A stock alarm song began harassing my ears.

I flailed around, floating midair, until I found a thick phone atop my bookshelf and hastily tapped it with a finger a dozen times, turning the alarm off. Sometimes I hated how the touchscreen ignored telekinetic force.

I glanced outside. The sun was shining, but the ground was covered in the Canadian winter’s snow.

I stretched my limbs out, waking up, then rotated upright and began dressing. School didn’t wait for anyone.

I replaced my pajamas with jeans and threw on a baggy blue sweater I bought from some Antarctic cruise ship.

My room was simple, holding only a bookshelf filled to the brim, a dresser, my mirror, and a bit of furniture to store what my closet couldn’t. To be honest, the room would have looked incredibly bland if it weren’t for my plants. Two were vines, which ended up growing on the floor to catch more sunlight, and I thought they looked cool, so I never cut them. It made my room look a bit overgrown, which I absolutely adored.

After straightening my clothes, I commanded a basket in the corner of my room to float alongside me, filled with all my daily essentials except my pocketed phone.

I telekinetically twisted my doorknob and floated into my house’s main room, my basket following behind without much thought.

In the room, my younger brother was sitting at our small dining table. Similar to me, he had brown hair and blue eyes, but he liked to wear all black. Bluish-black jeans, a black winter coat, and a cute black beanie. He wouldn’t have liked it if I said that last part aloud, though.

I think he was just in that phase.

Our home was what I’d call...economical, meaning there was just this main room connected to two bedrooms, a closet, and a restroom. The TV, couch, dining table, and kitchen were all in the main room. I personally liked the warm colors, fireplace under the TV, and wood-looking walls, which made it homey despite being basic.

“Hey, Jeremy,” I said, floating out and ‘sitting’ at the dining table, where he was eating cereal.

I commanded the faucet to pour some water, which I maintained in a floating sphere while I heated it with my very limited pyrokinesis.

“Hey Psychi,” he said without paying me much heed. [See? Right on cue.] I heard him think.

So…my dad named me Psychi, that idiot, and I think the name says pretty well who I am.

I’m a psychic who was born with incredible psychic powers. Incredible on Earth, at least, where there are plenty of psychics, just not many born with the ability to fly.

In the past, I didn’t go by Psychi, instead going by Psi, but…I guess I wanted to honor my dad’s silly legacy.

Among my abilities was the ability to read the surface of people’s thoughts, and right now, Jeremy seemed to have been thinking about me before I waltzed in.

Aww, so he did care!

“What are you up to?” I asked with a dumb smile.

He looked at me like I was an idiot. [What’s that look about?] “If you’re asking what I’m up on, its my chair.” [She should know what I’m ‘up’ to.]

“Haha,” I said blandly. “I guess it was a dumb question.”

“You don’t say.” He continued eating, his mind drifting to inconsequential things.

“So the school year’s almost over...we’re going to be in high school together in August. Are you excited?” I asked.

“Yeah, suuure. I wonder if I’ll have to deal with more of your friends asking if I’m also a psychic.” [Not that she has many.]

“‘Friends?” I said skeptically. “What friends? Don’t tell me Emma’s been harassing you!”

“Haha. No. You know what I mean, Psychi. Everyone who sees you wants to know if I can read their mind. It gets annoying when I’m ‘the little brother of the super psychic.’”

“Sorry,” I said, sad Jeremy had to go through that because of me.

[Like it’s your fault…] “So? Are you going to eat, or will you keep boiling that forever?” he asked, not correcting my apology.

“Oh, whoops!”

I used my boiling water to make oatmeal, though it turned out that my brother was just rushing me -the water hadn’t even begun to boil yet!

A few minutes later, he was watching someone play a video game on his phone while I swiftly readied myself for the day, my telekinetic powers making it only take a couple minutes.

“I’m ready!” I said, floating to the door.

He slid off his chair and sauntered after me as he pocketed his phone. “Took you long enough.”

