The Telepath » Enoch O'Connor

vi - Spilled Secrets

|the telepath | vi

SPILLED SECRETS

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Thankfully, the day at the beach was quickly forgotten, or at least the part where I made a total fool of myself. We still laughed at the obvious attraction between Hugh and Fiona, the book Millard was writing, and Horace's fear of getting his clothes dirty.

It made me feel slightly better about the whole thing that at least I wasn't suddenly that weird girl who seemed to get some sort of shellshock from someone she'd never met before in her life.

Little did they know, that when you can enter minds you get attached to people's emotions, and if you do it enough, eventually you'll no longer have to have a connection. With me, I could feel the woman's pain. Not only because of my father but because of her feelings.

My peculiarity was both a blessing and a curse.

I sat on the lush grass a small distance away from the other peculiars as I thought, pulling pieces from the ground with a semi-vacant expression on my face. Emma had already been over twice but I claimed I was fine, thoughts consuming me once more.

The day was fairly quiet as always, the nattering of children amongst the general sound of wind in the trees and birds from above is the only sound. It was peaceful and sitting on the grass, closing my eyes, I could almost pretend I was at home.

I could pretend the noise was from the children on the otherwise of the fence. The grass belonged to our small farm and mother was currently in the kitchen making dinner for my father and I

It was a nice thought but it wasn't true.

I knew all too well that even if I did go back to Ireland, it wouldn't be the same. My father had already been lost, my mother was always on edge about my peculiarity and the grey skies seemed to be a perfect personification of the miserable mood.

No, Mum had been right. I needed to be here whether I knew what for or not.

Opening my eyes, I realised that once again I was no longer alone. Enoch had come and sat by my side without a sound, though he wasn't looking at me.

"Can I help you?" I asked in a slightly sharper tone than I should have probably used for someone who had been kind enough to help me the day before. Though I'd been waiting to use the same phrase on him that he'd used when I'd knocked on his door my first night.

"I thought I'd come sit outside and was getting sick of all the noise, thought it would be quieter over here" He shrugged, leaning back on his hands as I was.

It took every inch of my being to not question why the boy was even outside at all. Seeing Enoch outside of his room, I'd found, was a rare occurrence unless you counted the mandatory things like supper and the walks into the village. Though, here he was, willingly sat by my side on the grass.

A flash of orange hair turned my glance back to the children, only for Olive to whip her gaze away quickly. I sighed slightly at the encounter which of course didn't go unnoticed by the dead-riser to my left. He raised an eyebrow to which I shrugged. It's how a lot of our conversations seemed to go. Not that I cared much, I was more distracted by why someone I thought might just become a friend was suddenly acting so cold.

It didn't take me long to figure it out. I was sat next to Enoch, someone I was sure she liked. The thought of something as stupid as sitting with someone causing a rift made my insides twist and I stood abruptly from my spot. "I'm going to find Emma" I announced to him though attempted to keep my voice calm.