Overlap

Chapter 80-A (Bonus Chapter): Common Interests

<12/09/2011 - 07:41 | Enroute, Marietta, GA, USA>

Sitting in any random seat of the school bus, I once again wondered to myself what made me or my life so different from the normal people around me. My typical pessimism caught up to me again despite all the fun I've had recently with Lumina, and it wasn't hard to imagine why.

Whether I am in class, on a bus, or out and about in public, the countless people around me live entirely different lives than I do. The boys talk about sports, cute girls, and memes, while the girls talk about fashion, cute boys, and various cultures. Then, there's me.

I've been getting bored of humans lately because of what topics I want to talk about or discuss. Distant star systems, alien civilization possibilities, beyond physical worlds, time travel, psychic phenomena, quantum theory, psychology; pretty much anything and everything I find weird yet cool. I've gotten used to talking about these topics with Lumina, so much that we still have not run out of things to talk about. The worst aspect of it is, if I try to bring up any of these various topics with others, the conversations won't last long. I've become a near expert in subjects that I can't fully disclose among other humans, not without blowing my own secret out of hiding. This is reason one – why I don't have any friends.

Reason number two should be straight forward from there; I'm the only kid I know who maintains an otherworldly telepathic connection to a woman on the far side of the distant universe. Most who hear that for the first time would find it too weird or shocking - I'm sure, but not me. I find our unique situation amazing, romantic even. Lumina and I are the most important people to each other, so all of that extra detail of clutter matters not to us.

The problem is, I've yet to be given a situation or opportunity to prove Lumina's existence to anybody other than myself. I already know she exists, but the people around me don't know it themselves. How can I prove it to them? How can I present some kind of concrete proof that the Altiri are actually real people with the ability to communicate with us, with the ability to send mind altering purge signals to our brains? As unique as our situation is, this isn't like some kind of awesome sci-fi movie, where a magic glowing gem falls from the sky, or where I develop visually apparent super powers. The reality is, I'm the only one on Earth who can hear Lumina, who can feel her presence, and who can telepathically connect with her. To anyone other than myself looking into this situation, the easiest false conclusion to jump to about us is: I've made up a girlfriend to keep me company in this lonely world.

None of that is true; Lumina and I are very much alive and real. But when it comes to everybody else around me, for every person who is totally unaware of our situation, how would I ever go about convincing them of this fact? The short answer is, I can't. That is the reason why I currently have no other friends in my life besides Lumina. I'm a human being like the billions all around me, yet I feel like the alien in this situation.

With this in mind, it was no mystery as to why I wasn't entirely myself this morning. I was quite sad for myself, bringing into focus my horrifying reality of isolation. Days ago, I didn't give a rat's ass if I was going to be alone with the exception of Lumina's presence. Now I wonder if all that rhetoric was just straightforward denial. Maybe humans simply weren't designed not to have any human friends. Regardless of that truth, I've been left feeling hopeless on this front, stuck in a never-ending battle that I cannot win.

However, despite all of my futile thoughts, the opportunity to meet new people lurked in the shadows around me, escaping my crystal clear vision. The first instance of such opportunity took form in the girl sitting right beside me on the bus this morning. She wasn't at all like anyone I was ever expecting; I had not even paid her any attention until now, when that potent energy of hers became that which I envied most.