I smiled, satisfied with our usual banter. I’d be happy living with him like this forever.

Jeez, I felt like a sentimental parent. “And you forgot your backpack on the couch, Jer!”

He just rolled his eyes and walked over to pick it up, complaining in his mind about how I could’ve just picked it up for him.

When we walked outside, he stood beside me, and we readied to fly.

Before we did, though, Jeremy closed his eyes and emptied his thoughts, retracting his subconscious psychic repulsion.

People have a ‘Psi-negation field’ centered around them as a subconscious self-defense mechanism, which halts psychic forces in their nearby vicinity. My brother, unlike most people, had trained himself to retract that field through a type of meditation.

Mostly so I could carry him all around the place.

I picked him up, flew far above the rooftops, and blasted off into the distance.

Now, a plane accelerating past the speed of sound in two seconds would generally put you through very, very high G-forces, harming your body. Telekinesis, though? I could accelerate my, and Jeremy’s, whole body at once, so it was perfectly safe!

We flew through the snow at a tenth a kilometer a second(or, for uncultured Americans two hundred miles an hour). Not very fast.

I also encircled us in my psychic barrier, which protected us from the snow and wind as we flew.

Jeremy opened his eyes, speaking in monotone to keep his concentration. “I wonder how bad the winter will get. Hey sis, when you get the time, could you snag us a generator and second space-heater, just in case?” [Then again, you could count as an AC and generator all on your own.] he thought offhandedly.

“Sure.”

My town never looked impressive from above. Most of the houses were spread out by a dozen meters, but even though the roads weren’t used all that often, they were really well-paved. Closer to the city, though, the cityscape grew more reasonable.

I lived in these silly, spacious, and horribly planned suburbs. The reason? I kept getting into destructive fights with a, uhh...specific irrepressible super psychic, so I was asked politely to move to a different house in a less densely populated location, far from the city where my school was. Moving was hardly an issue for me-I could have lifted my old home from the ground then carried it wherever I needed it- but…after how much my life had changed, I wanted to find a new place. My last home…reminded me of how much my life had changed.

About two minutes later, the city came into full view, though it was still really far away by car standards.

I asked my brother, “Does anyone tease you about being dropped off by your sister? Sorry if this is a bit embarrassing.”

[‘Tease’?] “Uhh, no,” he said, still monotone. If he broke from his state of meditation, he’d drop like a rock, which would be annoying but not too dangerous. “They think it’s pretty neat.” [Though, sometimes they make jokes about it.]

“Oh, well, that’s good to hear!”

After that, I doubled our speed. After just a few more minutes, we descended to the school grounds, deepish into the city. When I set Jeremy down, he spoke like normal again, stretching. “Hey, sis...you’re still going to school, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Why?”

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Well, that’s what you do,” I slowly said, the topic making me nervous.

He stared at me.

So I continued, nervously explaining myself. “I mean, I still need to learn a lot more. If I don’t, how can I be sure I won’t be like...the other super psychics.”

There aren’t many people with my level of power. The number of super psychics on Earth wasn’t even twenty, and among them, I was pretty powerful, apparently.

And I didn’t really like to think about that.

When I responded, Jeremy just looked at me, his face neutral. “If you really think that’s the best thing to do, sis, do it.”

I could hear the half-buried, underlying thought, one he both didn’t and did want to communicate to me: […but I think you don’t believe it is.]

He looked to his school, where people were filing in, then glanced back to me before he walked in. “You can do a lot. Please don’t forget that.”

Uncertain, I said, “I...I won’t.”

I thought a lot of Jeremy. Even though I was the one who supported him financially, he was my emotional lifeline.

And I felt horrible for that.

He had always been a lot…it was difficult to explain…wiser than me in the ways that really mattered. I trusted him when he finally spoke exactly what he thought.

