The days passed with Vi and I barely talking to each other, not even meeting each other’s eyes. The second week of school passed with me and my best friend not in speaking terms with each other.

During the weekend I was just stuck in my room. I decided to talk to Mr. Voice.

“How the hell…” I started. “Why the hell didn’t she talk to me about it?”

The bracelet started to glow silver. “You didn’t ask,” Mr. Voice said. “Besides, it wouldn’t be easy to talk about.”

“I know,” I said. “I know. But she told me she could switch it off. She could have just stopped reading minds altogether, why didn’t she?”

“Why don’t you ask her?”

“I DON’T WANT TO,” I said. “Do you know how important your thoughts are? How… private they should be? If someone could read minds it’d… it’d horrify me and now it turns out that my best friend since middle school can read them? Do you know how that makes me feel?”

“Have you ever stopped to consider how she felt?” Mr. Voice said. “Like you said, thoughts are sacred and having access to them at all times isn’t easy. You know when someone hates you, when someone…”

“I get that,” I said. “I understand but that’s the thing. She has access to them. She knew when I lied, what I felt about her at all times. ALL TIMES. She knew when I thought she was being kinda stupid, she knew when I found her annoying, she… she knew.”

“And?”

“I didn’t,” I said. “I don’t know, I’ll never know how she felt about me feeling that way. I’ll never know why she decided to stay around when she knew everything. I’ll never know why she decided to stay even when I was one hundred percent sure at that time that I hated her or was getting bored or...”

“Are you mad that she knew what you thought all times?” Mr. Voice asked. “Or are you mad that she stayed?”

“BOTH!” I shouted. “I can’t be mad at both?”

“You can,” Mr. Voice said. “You’re perfectly entitled to be mad but is that anger worth losing your friendship over?”

“I…”

“And with that, I’m out,” Mr. Voice said. “I have things to do.”

The flash of silver light disappeared, leaving me alone in the dark to fester with my thoughts.

…

The third week of school started, and I decided to apologise to Vi. I was being a little unfair towards her, considering her peculiar set of circumstances and besides, this anger wasn’t worth losing our friendship over. I called her over after school, I didn’t have to say much and I’m pretty sure you know why. We had lunch quietly at our usual spot in the school courtyard when I decided to start my apology.

“No,” Vi said, looking me in the eyes. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have poked into your mind.” She looked away. “It’s… it’s not fair that I…”

“You’re right,” I said. “It’s wrong and it’s kind of unfair but I was being unfair too. I don’t know what it’s like to read minds and it was wrong of me to not at least try and understand what you were going through. I’m sorry too.”

We sat there in silence for a while before…

“Yeah, I think that’d be great,” Vi said with a gentle smile.

“After school, Friday?” I asked.

“The usual coffee spot,” Vi said, beaming at me.

“The usual coffee spot,” I said, smiling back. “We’ll talk about everything.”

“Everything.”

…

The Usual Spot was a god awful, good for nothing, garbage coffee shop. They were cobwebs in the corner, the seats were these long, difficult to climb towers that were always dusty, and the staff were rude and unhelpful.  But the coffee. The coffee they served was so, so damn good. Vi and I loved this place and it helped there was no one around. It was a shame…

“This place closes at the end of this year!” Vi said, almost loudly.

“How in the world is that surprising?” I asked.

“It’s just,” Vi said sheepishly. “I really enjoyed our Fridays here.”

Vi met my eyes and saw that I loved them too.

“Here’s your coffee assholes,” said the waiter, a rude twenty something year old who hadn’t treated his acne. “Fucking wasting my time. Useless ass high school students.”

He scratched his butt as he left.

“Charming,” I said. “I bet his mind is just as beautiful.” I turned to Vi, grinning at her.

She just looked away, turning red.

“Let’s talk about this mind reading thing of yours,” I said. “Is that why you’re leaving.”

“Yes,” Vi said softly. “Yes and no.” She sighed. “It’s a long story.”

“I have the whole afternoon,” I said.

“My parents and I,” Vi said. “We discovered I was a psychic when I was very young, at 4 years old. I remember both my mum and dad agreeing to keep it a secret and we did but… well me and my big mouth. I told a friend, and my friend told another friend and then soon everybody in my little country knew.”

Vi’s fingers twirled around her coffee cup. “It was so bad. People only became my friend because they wanted to know my powers. I was always followed back home from school. We tried moving so many times but somebody in the press always got a hold of our address. It got so bad that I couldn’t make any friends. As it was, people just wanted to use me anyway, to read their minds, their families minds…”

“We had to move from that country,” Vi said. “Move so far away. We didn’t take any trace with us, our flight was private, we threw away my old medical records declaring me a psychic and didn’t look back.”

“Do you…?”

