NEURONE!

6 - I Can Read Minds

Uju sat on the hospital bed staring at her test results. Even though she had been unconscious for probably a long time and her head was practically threatening to fall off, it said that nothing was wrong with her. She felt weak and any movement she made left her feeling dizzy.

She had almost fainted trying to sit up and when she succeeded, it had her panting heavily for some time. Simi had been asleep when she pried the test results away from her hands.

She regretted sending Miles away. He was quite annoying but he knew what he was doing and if he didn't, then he was great at figuring things out. Right now, he was all that she needed. If only she wasn't a narcissist and an ungrateful fool.

I suggested to her that she call him and apologize to him and just like always, she came up with a thousand reasons to go against me. Eventually, she agreed with my reason - she would die if she continued like this - and decided to call him. To do that, she had to go across the room to the chair where Simi's phone lay.

She took a series of deep breaths before removing the needle in her hand and placing her feet on the floor. She hoisted herself up and the next second, her head went blank. When she blinked her eyes open, she realized she was face flat on the floor. Her heart was pounding against her chest and her ears went numb due to a ringing sound.

Her head was spinning and for the first time, I felt discomfort. She felt more than just that. If she could think at that moment, I know she would have wished she could detach her head at will.

"Oh my goodness!" Uju heard a few seconds before she was picked up and placed on the bed. Her eyes were still shut but as she perceived the cologne of her carrier, her nerves calmed down. The pain in her head subsided and she opened her eyes.

A nurse was by her side, preparing to insert a new needle into her hand. Beside him stood Eno, his handsome face clothed with worry. He was the son of her parents' friends whom she has been crushing on since she was ten. She pressed her lips in a slight smile, hoping he was worried about her and not Simi who had been sleeping by the bed.

Just then, a realization hit her. Simi was a light sleeper. If she was still asleep with this many people in the room, something was wrong. She retracted her hand just as the nurse was about to put the needle in and placed it on Simi's forehead. She was having a fever.

Gesturing Eno to help her up, she asked the nurse to check up on Simi. The nurse was reluctant to let her give her bed to Simi but after she rubbed it in his face that her test results claimed she was okay, he had no other choice.

Since she couldn't stand on her own, Eno made her sit on the chair outside the ward and volunteered to go settle the hospital bills. He came back later with her clothes and a female nurse to help her change. After flashing his teeth in a wide smile, winking at the nurse, and asking her to escort Uju out, he left for his car.

About an hour later, they were both in his black Ferrari speeding away while singing along to Imagine Dragons 'Wrecked'. She felt tired and stopped and once she noticed she wasn't singing, Eno turned down the volume.

"Are you okay?"

She leaned back against the seat, staring at her reflection in the glass. "Not really. I was attacked some months ago and I fell into a coma. Miles revived me with a serum he created and now I can read minds."

"Uhmm... Should we go back to the hospital? I think you hit your head."

She sighed weakly, turning to face him. "After you spoke to Sarah, the nurse, you thought 'wipe that stupid smile off your face, you look uglier'."

Eno grimaced as if he was trying to remember something. "I said that out loud?"

"No, you didn't."

"Funny. What are you driving at?" He said, staring at her with his lips in a mocking smile.

Uju pressed her lips together. She deserved it for pranking him a lot of times. Well, in her defense, he pranks her first. "Think of a number."

"Uh... Okay."

A loud ringing erupted in her head as she tried to focus on his mind. She had been hearing the 'inside voices' of everyone within a mile radius from her and needed concentration to focus on Eno's. Breathing deeply, she blurred out the other voices, leaving only his. "24. Now a color. Red."

He scoffed, determined to not get fooled. "That doesn't prove anything. You've known me for a long time now so you should know I always say my age whenever I'm asked for a number. And my favorite color is red. Look, I really don't understand why you're messing with me. It's not like April Fools came early."

"You don't believe me, do you?" She asked, her head threatening to explode with pain.

He pressed his lips together while shaking his head. "Not one bit."

Uju groaned and threw him a glare. He noticed but kept looking straight ahead. Closing her eyes, she took deep breaths while amassing all the voices. She didn't know what telepathic radius it was but she was sure it had increased. Instead of hearing voices, all she felt were emotions and pain. The pain, she directed it to Eno. 'How about now?'

Eno groaned as the pain hit him. "What the...?" He retracted his hands from the wheel and placed them on both sides of his head. "Ahh... Stop it!"

He looked like he was hurting and even though I couldn't feel pain, I knew how it hurt Uju. I told her to stop it as he said and she shut me out -for the first time ever. I stayed quiet, staring into Eno's eyes at her eyes which were glowing. Even to me, she looked scary.

Then she stopped. Eno looked pale. It took him a moment to regain his composure and control of the car. She had her eyes closed, her lips pressed together, and her right thumb and index finger pressing her left pinky while breathing slowly. She let her voice flow into his head.

'I can read minds. And that's not all. I can project my thoughts into your mind, control minds, and move things with my mind.'

He was quiet for a while. Then he parked at the side of the road and stared at her with widened eyes.

"Wow, this is amazing."

She sighed. "I wish. Doing this much already has me feeling like I'm about to die and if I don't get to see Miles Adams right now, I may really die."

"Miles?" His brows creased and the look on his face had been replaced with suspicion and distrust. Not for Uju. For Miles. She knew because she could read his mind and the more she used her powers, the weaker she was.

"What has he got to do with all this?"

"Just... Just take me to him... Please. He lives at..." She said, falling unconscious, leaving me in total darkness and silence until I shut myself down.