(My Submissions) 12 Days of Writing Short Story Contest

Day Two: Fantasy || Manipulation

I sift through the memories of those around me, buying things at different vendors.

I sell memories at my vendor.

Call me evil, call me crazy, call me mean, but when you're in the lowest class because of your blood history, it's a little hard to come by.

But not so hard if you have an ability.

Mine is Mind Manipulation.

I can catch memories from people, store them in my brain, and then when someone realizes they've forgotten something and can't seem to remember, they'll come rushing to find me.

They'll explain their situation to me, and then I'll sift through the memories I collected. If I find one that matches their situation, I'll duplicate it and implement it back into their brain.

If I can't find it, then I'll just dive into their mind, and search for the memory they might've forgotten. Most of the time, it's just been blurred or overwhelmed by the other memories.

I've never failed once in my whole life.

And I haven't come across another Mind Manipulator aside from my mother, who was murdered a few years back trying to protect me.

I lean my head back as a cool, summer breeze blows by. The sun is setting, streaking pink, orange, and yellow across the sky. But something doesn't feel right.

Like the calm before a storm.

***

I pack up all my things, and dart out of the market, scanning around for the presence of other people's minds.

Normally, everyone's thoughts are pretty loud, so I can detect them easily.

But not this time.

I don't hear anything until they're directly behind me.

My elbow flies up, catching them in the chest. They stumble backward, grunting, giving me enough time to dive into their brain.

But I can't. I hit a barrier.

A barrier that seems a whole awful like-

Takashiji.

"Jesus, princess. A little less rough on the elbow next time. It's nice to know I taught you nice, though."

I spin around, glaring at my friend. His power is Barrier. And not just a physical barrier. Like, a barrier everywhere. You can't even touch him unless he lowers the shock level of the one that hovers around him 24/7.

It's a sad thing he's weakest at controlling the part of his chest. Or a good thing. It's nice that I didn't get shocked.

"Takashiji!" I groan out loud. "What the hell do you want? Did you forget where you left your car keys? Try your pocket? No? Not car keys? Pen? Try pocket too. Not a pen? Doctor's appointment? Check the calendar that you always forget about-"

He cuts me off, expression serious. "Someone broke through my barrier today and stole one of my memories of how to get to HQ."

I gasp. "How? I'm the only Mind Manipulator-!"

"I know! Is it possible for there to be any other ability that deals with memories? Like Memory Control? Memory Manipulator? Anything you know about?"

I shake my head. "Nope, but then again-"

Taka presses a barrier around my mouth, shutting me up. He's frozen, eyes darting around. Check, he mouths, taking the barrier away.

I stretch out my mind, searching, feeling, for another presence. I freeze. It's faint, but there, and advancing on us.

I send a message into Taka's mind. Less than a second later, a flash of green appears in the darkness, and a barrier is now covering someone.

He gives me a nod, and I dive into the person's mind, driving in hard enough to make him pass out. I gather some information.

Power: Laser beam
Name: Liko
Age: 21
Status: Royal
Job: Heir to the thro-

I let out a string of colorful words and repeat the info in Taka's head. "Taka, hands." He flicks a finger, and the barrier around the person disappears and turns into two individual ones wrapped around his hands. "Barrier us." A barrier flashes up around us. "Advance."

Once we're close enough, Barriers still intact. I slide back in. HEY!

His eyes pop open, and he tries to stand, only to find barriers around his hands. "What-"

I transfer a few questions into Taka's mind for him to ask out loud while I look through Liko's memories.

"Why were you after us?" Taka asks, and automatically, a memory flies upward and hovers in front of me. I tap it to play and curse under my breath again.

"How many powers have you developed?" I ask, cutting off Taka.

Three.

"What are your powers?"

Laser beam. Tracking. The new one is Memory Capture.

"Taka, it looks like we found our guy. The one who took your memory. Let's bring him back to HQ so I can question him further."

"What? Just like that?"

"Tracking and Memory Capture are his sub-abilities. We found our guy. And not just any guy."

"The heir to the throne," we finish in unison.

"Oh, imagine how much of an advantage we have now. An advantage over the Royals," he smirks as I make Liko pass out again.

"Shut up. Come on. Let's hurry back."

And I'm already imagining how much my life would change if we succeed.

My mother would be proud of me. I know it. 

^^^ 844 words. I'm not doing Day 3 prompt because I just can't come up with anything for it. I also didn't have time yesterday to do this one so I decided to do this one instead anyway. 

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Stay safe. 

~LivingWithMyLife~