IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD

Chapter 8- Project Intelligence

I pulled myself together, trying to forget everything that I said to Ellie. Xander amazed me with the ability to give me a pep talk rather than shut me down and hack into the pain center of my brain and bring me to my knees in tears. Each day over the past week has been eventful, to say the least.

I had beaten a girl up, told off so many people, Mind Factored, and met the women who split up my parents’ marriage, yelledat her, and saved a girl’s life. A lot of things, big things, had happened.

I walked over to the front desk and asked for James. He had already walked up behind me and had his hand on my back leading towards an elevator. He pushed the up button and tapped his foot impatiently.

The door dinged and slid open. He rushed me in and then slammed on the auto-shut button. The doors closed and he knelt down to get face-to-face with me. "What did you do?" He asked with eagerness, curiosity, and anger in his voice and face.

I was too tired to look into his mind so I went old fashioned and started asking questions. "What do you mean? That is really broad." I stared into his eyes and didn't drop my gaze. James looked down and started breathing deeply.

"Look at me." I said sternly. He brought his eyes back to mine. “Ask. You have been dying to this whole time and I am giving you the chance to ask me without me slapping you across the face. Now ask."

The words that filled his mind seemed to cloud his eyes. They began to look stormy and intense. "You are a five year old, how do you talk like a twelfth grader deciding to major in English?" I responded quickly and without hesitation," I told you, and I will say it again: I have an entity that lives in the left side of my brain. He can read your mind, then he tells me everything or he tells me what to say.

"And wouldn't you think that if he can read your mind that he would use proper, more advanced, English. Don't play stupid; you have worked with kids, we tell the truth." He hit the stop button on the silvery wall and the lights went out putting us in the dull haze of a backup light.

"What did you say to Dr. Colpalson?" He asked, more eagerness filling his desperate voice. His eyes were pleading for answers. "What did I say to her? Nothing she didn't deserve," I let out a mocking laugh that I couldn't contain.

"What did she do to you that would allow you the right to reduce her to tears? Katrina, you are a minor and cannot talk to adults like that." He looked up at me almost hurt.

"But I sure can talk to adulterers like that." I paused taking in his facial expression. I had never seen so much confusion on someone’s face and I have seen my mom after she walked in on my dad with another woman.

"Ellie, yeah. She kinda broke up my parents’ marriage by sleeping with my dad. Then she led my dad to hating me because Kathy told her off and then she got all offended and she wanted to leave my dad but daddy got all defensive and ditched after he cussed out my sis, Kathy, and I. So yes, I can talk to her like that. I have a legitimate right to speak to her in the way I did."

Any form of looseness or non-seriousness vanished. The room felt thick with intensity. I still couldn't work up the energy or desire to enter his mind so I let him question on.

"How did you save that girl today?" I shrugged and let out a scoff. "I wasn’t stupid. I observed what was happening with the girl and acted on what Xander told me. He told me what to do." I felt weird lying but I couldn't say anything about the whole Mind Factoring thing.

"Okay, that sounds stupid but I will go with you. Why are you here? Why didn't you use your stubbornness to fight against coming here?" I froze. My thoughts swam about and moved so quickly that I couldn't form a proper thought.