I still remember every detail about the day we met. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I had been wearing a t-shirt and a pair of my favorite comfortable jean shorts. I used to walk through this gorgeous hidden forest every day on my way home from school. The forest was called the Evergreen Village, and it was only walked through by the few who happened to stumble upon it. The ground had a wide winding natural trail and tons of light was let in from above, making it anything but frightening. Birds chirped happily, bunnies scurried across the ground, and the occasional deer paused to take a drink from the pristine river nearby. I remember the Evergreen being an abode that I felt peaceful and safe. Now I can’t pass the place without getting goose bumps and shivers down my spine.

Now look, I’ve gone and rambled. As I was saying, it was a sunny day. There was no wind and no clouds in the sky. I was sitting on my favorite bench in the Evergreen taking in the sunlight and reading a new book I had just picked up from the bookstore. It was about neurology; I was always fascinated by the subject. I was barely aware of the outside world until darkness surrounded me. Grey clouds had engulfed the sky, and one single drop of rain landed on my head. I reached into my bag and pulled out the emergency zip up jacket. I started to gather my things and head out, when I noticed a woman in her early twenty’s walking toward me. The first thing I noticed about her was that she was beautiful. Her long dark hair curled at the bottoms and draped across her body ending at her waist. She had deep blue eyes and tanned skin. I smiled at her politely and began my journey back home.
“Jenna,” she spoke in a soft whisper that was somehow audible to me even though I was a good 20 feet away from her. I didn’t understand how this was possible because I usually couldn’t hear people 20 inches away from me. From the moment I was born I had been deaf in my right ear. I turned around slowly and saw the women staring back at me with a small smile.

“Hi- um, do I know you?” I said tentatively. I hated talking to strangers, I always had. My parents never had to tell me twice not to.

“You might. I went to your high school a few years ago, I was in your Spanish class when you were a sophomore?”
Immediately I was brought back to our Spanish class that year. I remembered her sitting in the back of the classroom not talking to anyone. I had always been astonished that it seemed she didn’t have many friends. For some reason I assumed that with looks like hers, people would just flock to you.

“Oh, yeah um, Clara right? Yeah how have you been?” I uttered, poorly attempting small talk.

“Yes. I’ve been just fine. Jenna, I want to help you. I’ll never forget how those kids used to make fun of you for not understanding what the teacher would say and I think it’s about time you understand.”
Before I could say one word she put her hands on my ears and squeezed her eyes shut. The rain and wind started to pick up and I heard loud rumbles in the distance. One single tear slid down Clara’s cheek as if it was paining her to do whatever the heck she was doing to me.

“Call me if you need anything, okay?” Clara exclaimed, acting like a totally different women than she was just a minute ago. She was suddenly peppy and happy. She handed me her number on a little slip of paper.

I could barely believe what just happened to me. I mean I didn’t know what just happened to me honestly. I wanted answers, but Clara was far off before I could even open my mouth. I ran home, thinking I could find answers on the internet somehow, (looking back I see how dumb this was, I mean what would I even search, “What does it mean when someone puts their hands on your ears and cries?”) but I quickly found my answer as I walked into my house.

“Hey pumpkin how was the Evergreen?” My mom asked so simply. However this question brought me to tears. I could hear out of my right and left ear. Every sound was so crisp and inviting I couldn’t help but let salty tears roll down my cheeks. My mom looked at me with confusion written all over her face. She embraced me and rubbed my back apologetically.
“Did she fail a class again? Oh man, she’s not going to like this but I think it’s time we tell her teachers to show her a little more attention.”
“Mom? I didn’t fail a class, I’m just really happy cause I had a great day at the Evergreen. The weather was real nice and the deer were out.” I said pointedly.
“What? How’d you know I thought you’d fail a class?” My mom asked fearfully. She pulled out of our hug and looked at me worriedly.
“Oh I—I don’t know I just you know I, I don’t do well in school so I figured you would think that,” I stated quickly, “I’ll just be in my room okay?”
What was going on? Not only could I hear now, I could … read minds? Reading minds is the kind of thing you read about in fantasy novels; Then again Clara is the kind person you’d read about in a fantasy novel. I plopped down on my bean bag chair and watched as people walked outside on the street. I thought about my situation long and hard. Sure it would be cool to be able to read my crush’s mind in school and know the answers to the question teachers ask me when they think I’m zoning out, but I’ve watched movies, TV shows, and read books. I know what happens when characters get the ability to read minds. They hear things they don’t want to and it gets overwhelming. Gosh I mean who would really want to hear their parent’s thoughts anyway! Definitely not me.

