I. Am. Floored, by the response to the first chapter. Thank you all so much. I love all the reviews. I will try to reply to them, but if it comes to either writing an update or review replying, I think I better write!

This is going to be in all EPOV.

Pyejammies beta'd but all mistakes are still mine.

Sometimes, perhaps, we are allowed to get lost that we may find the right person to ask directions of. ~Robert Brault

1001 - Chapter 2, The Bakery

I was hired by a medical research firm which was based out of the city. I was blessed to be able to work from the confines of my home and submit all my findings electronically.

My job didn't require very much face-to-face interaction with others, for that I was grateful.

I was also slowly writing a book, an autobiography of my life. It was a sort of therapy for me. I was able to finally purge all the emotions I had buried down in my soul. It became a necessity for me to try to strip it from within and put it on paper—so to speak.

I spent many nights up late typing away on my keyboard, recalling the missed birthdays and holidays spent alone. Remembering all the days past that I spent pulling my hair out by the roots praying for the voices just to stop. Nights spent sleeping alone in the forest under the blanket of stars in the sky, thankful for the few hours of peace and quiet, and ignoring the stinging and numbing of my fingers and toes from the cold night air.

But more so than any of that, I always seemed to come back to thinking about the same thing, that painful train of thought that every other thought leads to in my mind. That something was something that I'd never really had, something I'd longed for my whole life—a true friend, for companionship and familiarity. Allegiance and devotion. Kinship and alliance.

There was also a deeper more profound tier to that yearning and that was the dream of a lover. A warm body to lie next to mine. A soft hand to hold. Wet lips to kiss. Some girl to call my own, yet be my equal. Someone who whispered my name in the dark and sought out my face in a crowded room. Someone who thought of me upon waking and saw my face at night before they slept. That was my wish of all wishes. I wanted that, more than anything, even more so than a friend.

I wanted love.

In my latter teenage years, I'd been on a date or two. I'd even had sex, albeit it was quick and meaningless in the backseat of a car, but it was enough that I knew what I was missing. All the touching and the passion. The bliss and the ecstasy. The want and the need.

If I thought of it too often, it depressed me. I knew my life now was decent, I got by and I couldn't complain, but I'd never stopped wanting more.

Never.

But I did hate the impossible feeling that consumed me when I thought of the love of a woman finally being mine own. It was so hard to imagine myself spending the rest of my years alone.

Would death not be an equal to that?

~1001~

This was my third move since I'd been in Chicago. The first apartment I moved into, was damaged by smoke when the roof three floors above me caught on fire.

The second was so overrun with rats, I felt like I was trespassing on their turf.

Two week ago, I lucked up and found this amazing apartment in one of the better districts downtown. The rent was cheap because there was going to be some major construction work across the street and many people wouldn't tolerate that kind of noise.

Luckily, I wasn't many people. I even thought that maybe the constant noise could be a filter for my busy mind.

After unpacking the boxes of what few belongings I had, I put on my jacket and set out to walk the neighborhood, my earphones in place, and my music blaring.

I tucked my hands into my jacket pockets and concentrated on watching my feet as I strode along the sidewalk. I glanced up every so often, checking my surroundings. The streets were not overly crowded today, then again it was late fall and quite chilly outside.

This neighborhood was a serene place to be yet still be so close to the bustle of the city. What few leaves the trees still had dangling from their gangly limbs were colorful, while the fallen ones littered the concrete like large autumn confetti.

I watched as my breath left my mouth in a puff of steam and fog and then dissipated into the cool air. I wished I could be outside more often. I found such beauty in nature and I felt so alive in the open vastness of the world. Most public places make me feel confined and trapped, so more often than not, I stay holed up in my home.

I continued my trek down the street when suddenly my music abruptly stopped. I pulled my player out of my pocket and cursed when I realized I had forgotten to charge it last night.

Then out of nowhere, I heard a rumble. Loud, deep pulses that seemed to thunder in my ears and ricochet in my mind. I knew all too well what that sound was...