“No, I don’t miss that place,” Vi said, her grip tightening around her coffee. “Not at all. When I came here, well you saw how I was. I was 13, I was angry and bitter and ready to spend my life alone when…”

“You met me.”

“Yes,” she said. “You didn’t want to be my friend for a bad reason, you wanted to genuinely be my friend and… we grew up together. I knew your thoughts, knew when you were mad at me, sad with me, pretending to understand me…”

My mouth dried. I felt that familiar sting of betrayal start to well up.

“But through it all,” Vi said. “I knew you would always be my best friend. That’s why it’s so hard to accept you as you are right now. This whole essences and friendship bracelet and death thing.”

“Well boo fucking hoo you schizos,” said the waiter. “Here’s your damn bill.”

“But we haven’t…”

“Get the fuck out of here,” the waiter said. “You suck.”

“You swallow, dickwad,” I shot back.

“No, I slurp,” the waiter said proudly. “Get out before I throw you out.”

I sighed. “Let’s just continue this in my dorm, okay.”

Vi nodded, we got off, wiped the dusts off our skirts and got out of the café under the watchful eye of the waiter.

…

I sat on the floor at the end of my bed hugging my pillow. Vi sat on my chair, arms folded on her lap, her legs together.

“About the friendship, essence thing,” I said. “I died, at 24, on my way to an exam. I wasn’t watching and got run over by a car. I was thrown here by…”

“I… I get it,” Vi said. Expressing her feelings were difficult to Vi. She always stammered and struggled to assert herself. “What I… I feel is that you’re using me. You’re using me like those people in my hometown to fill my friendship bracelet. You’re using me to… to…”

“Come back to life,” I said. “You’re right. I kind of am. I’m sorry. I… I don’t have any excuses.”

Vi looked down at her lap. She looked as if she was on the verge of tears.

“What hurts the most is that…” Vi stammered. “Is that I’m talking to twenty-four-year-old you. I’m not talking to the April I know at 17 years old. That scares me. Are there two yous? Are there two mes? That thought scares me. Would the me who knows the 17-year-old you be going through this? Would me and 17-year-old you even be…?”

 “Vi,” I said firmly. “I know you can’t forgive me easily for using you for the bracelet thing, but we were friends. We were always friends. We kept contact when I was in university, every weekend. We’d talk about our lives…”

“I get a boyfriend,” Vi said excitedly. “His name is…”

“Vi!” I yelled.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” Vi said quickly. “It’s just a habit. I’m… I’m…”

“We just stopped talking when I turned 24, when exams started to get tough and… life. But… but we always kept in contact,” I said. “Trust me.”

Vi got off and sat next to me. “I’m just glad I’m okay in the future. I… I’m scared April.”

I didn’t have to read her mind to know that she was scared of leaving. I held her hand. “You never did tell me why you were leaving.”

“I… a few days ago I read my father’s mind and he was… cheating on my mum,” Vi said. “I was surprised. After everything they went through. My dad wanted to keep it a secret, but I couldn’t bare to watch him hurt my mum like without her knowing so I told her. One thing led to another, and my mother decided it would be better if we moved. I could read her mind, so it didn’t come to a surprise to me but…”

“I’m scared,” Vi said, squeezing my hand. “I don’t want to move. What if the people over there want to use me? What if the people over there know about my powers? What happens then? My mum is already torn up about this and I don’t want to add more to her plate. What if… What if…?”

“The future is terrifying,” I said.

“What?”

“The future is terrifying.” I turned to face Vi. “I spent my days, comfortable in my routine. Studying and studying to make sure I didn’t have any regrets for the future. Even the day before I died, I was studying. I… I had no idea I was going to die. If I had, if I did, I’d have called you. I’d have called you and told you how much I appreciated our friendship, I wouldn’t have studied as much. I’d have played a video game or ate something fancy or read a book that wasn’t biology for once. I… I used to think I was the only one who felt this way. Felt this dread for the future…” I chuckled. “I used to think my life would be so damn easy if I could read minds. That I’d know everybody’s intentions and I wouldn’t get hurt but now I see, I see that the future is terrifying…” I pulled Violetta closer. “Even for people who can read minds.”

At that, Violetta bawled. We hugged, her body shaking in my arms. I could feel her tears soak my clothes, feel her arms shake but I didn’t care. I was her rock, her tether. As she cried into my chest, I was reminded that I was her best friend. After she finished crying, she rested her head on my shoulder. I let her and we sat in silence.

“You’ll be okay, Vi,” I said, patting her hand.

It was at that moment I felt something warm. I looked down and saw my bracelet glowing. This time it wasn’t silver but purple. Purple sparks formed in the air until, finally they cleared and there was a purple gem on my bracelet in the shape of a flower.

I’d obtained my first gem, but I didn’t feel any sense of pride. I just felt sad that Violetta was leaving and that I didn’t know if I’d ever see her again.