From head to toe, all of me stood outside quivering and cursing at what I was doing to myself. I went ahead and checked the temperature outside before finishing my morning routine to leave. But even with the coat and a spirit of will, it was impossible not to freeze off in this 44oF weather. I kept trying to convince my brain that this new environment was a good thing, but the total lack of heat around me was a stronger motivator for my body to shiver and my skin to develop cold goose bumps.

I wasn't exactly thrilled to be this cold myself, but I had good reason for desiring this cold weather in the first place, a reason I chose to pursue once I was only twenty feet from the house enroute to the bus stop. I stopped in my steps, panning my face up to the sky and closing my eyes to try and concentrate again. Despite some lingering exhaustion, I tried my hardest to tap back into that telepathic power as I did before. The ability to contact Lumina was quickly becoming more familiar to me each time I went to activate the ability, and easier to use than the time before.

Being mentally alert was not as difficult with how cold it was outside either. There's just something about the cold that snaps my mind awake, even if it is initially uncomfortable. But it was not totally effective this time. At least to a small proportion, part of me was still asleep from the morning grogginess. So when I attempted to contact Lumina this morning, I really had to give it my all.

"Reed! That's what I was waiting for. Give me a sec to stabilize the connection." Lumina then took the few seconds she needed to ensure the connection would passively remain active. Apparently, it's possible for the two of us to talk to each other via telepathy without a perfectly stable connection, though it would be choppy and unstable, warranting her process.

"Hi Lumina," I greeted as my jaw got caught in another loud yawn. "Ugh. I'm still a little tired." Not only am I not a morning person, but these super early school times really make it more difficult for me to come alive again.

"That's okay... As long as you are doing well."

"I know. I'll be fine today." I really wasn't thrilled that seconds into our connection, Lumina would bring up such a rough topic, something I don't even want to think about right now.

"You sure? Because you did have another UAD attack last weekend."

I knew she wouldn't let it go so easily. UAD attacks; the bane of my existence since last month. If I get one at all, I'll enter a psychological rage attack from which there is no coming back from, until I collapse to the ground mostly paralyzed from the after-effects of one. "I told you, I'm fine. I know that I keep getting them, but I promise they are getting better now. All I have to do is keep my mind busy when I know I need to."

I let my assurances sink in, giving both of us some silence to consider how much has changed in such little time. I managed to get some critical advice from Laura not too long ago about what to do with these UAD onsets. The only thing I really need to do is keep my mind busy. The issue is determining a strategy for special, mentally stimulating projects I can work on when I am destined to get bored. I've been trying to come up with a few things, but it takes time. So naturally, I'm bound for a few more until I can get it together. Once I start on my new book, I can likely say goodbye to UAD forever. The thing is, I need Lumina to quit worrying about it too. "Luckily, I have you in my head. Most of the times it did happen, it was because you weren't there to keep me interested in anything. Of course, I'm working on launching something that will keep me busy even in your absence."

"Good. And in any case, I'm here with you now, and I'm always ready to share the day with you."

Just hearing her say that lifted my mood some more, since it reminded me of a profound principle to everything I've been experiencing lately. I let this sensation seep inside me, bringing me to a new level of awareness I craved since this morning. "The funny part to that is, we've actually been sharing our days in a literal sense. We go through life, talking to each other and hanging out, and not one person around me has a clue. Nobody else in the entire world has any idea that it's going on." By now, I was already at the bus stop, my footsteps taking me there while my mind remained busy with Lumina. Oddly enough, I could already hear the roar of the bus engine in the distance, proof it was arriving early today.

"I bet that makes you feel special."

I already warned myself in the past not to let this unique situation get to me this way. The last thing I wanted to be was more arrogant for having Lumina here in the first place... But the more I thought about it, the harder it was to avoid thinking that way. "I mean, it kind of does, because it's kind of true." Even if somebody calls it a hallucination, I still have something the rest of the world doesn't. I have the ability to talk to Lumina; no other human can do that right now but me. And ever since I've started trusting her more, that fact has only filled me with this empowering sensation of joy and righteousness.

"Be careful how you entertain the thought. Karma doesn't normally play nice."

"You don't actually believe in karma though." I knew this much from a previous small conversation I had with Lumina some time ago. The idea of whether karma really exists isn't entirely something I can be certain of, but Lumina doesn't believe in it at all. So I reminded her of that in gloat while the bus was opening its door at the sidewalk as usual, prompting me to follow it in.

