Short Story / Forsight Degree

Chapter 1

        I fear death. In my head this is my life’s greatest truth. My conscience knows that I do not fear my own. No, I do not fear what death can bring to me. I fear the pain suffering of others.
        It was during the summer about six years ago. I was walking through the city the day it happened. A man, some twenty stories up, fell from a window. I saw him falling. As he fell, my vision began to blur. I fell to the ground, my eyes somehow locked on the blur speeding towards the ground. Then, with a sound so unnatural, he hit the ground. I writhed in pain that consumed my body. The crowd broke my view of the man though, and I was relieved of the pain.
        I didn’t witness another death for four more years which made it twice as often as most see in a lifetime. I was watering my garden, moving to the front of the yard to make sure I didn’t miss any. The summer heat was destroying everything. That boy, John was his name. I had known his family for some time. They live two houses down from my own. Well, he came riding down the road on his bike, making sure he could feel the wind rush past him. I smiled at him and waved, as any good neighbor would do. Cars never came up our road, it was safe. Then he turned the corner. The car came speeding up the road and didn’t realize John was there. I shouted louder than I’d ever shouted before. Then, they collided, and the car bent the bike in half, sending John flying forward. I quickly turned around, knowing I couldn’t take more pain than just a glimpse. My mind, by then, had begun to determine a death from an injury. I was the one to call his mother. It was the worst thing I ever had to do.
        I’m twenty-eight now. I use what I can do to earn money. I work for the NYPD. They know the fullest of my abilities, and work with me to strengthen them. I determine if relatives who have family in jail are in any danger. I help to find criminals before they make their kill. I can only do it if I look directly at the person who is in danger though, so it becomes tricky at times. I have saved many lives, but I have lost many too. One time in the field, another officer took a shot to the chest. I fell to the ground same as he did. His vest withstood the hit, but my body went into some sort of shock.
        I woke up in the hospital the next morning, the doctor telling me I could leave. I had suffered no apparent damage. This was good news, because it showed I couldn’t be hurt physically by watching someone who is in pain.
        Today I’m on call, the usual. It’s just a lot of checking my phone and radio. I get called in at least once a week. It’s an easy-going job for the most part. I get more time to myself than any working person I know. When I do get called in though, it’s more serious than any other. Like I said, I save lives. I just save them long before they need any actual saving.
        I have a morning routine. A quick shower, a clean and pressed pair of clothes, a hot cup of coffee, and a bowl of Cheerios with strawberries. Today I barely made it to the coffee when my phone went off.
        “Shultz.” I said into the phone.
        “Office, 10 minutes.” Came the chief’s voice. He never had been much for conversation. It wasn’t that he was rude, he was just busy. Then minutes was pushing how fast I could actually get there. It was either very important or very simple.
        The office was ten minutes away. Well that’s if I went double the speed limit and found no traffic on the way. I made it in eleven , and walked into the office in twelve.
        “You’re late.”
        “Nice to see you too chief.” I replied, but he was already gone, shuffling through random case papers handed to him by another officer. Sandra stood up and gave me my briefing.
        “Special case for you today. The president will be moving through the city later today. We got a tip that he may be in some kind of danger. It was anonymous, and we couldn’t track the call, so it might not be anything. I think its worth checking out though.
        “Absolutely, when do we leave?” I asked, excited to do something significant. I was going to get the chance to save the President, if he needed saving of course.
        “Three hours from now he’ll take his usual route through the city. You’ll be able to get a visual as he enters the limo. From there we’ll move to a rooftop about five blocks down. We’ve got clearance so there won’t be any confusion.
        Three hours takes a long time if you’ve got nothing better to do than stare at a clock. I usually just let people know if they’re going to trip or twist their ankle or stub their toe. It keeps the atmosphere lighter. That’s the minimum of what I can do. The small the affliction, the more accurately I can see what it’s going to be. It’s part of the training I put myself through. Now I can tell the difference between a bomb and a fire. I can find a person inside a fire by pinpointing their pain. I suffer it mentally, but I always prepare myself first. It is much like a dream where you are falling and you wake up suddenly because you know what comes next. I can watch someone to the point just before death, but I must turn away or else I did with them. I just know it.
        “All right! Standard procedure, we’re rollin’ in seven minutes!” Came the voice of the logistic’s coordinator, Gordon. He wasn’t a big man, but his voice carried over the biggest crowds.
        We weren’t the feds, and our cars weren’t exactly sleek brand new ‘08 models either. They were black though, and that’s what mattered. It was intimidating though, pulling into the same parking lot as the big guys. They knew we had something they didn’t though, so it made for some fair competition.