I sit on my bed, eyes big, heart fast. “What is this?” I say to myself. Then I hear a voice. But no one is in my room. The voice say, “I don’t want to go to work today.” It was my brother’s voice. He is in the kitchen. I can hear his thoughts!I go to the kitchen. My brother look at me and say, “Good morning.” But in his mind, he say, “I hope she don’t ask for her phone back. I broke it yesterday.” I was shocked.“You broke my phone?” I ask.His eyes go big. “How you know that?”I smile a little. “I just know.” I don’t tell him about the voices. Not yet.I go outside. The street is full of people. I hear many voices in my head. One man think, “I need to buy milk.” A girl think, “I hope my friend like my dress.” A dog even think, “Where is my ball?” I laugh. It’s very funny. But also very loud.At school, things get more crazy. My best friend, Emma, come to me and say, “Hey!” In her mind, she think, “I hope she don’t know I talk to Jack yesterday.” I feel a little sad. Jack is my crush.I say, “You talk to Jack?”She look surprised. “Yes but how you know?”“I just guess,” I say.
Everywhere I go, I hear people thinking. Some thoughts are nice. Some are not. My teacher think, “I want to go home. I hate this class.” A boy think, “I wish I was smart like her.” I never know what people really think before. Now I do. It make me feel strange. I try to stop the voices, but they don’t stop. They keep coming.“Why she sit alone?” one girl think.“She look sad,” another boy think.
At home, I go to my room. I think, “How can I stop this?” Then I hear my own voice answer, “You can’t stop it. It is part of you now.” That make me more scared. Is this forever?“I will fix my phone myself,” I say to him.He look very shocked now. “You crazy or something?”“Maybe,” I say with a small smile.That night, I can’t sleep. Too many voices, too much noise. I put a pillow on my head, but it don’t help. I cry. “Please stop,” I say. But the voices keep coming.Then I remember my grandma. She always say, “Close your eyes and think quiet.” I try it. I close my eyes. I take a deep breath. I think, “Be quiet. Be quiet.” Slowly, the voices go soft. Then they stop. Only my own voice stay. I sleep.
Next day, I wake up. The voices come back. But now I know how to make them soft. I learn how to turn the volume low. I can hear people, but only if I want.At the cafe, she say, “Sorry for talking to Jack.”“It’s okay,” I say. “I know everything now.”She laugh. “You are like a mind reader.”I smile. “Yes. Something like that.”We talk and laugh. I hear many thoughts around, but I don’t listen. I learn how to choose.Day by day, I get better. I help people too. One time, I hear a girl think, “I want to jump.” She is on the roof. I run fast. I stop her. I say, “You are not alone.” She cry. She hug me. I feel happy.This power is not a curse. It is a gift. I use it to help, not hurt. I still hear bad things. But I also hear good things. I hear hope, love, dreams.One morning, I wake up and hear no voice. Just birds singing, wind blowing. I smile. I say, “Thank you.” Now I know: to listen is power, but to choose is peace.