The Mind Reader

David was almost done working a double shift and was having trouble keeping his eyes open.

That was his main problem—for all the power he had, he could hardly stay awake.

But no one knew about his power, which gave him an advantage over everyone else on the earth.

He was definitely unique.

But not just because of his power.

It was sort of a trade-off. He was given immense power, but there’s always a price to pay, a weakness, for possessing that kind of skill.

David’s sacrifice was staying awake.

Working a double shift would’ve been no problem for him before his power had manifested. It was only sixteen hours—a mere blink of an eye to David. He loved his job. Not only because of his work duties, but also because of the other things he did. Even though those were what made him so tired.

He was one of the three assistant managers at a franchise of a large convenience store chain. All day, he worked with customers and helped them get what they needed, often in more of a way than they could have imagined when they first stepped foot into the store.

It was a great job.

But staying alert and awake was too hard at times.

Especially today.

About ten minutes before his shift ended, right before the dinner rush, David was feeling fine. He was pretty tired from all the work he’d done, both physically and psychologically, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle. His power hadn’t made him completely fall asleep yet. That only happened on rare occasions, and had never taken place at work. But working a double shift, it was hard to know if David would be pushed to his limit. He sincerely hoped not.

At that time, the customers started streaming in, buying hot dogs, chips, drinks, and every other kind of junk food imaginable.

A line of customers piled up at the register, so David straightened the collar of his blue polo shirt, stifled a brief yawn, and rushed up to help.

David entered the check stand area, stationed himself at an empty register, and motioned to a young woman with blonde hair who looked to be a few years younger than him, letting her know he was open for service. She sauntered over with her arms full of groceries, plopping them down on the counter without hesitation. She breathed a huge sigh of relief.

“Wow,” she said, smoothing out her orange blouse and moving her golden hair over her shoulder. “I seriously underestimated how much strength it would take to carry all those.”

David wanted to laugh at her joke, but he knew something was up. The way the girl was standing there was very telling. Her posture could’ve been straighter. The makeup around her eyes was slightly smeared. Her blue jeans looked like they hadn’t been washed in days.

Glancing down at the groceries on the counter, David saw yet another sign that the girl was experiencing some sort of emotional dilemma. Cookies, potato chips, and ice cream were spilled out in front of him. Comfort food.

David sighed. He felt bad for the girl.

But this was how David would usually go to work. Mental work.

“Hey, at least you were able to do it. I probably would’ve immediately dropped them,” David said to the girl, garnering a tiny hint of a smile on the corner of her lips.

David started scanning the barcodes on the food items, but his outward appearance was no indication of what was going on inside his mind. Without any effort at all, David stretched out his consciousness to the girl. It was like a smooth stream of mental water was flowing out of his brain and moving toward the girl. No one but David could sense the stream, of course, but that didn’t decrease its effectiveness. The stream snaked its way toward the girl’s head, easily punching a nonexistent hole in her temple and flooding through.

And David was in. Instantly, he shifted his focus completely toward the girl. He let his body go into autopilot, scanning the rest of the groceries without missing a beat, his mouth telling her the price.

But David’s mind was no longer in his head. His consciousness swam through the girl’s skull, searching for the root of her obvious suppressed distress. He passed words and images floating around in the expanse, which looked like an endless void filled with transparent orange liquid.

The first thing he saw was her name. Victoria.

But that wasn’t why he was here. He had to figure out what was causing her pain.

He viewed the memory of her first birthday, the smile on her face when her mother had given Victoria her first doll. He made out her first day of kindergarten, the synchronous feelings of joy and nervousness she’d felt. He saw the day she had gotten her driver’s license, and how happy she’d been.

David forged on, plunging into the depths of Victoria’s mind, veering through the words and images that moved about him. He was vaguely aware that his body was in the midst of counting Victoria’s change back to her. He had to hurry.

After moving for a little while longer, David reached Victoria’s newest memories. As far as he could tell, they were all happy remembrances, just like the memories of her early life that he had viewed.

But then he saw something. A darker, sadder image hiding behind a clump of more joyful ones. He used his mental willpower to push those away, and what was left was the faintest of memories, just barely a lick of a thought.

