Chapter 2 The Voice

Edith - 10 years
Michael - 8 years




Our first meeting was most likely a chance encounter between our minds. His happened to be searching and mine happened to be the most open then of all those at the lab.

“Help me!”

The voice seemed to come from somewhere in the room with me. It was so sudden that I almost fell out of the bed. My room was dark since I had only said goodnight to my mother an hour before, and hearing a voice coming from somewhere right next to me was enough to send me to the ceiling.

“Hello?” I whispered, hoping that my parents in the next room wouldn’t hear me.

“Help me. I think they’re gonna do something to me. They’re thinking that I’m too powerful.” It was clear that it was a boy’s voice-- a young boy. And he was terrified.

“Who? And what’re they gonna do? Where are you?” I still whispered as my thoughts ran away with me. A good person would help others in need, and he needed help. I badly wanted to help him, but with my ten year old brain, I didn’t know how or what I could do.

“I don’t know where I am. I can’t see anything. I’m in a room. I can just hear them thinking.”


I wasn’t phased by the voice I heard inside my head. It was his fright that touched me and made me want to help.

“What’s your name?” I asked, hoping that if I couldn’t help him, I could at least calm him.

“You don’t have to talk,” he said sullenly. “I can hear you when you think.”

“Oh. Well, I’m Edith, but you can call me Edy.”

He was quiet for a moment. Our connection grew heavy with his sadness and anger. “I don’t have a name.”


“I can name you. I read a lot, so I’ve got a whole bunch of names.” I thought through all of my favorites until I found one he seemed to like. “I like that one too. Michael it is.”

We started talking to each other in that way. He didn’t have much to say about normal stuff even though he was really smart. So I would spend time telling him about my life before the lab letting him ask me a million questions and he would help me with my homework.

Then one day, he asked me, “Edy, where are you?”

“I’m in my room. Why?”

“There’s a lot of pink in your room.”


“You can see what I’m seeing? That’s so cool! I didn’t know you could do that.”

“I couldn’t before. I’ve been working on my powers though, so now I can.”

I can't remember how far into the friendship we were. It seemed like I'd hardly known him at all before his power started growing stronger. But it made me happy to sense his good feeling of accomplishment through our link. I wanted it to continue, so I suggested another activity the two of us could try with his new found power. “Hey, I can show you the lab and stuff now, not just tell you about it.”


We would spend a lot of time wandering around the lab, looking around and visiting the garden (always my favorite as a kid) and the study. We were together more often than not, although there were times he would have to pull away. It was those times I noticed just how lonely I had been before Michael and I began talking. There were no other kids my age at the lab. My father had moved my mother and I there so he could continue his work without interference from any officials.

I had come to trust Michael. He was my only friend, and being so close as to be inside my head, he was my best friend. But I couldn’t tell the adults about him. I was sure they wouldn’t believe me. Michael said I had to be careful with the adults.

One day, Michael said, “Edy, I wanna try something, but you have to go back to your room.”

In my room, Michael had me lay down on my bed. “We’re not taking a nap, are we?”

“No, but well kinda. Just trust me, okay?”

And I really did.


When I opened my eyes, I let out a gasp. We were standing on a playground I remembered playing on when I was little. It was my most favorite park. My mother used to walk me down the street so I could go play on it when we lived in the Neutral Territory.

“Wow! I remember this place. How did we get here?”

Michael explained matter of factly, “It’s your memory. This one was very strong. I think I‘ve seen you dream about it sometimes.”


I looked over at the spot where his voice came from, but he was only a blurry light. “Michael, why can’t I see you?”

“Because I don’t know what I look like, so I don’t know how to make myself. You’re blurry too.” At his mention of it, I glanced down at myself and noticed that I was an indefinite purple blur. “That’s ‘cause you haven’t had any practice. Plus, you never seem to look in a mirror.”

I looked over at the playground structure. “Race ya!” I ran off with him following behind me.

“What is it?” He asked when we stopped in front of the large structure.

“A playground. You know, kids play on it. C’mon, I’ll show ya!” I grabbed his blurry representation of himself and yanked him up with me. Once we were at the top, I stopped to look around. “Hey, I can’t see very far. What’s that white over there?”


“Well, it’s just a memory. So we can only see what you remember, and you don’t seem to remember further than the playground.” Michael looked around, exploring what I did remember. “So what do you do now?”

“Slide down the pole is what!” I slid down the pole and ran out from underneath it so I could look at Michael’s blurry shape. “Now you.”

“Edy, that looks stupid.”

“It’s fun I’m telling you. Pretend you’re a fireman and there’s a fire.” My physical representation fell on the ground. “Help, I’m burning! You have to save me or I’m going to die.”


Michael was amused enough to humor me. He slid down the pole and ran over to me. “Now what?”

“Put out the fire, silly.” I kicked the sand at him. “Save me!”

He laughed mischievously before throwing some sand at me. The sand passed harmlessly through my physical representation of myself, tickling my frontal lobe. “You’re safe now, right?”

“Well, the fire’s out, but you were too late. Now I’m a zombie.” And I chased him around the playground.


“So kids actually play like that?” Michael said when we sat down on the benches to examine the memory in greater detail.

“Uhm, usually. I mean, I had fun. Didn’t you?”

He was blurry, so I couldn’t see his expression and oddly I couldn‘t feel anything through our connection either. “Yeah, it was fun, Edy.”




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