14. Morgue

The oldest human desire; maybe sex, perhaps power. 

Although I have rules to stay superficial– which I broke for Henrietta, and to never look into the future–which I was forced to break, it still had a mystery to it, this power. Like a calling to see beyond. 

Perhaps I did these readings because of this calling when I was drunk. If I really hated this ability with all my might, I wouldn't let anyone know of my power, not even to amuse myself.

Changing my pants, I was ready and turned around. Henry still stared at me.

"What can I do for you besides entering a morgue?" I asked him with narrowed eyes and he answered,

"The tattoo, where do you have the motive from?"

"I came up with it." Like I did with the whole coin-thing to chain my ability towards a specific action. Before I had done that– before I had spent endless hours of training when I was a child, I had visions randomly with just a touch.

The only thing I did not come up with was the coin changing colours, and the future being a possibility to look into.

My mother taught me how to flip a normal coin and let it wander between my knuckles, so I just randomly used this as the action that would activate my power.

Regarding the motive of the coin, it should have been just an eye, but another followed as I drew like a maniac, until this picture emerged, eventually I even covered the parts I started with, the eyes.

When my mother saw these pictures I drew she was freaked out, but whenever I imagined the coin in my mind, it had looked like this.

Henry's eyes stayed on me before he turned. We left the apartment and walked twenty minutes before we stood in front of a big stone wall. We could easily climb over because there were gaps between the bricks.

After jumping down the wall, Henry led the way. It was meanwhile deep into the night and everything was deserted. I lit my phone when we arrived at a door, and Henry took out a pickpocketing set. Surprisingly, he managed to open the lock easily.

I followed him inside and found myself in a cold hall with caskets-like doors on the walls, like I had seen in my vision.

Henry went to a specific door and paused before opening it and sliding the metal bed out, a corpse lying on it under a blanket. I walked to her and told Henry to turn around, which he ignored.

I also didn't want to see more than I already had– of what the partly sunken blanket let me perceive– of her body parts that were missing.

I sneaked my hand to her shoulder without uncovering her and flipped the coin. The way her skin felt, will surely haunt me forever.

A girl is giddily swinging her legs on her bed. Her room is blue and pink, violet and black, all colours thrown around. There is art on her walls, papers on the floor with scribbles on it, her face looks healthy, and her continuance was happy. She seemed giddy, anticipating something.

 Coming back, I turned to Henry.

"Was your sister's room ever full of art, full of colours?" Not like I saw it in my vision, when Henry was breaking down in her room.

He shook his head.

"What the hell." I mumbled.

"What did you see?" He took my hand from her body.

"I saw Henrietta looking happy and healthy, not like I saw her before. Her room was that of a teenager girl, full of stuff, pictures of friends, full of colours." I told the truth but saw Henry looking at me strangely.

"I don't get it as well, I have never seen her this....girly." 

"Try again." Henry pointed down, and I again touched the ice-cold body, smelling all the formaldehyde.

I flipped the coin and saw that it had turned black. Instantly I wanted to stop, but how could I when this damn coin did whatever it wanted?

I felt my body falling the moment I saw the woman's hands, eyes, and heart uncover.

**************

The next time I woke up I felt drowsy, and although my heart was beating strongly, I was ready to go back to sleep. Opening my eyes, I couldn't even focus, as lips met mine, and air was pumped into my lungs.

Again opening my eyes, they felt heavy, so I shut them, there was pressure on my chest which suddenly stopped, before I was slapped hard in the face.

The pain got me a bit vitalised, and I tried to again open my eyes, only seeing blurriness and having my ears ringing.

"Kenny. Wake up." I was again slapped.

My body was pulled up, and I laid upon a strong chest.

"Sleepy." I murmured, feeling my head falling back against a collarbone.

"No, you wake up." I was held in an upright position, feeling someone pinching me hardly, on my tight, on my waist, and on my back, slowly getting me more awake by the increasing the pain.

"What happened?" I asked, still drained.

"You don't remember?" A voice beside my ear asked.

"No, where are we, it's fucking cold." 

"You were dead."