"No, but others on Earth do. I'm sure if you let the thought go to your head, then—"

Lumina wasn't able to finish her sentence, because as I was stepping into the doorway of the bus behind everybody else, my shoe managed to slip, causing me to bump my bottom leg right into the metal corner below me. I wanted to unleash every curse word in the entire forbidden dictionary, but I had to keep my mouth shut since I was surrounded by everybody else, even though they noticed my tumble.

"Agh! Dammit Reed! That really hurt! Why must karma mock me now?!"

Struggling to get my balance proper again from the pain flooding to my left leg, I was just as quickly reminded that Lumina would feel any damage to my body at the same time, but I didn't care. I was the one hurting after all, the dent and bruise enough to swipe my good mood from me instantly. "That wasn't karma. That was dumb luck. Ouch!"

"Don't 'ouch' me! I'm the one who was hurt by that."

By now, I was practically limping over to an empty seat I could retreat to, the pain more noticeable long after the impact. But I was stunned to hear Lumina complaining about it more than I was. "Aren't you supposed to have tougher skin or something like that?"

"The pain signals are what get shared, idiot! You're the one who banged up your own leg, and you're not the one with scratchproof body armor."

Man, I'm really not in the mood to handle her crap today. "I'm sorry already. Man, can we just go to school right now?"

"Tell the bus driver, not me."

I knew of course that she was joking, but my mind actually decided to go there, simulating myself doing just that in an accelerated day-dream scenario. I wonder what kind of dumbfounded look I would receive if I walked up to the driver and told him to really step on it. Still, the optics weren't helping my shot mood as it normally would have. Lumina is the one who wants to hang out with me anyway, so she might as well make herself entertaining somehow. "Then sing a lullaby for me then. It's going to be a long thirty minute ride."

"A lullaby? You're on your own pal. I'm not a singer, so I'm not trying squat. But you can sing all you'd like."

"I know that already..." Here we go. The start of boredom is pretty rough for me, and Lumina isn't her playful self - shortly after some dumb incident of a bruise. "Just put Talor on then. I've already heard her sing once already. Now I'm convinced that she can take on all the world's singer champions combined, and blow them all out of the water." I really wasn't exaggerating her ability either. Talor really has the best singing voice that I've ever heard in all my life; it's totally incredible! "It's like some cool Altiri superpower that only she has."

"Well I'm thrilled that you love her voice, but I'm not setting up another three-way today. If I am to try it again, I want a better connection first."

She really has no idea that it would require the temperature to drop nearly to zero in my area to meet that prerequisite. Though since it hasn't happened yet, I am curious to see what would happen in a connection that powerful. Still, I was so bummed out by her rejection to the idea that I let out an annoying sigh. "So even if I blast good music in my ears, and sing inside my own mind, you really won't sing along with me?"

"Why would I? You know my voice just isn't good enough for that."

In all my time being with her, I never thought I would live long enough to see an Altiri alien be too embarrassed to let her singing voice be heard. It's weirder on top of the fact that telepathic singing has more freedom for vocal alteration, even though it is difficult. I've learned that I can alter the sound properties of my telepathic voice and even generate impossible sounds with my mind. But after I've gotten so used to talking psionically rather than vocally, it's more difficult now to modulate any change. Still, Lumina shouldn't be embarrassed to sing. I would be mortified if others heard me sing, but with Lumina, it's different. I know she won't judge me for my lack of skills, and she should know better by now that I would never judge her either. "How disappointing. My own friend doesn't want to sing with me. I've never complained about her voice before, yet now it's suddenly a problem."

"Stop it." Lumina tried to be monotone about by failed reverse psychology, but I could tell it got to her.

"Oh Lumina! Won't you come down to sing with me? Won't you sing with me tonight?" I really thought the fake singing would entice her to just go along with it for now, after I prepared my earphones into the music phone I used so much. Instead, I was met with several seconds of pure silence, realizing she wasn't having any of it. "Lumina!"

"Alright! Fine! Whatever!"

"Somebody's moody today." I had no idea why she was so insistent on not singing with me, but I figured it had to do with her aggressive temper, one that was uncalled for.

"You're the moody one. I can tell you aren't much of morning person."

