Short Story / Telepath
“So what’s it like?”
“What’s what like?”
“Being a telepath.”
“Oh. It’s tiring. Requires a lot of concentration, restraint.”
“How so?”
“I can read latent thoughts. All I have to do is look at someone and I can read their conscious mind. If I look into their eyes, I can go deeper, into memories, the subconscious…”
“That doesn’t sound like restraint…”
“To you, perhaps. But when you know everyone’s emotions, thoughts and opinions, it’s hard not to imprint a thought or idea to put them on the right path.”
“What do you mean?”
“Take that lady- she’s worrying about money. I could imprint a mindset of greater fiscal responsibility to change her ways. That man is worried about his job. I could give him the drive to acquire new skills so he could advance. And that little girl is afraid of the monster under her bed. I could introduce a principle of no fear that would change her life forever.”
“Then why don’t you?”
“I can’t decide who to enlighten and who not to…it would destroy me. I couldn’t rationalize that kind of power…like playing God.”
“To some you might be a God.”
“Ego restraint is one of the first things they teach us at the Academy.”
“Telepath school?”
“Basically. There are only 100 true telepaths in the world, and only 10 share my level of cognition. We’re taught restraint of mind, ego, emotion, attachment.”
“So that’s why you never have a girlfriend.”
“It’d be too hard. I can’t hold back 24/7. And the level of closeness couldn’t be shared.”
“So how do you manage friends?”
“Honestly, I have to detach myself.”
“How do you manage that?”
“I’ll ask you. When you have a conversation with a friend, you remove personal opinions, ideas, motives, and focus on them, right?”
“…Sometimes”
“Now, what do you mean?”
“Sometimes it is personal experience that helps you relate to the friend.”
“But don’t you find that your emotions interfere?”
“Again, sometimes.”
“Then you admit you are clouded by yourself. I can’t let that happen. A stray thought, even the smallest drop of an idea will cloud their thoughts. And my position as a friend would only magnify the influence. I could easily manipulate someone’s life…make them fall in love…”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“It wouldn’t be real.”
“Sounds real enough to me.”
“It would be a farce. A created world they would be prisoner to.”
“But they’d be happy…you’d be happy.”
“…I doubt it.”
“Why? If something was going awry in the relationship, you could correct it. You would always know how to please her, how to surprise her…you’d be in control.”
“Power doesn’t necessarily equate to happiness.”
“For me it does. If I was in complete control of a person or situation, I would feel quite content with my position.”
“…Then maybe I am a God…”
“Funny. Maybe you should try it sometime…you could always erase the experience from their memories, right?”
“Maybe I’ve already done it.”
“What?…oh, never mind. So what’s it like?”
“What’s what like?
“Being a telepath.”
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I love the twist at the end, it’s like the cherry on top! Even without it this would still be excellent. I commend you on a stupendous job, you don’t need to describe the characters, in fact it would be terrible if you did. I loved how the telepath had that all-knowing air about him, and I could tell that just by reading. You make them seem real and I wonder if maybe I’ve ever met a telepath…
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I really liked how you just simply put it as “Just a guy and his telepathic friend having a chat…” that actually made me laugh at how casual you made it sound. The whole conversation I really liked though during a few parts I was either not interested or just got lost but no worries I fell back into it easily. Also I loved the ending it fit so perfectly and summed it all up while surprising me as well. great great write.
~~Retniapdoolb
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July 15, 2006
Deleted User
not bad at all. The dialog is very real, even though the topic is a bit abstract. I think a little more descriptive language and paragraphs between the characters lines would make it a little bit easier to read. But good work.
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