Traces Of Truth: A Psychometric Thriller

Chapter 2: A Curse or A Gift?

(At the station)

Jared interrogates Claire who decides to go the brazen route, but her bravado crumbles when he pulls out the video he took of her committing the crime. She attempts to steal the phone but that flops as well, so she tells him the truth.

“I have superpowers.” Claire said to Jared. Jared gave her a scathing look.

"Stop talking nonsense and just tell the truth. You were already caught off guard.” Jared to Claire.

Auntie Anna hears of Claire's arrest, but instead of rushing out to help her niece, she dresses up to see her past boyfriend, Emman.

“How have you been, Emman.” Anna said to John with a flirty look.

Emman bursts her bubble and throws her into a holding cell. Heh.

(Meanwhile)

Claire heads home, having already been released, and sighs at her useless powers — they don’t even tell her winning lottery ticket numbers! As she laments her fate, a last-minute patient shows up at her doorsteps, and she helps an elderly pet owner connect with his dog. For once, Claire realizes that maybe this power is a gift after all.

“This might be a gift from above. I can help them solve their problems by just touching their butt.” She said to herself.

As she sends the elderly man off, Hannah's younger brother Kent passes by with Jared and introduces her to the new neighbor.

“Oh, Pervert. We met again” Jared said to Claire in a joke way.

Claire looked at him with a angry face.

Jared and Kent was about to go up but Jared slips on the stairs. Claire rushes to the rescue when he slipped... only to catch him by his butt. While Claire is distracted by her powers acting up again, Jared scowls at the pervert and tosses her to the ground.

“Hey!! Are you really a pervert!?” Jared said to Claire with a serious and angry face.

Claire just walked out in shocked because she can see humans' memories too by touching their butt.

(The Next Day)

Despite the sore back and new pervert-label, Claire's power brings her good fortune as word quickly spreads of her uncanny ability to diagnose a pet’s problem. One of her many new customers is convenience store employee LANCE JADE whose beauty literally blows Claire away.

“Woah! His face looks so angelic” Claire said to herself while looking at Lance.

“Excuse me, Ms. Pajares. My cat hides my shoes whenever i need to go out, he's not eating enough too.” Lance said to Claire with a worried face.

“Oh. Can i touch the cat, please.” Claire asked Lance.

Lance gave the cat to her. Claire touch the cat's butt and saw its memories. She discovered that the cat's past owner died accidentally while he's out.

“Did you adopt this cat from the street?” Claire asked Lance.

“Yes, Ms. Pajares.” Lance to Claire.

“I think this cat had trauma from its past owner.”
“You should take care of it and make it trust you.” Claire said to Lance.

“Oh, Thank you so much, Ms. Pajares.” Lance said to Claire.

(Later that day)

The farmer from the meteor shower accident appears for another cow-related trouble, and Claire learns that she wasn’t the only one endowed with psychic abilities.

“Are you also experiencing weird things after the meteor shower?” The farmer asked Claire.

“How did you know?!?” Claire said to farmer with a shocked face.

“I can also see memories but by touching their legs.” The Farmer said to Claire.

The farmer warns her that using the powers too much will cause hair loss, which he experienced firsthand. This new discovery sends Claire into a panic, so much so that she closes the store indefinitely. Her aunt has other plans in mind, though, and secretly sends Claire off to a fish farm to work.

(At the farm)

Claire meets with an underclassman from veterinary school who looks exhausted, and she soon finds out why: they have to vaccinate 10,000 fish. By nightfall, Claire is a shadow of her former self, and rather than die on this godforsaken farm, she decides to test her luck by swimming back home wearing a makeshift diving suit. The owner of the farm catches her trying to escape.

“Hey!, Where are you going?” The owner said to Claire.

“Oh, I'm just about to breathe some fresh air.” Claire said to the owner with a worried face.

But instead of stopping her, he goes along with her outrageous lies until she gives up on her foolish quest.

(Back at Town)

Jared makes a name for himself as the white powder weirdo, eating everything from salt to rat poison in hopes of finding drugs.

His hunt for a case leads him to the fish farm, and he stumbles across a suspicious sighting — a possible drug exchange? Without an ounce of doubt, he calls for a raid, and as fate would have it, he runs into Claire who walks out looking like a zombie while holding a syringe. She’s just been upgraded from pervert to druggie-pervert in his books.

“Hey pervert, what are you doing here?” Jared asked Claire.

“Are you also taking drugs now??” Jared asked Claire.

“How dare you call me that! I'm here because my aunt sent me to get the fishes vaccinated.” Claire said to Jared with a very tired face.

The raid, unfortunately, is a total bust since the drugs Jared saw are actually fish food. As for Claire, she makes herself at home in the police station and even gets a blanket for her tired underclassman. As she drapes it over him, her hand brushes against his rear, and she sees a strange vision of a bloodied woman.

-To be continued-