EBRULİ ULUTAŞ

     There was a small town in a big world. The name of this town was Beverly. Beverly was a complicated town where no one knew each other. Nobody cared about anyone else's problems, they were swimming in their own swamp. There would be crimes in the town, some thefts, arson, kidnappings and occasionally murders. People heard these things but never cared. The important thing for them was that nothing happened to them. Days passed like this in Beverly.

Listlessly...

10 December 1762

     The boys - as usual - were competing with each other early in the morning with the newspapers in their hands. Lando was the fastest runner but the most careless of them all. Lando bumped into Cris the baker this morning too. Chris lost his balance and fell. Lando apologized to him as he ran. Cris couldn't get angry at him again. Old Mery opened her window and watered her flowers with happilly. "Good morning, my dear daughters."

     At that time Elysa was still sleeping and was tired from writing stories until late at night. Her mother's scolding forced her to wake up and get dressed immediately. She zipped up her dress, kissed her father's cheek, took her stories and set out for the publishing house. She was a passionate writer. She was constantly writing stories and scribbling poems on the yellow pages like the sun. 

     Elysa was walking fast, some thought she was running. The streets were wet from the rain that fell in the evening. The girl's heels were making sounds in that puddle. As the girl turned the corner in front of her, she could not slow down and almost fell. But she bumped into someone holding her by the arms. The girl hurriedly raised her head and started to fix her clothes in panic. "I'm sorry sir. I didn't see you, the ground is very slippery and the weather is very foggy."

The tall brunette young man looked carefully at the girl. There was a beautiful girl with hazel eyes in front of him. He spoke calmly, "It's okay, lady. But you should be more careful. You could get hurt, you know." He focused on the girl's messy bun and thought it was messy while she run. "Yes, you are right. I will be more careful. Have a good day, sir." She smiled at the handsome man and continued walking to the publishing house. The young man felt sad that the conversation ended. but there was nothing to do. The girl had already disappeared. 

11 December 1762

In the early morning hours...

"Yes, mom, they said they wanted to publish my poem. I'll go to talk again today." Elysa ate her last bite and went out. His mother could not understand his passion for writing. According to her, this was a man's job and it did not suit her daughter at all! But Elysa's father supported his daughter and gave her the help she needed. When Elysa arrived at the publishing house, she had a very happy feeling. Finally, she was one step closer to what she had wanted to achieve for years.

"Welcome Elysa. They are waiting for you inside" "Thank you Herald. Have a nice day" Elysa loved Herald. Herald was a sweet old man. It reminded her of her deceased grandfather. Elysa came in, said hello and sat at the table. Everyone at the table was male, she noticed. And another thing that caught her attention was the poor man she bumped into yesterday! He was sitting here at the table, looking at her with curious eyes. "What a wonderful coincidence. So this is the young poet you keep talking about, lady. I'm Eric Garfield."

 the handsome man spoke in a gentle tone.

     But Elysa was a little confused. She didn't answer for a short while and then spoke. "Yes, it is a great coincidence. Nice to meet you sir. I'm Elysa Unorly." "I'm honored, Elysa." "Me too, sir." "You can call me Eric. After all, we will be working together from now on." Elysa couldn't believe what she heard and wanted to run until she got tired. This was her happiest day. Of course, she was'nt know that everything was about to change...

     12 December 1762

The next day in the morning, before Old Mery had even opened her window. Elysa heard a scream. At first she thought she was dreaming. Because she hadn't slept since the evening. She was writing poetry. But then she heard another scream. This definitely had to be a cry for help. She immediately stood up from her desk. She put on a coat. She took the candle holder on the table and went out.

The sound was coming from the opposite street. There was no one on the street because it was an hour when everyone was sleeping. Elysa quickly went to where the sound came from and saw a terrible view in front of her. Someone was looking at her in the dark and narrow street with the knife in it's hand. The person who had just screamed was lying lifeless on the ground. Elysa didn't know what to do, but then she thought of throwing the candle holder in her hand at the killer. At that moment, the murderer ran away.

