The scene before me was almost more than the human brain could process. I knew what brought me here. Some call it intuition. Some call it being psychic. I only know that I went where the feelings took me, and merciful Goddess, I wish I hadn't.
No matter how many missing person cases I worked on, finding a body was never easy. Especially, when the body was that of a child. The families always insisted on knowing the details. Most I would omit, because for the deceased, details were irrelevant.
There I stood, shin deep amidst the murk and mud of a low lying swamp surrounded by death and decay. Lifeless limbs bumped against my legs as the dead floated about me. It is amazing, how little water it takes for a corpse to float. I suppose that's because when you're dead, you finally lay back and go with the flow, so to speak.
Over the years I have lost count of the number of missing person cases I have worked. Normally, I have no qualms about them. But I must admit, there was something about this one that unnerved me from the beginning.
That's why I called in my dear friend, Harold Reece, to help get me through this one. I know the name Harold, or Harry as I called him, is not that exciting as far as names go. But it was a good name, a solid name, a name that fit him.
I could hear Harry now. He, along with the other officers, tore their way through the thick underbrush behind me. If I looked, I could catch glimpses of their flashlights as they fought to find footing beneath the canopy of trees and shrubs along the outlying area of the Institution of Ascension.
As I stood there, I remembered a sound bite from one of the Institution's commercials. The path to enlightenment awaits you. Come to the Institution of Ascension, and ascend the everyday and mundane. Obviously, the Institute left out the part where their form of ascension meant you died. I guess the marketing department decided it might look bad for PR.
"Jade!" I heard my name as it carried across the cool night breeze. From Harry's tone, I could tell he was not too happy with me. He had never been a fan of going on my "wild goose chases", as he liked to call them. That's because more times than not my chases, no matter how wild, always yielded a goose. And this particular goose was not what I expected.
Then again, how could anyone, even a psychic, prepare themselves for something like this? The answer is-you can't. I describe being psychic as feel-work. I feel for an answer to a question. If it feels right, then it is. If it feels wrong, then it is, and I go another direction.
"Over here," I called back, as I stared into the blackness of the night.
"Jade, damn it. Turn on your flashlight! How the hell do you expect me to find you if I can't see you?" Harry barked at me.
I cringed. The last thing I wanted to do was turn on my flashlight. There was enough moonlight for me see, and I did not want confirmation of what I felt. No, I'm not scared of the dead. I have probably spoken to more of them than I have the living. That doesn't mean I liked seeing what was left of their mutilated bodies floating past me.
But before I could do as he asked, Harry broke free of the bushes.
"Careful," I said and held out my arm to stop him from plunging into the foul, frigid water.
"Ugh. What the..." I heard some one grunt as they stepped off the embankment into the water. Then one by one the others fought their way into the clearing. Five officers in all were called to the scene. I did not look in their direction. Instead I stared, best I could, into Harry's face.
"Stop!" I yelled. "Everyone just stop." And they did. I was actually a bit surprised at that, but what the heck? I'd take it. "Everyone, stay where you are and look down." Almost in unison, six beams of light went toward the water.
