The Thought Readers (Mind Dimensions #1)(32)

Also, now that I’m not so stressed, knowledge of my newfound skills begins to excite me. I mean, think of the possibilities. It reminds me of middle school, when I first mastered the Quiet. I’d had a ton of fun sneaking into the girl’s locker room unnoticed, reading my first girlfriend’s diary, spying on hot older women . . . Now that I think about it, there was definitely a pattern to my early use of the Quiet.

All those things, however, pale in comparison to what Reading will let me do. It’s almost best that I only learned about it now, when I’m more mature and better able to use this power responsibly.

The choice for my first destination is easy.

Finishing breakfast, I get dressed. I grab a Blu-ray disk that I should’ve returned ages ago and go to the third floor of my building.

I only went out with Jenny a few times. She’s not in any way special among my ex-girlfriends, except for one thing—proximity. She lives in my building, which naturally makes her my first stop. Now what was I saying about being mature enough to handle this responsibly?

Stopping in front of her apartment door, I ring the doorbell.

Jenny opens the door. “Darren?” she says, looking at me. I’m tempted to deny it, to say that I’m not Darren, but figure she’s not in the mood for jokes.

“I found this movie I borrowed from you,” I say instead. “I wanted to give it back.”

“Oh. Okay, I guess. I’m just surprised to see you.” She doesn’t look just surprised, though—she looks angry. Or at least a little unnerved. Figuring there’s no time like the present, I phase into the Quiet.

There had been a slight buzzing in the hallways of my apartment building, something I only realize now because it’s gone. It’s interesting how we ignore constant noises like that. I started becoming more cognizant of just how much we don’t register about our surroundings when I first began phasing into the Quiet. So much happens around us that our conscious mind misses.

I touch Jenny’s forehead. Though I had been conflicted about touching women in the Quiet, I decide that this is different. Or that Reading is worth it. It’s easy to convince myself to let go of certain principles when they get in the way of something I really want.

I try to get into Coherence. It’s even easier this time. As soon as I’m in, I do the lightness bit in order to jump deeper into her thoughts—otherwise all I’ll see is her opening the door for me, which is boring.



*



We’re at a club, making out with a girlfriend in order to get attention from the guys. Though this is not where I, Darren, intended to end up, I’m content to stay for a little while. I try to absorb every moment. We dance and grind with Judy, but it’s all just for fun, a way to get attention. Eventually I, Darren, lose interest and try to go deeper.

We’re getting ready to meet with Darren again. We’re a little sad about our relationship with him. He used to be so hot—until he paid attention to us. At that point, his appeal dropped drastically. Why does that always happen to us?

No, we have to stop being our own worst critic. It could be Darren who’s the problem, not us. When we saw him at that party in the penthouse, he seemed so confident and cocky, exactly what turns us on. But then he didn’t ask us to go to his place that night, coming up with some lame coffee date instead. That’s on him. Unless of course we start worrying about being a slut. We wish one day the inner critic would just shut the f*ck up.

We pick the outfit for this evening very carefully. The new bra and panties should go a long way. I, Darren, think I recognize what day this is, so I jump further, to the part of her life I actually came here to witness.

Darren is standing without his shirt in our bedroom. He’s in great shape. We hope we turn him on. As things progress, we worry a lot less about anything, instead focusing on what we’re feeling as we give in to the purely physical part of ourselves.

When the experience is over, I, Darren, jump out.



*



I’m back in the Quiet. Okay, yeah. I wanted to experience what sex is like for a girl. And what better way to do so than to find out what it would be like to have sex with me? Not to mention, I’m not entirely sure how I’d feel about experiencing sex as a girl with a guy who’s not me. There’s no way I’m sharing this with my therapist. She’d have a field day with it.

Both Coherence and moving about in people’s memories are getting easier for me already. This reminds me of when I first discovered being able to go into the Quiet.

Skills improve with experience. With the first few trips into the Quiet, it took being near death to activate the strange experience. A fall from a bike was only the first. There was also a fall off a roof into a sandbox, and a bunch of other stunts culminating in the time I fell into that manhole. Crazy, right? Who falls into a manhole? According to my moms, their childhood nickname for me was Taz, after the Tasmanian Devil from the cartoons. That’s how much trouble I used to get into. But at least it gave me practice when it came to near-death experiences.

Then it started happening under less dire circumstances, like the time I got into a fight with our school bully, John. I still hate that guy. I momentarily contemplate finding him, Reading his mind, and messing with him. I decide against it for now. I would need to locate the prick, and that’s too much of a bother at the moment.