Obviously, Victoria had tried to repress the memory, bury it so deeply in her mind that she would hopefully never think of it again. But David had to dig it up.

He watched as the memory played out. Victoria was sitting alone on a park bench, glancing absentmindedly around at the lush trees and grass that surrounded her. She was wearing a luscious purple dress and white shoes.

A man dressed in a red t-shirt and some khaki shorts suddenly walked up to Victoria. Victoria quickly stood up and hugged the man and gave him a quick kiss, but the man pushed her away and held her at arm’s length. He said something to her that David couldn’t make out. The memories he viewed never had volume, because memories don’t include real sound. Memories are simply soundless thoughts floating through a person’s brain. The sound was always absorbed into the images David saw in people’s minds, amplifying the quality of the memory so it could be made out better. With the memory he was currently viewing, the sound’s magnification of the display was still just barely enough for him to see what was going on.

Victoria really hadn’t wanted this memory to surface again.

As David looked closer at the image, he realized he didn’t need sound to understand what was going on. It appeared that Victoria’s boyfriend was breaking up with her.

After saying a few more words, the man turned on his heels and briskly walked away. Victoria collapsed on the park bench, burying her head in her hands as tears started streaming through her fingers.

David covered the memory back up. He’d seen enough. He’d witnessed enough.

Worst of all, Victoria’s sad memory was dredging up something from David’s own mind that he didn’t want to think about.

Too late, as he swam back the way he’d come, dodging more words and images, his consciousness flashed somewhere else. To a time before he’d developed his power.

He was lounging in an armchair in his apartment, eating some popcorn and watching his favorite TV show. He didn’t have a care in the world. His life was great. He had a good job, he could afford his rent, and he had the best girlfriend ever. What could go wrong?

Just then, David’s phone beeped in his pocket with an incoming text message. David took the phone out and looked at the screen.

And immediately threw it on the floor in rage. The phone shattered into a million pieces, bits of glass and metal flying everywhere.

Being broken up with over text was the worst way possible. Especially when David had thought his relationship was going so well.

His power had manifested shortly after his breakup, and he hadn’t been able to find another woman he could be with since then. His power and his sleepiness had always gotten in the way of anything romantic happening in his life.

David’s mind snapped back into place as it was still pushing through the clear orange liquid and searching for the entrance that he’d made to come into Victoria’s head.

A thought, however, started playing in his mind, something his best friend had said to him after his painful breakup, something that’d made him feel loved and appreciated, even though he hadn’t figured that was possible at the time: Sometimes things happen for a reason. They’re done. They’re final.

David spotted the hole and willed himself to move in that direction.

They can never be reversed. This just means she wasn’t right for you.

David’s consciousness started flowing through the hole.

When you find the perfect someone, you’ll know. They’ll come to you. They’ll be meant for you. You just have to wait.

David’s mind slipped out of the hole and left Victoria’s memories behind.

Just know that you’re going to be okay. And I’m here for you if you ever need to talk.

Then he was out, back in his own body as his hands were bagging Victoria’s groceries.

“Thank you so much,” Victoria said, sniffling a bit as she reached out to grab the two grocery bags.

“You’re welcome,” David replied, still thinking about what he’d seen in Victoria’s mind. “Hey, while you’re here, do you mind if I give you some advice?”

Victoria blushed. “Ummm, sure?”

David summoned the warmth and love he’d felt when his friend had helped him get through his breakup. He let it flow out in his voice. “He wasn’t right for you, Victoria. If he doesn’t want to be with you, that’s his problem. Guys are dumb sometimes. He didn’t appreciate you for who you were. Or who you are. Because you’re strong. And you can get through this. And if you ever need someone to talk to, just come back. I’m here every day. I’m willing to listen.”

By the look on Victoria’s face, it was clear that she had no idea what was going on. Which wasn’t exactly atypical whenever David worked his magic.

“Do I know you?” she asked, her look of confusion growing, her eyes widening. “Have I told you about my breakup? I feel like I would remember if I did.”

David suppressed a quick yawn, then smiled tenderly. “We haven’t met before. I just thought you looked like you could use a friend.”

“Yeah, but…” Victoria trailed off. She bit her bottom lip. “How do you know all this stuff about me? How do you know my name?”

