One morning I woke up and realized I could hear everyone’s inner voice.
At first, I thought I was just tired or dreaming. It started with my cat, Pickles. Normally, she just meows and jumps off the bed, but that morning, I heard a voice in my head say, “Finally, she’s awake. I’ve been waiting forever to be fed.” Her mouth didn’t even move. She just blinked at me like nothing was weird.
I thought maybe I was going crazy, so I went downstairs. That’s when things got even stranger. As my mom poured coffee, I heard her inner voice say, “If I spill these coffee beans one more time, I’m quitting caffeine forever.” But she hadn’t said a word out loud.
By the time I got to school, it felt like my brain was going to explode. Everyone’s thoughts were coming at me at once. I heard kids worrying about their homework, wondering what was for lunch, and thinking about crushes or video games. It was like a bunch of radios playing different stations all at the same time, and I couldn’t find the off button.
At first, I thought it was kind of cool. I knew what people were really thinking. I even helped my friend find her missing notebook just by hearing her think about where she last had it. But after a few days, it stopped being fun. It was exhausting. I couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t enjoy class, and definitely couldn’t hang out with people without hearing every single weird or anxious thought they had.
The worst part was hearing things I didn’t want to know—like who liked who, or what someone really thought about me. It made me feel like I didn’t belong anywhere, because I knew things I wasn’t supposed to.
Eventually, I just wished for it to stop. I didn’t do anything special, just laid in bed one night and hoped it would go away.
The next morning, it was gone. Everything was quiet again.
And even though part of me misses the mystery of knowing people’s thoughts, I think some things are better left unheard.