The Blind Diviner

A whole month had passed and the whole time Reed had felt like he had watched nothing be done. He came in and did his job, casually asked Scad’s about any new leads, the then was promptly told again and again that nothing new had turned up. Reed was extremely peeved by it and was beginning to be tempted to spill the full details of Cosima’s story. The only thing stopping him was that it sounded like the ramblings of a person who would be checked into a psychiatric ward.

Reed currently had a day off, having worked all night. He usually would be in bed but he overheard that Cosima had been discharged from the hospital and was just starting her physical therapy. So instead of being passed out in the darkness of his apartment, he was knocking of the door of Cosima’s.

His foot tapped anxiously, wondering if she would look more normal than last time he had saw her. The doorknob jimmied in front of him, and he caught the muffled frustrated words of Cosima struggling from behind the door.

”Fucking shit,” Cosima stressed, her hand unable to grip the doorknob tightly enough or for long enough to open it.
Should I just go in or…?

She heaved an angered breath, glaring at the door and giving up.“Come in,” she said loudly, interrupting Reed’s running thoughts.

Reed stepped into the apartment, giving Cosima a once over. Her hair was tattered looking, being tamed only by a ponytail and a bandana tied around her head. She scratched at her head as she led him into the kitchen, turning the stove on for tea.

“How’s your therapy going?” Reed had ask out of honest wonder but when Cosima turned with narrowed eyes, he knew then it also sounded as a taunt.

“Fine,” she responded with a stiff upper lip. “What are you doing here?”

“I can’t see how you’re doing?” He requested.

“Friends do that and we aren’t friends,” Cosima said cuttingly.

“Ouch,” Reed smiled, not feeling insulted.

“Let me guess, Scad’s won’t let you know how I’m doing because you’re not on the case,” she spoke as she wrangled a mug down from a cabinet.

“It’s like you read my mind,” Reed quipped, relaxing against the wall.

“Too keep it short, therapy is a bitch. My entire body hurts, I can’t do simple tasks, and I just remembered I can’t pour the fucking kettle!” She objected in an outbursted, flicking the stove off as the kettle howled with a whistle.

Reed chewed on the inside of his cheek. It would be nice of him to offer help but he was honestly entertained by her struggle, as horrible as it sounded. He could make a joke, like how her red hair really lived up to its short-fused tempered. Cosima would slap him no doubt, but Reed would still find a kick getting her goat.

“How about you just don’t say anything?” Cosima was still glaring at him through the narrow slits of her eyes.

Reed’s phone vibrated and he looked down, seeing that he had a double homicide to survey with his partner, Banner. He grimaced, Banner was on call so if it was important enough, he’d bring Reed in on his day off. Cosima made a clamoring dumping the hot water out into the sink, cursing profusely as it splashed back onto her fingers.

“Are you allowed to leave this place?” Reed asked before he knew where he was going with this.

“Of course, I’m not under quarantine.” Cosima grabbed a dish towel to dry her bandaged hands.

“Want to see a double-homicide?” Reed suggested, mentally hitting himself over the head.

“Wow, you sure know how to cheer a girl up, don’t you?” Cosima jested bitingly but then turned back to her shadowy state, “that sounds extremely illegal to me.”

“Eh, some would call it that but with my permission to clear you into scene, I mean know one would really question it.” Reed really just thought she needed to leave her apartment.

“I’m fine here thanks.” Cosima was in a horribly foul mood, she didn’t need to add society in as a insulation for all of her frustration.

“I just thought it’d be fun to go there and get in everyone’s head, see what their thinking? What would it be like to do your little weird thing on a dead person, yeah?” Reed morbidly suggested but Cosima still looked unimpressed by the notion.

“This is probably the stupidest thing I’ve heard from you yet,” Cosima chiasted. “Read a dead person’s mind? It’s silence, Reed. It’s like staring at a wall, which I’d rather do than go to your weird crime scene.”

“Alright, it’s chill then. I’ll just go and I’ll leave you to,” Reed paused and looked around mockingly, “all of this.”

Cosima knew she would just be watching repeats on TV yet again, do her therapy exercises, and take an angry nap. She had seen plenty of grotesque and graphic things from other people’s mind throughout her life, two dead bodies and some blood would be like a bouquet of flowers.

“Fine.” She grumbled, briskly walking back to her room to change clothes.

Reed nodded, feeling strangely proud of himself for convincing her to go. Hopefully Scad’s would stay at the station or he’d be written up with a slap on the wrist for sure. Maybe if he was having a bad day he’d threaten suspension.

“Let’s go,” Cosima told him as she passed.

