Unnatural Occurrence (An Anna Morgan Novella (Part 1)) by Peggy Martinez Page A

gently and a small smile graced her lips. Her form immediately began to disintegrate.
    As she disappeared before my eyes, I began making plans. I knew right then that if I wanted justice, if I wanted to know what had happened, I’d have to figure it out all on my own. There was no other way. There was no one else. I blinked back my left over tears and looked over to where Detective Patterson was still kneeling beside me. Still watching me. I met his gaze and gave him a small, tight smile.
    “I know you will, Detective. And I’ll do whatever I have to do too.” I stood up from the table and glanced down at my momma’s empty shell on the kitchen floor. I allowed myself full access to my special abilities like I had never dared to before. I opened my eyes wide, and… saw .
    I saw the tiniest flickers of my mother’s life force, her energy, her aura, floating about her body. But more importantly, I saw the strands that I knew would be there. Strands of black aura danced around my mother’s corpse. Death had been here and not the grayness that enveloped all of the newly dead. No, this was an inky darkness that coated my mother’s body, clung to it, reluctant to leave its prize. I heard the Detective calling my name, but I blocked out the sound of his voice as I pushed my ebony hair out of my face and exposed my “bad” eye, focusing it intently on the crime scene. Ah, yes. Something evil had been in my kitchen, something evil and not quite… human .
    In the back of my skull a tingling sensation crept across my scalp, prickling the hair on the nap of my neck. How could I know that? How could that even be possible? My head swam with the implications and I staggered from the awareness that it wasn’t really all that much of a surprise to me. Images, colors, and scents all flashed across my memory, all from the first few years after the accident. All those years I worked to suppress the things I saw with my “extra” consciousness to keep my mother from worrying, to keep my teachers from noticing, and to keep myself sane. The room spun.
    “Whoa there. Let’s get you out of here ,” Detective Patterson murmured as he led me out of the kitchen and into our tiny living room with his arm around my shoulders. I sat down on the sofa and stared at the carpet. I knew I had other abilities, but I never realized that other things could have been a possibility. “Anna?” The Detective’s voice seemed more strained than before and I realized that he must have called my name several times. I put a hand out and looked up from the carpet to meet his gaze. His eyes widened slightly as he saw all of me. My eye wasn’t hideous, just surprising. His aura was glowing so brightly that I had to stop myself from shielding my eyes. His aura, light golden in color with a small smudge of black marring its perfection, was intertwining with blue waves of sympathy and helplessness. His feelings beat upon me mercilessly. I winced and looked away from him. I wasn’t used to opening myself so entirely to my “gifts”.
    “Thank you, Detective . I appreciate your kindness. I’ll be okay, don’t worry,” I assured him. He looked at me, watching my face and trying not to stare too long at my eye. I could tell he was concerned about me and just the smallest bit intrigued. I’m not sure why I did it, but, I stood, raised a hand, and ran my palm lightly over his aura, hovering an inch from his face and then down and around the spot over his heart. I watched, fascinated, as his aura danced around the palm of my hand. “You are a good man, Detective.” He stood in front of me with his eyes wide and barely breathing. The tendrils of his aura caressed my wrist and intertwined with my fingers. I ran my palm back in front of his heart.
    “You’ve been touched by darkness,” I said sadly. He sucked a breath in through his clenched teeth. “That darkness will always be there . It has become a part of you now.” I held his stare and placed my