The Thoughtful Detective

Chapter 4 - Super Colton

Flashback to 2008 - Part 3

Friendly reminder: Sentences with *stars* around them are other people's thoughts that Colton has extracted.

I opened the door of the campus coffee shop and stepped inside. My eyes scanned the room until I found Ethan, Denise, and Jess sitting at a corner table. My eyes met Jess'. She smiled and gave me a friendly wave. I approached the table and sat down on the empty seat between Ethan and Jess.

Ethan extended his arm out to me for the "bro shake" that I was starting to get accustomed to. "How's it going, buddy? How was your appointment?"

"It went well. The results were normal," I responded.

Ethan smiled and gave me an emphatic thumbs up.

Technically, I was telling the truth. It had been exactly one month since the accident, and all my test results had come back normal. I had two CT scans to assess potential brain trauma, and no problems were found. Additionally, I received perfect scores on my neurological and cognitive evaluations. As of this morning, my doctor had given me the green light to proceed with all physical activity.

That being said, I can say with absolute certainty, that my brain was not normal. The hill that I had fallen down was actually fairly small. It wasn't steep either, but I had hit my head on a large coastal rock, and my doctor had been concerned about the impact. It was the only part of my body that had sustained an injury. Ever since that night, it became obvious that something had drastically changed in the central core of my brain.

I still don't understand how this is possible, but I, Colton Dawson, am now a mindreader. I have probably spent over a hundred hours researching telepathy and other similar paranormal abilities. But I have yet to find a single credible, scientific source that answers my questions. However, I did manage to learn the following two things about my condition over the past four weeks:

1) I can only hear the thoughts of people within a close range. The boundary seems to be six feet, give or take a couple inches. I have occasionally heard the thoughts of strangers walking past me, but those types of moments are typically brisk.

2) It took me three weeks to figure this one out, but I'm fairly certain that I can only hear people's thoughts if they are experiencing intense emotions. It could be any emotion, (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, anxiousness); I was able to hear them all. If their feelings were substantial, their thoughts were easily transferable to my mind.

This makes things a little bit easier to handle. I couldn't imagine how challenging life would be if I was forced to hear the thoughts of every person within six feet of me. Fortunately, that is not the case. I could technically go through an entire coffee date with my friends without hearing a single one of their thoughts...that is, until someone gets emotional or horny. Yes, I found that one out last week, when I was sitting in the movie theatre with Ethan and Denise, who were making out beside me. I had never experienced anything more awkward. Here I was, watching Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer having a heartbreaking moment on the big screen, and Denise Adler's sexual thoughts start trickling involuntarily into my head.

The situation sucks, but I am adapting every single day, and learning how to control it. I mean, what else can I do? If I told my doctor any of this (or anyone else for that matter), they would think that I was losing my mind. My mother, who is already an extremely anxious person, may never sleep again. I couldn't do that to her. So...I guess I'm a mindreader now, and I'm just going to have to fucking deal with it.

"Are you hungry, Colton? I'm going to order a sandwich," said Jess. She turned her head to look at the large menu displayed in the ordering area of the café.