The sound of a screeching panda blared in my room, waking me up.

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.

I stretched my limbs to wake myself up. As usual, I fell asleep floating in the middle of my room. In fact, sleeping that way was so comfortable for me that I didn’t bother keeping a bed in my room.

I situated myself, rotating to stand the floor, and glanced out the window, seeing the sheet of snow that had built up on the street while I slept.

I shrugged. School waited only for the sick, so I began to get dressed.

I replaced my pajamas with jeans and threw on a baggy blue sweater I bought from some Antarctic cruise ship. Though, maybe it was a tad too baggy, as it sagged in embarrassing places if I floated the wrong way.

My room was pretty 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, which grew in large pots around the room. 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 pretty overgrown, which I absolutely adored.

Oh, and before we take it for granted that I won’t explain my...floating, I guess I need to mention that I’m a psychic of the strongest kind. I, obviously, have flight and telekinesis, but I can do way more things than just that. People like me are typically referred to as super psychics.

Though the ‘science’ term for my kind would be ‘Psychulis Ulti’, which sounds cooler because its Latin.

And, since I’m on the topic of things that start with ‘Psych’, I’ll address my name.

My name is Psychi.

A testament to the theory that parents get silly ideas when their babies start to float.

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

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

In the room, my younger brother, Jeremy, 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, black winter coat, and a cute black beanie.

I think he was just in that phase.

The main room had all the necessities for living. Our home was what I’d call...economical, meaning there was just a 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 imitation walls, which made it homey despite being basic.

“Hey, bro,” 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 ‘sis’” he said sarcastically. ‘See? Right on cue.’

Yeah, kinda important: I read the minds of anyone I’m focusing on without even trying. I can control it simply by not focusing on someone, but it would be a bit awkward to not focus on people I’m in a conversation with. 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. “If you’re asking what I’m up on, its my chair.” ‘high horse’ doesn’t really work in this situation, unfortunately.’

“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?”

“Yeah, suuure. I wonder if I’ll have to deal with more of your friends asking if I’m a psychic too.” ‘Well, not ‘friends’. That was a slip-up, but I’m sure she-’

“‘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 psychic.’”

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

“So? Are you going to eat, or will you keep boiling that forever?”

“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 some stand-up comedian’s routine on his phone while I finished readying up for school.

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

He slid off his chair and sauntered after me. “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.

I couldn’t make other people fly the same way I could, unfortunately. While my flight was more like directed gravity, my telekinesis was a force similar to buoyancy. It is comfortable, yes, but not the apex of comfort like zero-gravity is.

No, I don’t think I will stop praising how comfortable flight is. I couldn’t imagine being weighed down by gravity all the time!

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

People have a ‘Psi-negation field’ centered around them, generated by their brains, 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.

We flew through the snow at a hundred meters a second, or for you uncultured Americans, 200 mph. Not too fast, not too slow, you know?

Sorry, that’s obviously really fast, I’m just playing dumb.

Through the equivalent of muscle memory, materialized an oval, invisible barrier centered around me that kept the warm air in and the cold, 200mph snow out. I typically refer to this barrier as another of my powers: the psychic barrier.

Psychic Barrier: I can make a perfectly oval-shaped barrier that keeps things both in and out.

Jeremy boredly 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 to me offhand.

“Sure.”

My town never looked impressive from above. Most of the houses were spread out by a dozen meters, and so even though the roads weren’t used all that often, they were really well-paved.

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 to move to a different house in a less densely populated location, far from the city where my school was. Thankfully, moving was hardly an issue for me.

About eight minutes later, the city came into full view.

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

“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, I do get teased occasionally.’

“Oh, well, that’s good to hear!”

We descended to the school grounds, and when I set him down, he spoke like normal again, stretching. “Hey, sis...you’re still going to school, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Why?”

“Well, that’s what you do,” I said.

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 20, and among them, I was pretty powerful.

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

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

I could hear the underlying thought, one he both didn’t and did want to communicate to me: ‘but I think you don’t believe that.’

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

Uncertain, I said, “I...I won’t.”