It was a crowd.

Panicked, I spun around, looking for an escape. I spotted the mass of people headed my way. It was a college field trip, art students searching the streets for inspiration. All laughing and talking and thinking at the same time.

I resisted the urge to fall to my knees and bury my head in my lap.

Behind me I saw a small bakery nestled in between two other large buildings. From the outside looking in I could only see two, maybe three people inside. I opened the front door and ran in.

I didn't have the time to stop and enjoy the warm, sweet air that encased me as soon as I stepped foot in the place, but it settled all around me. I could even taste the sugar on my tongue.

I rushed to the front, not looking at anyone around me. "Excuse me, miss, do you have a restroom I could use?" I asked the woman behind the counter.

She looked at me strangely. Her thoughts said she figured I was another homeless drifter who wanted to bathe myself in her sink. She wasn't going to have it, she was going to make me leave.

I broke eye contact and pleaded, "Please, just for a moment. Let me use your restroom."

"I'm sorry sir, our bathroom is for paying customers only." She turned away from me. I heard her internal cursing at the filth on the streets.

"Here," I dug through my pockets. I pulled out and slapped a ten dollar bill on the counter. "I'll buy something when I get out. Please, just tell me where it is?" The crowd was closer and the noise was growing louder, almost so loud I thought my legs might give out from the pain of the roar in my head.

"Fine," she pointed to her right and I took off.

Finding a means to block my telepathy had in turn made me more sensitive. If I didn't have my music on, I was a sitting duck.

My back slid down the closed door and I covered my ears with my hands. I began to hum to myself as I rocked my body and waited for the living nightmare to end.

~1001~

"Excuse me sir, are you all right?" With a knock, a soft, gentle voice asked from behind the closed bathroom door.

I was still sitting on the floor. My ears ached from the pressure my hands had exerted from covering my head so tightly.

I didn't answer her.

She rapped at the door again as I wearily rose up off the floor.

"Sir? I'm going to have to unlock the door from the outside if you don't answer me…" She was a little louder this time.

"Thank you, I'll be right out. " I cut her off as I turned on the water to wash my hands and try to calm my racing heart.

I still felt the panic inside me, knowing that I would somehow have to leave this bathroom and make it back to my apartment with no music at all. I paused as I turned off the water and listened for the mass of people that had been outside.

A tear rolled down my face as my head pounded from the after-effects of all the earlier noise, but it seemed that most of the crowd had moved on out of my range.

I wiped off my face and dried my hands. I took a few deep breaths and adjusted the headphones that still covered my ears even though they weren't any help at the moment.

With much dread, I opened the door to see a different girl from the previous one who had been behind the counter, standing on the other side. Her brow was scrunched with concern as she looked me over. "Are you okay?" she asked.

I didn't want to make eye contact so instead I watched her lips to determine if she was talking aloud to me or not, and then I nodded when I realized she was.

She reached forward to touch my arm and right then, I couldn't help it, I glanced up at her face. What I found there, it moved me inside in places that had been dormant and stagnant. Her eyes were so warm and deep and brown. Her dark hair was pulled up and away from her face, but a few strands had slipped out and curled on the ends around her chin. The look of concern that was etched on her features was one I hadn't seen in a long time, if ever. She cared about me and my well being. I couldn't explain the way my world seemed to shift and realign for no explainable reason at all. It was overwhelming and unsettling.

"Are you sure? You look pale, do you need something?" She stepped closer.

I realized I hadn't said anything, but I was stunned. The longer I looked into her face, her eyes, the more I was certain that she was …silent. I still heard a buzz around us, but her mind was so quiet and still.

Either she was the dumbest girl I'd ever met—her mind was as blank as a clean sheet of paper—or I couldn't hear her thoughts.

None of them. None at all.

That hadn't happened before.

Was it even possible?

Well? See what's happening here?

I'm not quitting Losing Game, I will write both.

Let me know what you think about these turn of events. What do you think will happen? Why is this girl's mind silent?

Reviews are love.