So what was I to do? I recalled that Clara had given me her phone number, but just as I went to dial her I thought things through once more. Maybe my ability to mind read won’t be like the movies, I thought. Maybe I can learn how to control it. So I, foolishly might I add, decided to not call Clara right away.

I went to sleep that night happy and nervous at the same time. I felt that if I fell asleep, I’d wake up the next day and realize everything was some weird day dream or something. Finally though, I managed to fall asleep. I had no dreams that night; I simply awoke the next day feeling more refreshed and excited for school than I ever had in my entire school career. I dressed especially nice, a black maxi skirt with my favorite plain white top. I draped a necklace around my neck that had been given to me by my best friend, so I would feel her with me throughout the day, since she lived in a different state and wouldn’t be able to support me in school. I curled my hair, put on makeup, grabbed a breakfast bar and skipped out the door, kissing my mother on the cheek goodbye. The bus ride was surprisingly quite uneventful. It seemed teenagers don’t have many thoughts in the morning.
I walked into the school and a million thoughts hit me straight in the face.
Ugh I don’t want to go to math class.
I’m going to fail my test next period I just know it.
I reallllly don’t want to break up with my girlfriend today.
I can’t wait to tell my boyfriend I love him today.
Why is that girl staring at me?
I turned my vision toward the ground to avoid eye contact with anyone else. Thoughts kept flowing into my head, and I immediately regretted not calling Clara. I wanted to go home already and school hadn’t even started. Every one of the gloomy teens was extremely pessimistic and irritating. Once I made it to class, it was more of the same but this time with of my classmates struggling to solve our Pre- Calculus problems. I was starting to develop a headache by fifth period and did not think I could make it through the day. Happily though, I thought about seeing my crush in ninth period.
I walked into my ninth period class and saw him sitting in his usual spot. He looked up at me with his piercing blue eyes.
Why is she always looking at me like that? It’s so annoying. Doesn’t she get the hint that I don’t like her at all?

My heart dropped into my stomach. I couldn’t concentrate the rest of the class. The teacher called on me a few times and I only knew the answers thanks to the people around me shouting it in their heads. All of a sudden I started hearing a million terrible thoughts aimed toward me. It was almost like there was a switch in the room that made my classmates think about me instead of themselves. I could barely stand it and asked to go to the nurse. I walked as fast as possible down to the nurse’s office and asked if I could lie down in a cot. The nurse led me to and open cot where a boy was resting next to it.

Wow this girl is definitely faking. She probably was having trouble hearing again and excused herself.

“I’m half deaf okay!?” I exclaimed. I wouldn’t let one more bad comment sneak away and not be reckoned with.

“What? You are..?” The boy asked. I had never told anyone that before. I didn’t want people to treat me differently because of it. That’s why I had always just let them poke fun at me because for some reason I felt it was easier than telling the truth.

“Yes, now if I could just lie down here without interruption please,” I whispered. I almost felt bad for saying that but at this point I was far past fed up.

“Yeah… I’m sorry. My name’s Todd.” He replied, a much sweeter tone in his voice than had been in his head. I didn’t bother to reply. I just waited for the last bell to ring so I could go home and end this nightmare.

I decided to walk home in order to go into the Evergreen. Once I arrived I pulled out my phone and dialed the number Clara gave me. She appeared before my eyes in a matter of seconds.

“Clara… I—I appreciate what you tried to do for me I really do. However I just can’t live like this. I don’t want to be able to read minds and I want you to undo it—whatever you did. Even if that means losing my hearing again.”

“You don’t like what I did?” Clara asked. Her tone was almost vicious; she seemed angry and scarier than ever.

“No. I’m really sorry Clara it’s just that well, I can’t handle it. I’ll go absolutely insane if I have to be like this one more day!” I cried through tears. My voice started breaking as I said, “Clara I’m begging you.”

I’ll never forget the way Clara looked at me at that moment. Her eyes turned so deep blue that they were nearly black and a dark smile grew across her face as she placed her hands around my head.

“You asked for it.”
The sky grew dark once again, and when Clara was done it stayed that way. She left and I thought I was cured. I ran home and hugged my mom when I walked in.

“Hey pumpkin!” She said in a quiet voice. I saw her smiling and she continued talking about her day at work. Everything she was saying was muffled.

My hearing was worse than ever before.