Chapter 1When I was seven, I figured out I could hear what objects were saying.
What's that like? Well—
When I'm shopping, stuff tells me if I'm getting the best price.
When I'm walking, streetlights warn me about cars coming up behind me.
When my game console breaks, it just tells me what's wrong.
I always thought this ability was pretty useless. Until one day—
I was at my usual spot downstairs eating a burger when I heard the meat grinder next to me screaming:
[Oh my god! Why are you grinding up some dude's guts inside me?! SO GROSS!]
I looked at my half-eaten burger and instanly threw up.
Called the cops immediately.
"Hi, I need to report a murder!"
...
I ducked into the alley real quick, keeping my voice down while I called.
"It's at 403 Cross Street, Papa's Burgers! You guys need to get here fast!"
A woman on the other end sounded confused:
"Wait, you're saying there's a murderer at a hamburger shop?"
I glanced at what was left of my burger and nodded to myself.
Then I told her everything in detail—
The sketchy meat grinder that kept making weird noises.
The beef patties that smelled totally off.
Of course, I left out the part about hearing the meat grinder talk.
"Okay, we're sending people right now."
"Just make sure you're okay first. Don't do anything that might set this person off before we get there."
I relaxed a little.
Before calling, I honestly thought they might not buy it.
After all, the whole thing sounded crazy.
The station wasn't far.
Like three minutes later, sirens were going off everywhere.
They put up police tape around Papa's Burgers and kicked everyone out of line.
Pretty soon a bunch of people crowded around trying to see what was going on.
"What happened?"
"I knew they were selling fake meat!"
I leaned against the wall.
Trying to decide if I should go look when someone put their hands on my shoulders from behind.
I tensed up.
"Hey, did you call this in?"
Some woman asked, sounding nice.
I turned around—cop in uniform.
I loosened up and nodded a bit.
She smiled. "Mind coming down to the station real quick?"
"Just need you to give us a statement. Don't worry, it's no big deal. Won't take long."
I wasn't sure.
Then this guy's voice cut in.
"Sutton, you done? Get her to the station so we can wrap this up!"
Some cop with a serious face walked over looking annoyed.
The woman—Sutton—shot him a look.
"Colby, why are you being so mean? You're gonna scare her!"
The guy—Colby—just shrugged like whatever.
He walked up and looked me over.
The look on his face was like—this nerdy-looking girl? How'd she figure out who did it?
"You... forget it. Let's just go. Come with us."
Before getting in the car, Sutton gave me this reassuring smile.
"Don't worry about him. Colby just talks like that. He's not actually mean."
"We already got the shop owner you told us about. You're good."
Chapter 2
At the station, Sutton told me they didn't even need to interrogate him—the shop owner got so scared he spilled everything right away.
He found out his wife was cheating, got pissed, and killed the guy. Chopped him up.
Got the idea from some TV show.
Ground up the body in his meat grinder, mixed it into the beef pattis, figured he could sell it and make the body disappear.
Thought he had it all figured out, but got busted after selling just a few burgers.
While giving my statement, I repeated what I'd said on the phone.
When I finished, Colby frowned.
"So you saw the meat grinder and just called the cops?"
I tried to explain: "I saw bone pieces in it too."
"And the burger tasted different."
He frowned slightly, like he didn't quite buy what I was saying.
So I pulled out my student ID.
"I go to State for Criminal Psych. I guess I overthink stuff. Hope I didn't waste your time?"
Ever since I got this ability when I was seven, I've been hearing weird stuff.
My bed: [You've been sleeping on me forever. Can I get on top for once?]
The fridge: [Twenty years! Does anyone care that I'm tired?]
The couch: [Hahaha, my tummy's so ticklish! Don't sit on me!]
At first I was too scared to turn off the lights or sleep. Made me a wreck. Even saw a doctor about it.
After dealing with it for a year, I just gave up fighting it.
If I couldn't fix it, might as well use it.
So—
My family didn't want me to, but I applied for Criminal Psych anyway.
I figured if I got stuck with this thing, I should do something good with it.
Sutton pulled up my file and her eyes went wide.
"Oh! You're studying Criminal Profiling? Good thing you were there today!"
She gave me a thumbs up.
"Looking at your grades—all A's. Damn."
Colby leaned over and stared at the screen for a while.
Kept reading and his frown slowly faded.
By the time he looked up at me, his eyes were full of shock.
Right when I finished and was about to head back to campus, someone started crying loud in the hallway.
"Please keep looking!"
"My daughter's so little—I can't lose her..."
"Please, you have to catch whoever took her!"
A male cop stood in front of her, looking dead serious.
I know him—Captain Davis, honorary professor at our school.
He shook his head towards her:
"You've given us almost nothing to go on."
"Don't even know if the trafficker's a man or woman. How am I supposed to find them?"
The woman cried evem harder:
"She's my only blood! How can she just be gone like this?!"
That's when I noticed a little girl standing behind her.
Short, skinny.
Head down the whole time, clutching her mom's shirt.
Sutton leaned in and whispered:
"This's Captain Davis from our precinct. You should know him."
"That's the missing girl's mom, Simone Ward. That little girl is her foster daughter, Carina."
"Simone thought she couldn't get pregnant for years, so she adopted one."
