08:30. Monday, November 20th, 2023. Alexis’s Condo.
It was the third Monday of the month. That meant Alexis was obligated to go into the office, since there would be a monthly meeting.
Alexis had complicated feelings about mostly working from home. It was in fact completely up to her where she spent her time, and if one simply looked at where she chose to be they would assume she vastly preferred home to Town Hall. The problem was however, she felt on some level she was way more productive at her desk than on her couch, she just didn’t have the motivation to always make the journey. So every normal work day was a constant battle of trying to work up the energy before eventually giving up.
But today was the first Monday of the month, so that battle could be skipped over.
She made sure her hair was washed, her clothes were presentable, and stepped out of the door to her condo. On the way to her car she spotted a van in front of one of her neighbor’s units. It was all white, and on the side it said "DINO MIGHT MOVERS” in bold black letters. Underneath was a description of their services and contact info. And their logo, a little dinosaur.
Weird, I guess one of my neighbors got some sort of promotion to shell out for the psychic moving company. At least they’re supporting a local business.
Alexis had actually dealt with the company since she helped with their forms for their telekinetic establishment application, but even if she hadn’t, they were pretty well known. It was started by two highschool kids here in Hermon. One of the pair had awakened to a pretty useful psychic talent:
The more powerful talents tended to have drawbacks (automatic activation, only targeting certain materials, etc.) but
In Lex’s opinion, his friend was the more interesting one. His name was Ike and when they had a case with her board, that was who she mostly interacted with.
Apparently, the moving company was his idea, same with the name. Honestly, the kind of teenager who has a functional business plan the moment his friend tells him he has superpowers was the kind of teenager I respect.
And the business plan was indeed functional.
A lot of people would pay for the novelty of having a psychic move their stuff around.
They were both college age now but had decided to make the company their full time career.
A small crowd of kids and their parents were watching the men while they worked. Presumably, it would have been larger before the bus came to pick up most of them. Tyler was letting one of the kids sit on a box while he carried it with
Alexis gave a wave to some of the parents as she passed by.
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09:05. That same day. Harmon Town Hall.
Rolling in at around five minutes after she was supposed to start her work day, she entered the town hall. The building was nothing to write home about. An old joke was that towns in New England were founded when the colonists thought the walk to church had gotten too long. Hence why there are so many towns in New England. Harmon was no different, and broke off from Midport in the 1800’s. When it was first founded, the town actually met at the local church, but as the community grew a proper town hall was built.
References to Harmon’s colonialist past could be found all over, with paintings depicting colonists working set to the backdrops to quiet rural landscapes. It all felt a little whitewashed to Alexis. She passed by a few of the paintings before heading down into the basement toward her office.
Eventually she settled in, and greeted her desk neighbor.
“Morning, Aabria.” Alexis said.
“Good morning, Alexis. How was your weekend?” Aabria asked.
“Good, I went out to a lovely vegan restaurant last night in Midport. The food was amazing, I wish I could go there more.”
“Were you there with someone or just wanted to enjoy the night out?”
“I was on a date but it didn’t go well when we started talking politics.”
“Girls like you tend to be pretty rigid about their views these days. I am sure that guy was missing out.”
“Oh, yeah…” Alexis said. She felt a twinge of guilt.
I should come out to her already, it isn’t her fault for just assuming. Besides, she’s cool.
At some point Alexis had made the decision that being a lesbian and a psychic was too awkward to be upfront about.
“Anyway, how was your weekend?” Alexis asked.
“I had coffee with my sister Bernice. But you will never guess what she just heard.” Aabria answered excitedly.
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“What did she hear?” Alexis asked.
“She gave me the best case for you yet. A real live ghost-sighting!” Aabria said. She gave a light little cackle.
Really with the ghost stories again?
“I am always down to go another round of detective with you, Aabria. They are always fun to solve, of course, it helps that ghosts aren’t actually real.”
At this point Frank Wilkson had walked in. He was a forty-something year-old man who worked in the Parks and Recreation Department in the office connected theirs. His title was Recreation Director, which was basically as close to 'President of Fun' as a human could get.
“Driscoll, you are on this again I see. Aren’t you literally a psychic?” Frank asked Alexis, bemused.
“Don’t get me started on all the ways telekinetic powers break physics.” Alexis had said. Plus, I never asked to be a psychic, Frank. So I don’t see why being one suddenly means I have to believe in nonsense like spirits or personal world boundaries.
Ever since the great awakening when psychics became reality for the world, belief in the supernatural has been on the rise like never before. People needed an explanation for what was happening.
Although some physicists and neuroscientists gave it their best shot speculating on sorts of things from quantum mechanics to brains influencing undetectable particles, it was mostly the cranks who filled the void.
If a religion preached about the end of days before the great awakening, now they were preaching ten times harder. Some even went as far to say that telekinetics talents weren’t a sign it was the end times, but they were gifts from whatever supernatural entity.