Oh, how right she is about that last bit. I hate having to wake up to such grogginess each morning. Still, I'm not the one raising my voice here. "Oh, you think I'm bad now? Try me on a day I lose out on breakfast. My mood is worse than a UAD moment if that ever happens." It was only funny to think about in hindsight, but it was the truth. I don't understand why it matters to me so much, but I can't handle hunger when it happens in my early morning of the day. There were a couple of times I lost the chance to eat because I got up too late. I wasn't destroying everything around me, but I was still the most unpleasant person to be around, lasting all until I had a chance to eat something again. It really highlights the significance of that Snickers commercial for me. How does it go again? You're not you when you're hungry.

"God forbid you don't eat nine meals a day. You're lucky that your metabolism is lightning fast."

"Yeah, don't even try and call me fat. Besides, it's only breakfast I can't afford to skip. If I starve past any point of lunchtime, I'll be fine for the whole day."

"Alright munchies man. Just pick a song already."

At last, she's willing to sing with me. Getting Lumina to do something remotely outside of her comfort zone is never usually this challenging. Then again, I know I can be the same way at times. "Right. You already know this one." I activated the playlist on the red phone, getting it to buffer Halo by Beyoncé. I know it's kind of a random song to have on my favorites list, but I really like how her voice sounds singing this one specific song. After I let Lumina hear it for the thirtieth time, the song and lyrics started to grow on her too. It's currently the only song I have that we both like and know the lyrics to.

As soon as the song started, I heard no complaint from Lumina either. She knew the lyrics by at heart by now, making use of some kind of impressive short-term music memory that I didn't have access to. Aside from that, we both sang it together, over and over in our own space of thoughts, privately singing together even around everybody else. I relied on this to get me through transition of my next class.

"And that's when people finally rejected the idea, that the Earth was the center of our solar system." Not that much time in, and I was already stuck in another lecture for this class. But for this moment, I decided to pay it more attention, since the theme of Galileo and the solar system interested me more than the usual glamor.

"More like the center of anything. I swear, humans have been so selfish in their way of thinking throughout their history."

Already is Lumina chiming in, her previous mood deterioration still occurring even though I was doing better myself. "Yeah, well you have to remember that we all have less than one percent the life expectancy other Altiri do. You can't honestly believe that feeble humans like us have a chance to learn the mysteries of the universe with just the few years we have, do you? I mean, you consider people at the age of 200 legal adults in your world, back when kids were still being born. But out here, that age is at 18. Actually, it's still sixteen in some countries." If ever there is a reason for all the damage we cause as a species, I would have to blame it on our low life expectancy of all things.

"Yeah, I get that. But humans have proven that they are capable of learning from their own history. But after all this time, the society there is more inefficient than it should be."

"What do you want from me Lumina? I'm not the one who bred a bunch of idiots. And trust me, I'm surrounded by many every day. So I already know I would never approve of the current present." I don't know from where, but I remember this type of behavior, the idea that one can fix the entire world with their ideas or effort. But it isn't possible. Human nature is too terrible for that level of perfection.

"Sorry... I get a little upset when I have to hear about certain human individuals who became famous over stupid ideas."

The human brain can't possibly hold a candle to an Altiri brain. I know it, and she knows it. But why choose right now to be so bent out of shape about it? "Why though? It's not like either of us care about these famous individuals. I don't even think my teacher agrees with their concepts."

"It's just that, over many generations on your planet, lots of people get lucky for the wrong reasons. They lie, cheat, steal, or whatever it takes to get rich off that broken economy. Or they became famous over their legendary stupidity. Fortune and fame; those are factors that must be earned, not handed out on a silver platter."

"So then it's our standards you don't like?" I can't tell anymore if Lumina is genuinely upset, or if she's just blowing off some steam to fight boredom.

"Doesn't it piss you off, even a little? Just knowing how smart you are for your age, what you are capable of, and what you may not get in return, all because the people in charge of the planet are backwards?" I didn't interrupt her little rant, but I found it mildly odd that she would refer to the leadership of this world as one whole unit, when there are in fact many different nations separate from each other. "I hate to say it, but with our recent observations into the world, the human race is on this doomed path. Despite that, I want to still see you succeed above that somehow."