"Three days ago, when Carina was watching her little sister at the park, she looked away for just a second. Next thing she knew, the kid was gone."
"Nothing so far."
I frowned.
Three days and they don't even have a suspect??
Just then, this creepy laughing started up in my head:
[Idiots! Haha, like anyone would think my owner stuck that brat in the wooden box in the backyard?]
[Go look for kidnappers all you want—you'll NEVER find her!]
[That brat tried stealing attention from my owner! She had it coming!]
I looked around until I found where it was coming from.
The scary laugh was coming from the pearl hair clip the little was wearing.
Chapter 3
"Please officers, save my sister..." the little girl cried, looking so sad.
"It's my fault. If I didn't make her come to the park, nobody would've taken her..."
I stared hard at the hair clip on her head.
My heart sank.
How could a kid this young...
Like she could feel me staring, the woman jumped up and grabbed my arm.
Her voice was shaking:
"I heard you cops study that criminal profiling thing—that you can sketch what criminals look like."
"You can help, right? Please, I'm begging you..."
Wait, she thought I was a cop?
I was about to explain when Sutton nudged me with her elbow.
"What do you think? Wanna try?"
Colby rolled his eyes. "She's a freshman. What's she gonna know?"
"If Captain Davis can't figure it out, you think she can?"
The woman looked at me like I was her last hope:
"Please just try! Even if there's a tiny chance, I can't give up!"
Everyone was staring at me.
Remembering that voice, I looked at the little girl again.
Right now she was still wiping away tears, crying even harder than before.
"OK. I'll try."
Captain Davis frowned. "Who are you?"
Colby explained: "Witness from this morning. Came in to give a statement. Freshman from State, Criminal Psych major."
Something like disgust flashed in the captain's eyes:
"A freshman? No. Don't waste our time."
The woman also hesitated when she heard who I really was.
I just patted her hand and gave her a firm look, then turned to Captain Davis.
"Either way, please let me try."
I walked over to the little girl and crouched down in front of her, putting on my friendly big sister act:
"Hey, Carina, where exactly in the park did you lose your sister?"
Carina looked up with big wet eyes.
"Just the park. Maybe by the slide? Or the seesaw? I can't remember."
I watched her expression:
"Do you remember when you noticed she was gone?"
"Was it a man or woman who took her? What'd they look like?"
When she saw how serious I was, she looked down all scared.
"Are you mad at me? I really forgot... I don't know when it happened. I just turned around and she wasn't there."
Suddenly, the voice came back:
[So fucking dumb! That brat's buried in a wooden box behind the old empty house on the north side.]
[She hasn't had water in three days—gonna die soon!]
[Once she's dead, my owner will be the only princess!]
My breath caught:
"Are you totally sure your sister went missing at the park?"
Her eyes moved away weird.
Simone got anxious, her voice sharp. "Carina, think harder!"
I kept going:
"Oh yeah, are there any empty houses around where you live? Any closets? Boxes?"
"Think she's hiding somewhere? Playing hide-and-seek or something?"
When I said those words, something guilty flashed in her eyes.
Like two seconds later, she blinked and started crying.
"I really can't remember anything..."
"I wish the bad people took me instead. Please just take me and give my sister back to Mom!"
The pearl clip:
[That brat tried taking my owner's toys? She deserves it!]
[So funny—when we locked her in there, she thought my owner was playing a game with her. What a joke!]
Right then, some man burst through the door, shoved me out of the way, and picked up Carina.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
"Carina's already upset. She's just a kid—what'd she do wrong?!"
"You useless cops can't catch the kidnapper so you're blaming a little girl?"
Carina buried her face in his chest, looking so pitiful.
"Daddy, it's my fault I lost ysister..."
The man patted her back gently:
"Don't say that. It's the kidnapper's fault. Daddy doesn't blame you."
Something like a smile flashed in Carina's eyes.
And I caught it.
The pearl clip: [First get rid of that little brat, then my owner will deal with Simone, and Daddy will belong to my owner only~]
[She'll never figure out my owner looks nine but is really twenty-nine!!]
Wait... is this the plot of ORPHAN playing out in real life?!
My hand shook.
I looked at Carina again—the way she moved, the look on her face, it was all weirdly seductive.
Like a grown woman.
That gave me goosebumps.
The man turned to Simone with blame in his eyes.
"You already lost one daughter. You trying to break this one too?!"
Simone opened her mouth then closed it.
Then the man looked at me like I was garbage:
"I've seen people like you before—blaming someone else!"
"Just trying to wrap this up quick so your department doesn't have to deal with it, right?!"
"Don't try pinning this on Carina!"
I didn't bother explaining I'm not a cop.
I stood up straight.
"Can someone get me paper and a pen?"
Sutton blinked then ran to grab stuff from a drawer.
"You can really draw them?"
I didn't say anything.
But Carina's back went stiff.
Hope lit up in Simone's eyes:
"Thank you so much! If you find my daughter, I'll do anything—anything!"
"Kian, our baby can be saved!"
She was so pumped she tried grabbing her man's arm.
But this Kian guy dodged her like she had the plague.
Then looked me up and down like I was nothing.
Without explaining, I just started drawing.
A few minutes later, the suspect's face appeared on the paper.
The whole office went dead silent.
