Project LOKI ③

INTERLUDE: Dead Tell Tales

A/N: For my 12th update in a row, we have a special POV character! 

HEL

DO YOU know that I can talk to the dead? Sounds crazy, right? I know that no one would easily believe me, but that's the truth! People will easily dismiss something that they haven't experienced. I'm proud to say that I have this unique gift—which others would see as a curse—that I use to help the non-living.

Yeah, I help mostly the dead in their wishes to get the justice that they deserve.

I knelt down stared at the decomposing face of a corpse. Oh, I've seen much worse! I also sensed a foul smell coming from the dead body, but thanks to my prior exposure in gruesome crime scenes and my strong stomach, I managed to look at the body without puking.

"Bakit nandito ka pala, Hel?" a senior police officer asked. "Dumiretso ka ba rito galing sa school n'yo?"

"I went here immediately as soon as my client contacted me," I answered, turning around to face a man in his mid-forties. He has a noticeable moustache that helped me identify him from the rest of his kind in the police. His name's Officer Gareth Estrada from the Major Crimes Division of the Angeles City Police Department.

He mentioned school because I'm still a student. Technically, I wasn't supposed to be here. No teenager should have been allowed to waltz into crime scenes. But thanks to my special ability, I managed to earn a reputation as a consultant among the local police. Me talking to the dead helped them solve a number of cases.

"Client?" the officer repeated.

"I told you that I can communicate with spirits, right?" I replied, crossing over the corpse to take a closer look at the pool of blood near its head. "The spirit of this dead man sought me out in my school kaya dumiretso ako rito pagka-dismiss ng class namin."

I can sense that the officer has some doubts about my story, but what's the point of lying to him? He should already know by now that the dead come to me to tell their stories. Whether I'm in school, at the mall, or at a cafe. It's creepy and not for the faint of the heart. But once you get used to it, talking to spirits would become a normal thing, like breathing.

"Hindi mo na kailangang mag-abala pa," Officer Estrada said, sliding his hands in his pockets. "This is a suicide, not a homicide. May iniwang suicide note ang lalaking 'to. Na-depress siya magmula nang maaksidente siya't mag-resign sa kanyang trabaho bilang teacher sa Clark High. Case closed. Mabuti pa't umuwi ka na at mag-aral ng lesson mo para bukas."

"But the dead man told me he didn't kill himself~" I said in a singsong tone, smiling at the officer. "Paano kayo nakasisiguro na legit ang suicide note niya?"

Even if the physical evidence said otherwise, I would still believe in what the spirit said. If I believed the police over what my dead clients said, I would have never solved a single case.