Chapter Text
Heather didn’t care about the stares coming her way from the people around her on the street due to how loud her music was playing. Sure, she was wearing headphones, but from the volume the music was being played, probably anyone within a ten foot distance would be able to hear it as well.
That was because Heather’s music was turned up to a hundred percent. She had grown accustomed to the loud noise blaring into her ears, but the fact that the noise was music she liked helped a lot.
Either way, Heather paid no mind to the people looking at her due to her music. If she had to deal with all their noise, then the least they could do was deal with hers.
Heather had a special gift, as her mom liked to call it. Heather didn’t see it as a gift at all. It was more of a hindrance that made her life harder than it had to be.
In movies, heroes who were able to read minds would often be shown to be of great use, due to their supernatural ability. They would be able to learn the plans of the villain without the villain having to orally state what it was, and just the general use of having easy access to information that would normally be difficult to get.
But Heather was no hero. Despite that, she still had her own villains to face. The biggest villain Heather had to face was her own misfortune, and there was no way for her to get rid of that misfortune either.
She doesn’t understand why she, of all people, had to be cursed with this ability. It was not something she had ever asked for, and if the universe thought it would be nice to give some young girl powers, why not give her a more convenient power instead of something as bothersome as the power to read minds?
The worst part was that she was unable to control it either. As long as there were people, there would be thoughts, because people always have something on their minds, whether or not they want to say them outloud.
It started when Heather had just turned seven, and she was suddenly able to hear all her classmates' voices at the same time, even though none of their mouths were moving.
It was distressing, and nobody could understand exactly what it was that Heather was experiencing because it was hard for a seven year old to put into words everything she was hearing, because there was never a quiet moment that gave her the time to think and process everything that was going on.
When she was taken home, she was finally able to hear nothing and Heather just burst out crying harder than she ever did that day. Her mother came rushing in and while she was speaking, Heather could hear other words that her mother wasn’t even saying.
They soon figured out that Heather did have the ability to read minds. Heather’s mother decided to keep it to themselves, because she didn’t want her daughter to be subjected to having to go to hospitals everyday so people could examine her.
If people found out about a child being able to read other people’s thoughts, then Heather would live under the scrutiny of so many people and Heather would no longer live a quiet life, literally and figuratively.
Her mom knew that raising a child would be hard, but no parenting guide had ever prepared her on how to raise a child who had supernatural abilities. Still, she stood by her daughter and did the best she could so Heather could live the most normal life she possibly could.
Over the course of time, Heather learned to tune out all the voices, but just because things slowly became easier didn’t mean that they ceased to be difficult.
Public places were the hardest for Heather, but she just stayed home as much as possible and avoided going outside altogether.
Her and her mother tried homeschooling at first, but because of Heather’s ‘gift’, she could see how hard it was for her mother as well. Having to balance a job and being responsible for the education of your child when you’re a single mother was way too much for Heather’s mom to take on alone.
With much convincing, Heather was placed back into the school system. She jumped from two different schools, but by the third one, Heather’s mom had decided that it was the place for Heather to stay. It was hard, being surrounded by a bunch of kids and having to deal with the onslaught of voices in her head wherever she went for over eight hours a day.
But Heather figured that getting used to it was better than not experiencing it at all and having to deal with the worst in the little times she does.
Thankfully, the world had music. If there wasn’t any music in the world, then Heather probably wouldn’t be as sane as she was now. It didn’t completely block everything out, but it gave something for Heather to focus on. Weirdly enough, the louder the music, the quieter everything was.
Focusing on a specific set of words in the lyrics of the songs she listens to made it easier for all the other voices to fade in the background. It was something her mom thought of for her. Heather even has a big collection of old and broken mp3 players she’s gone through sitting in a box under her bed.
Soon enough, the school started coming into view and Heather knew that she would have to turn her music off. Bringing phones to school was allowed, but they’d have to turn it in to the school’s office. They were only allowed to get it back at the end of the school day, and Heather prefers keeping her phone on her.
The school always tries to scare everyone into thinking they do random searches of their bags, just to see if they could catch anyone who didn’t surrender their phone to the office. But everyone knew by now that it was nothing but a bluff, since the only time the staff and teachers searched their bags was if somebody was caught.
