I opened my eyes, shame to wake up. I looked at my alarm clock—not that I didn’t know. 6:52:41, exactly as I knew it would be, I never had to second guess myself—at least not in this department. I walked to the bathroom; the imminent shock of the cold water was well needed and well anticipated. This was not a normal occurrence, I was only about to find out that the heater had broken over night.


After the icy shower, I started my morning routine. I got out the gigantic bottle of cover-up that no one knows I have and started rubbing away at the dark (no, black is the better word) circles under my eyes. As soon as I was socially acceptable, I pulled my hair back into a bun. Throwing on the first thing in my closet, I ran downstairs so that I could miss all of my younger siblings and their morning commute through the house. I grabbed an apple and my backpack and smiled cynically at the fact that the “normals” were still sleeping.


Two hours later at school, I was sitting in the parking lot, same spot every day for an hour and a half. I smiled my best faux smile when I saw Emiline walking toward me. “It was that bad of a night, huh?” She smiled. “I feel so guilty, in kind of a good-slash-weird way.” I smiled. “What was it about?” She asks, as we walk to our first class. “I’ll talk to you in therapy.” I joked. “I look forward to it, by the way, how’s my chance of acing my history final next week?” She asked hopefully. “Okay, A) You know I don’t do that. B) I didn’t see anything. And C) Your chances greatly improve when you study.” I laughed.


By lunch, my secret was eating away at me. “Ok Em, I saw my future.” “WOW, I can hardly believe it.” I rolled my eyes at her. “Shut up, I meant it in the person sense.” Her jaw dropped, “Who?” I looked at her with eyes that only a best friend could. “He’s a telekinetic.” A real smile spread across my face for the first time in years. Emiline’s face on the other hand, went blank, “A tele-what?” “A mind mover, someone who can move inanimate object with thoughts.” “All of those extra hours of living are getting annoying, so who is it?” I looked around the room, “I have absolutely no idea, but I’ll know him when I see him.”


Five hundred people on the planet have my illness. Five hundred people spend their nights seeing the happenings of the following day. Five hundred people are psychics. I have never studied telekinetics closely, but believing in things beyond the natural is a lot easier when you are a medium yourself. The only problem I had with this new vision was that I had no idea who my new soul mate was. Correction—I knew what he looked like, that was it.


“Come on Chloe, snap out of it!” I heard the actual snapping in front of my face but I was so far off that both Em and I knew it was a lost cause. I tried to come a little further back to the present as Em linked my arm to hers to lead me through the school. I could see a cloudy vision of the outside world when we passed the juniors’ tables. I stopped in my tracks. “That’s him!” I said, maybe a little too loudly, still trying to jump out of my trance unsuccessfully. “Who?” Em tried to quiet me down, though she was shaking me viciously. As my vision cleared up, I added, “The one on the right there, who is he?” Comprehension filled Em’s steel blue eyes, “That’s Haylen Johnson; he transferred here about a week ago.” My sight was clear now and I knew that this Haylen was my telekinetic soul mate. I started to walk towards him, planning what I would say.


“Chloe, you can’t just go up to him, don’t you remember what happened last time you changed the future!” I felt my left forearm that was still healing from the fall that I had a year and a half ago. “I haven’t seen this before.” I told her calmly. “What? How is that even possible?” I just shook my head. When I reached the table of seventeen-year-old boys, I cut into their conversation immediately. “Hi, I’m Chloe Grey, can I barrow Haylen for a moment?” The boy looked at me like I had grown a third eye, so I added, “It’s rather urgent.” Haylen looked at his friends and got up, following me out into the courtyard.


I know the facts and I’ve the rumors. Among the many well known trivia: only females can be psychics, only men can be telekinetic, both can be telepathic, and empaths are generally emo, technopaths are all geeks, none of it matters when your chances of meeting another medium are 1:50,000,000. I know that all mediums have power-specific limits. My limit, for instance, is the fact that I cannot see other mediums. This useless information, again, I learned from my close encounter with a fear-inducer (I can’t pronounce the technical name for them, but believe me, they can cause serious emotional damage). I can use my powers around other mediums, but not on them, so I will never be able to see the direct future of Haylen, only my future and a blurry picture of his figure. But, the sense of another medium is unmistakable.


By this time, we were far enough away from human earshot. “I’m going to get straight to the point, and don’t bother running, I will know where you run off to. Just how long have you been telekinetic?” As far as meeting mediums goes, I have dismal experience, but when one says ‘don’t run’, I believe that most smart people would actually find it intelligent not to run. Haylen ran, quickly I might add. So I broke my own personal rule of purposely inducing visions and ran to the male bathroom door, then seeing that no one but he was inside, I went in. “Come on, I wouldn’t have approached you if I didn’t know what you were going through, I’m a psychic.”


