Eavesdropper Eavesdropper

I have a power. I can hear people’s mental commentary when they eavesdrop on other people.

It all started when I was a small child. I called a stranger a mean potato when I’d heard them say how weird my mom was for hugging her kid (me) in public. “What unsightly behavior,” I remember the mean potato thinking. Did you grow up unloved? Parents hugging kids is a normal thing, you know?

You see, this is what I hate about having this sort of power. I end up mentally commentating on people’s mental commentaries, and I can never really tell anyone else about it. Can you imagine going up to your friend and saying, “Hey, so I overheard this lady overhearing some teenagers and dissing on how the younger generation’s a lost cause. Huh? No, no, she wasn’t saying it out loud. I heard it all straight from her brain. Straight from the source, you know? Haha!”

I tried that, once. Never doing it again. Played it off pretty smoothly, though, so it wasn’t a total flop.

I thought I was alone. There weren’t even any secret government agencies looking for me and waiting to dissect my brain to peer into the secrets of the universe. Nope, it was just me and my mentally judging other people mentally judging others.

One day, I was at a coffee shop across from the university. It was around noon. Anyone interested in lunch wasn’t interested in a coffee shop, and anyone who had a class wouldn’t be out in the first place, so I was sitting pretty and reviewing for my next class, alone and away from the judgmental thoughts of others.

That’s right. The barista isn’t judgmental at all. I still go there sometimes, and he’s the same as ever. That dude is a zenrista. I like it there.

Anyway, it was all peace and quiet until this really loud girl and her friend comes in. That’s not really a problem in itself. I’m rather used to loud people. It’s really just mental loudness that I can’t take.

The pair sits down by the window, a fair number of tables away from my seat against the wall in the center of the shop. I tune them out pretty easily, thinking that this was all within calculations—but boy am I bad at math.

Another girl and her friend comes in. They’re quiet, which is nice to the ears, but after they sit down by the far end of the shop, deep in an alcove, their brain-voices start entering my head.

“My god, they’re so loud.”

“Why did we go here? Ugh.”

To my left is verbal noise. To my right is mental noise. It’s not the worst I’ve been through, but it’s just way too annoying!

Then I hear a girl’s voice out of nowhere. “Excuse me, is this seat taken?” she says, and I look up from my notes at this ridiculous person who can clearly see all the unoccupied tables around me.

I say “no” because the seat is obviously not taken. I just don’t want to be rude, okay? It’d be so obvious if I said, “Oh, I’m waiting for a friend.”

So, she sits down in front of me and she leans forward—and blows my mind by saying, “You can hear them, can’t you?”

At the time, I was thinking “Yooo, am I finally becoming the protagonist? Is she a secret organization’s agent or something? Is this episode one?” Though, I guess it all translated to me having this stumped face, because the next thing I was aware of was her waving her hand in front of my face.

“You…you can hear them, too?” I ask her. She shakes her head, though, which disappoints me. I thought maybe she was the same, but if that’s not the case, then how did she know?

“So, actually…I can hear you complaining only while you’re hearing them.”

“Whaaaat, that’s crazy.”

I cover my mouth, because that was such a stupid thing to say in that situation. She giggles, though, so I guess the damage wasn’t that high.

“It’s been driving me crazy,” she says, “coz I thought I was just nuts. Hearing strangers comment about other people’s mental comments is just…I don’t know what to do with that.”

At that point, I was seriously wondering something. “Why—sorry, but, you really have to look at the situation. I’m sorry, but I don’t really know you, so…why did you talk to me, of all people?”

She has this faraway look for a second before she says, “Actually, we did know each other. I guess you wouldn’t remember me, though.”

It was at that moment I remembered, “Oh! You’re that girl at the back of the big lecture class in the auditorium. So…we’re classmates?”

“Well, yeah, but actually, we were playmates when we were five or something.”

‘Playmates’? That’s such a long time ago. I wouldn’t ever remember that…wait.

“Rainier?”

“Hi, Lance.”

“Oh wow, you turned out pretty cute, huh?”

I cover my mouth again, and she lightly punches me in the shoulder.

“You turned out pretty smooth, huh!”

“Saying things on my mind out loud has been one of the skills of all time, I know.”

“Too tired of reading what’s on other people’s minds?”

“Ah, well, I guess that’s a part of it.”

I notice the clock on the wall over her shoulder.

“You wanna walk to class together?”

She smiles. “Oh, I think you just read my mind.”