This time of the day was usually the loudest seeing as nearly everyone in school was in the halls, trying to get the things they needed for the day and lingering with their friends before the time for classes came.
When Heather realized that everyone just thought about the same things everyday, the easier it became to ignore everyone because there was nothing new. Not like she was listening out to hear any particular gossip or anything.
In fact, Heather didn’t care at all about all the drama going around the school. At first, it was interesting, hearing about the exciting lives of her classmates and every new thing going around. But as time passed by, it felt like everything was just repeating itself.
It was always the same old story with each and every one of these people, and the more Heather listened, the more depressing being around these people became.
So no, Heather would rather not hear about some upperclassman cheating on his girlfriend with someone from another school over her music. The drama that went around Westerberg High was like a broken record and Heather prefers listening to actual music.
Of course, there were times Heather was forced to stop the music and be obligated to hear everyone’s thoughts, whether she wanted to or not. That time came when the bell rang, signalling for everyone to start leaving the hallways and start entering their respective classrooms.
Some might think that Heather would be an honor student since she basically had the power to cheat by tuning into people’s thoughts and getting answers from them. But no, Heather was still an average student, teetering on the edge of falling into below average.
Trying to figure out which questions her classmates were on was hard when she had to deal with all of them at once. There were also the occasional people crying in their own heads which seemed to be louder than the other thoughts.
Focusing on her own test was near impossible since she couldn’t have any silence to actually think about finding the answers to questions when nobody could shut up their own thoughts.
Add that to the list of reasons why reading minds is the worst power in the world. Maybe if she had some control over it and if she was able to pick and choose which thoughts she’d want to read, Heather would actually take advantage of it.
The teacher walked in and the music stopped. Heather forced herself not to sigh as she took off her headphones and set them aside so she wouldn’t get in trouble.
Most of the teachers knew about Heather keeping her phone and mp3 players in class, but they let her get away with it. Heather wasn’t disturbing class, encouraging her classmates to bring their phones, or using it to cheat. The teachers were especially sure about that last part since Heather’s grades have been consistently average and bad. As long as Heather was discreet about it and didn’t take advantage of it, they’d let her get away with keeping her phone.
“Alright, class, pay attention.” Ms. Fleming, Class C’s adviser and values teacher for year eleven and ten, called out while clapping her hands to get her students’ attention.
“We have a new student joining our class today. She wasn’t able to join on the first day, so make sure you guys help her keep up! She was previously homeschooled and this is her first time attending an actual school. I want all of you to make her feel welcome and show her what it’s like here at Westerberg, okay?” The class replied back, some enthusiastically and some in the regular monotone voices they used whenever replying to a teacher.
All of a sudden, it was like everyone’s thoughts all became louder than they already were. Heather rubbed at her eyes and gritted her teeth, considering making up some excuse so she could head to the nurse’s office for some silence.
But she could only go to the nurse’s office so much in a week before teachers started realizing how weird it was for Heather to always be going to the nurse’s office.
The teacher went over to the class’s door, stepping out of the room for a quick second, seemingly talking to someone outside. It didn’t take long for Ms. Fleming to come back, her smile looking wider than it did before she exited the room.
“Class, I’d like you all to meet your new classmate.” She said, stepping to the side and facing the door with an expectant look on her face.
A girl, about average in height, with short brown hair entered the room, her head slightly tilted down. She was holding onto a notebook, her fingers fiddling as her grip would occasionally tighten and loosen with each step she took.
When she took the place of where Ms. Fleming was previously standing, front and center of the class, the students of Class C marveled at the pretty and new face before them.
The girl was quite frail for someone in their junior year of high school. If it wasn’t for her height, she could easily be mistaken as a middle schooler.
Her cheekbones were defined and outlined her face beautifully, though it was hard to determine whether that was just the girl’s natural beauty or because of how thin she was. The timid smile on her face and the nervousness in her eyes made this sense of innocence radiate off of her.
Despite being a new face in a sea of people who were already familiar with one another, it wasn’t very hard for everyone to want to know more. This girl wasn’t really the intimidating type, and everyone had a sense that there were harder things in the world than approaching this new girl.
“Would you like to introduce yourself?” Ms. Fleming asked the girl with a smile.
