Psy-chik

.~5~.

Luckily, when I got home, my mom was nowhere to be found. She can practically sense my stress, and not to mention, read my mind. If she found out about Usif being a mind reader, she'd pack our bags In a heartbeat. I wouldn't blame her though, even I was freaking out about it. Usif can read minds? How is that even possible? What a coincidence that my ex-slash-rapist's step brother is a mind reader? Not only that, but now he knows about all of the embarrassing thoughts I've had about him. God, I'm such a dork. I'm used to reading everyone else's sexual thoughts and cringing, but I couldn't bare the thought of anyone doing it to me.
Suddenly the doorbell began to ring repeatedly, snapping me out of my thoughts. I looked out the peep hole to see Eva. As soon as I answered the door, I nearly stumbled backwards from all the negative thoughts bouncing around my head.

How dare she leave me?
She's supposed to be planning my surprise party!
I should just cut her off for good. I don't know why I'm friends with a loser like her anyways.
Oh yeah, because she does whatever I say!
How does she look better than me tonight?

"Eva! What's up?" I chirped, ignoring her slanderous thoughts.
"School. Where were you? You totally disappeared after first block!" She crossed her arms. Her red hair hung in loose curls past her waist. She wore skin tight jeans that hugged her curves amazingly, her shirt exposing her perfect C-cup boobs. Why was she jealous of me? A walking stick. I shook away the thoughts and spat out a random answer. "I'm sorry, I was... Planning for... something."

The frown on her face quickly formed into a smirk. "Planning, huh?"
For my birthday?

"Yeah!" I lied. "We good bitchie?" I reached for a hug.

"Of course." She giggled into my neck.

Satisfying Eva wasn't hard, you just have to tell her what she wants to hear.

"Jessaline?"

Eva quickly turned around. "What are you doing here?" She questioned. "And where's your brother? He was supposed to call me." She added rather quietly. Behind Eva stood Usif, his hands shoved in the pockets of his gray sweatpants. He'd changed his clothing since when I last saw him, his black hair now styled in a bun at the top of his head. The tight white shirt he wore exposed his six pack. I nearly drooled over his appearance, but kept my cool. I couldn't keep thinking like this, not around him.
"Usif, just the person who I didn't want to see." I rolled my eyes, turning back to Eva. "We should go to the mall!" I changed the subject.
"Yeah, sure. I need new bras anyway, the girls are growing." Eva winked, linking onto my arm.
"So Usif.." she repeated. "What are you here for?"

"Uh I-"
Tell her you were shopping with me. I glared at him.
"I was shopping with Jess," He smirked. "Speaking of Jess, I need to speak to her in private."

Eva smiled widely. "Don't be too long, Victoria secret is practically calling my name!" She walked out of the door, which softly shut behind her. I felt kind of bad for her, thinking we were really talking about a surprise party, when really I'm keeping a huge secret from her, one that would ruin our friendship for sure.

"What do you want, usif?" I crossed my arms.

"I don't understand what I did wrong. If anything, I thought you'd be happy to meet another mind reader." He whispered.

"Happy that somebody knows my secret? If my mom finds out, she'll make us move!" I whispered. "I spent years making a reputation for myself. Years. and you're not going to just prance into my life and ruin it."

"You don't think I'm not at risk with you knowing I'm a reader? My dad was killed by scientists years ago. They're probably already on the lookout for me." He sat on the couch, resting his head in his hands. I quietly sat beside him.
"What do you mean.. killed by scientists?" I whispered.
"About fifteen years ago, my dad used to save lives by using his ability. He stopped things before they happened, warned people before tragedy struck. At first it was as if he was the real life Superman, but soon, cops got suspicious, thinking he was behind all the crimes somehow. After he confessed to being a reader, They handed him over to a secret institution, where he was locked in a lab for years. They experimented on him until one day, he disappeared. Unheard from ever since."
I held my mouth open in disbelief at his story. Is that what my mom was protecting us from? Is that what happened to my dad as well? Suddenly everything became a lot clearer, and a lot scarier.

"Hurry up love birds, I'm wasting gas!" Eva shouted from outside.

