With nothing but a slight widening of his eyes, Damien's expression remains unchanged.  He continues studying me from head to toe.  He no doubt notices that my clothes are slightly dated, and my jewelry not of the latest trend.  His eyes linger on my face, boring into my soul.  I take a handkerchief from my inner pocket from my eyes, smearing them a little more.  I am too distraught to care.

"We all know this woman is a bottom-feeder.  I want her taken away right now," says Jade.

I see the thoughts running round this woman's head.  This is one of my "gifts."  I can see all of a person's present and past.  Every joy, every sorrow, every tear, every sin.  This woman took great delight in putting us away.  She felt she was doing her community a service by keeping away the "riff-raff."

"We need her here," says Jerry.  "She has the gift to just look at somebody and she instantly knows their past."

"So does Damien," says Jade.  "He can replace her and I'm sure perform her job much better."

"No," Damien speaks for the first time.  "I cannot see an individuals past.  I can only see the possibilities of the future, which can change at any moment.  Right now, the lives of many are in danger."

"Are these people registered citizens?" asks Jade.  Nobody says anything.

"If they're not," Jade continues, "I don't see what the problem is.  They will never amount to anything anyway.  If they die, let them.  The world is overpopulated enough as it is."

I can't hold back anymore.  I know there will be consequences later.  There always is.  I open my mouth to speak anyway.

"I wish you would just stop talking," I say.

The lights grow dim.

"Lil?" says Jerry.

"From this day forward, your voice will be as mute as your heart," I say. 

There is a great surge of energy.  All the lights around us start to explode.  Jade screams.  It was the last sound her voice ever made. 

"Damn!" yells Jerry.  "Somebody get that woman out of here!"

I get up to leave the darkened room.

"Not you, Lil' Witchy Woman," says Jerry.  "That woman!"  He points to his wife.

Jade looks at me with such hate in her eyes.  I know what she intends to do.  She wants to out me, even if she must hire someone else to do it.  I see her past sins show up.  All her victims, regardless of their ages.  I know who she contacts to do her will.  She does not care what happens to them.  I wait until she leaves the room to say what I have to say.  Meanwhile, several vacuum cleaners stretch down from the ceiling with their mechanical arms, sucking up the broken pieces of glass.  Several more little spider like robots come out to replace the lights.

"Jerry, I don't think you are going to like this," I say. 

He looks at me with tired eyes.  I can see in his mind that he has been suspicious of his wife for a long time, but lacked the will to go after her.

"I think your wife might be connected to the bottom-feeder cannibal," I say.

"Cannibal?" he exclaims. 

"Yes," I say.  "That man you have inside, he indiscriminately takes his victims away, where he sodomizes them, rapes them, tortures them, and when he is done, he eats them."

Jerry is stunned, saying nothing, his mouth agape.  Damien continues to study me, not taking his eyes off of me.

"You see their past?" he asks.

"Yes."

"Tell me then, who was his first victim?"

"I am," I say.

Jerry looks even more shocked than he did before.  Damien looks enraged, his chest rising and falling rapidly.  I can't look into his eyes with what I am about to do.  I look away, my eyes downcast.  My hands go to the sides of my knees.  With the push of a button, the rings that fasten my artificial legs come undone, and they clatter to the floor.  With one of my arms, I reach for my elbow.  It comes undone as well.

"I have one more limb I'm capable of removing," I say.  "It comes up to my shoulder.  He drugged me, kept me weak and awake.  I had to watch him cut off my body parts, no pain numbing medication at all."

I hear a hard exhale, where Damien stands.  His hands clench into fists.  The very ground beneath us begins to shake.  Cracks start to appear beneath his feet, and they grow longer.  On instinct, I reach for him.  Not with my broken limbs, but with my tail.  I usually only feel it in my dreams, but in this moment, it's there.  Not physically, but I can feel it with my mind.  This invisible tail fastens to his, coiling round.  The ground stops shaking the moment we make contact.  On the outside, Damien does nothing.  His eyes simply open and flick towards mine.  I can feel his tail tighten around mine, as it does in our dreams.

"Shit!" says Jerry.  "Not another one!"