"I wish I had the power of reading people's minds." "No, no you really don't." [Link to post.]
“Yeah, I do. You don’t know me.” I furrowed my brow and thought up a mental image of myself looking annoyed. I wanted the psychic intruder to know I was not amused. I was laying in my bed, alone in my apartment. I knew my body was safe. Most psychics asked before barging into a stranger’s mind, but this guy felt different.
“How do you know I’m a guy?” His question came again, from the lips of the most beautiful woman in the world. She stood in the empty room of my imagination and winked at me.
“Because you sound like a guy, that’s your own internal voice. And, we both know that’s not what you look like.” I changed my shape into a big burly super hero with pecs upon pecs, then flexed for him. “You’re using my thoughts to change your shape, but you should probably have picked someone I don’t think of obsessively.
“You’re pretty good in your own mind, but being in someone else’s mind is a different story entirely. Here’s an analogy for you. You know the movie *The Matrix*?” My muscles deflated, audibly. Because it amused me. It seemed to amuse him too, I heard a light chuckle.
“Of course!” I said. I formed a brown leather chair in my mind and sat down on it. He nodded at me. He changed shape to look like Neo, and gave me a thumbs up gesture. He made his own chair and sat down on it, opposite me. His appearance changed again. The Architect, as portrayed by Will Ferrell.
“That’s what you think it is. Vis a vis, that’s what it’s like. Some people’s minds are like cartoons, some people’s minds are like horror movies. And you have to follow the rules of the mind you’re in. You can’t draw something from someone’s mind that’s not there. If someone overpowers you in their mind-”
“You die?” I interrupted, and she nodded her head at me.
“Eventually the body dies, sure. But the mind stays trapped. It eventually gets absorbed into the new mind.”
“Yeah, I can see how that’s dangerous. But why risk being in someone else’s mind like that?” I asked.
“Because that’s what reading minds is.” She changed shape again. Back to my best friend. The woman I’d loved for several years. “Thoughts aren’t broadcasted out; I’m not an antenna that picks up signals. Your mind is like your house, right? It’s the same for me, except my house has no walls, but I can unlock anyone else’s door and just walk in. Usually I keep to myself, but that’s how mind readers work. When you have a thought, mind readers are there to see it happen. And depending on how your mind is organized they can track down other thoughts.” She took a deep breath, and her eyes met mine. She looked sad. Her voice changed to a female’s voice.
“Moving my mind around during the day is easy. The problem is when I sleep, my mental self sleeps too. I can’t sleep in my mind because it’s so defenseless. The mind I’d been sleeping in passed away recently.” Her eyes filled with water, and everything finally clicked. It really was her. My best friend’s sister died the previous month. I stood up and pulled her up to hug her.
“Why did you wait so long to ask? I’m guessing you’ve been in my mind plenty without me knowing it. You know i’d love to have you move in here.” I kissed her on the cheek.
“I know, but you haven’t heard everything yet.” She pushed me away, gently. “Only one of us can sleep at a time. That’s just the beginning, but that’s enough to talk most people out of it.”
“Well my body is gonna still get some rest, right? No problem” I pulled her closer. “And there’s more too.” I shrugged.
“You’ve been in my mind. Tell me if you honestly think anything is going to inconvenience me to the point of telling you no?” She looked down at the ground, then looked up at me and smiled.
“Thank you.”
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