Realizing the teacher was referring to her, the girl nodded and took out a pen from her pocket, scribbling something onto the notebook she was holding. She stared at it for a moment, thoroughly overlooking everything she wrote in fear of making any sort of mistake, before gathering the courage to turn it around and show the class what she had written.
“My name is Veronica Sawyer.” Heather almost rolled her eyes from how many people in the room repeated the name over and over again in their own head.
“Students! Quiet, please, you’ll overwhelm her!’ Ms. Fleming said, clapping her hands to grab the class’ attention. It didn’t take very long, but the excitement was still very much there.
“Now. Veronica, would you like to explain to the class why you need to speak through your notebook?” Ms. Fleming asked and Veronica nodded once more, flipping her notebook back around and flipping over to the next page since she had to write in big letters so everyone in the class could read what she wrote.
“I have Apraxia. I’m mute.” It took a while longer for Veronica to show this. Telling a room full of strangers about your speech disorder the second you meet them was a bit more unnerving than telling them your name.
Heather would like to make fun of her classmates for all collectively not knowing what Apraxia is, but Heather didn’t know either. She was just as clueless as the rest of them, and she’d be lying if she said that she wasn’t curious about what this girl’s disorder was.
“I’m gonna save you from all the writing, dear. Is it okay if I explain it to them instead, or would you like to?” Ms. Fleming asked.
Veronica’s eyes widened a bit before nodding her head frantically, stepping a side and gesturing her hand to the empty space from where she stood. Ms. Fleming nodded thankfully to Veronica before stepping back to where she usually stood.
“Apraxia makes it harder for Veronica to form words in the way we can. We’re able to subconsciously speak without any effort, but in some special cases, trying to coordinate our muscles to make us speak can be very difficult. Veronica is one of those cases and writing out what she wants to say is just easier for her to do.”
Heather almost didn’t catch the way Veronica’s nose scrunched up after being referred to as a ‘special case’ by Ms. Fleming, but she noticed it at the last moment. She doesn’t blame the girl for doing so. Even she would be revolted if she were ever referred to as something like that just because she was different.
“So make sure you all make Veronica feel right at home here!” The class replied in unison once more in response to Ms. Fleming.
“Alright, Veronica, why don’t you go take a seat next to Maria over there?” Ms. Fleming said, pointing over to the unoccupied chair near the center of the room.
Maria, the girl Ms. Fleming was referring to, was quick to remove her bag from the empty chair as Veronica started approaching. She greeted the girl with a hello and a bright smile as Veronica sat down. Looking shocked from such a welcome reaction from a stranger, Veronica shook her head before returning the smile.
She quickly wrote something down onto her notebook before turning it to show the girl. It simply read ‘Hello!’ back in reply to the girl’s greeting.
Heather couldn’t bring herself to become very thrilled about the new student, nor interested in general since now, all she could hear was everyone thinking about the new face. Veronica’s been here for less than a minute and Heather has already heard enough about her.
She was seated across the room and a row behind Heather, so Heather couldn’t properly hear Veronica’s thoughts. Heather wasn’t necessarily trying to hear Veronica’s thoughts over the rest, but she couldn’t help but wonder if a mute girl had a voice even if it’s in her head.
That was something Heather had never encountered before, someone that didn’t have a voice. So while she wasn’t curious about Veronica as a person, she was curious about what could be a limit to her ability. But alas, the voices of the people who genuinely were curious seemed to be stronger than any curious bone in her body.
Subconsciously, Heather ran her hands through her hair and buried her head in them for a second from frustration. She rubbed at her eyes using her fingers before resting her head onto her desk. It was something she always tried to do to ease the pounding voices in her head, but it never worked. She still did it, though, and each time, she would just disappoint herself.
The day continued on and Heather pushed through all the noise, despite it all being a little louder than usual. It was nothing that she couldn’t handle. Of course, it was always going to be a hindrance, but Heather likes to think of this as some sort of training for an end goal she’s been waiting to achieve.
That end goal would be hearing so much noise in her day to day life, that the noise would be Heather’s own form of silence. So even if the voices were louder that day, Heather forced herself to remain patient. Maybe one day, she could consider noise like this as something akin to air conditioning humming in the background.
