Psychs 1st, Page 4

choice; it was for my friend, Chow. I didn't start the conversation yet, I ordered a cup of coffee and decided to immediately act at the right time.

   

                                            

   

       It won't happen in there. I went outside and waited because it felt like I was there for too long. I decided to wait for her to finish. But instead, I found out through Chow that she was starting an extra shift, so that she could earn more money. I considered that if she saw me it would look like I was stalking her.

       I went back to the hotel. Chow stayed with his daughter, it was the first time he had ever seen her. I thought it would be good for him, surely it would be better than watching his wife, but I found out later that he did go there too. They went with him; he shouldn't be alone for this.

       Reed came to me and he told me that they were doing fine, and then he asked me to go and see a friend of his, working at a bar three blocks away from where were we. I thought since things aren't going to move any faster with Yural, I decided to take a walk and meet his childhood friend.

   

                                       

   

       Glenn, Chow's wife in his previous life, held the letter in her hand as she lied down; Emma told me that. It gave her comfort as she heard the woman in the cell next to her trying to scare her. Chow was lucky he can't hear. He only felt the same comfort every time he saw her squeeze the envelope in her hand.

       I sat at a bar, waiting for the man I’m here for to come to me, but he was a little bit busy. Every time a bartender comes for me I just tell them I'm waiting for someone.

       “Come on man, try something” Jack told me. My… mommy, did the talking for me.

       “Excuse me” the one I wanted came to me.

       “If you are not ordering, then get out!” he said. Reed laughed at that, he told me it was as if he had never left. I saw the memories reflect through his words.

       “I don't drink actually I'm here to…” the man came from behind the bar and he went towards me; he was about to kick me out.

       “I'm here to see you” I said once he was in front of me.

       “I'm really sorry, but you are not my type” he pulled me by the shirt and showed me the door.

       I went back to the hotel and I woke up the second day. Just as I was about to go out through the front door, Reed guided my attention to someone, I turned and saw who it was.

       “We need to talk” Yural, Chow's daughter said.

       “Sure… Where?”

       It was at the hotel's café. I asked her if she wanted to have something at first. Coffee was her choice and a logical one too; she worked two shifts today, her body must have been exhausted for a very long time now that I think of it, we could tell.

       “Who are you?” she asked.

       “I was about to tell you but I didn't have a chance to do so… your mother told you?”

       “No… my grandmother and Rico told me”

       “Rico??... oh, Reed's friend from the bar, right?” I saw her expression, she was searching her memories.

       “I heard that name before, Rico told me about him. He served with my father”

       “Yes he did” I answered.

       “He doesn't know you, but when I heard of both descriptions from him and my Nana, I suddenly remembered you, at our café… you were there to talk about my father?” I nodded.

       “I know how he died” she said.

       “Me too… he died honourably” she looked at me in a strange way, I stroked a nerve.

       “I'm tired of hearing that… what did his honour do to us?? I had a tough childhood, my mother is in jail and I am here, tired, instead of heading home. I'm here to listen to a ghost story” she looked away, trying at the same time to contain the burst of emotions which leaked from her.

       “Sorry to hear that” I said.

       “I just hope that child he saved was worth it… you know about him?” she asked, apparently Rico told her how her father died, for what, and for who; me.

       “If I know who he is, I would kill him myself… maybe that will break the curse”

       That was a strong shot at me. If only she new who the child was, and that he is sitting right in front of her.

       “Tell me what happened exactly” I asked.

       “Even if you think I can't help, you will feel better just letting it out”

       “Like a shrink?” she said and I laughed quietly.

       “Actually, I am a shrink. Well, still two years to go, I'm studying in Liverpool”

       “And how was it that you came to know about these letters?” I gave her the make up story. “That sounds strange; you burdening yourself over these letters”

       “It was no burden; at least I got to see the US for the first time. A couple of hugs from the families were a good boost.” she smiled. “When I saw your mother for the first time, she… well I'm sure you know how hard things with her are… but I saw her come back to life when she read the letter. This trip of mine really worth it”

       She was looking at my eyes, trying to see the sincerity in them. And then, “Thank you” the reply came from her…I nodded.

       “Tell me what happened exactly, and what had happened throughout the year?”

   

                                        

   

       “My mother was dating someone, they were happy together, but for two weeks they kept fighting with each other. She thought that he was cheating on her and I told her to just leave him and move on… anyhow, she continued her relationship with him, trying to restore their previous romantic life… and one day, when I was in my room, I heard a shot. It woke me up. I went out, only to find her lying on the ground with a gun in her hand… and Fredrick, her lover, dead on the floor”

       “I see…” it was the only reply I had in mind at the time.

       “They called it a crime of passion, and they say the trauma caused her to block things out, or that she is faking it” she was still looking tired, even after two cups of coffee. I told her to go and rest at her place. As I was escorting her out, she turned to me.

       “Do you think she did it?” she asked.

       I hesitated, not able to give an answer until my mind was able to form one.

       “She didn't look like the type who does that”

       “She's the sweetest person in the world… I don't know what to do to help her?”

       “The lawyer” Chow said “talk to the lawyer”

       “So… she has a lawyer I presume?”

   

                                            

   

       She agreed to take me with her to see the lawyer, there will be a hearing this week, me mentioning the lawyer led to the decision that she should go and see him herself. Her grandmother came with us, too. I sat there and listened to the conversation.

       “The insanity defense?! We still going to pursuit that? It won't free her” Her grandmother, Mrs. Fletcher, contradicted.

       “She's the sweetest woman on earth… she would never kill someone” Yural said. I sat outside and kept listening, while Chow and the others had a better view from inside.

       “We can try to prove that she is a good person, it will help in assessing her character, and it will prove that she didn't do it in her real self… I'm sorry, but that's the best we got, she had the gun in her hand” the lawyer replied as if he was defending a case, it made me think that they have no chance arguing with him; a person who argues for a living
.

       “We will bring other witnesses from her office and I will talk to them and help them to arrange their stories” arrange their stories… that was a good way to put it.

       “In the mean time, I will work with a detective, a friend of mine who is trying to find what the department had missed. Come back in two days so we can… you know” Arrange the stories? I guessed the end of the last sentence.

       We got out, all of us, the physical ones and the spectral others, except one. Chow wanted to see what the lawyer would find out. I would tell another ghost to stay with him once I'm alone.

       “I'll be heading home” she said. I said my goodbye and then went to see Rico again.

       “Twice in a raw?” he said once he saw me, and then he brought out a bat. I turned away and went out, Reed told me it's alright, I don't have to go to him again.

       Rod, who was with Chow at the moment, just came and told us that the detective can't get anything from the department. He read his lips and realized that he was staying at the same hotel I was in. That was a good sign. We didn't know how he looked like. The ghosts have to depend on their guts. They roamed around and found seventeen men alone in their rooms. Their guts settled on only four, so they would wait till tomorrow to see exactly who the one to follow is.

   

                                           

   

       I would never had expected my night would turn the way it had. I had a nightmare before I woke up, it was something about a snake, I couldn't remember. But it woke me none the less, and it made me see chaos in the real world. Chow was moving his hands hysterically, I reached for the