“You’re psychic,” I breathed, before I could think it through. I knew, in my bones, that I was right, and then Ralphy’s face fell. Their mouth grew tight, their chin wobbling, and then they bolted. Sneakers screeching on the floor, their chair clattering to its side as they ran off faster than I would have ever expected, almost as if they were the one in the group with super speed. And all I could do was sit there and watch them go, as my stomach dropped with the horror of what I’d just done. I wanted to run after them—apologize for opening my stupid mouth—but Dr. Loving ended group early, going to clean up my mess. I knew that if I went with her, I would just somehow end up making it worse.

Tonight we “kick up the sleep trials” as Owen put it. He tried to make it sound fun, like I’m leveling up or something, but my stomach is in knots. I don’t want to violate anyone’s privacy, don’t want to get trapped in a nightmare, don’t want to see something or hear something I shouldn’t. I’ve just gotten my own dreaming under control, can recognize all the edges of it and know what it feels like to stick a toe outside those bounds. It’s boring, sitting in that black space, but it’s safe. What happens when I step through?

community/TheUnusuals post by n/thatsahumanperson

It happened again. There was that fog around my dad’s thoughts and this time, I tried to go deeper, tried to actively read his mind to see if I could figure out what the fog was or where it was coming from. I got nowhere. Every time I found a thought of his, I would try to follow it down, see where it connected to other ones, but it would disappear into the fog before I could get a really good grip. That alone was freaking me out, but it was nothing compared to what happened next.

My dad doesn’t remember where my sister is. He was just sitting in the living room today, reading the same book that he couldn’t find the other day, and when I walked past he looked up and asked, “Where’s your sister? I’m going to the grocery store later and want to see if she’d be up for cooking that salmon that she makes.”