The source of powers was usually God or heavenly if they were pro-psychic, and the devil if they were anti. Occasionally though you had people talking about fair folk and the extraterrestrial spirits.
Some cranks went for a more scientific angle, talking about how telekinetics were people who burst their 'personal world boundary', the thing that separated an individual mind from their reality. Those people also tended to sell courses and pills claiming they can “burst your PWB” for a price of course.
In Alexis’s view, the theories from least to most plausible were: undetectable particle, aliens, PWB, the devil, and god. In that order. Of course, this ranking assumed that God was good and just, which was of course, a big assumption.
“Anyway Frank. You are just in time for Detective Driscoll’s latest case!” Aabria said.
“Yes, yes. Of course.” Alexis said, clearing her throat to get into character. “The case details?”
“Well you know how my sister works over in the business park over on Pinewood Ave? Well, one of her coworkers was locking up their office at night. When she got in her car though, she saw a strange figure still inside.” Aabria said.
“Spooky!” Frank interjected.
“That isn’t even the spookiest part! It had strange branches on its head and vanished almost as soon as she saw it! People think that the place is haunted now!” Aabria said.
Wow, she is getting really into this one.
“Can’t imagine a burglar would have worn such a silly sounding headpiece, so maybe you’re right.” Frank said. He gave a little chuckle at his own statement.
“Oh, I almost forgot. Some people were worried it actually might have been a robber so they checked the camera’s and couldn’t find anything either. Thankfully nothing was stolen.” Aarbria added.
The obvious answer is that the co-worker was mistaken, but that isn’t really how the game works.
The game ‘Detective Driscoll’ had some unwritten rules to make things fair and to prevent hard feelings. Alexis had to provide an actual workable alternative explanation. Otherwise it would be no fun for anyone.
“Okay, okay. I think I have my dénouement…” Alexis said.
“Already? Boo.” Aarbria said.
Sometimes the case was weird, so Alexis would need time to think about it, or to research the mechanics at play. This time she didn’t even need any details.
“What if the figure wasn’t actually inside the building… but outside!” Alexis said. She hoped the dramatic pause gave her words a bit more weight.
“How would that work?” Frank asked.
“Easily. Ms. Brown, you said the witness had gotten into her car correct?”
“I see where you are going with this Alexis, yes that is correct.” She still let Alexis have her moment. You know, sometimes, I wonder if Aabria knows the answer before we start playing.
“If the building was dark inside, and her car's lights were on, there was no way she could see inside unless the figure was really close to the window. Instead she would be seeing a reflection. It is the same principle they use for one way mirrors in police interrogation rooms.”
“So then what wouldn’t that just mean the ghost was outside? What did she see?”
“Elementary my dear Wilkson! A deer!” Alexis said. She had gotten a little animated herself, so she dialed it back. “The branches were probably antlers. She probably didn’t hear it when it ran away over the sound of the car's engine. Hence why it looked like it disappeared in a flash”
The two of them gave Alexis a little round of applause.
What a way to start a workday!
“Okay I gotta give it to you, Aabria. That one was really fun to solve.”
“I ask everyone if they have a good ghost story. More people have one than you think. Even if you don’t believe them, at least you're nice enough to let me share them and try to take them seriously.”
I am glad she feels the same way.
“Driscoll, I’m curious. If you like playing detective so much, have you ever thought about trying your hand at being a detective for real? You have a psychic talent so I imagine that would give you a boost among other candidates and you could do some real good.”
Alexis felt sheepish. She didn’t like talking about politics in the workplace, even though when you work for a town government it was inevitable.
Can’t just tell him ACAB, but I can at least be partially honest.
“I’m… not really good under pressure and my talent is pretty weak. Besides, I feel like I am doing good here…”
Alexis had a lot of complicated feelings about her job, but she had a lot less complicated feelings about cops. Between cop or bureaucrat? Bureaucrat. She would rather eat snails (shells and all) everyday than be a cop. And presumably nobody would pay her to eat snails.
Honestly, though, it wasn’t even a fair question. Even a job she respected like firefighter, she would still rather eat slugs (no shells) than do. Though if the shells were non-negotiable she would have to start weighing her options.
It came down to the fact she just didn’t like danger. Or really, it was more than dislike, she was terrified of physical danger. Yup, definitely too cowardly to be a firefighter, I can’t even work up the nerve to talk about politics at work!
“Too bad. But I suppose you’re right about not discounting the good your current job does. Civil service is one of the highest callings, after all.” Frank said.
“Talk about preaching to the choir Frank! I bet you that is the only belief you could get everyone in this damn building to actually agree on!” Aarbria said.
They all chucked at that and Alexis relaxed a bit.
Thankfully, I can leave the real mysteries to the true crime podcasts. Expense reports are about as much danger I can take.