KotLC Fanfic (The Sweet Secrets We Hide)

Chapter Twenty One

5554 words. Sorry about this lol.

I found her. After three weeks of searching, hoping, begging for a clue. I finally found her. I couldn't pinpoint her location on a map — there was no map here, only a world of unknown minds — but she was here. My mind narrowed to Charlotte, collapsing with such force, it nearly knocked me out of her mind.

    I rubbed my temples, wishing it could ease the headache even faintly. You're alive. You're alive. Oh my Lord, you're alive.

    I'm imagining things, she thought to herself, soft and desperate. Get it together, Charlotte.

    What? No. No, it's me. It's Aria.

    I'm going insane.

    Please believe me, I begged. My headache flared. I couldn't quite figure out where she was, not with this much strain on my mind, but it must've been far because my head was spinning. You have to believe me.

    Why would I believe you?

    Oh. Oh, right. Okay, I realize how unbelievable this sounds, but . . . I may have been harboring secret telepathic abilities for three years. Long story.

    Mhm. In the back of her mind, she stomped down her own hope.

    I knew this feeling. Her feelings. It'd definitely been her raw emotions that had shattered my first memory. Raw emotions that threatened to shatter my memories again.

    A wisp of a thought drifted across her mind. An image of me, my dark brown braid, my brown skin, my smile . . . and something else. Something that made Charlotte not quite believe I was everything I let on. Something dark, shadowy, a writhing monster behind my eyes.

    It was fascinating to see myself from her eyes. And horrible. Aware of it or not, there were things she held back when I was around. Words she crafted before saying them aloud. Ideas she tiptoed around, topics she avoided.

    Maybe I wasn't as good of an actress as I thought.

    Or maybe Charlotte was more perceptive than I realized.

    I feel like Pinocchio. I'm real! I almost wanted to laugh, dry and lonely.

    Who's Pinocchio?

    A human thing. And see? Would your mind tell you stuff you don't even know?

    Silence. She mulled it over. Give me a word. Not one of your favorites, like 'perspicacious,' or 'impetuous' — I forgot what that means — but a fancy one.

    Oh. Strange, but creative idea. 'Circumlocutory.' Adjective. When you use too many words unnecessarily, typically when you're trying to hide something. I also like 'insipid,' which means lacking flavor. 'Pulchritudinous' means beautiful. Impetuous means when something is done carelessly, by the way.

    Again, silence. I never knew somebody's thoughts could be so quiet. Or maybe she was hiding them from me, carefully tucking them away because she knew I wouldn't invade her privacy. Was she really so afraid of me?

    A monster. An image of a wide-eyed Fizzy flashed through my head. I was a monster.

    Did my mother see me that way? Was that why . . . ?

    Aria? her thoughts whispered desperately, and a whirlwind of emotions nearly flung me out of her mind.

    Hey, I transmitted. It's nice to know you can identify me because I'm a nerd.