"Look," Usif whispered, leaning towards me. "Meet at the coffee shop at seven, I'll explain things further."

I silently nodded, unable to speak. Usif casually walked out of the door, turning around with a worried expression.

*

The entire time I was out shopping with eva, my mind was on anything but bra sets. Apparently she  must have noticed, because she waved her hand in front of my face, a concerned look spread upon her face. "What's up with you? Ever since usif came you've been.. different."

"N-nothing." I lied, putting in a fake smile. "This would look perfect on you!" I held up a random dress.
Eva gave me a look of disgust. "You know yellow clashes with my hair color, Jess." I shrugged, following her out of the store.
Five try on sessions and two burgers later, we were out of the mall and I was mentally prepping myself to confront my mother about the secrets she's been hiding. It's been years of us running away each time something small happened, and I was sick of it.
"I'll see you tomorrow bitchie!" I smiled and kissed Eva on the cheek before leaving the car. I took a deep breath before entering my house.

Empty.

"Mom?" I called out, only to be answered with nothing but the silence that filled the house. My mom didn't work, and quite frankly, didn't have to. When our uncle passed away, all of his money went to her bank account. It was just enough for us to live off.
"Mom!" I yelled again. No answer. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something felt seriously wrong.
I frantically grabbed my phone, dialing Usif's number. He immediately picked up, probably sensing that something was wrong.

"Jess, you alright?"

"My mom isn't home."

"Can't you call her?" He asked.

"No, she doesn't have a phone.. or a job! What if she was taken by those people you told me about?"

"Calm down Jess, I'll be over there in a sec." He hung up the phone and I let the long held tears fall from my eyes. What would I do without both my parents? They'd eventually find me too, and then Usif. We'll all vanish and nobody will know what happened to us. Why was I born with this curse? What's the point if nobody can know? Questions that I'll never get an answer to.
The doorbell rang and I rushed to the door, relieved to see Usif on the porch. He immediately engulfed me in a hug, wiping away the tears that stained my face.
"Don't cry." He whispered into my hair. "Everything is gonna be fine, love."

"It's not! My mom is gone, Usif. I have nobody!" I sobbed, pulling at my hair. It felt like my heart broke into a million pieces. Yeah, my mom was a pain in the ass, but she doesn't deserve to be killed!

You're not alone. You have me. You have the mind reading community.

I slowly raised my head and met eyes with usif. Did he just open his thoughts for me? His words seemed to have calmed me down somehow, my mind no longer racing with what ifs. "Really? There's a whole community?" I sniffled, wiping my eyes.

"Of course. There's never just one of everything." He smiled, joining me on my couch. "Let's get some rest for now, we'll skip school tomorrow and figure this all out, okay?" He rubbed my back. I couldn't help but want to kiss his soft, pink lips, but I resisted. Though, it was so tempting. His face was only inches away from mine. He bit his lip, his eyes flickering from my eyes to my lips. He leaned in, and without hesitation I pushed my lips against his.
He eagerly kissed back, bringing his arms to my lower back as I tangled my hands in his hair, unraveling his messy bun. "I really like you." He mumbled against my lips, in which I laughed in return. Usif climbed on top of me and straddled me, beginning to lift my shirt.
Suddenly he became Brendon. The living room became a dark, cold bedroom. His hands were icy cold and I couldn't move, he was too heavy. God, I couldn't move. I attempted to push him off of me, but he took it as a challenge, putting more of his weight on my fragile body. "Stop!" I shouted, tears streaming down my face once again. "Stop, please!" I cried.
Once he was off of me, reality struck, and Usif appeared in front of my eyes. I was on the couch again, and I was fine.
I closed my eyes, resting my head in my hands. "I'm sorry." I said under my breath. Usif wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
"Don't you ever apologize." He said sternly. "Something happened. You don't have to tell me what, but you also shouldn't think it's your fault. It's never going to be your fault."

"It's just... Brendon..."

"Shh." He held his hand out. I grasped it tightly and followed him upstairs to my bedroom.
"Get some sleep babe." He smiled, leaving the room.