Toby felt like he had walked around this unknown city for days, although the sun never set. It was still as bright as it was when he first arrived. The silence of the city felt unusual for Toby at first, then he began to enjoy having peace in his head. He could hear only his thoughts. There were no voices creeping into his head.
He continued to look for familiar faces, for someone who would respond to him. To his dismay, he had no responses. He felt lost in an unfamiliar area.
The silence was broken with a single word, strawberries. He could just barely hear the whisper. It was a female voice. Feeling excited, he looked around searching for the owner of the whisper.
As he asked the people around him if they heard the voice, he started to hear other voices. People walked around talking, but to no one. Toby stood still watching people walk past him, he could hear their voices now.
Good, at least I can hear. He joked with himself. "Ok, joke's over", he yelled. "Where am I?" He received a response of silence.
He continued walking, not knowing what else to do. No one would respond to him. The city he was in didn't seem like a city he'd ever been in or heard of. Now that he could hear the people around him, he wanted to get answers, but none came.
Eventually he decided to sit on a park bench. It was a park with no animals, he looked for birds, but found none. He didn't want to believe that this was his life now. That he was alone in a world of voices, but none speaking to him.
Meanwhile
Oz still sat in the chair next to Toby's bed. Waiting as patiently as he could for his friend to wake up.
"This doesn't seem real," he said. "This seems like a really bad dream. Someone needs to wake us up, whoever is dreaming this, wake up."
Rachel shifted her vision to Oz. She could tell how good of friends he and Toby must be. Oz was worried and frustrated.
"Oz," she started, "I know Toby's your best friend, but I have a strange question to ask you about him."
"What?" Oz nodded in response.
"Is there something unusual about Toby? You know, does he have any special gifts or something?" She shifted her weight at the foot of Toby's bed.
"What do you mean?" Oz knew the answer but didn't want to share with her. Looking intently at Toby, as to ask permission from Toby to talk about his telepathy. Strawberries. "I'm sorry, what about strawberries?" he asked looking at Rachel.
"Strawberries?" she said confused. "I said nothing about strawberries."
"Sure you did. There's no one else in the room. It had to be you." Oz began to wonder if he was going crazy. He knew he hear a female voice say the word 'strawberries.'
"No, really Oz, it wasn't me. I had asked you about Toby," Rachel stated getting up off the bed. She walked to the window, thinking. "Oz, I know you are aware of Toby's gift. That he's telepathic."
Oz was unsure how to respond to her. She must be a close friend of Toby's to know this. Toby had only told a few people about being able to read minds, she must be another one that he had told. Standing up, he walked near her.
"Do you think this has anything to do with what's wrong with him?" she asked gently.
"I didn't know you knew," he felt relaxed for some unusual reason. He didn't have to hid this information from her. "Liv thinks it could be related but no one really knows right now."
Rachel stared out the window, arms crossed in front of her. Sighing deeply, she turned and walked to the chair by Toby.
"Well, I think it is," speaking softly she sat in the chair. "Oz, I want to help him."
"Yeah, me to," Oz agreed. "I just don't know how to help him."
"I think I do."