The Wind Carrier

“Clear!”

The doctor gave Pete a shock with the defibrillator paddles before he turned his eyes to the heart monitor. 

“Clear!” the doctor yelled again and gave Pete another shock.

When the doctor was just about to shock Pete a third time, one of the nurses stopped him.

“Look!” she said and pointed to Pete’s face.

With his eyes wide open, Pete was staring at the doctor.

“What the hell?” the doctor exclaimed and looked at the flat line showing on the heart monitor. 

“It must be broken,” the nurse said and walked over to the monitor.

As she reached it, the monitor suddenly started showing a heartbeat.

“Oh, there it goes!” the nurse said with surprise.

Pete was finally out of the hospital.

With no one to take him home and only a little change in his pocket, he had to take the train.

While he was standing on the platform, he watched a drunk man harass the other people who were also waiting for the train. Pete was still a bit groggy from his stay at the hospital and could not help but feel some aggressions towards the drunk man. “Fall down! Fall down!” Pete thought to himself as the man came closer and closer to falling down on the tracks.

The next moment, the drunk man suddenly tripped and fell down on the tracks right as the train came into the station.

After the police had finished questioning Pete about the accident, he resumed his journey home.

Although Pete thought he was the cause of the drunk man’s death, he did not tell the police about what had been going on inside his head at the time of the accident. However, the thought of being able to control things with his mind, had made Pete wonder. So, on his way home he bought a scratch-off lottery ticket.

Upon entering his apartment, he quickly collected the mail which had been piling up in front of the door before he rushed out into the kitchen and threw the mail on a table. He then grabbed a small spoon from the drawer. “Win! Win!” Pete thought to himself while he scratched the lottery ticket with the spoon. When he saw that he had not won anything, he made a small sigh and sat down on a chair. With an empty look in his eyes, he stared at his home phone hanging on the kitchen wall. “Ring! Ring!” he thought to himself while he stared at the phone.

Suddenly, the phone started to ring.

Pete had left his home.

Confused and unable to comprehend what was going on with his brain, he walked around in his neighborhood while trying to figure out an explanation. As he came walking down the sidewalk, he was suddenly stopped by a beautiful young woman who was working for an environmental organization. While the woman started talking about environmental issues, Pete just stood and stared at her. ”Kiss me! Kiss me!” he thought to himself while the woman kept on talking.

Finally, she gave him a pamphlet and moved on.

Pete, who still could not understand any of it, continued down the sidewalk until he reached a busy intersection and stopped. With a wondering look on his face, he looked at all the cars passing by him until he suddenly reached out his arm towards the intersection. “Crash! Crash!” Pete thought to himself while he stared at the traffic. Suddenly, a black car came speeding towards the intersection. As the driver tried to run the red light, he instantly plowed into the side of another car. The squealing sound of tires over the asphalt soon sounded from oncoming cars, but for most of the cars a collision was inevitable. 

As hood’s crumpled and glass shattered, a car driving too fast suddenly came charging into the intersection where it drove up on the hood of another car and flipped over. The car then tumbled over and over into a small cluster of people sitting outside a corner café before coming to an absolute stop. 

As the smoke cleared, Pete stared shockingly at the chaos of mangled cars and screaming people.

“The doctor can see you now,” said the secretary and looked over at Pete.

Quickly, Pete got up on his feet and made his way into the psychologist’s office.

“Thank you for seeing me,” Pete said as he greeted the doctor.

“No problem,” said the doctor and waited for Pete to sit down before he continued, “So, what’s on your mind?”

Pete took a deep breath and looked at the doctor with a serious face. 

”I think I’m able to control the world with my thoughts,” Pete answered.

“Okay!” said the doctor and tried to contain his smile as he continued, “Show me!”

“The problem is that it comes and goes. I can’t seem to do it on command,” Pete quickly replied.

“Alright!” the doctor said with skepticism and made a note of it on his papers.

While Pete continued to talk, the doctor continued to ask questions and take notes.

Suddenly, in a silent moment where the doctor was writing something down, Pete had a sudden thought.

”Drop the pen! Drop the pen!” Pete thought to himself while he stared at the pen in the doctor’s hand.

A second later, the doctor dropped the pen when he shifted in his seat.

“There! I just made you drop that pen!” Pete exclaimed.

The doctor gave Pete a skeptical look before he bent down and picked the pen up from the floor.

“So, you tried to win the lottery and to make a girl kiss you. Why do you think you chose that?” the doctor asked in an attempt to move the conversation along.

While Pete tried to explain the reasons for his choices, the doctor kept taking notes. 

Suddenly, as the doctor shifted in his seat, he accidently dropped the pen again.

“It wasn’t me!” Pete quickly said.

With a wondering look on his face, the doctor picked up the pen from the floor.

“Wait a minute!” the doctor said and looked at the pen in his hand while he continued, “I drop my pen all the time.”

“Okay,” Pete replied although he did not understand what the doctor was trying to say.

”Maybe you’re not controlling the world with your thoughts,” the doctor said and looked at Pete while he continued, “maybe you’re seeing the future.”

With a confused look on his face, Pete stared silently at the doctor.

“Try to empty your head and let the thoughts come to you,” the doctor said.

Hesitantly, Pete slowly turned his head towards the window and looked outside. 

“White car,” Pete thought to himself after which he said out loud, “White car.”

A moment later, a white car came driving by the window.

“A couple walking by,” Pete thought to himself, after which he said out loud, “A couple walking by.”

A moment later, a man and a woman holding hands came walking by the window.

“Oh my God!” the doctor said with amazement while he watched Pete predict the future.

As Pete stopped talking, he turned his eyes to the sky where a bird was flying around.

Pete watched as the wind carried the bird higher and higher. He could not control it, but like the wind, he could follow the path ahead of the creature.

For a moment, Pete wished he was as free as the bird. But he was not a bird. He was the wind.