COLORS:
Woori
Sungjong
Mom
Dad
Nurse

Chapter 2: Reading Minds?!

White presses on my body from all sides. I can’t distinguish up from down or right or left, and I have no concept of time. I must be dead. But…white! White means purity, salvation…Heaven! Score, I made it to Heaven! Then the white fades to a kaleidoscope of colors, spiraling around in a formation that makes me feel dizzy. There’s a rushing pressure inside of my head, but I can’t find my hands to try and stop the pain. What is this?! I try to close my eyes, but I have no control over my body. And then, as quickly as the strange lights came, they fade to a stop. My eyes lift open into a room that I recognize as the school infirmary. So, I’m not dead. Was that a glimpse of Heaven that I caught? Did the gods decide it wasn’t my time yet, and sent me back? Huh…I suppose I should be grateful to still be alive. And if I’m in the infirmary. I probably don’t have any serious injuries. I sit up on the creaky white bed and put a hand to my head, searching for damage. A cold washcloth falls from my forehead into my lap, but I don’t feel any gauze of blood. Did I somehow do okay? What’s Sungjong doing here?
 

“She’s awake! Thanks God, I was so worried!”
“Do you still remember me?”
“Of course, you’re Sungjong.”
“Wai! I’m so glad~!”
“How long was I passed out?”
“Almost four hours! School already ended! It causes a huge scene! You fell when the hallways were full so everyone saw it. But it seems like you didn’t hit your head directly, since there was no blood or anything. I think it was a miracle!”
“Yeah, I guess I just got lucky!”

I look over and see my mom and dad are here as well. When they see me looking, they approach my bed wearing smiles.
“Oh sweetie! I’m so glad you’re okay!”
“What a klutz. Good thing she didn’t die. She must get it from her mother…” What was that…?! What a rude thing to say. Did my dad really just say that kind of thing right in front of me? I feel speechless. I had a concussion and he doesn’t sound worried at all. It’s good that I survived falling down a flight of stairs, but he should at least be grateful about that!
“Ugh, how much are the medical bills going to cost? So much for that vacation we we’re planning. This is why I didn’t want children!” Mom, you too?! But something is off. Upon closer inspection…There is a strange echo to their voices, like they’re speaking to me from the end of a cave. This must be a side effect of my concussion. This HAS to be. Maybe I became delusional after hitting my head.
“I almost feel sorry for her. Too bad she’s been a wiseass lately.”
“Hey! This is too much! You can’t at least feel a little sadness for your own kid?” A yell explode from my voice suddenly, despite my migraine. Who are these people?! Have my parents always been this horrible?
“What are you talking about, sweetheart?” My mom looks at me with a concern expression. She can’t be serious --- I heard everything she just said, and she’s going to play dumb?
“Medical bills? Vacation? Is that all you care about?”
“I-I never said anything about vacation? Did I?”
“Where did you hear about a thing like that, Woori?”
“What? You said it just now!”
“Is this because she hit her head?” What the hell. So not even Sungjong heard Mom say that horrible thing? Maybe they’re right...I could be hearing things from the concussion. Okay, better keep my mouth shut.
“How did she figure out about the vacation?!” I definitely heard my mom say something that time, loud and clear!
“What? This is not funny, mom!”
“Huh? What’s not funny?”
 

“Is everything okay over there?” I notice for the first time that we aren’t the only ones in the room. The school nurse comes out from behind the curtain of my bed and peers in.
“Oh you’re awake! How do you feel? That was quite a fall you had.”
“…Confused.”
“That’s pretty normal during a concussion. I’ll ask you a few questions to make sure you’re okay.”
“Okay…” The nurse grabs her clipboard and holds a pencil over the paper.
“We’ll start with the basics. So you remember your name?”
“Shin Woori, age 16, second year high schooler. My memory is fine --- that’s not what I’m confused about!”
“O-oh. Well, I’ll ask a different type of question. How exactly did you fall?”
“The hallway was really crowded, and I was carrying a heavy stack of papers…I wasn’t really paying too much attention to where I was going.”
“Obviously, you little brat. It’s way past my shift; I should have been home an hour ago!”
“Excuse me?”
“Hm? Do you have another question?” The nurse’s voice quickly went from sounding angry to worry. My head is seriously starting to hurt, and not just from hitting it.
 

“Okay, enough! Is this some kind of joke?” I stand up from the bed abruptly.
“Why are you guys saying all these bad things about me? Won’t you know I can hear you?”
“What are you talking about, Woori-ah? No one said anything bad!”
“Lies! Dad called me a wiseass, the nurse called me a brat, and mom wishes I wasn’t born!”
“Huh? How did she know?”
“Are you…feeling all right?” The nurse takes the glove from her hand and presses it to my forehead.
“What is up with this kid? It’s like she’s reading everyone’s mind.” …Reading minds? No way, could that really be what’s going on? I’m hearing what they’re thinking, and not what they’re saying? Is that why their mouths don’t move when they say rude things? The reason why I’m hearing things that they’re not even saying…it must be because I’m hearing their thoughts, not their actual words! But how? That isn’t even possible! Even though I can’t believe that reading mind is a possibility, the strange thing is, that’s a fitting explanation to what’s going on here…Did this seriously happen from hitting my head?

“Mom, Dad, my head hurts. Can you take me home?” The best thing to do for now is to play dumb and not respond to their thoughts. I’ll have to figure out how this is happening later on.
“Nurse, do you think its fine for her to go home now? I think she needs to rest?”
“Finally! I’ve already missed the first half of the drama I was going to watch because of this annoying kid!” Ugh, there it is again!
I firmly press my lips together to force myself to not have another outburst.
“You look fine, and there doesn’t seem to be any damage, but I think you should stay at home tomorrow and take it easy in case of a concussion.”
“Stay home? Damn! Like I don’t see enough of her already!” This is seriously getting annoying…
“Yes, yes. I’ll stay home with her to make sure she’s doing ok.”
“Woori, do you have a friend that can bring you your homework?”
“I can bring Woori’s homework!”
“But Sungjong, your school is in a different building. Won’t it be troublesome?”
“Not at all, the cafeteria is in the same building so I’ll stop by her classroom during lunch.”
“Thanks, Sungjong-ah.” At least he isn’t secretly thinking about how much he hates me --- Good thing to know at least one person in this world cares about me.
“Let’s go home then. Sorry for keeping you here so late, nurse.”
“No problem, no problem…”
“Just get out already!”

Since Sungjong lives just next door, he leaves when we get to our house. I had hoped that somehow this weird mind reading thing would vanish, but I can still hear everyone’s thoughts. It’s so overwhelming that I don’t know if I should be amazed or confused.
All Sungjong thinks about, really, is candy. Mom and dad complain endlessly about everything (mostly about me). I never would have figured that they thought such awful things. Personally, I don’t even have negative thoughts like they do. I guess it all depends on a person’s personality. Some see the glass half empty, and that’s how they are. Thoughts aren’t really meant to be read. They are like personal secrets no one has to know. I feel almost like an intruder…If I really am reading their mind, that is.
I go up to my room where it will be quiet. I curl into my bed and enjoy the wonderful sound of nothing. It seems that silence is something I have taken for granted. If I have to constantly hear what everyone is thinking all day, I’ll saw my ears off. Hopefully this is just some weird side effect of hitting my head, and will go away when I wake up tomorrow. That’s what I would like to believe right now, anyway. Though I guess I won’t know until I wake up.
I feel tired all of a sudden. It was a pretty long day, so I have a right to be tired. After I change into my pajamas, I climb into bed and go to sleep.

What you think guys? -blink eyes repeatedly-

>O<