Their break came around with the sound of the bell ringing throughout the school. The teacher went overtime for a bit, but at some point, the class president reminded them that class was over.
Some started heading straight out of the classroom so they could get a good spot in line at the cafeteria despite the delay, some took their time to fix their things before leaving, while others simply stayed in the room so they could eat the food that was prepared for them beforehand by their parents.
Heather was one of those people who stayed in the classroom to eat instead of going out to eat in the cafeteria, for obvious reasons. It was always quieter in the classroom during lunch and recess, since almost everyone preferred to eat outside after spending hours cooped up in the same classroom all day.
Whether it be in the cafeteria, in the gardens, the rooftop, sometimes even the gym, the classrooms were usually always the most empty during break time. They were only ever occupied by certain friend groups that liked to be free to do whatever they wanted without being under the judgemental eyes of too many other students.
Of course, there was no escaping the thoughts of other people when Heather always found herself in the company of at least one other person in any room she was in, but it was a nice change after enduring hours of non stop voices in her head.
It wasn’t any different from overhearing conversations from people who talked loudly while in the presence of others. Heather could also hear the thoughts of people who would pass by the classroom, but it was like hearing the sound of a car speeding past you. It’s loud when it’s near, but the sound fades quickly once it gets farther away.
Heather was able to hear one particular conversation when everyone was just starting to disperse from the room.
“Veronica, would you like to sit with us? Also later at lunch too.” Maria, the girl who was sitting next to Veronica, asked while her friends stood behind her and nodded along.
Veronica’s face lit up at the question as she quickly scribbled something down onto her notebook. Heather glanced over for a second out of pure curiosity, but she was unable to see what was written due to the angle of where she was sitting.
‘People here are so nice!” Heather couldn’t focus on the naivety of the comment. She was far too distracted by the voice she had just heard, or lack thereof.
Heather instantly knew that the source of this thought was from Veronica, as the thought didn’t have a voice at all. It was as if Heather was just reading words on paper. There was no voice coming from Veronica’s thought process, though Heather could hear it loud and clear.
It wasn’t something Heather could properly describe, she just didn’t understand enough about it to describe it in detail. The thoughts weren’t portrayed in a monotone voice, a robotic voice, it wasn’t high pitched or low pitched. There was just no voice at all.
But still, Veronica’s thoughts were being dictated in her mind which gave Heather the ability to know what she was thinking. It made Heather wonder if people simply used their own voices to convey the thoughts in their head. Still, it was interesting, hearing the thoughts of a girl with no voice.
It was similar to seeing a person in your dreams, and when you wake up, you remember everything about that person, except for their face. Heather almost wanted to get up and follow that group just so she could confirm her own thoughts about this by hearing more of Veronica’s thoughts.
Almost.
Following Veronica means going straight into a crowd of people. Even if Heather’s curiosity got the best of her, following her would be fruitless since trying to look out for a voice that didn’t exist in a sea of voices, trying to be louder than the next, would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
So, Heather stayed put, confident that there would be more opportunities to hear the voiceless thoughts of Veronica Sawyer. It was only her first day after all.
And she was correct. Heather was able to listen to Veronica’s thoughts from afar whenever she had the opportunity to hear hers among the many others. She learned that while there was no distinct voice to put to the thoughts, there were still emotions that Heather could pinpoint on whatever Veronica was thinking about.
Heather was able to tell whether or not Veronica was thinking particularly happy thoughts, sad thoughts, and others of the sort. Another thing she was able to discover was that despite having no voice, there was volume to Veronica’s thoughts.
Similar to everyone else, whenever Veronica got excited or felt any sort of strong emotions, her thoughts would be amplified over the rest. It was why Heather disliked going to events involving a large number of people.
Not only were there so many thoughts entering her head at once, but everything was much louder than it usually was due to people being excited and such.
One thing Heather had to learn the hard way was that Veronica was an easily excitable person. If ever someone talked to Veronica, or even smiled at her, she would light up like a firework in a pitch black sky. In retrospect, it may seem nice, but all Heather could think about was how loud it was.
Normally, Heather wouldn’t care, but Veronica’s thoughts stood out greatly from the rest, simply because of how different they were from everyone else’s. So despite Heather’s curiosity being piqued, she was unable to escape the never ending thoughts of Veronica Sawyer.