That's what this is about? I thought she might just be venting, but she's foreseeing something that I don't understand. If the human race really is doomed, it must be something horrible. But still, I can't care about stupid things like that. I have my own life to live, and that is right here and now. If something happens, it happens. "Yeah, well, if it all doesn't work out somehow, there is still always transperation." I still was not totally certain I would want transperation for myself after I die, but a second chance of life is better than no chance at all.

"Yeah, but we can worry about that after you get struck by lightning."

"Lightning? I always figured I would get hit by a car or die of a heart attack."

Sadly, Lumina wasn't in the same mild-joking mood that I was in. "There are really too many ways to die on your planet."

"Come on, that's nothing." I glanced all around the classroom, showing Lumina what I was passively observing around me, the horror that made my efforts of finding new friends worthless for the most part. "There's too many middle school clichés. Just look at them all. They're all gossiping about other people, playing around on their Facebooks, and probably cheating on their crushes." If there is any reason the world might end at all, I'd say this is it right here, all of these sleeping people.

"Well, at least you and I aren't into that. What we have is something better."

"Yeah, but why can't me and other people have that too? It really rots my day to constantly remind myself that I can never share all this information with anybody else." It's the paradox I've come to notice today. My progress with making new friends isn't exactly going south... But at some point, I'm going to have to tell somebody about this.

But what happens then? Will they laugh in my face or run away in terror? Will they be freaked out and think I'm the freak for hearing a voice in my head? The thing is, I can't really be best friends with somebody who can't at least accept that this is really happening to me. And if that means I can never tell anybody, I'll never-ever have any human friends in my life. There must be something I can do...

"Why would you want to?"

"Because I want more friends Lumina!"

"You can always talk to my sisters... Well, sort of."

"No, I can't always talk to them. You made that perfectly clear this morning. If we need such a powerful connection just to make that work, then the occasion will be so rare that it won't even matter. That's why I need to focus on making human friends." This burning hole in my heart, it's getting worse with each passing day. I might be getting smarter, but I'm not getting happier.

"Did something happen with the ones you already have?"

I really have to spell it out for her, don't I? "The opposite. Malica is still a bitch, Maddison is just weird and has no concept of personal property, Ashly has done more to avoid me lately, a feeling that is perfectly mutual, Laura isn't that interesting to talk to anymore cause she's always hanging out with those other friends of hers, and Zero is so impossibly shy, I haven't had a real conversation with her in the past two weeks!" Despite using my telepathic voice, I felt my whole body tensing with my reactions, while my breathing became rapid. I never knew this bothered me so much until I just said it, though I could never say something like that to anyone other than Lumina.

"I'm sorry Reed." Lumina really sounded apologetic and guilty about what I just let loose, while I tried to calm myself from my own rant. "But I see no possible way for them to understand any of this."

"Yeah, but I managed to believe you." Granted it took me a while, I believe in Lumina. So why is it physically impossible for everyone else to see what I can too? It really sucks!

"You did that only on a lot of faith."

"I did it based on what I know to be real, from my own perception of personal reality, remember?" That crazy conversation I had with Lumina about different and same realities nearly blew my mind, but after a few days, it all sank in pretty well. If Lumina isn't a real person, then all my entire life might as well be a lie, every single detail of it.

"Okay. So how do you share that entire sensory reality with the others around you?"

She has me there. Deciding I want to tell others the truth was easy. But finding out how to go about it was currently impossible. The only way it's possible for another to understand me is either to share my personal perception with them, (an ability I do not have), or to tell them all my life's story in full accuracy, which isn't as easy as it sounds with mere words. "I don't know."

"Well then you already know the outcome. That result will happen every single time no matter what. Without at least something that other person could go off of for evidence, your story to them is only as good as a conspiracy theory begging for attention."

The thought of that happening only ticked me off, even though I knew its probability was too high for comfort. But it also reminded me about the morality of someone who would judge me based on something I can't possibly control. "Well then I say, if that other person can't bring themself to believe me, then they don't really deserve my friendship in the first place. I refuse to believe that there isn't a single human in this entire sphere willing to listen to what I have to say and take it seriously, even if they end up believing in it with pure faith alone. All I want is one human friend to talk to when you aren't around."

"And I wish I could help you with that like I did before, when I was helping you get new friends. But I don't know where to start myself. With you, I had the leverage of the purge and our connective abilities to help convince you. But even with that, I knew you would have to take a leap of faith."

