Chapter Ten: Dinner
"I called Aunty Lin and told her I'm metahuman. She wasn't pleased that I hadn't called before now, but she said that you guys could probably help me better than she could. Doesn't mean she isn't going to check on me again later, but she did say to drop me home before ten-thirty." I say to Caitlin. We're sitting in the pipeline, because she's somehow managed to get me out of the meta-dampening cell.
"Great," she says, taking her phone back, "I think what we need now is a strategy."
"Why? What for?"
"For helping you block out everyone's thoughts. From what I can tell, you said you counted numbers and listened to music, but it's not a perfect solution, right?"
"Well, yeah, music's pretty reliable though-" I start, and she finishes as I trail off.
"-but you can't go through life with your headphones on all the time."
I nod.
"I think we need to help you control it by yourself and I've got two ideas about how to do that. Would you like to try them?" She asks.
I nod again, starting to feel hopeful that this self-assured lady could actually help me. I mean, she believes me, and wants to help, but isn't pushy about it. She doesn't push me away because I have the ability to hear what she's thinking.
How often do you find someone like that, Juliet? I think with a smile.
She obviously takes the smile as a yes because she continues. "I have a friend who has similar powers; we can talk to her, and like I said before, I think we can discuss some strategies to help you cope when you're in a situation where there's lots of people."
"Ok, that sounds good." I say. I wonder who the friend is, does that mean there are more people who are like me?
"Right, well, I'll give her a call, and ask if we can go over for dinner. You haven't eaten, right? You must be hungry by now. Oops" Caitlin says with wide eyes.
Just as she said it, the rumble in my stomach made itself apparent and my cheeks turn pink.
"Yeah, now you mention it, I guess I am."
Twenty minutes later, we knock on a door to a fairly big green painted house with a small porch with white wooden railings. A big front window glowing with a light and warmth that spills onto the street adorns the wall adjacent to the entrance. I glance through to see a lively living area of couches ringing a TV and a woman holding a baby on her lap.
The door opens and the light shines into our faces.
"Hey Caitlin, Juliet, nice to have you over. Come on in." Joe West smiles at us and steps aside so we can enter his home.
"Joe West can read people's minds?" I whisper to Caitlin as we cross the threshold.
Raising his eyebrow at Caitlin, but addressing me, Joe answers, "No, but my wife can. Is this the real reason for your visit?"
I blush and look at the floor. Oops, busted, I think.
"Well, that and for the pleasure of your company." Caitlin smiles, unabashed and with a twinkle in her eye.
Joe smiles back and shuts the door to the cold night. "Let's have dinner, and then talk." He says with a chuckle.
The food was delicious and 'Grandma Esther's Lasagne' was definitely worth the trip, even if we never got to talk to Joe's mind-reading wife, Cecile. Even though it was a small group, I still found it difficult not to eavesdrop on everyone, and still occasionally caught snatches. The food seemed to help improve my focus, but that was partly because my attention was fully focussed on it, rather than an actual property.
Great, so I just needed to become a compulsive eater and all my problems will- "…I need to check on Jenna in a min-" I cringed and fingered the ipod in my pocket, trying to block it out.
Focus on the conversation, Juliet. I reprimanded myself, and quickly tuned back in.
"…It's like we can't seem to catch a break," Caitlin was saying, "Because as soon as we defeated Savitar, DeVoe showed up and I know we'll bring him to justice but afterwards, it's probably only a matter of time before some other crazy meta shows up trying to destroy the world." Looking at the frowning faces around the table, she smiled sadly and added, "Sorry, I'm not usually such a pessimist. I guess the situation with Killer Frost just really..." she trails off and no one says anything for several seconds. I want to ask about Killer Frost, but I'm not sure it's the best subject to raise at the moment.
Cecile jumps into the break instead. "So, what have you two come to see us for? I assume it's not just for lasagne."
"No, Juliet here is having trouble with her powers and I thought you might be able to help, having some experience in the area." Caitlin replies, seeming to have got over her bout of pessimism.
"I'm assuming you don't mean motherhood." Cecile says with raised brows and a smirk.