“Let’s just say I understand how you’re feeling. And it will get better. Like I said, if you ever need someone to talk to, I’ll be here, Victoria.”

David shifted his attention to the next person in line. Victoria hesitated, still staring at David, but eventually turned and ambled toward the front doors of the store.

As David was scanning the next customer’s items, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Victoria was still standing by the doors, looking at David.

He glanced over to her, his warm smile extending across his lips once again. Victoria’s wide eyes narrowed a bit, and she pursed her lips. A few seconds passed.

“Thank you,” she mouthed to David, then promptly left the store.

David proudly turned back to his customer, relaying the price of the groceries.

Then he fell face-first into the counter.

Before he knew it, David’s face was soaked in cold water.

“David, you okay?” one of the hourly employees, Jeffrey, asked.

David looked around. He was lying on the tiled floor in the back room of the store.

“What happened?” David asked.

“You passed out in the check stand,” Jeffrey said, setting a cup on the ground and putting his hands on his hips. “Do you remember anything?”

David sat up and rubbed his eyes, also wiping the chilly water off his face. He should’ve known that being in Victoria’s mind for so long, and also flashing back to a remembrance of his own past, would put him right to sleep. He’d already been tired enough beforehand, but that last brain penetration had put him over the top.

“I’m fine,” David said, standing up and glancing toward a clock on the wall. It was ten minutes past the end of his shift. “I’m going to head home.”

“You sure you’re okay to drive?” Jeffrey asked as he followed David out of the back room and up to the check stand. David grabbed his blue jacket from where it was hanging on a hook.

“I’m fine,” David repeated, slipping on his jacket. He definitely wasn’t fine. However, he couldn’t let any of the other employees know he was unstable.

“Alright, see ya tomorrow,” Jeffrey said. David walked out the front doors into the cool sunset-lit evening.

After driving to his apartment while miraculously staying awake, David entered, threw his keys into a ceramic bowl by the door, and flopped onto his couch.

He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the plush cushions of the couch.

The next thing he knew, he was being awoken by a loud knocking at his door.

He squinted at the green digital clock on his oven. It’d already been three hours since he’d gotten home.

He grunted and rubbed his eyes as he stood up from the couch, walking over to the door while the knocking continued.

“I’m coming,” he called, unlocking the door and swinging it open to find…

Victoria.

“Hey,” she said. “Can we talk?”

She’d cleaned up. Her makeup was no longer smeared on her face, and she was wearing a red t-shirt with some blue jeans that actually looked freshly washed. Her hair was pulled back smoothly in a ponytail. Her whole demeanor seemed to have improved since David’s encounter with her. She didn’t look miserable anymore. David hadn’t thought about it at the store, because of the instant obligation he’d felt to help her through her problem, but she was actually kind of attractive.

But David wasn’t interested in any of that at the moment. He shook his head, trying to get his thoughts straight. “Uh, how did you get my address?”

“Not important. But you said we could talk whenever I needed to. And that’s now.”

David had said they could talk at the store, but he was so tired that he couldn’t make much of what was going on. He gestured inside his apartment and Victoria walked in. David shut the door.

“I need you to tell me how you knew those things about me today,” Victoria said. “And you can’t say ‘It’s because I understand how you’re feeling’ again. We both know that’s not the reason.”

David’s heartbeat started racing. What could he tell Victoria? Not that he could casually slip into people’s minds when they weren’t expecting it and take valuable information that would assist him in helping them with their problems. That would sound crazy. And really weird. And maybe even a bit creepy.

Victoria raised an eyebrow right before letting out a huge yawn. “Crazy and weird and creepy, huh? Yeah, that seems about right. Except I would understand, David,” she said, walking closer to him.

“How did you…” David didn’t finish his sentence.

He knew what was happening. All this time, he’d thought he was the only one with the ability to enter other people’s minds.

That obviously wasn’t true.

Victoria was now about two feet away from David, so close that he could smell the lavender-scented perfume she was wearing.

David’s friend’s kind words to him surfaced in his mind again: When you find the perfect someone, you’ll know. They’ll come to you. They’ll be meant for you. You just have to wait.

Victoria yawned again, then grinned. “I think we have a lot to talk about.”