"Hrhngmmmmmm! Why can't other people just see what I see?" Why does it have to only be me? Why can't there be some way others can see or hear Lumina too? It's so unfair!

"Remember what I said about you being different from the other people? Well, this is one of those things I meant earlier."

"If that really is true, then you weren't really expecting to take a risk that I would decide never to call you again."

"Reed. The answer is?"

"Oh shit!" How long was I zoning out to talk to Lumina? I totally forgot that I was even in class by this point!

"Should have been paying more attention."

"I was paying attention. I just got bored and shut it all out..." Lumina, all things great and glorious, can you please give me the answer like you did before?

"Sorry Reed, I didn't hear the question either."

Well then I'm toast. I stood up from my desk, having no choice but to answer honestly without a clue to what was going on. "Uh, what was the question again?"

"I knew you weren't paying attention. I asked what the name and time era of the philosopher was, the one involving objective reasoning."

He's giving me a second chance! "Lumina? Do you know?"

"Not a clue."

"Seriously?!" She who would watch the entire world history has no clue to some easy question? I'm so busted!

"I don't pay attention to boring lunatics like that. Sorry to say, but whoever that guy was is hardly the first person to develop objective reasoning. I only worship Herios, inventor of just about everything we have here today."

She had to pick now of all times to stop caring... "Just great." "I don't know."

"I see," the teacher replied sternly. "Then you will learn all about it when I assign you pages eight through twenty for homework tonight." At that, some of the other students were laughing quietly, amused at the failure of somebody else as it was so random.

"Good luck with that Reed." Of course, she had that joking tone in her voice too, all to rub it in some more.

I sat back down, silently pouting to be assigned more homework like that. Little slip-ups like that didn't sit with me very well. "The jokes on him. Cause I'm not doing that." If all I have to do is learn about a boring philosopher, I can shortcut my way through this with an internet search or two. No need to make my night hell over something so trivial.

"James? No talking in class during my lesson. You should all be taking notes." The teacher was running a tight shift today, not letting anybody get away with the free-style chaos and gossip I observed earlier.

"Wow. We really hit home with that perspective concept."

What is she going on about now? Like I even had to ask. I understood a second later, after comparing James's situation to my own. "Yeah, this guy is so spoofed, he doesn't realize that from the very beginning of class, you and I have been chatting it up in secret while mostly ignoring him... Guess that means I was talking during class too." It's a weird superpower to have, especially to compare with everyone else. Nobody knows that I can talk passively during class without anyone noticing, let alone that I have telepathy to do it with in the first place. And even if everyone knew, they would be entirely powerless to stop it from happening.

"I would say you are exempt from those rules at your own cost, since nobody else knows that it's happening. Nobody can tell the two of us to shut up, so you won't have to take that kind of crap from anyone."

"I feel like that can just as easily backfire." It is an awesome ability to have, but it's virtually impossible for me to speak with Lumina and pay direct attention to what somebody else in front of me is saying simultaneously. I have to shut one out to hear the other.

"How so? Would you rather listen to weirdoes in wizard hats and other creeps of the human era? Or would you rather learn more about the scientific advances of the Altiri world?" I felt like she might be joking, since my last attempt to learn about quantum teleportation went so poorly.

Then again, the only reason I find some of that stuff amazing is because I have something to compare it to. "Actually, I would rather learn about both, and then do a comparison."

"Okay... Not sure what comparison you will be able to make though."

She's grown a little too comfortable being the superior species. I'll have to knock her off that pedestal one of these days. Of course, all of this made me remember something from earlier. "You know what, I just realized something."

"What?"

On second thought, I probably shouldn't say that to her. I felt myself blush just thinking about the mere concept of it. With my ability to secretly communicate with Lumina, if I applied that concept to the rest of the world population, everybody's dirty secrets would be exposed just like that. But it wouldn't just be conversations to be different; it would be the entire interaction chain. I hesitated for longer than I wanted to before letting Lumina know I changed my mind. "Never mind."

"What is it? Don't just 'never mind' me like that."

"No, it's really not that important." I need Lumina to forget about it. It would be a little too awkward if I started bringing up things like that, even in a hypothetical manner.

"Darn! You're smart enough not to think about it out loud."