Elysa was giving a statement to the town sheriff when morning came and Old Mery opened her window. "I'm telling you, sheriff, I didn't see him. He had a hat and was wearing a coat." The sheriff sighed. "The information you gave is very insufficient, Elysa. I cannot catch the criminal with this information. Paul was a bad man anyway. He had many enemies. The murderer could be any of the men he owed money to." Elysa was very angry.

"Well, every human being deserves to live. I know Paul was a bad person, but this fact still cannot be a reason for his brutal murder." Elysa stood up from the table. She slammed the door and walked away.

   She saw Eric on the road. "Oh Elysa, Hello. How are you?" The man slowly approached her. Elysa could have lied and gone home as soon as possible, but she didn't want to lie to the man in front of her. A voice inside her said she needed to trust someone.

"I'm not okay, Eric. I witnessed someone die last night. I'm coming from the Sheriff now. Do you know what he told me? The victim was already a bad person. He wants to say that he deserved to die." Eric listened carefully to the woman in front of him and said, "I guess you don't think this is right. Why?" "Because there are laws. Not everyone can kill everyone else. Even if he is a bad person. If he does, that doesn't make him any different from a bad guy."

Elysa talked to Eric for a while longer. Eric listened and understood her. When she got home, Elysa was feeling a little better.

13 December 1762

But in the morning she heard another murder news. Moreover, this time two people were killed. The dead were Mrs Meralda and her son Richard. Elysa was very saddened by this news. She had seen them and chatted with them just last week... She didn't want to go to the publishing house today. 

She sat and thought for a while. What was the connection between the three victims?

     In the following hours, there was a knock on the door of the house. Elysa was too focused on thinking about the case information she had secretly learned. She didn't hear the knocking on the door. Her mother called Elysa downstairs. When Elysa went downstairs, she saw Eric. "Eric, what are you doing here?" the girl asked curiously.

 "You were supposed to come to the publishing house today, but you didn't come. I was curious about you and decided to come to your house. Are you okay? Why didn't you come?" "Eric, we are in trouble. There is a serial killer in town! He killed two more people. With a knife again. And this time, an innocent mother and her son." Eric made no reaction. "How did you learn that? Did the sheriff let you read the case?" The girl was stunned, not expecting such a reaction, but she answered.

 "I read it secretly." "You know this is a crime, right?" "Yes, but I want to do something good." "Elysa, I know and understand you, but this is dangerous. Please don't do anything like this again. Let the Sheriff handle it." Elysa didn't want to hurt Eric and said okay.

13 February 1762

2 months have passed. As promised, Elysa gave up on finding the murderer, and until then, no more murders were committed. Elysa and Eric became engaged during this time. Elysa loved Eric and felt deeply that Eric loved her too. Elysa went to Eric's house to give him the poems she had just written. The maid opened the door and told her to wait in the study room. Elysa did as she said. While waiting for Eric, she couldn't control her curiosity and opened the drawer, which should normally be locked.

When she first came here, she wanted to open this drawer, but Eric did not allow it and objected very harshly. Elysa took out the papers from the drawer and started reading. "Today, I killed Paul Walker, whom I had been watching for months. He was a gambler and a fraud like my father. It was very nice to kill him. It was as if I had killed my father. As if I had killed that man who beat me for hours. Perfect..." What Elysa read surprised her very much. Her mouth was open and her hands were cold as ice. She started reading another paper.

     "This is the end of my 2-year story. I traveled all over the country in 2 years. I went to all the cities, but I could never find suitable people. This evening, I finally killed my brother, who taught me to write, and my mother, who starved to feed my brother and me. Miss Meralda was warm-hearted and caring, just like my mother. She had blonde curly hair. She had beady blue eyes. Richard was tall, dark and brave like my brother. When I took a step to kill Meralda, he stopped me and asked me to kill him.