Voice of the Mind Ch. 13

She wore small, thin glasses which gave her the impression of a little bookworm, but with her haircolor and her purple t-shirt she somewhat gained a punk-style appearance. It was an interesting combination which looked good on her.

The number of attending students wasn't high; apparently more people had followed Richard's example and ditched the class before it had started. There were plenty of empty seats throughout the room, but most of the students were seated up front. Vincent and Larissa were the only ones sitting in the back, aside from another two girls at the other end of the room. They didn't have anyone sitting in front of them either, so the only ones they could talk to were each other. And now that they'd broken the ice, she moved a seat over so she sat next to him.

"My friends have all ditched class without telling me," she confessed. "And to top it off, some blond bimbo had taken my spot in order to try to hook up with Brian – who's gay."

"She'll have her work cut out for her," he grinned. "My friend has ditched class as well. The frustrating part is that even while ditching class, he'll probably end up with a higher mark than me. Life's unfair."

"Yeah, for some more than others. That is, unless you're also gay."

"Who, me? No, not that I know about. I'm enjoying dating my girlfriend too much to become gay."

"Damn, just my luck." She pouted exaggeratedly. "Do I find a hunk that isn't gay, he turns out to be taken. Ah well."

She didn't look around to see if she was spotted, but she slipped under the tables. The tables were closed at the other end, so one wouldn't be able to stretch their legs and hit the back of someone in the row in front of them. Under that cover she was invisible to anyone not sitting in the back row.

"What are you doing?" he whispered, but he found out pretty quickly.

He felt a hand on his crotch and suddenly two hands were busy unzipping his fly. Before he could react, she had pulled his member out of its protective wear and exposed it to the warm environment of her mouth. His eyes grew wide and he struggled – pathetically – to get out of this incredibly welcome predicament. He gave up almost before he started. He realized he couldn't do much or he'd attract the attention of the rest of the class – not something he was looking forward to when someone was having his dick in her mouth.

Her tongue was darting over his inerect dick, alternated by her sucking on it. Her efforts gave his member a growth spurt and he was at full force within moments.

How did I get myself in this situation? he wondered.One moment you're almost dozing away in a boring lecture, the next moment you're being sucked off by a pretty attractive girl in that same class.

She didn't waste any time, it seemed; she was doing such a good job that he was close to cumming. He reached under his desk and found her head – still with her glasses on – and that encouraged her to bring her play into the final. He ejaculated and he felt her swallow.

It took her a few moments to collect herself and then she emerged from under the desk again before she took her seat.

"Well, that made this lecture a lot more interesting," she beamed. "Looks like you enjoyed that part as well."

"Yeah ... you can say that again. But why?"

She shrugged. "Felt like a good idea. And I'm not regretting a single moment."

The bell rang and people were rushing out of the classroom. Larissa stood up, used a thumb to collect the remaining parts still on her face and said: "You should zip up before you leave."

Then she left, laughing out loud, leaving Vincent in a state of complete confusion.

Chapter 13.4 – Wide open field

It had been delayed for a few days, but the gang had finally come together to celebrate Vincent getting out of the hospital. They had planned to do it earlier, but first Vincent himself had said he needed the rest, then others had claimed they couldn't make it. The delays had piled up and before they knew it had been a week before they finally managed to get everyone together.

Vincent hadn't minded. He'd rather have the gang together a week later than missing two people when they met up. It just wasn't the same when someone couldn't come. Now Vincent was watching Elroy, Eliza, Frank, Daniel, Hanako and Jenny being in the same room as he was. And he felt happy, being with them.

"So, when will you come to class again?" Richard inquired. "Things have become too silent when you're not there. We need our master class disruptor to bring back the fun in class!"

"I doubt I'm the one with that title, but I can assure you that I'll be there tomorrow again. I've been taking it easy in order not to overdo it, but to be honest I have been itching for days to go out again. I'm not in such a bad condition that I can't just attend a class. They just didn't let me. Which reminds me, yesterday I've been to class, but guess who ditched that class?"

