Telekinesis

“Hey Adam! Would you mind helping me here?!”

“COMMIINNNG!!”

That was Ahmad, a friend of mine. We’re currently in a building site, carrying cement sacks from the truck to the storage unit. But unlike everyone, I am not actually carrying the sacks, I am making them levitate, or more specifically, I am using telekinesis.

Yeah, that’s right, I have telekinesis abilities! I am a psychic — a superhuman! Hmm? What’s that? You’re wondering how I gained this power? But of course! After all, everyone wants to know my origin story, including these voices in my head allowing me to make monologues. Yes, you readers are now the voices in my head, my monologues partners!

—Anyway, my powers, yes… It’s very simple, it was just a coincidence, like all powers.

Not enough details? Fine then! Let’s delve deeper.

I always considered myself special, after all, I am the main character of my life. But I never once considered that my special abilities would be powers beyond human comprehension.

It was just a random evening, nothing was out of the ordinary. I didn’t feel like I awakened anything, nor did a meteor or UFO pass through the sky, nor was there some unexpected nuclear power plant explosion spreading reactive particles everywhere — it was just another day like any day.

I was getting ready to go to bed when I noticed I left the door to my room open.

“Ugh! Now I gotta get up from my comfy bed to close that damned door!? The hell, man! Can’t one be lazy without being inconvenienced? If only… if only I could just wave my hand like… this… WHAT THE HELL!!!”

As I waved my hand, I watched the door closing shut by itself, or should I say, I closed the door, but without touching.

I felt it! At the tips of my fingers, I sensed the slightly rough texture of the paint on the door, the edge of it, the stopping force when the door meets its lock and stops moving. I felt all that on my flesh. And yet, I didn’t touch it.

I sat on the bed, flabbergasted, looking at my hand with my yet to darkness adapted eyes. I could feel the coldness of the door slowly fading, replaced by the warmth from my body.

In that silence, in that darkness, all I could hear was my ragged breath, as my heart rate increased, sweat slowly forming on my forehead and along my back and chest. My trembling hand was dimly lit by the streetlights outside the window, emphasizing the uncanny feelings lingering after my initial shock.

Stabilizing my breathing, I started rubbing my right-hand fingers, trying to feel out any oddities in the sensation. But nothing was out of the ordinary, it just felt normal.

But then, what the heck was that just now!

I scrambled as I searched around me for objects to use to replicate with what I just did. I reached out for my phone, set it on the phone and then motioned with my index for it to go up.

“Ugh, but of course! The typical “unknown powers that activate only by accident” trope!”

Yep, it didn’t work. No matter how many times or how hard I motioned with my finger, the phone would not budge, nor even show any signs of anything trying to move it. I even tried motioning my whole palm, thinking that maybe this power earlier was like a physical manifestation of my hand. But alas, it still yielded no results.

I was upset. Upset at my inability to understand the thing that just transpired and how to replicate it.

I always took pride in my ability to analyze everything and to imagine every explanation possible. But for the first time in a while, I was stumped, I had been defeated.

NOT!!! As if I would give up this easily! I may have tried everything I could think of, but I did not try everything.

I spent the remainder of the night scribbling and brainstorming all possible explanations for this accidental power – how it occurred, what form it could have had, whether it’s only a pushing force or it’s capable of lifting things, if certain requirements should be met – I went through them all. And as expected, I didn’t sleep a wink.

Throughout the night, I would write some ideas down and then proceed to test them, then furiously scribbling off the ideas that evidently did not work.

It was only at 6 in the morning that I threw myself at the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling, discouraged and completely spent.

At my university, whenever I wasn’t irritatingly rubbing my eyes and face to stay awake, I was losing focus on the lectures and instead brainstorming more ideas and thoroughly analyzing my actions that lead to the strange event.

It was at the end of the day, when I was getting ready to go back home, that a thought dawned on me. So far, all my theories have focused on the nature of the power and the uses of it, but I never thought of the purpose.

When I first witnessed this “telekinesis”, it happened when I wanted to close the door. It happened for a purpose, a manifestation of my will, and not my body.

