its spiked tail and woke up in my bed after dying in the field. My stomach hurt whenever I moved and I found this necklace on my pillow. I’ve worn it ever since.”
They both stare at me like I have three heads. Before either of them can say anything, Claire walks back into the room.
“Ryanne, I would like to work on controlling the thoughts, if that is alright with you.”
“Yeah, let’s do it.” I am glad for the interruption. I don’t know why I tried to explain everything to them, when I don’t fully understand it myself. Claire walks in front of me and shoos Colton out of the way, so she can sit there. Colton gets up, with my notebook in hand, and goes over to the window seat.
“Ok, I would like you to try and unleash the thoughts from their locked place. It shouldn’t be too painful, because there are only three of us here.” She stops talking to me and turns towards David and Colton, and says in a stern voice, “Monitor your thoughts.”
She puts her hands out as an anchor and I graciously grab onto them. I close my eyes and search my mind, seeking the large locked box. Finding it, I concentrate on turning the lock and opening it. With a click, the lid turns and the thoughts come swarming out. The headache isn’t as bad as I anticipated, because there are only three people here. I open my eyes and look at her, telling her that I am ready.
“Good. Now, I want you to focus solely on me. Push the other thoughts back, but keep mine out.” I attempt to do that, but I can’t. The thoughts are jumbled up. I can’t tell which one is hers.
“I can’t. I can’t do it.”
“Yes, you can, Ryanne, try again.” This time, when I look at her, I see her faith in me. I know that she believes I can do this. I close my eyes and think of Claire, repeating her name over and over again. For a couple seconds, nothing happens, but then one of the thought strands gives off a lighter hue. I mentally grab onto that strand and pull it forward, pushing the others behind. Come on, I know you can do this. We believe in you. Her thoughts are all encouraging.
I open my eyes and look at her, smiling, “I did it.” She laughs and squeezes my hands, “I told you so. Let’s see if this works. I’m going to think a few random thoughts and you tell me what I’m thinking.”
“Sounds easy enough.”
I focus intently on Claire and what she is thinking. It turns out to be easier than I thought it would be. My favorite color is purple.
“You like purple.”
“Correct, ok, another one.”
I have to go open the bookstore soon.
“You have to open the bookstore soon.” Nodding, she continues. I hate having to clean up after two boys all day. They are such slobs.
I laugh and turn towards Colton and David, who are both looking at us, “She just called you both slobs.” They both glance at Claire, who shrugs sheepishly.
I think you like Colton.
“You think I—what?” I peek out of my eye and see both Colton and David still looking at us. I feel myself blush. I just shake my head at her.
I think he likes you too. I shake my head again. It isn’t possible. Claire just stares at me, I can feel her eyes on me, but I am looking at our hands. A guy like him would never be interested in me. With a sigh, she lets go of my hands and pats my leg.
“David, can she try you next?”
“She can try me anytime,” David grins widely and winks at me. I bite my tongue, but my laugh escapes anyways. With that, he comes over and sits in front of me. He puts his hands out just like Claire did and I grab a hold of them. Following her instructions, I repeat everything I had just done. When I am ready, I look at him waiting for him to think something.
I’m hungry.
“You’re hungry.”
“He’s always hungry,” Colton mumbles.
I have a fear of sloths. I think they are weird looking. If they ever decided to assert dominance, they could probably rule the world.
I couldn’t help it, I start giggling. “You’re afraid of sloths?”
“Hey, I just told you why.”
“I know, but it is still a little funny. They could rule the world?” I continue laughing.