Overlap

Chapter 99: Peaking Period

<03/29/2013 - 12:58 | Cage High School (Library), Austell, GA, USA>

Every now and then, I would duck out of certain classes I was ahead in, spending more time in the school's media center even if I didn't have a lot going on. For one, it was quiet in the library; nice, quiet, and relaxing. After how I've been feeling for the past week, being in this quiet space was a godsend for me.

"Just take it easy then. It's not like you to keep getting so wound up like this." Lumina was talking about me, referring to the strangeness of my most recent days.

I was feeling anxious, nervous about something I didn't understand, though Lumina mistook this behavior of mine for the onset of UAD. At first, I thought it was UAD too, but by now, I knew it was something else. "I don't know what's going on Lumina. I can't really explain it, but these sensations keep popping into my head at random, not that I can make sense of them. It's not UAD."

Complementing my own warning, I jerked up from my seat and gasped, my mind immediately overwhelmed with confusing emotions and visual imagined flashes of a stranger. It pertained to the same student sitting right next to me. Though she noticed my odd twitchy behavior, I didn't speak to her or try looking her way. The moment I experienced just now, even though it left as soon as it came, I felt as if I somehow learned something about this student that I shouldn't normally know, mainly some of her own personality, and all without ever speaking to her. It wasn't the normal chain of observative thoughts I have of others; this time it was intrusive and forceful, far outside of my own control. Normally, I would just assume it was my imagination going wild, but this has already happened before this week, dozens of times just like this.

"You're really jumpy, that much I can see."

"Just give me a moment Lumina." I had to give myself some time to figure this out on my own, since none of it made sense to me. Maybe it was because of all the caffeine I've been drinking lately, but something outside the ordinary persisted in my own sensory input today, and I needed to find out why... This girl next to me, my mind seemed responsive to her a moment ago. I wonder what would happen if I tried to let it happen again, whatever it is.

Lumina gave me the time I wanted, so I decided to put a theory to the test. I've already been experiencing these weird moments of delusions for a while now, but I'm becoming suspicious about whether these spurts of information are real or fictional. There's only one way to find out. The random information I keep getting out of the blue, the way it keeps flooding my mind at random, there's only one phenomena I can think of that would cause this.

I shut my eyes, calming my mind and sorting my thoughts for full mental concentration. I carefully compared the difference between the different types of psionic projection, like the two modes responsible for calling or hanging up on Lumina. There was still another type of psionic projection, one that relied on echo return data and less energy. I tried the technique I learned before, expecting to learn nothing of it. However, when I waited long enough in the middle of my own concentration, it happened again.

Scattered, fragmented visual moments about this mysterious student next to me flooded into my mind, though these visual moments were more detailed and lasted long enough for me to understand them better. In the time span of about eight seconds, I saw the random school moments of this student throughout the rest of their day, broken down, but enough to learn something of it.

"Are you okay?"

"Just give me a minute Lumina... And don't interrupt." After already invoking the ability successfully, assuming I wasn't just losing my mind, I knew I wouldn't need to do it again for the same target. However, I had to be sure if this had any merit or not. So, I spoke up to the stranger. "Excuse me?"