"No," Caitlin smiles, "I mean telepathy."
"Ah, yes, anything specific?" Cecile says, brightly looking at me.
"Yeah, do-" I paused, trying to voice the question, "Do you know how to keep all the voices out?" I finish uncertainly. I don't know this woman and I'm never entirely comfortable around people I haven't known for very long. When I first met Aunty Lin, she said I was "cagy". I guess I just get nervous because I don't know how they'll react.
She's silent for a second, thinking, and I realised that I had hoped she knew all the answers. I discarded the notion as ridiculous, but the flicker of hope remained.
"How about we move to the couch?"
Cecile didn't actually have much to say. *
Even though she and I have similar powers, her range was a lot smaller than mine; she was limited to the house, whereas I, as we discovered after an experiment, could sense someone thinking at the other end of the street. Although this discovery served to prove that my ability to block people out increased with distance.
Eventually, we decided to try Caitlin's second idea.
"From what you're describing, what you're going through reminds me of children who are hypersensitive to sound. Using that as a foundation, I think I've come up with three ways to make blocking people's thoughts easier for you." Caitlin started, "One, you need to mentally prepare when you know you're going to a place with lots of people. You can't underestimate the power of being prepared."
"I kind of already do that though," I say doubtfully, thinking of the times I've taken the worn stairs down into the train platform, bracing for the inevitable storm of voices.
"Yes, but do you have a plan for what you'll do in the situation beforehand? It's easier to think clearly when you're not about to lose control."
"What's your plan then?" I ask curiously.
"Affirmation, exit strategy, and lastly, you create a mental wall between your mind and theirs." Caitlin said, gesturing with her hands insistently.
"Mental wall?" I say uncertainly, "How do I do that?"
"Close your eyes," Caitlin said confidently, so I closed them, "and imagine a wall."
"What type of wall?"
"Any type you want, brick, concrete, wood, whatever you feel like, just focus your attention on it."
A red brick city wall rose up in my mind's eye and, when I focussed, I could see the grey lines of grout and cracked clay bricks.
I nodded, indicating to Caitlin that I could see it.
"Now, without losing focus on the wall, open your eyes," Nervously, I do. "and all the thoughts you hear around you that aren't yours, put them on the other side of the wall."
Frowning, I imagine that I've taken a single brick out of the wall. I hear all the voices around me without listening, and then, suck them out through the hole and into space. I place the brick back, and using imaginary superglue, glue the brick back into place.
"Done." I say triumphantly.
"Now all you have to do is let the back of your mind focus on the wall, and you won't hear everyone's thoughts." Caitlin says with a smile.
I do as she says, keeping half my brain focussed on the wall, and a matching smile spreads across my face. "It worked!" I grin.
She smiles back and Cecile joins in. "Well, now that's sorted, I've got a baby to get back to. I assume I'll see you around?" She directed the last at me.
"Uh, sure?" I said, looking questioningly at Caitlin.
"Of course!" She smiles back at me, and then Cecile, "But for now I'd better drop Juliet home; it's almost ten o'clock."
*As far as I can tell, Cecile never actually learnt to control her powers, only use the mental activity dampener when she started adopting personalities. On top of that, I don't think her powers are as powerful (powerful in a different way) as Juliet's. Plus, Cecile is a grown adult who would've been able to cope with filtering mental stimulus like we would ambient noise much better than the average sixteen-year-old. Tell me if you think I'm wrong or have any ideas on the subject, but this was my logic.
Author's Note:
So, sorry for the long delay! But I hope this long chapter makes up for it.
I was on holidays and wifi was patchy. On top of that, I didn't have my laptop, so I didn't do much writing apart from a little on my phone. Usually I only write the beginnings of song lyrics and dot points for book reviews on my phone, but I did start a small fanfic after watching the Nutcracker and the Four Realms film. Must've been getting desperate XD
Anyway, the time between now and the next update should be shorter (yay!), and I hope you all have a very merry Christmas filled with love, joy, peace, hope and the true reason for the season.
Don't forget to review - it's really encouraging!
Trix