By: Emma Xing

Ever since my best friend Zoey came back from her strange aunt’s house, she was different. She stopped smiling and always seemed afraid of something. Whenever I tried to ask her what’s wrong, she just ran away, rubbing her temples. In fact, she rubbed her temples a lot now.

She always seemed distracted and never talked to anyone anymore, yet she always seemed to know what everyone was talking about. She became isolated but still knew what was going on in the world. I finally decided to ask her what was wrong.

I walked over to her after school. She was sitting on her front porch, sobbing.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her.

“I just need to be alone! I don’t need all your questions on why I’m shutting myself away from society!

Just go away!” she blurted and ran into the house. I stood there, stunned. All I had said was “what’s wrong.” How did she know I was going to ask her those questions?

It was as if she could read my mind. I chuckled to myself silently at that thought.

The next day, Zoey came to school with red puffy eyes and a tear streaked face. She looked as though she had been crying all night. As soon as everyone saw her, they avoided Zoey. I suppose everyone thought she was weird. I just wish she would tell me why she was crying, I thought to myself.

“I want to talk to you, but there’s just too many voices in my head. Too many. Most of them are hurtful,” she whispered to me. I stared at her weirdly. What did she mean by that? She clutched my arm tightly with one hand as she rubbed her temples with the other. She squeezed arm so tightly, it was turning red. I tried to pull my arm away but Zoey kept a tight grasp on it. Finally, she let go and dropped to her knees.

“Are you ok?” I asked her. Without replying, Zoey picked up her books and ran into the bathroom.

I didn’t see Zoey in the first or second period. She was called to the office through the loud speaker multiple times. During lunch, I had decided to look for her in the bathroom.

As soon as I entered, I heard crying noises coming from one of the stalls. The noise immediately stopped when I walked in.

“Zoey?” I whispered. Zoey came out of the stall and hugged me.

“I can’t anymore, I just can’t! I hate reading minds, I just hate it!” she sobbed into my shirt. My eyes grew wide. What did she just say?

“Yes I can read minds! My aunt passed her power that had been a burden to her to me. She said I could only pass it to people who actually cared about me,” she continued. “I can’t do it to my family, so–so, I’m sorry.” Before I could fully process everything she said, a flurry of voices went into my head. Zoey ran out of the bathroom.

I had been betrayed and now…now I’m going through the same thing Zoey had been through.