I called it a stand ability, because it felt like something out of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. I couldn't summon the ghost, if it even existed, but regardless, that's what it reminded me of. Being able to see how many lives are on someone's conscious, it felt like a blessing.

That is, until that one Monday morning.

I didn't want to believe it at first. When I saw that "one" printed on Susan's head, I desperately didn't want to believe it. It felt like something out of a dream. I didn't realize I was awake until I spilled my coffee on my other hand and burned myself. It was an accident, of course, but then I looked at Susan again, and that "one" was still there.

One life. On her conscious. It couldn't be real. Could it?

Susan had been spending the weekend at a friend's house, and I was away on a business trip over the weekend. My wife said nothing happened at the friend's house, and her number was still zero, so I figured whatever happened, she had nothing to do with it.

Amy was Susan's friend, so I decided to talk to her mother the next time I saw her. She denied anything happened, but one thing I noticed was that the titan of a man who was her husband wasn't in the same room, or constantly hovering near her like he usually was. A few days later, he was reported missing when he failed to show up for work.

It took a few years, but his body, or I guess I should say, bones turned up in a shallow grave in the woods not far from Amy's house. Her mom taken away to another city by then, so she was long gone. But I knew neither she nor her daughter was responsible. My stand ability confirmed it.

I don't know precisely what happened, I've never confronted Susan about it. If I had to guess, I'd say that the husband tried to pull something. Tried to do something inappropriate. Self-defense, most likely. I know that doesn't preclude the possibility of something else happening, but ignorance is bliss sometimes.

Funny. I say that ignorance is bliss, yet I have an ability that denies me that bliss.

Sucks to be me, I guess.