The others laughed. It was how it was supposed to be, fun and laughter. The beer came out of the fridge, the snacks were placed on the table, music was added to the background and the conversations flowed. Loads of stress were relieved here.

It wasn't until he caught some of the conversation between Elroy and Eliza, that he felt something was amiss.

"I heard they are planning to open a restaurant downtown. They're supposed to have a good reputation," Elroy said.

"Yes, I've heard about that," Eliza nodded. "Tomorrow's the big opening, right?"

"I tried getting tickets, but that wasn't really easy."

I had to pay 200 bucks for them. Way too much if you ask me. But if you're not even remotely interested, I'd better sell it so I can get some of that money back. I wonder how much I've been ripped off ...

"I can imagine there are hundreds of people trying to get those tickets, so I doubt it'll be easy to get your hands on them."

I don't really care if it's that restaurant or a mere McDonald's. I just want to spend some time with you alone.

What the hell ...? Vincent was more than just surprised. He had been able to read Jenny's thoughts for a while now, but never had he heard someone else's – well, except for Nicole's just a little while ago. Now all of a sudden he heard the thoughts oftwo people. They danced around the issue of whether they could go or not, while in fact they both had the same wish. And only Vincent knew about it.

"Guys, guys," he interfered. "I think I know someone who has two cards left. I believe he bought them but his girlfriend had planned a romantic vacation for them at the same time, so he can't go. If you'd like to see this new restaurant, I can get you those cards. Unless you'd rather go to a McDonald's...?"

"No, please! I'd love to take those tickets off your friend. Can we make an appointment later on?"

Crap, I'll have to tell Vincent I already have those tickets. Don't want him to spend money on them when I've already paid for them. Too much even.

"That would be nice, indeed. It's too bad it's only two tickets, but perhaps Roy could find some goodness in his heart to take me along? I really wanted to go."

Ohh, that means that Roy and I finally get to go together. Perhaps this time I can get him to pay more attention to me when we're alone.

Vincent was watching from one to the other and realized that they had been dancing around each other for a while now. It was pretty clear to him that Elroy liked Eliza – in fact, they all knew – but Eliza had never shown any signs that she liked him as well. Those thoughts however said otherwise.

She's just more composed, Vincent realized.She's not showing her emotions like Roy does, but Roy doesn't dare to make any actual moves because he's not sure she's interested. He's too cautious and she has too much of a pokerface. Wow. If I hadn't interfered so they would go together, they might still dance around their first date by the time we graduate.

He looked towards Jenny and found that he was still connected to her. He was receiving her thoughts loud and clear. Yet, next to hers, he was now still receiving those from Elroy and Eliza as well, making it a very loud environment. He tried to shut them out, something he had managed to do with Jenny before, but things only became louder. More voices joined the maelstrom of thoughts in his mind. He heard Richard thinking about his cat, heard Frank wonder if he had failed his test – so many thoughts in his head. So muchprattle.

He brought his hands to his head, trying to shut them out and found himself unable to. He hunched over, feeling nausea from the cacophony of thoughts in his head and he screamed silently.

He hadn't heard the doorbell. He hadn't heard Daniel opening the door. But at some point things subseded, the voices died down and he realized that he was being held. Not by Jenny, who he saw sitting at his feet, holding his hand and looking concerned. But when his head finally cleared all those voices, only one of them returned in his mind.

"Feeling better now?"

"Talitha." A wave of relief hit him."You did this?"

"You seem to have broken down the limitations of your ability. Remember how I said that I was able to readminds, not just one like you did with Jenny? This is it. Now you're not just connected to Jenny; you can connect with others as well.

I heard your scream in my own apartment, so I came rushing over, knowing what you were going through. Not a very enjoyable ride, that first experience of being able to read thoughts from everyone around you, is it? I've shielded you from the others for now, isolated your mind and erected a barrier to keep all those other thoughts out. You better excuse yourself and get some rest. I'd say your home is a good place to hide for now, with Nicole having those walls up in her mind."

"You okay?" Jenny asked. He realized that everyone was standing behind her, multiple worried faces looking at him.

