It had happened twice before I was sure it was me. The first time some guy was pawing my sister at a party. I didn’t like to think about it, but he’d dropped dead in my hands. The EMT’s thought it was a heart attack. They couldn’t see the ruby lines that connected us. I thought I was hallucinating at the time.

The second time had happened because of the first. One of the dead guy’s friends confronted me, wanted to know how I’d killed his friend. He wanted to know what the lines were, and how come nobody else could see them. Frightened, I pushed him away and in the act of pushing, the lines appeared with the same results.

Weeks went by before the government set up facilities for people like me and weeks more before I considered going to one. I was glad I’d waited because they started offering incentives- salary, benefits, even sign on bonuses. Most importantly they offered pardons.

“Presumably, you’re here because you’ve killed before, hopefully, on accident. This time, you will have purpose and cause.”