I had to try it! I might have discovered a breakthrough and I don’t have the self-control to wait until I get back home. It takes too freaking long!

I looked at my backpack wondering what in it I could manipulate without being too obvious about it. I decided to tug on the straps to test out my theory, only budging it slightly and observing any movement.

While still sitting on my chair, my phone in my left hand to seem like I am using, I pointed down with my right hand, my index outstretched. I carefully formed a mental image of the strap being pulled, imagining the finest details that allow me to make the most accurate movements, all the way from the slightest wrinkles to the crackling on the foam.

It did not work on the first attempt, the straps still as could be. I then refocused, enhancing the image, still nothing. This went on for fifteen more minutes, repeating the same process over and over, deepening the focus on the mental image, but I still could not pull it off.

At that point, I was fed up. It was only natural that I would be this frustrated after trying countless failed strategies.

I was just about to get up and leave and forget everything that just transpired last night, but it just didn’t feel right. I hate losing, especially to my own weakness. Whether it be grades or physique or gaming, I just hate losing to myself.

I sat back down, taking in a deep breath. I rested my head on the desk, closed my eyes, and fell in deep thought. I have tried both the manifestation of the power and the manifestation of the will, but what about merging them both?

Picturing “telekinesis” isn’t as easy as people make it out to be as we don’t have a concrete concept of it. It’s been, until now, a fiction, something people created from their imaginations and spread the word about it in movies and books. But it was determined from all my testing that “telekinesis” isn’t as simple as an invisible, light-bending field.

So to use this power, I have to come up with my own image, my own concept. If it’s not a physical manifestation, nor is it a mental manifestation, then it must be something in between, something that connects the two concepts into one coherent and exclusive concept.

Imagine this: this concept of physical manifestation is a copy of my hand, it can move things and transmit sensations, and the concept of mental manifestation is like projecting a soul or a connection into the object, allowing me to control it instead of moving it. But a middle ground between them would be like containing this soul inside a container that I control at will, the soul is the muscles and tendons, and the container is the skin and bones, a complete system.

This could explain my accidental use of this power. I was imagining having telekinesis, but my brain would relate closing a door to pushing it with my hand, thus the creation of the object, telekinesis.

I opened my eyes, this time convinced beyond doubt that I found the missing piece. Staring intensely at backpack straps –determined to achieve my goal finally– I outstretched my index finger, focusing my whole being on this one specific task, completely disregarding everything around me.

I felt it! I felt the slight tingling at the tip of my finger, this tingling then rapidly turned into a physical sensation. Inspecting this sensation, I could recognize the bizarre texture of the foam and the light bumps formed by the fabric’s threads.

Instead of just one finger, I outstretched my whole hand, still not losing focus. I brought my hand up and down in a slow stroking movement, feeling every part of the strap carefully, which was successfully transmitted through telekinesis. I tightened my grip, until I could feel enough resistance, then I pulled, pulled hard enough to yank the backpack a few centimeters back.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Panicking, I raised my head, looking around the class. Luckily, no one gives two shits about others here, so no one saw my backpack magically move on the floor.

I didn’t know at that time whether I should feel glad that no one saw this and made me some mad scientist’s lab rat, or sad that I wouldn't be recognized as a special one. But one feeling was definite, I was beyond excited to have managed to understand this power. One could say, the whole world couldn’t fit me.

After all the time I spent mulling over different ideas, the frustration that built up after every failure, the cramps in my hand from all the writing and scribbling, I made it, I managed to deliberately use “telekinesis”.

I am now truly special, one of a kind. I possess something no other creature in existence does. But as things stand, I have no knowledge of my potential, all I know is that I can move objects without touching them.

This realization lit a fire of curiosity and excitement in me. Just how far can I abuse this power? What realities can I break with it?

I yanked my hand, grabbing the air, hoping I could grab the backpack like that, but it didn’t budge. Meh, it was worth the try, just need more practice, right? I then rushed out of the classroom straight to the subway to get back home and continue my research on this.

I am lucky I just finished my exams, because it seems I am, unfortunately, likely to ignore my studies for a while.

