Chapter 2 : Realisation

It was on the week that I was still staying at Uncle Fred's haystack of a room, that I decided to go out for some fresh air. I wanted to go to a quite place where I could hear less of the mind voices. The busy city with stress filled people wasn't my exact idea of peace. Stress makes people's inner thoughts more winny and louder. So I walked down to a kid's park and sat on a swing. I was just sitting there letting out my tears in silence when somebody shouted at me.

"If you keep on crying like a girl, I'm gonna punch you square in the face" I looked up at the kid with dark brown hair and green eyes. He was looking at me puzzled.

'Did he got lost or something? Do I need to report him? Won't his parents be looking for him? He looks new here' he thought.

"No, I'm not lost. I know where I'm going. Besides there's no one who would be missing me." I told him.

He quickly climbed on the swing next to mine and started swinging. "It's gonna be ok, you parents aren't mad at you or something to leave you alone. They are just busy. They will come back. You just got to wait" he told me looking so happy. He must have thought I was a runway kid.

'I miss my parents, they haven't written back yet. But grandma did promise that they will be back. I want to eat grandma's sweets' I read through his thoughts.

I didn't feel like telling him about my parents yet. So I asked "What kind of sweets does your grandma make?" He nearly fell off the swing.

"How do you know that?" He asked me surprised walking to face me, with surprise filled eyes.

"I can read your thoughts" I told him.

"Wahhh, that's so cool. Let play guess. Tell me what I'm thinking right now." he told me getting off the swing standing before me.

'Lemons'

"Lemons"

'Chocholate'

"Chocolate"

'I'm so stupid'

"I'm so stupid"

He started laughing.

"I made you call yourself stupid. This is so fun" he said jumping in joy. I couldn't stop the smile forming onto my face.

We played around for awhile like that. I was amazed to find a boy around my age to whom I could freely be myself.

"This is so cool, I wish I had this power, then I could have found out where my grandma hid her jelly jar. No matter how much I turn the house upside down, I can't seems to find them. Can you lend me this power?" He asked me.

"So you really can't read thoughts like me?" I asked him again to confirm. After all, the seed of doubt that everyone was like me was still there. He shook his head.

That was the first time that I willingly believed that I was the only one who had this power.

"I wish I could throw this power away then I wouldn't have to hear those stupid nasty things others think around me." I told him gloomy.

He threw me a punch which I dodged as I saw it in his thoughts even before he could raise his arm.

"I couldn't punch you because you read me, right? Wow, that is one cool power. I want it too" he said excited.

"No I want it to go away" I sat down and explained to him as to why it is a curse. I told him everything, the funeral, the relative, my powers and even what I was going through in my head. The demons. He listened patiently.

"Because of your power you had to hear those nasty thoughts, but isn't that also a good thing? If you went with those people without knowing what they really had in mind, won't you have ended up in foster care by now? You got to choose your uncle because of that power right? So I won't call it that bad" he told me.

And it was then that I started to believe that I'm actually different. Even if I understood it before, I never wanted to believe it. Because I was afraid to acknowledge the monster in me.

But this kid made me realise that, it isn't that difficult to be seen as different. To be born unique.

Getting up from his seat, he took off his chain from his neck and put it around mine.

"This is a chain that grandma made for me. She said that the feather symbolises the Phoenix. It will give you strength & power to fight against evil. I think this will be of more use to you than me." He said as he tied it around my neck.

"You really believe in that?" I asked him.

"It had worked for me before. Why don't you give it a try? Whenever you have hard times or when those people say words that hurts you, blow on this feather and the phoenix spirit inside it will protect you." he said fondling the pendant with a smile.

"It's about time that Uncle Fred would be back. I got to go back now. Can we meet again tomorrow? Let's play treasure hunt. You can be the best Boy Sailor to Captain Kylo's ship" I told him.

"Sure we can meet again. I will bring a surprise for you tomorrow. Come around 4pm. Let's meet around that swing again." he told me, laughing. Well that was the last time I ever met him, my first best friend in my life. First person who made me feel that the outside world that my parents protected me from wasn't that bad. We moved to Olka Town the very next day, so that boy had to remain as a pleasant memory and nothing more than that.

2019

"Kylo I'm scared to even breath when I'm with you, I can't think straight anymore, I'm tired of being careful with my thoughts. I want to be able to have a normal life. I can't keep up with you. I'm sorry, Kylo. But we got to stop meeting anymore." She started to rant on like that. I could read her hazy thoughts when I looked into her eyes.

'He predicts everything I do.....Does he know?

...Aron? Don't think. Stop thinking. Lalaaallaaaaaa'

Well I did felt a bit sorry for her. She was after all trying to break it off smoothly. So I guess I will not mention the fact that I know about her affair with this Aron guy.

"It's alright, Jane. You don't have to explain. I understand" she finally release the breath that she was holding. Luckily she just collected herself and walked away before entering the cafe. That saves me from public humiliation. The judgemental thoughts from the strangers in cafe, crammed all together at the same time is a headache I want to avoid. I wasn't gonna cry or drink myself to death over all this stupidity. I'm over that phase for a long time now.

That's my 19th break-up and I'm currently 30 with no girlfriend what so ever. Or atleast a stable one girlfriend.

I guess I need to have a bit of coffee to freshen up my brain. I looked down at my bracelet and smiled. I still had the feather as a charm. After all he was the first person to accept me and my monster as a friend. I made it into a fancy bracelet. I blew on it and chuckled, Maybe your charm isn't working anymore Punch boy. I thought as I entered the cafe, admiring the way I had modified that simple pendent chain to a beautiful bracelet.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

" Realising your defects and accepting them is something that we try to avoid, until one day someone slaps it onto your face. " -Kyle

_______________________________________________