That was the first time I had ever said those three words and I hoped that it would be the last. “What the hell?” I heard the voice from the stall at the end of the row. “Come out, let me talk to you.” I coaxed. Then I saw it. “We need to hide, now!” The door to his stall opened and large hands pulled me inside. “Shh!” I whispered. The door to the bathroom slammed open, “Hay, you in here?” I turned to the teenaged medium and gave him a death stare; that stopped him in his tracks. I stared into the future for a moment, once more breaking my sacred rule. “It’s safe now.” I said solemnly.


“What am I supposed to say?” He asked. “I don’t really know, I just wanted to meet you, and maybe ask how you are doing. I have tried to commit suicide five times; I want to save you from that.” Haylen’s eyes popped out of their sockets. “How are you still alive, you must be a terrible murderess?” He chuckled. I grew somber, “When you can see your family and friends crying at your funeral, plans change.” “Oh, I know what that feels like. I’ve had to keep my secret for so long, it seems like ending my life would be more beneficial to the world. I have to get up three hours early so that I can put things back to where they were before I moved them in my sleep.” I couldn’t help myself; I knew what was going to happen, so I wasn’t scared. I leaned in and gave Haylen a hug.


We stood there, embracing, for about twenty minutes, “Keep the door to the bathroom closed.” I whispered. “What?” He asked. “Just do it, and when I start acing strange, play along please.” I knew I was bossing him around, but he didn’t seem to mind. I left the stall we were in and went into the one closest to the door. On the way, I saw Haylen’s face tighten and I heard someone on the other side of the door pushing their way in, “Who’s in there? Whoever it is, you are in for a detention!” The voice was my English teacher, Mr. Warchevsky. “Let it go, Haylen.” I whispered. I had to stop from laughing when I heard Mr. Warchevsky fall into the bathroom. I mustered up the worst sound I could imagine. “What is going on in here? Why aren’t you in class? And what is Chloe doing in here?” I made another retching sound. Haylen caught on quickly, “We were talking and she got sick, I don’t think that she even noticed that she was in the Men’s Room. I tried to get the nurse but she wouldn’t let me leave.” I threw in an extremely weak ‘uhn hmn’ for his benefit.


When school ended, Haylen asked if he could walk me home, waving off Emiline, I accepted. On the walk home, we got so many stares, I lost count, but most of my brain was processing the fact that I didn’t know what was going to happen next. Ever since I was almost six years old, I would wake up thinking that my days could not get anymore boring, but now that I could live through at least a small part of my life once and only once. It was relief, as if I had not missed over half a lifetime of sleep. It was like opening my eyes to a world with more color, a more vibrant world; I felt like the cool, crisp April Michigan air had gotten more—more noticeable. I felt more alive—that is a rare emotion when you are a medium, a being that is always more alive than dead.


If my senses weren’t blown by my euphoria, I would say that Haylen was happy too. I have never felt safe—I know it sounds odd coming from a psychic, but it’s true. But walking next to Haylen, I felt relaxed and safe and it was as if nothing else mattered. And, to be honest, Haylen looked even better than I felt. He looked at me like I was some sort of Godsend, but he had no idea what he was doing for me just by existing. I’m no empath, far from it actually, but Haylen was radiation this energy that was making me feel almost blissful.


“So, what do you like to do for fun?” He asked when we were about half way to my house, passing through the center of our small town. “I don’t. I’ve never had the time. When you sleep less than three hours a night on average, strenuous activity is out for the most part. What do you do?” He stopped and turned to me, “You’re the psychic, you tell me.” I stopped too, “Actually, I can’t see other mediums, that’s the limit to my powers.” “What is mine?” “You cannot move animate objects—or objects with a soul.”
He looked deep into my eyes, but they had fallen into the future, “What do you see?” He asked, I could hear his concern but I couldn’t see him anymore. I was in my future, and for the first time in a ling time, it was good. When I opened my eyes three minutes later, I was smiling a real smile. “I like this vision.” I stated. “Does it have anything to do with the kiss I’m about to give you?” He smiled. “Maybe…” He leaned in and when our lips touched, I could feel the extra power surging through my body; it was like good was washing through me. When we finally stopped kissing, we started walking again. When I could see my house, he leaned over and whispered in my ear, “You have the most beautiful, psychic, turquoise eyes.”