text: A short story about an uncomfortable situation you may encounter as a mind reader. Enjoy. I was just peacefully sitting on my chair in class when it started. I had grown to control my inhumane abilities but it caught me really off guard, so I couldn’t do anything major about it. I was in the middle of an important chemistry exam when I heard a sudden burst of screams bolt through my mind like lightning. It scared the living hell out of me and I almost dropped my pen because of it. My movements were so hectic, that my teacher threw a warning glance my way, which made me smile nervously and curse under my breath. I slowly lowered my head and gained back composure, as the uncomfortably loud screaming continued in my head, slowly draining me of my needed concentration. Whoever that person was, I really hated them right now. I tried focusing back on the piece of paper in front of me, emphasis on ‚tried‘. Spoiler alert, it didn’t really work. At all. The remaining thirty minutes were terrible. The human who thought screaming internally out of pure panic would give them answers to their fucking chem test kept going, reminding me of some nerve-nagging siren, alarming everybody around them of their, oh, so unlucky misfortune. When the bell rang, I heard the person thinking ‚Thank my mom that this is over‘ and I looked around with a snarl adorning my face, an almost permanent migraine now numbing my brain. The students were slowly leaving the classroom, but I was only starting to put my stuff in the backpack I brought. After I heard the persons laughable thought, I scoffed lightly. "I don’t think your mom has anything to do with this“, unintentionally slipped out of my mouth before I could properly process the idea of saying that sentence out loud. I saw somebody stop dead in their tracks out of my peripheral vision. Oh shit, I didn’t mean to do that. “W-what?”, the person stuttered and I stood up from my chair with an exhausted sigh. “You heard me, buddy”, I replied slyly, looking down at the shorter boy with bright red locks who, what I knew of, sat two rows behind me. Huh, apparently he was the screaming, panicking source I had heard. I didn’t bother to look before, I was trying to keep my sanity from leaving my body. “But... I didn’t say anything?”. His sentence sounded more like a question than a statement, as I combed my hand through my hair in a stressed manner while rolling my eyes with minor annoyance. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but to hold back a singular laugh. “ ‘Say’ is a very interesting way to put it.” My response was petty and unnecessary, but I just couldn’t help it. I was done with everything. Suddenly, I heard another thought. ‘I’ve never seen this hair color before, it’s gorgeous’. Well, I didn’t expect that. This time I couldn’t hold back and let a few coughing laughters escape my throat, as I watched the boys face change from irritated to embarrassed to interested. How entertaining. “Thank you, it’s natural.” I said over-dramatically, flipping my hair and adding a sloppy wink, just to be a bit more extra. The boys eyes went wide after his mind has seemed to realize the words I had just said. “You can- hear- what- how...?”. He sounded so confused and I swear to you that it was the most amusing shit in that moment. “You got it, chief. Listen, the next time you panic, could you maybe reconsider screaming like a dying mammal for half an hour straight? You would do me AND my head a big favor. Thanks!”. Those were my last words, before I quickly stuffed all of my belongings in my bag and scurried out of the room with a last hectic, wannabe polite, wave. The last thing I heard was him yelling “What the fuck?” in a tone I will never forget. I laughed uncontrollably, temporarily forgetting the regret I sensed as an end result of this interaction.