Ailith

5

We took a path that lead us deeper into the woods, hoping that no one was doing any late night hiking or if any of the neighborhood kids were playing fortress past their bedtime. As Thomas said, we needed to make sure no one would catch me doing something no regular human being, let alone a 16 year old girl, could do and have the entire town talk about it.

I kept an eye on my phone the entire time, making sure we did not go past 10 p.m. I know only five minutes have passed, but the last thing I needed was for my tickets for The Misfit Machine to be taken away and let Thomas get all the fun.

"Okay, I think we're good about here," Thomas said as he stopped walking.

I looked up from my phone and saw that we were dead center in the middle of the woods. "Perfect spot," I said, "Now, Mr. Murderer, you may kill me and no one will hear you."

Thomas scoffed but smiled at the same time. "Yeah, sure," he said, "Because someone with the ability to break a desk is the perfect victim...I definitely won't get my ass kicked."

All I could do at this point was smirk in response. I looked around and saw that we seemed to land dead smack in the middle of the woods. I heard the owls hoot, the night animals scurry to their beds, and the moon shone down on us. Everything else was trees and the occasional gigantic rock. Even though I knew why we were here, I had no clue on how to start. I looked back at Thomas and shrugged. "So....what do I do?" I said.

"Well...we are in the middle of the woods, and there is no one here besides us, and the night creatures" he said, "Why don't we start with your hearing range?"

"My...my hearing?" I said.

"Focus, or whatever it is superheroes do when they have this ability," he said, "See if you can concentrate on a certain location and tell me what you hear."

I nodded, scared at what will happen. I began to focus and tried to slowly allow myself to hear the world around me.

Worst thing I could have ever done to myself.

CRASH

BANG BANG

BEEEEEEEP

WAHHH

"YOU BASTARD"

I heard myself scream and collapse to my knees, covering my ears as I told the world to shut the hell up.

"Brianna!" I heard Thomas yell, following a ringing in my ears.

After that, I heard nothing but the pounding of my heart and the ringing. I gasped for air like I was just learning how to breathe. The ringing grew louder and louder before I finally heard only Thomas and any nearby sounds that a normal human could hear.

"Brianna!" he said as he helped me up, "Are you okay!? What happened?"

I turned to him the best I could, still gasping for as much oxygen as I possibly could. "Never...fucking...doing that...again..." I said in between breaths as he helped me up.

"What did you hear?" he asked again.

"Everything, Thomas!" I said, "I heard everything from the city and back! Babies crying, women yelling, car accidents, gun fire...you fucking name it, I heard it!"

Thomas frantically nodded. "Okay...okay okay," he said, "Well...we proved one thing, and that is you can hear everything...at least at a certain distance." 

"Thomas, it sucked!" I said, "I just...I felt like someone just gave me a pair of headphones and said, 'Here, listen to this!' and blasted me with all that noise!"