The Man Who Can Read Minds
By Savannah J.
For ten years, I have walked these blank grey hallways. I have turned left, then right, and then left again until I reach the door. I have glanced into the one-way window to see whose thoughts I will exploit next. For ten years, I have prepared myself for the burden of the experiences, loves, hopes, pains, and fears that would bombard my brain as soon as I stepped into the room. But today was different, for today, when I looked into the window, I did not see the face of an arsonist or mass murderer. Today, I saw the face of my best friend.
I found out I had the ability to hear other's thoughts when I was four. I kept hearing voices saying things without anyone's mouth moving. Like the times I played rock-paper-scissors with my sister. We would play the game if we couldn't decide who got the last cookie or who got to sit in the front seat of the car. She would always complain when I won because I always did. But the thing is, I could feel what she was going to do next. When I finally told her how I had been winning, she immediately told my mother, being the tattletale she is. For the next few years, I was rushed from doctor to doctor, trying to figure out what had happened to me. None of them knew how I had acquired this talent. So I just listened and took in everything I heard. However interesting or disturbing the thought was, I listened.
Then, when I was twelve, as my mom, sister, and I were beginning to eat dinner, there was a knock on the door. My mother stood up to answer it and my sister and I sat in silence, listening. Although the voices were hushed, their thoughts were loud and clear. I could hear the worry in my mother's thoughts as she listened and nodded along to the other person. I didn't recognize the other voice. I could tell it was a man because the tone of his thoughts was much deeper and more serious than that of my mother's.
"He needs to come with me now. His talent is needed and will help solve more injustices than we ever could before," the gruff voice said.
"No, you can't just take him from me." my mom whimpered.
"Ma'am, you will be able to visit him frequently. There is nothing to worry about," he explained.
"I don't care he will stay with me. He's just a boy,"my mother cried.