I arrived at my high school, which was basically just down the block, and floated in along with the other students. The school was filled with narrow halls, restricting my movement so I couldn’t maneuver them with any fancy acrobatics. It annoyed me.

I tended to get sideways glances from the people in school since most of them were curious, but at the same time, they avoided my eye contact in the hall, superstitiously thinking it would stop my mind-reading.

As I shuffled through the crowd, I saw my friend, Emma, walking down the hall, and waved to her.

She ignored me, emptying her thoughts to avoid my boring mind. M-maybe she was just thinking about something secret...that I somehow didn’t already know. Surely she wasn’t still angry at me because of my little slip up the other day...?

We passed without interacting.

I tended to get exemplary grades during school. That was, not to brag or anything, due to my high I.Q. Though, seriously, being a psychic, particularly of the ‘super’ kind, tends to mean you think differently than other people, in some critical way. I, personally, didn’t know what that ‘critical difference’ was, though.

Though, regardless of how smart I was, class was boring. That’s normal for the average person, but, like, smart people tend to like school, right? Either way, I aced most subjects -the notebooks I kept in my basket were filled with more doodles than notes.

Aside from my performance, being in class was really annoying. If I ever happened to focus on someone too much, they sometimes resorted to threatening to tell me embarrassing secrets, as if they were some weapon. It could only be described as annoying.

Rather unsurprisingly, nobody cared to be around a mind-reader...

Perhaps, if school wasn’t a breeze, filled with passive-aggressive people who wanted nothing to do with me(of which included some teachers), and, well, if school wasn’t school I could’ve liked it to some degree.

Which begged the question...why did I bother? School was optional after sixteen in Canada, and even if it weren’t, the law didn’t exactly apply to living weapons of mass destruction, like myself.

Because...I felt like it?

Or maybe I was just afraid...

At the end of biology class, I went to lunch.

For lunch, I walked outside the school, then blasted off to a hot dog stand in the park about 2 miles away. After about ten seconds of flying, I landed beside the stand. As was our normal ritual, the person at the stand, Lylah, had a few hot-dogs prepared for me. I quickly threw her a twenty then zipped back to the school to consume my wonderful meal.

I carried it to my usual seat(telekinetically, you can assume) and waited for Emma to show up. I didn’t want to think that she’d duck out on me from something so small, which I didn’t even do on purpose...

She never came.

Fed up with waiting for her, I used another of my psychic abilities.

Recognition: the ability to recognize and organize the presence of minds nearby.

In other words, I took attendance, locating everyone near the school. Emma was outside the building for some reason. It was pretty cold outside, so she must have been desperate...

I wonder why.

I wasted no time following her, finding her sitting against the back of the school, alone. Where was her boyfriend? He tended to cling to her pretty hard, which made me jealous to think about, but...concerned me.

“Emma!” I yelled, floating to her.

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? Apology? “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 to remain a passive 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 heart. “Bye...I guess.” I stepped behind the corner, then dropped to the ground on the spot, hidden from 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, almost breaking the sound barrier in my haste before I slowed, maintaining my speed 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 psychic girl’, ‘the person who violates your privacy’, or...’Psychi’...but never ‘me’.

Just a psychic, not anything else.

I was so open because 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.

I guess nobody appreciated it.

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

As 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 seventy-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. Those psychics repulsed me.

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

There was only one super psychic I respected, but, as much as I looked down on the other psychics...how could I know I was any different?

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, they 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 wanted to talk to someone. I wanted to talk to Parkarka.

I flew away from the mountain, back towards my home.

I pulled out my phone as I flew and texted ‘tribal madwoman’ in my contacts.

‘I want to talk right now. Do you have time?’

After a few minutes of flying, she texted me back.

‘Is something the matter?’

I responded: ‘No, I just want to talk a bit.’

‘Then I can do that! Where do you want to meet?’

Uhh, maybe the Eiffel tower or something? No, that was too public... ‘what’s a quiet, beautiful place?’

‘I may know a place. Wait at my home.’

She was always so nice...

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