NEURONE!

8 - Telekinesis

“He tased me,” Uju repeated for the - I'm not sure, I wasn't counting - time. I could feel her presence in here. She had locked herself in her mind. But I couldn't blame her. What Miles had done had even me shocked too. But I didn't blame him. He did what he had to to save himself.

“It's not his fault, Uju. He was just trying to save himself.” I said, hating how our first one-on-one conversation in years was on a topic that upset her a lot.

“Of course,” she scoffed, “how could I forget?” I'm not sure if it's possible to scoff inside your own head but that was what it sounded like to me. “He's protecting himself from me. The monster he made.”

“Uju, you're not a monster,” I said, hoping to comfort her.

“Then what am I? I should feel remorse for almost killing him but instead, I feel angry that he hurt me to save himself. If I'm not a monster, what am I?” She asked and for a second I almost doubted. Then I remembered how she had become like this.

“I don't know. You're no hero. You run in the opposite direction when you sense danger. You're not one to save others but you're one to sacrifice yourself to give someone else a chance to save themself. That sort of person can never be a monster. I know this for sure.”

She was silent for a while after hearing my words. She was letting them sink in. She was creating hope in her head to sustain us. Until Miles ruined it. He just had to call out to her right now.

“You're awake, thank God.” I heard Miles say, letting me know that Uju's regained control of herself. “How do you feel? Can you recognise me? What is your name? How many fingers am I holding up?” He asked all at once. He seemed to be worried that he might have fried her brain.

“I'm thirsty.”

“You can talk. That's great.” He muttered, relieved as he picked up the bottle of water on the nightstand and gave it to her. “I thought I had turned your brain to mush.” He confessed, watching as she gulped the water in.

“How long have I been out?” She asked, placing the empty bottle on the nightstand.

“Three hours. Minus the twenty minutes you spent in a trancelike consciousness.”

She sighed. “Three months and twenty-two days and I've been unconscious more times than I've been conscious. Maybe I should have died that day. It would be better than living out my days as a lab rat.” She muttered but we both knew he heard her.

This was it. The moment when he could have comforted her. Said a bunch of words, both true and untrue, to make her feel important. At this moment, if he had comforted her, she might have stopped hating him.

But he didn't. He just stood up and walked away, leaving Uju to wallow in despair. She just sat on the bed, staring blankly at the door. I wondered why he was this way. Does being a genius take away one's ability to have emotions? Was that why he was this cold and emotionless? Maybe Uju could try sneaking into his mind so we could check if he wasn't loved as a kid.

“Or maybe I could just eat,” Uju suggested after her stomach announced its emptiness. She stood up and began to walk out of the room. It reminded us of the first time she did - Miles definitely suffered for it. She had slapped and threatened him yet he didn't react. The other day, she had almost smashed a bottle on his head and yesterday, he took a punch from Eno because of her.

He had suffered for her sake. All because he had tried to save her. He had put in three years of his life to make the serum but had used the only one to save her life and yet all she did was blame him. If she didn't have superpowers and side effects, he would never abandon his other projects for her sake. She had asked him why he called her his investment. It was because... Because... Because he was a loser. A freak. He was just like the rest of them - a psychopath.

“Shit! These are not my thoughts.” Uju muttered as a wave of realization hit her. Miles had somehow left his mind unguarded and now she could think his thoughts. But she knew he wouldn't want her prying. So, with the breathing technique he had taught her, she locked out his mind and focused on her own situation.

She noticed she had been at a standstill in the living room and she immediately began moving. She entered the kitchen and walked to the fridge. Aside from a few bottles of water and a jar of Nutella, it was empty. She took out the jar and closed the fridge.

To further distract herself, she decided to make use of her “telekinesis” - it was how Miles had termed her ability to move things with her mind. She placed the jar on the kitchen table and shut her eyes, imagining the cabinets open.

The first time, nothing happened and after taking a peek through half-opened eyes, she chose to try again. The second time had her focusing really hard on what she wanted and soon she could feel the whole kitchen rumbling. She opened her eyes and it stopped but the kitchen was already disorganized with most of the utensils outside their proper position.

The third time, they say, is a charm. I guess that's true because Uju succeeded in opening all the cabinets. She was doubly happy as she had also found bread and her head wasn't threatening to fall off like the last time. She blessed Miles' mother in her head for birthing such a genius and proceeded to try and “summon” down the bread. She ended up bringing down everything on the top cabinet except for the bread. Fortunately for her, Miles had no breakable objects in the kitchen.

”Use your hand.” She heard Miles' command from behind her and she almost freaked out. This was the fourth time she was embarrassing herself in front of him. And yet the day was not over.