Chapter 2

Shawn paced the floor of his and Gus's office. He had no idea why he had said that he would see Gus here when it probably would have been easier to tell him the bizarre tale over the phone.

"Are you going to tell me or what? Because I have plenty of other things that I could be wasting my time with," Gus said sourly.

Shawn sighed. He'd better just blurt it out now and get it over with. "Pineapple," he finally said.

"What?"

"Have I ever told you how much I love pineapples?" Shawn sat down and put his head in his hands. Why couldn't he just say it?

"All right, fine. If your not gonna take this seriously, then I've got some serious business with the hot dog stand down the street," Gus said as he got out of his seat and began to make his way to the door.

Shawn leapt to his feet and grabbed Gus by the arm. "No, no, no, I am serious, I am one hundred percent serious and I will tell you exactly what happened." He paused for a moment to prepare himself. "This is wonderful weather we've been having." The moment the words left his mouth he felt like an absolute idiot. He sighed in frustration and combed his fingers through his hair.

"Forget it," Gus said in defeat. But just as he was about to leave, Juliet walked in.

"Shawn!" she cried as she raced over and gave him a hug. "We were so worried about you, where were you?"

Shawn took a deep breath as a powerful wave of affection hit him. Sure he liked Juliet, but he could usually control his feelings. When she entered the room he could feel a change in the atmosphere, a certain light presence; a happy sort of aura. Like strawberries in the summer.

"Well? Where were you?" Juliet asked again.

"I… just love strawberries in the summer, don't you?" he said stupidly. He combed his fingers through his hair again and started pacing. Why couldn't he just say that a strange girl had stalked him and lead him to a dark alley so she could give him a golden ball that would knock him unconscious? It was as if there was something physically stopping him.

"It's okay, he won't tell me either," Gus said to Juliet.

"Well, in any case I'm glad you're okay," said Juliet. "But there is, however, another reason why I am here. Our killer has struck again."

Later that day, at the house of an unfortunate murder, Shawn, Gus, Juliet, and Lassiter are all investigating the crime scene.

"Taila Johnson, age twenty six, stabbed to death," Juliet recited as they all looked down at the bloody body of a young woman with short blond hair wearing a red dress. As Shawn gazed down at the terrible sight he felt increasingly unsettled which was unusual for him because after all he'd been through he could usually stomach this kind of thing, but nevertheless, he turned away. There was some sort of dark presence hanging over this place, like the building itself was emitting a strong sense of hate and anguish.

Out of the corner of his eye Shawn spotted something very interesting. Something that could have greatly improved their chances of solving this murder mystery, but then something else stood out to him next to it. A small side table that had been gifted to Taila from someone close to her. Shawn blinked as he tried to figure out how he knew that.

Suddenly, the jewellery box on the side table stood out to him as well, holding with it a strong romantic feeling. No doubt it had been given to her by a past lover. Then the sofa in the living room came to his notice, then the spinning globe on top of a bookshelf, then the flowers that were sitting in a blue vase on the window cill, and then the bowl of popcorn spilled out on the floor. More and more things kept jumping out at him until nearly every object the whole house was telling him a story. He could clearly see into the life of this young woman who favoured pastel colours and horses, loved her father deeply, had a gambling problem, worked for an interior decorating company, and bought this house when she was young with the financial aid of her father.

"We've already called the interior design agency she works for, and they couldn't think of anyone who'd want to hurt her," Shawn heard Juliet say from across the room. When he looked over to her, though, he could sense an aura of blues and yellows hanging around the detective. Somehow in his brain he could translate that to a strong presence of thoughtfulness, intuition, calmness, and a small hint of fear. It was as if he could tell what she was feeling and thinking at the same time.

"Shawn? Are you okay?" Gus asked when he spotted Shawn's confused expression.

Looking at Gus brought with it a whole other wave of colours and feelings all of which, combined with the colours and feelings of every other person in the room and all the emotional attachments from the house and everything in it, seemed to overwhelm him. He quickly made a break for the kitchen that was void of human life and plopped down in one of the open chairs by a small square table. He rested his elbows on the table and placed his head in his hands trying to make sense of everything.

"Shawn?" Gus called again as he came into the kitchen.

"Gus, I think I'm having a mental breakdown," said Shawn as he opened his eyes and then was bombarded by thousands of other memories that rested in this house.

"What, like, seriously?"

Shawn stood up again and looked Gus straight in the face. "I can see the life of this dead girl flashing before my eyes," he said with a shaky voice. "I-I can sense a million different feelings and colours and other stuff coming from a thousand different places all at the same time. It's all filling up my mind, overwhelming all my senses… I-I'm really freaking out right now!"

"Shawn, what are you talking about? Colours? Feelings? What does that even mean?" Gus asked, trying to understand.

"I don't even know!" Shawn exclaimed. "I think it has to do with—" He wanted to say 'it has something to do with Clementine and that weird golden orb' but the words wouldn't come.

"With what?" said Gus. Again, when Shawn tried to explain he found his mouth still and his throat silent.

Eventually all that Shawn was sensing from around the house was so overwhelming that he felt his heart would explode from the adrenaline. Without a second thought he made for the door and stepped outside onto the sidewalk and looked up into the sky breathing deeply. What was going on?