Why I Prefer the Dark

Summer ended early that year. It had started to rain in June, which took away the heat. The wind breezed through trees, fields and houses, the weather was pleasant, and the sun wouldn't show up for days. It was still behind the dark clouds as if it was taking a break from its job of heating the land and keeping people inside their houses for the entire day. Now the heavy rain had taken over this job. But unlike the sun, it couldn't keep everyone inside. Some people would still come out. One of those people was me.

Though, I wouldn't step out of my dormitory if it was already raining. But I wouldn't mind heavy rumbling clouds, thunder, or stormy winds. I enjoyed a walk through the fields or sitting beside the lake, thinking about nothing. I would enter my dormitory only after it got dark, have dinner, and go straight to bed to wake up the following morning and go through the same routine.

That's pretty much how my summer went.

It had been five years. I completed high school and left. There was no reason to stay where I was a freak. I got a scholarship and started college. It was not difficult with what I could do. My campus is located in this distant foreign land near a village. I chose this place because it was peaceful there. I found myself at ease when I walked through fields. No people, no traffic, no noise. You would only hear the pleasant chirping of birds and the wind blowing through trees. People here were also benevolent. The thing I liked about them the most was that there were fewer of them here, so I rarely crossed paths with them. I was living my life peacefully.

When the summer holidays ended, my campus got crowded again. It was my senior year. I was planning to live the rest of my life alone somewhere I wouldn't have to worry about my powers which were still growing unchecked. In my first year, I would look at people and their thoughts, emotions, and recent memories would pour out into my mind as a balloon popped, but now they would look at me, just one eye contact, and it was like I would become them. Their life flashed in my mind like an old projected filmstrip.

The first time it happened, I was walking down the only pathway from my college to the road connecting the village to the outer world, a student crossed my path, and the moment my eyes met hers, everything went electric fast. I saw images and memories that weren't mine. I felt emotions that didn't belong to me.

"Congratulations! It's a girl."

"Hey honey, look! She's opening her eyes."

"There she goes again."

"Oh! My baby!"

"99, 100, here I come."

"Did you do this?"

"Honey! Dinner's ready!"

"Don't talk to your mother like that!"

"Hey! I'm Meghna. Call me Meg."

"He was staring at you like an owl."

"Hey, this is Vivek!"

"How'd you do that?"

"Honey! See what your father needs now, will you?"

"Yes! We won!"

"Come here! Look at this."

"BUT WHY DON'T YOU WANNA GO TO THIS COLLEGE?"

"I miss you, mommy."

"Hey! New girl!"

"Excellent, correct answer!"

"Yes, mom. I'll have to stay for the holidays."

I woke up on a bed in the campus hospital. I didn't have a clue what had just happened. I had to find out. I had to understand, and I knew what I had to do. Whenever I needed answers, whenever I didn't understand something, whenever I wanted someone to talk to, I called my only friend in this place. My dead foster sister.