Once I got back home and ate dinner, I sat at my desk and laid out different objects of different sizes and shapes, ranging from pencils and pens, to books, to plushies – those are not mine, I promise – and even bottles.

I tested my current limits on the objects one by one, slowly but certainly surely I lifted every object. I started with lifting them about three centimeters, or for my freedom unit friends, a bit more than one inch.

This first test worked for all the objects, so I moved to the second test, and yes you guessed it right, increase the height, and this new height is five centimeters, two inches. It all went smoothly so I went for the third test at ten centimeters, double the previous height, and thankfully, it too proceeded without issues.

By the time I was done with the third test, it was already 12 am, and due to me having university classes the next day, I had to go to sleep. But as you would suspect, I didn’t have the best sleep as my mind was too occupied with thinking about my powers, I would estimate I only got about 4 hours of sleep, which, for a student like me, seems enough – fuck every education system predating on over exerted students.

The next morning, I spent every moment of my day floating small objects in my palm, with the intention of developing a subconscious feeling to telekinesis.

And truly, by the end of the day, I was able to use telekinesis without much focusing. In fact, I even got used to getting my phone with it and casually juggling it above my palm.

I continued my tests when I got back home, but instead of exponentially increasing the risks, I went all in and tried something I haven’t tried yet, floating multiple objects at once, as high as the ceiling. This would’ve been a great risk if the objects were breakable, but conveniently, all the objects I used were pretty soft and wouldn’t break by simply dropping them.

Sitting on my chair, I neatly laid out on the desk all the objects I had used the previous night. I then outstretched my right hand over a pen and lifted it.

The way I learned to use telekinesis was to hold the object over my palm, as if it’s resting on a platform, except this platform could be oriented in any possible angle without the object dropping. And if i wanted to get an object resting on a surface, I would hold my palm over it and then lift it.

Now, if I wanted to carry a second object alongside the one I am holding, I would need to follow one of two possible strategies, either I learn to carry the object on the table without holding my palm over and instead just carry it by imagery and vision.

The second strategy, which seemed the easiest for the time being, would be to hold the already floating object in its place while I turn my palm over to carry the other.

Of course, I opted for the second option as I am too restless, and I can’t be bothered spending even more time learning what could currently be impossible.

Hovering my hand over a book, I looked at the pen, focusing my all to stabilizing it in its place in the air. Sensing the pen was locked in place, I started gradually turning my hand, still focusing solely on the pen.

To my joy, the pen was pinned in its place without even slightly moving during the process, not even when my hand was finally facing completely down.

With my hand in position, I willed for the book to lift, it was then that I panicked as I saw the pen losing balance. I had to dedicate my focus to stabilizing the pen again.

This endless cycle continued for another hour as I repeatedly failed to achieve this task. But throughout the experiment, I remained hopeful, as although I indeed couldn’t get to carry 2 objects at once, I had seen some progress.

As, every time I attempted to carry the book, I noticed the pen wobbling less and less. This confirmed that my current issue would be solved given enough time.

But the fact that time was the thing I needed, upset me. People say that with time, you can achieve anything, but the concept of time being the solution is very foolish in my opinion.

The growth of plants needs time, cooking needs time, running certain softwares and scripts needs time, but not solving a problem. When finding a solution, time is only needed to perfect it, but finding the principles and basics is only limited by one’s analysis skills.

This, here, was my issue. I don’t need time, I need a real solution, one based on logic and careful planning.

If I wanted to carry more than one object, I needed to find a perspective, just like I did when I found the solution to my power.

But this time, the solution wouldn’t be so easy, and my sleep deprived body needed rest, which forced me to go to bed rather early, 11 pm, yes, this is early.

When I woke up in the morning, I realized I had to dial the difficulty back a bit. To learn to carry more than one object at a time, I needed to take baby steps towards the solution. And these steps consisted of lifting, off my palm, two objects, at once, simultaneously.

The theory I came up with is that if I can manage to levitate two objects together, then the real problem would be to activate telekinesis on a second object separately from the first.

