You Make The Pain Go Away

Chapter 1: You

Chapter 1

"You're so ditzy, Doe." Gwen criticized Dana as the pair walked the crowded halls of their High School.

Did she say that out loud? Or in her head? The short, raven haired girl thought as her best friend continued to voice her opinions next to her.

When Gwen looked down at Dana expectantly, she realized Gwen was actually speaking aloud.

"Oh! Yea I'm sorry." She tried to formulate the words without losing focus but her surroundings of teenagers thoughts blurred her mind.

God I'm hungry-that bitch better stop looking at me!-OH MY GOODNESS I FORGOT MY CHEM HOMEWOR-Theo is so cute, I wonder if he'll notice my outfit. - Tired. Tired. Tired.- if I stab my hand with this pencil I should be able to go home early.-Did I take my laundry out of the dryer this morning?

All of the thoughts flooding in Dana's head kept pushing her own thoughts out. The onslaught of teenage hormones and rage making her head dizzy. She could never focus at school. It was a curse to have to come when her day was just filled with the thoughts of other students.

Her nausea came back with a vengeance this time. She put her hand on her stomach to try and settle it, just as another wave of thoughts exploded behind her eyes.

Doe?

Doe, hey?

"DOE!" Gwen swung her shoulder into Dana's, sending her rocketing into the lockers to their left. "Omg Doe, I'm sorry. I was just talking to you and I thought you dozed off again."

"I did, I'm sorry." Dana rubbed her shoulder while adjusting her backpack onto her shoulder. Her embarrassment came in more than just one flavor of personal shame, it came in everyone shaming her.

Why is that girl always being weird- oh it's that girl who zones out- I wonder what that girls deal is-why are people being so loud on a Monday morning-ew there's that ditz.

Dana put her hand on her temple, trying to force the thoughts out of her head. Her curse had been getting stronger and so were her headaches.

"Did you hit your head on the locker?" Gwen bent to make eye contact with the Doe eyed Dana.

"No. My head just hurts again." Gwen nodded and faced forward again to march the halls.

Attention seeker.

"Huh?" Dana looked up at her friend. Her eyes grew even wider than they already were.

"What?" Gwen looked back down at little Dana with her innocent eyes.

"Oh... nothing sorry." She knew Gwen's voice. Her honey sweet voice. Even with all of the students thoughts blinding Dana, she could always pick out Gwens thoughts.

She didn't need someone to spell it out for her to feel the annoyance that leaked from Gwen's mind. She'd accidentally read her best friends mind multiple times, accidentally heard her deepest darkest secrets. Dana had even heard Gwens real thoughts. The ones directed at Dana.

The worst thing about having an uncontrollable mind reading curse was that you couldn't dwell on your own problems because when you were near people you felt their thoughts and the emotions that went with them. You weren't living in your own mind, you were living in other people's mind.

Dana wanted to feel sad about what Gwen had thought of her, but she couldn't. Not because she didn't want to, but because a tall red headed girl walked by her thinking I didn't bring my textbook! And Dana immediately began feeling anxious about a textbook that didn't even belong to her.

Or seconds later, as Gwen and Dana took their seats in Biology class, Dana began grieving for the boyfriend who broke up with her before her first period. Then Dana looked up and saw Chelsey Walker with her head down and realized it was she who had actually been dumped and not Dana herself. All of the disorganized thoughts made Dana feel lost again. Dizzy and lost.