#4The talk
1677 Words
"Are you sure?" My father asks for the umpteenth time. I roll my eyes.
"Yes Dad, I'm sure. I'm not making something like this up!" I respond irritated.
I am sitting in my father's office with my parents. No one can overhear us here.
I see my father's eyes go blurry. He's talking with his wolf.
Luckily, I can't hear that. I look at my mother questioningly, but she shrugs her shoulders. She takes my hand. "It's going to be okay, baby. I'll help you." She says with a smile and gently squeezes my hand. "Thank you mom." I answer.
When my father is with us again, he looks at me inquisitively.
But what if... No, it's too dangerous. I hear him thinking.
"What's dangerous, Dad?" He looks at me in shock for a moment. But that look quickly changes into disapproval, and then he looks at my mother.
"We have to do something about this quickly. Before this gets out of control." He says to her. My mother doesn't say anything and just nods. “And you, young lady, try not to listen to other people's thoughts too much before you get into trouble.” He says sternly.
I look guilty at the ground.
"Don't be too hard on her Jason. It takes time to teach her how to use her powers. You know what I was like when I first got them." She says to my father.
“Maddy, how long have you known this?” My mother asks as she gently pushes my chin up, so I have to look at her.
I don't really want to answer, because I know she will be disappointed that I didn't say something sooner. But I know there's no point in lying about it because she will know. "Since this morning." I whisper softly. "Sorry, what?" She asks in disbelief. I know she heard me but I still repeat myself. I try to avoid her gaze but she forces me to look at her.
"Why didn't you say anything? I could have helped you sooner." My mother says disappointed.
I hear her thinking that she feels she has failed because I didn't feel safe enough to share this with her before.
"Mom, it's not you. I just couldn't find the right time." I try to explain.
She looks at me uncertainly. In the end, she seems to believe me.
"Okay, so how did you do today? I imagine everyone's thoughts have been quite overwhelming. Is that why you wanted to be alone for a while?" She asks.
"Yes... and no. Maddow helped me today." I answer, but she still looks at me questioningly. "She helped by sometimes blocking most of the thoughts. And she told me to focus on one person. And that helped." I tell her.
My mother raises her eyebrows. “Can she do that already?” She asks, and I hear her thinking that Maddow is stronger than they expected.
"Why is Maddow stronger than you thought?" I ask curiously. My father looks at me disapproving.
"Sorry! I can't help it!" I say quickly.
"We'll start working on it tomorrow. But the fact that Maddow can already control your power like this shows that she is a very powerful wolf. You've only had her for a day. That says a lot." She answers calmly and I nod.
“What was the other reason you wanted to be alone tonight?” My mother asks curiously.
"Um..." I say, not actually telling them that I wanted to avoid Harry. Since it's the son of mom's best friend. But then his name pops into her mind, wondering if he finally dared to say it.
“You knew he liked me?!” I ask in disbelief and a little angry.
“Stop listening to your mother's thoughts!” My father scolds me.
"I'm sorry honey, but yes I had my suspicions." She confesses.
“Why didn't you ever say anything?” I ask. "Because it was his to tell. And besides, he never told me. It's something I felt by accident." She says.
I cross my arms angrily and stare at the ground. "But, did he? Did he tell you?" She asks.
“No…Maddow was having trouble blocking everyone out, so I tried to focus on one person's thoughts. I thought I was safe with Harry's when I heard him thinking he had hoped I was his mate. " I reluctantly confess.
My mother looks at me with sympathy. "Did you tell him you know?" She asks and I shake my head. "Do I have to? I don't want to lose my best friend." I say. "I know, but telling him doesn't mean losing him. He's your best friend, he'll understand." She says with a small smile. I hope she's right. "Now let's go to bed. Tomorrow, after the meeting with Alpha Jeffrey, we will start your training." My mother says and she gets up.
My father and I do the same and leave the room together. I give them both a hug and then go to bed. I hope my mother can soon teach me how to control my power. It would be great to get the hang of it when school starts again in a few weeks.
Before I go to sleep, I try to read something as usual. But this time, I'm having trouble keeping my mind on it. My thoughts keep wandering to Harry.
I'm trying to figure out how to tell him that I know he has feelings for me, but it's not mutual. And once I've told him that, I also have to tell him that I have powers and can hear his thoughts. Sighing, I put my book away and stare at the ceiling. Every scenario I play in my head ends with a hurt Harry who doesn't want anything to do with me anymore. I know my mom said he will understand because he is my best friend. But what if that's not the case? That he's afraid to hang out with me?
After replaying yet another doomsday scenario in my head, I give up and go to sleep. Hopefully, I'll see things differently tomorrow after I've slept on it. In any case, I decide not to talk to him until I have practiced with my mother.
I hope that meeting with Alpha Jeffrey doesn't take too long. The sooner that's over, the sooner I can practice with Mom, and the sooner I can hopefully have my powers under control.
Unfortunately, fear has taken over my sleep and several nightmares plague me. Nightmares where not only Harry doesn't want anything to do with me anymore, but neither do my other friends. I wake up crying in the middle of the night.
"It was just a nightmare Maddy." Maddow tries to reassure me.
When I have calmed down a bit, I walk downstairs to get something to drink. Before I can continue to sleep, I must get rid of this bad feeling. When I get downstairs, I still have a knot in my stomach. I make a cup of tea and sit on a bar stool. I'm still lost in thought when I feel a hand on my shoulders. It scares me so much that I almost drop the tea from my hands.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." A familiar voice says. Immediately afterwards, I hear his worried thoughts. It's Harry. s**t! He's the last person I want to see right now.
"Ha... Harry. What are you doing here at this time?" I stammer.
I don't dare look at him. Luckily Maddow tries to stop his thoughts so it doesn't make it even more uncomfortable for me. I thank her for that.
"I can ask you that too." He says and I hear the smile in his voice.
"But I couldn't sleep..." He says as he sits next to me. He gently takes my hand. That's when I decide to tell him, and I withdraw my hand.
"There's something I need to tell you." We say at the same time. “Oh, you first.” We say together. I smile sheepishly. I gesture that he should go first. I probably know what he's going to say anyway, so maybe that gives me a good bridge to say what I want to say.
I see him searching for the right words and I wait patiently. For a moment, it seems that he is having second thoughts. Just before I want to start talking, he opens his mouth.
" Maddy, I don't know when this happened... but... I think I like you?" He says, more like a question.
"I know." I say softly.
"You know?" He asks in surprise. I grab his hand. "Harry... I hope this doesn't change our friendship, because you're my best friend. But that's how I see us. As best friends." I say, holding my breath as I look at him expectantly. He remains silent for a moment but then looks at me with a small smile. "Of course that doesn't change our friendship." He finally says. I breathe a sigh of relief. "What did you want to say?" He asks.
"Um..." I start, now I'm the one looking for the right words. “How did you know it anyway?” He asks curiously.
I decide there is no easier way to tell this. I have to trust that he is my best friend and will support me through this.
"Well... You know my mother has powers, and there was a possibility that I could do something too, right?" I say carefully to give him an idea of which direction I'm going.
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with me?" He asks. "Well... So it is true that I do indeed have a power..." I start and he looks at me with a broad smile. "Cool! What can you do? Is it the same as your mother? Or something even better?" He asks enthusiastically.
"I...I... I can hear thoughts..." I answer, stammering.
- Writer
