Last night, I helped an elderly woman carry her heavy bags home — and this morning, several police cars showed up at my door, accusing me of murder.
It had been an ordinary evening after a long day at work. I was heading home, exhausted, when I noticed an old woman standing at the corner of the street. She was leaning against a fence, breathing heavily, with two large grocery bags at her feet. I walked up to her and asked if she needed help.
“Thank you, young woman,” she whispered. “I just came from the store… I overestimated my strength… my house isn’t far, but my heart hurts a bit.”
I couldn’t just walk away. I picked up her bags and walked beside her, listening to her labored breathing. Along the way, she told me she lived alone.
Her husband had passed away a few years earlier, her children rarely called, and her pension barely covered her needs. Her voice was calm and gentle, and I felt both compassion and respect for her.
We finally reached her small old house on the outskirts of town. She unlocked the door, thanked me, and wished me good health. I set her bags by the entrance, gave her a smile, and left. Everything seemed perfectly normal. I didn’t even think to note down her house number.
But the next evening, as I came home from work, I saw several police cars parked in front of my house. Their lights flashed across the street, and uniformed officers stood around — it looked like something out of a crime movie. One of them walked toward me and called my name.
“Yes, that’s me,” I said, confused.
He looked at me for a long moment before saying something that froze me to the core.
“You’re suspected of murd*r.”
My heart stopped. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Murd*r?! I tried to explain that I had only helped her carry her bags, but the officers were convinced I had been the last person to see her alive.
They showed me footage from a security camera near her home. It clearly showed me carrying her bags, following her through the gate. After that, she was never seen again.
I was taken to the station and questioned for hours. I kept repeating the same thing — that I had only helped and then left. They didn’t believe me. I spent the night in a cell, wide awake, replaying every detail in my mind.
The next day, the results of the investigation came in. That same night, another man had entered the house — her own son, with whom she often argued about her inheritance.
The neighbors had heard them fighting but didn’t think much of it. He had strangled his mother and fled, leaving behind traces that the police later discovered.
When they finally released me, the officer apologized. But inside, I felt only cold and fear — because without those fingerprints and surveillance videos, I could have been condemned forever for a crime I didn’t commit.