Was she really trying to snoop my brain just now? "You actually thought I didn't learn my lesson by now?" It's the one sanctuary of privacy I have, the ability to mute most of my other background thoughts so that Lumina doesn't know everything I'm thinking.

"Yeah right. 'Good Girls Gone Wild' wasn't on your mind, but I still figured you went there last night too."

Just hearing that from her made my entire body cringe from the memory. I can't believe she's actually bringing up that awkward moment of a recent memory. "I never should have showed you that site in the first place." I didn't mean for her to see my internet activity to begin with, but sometimes, especially in a telepathic connection, such embarrassing accidents can happen.

A little more than a week ago, I accidently showed Lumina more of me than I was proud to. It was during my homework assignment. She didn't phase the connection out that day, and since I was so in the zone, I kind of forgot her presence was there in the first place. So, like any human would do more than ten times a day, I went to relive myself in the bathroom. And Lumina happened to just start paying attention through my eyes again at the wrong place at the wrong time. It was only a brief second of her watching me take a pee in the bathroom, but when we both realized what happened, I did my best to flush it from my mind. Sadly, the more awkward or embarrassing moments we want to forget seem to become the stronger memories.

Okay, that's not too bad. But the other day, I found a new website to experiment with. When I'm done with all my homework, sometimes I want to relax in a different way. I'm a fourteen year old guy, so I know others do this too, they just don't talk about it is all. It's not unnatural for me to get on my laptop and find those new websites that excite me. At the time, Lumina had the connection totally phased out, so I figured I was not going to get the drop in from her abruptly.

How wrong I was! The thing a about a phased connection is that there is no warning sign or way to tell when one of us is bringing it out of phase. It can be so abrupt that I won't even register a change in how the connection feels. I never did it on purpose, but I accidently subjected Lumina to such a sight. With my eyes buried deep into countless galleries of hot naked babes online, and one hand stuck in my boxers, that surprised "Oh" I heard from her stuck in my head like an infinite nightmare!

Yep. I got caught looking at something I shouldn't have by none other than my best friend, who reacted in just about every way I would have expected her to. I of course put the laptop away afterwards, the horny mood destroyed by that one moment. For the rest of that entire night, we couldn't speak to each other normally. Man, just thinking about it again is making my face melt down!

"What's the big deal? It's something all guys do anyway, right? You're already at the age anyway."

She must be out of her mind. It's bad enough she had to bring it up again, but I'm feeling worse now considering she doesn't seem to fully understand what she saw, since she isn't a human like the rest of us. "Do you not even understand the concept of internet porn? I'm not sharing what those sensations are supposed to feel like with you."

On that same night, Lumina was a little more curious about the situation than she was freaked out, which only made it worse for me. I absolutely refuse any thought of explaining it to her, let alone showing her how it works through telepathy.

"Oh... Sorry, I must have mislead you with what I said earlier. It's actually not possible to transfer that specific feeling in telepathy. But you already know that, right?"

"Why are we talking about this? Wait... It's not?" It had been on my mind for some time at least, and was partially what I evaded from her. I figured something as embarrassing as an orgasm would transfer through telepathy, but am I wrong to think that?

"It's not. Getting horny is a hormonal sensation only, not an emotional one. Therefore, I wouldn't be able to experience your orgasm, or the other way around."

How can she just say something like that so casually? Man, I do not need to be thinking about this right now. "... I'm really glad that we are friends. Because if we weren't, I would be incredibly disturbed right now."

"Good... Want to keep talking about it?"

"Hell no!" I've had enough of that already. I'm amazed she can dive into that topic without any issue.

"Good..." Her attempt to close the book on the subject didn't go too well when neither one of us came up with anything else to add. But I recognized this silence as something else.

"We are so totally bored."

"Yeah. Totally."

"I hate school sometimes." At least we can both relate to this universal fact. If only they would teach more interesting subjects...

"Yeah, but you've got to admit. Some of the things they teach are fun to make fun of in person." She says that like I'm supposed to be her personal spokesperson down here on earth.

"Well then let's find something to make fun of when class is over." Lumina just as soon agreed with me, but it was a long wait for the remaining dozen minutes on the clock. Most of that time felt longer because of what was now on my mind. I tried to flush out the last conversation I had with Lumina, but that was easier said than done. The only thing I could do now was to replace one topic with a more interesting one.