“This is going to be fun-well no not fun, that’s not the right word. Well who knows, sometimes these things turn out not like you’d expect them to.” Reed packed his hands into his jacket, squinting against the cold air blowing in his face.

“I don’t know why you’re acting like we’re good and all. You know I have a pretty strong dislike for you, right?” Cosima still wasn’t really warming up to Reed.
He shrugged though, “I guess I just feel sorry for you. I mean, your glowing personality surely gets you lots of friends, I assume. And the fact you don’t have any family--,”

“You don’t mention my family,” Cosima interrupted, about to turn back for her apartment.

“Oh, so it’s fair that you mention mine but as soon as I mention yours it’s crossing a line?” Reed retorted indignantly.

“It is because unlike you, I didn’t have childhood with my parents to reflect on. But I’m sure you’ve already dug that up too, haven’t you?” Cosima thought faintly of the smell that her mother’s hair would be on a windy day like this.

“You see, if that was meant to make me feel bad it doesn’t. Because my childhood as you know had a lot of pain to go along with it. Everyone has their story and their skeletons, you’re isn’t any more of a sob story compared to the next person.”

“If that’s so, then why not be more open about your’s?” Cosima challenged.

“Things are personal, probably a concept you aren’t too familiar with.” Reed responded cooly.

“What is that suppose to mean?” Cosima read up exactly on what he meant and she scoffed, “you’re a hypocrite.”

“Yeah, I am,” Reed admitted easily. “Everyone is.”

“If you have such a problem with what I can do, how about you just sue me or throw me into a mental ward?” Cosima knew all too well it wouldn’t be her first time in one of those places.

“I don’t,” Reed stopped walking as they approached the crime scene ahead, “it’s why I brought you here.”

“Huh?” Cosima shifted uncomfortably, the presence of death still wandering thickly in the air.

“I want to see how you experience things like this. How much more sensitive are you than the rest of us?” Reed could see how distressing this was already to her and it was the most interesting thing he had seen in a very long time.

“So this really is all fun to you?” Cosima pitted, crossing her arms.

“Again, not fun. It’s not the right word.” Reed poked as Cosima defiantly looked down at the scene.

“You know what, okay. You want to see it through my eyes, you got it.” Cosima didn’t like going to funerals or any place where death had visited.

She wasn’t exactly honest when she said reading dead people was looking at a brick wall. It was true nothing was there. Their aura was gone with their life but their souls remained. Often it’s believed that souls move on after death but Cosima had caught on from an early age that if someone dies with a unrested soul, it stays. And if it’s there, she can see everything.

Cosima followed Reed and walked under their yellow cross tape as he held it up for her. Reed flashed his badge, leading her into the brownstone. Everything was heavy, it made her dizzy. So she hung back as Reed went ahead and greeted his partner, who noticed the strange face of Cosima immediately. Reed downplayed it, telling him not to worry about it, she was just observing.

Cosima looked up at the eggshell walls, nearly tasting the residual things hanging around. Her eyes trailed forward, seeing the dried browning blood on the carpeted floor. She circled around the living room, letting the memories of the deceased leak into her head. She watched an elderly couple walking around the kitchen, setting the table for breakfast. She watched them deal out their pills for the day, their old trembling hands barely able to hold the pills to their mouths.

It was like it was all being acted out for her until a hand touched her shoulder, causing her to jump slightly. She turned, seeing Reed motioning to the now dead couple. She looked, seeing them lying on opposite sides of the room from each other. Her serious face turned into a deep setting frown as she looked between them. It was a homicide but not in a way that they were thinking.

Cosima had been ignoring Reed talking to her and left him for the kitchen. She saw the pills scattered on the floor, some crushed to powder. Paranoia and self protection played their deaths. She turned back over to the bodies, looking at the elderly woman who had two bullet holes in her chest. And then to her husband, a revolver still in his grasp. But with only gunshot wound to his thigh, it was the large steak knife sticking up blade side through his chest that caused his death.

“Are you alright? You look pale.” Reed seemed cautious and Cosima returned to reality.

“They killed each other,” she told him vacantly.

Reed leaned in closer to Cosima, talking quietly to her. “How do you know that?”

Cosima smirked, “I see dead people.”

Reed looked vexed, “be serious, Cosima.”

“Oh, I thought this was fun.” Reed flared his nostrils, shaking his head.
“Not when it’s two dead elderly people. That is never fun, it fucking sucks.” Cosima snorted, shrugging.

“Then I guess you finally see it through my eyes.” With those words, Reed watched Cosima leave the scene, only growing more curious in what she was seeing.