I Hope He's Thinking About Something Else

12:25pm Wednesday 16th April 2008

It is a sunny day in March and I am walking my pet dog, Danni, down a short woodland path. I am idly walking behind her, when the lead suddenly pulls and she jumps into some bushes. "Bad dog!" I hiss, as I pull her out.

I tangle my hands into her shaggy fur, inspecting her for little bits of bramble and branches. My fingers hook into a strange foreign object. I scoop it up, feeling it dangle over my cupped hand. Looking at it now, I can see it is a leather plaited bracelet. A small purple stone glints in its silver setting. "It's beautiful" I exclaim. I hold it in front of Danni's nose. She glances at it uneasily and gives a long low whine. "Suit yourself!" I say, quickly tying the bracelet around my wrist.

As I finish tying it, a white hot pain sears through my skull . "Aggh!" I scream, clutching at my head. The agonising pain stops as quickly as it starts. I slowly stand up, still shaking. 'What was that?' I think out loud.

'What's she shouting at?' thinks a man on a park bench.

"Mind your own business!" I shout, before I realise that I didn't see his lips moving. He looks at me in astonishment. I feel a freak. I grab hold of Danni's lead and bolt down the road, running as fast as I can to my house.

When I get home, my mother has already started cooking dinner for me. Steak. With gravy. "Mmm!" I say. "I love steak, thanks mum!" My mum looks shocked.

"How did you know that? I've only just put it on!" she tells me. Oh no. Not again.

"Umm.must be my brilliant sense of smell!" I reply, giving a nervous chuckle. Mum seems satisfied with this, so I run upstairs.

In my room, I realise something. I can hear thoughts. I can HEAR thoughts. Wow. I can't wait to try it at school the next day.

Next morning is pretty uneventful. My family thinks pretty boring things. I catch dad thinking about this girl at work, Sharon, once or twice. "You're a married man!" I tell him. He doesn't say anything but he looks ashamed. Or confused. You can never tell with my dad, he's a very unemotional bloke.

On my way to school, I think about how awesome it'll be to be able to read thoughts. Firstly, I'll be able to find out the answers to all the tests. Secondly, I'll know what everyone thinks of me. Thirdly (and most importantly) I'll be able to tell if Scott Bruin likes me.

When I get to the gates, my mind is assualted by hundreds of thoughts, all clamouring to be heard.

The first thing I use the bracelet for is PE. We're not allowed jewelry, so I put it on my ankle, under my sock. It seems to work just fine. Today we're playing football and I'll finally get a chance to beat Rachel Wilson, who is the best in school at sports. I play goal, she plays attack. Brilliant.

It takes a while to get used to tuning out other peoples thoughts and focusing on just Rachel. But soon I have it perfected. She thinks about shooting to the left, I dodge left. She goes right, I go right. Every manoeuvre she thinks of, I can hear.

After a while, her thoughts start to change. She stops thinking about football. She is thinking about how the only thing she is good at is PE. She is thinking about how I am beating her at the only thing she knows how to do. She is thinking about how much of a failure she is. It is enough to make me want to cry. At half time I say to Sophie Owen "Here, you can be in goal," because I just can't bear it.

At break, I walk down the corridor and find Scott. "Hey Scott!" I chirp.

"Hey Millie!" he replies cheerily.

'Not again!' he thinks. Must be thinking about something else.

"So, um, I was thinking," I stutter "Wanna, um, go to a movie on Saturday?"

'Crud, what do I say?' he thinks. I hope he's thinking about something else.

"Sure, but...um.let's keep it casual, okay? Why don't you bring Veronica?" There is sweat on his brow.

'Phew, at least Veronica's coming. She's cute, maybe I'll ask her out when Millie's not looking,' he thinks. Okay. He's not thinking about something else.

"You know what? I've just remembered I'm busy on Saturday. Why don't you just ask Veronica on her own?" I reply through clenched teeth. I turn and walk away, leaving a very confused Scott Bruin in my wake.

After school, I go into town. There, I can hear things nobody should be able to hear. I can hear the man on the side of the street think about how he is going to ask that girl in his office to dinner tomorrow. I can hear the little boy wandering by me thinking about his pet goldfish that died. I can hear happy thoughts, sad thoughts, angry thoughts. There are thoughts that are enough to make you well up with tears and thoughts that make you want to smile until your face aches.

And they are all equally harrowing.

I start walking quickly, then jogging, then running. I have to get home before mum and dad. I have to get rid of this bracelet.

When I get home, no one is in except Danni. 'Perfect,' I think, checking to see if anyone's coming. I put a log on the fire, grab a box of matches and light some kindling, tossing it onto the wood. Slowly, slowly, it begins to burn, until the entire log is ablaze. I quickly untie the bracelet and throw it into the flames, watching them slowly engulf the thin band of leather.

The bracelet will never be used again. And that's just how it should be.

Charlotte
Age 13

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