"I think ... I better go home for a bit. Looks like I'm not completely recovered from that coma," he lied, finding a suitable one that would hold up in court.

"Telepathy got me, Jenny. Need to avoid crowds. Bring me home," he transmitted to her, not knowing if she would even hear him with the protection Talitha had conjured up.

"I'll come along," Frank said. "You don't look like you can walk."

"Don't worry," Talitha said. "I'll make sure he won't fall. You guys stay here."

"I'll go get the car."

Jenny was out of the door before she could keep her back. Talitha didn't know if having her around would be good for Vincent or not. She realized that their connection, theirmindlink had been natural for him for quite a while now. So while she believed it would be best for him to have as little people around to disturb his thoughts, it might actually help him if Jenny was around.

Frank had still tried to help Vincent, but Talitha subtly forced him to stay. She would be the one supporting him to the car, as none of the others had any notion what was going on. Jenny knew. The moment she saw Vincent falter and the next moment Talitha dropping in, she knew it was related to the stuff only she knew about. She didn't ask questions, she merely started the car and waited patiently till Talitha brought Vincent.

They drove home, Jenny at the wheel, Vincent and Talitha in the backseat. He didn't look good, but he seemed better after driving a little, being away from the crowd. Jenny had tried to keep her thoughts as sparce as possible, so he wouldn't be swamped with her thoughts.

"Commendable, but not necessary," Talitha said in her mind."I'm shielding him from others, but you two have a special connection. He has managed to open and close your mindlink a long time ago. You're not disturbing him now. He's recovering."

"Great. So our long-lasting friendship has managed him to tune me out? I'm not so sure if I'm happy about that."

"Sarcasm doesn't do you any good now, girl. Just get him home and we'll see if we can teach him to drown out the other voices. At least be glad I allow you to be with him."

"Yeah, I'm really glad I'm on your good side," Jenny sneered."Otherwise you'd banish me to an unknown place where my boyfriend will have forgotten all about me."

"I've apologized for breaking you guys up, haven't I?"

"Sure you did. You're one of the good guys now. But how much of your tinkering has caused his current situation?"

She had voiced the fear Talitha had herself. That she was the one who had removed some sort of barrier from his mind, allowing his ability to develop. Which meant she was now responsible for getting him educated in the ways of telepathy.

The car pulled up on the driveway in front of the house where Vincent lived with his twin sister Nicole and this time Vincent managed to get himself out of the car. He didn't need to be supported to get to the front door and enter and both girls sighed a sigh from relief. Yet, they all knew he wasn't out of the woods yet. They still had to teach him how to deal with his improved ability of telepathy.

"I'm going to drop the barriers now, Vincent," Talitha announced. "Brace yourself for more thoughts."

He nodded, knowing what would happen. He experienced a similar thing just a little while ago. The thoughts came flushing in again, though less intense than before. Talitha kept her thoughts hidden and he knew how he could keep Jenny's out. He knew Nicole wasn't home, so the thoughts he felt were from people in his neighbourhood – further away, but also less intense.

Jenny was the one who asked the question they were all avoiding to say: "How's it feel?"

"It was like ... an avalanche. Like you're standing somewhere, eyeing a wide open field and all of a sudden it overflowed, swallowed up everything, like an avalanche.

Now that I'm here, it's ... I'm okay," he eventually said after weighing his situation. "Not too many people, not too many thoughts hammering. They're mostly whispers for now."

"Good. Then that means we can start," Talitha decided.

"Start what?" Vincent wanted to know.

"Start training you to keep those other thoughts out, the same as you can do with Jenny's. You need it – and fast, if you want to function outside this house."

Chapter 13.5 – Emily

Vincent had tried to reach Kevin, but he either couldn't reach him, or he was doing something wrong. He didn't want to rule out the latter due to his ability going nuts after having lost the barriers that kept it intact. So he had to lay his fate – once again – in the hands of Talitha. Talitha, on the other hand, wasn't all that confident in teaching Vincent the things she's had to learn the hard way. And this time she realized, she might have someone that could help her. And him.

She reached out to Emily, the woman Kevin had mentioned as her mentrix, and requested her assistance at Vincent's home. She turned out to be nearby and would visit immediately.

