She remained silent, frozen in her chair. I considered her for a few moments, then stood up, telling her I forgot something back in the shop and starting to walk away.

“Where are you going?” she yelled.

I didn’t answer.

She started running after me, saying she didn’t understand what was going on with me, and that I couldn’t just drop a bomb on her and run away. I entered the shop without looking at her. I was sure she wouldn’t dare make a scene in front of Benny, but before I noticed she ran right past me and into the storage room, locking the door behind her. The radio was turned on to her station. I started pounding on the door, but she wouldn’t open. I peeked through the window. She was standing next to the radio, which broke into blaring static. She covered her ears.

“Turn off the radio,” I yelled at her.

She reached out to the device, but instead of turning it off, she started fiddling with the stations. I felt as if she had stuck her hand inside my head. I shouted at her to stop. To quit it, now. But she carried on. Benny said we both had to get our acts together, but I just kept staring at her while she played with the stations.

She whipped her head up in my direction, but didn’t look at me as much as through me. I felt entirely exposed. I tried listening to my own thoughts, to understand what she was picking up, but it was no use. I put my hands on my head like a shield, but knew it wouldn’t help. I turned around and walked out of the shop. Soon enough, I broke into a run. Benny was yelling at me to come back, but I didn’t care; all I wanted was to get out of her signal range. To get her out of me.

I made it home, took a quick shower, and got into bed. Benny called four times, texted too, but I didn’t answer. I pulled the blanket over my head and tried my hardest to fall asleep.

I woke up late, arriving at the strip mall at 9:41. At the exact moment that I opened the door to the shop, the old man walked out with the radio.

“Wait, it’s not ready,” I said. “I’m not done fixing it.”

“Liar,” he replied, turning his back to me. I tried snatching the thing, explaining that the part from Germany hadn’t arrived yet, but he wouldn’t listen.

“Enough!” Benny yelled. I held onto the radio for another moment, before finally letting go. The old man let out a peeved sigh and shuffled off, eventually disappearing into the parking lot. Benny barked at me that I was crazy, that I couldn’t treat a customer like that. I apologized, said I didn’t know what had gotten into me.