And I knew he was right. School wasn’t what someone like me needed. I should have dropped out a long time ago. High school wasn’t mandatory for anyone past their sixteenth birthday, and even if it was, I was powerful enough to casually overwhelm the Canadian military if they so dared to stop me from becoming a high school dropout.

But really…I just…I wasn’t sure.

I needed to talk to someone.

My stomach churned as I thought about the only person I could think to talk to as I hovered through the halls. People I passed tried not to look my way since it wasn’t exactly a secret that I, the conspicuous flying girl, could read minds. I didn’t really know why they thought that looking away from me would stop my mind-reading, though. Firstly, I only read the minds of people I focused on, and second, I did everything I could to avoid doing it, by not looking at individuals.

Ugh, I’d have made a lot more friends if they could lie to me. I would’ve preferred that over…this.

Then again, I had plenty before The Catastrophe…

And the person I wanted to talk to…I think we had a bit of a spat a few days ago…I couldn’t tell. It was probably nothing, though! Just a sore spot, yeah.

I ignored my guttural reaction to speaking to her after it and began my ‘search’ for Emma.

Which consisted of me using Recognition, an ability of mine that let me track the positions of everyone in an over three-kilometer radius of me. Recognition also let me Recognize their presence, obviously. No impostors in my house!

I spotted her…outside, next to the school’s wall?

Why was she there? It was cold out there, in the winter of Canada,

The next period was about ten minutes from starting, so I decided I had time to at least say hi and schedule something with her, and flew out to talk with her.

I wasted no time flying to find her sitting against the back of the school, alone. Where was her boyfriend? He tended to cling to her pretty hard, which...well, it wasn’t that strange for her to be alone at the beginning of the day but…she was in the snow, sitting against the wall with a leg held beneath her arms, and that…concerned me.

“Emma!” I yelled, floating to her before I could read her mind.

The instant she saw me, she rolled her eyes. [Oh great, its her. She really can’t take a hint.] “Could you just leave me alone?” she said through a half-sigh.

I paused halfway to her, dejected. “W..what’s wrong? I’m sorry about saying that the other-”

“Yeah, you’re sorry, great. I don’t care.” [Changes nothing.]

“But-”

She wouldn’t let me speak. “Sorry doesn’t fix anything, Psychi!” she yelled harshly, looking forward. [What would?]

“W-what happened?” She took things a little too much to heart at the best of times, but what I’d said that wasn’t so strange, just regular banter.

“He broke up with me.” [Because of what you said.]

My eyes widened in...I didn’t really know. Frustration? Indignance? Fear? Guilt? “Huh!? Why would he do that?” I asked, wanting to deny that my actions had caused it.

“Because ‘I just don’t seem that interested in him’,” she said, imitating her boyfriend. “And yeah, I’m not interested in someone who can’t handle the possibility that his girlfriend thinks boys other than him also happen to look attractive.” She turned to glare at me. [Which doesn’t mean you didn’t screw me over. If it weren’t for you, blabbing about who I thought looked cute, this whole deal wouldn’t be an issue.]

I paused for a moment, not really sure what to say. “Well...it sounds more like he needs to-”

“It’s you, Psychi. You can’t shut your freakin’ mouth about a single thing. Whatever I tell you, I can be sure you’ll spout it out to someone without thinking.”

“I’m sorry, I’ll try not-”

“You’ve tried, and you’ve failed. You’re a cool person, Psychi, but you’re a pain-in-the-ass friend.”

A pain in the ass...

“You can’t adapt, you don’t know how to actually help, and anytime I’m near you, which is often since you’re so clingy, I feel like my privacy is being flushed down the gutter.”

Can’t help...uncomfortable...

“Why do you even want to be my friend, anyway? You could probably level the city or something, and nobody could stop you. But instead, you’re my friend. Like, what the hell’s the point? What do you have to gain?”

Pointless...to be...my friend.