It helped that Vincent didn't get hammered anymore by an onslaught of thoughts, but the persistent low buzz from thoughts around him was still driving him crazy. So when Emily arrived, she was more than welcome.

They hadn't known Emily long, only a few days actually, but her appearance always made Vincent think that she was more than just a mentrix for the company she worked for. Lightbrown hair, combed back to end in a ponytail, high up so her neck would be free. The hair reached down only to just past her neck, which showed off her neck as a major selling point.

She had brown eyes in a gaze that told you that she was strict, didn't allow crap, but she didn't strike fear in you – merely respect. And when she arrived, Emily was dressed in a suit – a dim pink blouse, covered by a dark blue blazer, a matching skirt reaching to just over the knees and low-cut black shoes, almost shining, they were that well-polished.

She didn't do pleasantries. Upon her entrance she strode straight towards Vincent and laid a hand on his forehead. He felt warm, but not feverish. Which meant he wasn't burning out due to all the thoughts flushing in. She hadn't dared invading his mind to check – not when he was being invaded by numerous other thoughts and minds.

She had done that only twice before; the first time she'd been overwhelmed by the number of thoughts hammering on her and the victim of these thoughts. It had nearly cost her her sanity. The second time she'd fared better, but it was still very heavy on her concentration. She really didn't want to try a third time when the number of minds connected would swamp her while she was trying to close the doors. One gets cautious when one has gotten burned.

Emily had respected Talitha's effort for shielding him and calming him down. If she had known that the first time she had tried, she might not have gotten burned for doing so. But sometimes one needs to get burned to learn about arrogance.

Her shielding has managed to bring him back, Emily ascertained.He can think again. We will need that.

"Vincent, I'm going to link up with you now. Don't resist, let my mind invade you," she thought to him and he nodded.

She went in. It was a most mysterious experience to dive into the mind of someone. Not just reading thoughts or merely reading a mind, but to plunge in and pluck through its inner core. It never bored, it never got old. Every single time it had been exhilirating, as if she was visiting another new plane of existence.

Right now, she was diving in to verify what had caused this sudden development, to see if there was something she had to do before teaching him. She didn't see anything which was off, though, so she resurfaced again.

"I've taken a quick glance. Looks like there's nothingwrong at least," she summarized. "So the only thing we can do is teaching you how to shield yourself. You already know the basics, since you've managed to do so with Jenny, now you just need to learn how to do the same when the entire world is available and everyone making sure you hear them."

She sat down. And then the long task of teaching him began.

Chapter 13.6 – The organisation

He had gone back to the hospital for a checkup since it has been a week since he was released and they wanted to keep an eye on him. He ended up getting an MRI and they said they would let him know the results, but so far there was nothing really visible which looked like trouble. He was glad; Christmas was around the corner and he really wanted to get this off his chest before that happened. He also didn't want to have to visit the hospital when his sisters would come over; after all, they didn't even know he had been hospitalized.

The MRI didn't seem to indicate anything serious at first glance, but they said they wanted to study it for a bit longer to see if there was something they hadn't seen before. Vincent interpreted that asYou're a special case for waking up from a coma and not having any side-effects. You can bet your ass we will study anything we can from anything you provide and he didn't really blame them. If he were a doctor, he'd definitely see him as an interesting case. He just hoped he wouldn't prove too interesting.

Emily had joined him, since she wasn't confident in him managing his mental shields well enough to wander around without some kind of fallback system. And if he collapsed inside the hospital, he probably would have to stay there for a while longer.

She had been teaching him for the rest of the day after he collapsed from the overload and although he seemed to have gotten at least some sort of control, she wasn't convinced that he could hold that up for a longer period. His visit to the hospital was a pretty tough task right after his training, but they both knew that he needed the checkup. Not only because they needed to see if anything had changed, but also to ease his mind; he wasn't entirely confident that there was nothing wrong with him and that there might be some serious issue which would show itself only after a while. Not everyone wakes from a coma within a week, without any serious side-effects. She could imagine his caution.