It was a normal day, not that a day in my life was ever normal. My best friend, Francis Monroe, and I went to the mall. We walked past a group of guys that looked to be about twenty-something. I didn't need to turn my head to know that they were staring at us, so I called out: "Jeez, would you stop it already? It's never going to happen." While Francis giggled, the guys looked at each other with puzzled expressions. What on earth did I mean?
My name is Samantha Faith Ryan, I may look like a normal girl, but I'm not. Look, I've got this gift of mind reading. It sounds crazy but it's like I told you. It can be pretty cool, but for god's sake- do you know how many brainless people there are walking the earth on this very day? For example those guys over there weren't exactly thinking with their brains. I guess you get my point. Its times like this that my gift becomes more like a curse. I'm 17, it's not like I can't handle their thoughts, yet still it pissed me off. "That was fun, Samantha," Francis cheered as we continued walking. I just smiled back at her. I was happy that she was enjoying this whole thing. I sure wasn't.
Mind reading definitely has its benefits; back in school it was pretty cool. You just had to read your teachers thoughts and you immediately had the answer to every question. But then again there was this one male teacher: the first time I read his thoughts I nearly fell out of my chair because I was so disgusted. This man really shouldn't be allowed to teach girls. I'm sure you get my drift.
But it's really great when there's a guy you like and you can immediately know if he likes you back. That can really save a lot of time and sometimes even pain. I even caught my last boyfriend lying when he cheated on me. Too bad he didn't know about my gift. He looked like a duck that got run over by a car, when I told him to piss off because I knew what he did. That was a picture for the gods.
I'm sure your wondering how I came across this little gift; you see I drowned in a lake one summer about two years ago. I still have no idea how it actually happened. Anyways, I was practically dead. Seriously dead actually- that's what they call it. When I woke up in the hospital everything had changed. My mind was racing with the worried thoughts of my parents and siblings. Man was I freaked out when I realized what was happening.
Unfortunately I haven't quite figured out how to control my "gift" just yet. It can get pretty headachy at times. That's why I always try to stay away from big crowds. Okay, beside college. Too many people mean too many thoughts floating around in my poor head. But it was Francis' birthday. I asked her what she wanted to do and she wanted to go shopping. My bad. So here I was, trying not to read any minds to prevent me from the massive headache- its like being in a full gymnasium of screaming children all the time. It never works though; some people's thoughts are just so outstanding that it's hard to shut them out. I really wish I knew how to control this freaking thing! Francis and I strolled past some shop windows, she loves shopping, I could live without it. Seriously, there's the internet so why would I need to go out to shop? But she's my best friend and it's her birthday. I'd do almost anything for her. Francis often asked me why I didn't tell the press about my "gift". Seriously? As if I really want it to turn into a freak show. I prefer my life nice and quiet. I don't find missing children nor do I find bad people. And I'd like to keep it that way. I don't want to be a hero; nor a freak. But this particular day changed all of that.