Think of it like you’re trying to carry two apples at once. If you already have an apple in your hand, you would need to put down the apple and carry both again, or you would have to awkwardly grab onto the second apple and try not to drop it.

But if both apples are already on the table, side by side, then you can relatively easily carry both apples with a firm grip. In the same logic, holding onto a single object is easy enough, but trying to carry another object would be awkward to this unseen hand.

That day, I didn’t have to go to the university, so I had the whole day to dedicate myself to honing this power.

I grabbed a pen and an eraser and set them side by side on my open palm. I went through the same process I would when carrying a single object, this time instead of willing for one object to levitate, I willed for two. The pen and the eraser started levitating, although this time, it was wobbly, very wobbly.

It didn’t take long for them to just plop down again on my palm.

To eliminate any doubts, I tried just levitating the pen, something I did countless times the day before. And thankfully, I could still very easily levitate, almost subconsciously even.

This oddity indicated a flaw in my previous methodology, and perhaps even in my current theory.

So far, to use telekinesis I would picture it as a third hand connected to a soul within the object, basically creating a bond within the real world and the spiritual world – albeit artificial, as objects don’t have souls, obviously.

But I needed to change this imagery from a hand to something much more flexible, something that doesn’t exist yet.

It needed to be something that doesn’t exclusively come from my hand and instead can be summoned merely by thinking about it, from thin air, separate to my body. Something that is meant to form bonds, part real, part fiction.

I mulled over this idea for a long time, blankly staring at the desk in front of me. I summoned every memory of every film I ever watched, every novel I ever read, and I finally figured it out.

It’s pretty simple if you think of it.

If the current limitation is the difficulty of handling objects with one “hand”, then I just need to make multiple hands, right?

But of course, it would be nigh impossible. I can already only control this one additional “hand”, so how can I control more? How can I take advantage of more hands if they’re going to be useless? And that’s where things become interesting!

Instead of having simple hands, I could create threads, literal bonds, from the object out to the physical world.

Countless threads, forming from inside the object, whatever it is, and stretching out, creating tension, holding the object in its place however I like. I can manipulate the threads to rotate, move, hold, carry, and basically do anything imaginable with any object, merely by imagining these threads.

Obviously, this new vision would require me to cast away my already existing knowledge. But that’s a price I am willing to pay for the ultimate goal.

Inventors, the greatest men in history; they all spent countless hours researching, thinking and deciphering complex principles, all for the goal of greatness and progress.

Many of them created countless prototypes that they threw away later. Hell, even in modern days, in all fields, people create prototypes that are made to specifically be thrown away, but not forgotten, definitely not forgotten

Prototypes, failures of the past, become the foundation for success in the future.

Likewise, my hard work in the past two days won’t be lost, but it will become a building stone for the new concept.

During my experiments, I learned to form the “hand” through imagery and understanding, so creating the threads will only be a matter of changing the mental image, the principles are still the same.

But needless to say, talk is just that, talk. I took so long trying to form a single “hand”, so how do I expect to be able to create countless threads and control them freely?

Well, basically, I’ll learn to become a puppet master. the greatest puppet master to ever exist. It would probably take me days, weeks, maybe even months.

It’s a skill-set that requires years of rigorous training to achieve precise and smooth movement after all. But that will probably not be the case for me.

Put simply, moving countless strings is equivalent to moving a single hand. We may not think much about it, but articulation is a very complex process, involving multiple muscles and tendons for a simple move, like stretching a finger, and yet, our brains handle it very impeccably.

Learning to manipulate puppets is like learning to move a hand, unless you still have to use your hand, but not me, not with telekinesis. Simply thinking of moving the object should, in theory, be enough to control the threads with precision.

*Time skip song and montage of the mc powering up… yadi yadi yada…*

Two months passed since I’ve applied the change to my imagery, and frankly, I was surprised it took this long. It was supposed to be like learning to use a limb dammit! I use my limbs pretty efficiently already, so what’s the hold up?!

Anyway, I succeeded in making telekinesis truly mine. And oh boy has this power proved to be more than I could have ever imagined.