It is a strange thing this gift that Colin has although if you ask Colin, right at this point in his life, and for a long time before too, as well as many days still to come, he surly would tell you that it is more of a curse than it is a gift and that is if he would be willing to admit at all to having anything that anyone else might consider to be a gift.
There are times when a spirit would come to him knowing who he is and what it is he can do and without a word being spoken, Colin would instantly know the name and age of his visitor along with the knowledge of how they died and a rough idea of when it was that spirit had passed. This transfer of information would be just that, an instant understanding rather than it being some kind of psychic connection. Then there would be other times, when he would be in the presence of a spirit and neither Colin nor the spirit would know any difference.
Colin never understood how or why there should be such a difference from one spirit to the next. Why is he so receptive to some and not so much with others? It would be nice if his ability came with some sort of 'how to' manual or if it would come with instructions with to how to solve problems with the minimum of effort, or better yet come with some kind of off and on switch though that would be wishful thinking.
The first time Colin noticed that he may just be a little different from everyone else was when he was just seven-years-old and accompanying his mother into the funeral home where his grandfather lay lifeless in an open casket while also standing right next to it at the same time. As Colin's mother wept, his grandfather told him to say something to his mum. Little Colin tugged on his mum's jacket. She brought herself down to Colin's height and he whispered what his grandfather had told him, and a smile soon accompanied his mother's tears.
There had been other moments before that day of course, but those moments had yet to make Colin feel any different, for he could not have known that these things don't happen to everyone else. It would in many ways be years after his grandfather's funeral when things really began to kick in. Sure, what could a seven-year-old make of being talked to by his dead grandfather? With such a thing happening, Colin could only begin to imagine that this particular experience is not one that others could say is in any way something of an everyday occurrence.
Sleep did not always come easy for Colin. His gift, his ability would often see to that. Sometimes, especially in recent years, it may be the presence of a child who had passed on that would awaken him. These visits were usually quite pleasant and quite sad too, with the fact that a child had passed away. Other times it would be what he would see while he was out and about that would cause his inability to sleep, for not every spirit that he would encounter would be pleasant, or even look so straight forward. Luckily enough, the more disturbing experiences were a lot less frequent than the pleasant ones.
On a dark, cold but dry night, Colin is out walking, making his way home after a long uninterrupted day in work, uninterrupted that is as in there being no extraordinary visits of any kind, though as it can be said, this day had not come to be over just yet. This job he currently has is not the kind of job he wants or is interested in. The hours are long, and the pay isn't great, but he has managed to hold onto this one longer than most jobs he has had in his recent past, so that in a way at least is something good.
The night is indeed cold, and it is a fairly quiet one too. The sky is clear, the moon is near full, and a multitude of stars are shining brightly. Colin blows on his hands as he rubs them together to warm himself up before noticing a car parked at the side of the road not all so far up ahead of him. There is someone sitting in the passenger seat of that car but with the nighttime darkness and lack of light within, or close to, the car, Colin cannot make out what that person looks like. Streetlights indeed are few and far between and the car he has noticed is not parked near any such streetlight.