I often ask myself why this happened to me. What did I do to deserve the headaches I always get? I have yet to find an answer. Our attention was focused on this beautiful pink dress in a story window when I suddenly heard someone think: "You people wont be so happy after you discover that there's a bomb in the building, some of you will most certainly die today." I immediately spun around, searching the faces of the people surrounding me for any sign that they were the one who thought that awful thought. I must have become as pale as a corpse because Francis was starring at me: "Are you okay, Sam?" I couldn't stop looking around. There was a person in the Mall that was about to plant a massive explosive device to blow up the mall. What was I supposed to do? I did the first thing coming to my mind. I grabbed Francis's arm and began dragging her towards the exit. At first she tried to fight me but I refused to let go of her. "What is wrong with you Sam?" I didn't intend to answer her until we were safely outside. "Sam?" We were almost outside. "If you don't wanna die, hurry!" I hissed at her. Suddenly she adjusted herself to my pace. When we had finally made it outside, after what had really felt like ages, I put my cell phone into her hand, "Sam, your scaring me, what's going on?" I looked back at her. "Someone planted a bomb in there. I read it in his thoughts." I was completely freaked out but I tried to keep my voice calm; "I need you to call the police. Tell them that you heard someone saying that there is a bomb in the building." I was about to hurry back inside. Seriously, I have no idea where I got the crazy idea to go back inside. Francis grabbed my arm; "What do you think you're doing?" "I'm going back in; I really need to find this guy." She stared back at me in utter disbelief: "You need to find that guy? And let's assume you find him. What exactly are you going to do then? Talk him to death?" I tore away from her. "I need to get the other people out of the building. Call the police now." Francis obviously did not like the idea of me going back inside, but she flipped open my phone called the police. When I got back inside I had no idea what to do. If I just called out 'bomb' the people would panic and probably kill each other while trying to get out. I looked around. I opened my mind to let all the thoughts in. I immediately felt the familiar headache. It's so hard to understand all the thoughts when they're all coming at you a mile a minute. There were at least a thousand people in the mall, and I couldn't hear the thoughts I was hoping for. But seriously, Francis was right. What could I have done if I had found that guy? I really needed to focus on getting the people out of there. Then it hit me, the fire alarm! So I ran over to the nearest one, pulled it, and waited for the alarm to sound. When it did I was praying that the people would all and hurry outside. I wasn't ready to leave just yet, when I noticed a security guard was approaching me- looking not so pleased. "That is not a toy, kid," was what he was thinking. But: "Why did you pull the fire alarm?" was what left his mouth. "The people need to get out of here. I heard a guy saying that he put a bomb in this building it will go of any minute." The security guard studied me. He obviously thought that this could be some stupid joke. This sort of pissed me off. "Okay you can either stand around looking stupid, weighing out whether or not I'm fooling around or you can help me save these people's lives. But whatever it is make your decision quick because I have no idea how much time we have left. "While we were discussing all of this, most of the people were hurrying towards the exits. I was sure that the bomb guy hadn't left because he wouldn't want to miss the show. The security guy finally decided it was in his best interest to believe me and hurried away to help herd the people outside. I decided my best chance at catching the guy was to go outside where the crowd was collecting. The second she saw me, Francis ran towards me and hugged me tightly. Just in this moment the police drove up. Francis and I hurried over to them. We explained that we heard the guy, but never saw him. Some of the policemen began to rush the crowd away from the building. The security guards where just exiting the building when a loud explosion went off. Some of the security guards were sent flying from the impact, and the building was trembling. Suddenly I caught a thought: "That made a nice sound. It's too bad that no one was really hurt. Next time I'll get you all." When I looked over to my right, there stood a guy about 45 years old. Instead of looked shocked like everyone else, this guy looked a little to happy for my taste. I grabbed the police officer beside me and pointed to the guy as subtly as I could. "Officer, that man was close to us when we heard the bomb being mentioned." The officer studied the man, and then me. "Are you absolutely sure?" "Yes, I am. Look at this pleasant expression on his face. It's him. I'm absolutely sure." The officer looked at Francis, clearly waiting for her to confirm this story. Francis looked at me, and then her gaze wandered over to the guy. "I'm also absolutely sure." The Officer nodded and went over to some other officers. Together they studied the suspect. As the guy noticed that the officers were walking up to him, he decided to run. He didn't think about the possibility that some of the police officers were approaching him from behind. He was surprised but it only took him a second to pull a gun and fire it, not aiming at anything special. Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder and Francis began screaming, next thing I knew everything went black. When I woke up all I could feel was pain. But I realized something else: It was completely quiet, I could hear no thoughts. My gift is gone- at least for now. Guess what? I almost died today. Seriously, this guy shot me. I was almost gone. But they saved my life. And suddenly I knew why I got this gift; just for today: to save the lives of all those people. So apparently I'm a hero now. How creepy is that?