My body fell limp under a wave of lethargy, my face drooping. “I guess there...isn’t a point. Yeah,” I said, trying and failing to keep my feelings out of my expression. “Umm...I...I guess I’ll go then. B-b-b...” My lip trembled. I hesitated as the meaning of the next word struck my heart.

I turned as I said, “Bye...” my voice unsteady and trailing out halfway through the ‘Y’. I stepped behind the corner I’d come from, then dropped to the ground on the spot, hidden from her judging eyes.

I cried in silence, hugging my legs as I let gravity hold me down.

I only lingered for a minute before flying off, breaking the sound barrier, then maintaining that speed in a game to distract myself.

This always happened. For all my power, the people around me never wanted to be around me. They never needed my help, and they had never asked for it.

I was always ‘the super psychic girl’, ‘the person who violates your privacy’…’Psychi’, even.

I was just a psychic, not anything else.

In truth, I wanted to be fair. I couldn’t avoid reading other people’s minds, so...I thought they would appreciate it if I spoke my own.

That meant that I would sometimes incidentally recount when my friend thought a boy was cute.

Nobody appreciated it, and clearly not her.

Or...or maybe I was just being a victim, blaming my unhappiness on the people around me. I didn’t know.

I ascended higher and higher, accelerating, and eventually surpassed the sound barrier two times over. I flew above Canada, over mountains, rivers, grasslands, towns, and highlands until I approached a snowcapped mountain, where I landed on the edge of a crater nearby.

The thirty-meter-long crater was covered in a variety of plants: bushes, trees, grasses, and alien-like plants were among the large catalog of organisms I cared for. It was my...safe place.

While the crater was an intriguing sight, it wasn’t the only spectacle. Far on the horizon, I could see the sea.

I sat on the crater’s ridge and stared.

Maybe I just needed to get a life, to explore the world. Many people felt I was wasting my ability, but...at least I wasn’t roaming around, abusing my power, right?

There were super psychics of all types in the world, but most of them were the self-centered type of people as far as I was concerned. Those psychics…I didn’t want to be like them.

I slid further down the crater’s ridge, my legs dangling off a twenty-meter incline.

There was only one super psychic I respected, and as much as I looked down on the other psychics...how could I know I was any different? How would I know I was living up to her standard?

Was going to school really so important to me that I could waste my time on it when I could raise or raze nations singlehandedly? Was negligence just another form of injustice?

I’d asked myself that so many times, but now...

The only person who wanted to be around me was my brother. Whenever I tried to make bonds, to have friends, people would push me away. It was always the same.

I stood and looked at my garden. It shined with life...but what did it matter? Without my help, it would just wither away.

Every second I spent doing nothing was a second...where someone died.

As I clenched my fists, psychic power burst from my emotions, shattering a nearby cliff, which tumbled down the mountain slope.

I needed to do something, I wanted to do something, but...would I make a mistake?

Would I be just like the others, doing wrong in the name of justice?

Would I ever be held accountable?

Would I ever be ready to help the world when it needed me?

I didn’t know. I couldn’t know. There was only one person I couldn’t trust, one person whose mind I couldn’t read.

My own.

I…I needed to talk to someone…someone like…her.

Parkarka.

She was kind of my hero, the exemplar of who a psychic like me should be. I needed to talk to her.

I flew away from the mountain to the nearest phone tower I could find.

I pulled out my phone as I flew and texted a girl humorously labeled ‘Pankake Girl’ in my contacts.

{I want to talk right now. Do you have time?}

After a few minutes, she texted me back.

{Is something the matter?}

I responded: {No, I just want to talk a bit.}

{Of course, I can do that! Why don't you come to my house?}

She was always so nice...too bad I didn’t talk with her all that often. Did she count as a friend? Hmm…

Hopefully, I didn’t find some way to fuck up my relationship with her, too…

I texted Jeremy, telling him I wouldn’t be able to fly him back home using a grand total of five ‘sorry’s. After a few minutes of deliberation, I managed to lower it to four.

Then, I flew south.