I have officially accepted that I'm in an alternate dimension… This world is way more complicated than I thought and I'm struggling to keep up—Good thing though, the talk-to-text works fine.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around what happened. Even after talking to Bri, I can’t make sense of it.

She… She caused a storm.

That sounds insane, I know it does, but that’s the only thing I can think of to describe what happened… She caused, or was, a storm. Seriously, if she hadn’t run out the house, she would have blown the roof off… I had to take cover behind the door to keep safe!

The amount of wind circulating her was like having a tornado erupt from the ground where she stood, and I could barely see anything with the flashing, bright blue lights… I thought it was lightning at first, but no, it was coming from her. It was the same light blue wispy things I saw around her before; but this time, it intensified and shot up like a beam into the sky creating this massive thunderstorm—It lasted for hours!

This sounds so stupid, and unreal. I… I can’t believe I’m saying it out loud. I’m smart enough to know that no one would believe me, but it did… It happened… Or, am I trying to convince myself that it did… or didn’t?

No, I know it happened. Like I said, I’ve talked to Bri about everything and she knows, and confirmed with my crazy ass, that it happened.

It’s just hard to believe that this is life now, where things like that just happen. I can’t forget what I saw, and I can’t run from what I’ve learned… I can’t make sense of it, but I’m in it now—That’s scary.

No, let’s be positive… And, if I’m being honest, why am I trying to make sense of it? Life sucked before, at least now my eyes are open to what can happen in the world—That, or I’m in an asylum somewhere post lobotomy.

Either way, this is terrifying, but… kinda exciting. Like, I’m going insane, so I may as well enjoy the ride.

Well, it’s that, or run and hide… but that sounds worse to me… and dangerous. I don't know why, but I still feel like I'm in the right place, and safer here.

I know I’m going to look back at this some day and wonder how I stayed. The old me would have gotten out of here in a hurry, but I also don’t think the old me would have been prepared for what I saw… or what was eventually explained… almost a full day afterwards.

Bri slept for hours after her apocalyptic event—Not as long as before, but still, it felt long. When she woke, she immediately called for Bear. Giggly noises ensued, so I took it upon myself to leave the house—I don’t get their deal.

But whatever, it didn’t matter to me at the moment, I had nothing to say. The words were a mess in my head—Clearly, I’m still struggling with that.

Eventually, she asked to talk, so I went in to see her; and at first, I didn’t recognize her. She looked better than I’d ever seen her. All the color had come back to her face, her eyes were no longer puffy from crying, and she seemed to have plenty of energy.

I had to admit, it was nice seeing her like that. A lot of sleep was lost during all this, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t have anything to do with her health. So, it was good to see the joy and softness return to her face—Well, it at least set me at ease for our conversation.

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She started by making sure I was okay, and then apologized for everything; like, keeping me in the dark and not telling me the whole truth… But then, she dropped her whole truth, verifying why she didn't tell me anything at first—Because if she had, I wouldn't have listened. I would have turned around immediately and chalked her up as crazy, as anyone would, and she knew this—Seems we both suffer from situational awareness.

Of course, even though I knew something weird was happening, I still decided to go along with it, so there's that.

Honestly, I don't know what I was expecting from her at the moment, it's not like she lied or anything; but still, it was nice to hear her acknowledge how unusual these circumstances have been.

You know, maybe my situational awareness isn't as good as I thought, or maybe it is and for some reason I felt like this was the right time to ignore it—I don't know, I'm just rambling at this point, trying to make sense of it all.

Anyways, to put it straight and get to the point, she told me she's an empath. An “active empath” to be more specific, but she just calls herself a Listener—I know, creative, right?

As a Listener, she's drawn to big events or large energy places that will need her area of expertise.

I asked her what that meant, and—to be straight forward again, because I don't know how else to put it—she answered, “I absorb sadness from people that are overwhelmed with it and release it into the Earth.”

It's that simple… Yet, it caused an explosion—which is what I responded with.

My remark must have embarrassed her, because she immediately turned red and assured me it's not usually that bad. Her problem is she overloads herself. So, when she met me, and didn't want to scare me away immediately, she held back as much as she could, eventually creating utter chaos.

Admitting that it was a lesson learned, she promised not to ever let it get that bad again, and she hoped that I could understand.

Well, first off, so many questions—I couldn’t get them all out at once, so I made some weird croaking sound instead—It was embarrassing.

When I finally managed to form words, and she had stopped laughing, I was able to find out more; like, she isn’t the only one. Her specialty is sadness, but there are others that absorb fear, anger, jealousy, and so on. Once so much is absorbed, they release it to the Earth for her to use as she pleases.

Bri told me that Listeners have been around for a long time, but it isn’t an ability you're necessarily born with; more like a calling you willingly accept. Their purpose is to take these emotions to alleviate people who are overwhelmed, and can’t bear it all by themselves; this then allows each person to think clearer, act calmly, and dream bigger… among other things.

In her words, it leaves room for hope, love, and progression.

So, um… yeah… That’s either some very heavy stuff, or someone’s head is floating in the clouds—No, no, I saw what I saw. It's just… I don’t know. I still don’t know what to think, but I have no other explanation for what I saw. Who else’s word can I take other than the person this happens to?

Before leaving the conversation, I asked if she knew what happens to the negative emotion once it’s released into the Earth. She just shrugged and said, “I don’t know, and I’m not going to ask. Who am I to tell the Earth what to do with her body?”

That made me smile, and laugh.

Bri assured me of how grateful she is, and let me know how lucky we are to have an Earth that allows this release. She said it’s a heavy burden to take on, but our planet is still willing to shoulder humanities problems, even after everything we’ve put her through.

I mean, I get what she’s saying. If this is reality, and there are more people in the world like Bri; then yeah, it seems like a pretty heavy burden to take on. Imagine getting hit with that much energy over and over again, and from who knows how many people… Plus, with all the other stuff going on everywhere…

We should be grateful.