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Talia
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The man named Abraham, who wanted us to call him Doc, had led us to the morgue. That was where I was going to see Andrea in person. This was where I was going to get to see what happened to her with my own two eyes. Not inside my head as a dream.
Dr. Long led us to the drawer that she was in and pulled it open. I had been focusing on this so much that I basically spaced out ninety percent of the conversation that my parents had had with Doc. It didn't matter to me anyway. I was here for Andrea and nothing else.
The body was covered in a sheet. That sheet was pooled next to her slight frame since she didn't take up much room on the metal table or under the sheet. She was thin, delicate, and feminine. She looked more like a Fae than a witch. I wasn't sure what she was yet, but just looking at her a little bit like this, that was the impression that I got from her. When I saw her in my dream, I knew that she had magic, but I didn't know what kind.
“D..do you know what she was? A witch or a Fae?” I asked Doc and Dr. Long.
.....
“Why did you ask that? How did you know that she was one of them?” Dr. Long looked at me with curiosity.
“Well, for one thing, she doesn't smell like a shifter. Her scent is too subtle for that. There is no real citrus scent to her either, so I am leaning toward Fae, however, she is dead and her scent has already begun to fade, so I don't know if that is affecting this or not. Also, I saw her murder in my nightmare, and I knew from then that she had magic. It practically shined from her skin. She was lovely. I loathe the moment when the sheet is moved and I see the look of death in her eyes, I have remembered the way she looked while alive.” I explained this to the man while he and all the others, including my parents, looked at me with shock in their eyes.
“Talia, why didn't you tell us about this dream?” My dad was still curious.
“I thought that it was just a dream. When I awoke the next morning and there were no dead girls named Andrea that were reported, I thought it was an elaborate nightmare that my brain concocted for me. I know better now, but it is too late to save her now.”
“It's not your fault, Talia. You didn't know that it was prophetic. This has never happened before.” Mom was trying to make me feel better. She had been doing it since they got back from the crime scene.
“OK, I don't know what's really going on here, but to answer your question, Princess Talia, she is a Fae. Well, half Fae. She has been living here with her family for the last ten years. Her brother is coming in soon to make the positive ID, but her girlfriend already confirmed it to the police as well.”
“OK.” That was all that I said as I walked to Andrea's side. I needed to look at her. I needed to free her soul. I needed to help her.
I was the one to pull the sheet aside. I was the one to reveal her to us all. And I was slightly relieved when I did too. She was still wearing her dress. It had not been removed for evidence yet.
“Why weren't her clothes collected?” Uncle Vincent asked when he saw her. “Shouldn't they be collected for evidence?”
“They will be. It's just that we were told not to do anything to the body until after the king and queen had been here.” Doc responded as he looked at Uncle Jackson.
“This is better.” I told them. “She won't be naked when she moves to the afterlife.”
I didn't say anything else after that. I just started to pull her soul out of her body. Slowly and steadily, I worked to make sure that this was not painful for her at all. I was already hearing her sobbing voice. I had noticed it the moment that I entered the room, I had just chosen to not acknowledge it.
“It's OK, Andrea. You will be free soon.”
All eyes were on me as I freed the girl from her body. I had to ignore them as well, so that I didn't lose my focus. I was not going to let this girl feel more violated and betrayed than she already did. She needed me. She needed my help.
“Hello, Andrea.” I spoke softly with a friendly look on my face. Though, I did not have a smile as I spoke to her.
“W..where am I? W..what happened to me?” She was scared and that was understandable. She was looking all around the room, and finally saw her body on the table behind her. “A..a..am I dead?” She started to sob and wail louder than before.
“Yes, Andrea, you are. I am here to help you move on, but first I would like to talk to you. I want to catch the man that did this to you.” She looked back at me with wide, frightened eyes.
“I..I was murdered. I was raped and murdered. H..he did this to me. H..he killed me, inside and out.” She was crying. The ghosts of tears streaming down her cheeks until they would have fallen to the floor, at that point, they just disappeared. The tears were only real to her. They didn't have a physical substance in the world anymore. I don't know why, but seeing that, witnessing the way that a soul cried after it was dead, that was somehow more heartbreaking than anything else.
“Is there somewhere that I can go to talk to Andrea?” I turned to ask the two doctors as they gaped at me.
“T..to talk to the v..victim?” Dr. Long looked like he thought that I was crazy.
“Talia can see, hear, and free souls. The victim, Andrea, was trapped inside of her body. Those runes that were carved into her body trapped her and made her aware of all that was going on around her. That was why you were told not to do anything to the body. The soul would feel the pain of the autopsy.” I swear both of those men looked at my mom like they had just had their minds blown. I hadn't known that Uncle Jackson and Aunt Rawlynne knew about this, but they just lowered their heads like the others did.
“That is horrible!” Doc seemed to physically grow in size when he said that. “These people are assholes, and they need to pay for this.” He was fuming. “Talia, you can use Dr. Long's office. It's right over there.” He pointed me in the right direction and Lex immediately put his hand on my arm to guide me. He and Rudy, along with Andrea, went with me to the office to talk about what had happened. I didn't know why I was going to ask the girl about this, I had seen it all. But, well, I guess there was something that I might not have noticed. It was worth a shot at least.
I tried not to look back as I was led out of the room. I didn't want to see her lifeless body laying there on the table. I didn't even want to see her soul here next to me, but I was going to do it anyway. And I looked back as well. I don't know why, but I did.
I saw that the rest of them were still talking, but Dr. Long was getting ready to perform the autopsy now. He and Doc were starting to gently remove the clothes from Andrea's body. She was nothing more than an empty shell now. The husk that held her soul. She couldn't feel what they were doing to her. She didn't know anything about it now. And even so, I was sorry for her. She was going to have an autopsy. Her body was going to be cut open. She was going to suffer. Not physically, not mentally, but still, her body was going to be mutilated and scarred for all of eternity.
“I need to stop this.” I whispered to myself. “I need to make sure that no other people go through this. I need to make sure that there is less suffering in the world.”
Lex gripped my shoulder then. He didn't say a word, but I knew that this was his silent agreement. He was going to be there with me. He was going to help me. He was not going to let me take on this fight alone.
That was the last that I saw of Andrea's physical body. She was still laying there on the table, but I couldn't see her now. It was just her soul in front of me and, thankfully, that did not reflect the damage that the man had done to her. In this form she looked sad and heartbroken, but she was not damaged. Even her dress was not ripped. She looked the way that she did in my dream, if maybe a little muted. Souls always had a little less color to them than the physical body, that was just normal for me.
“Let's get this talk started.” I nodded as I steadied myself as I went to take a seat.
