Sandra by Daria Kobylianska

 -So… Sandra… How did it happen?

There was silence in the interrogation room. The lawyer watched the woman's reaction carefully. The silence lasted for several minutes, and then the woman looked at the lawyer. Her eyes were empty, and she seemed to feel nothing at all. 

-You have no idea what evil it was. 

- I read your book. "Sent from Hell"... Is it somehow connected with this accident?

Sandra smiled. But it wasn’t the smile of joy. This smile was full of pain and fear. Silence filled the room again. After a couple of minutes, the woman spoke.

-I remember that day... Blood... so much blood. Blood was everywhere. The smell of metal lingered in the apartment for a long time. I couldn't stop smelling it. That unbearable smell of metal...

-Sandra, what day was it? Whose blood was that?

The woman laughed.

-You know what's most ironic? I've described plenty of horrors in my books. Sometimes I've written about the most brutal and perverted acts. But I didn't think... - the woman hesitated. - I never thought... that they could become my reality.

The silence again. The lawyer had no choice but to wait. He saw that Sandra was on the edge. Just a little more and she wouldn't be able to keep it to herself. Just a little more and she would tell. He needed to provoke her. He needed to unbalance her. He needed to ask her. 

-Sandra..tell me… Why did you kill your son, Daniel? 

-He’s not my son. He. Is. Not. My. Son. -The woman began to shout. He succeeded. She cracked and was ready to tell. 

July 2007. Sandra heard screams from the room where Daniel and his friends were playing. She ran there from the kitchen in a flash. She opened the door and saw blood. The white walls were stained and splashed. Dark red, almost black, streams ran across the floor. She saw three bodies. Two boys and a girl. All their clothes were soaked in blood. But the most terrifying thing was that her son was standing with a knife, smiling. The picture formed in her head.

-I lived with this for many years. I kept it inside me, every day remembering that smile and the acrid smell of metal. This child was the devil who rose from hell. It was evil. I had to do something about it, you see?! 

Silence. Again. 

"Case #1038. Sandra Paulson, born in 1980. Accused of brutally murdering her son, Daniel Paulson, aged ten. Body found in their yard, half-burned. Cause of murder under investigation."