I did not have to wait long for the phone call to come through. The ringtone was the same as my morning alarm, one day I’ll get sick of it enough to change it. “Hi Stuart.” His heavy breath came through the other end before he said anything. He did have the tendency to walk around more than most. I could imagine the heat wasn’t doing him any favours.
“You all right Gareth?” I was tempted to quit on the spot. The number of times I had Stuart say something that could be sarcastic or not was too many. Context gave no clue, and he had tonal indication that he might be sarcastic. The times I took him sarcastically when he was serious made me give up on ever thinking he was never serious.
“I hit my head, but I’ll live. I was going to head home before all this.” There was a point at the start of my career where I would say things I want others to hear. That alone has caused me more grief than I can count.
“Go for it, let me know how it goes.” I hung up on him before I changed my mind about him again. The back and forth with him if he was a dickhead or not always left me with a headache.
I was on the couch staring at the wall of year 12 group ball photos. My mind drifted as I traced a seam on the couch arm. The feeling of the stitch was reminiscent of the stitch I used to trace on my school jacket. My vision blurred, thoughts of stitching and relaxing flew out of my mind.
I was standing next to a staff member consoling a year 12 boarding student on the couch where I was sitting. Tears were running down her cheeks, her makeup was ruined and staining the white dress she was wearing. I wanted to put a hand on her shoulder to console her. But all too suddenly it was over.
My vision blurred again, and it was all back to normal. I was getting sick and disoriented with feeling of displacement. The pain on my forehead pulsed with my increased heartbeat. “Fuck.”
With the recent experience my eyes focused on the one Frame that held a group of year twelves in front of the boarding house. All the rest was at a venue. As I looked closer, I saw her, smiling brightly with her peers, graduated in 2017. I was starting to wonder if my stress was manifesting as hallucinations. I was up on my feet to have a closer look.
“It’s a shame what happened that year. Samantha was most excited to go. Her dress was ripped as she sat on a pair of scissors someone left on the couch.” That was Sara, the boarding house receptionist. She came to a stand next to me. Her hand reached up and pointed at the girl from the vision.
“It must have been difficult to miss out on such an important event.” I regretted going to my own high school ball. I could recognise the importance of it though.
“That was the first issue that night, her boyfriend skipped out on her after all that. This photo was the only one we had of the whole cohort.”
“I’m sure she is some influential person in the world. This school seems to make a lot of successful women.” Sara smiled and turned to me. “HR manager in Melbourne. How is your forehead?”
I turned to her with a raised eyebrow. “You tell me, I haven’t seen a mirror yet.” I reached up and felt the growing lump on my forehead. It was going to bruise for sure.
“Almost like Rudolf.” I laughed as I took out my phone to look at it. The camera blurry for a second before I cleaned it. And staring me straight in the eye through the camera lens was the nastiest red bump I have ever seen. “Uber it is for the next week. I’m not stepping out of the house for a single second.”
“Hopefully that big brain doesn’t get effected too much. My email might be tempted to act up.” I rolled my eyes as I put my phone away.
“I think it’s time I head home before that happens.” I pocketed my phone and nodded at Sara. She waved lazily before she turned to the printer nearby. I was out before I was really needed.
The walk was slow and apprehensive as I approached the car again. My hand was hesitant as I touched the door handle. My hand pulled back in fear like a shock would get me when I least expected it. It was after the second tap that I got the confidence to open the door.
When I was finally in the car, I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. My hand again tested the wheel. There wasn’t any blurring, no disorientation. Just an idiot behind the wheel. I took it with purpose and pulled out of the car park.
I wouldn’t bore you with the rest of the ride home. It was loud with some random playlist from YouTube music. The ride was long, fifty minutes on a good day. An hour and a half on a bad one. I was in hurry to leave work, but I didn’t mind taking my time to get home.
The fourth time it happened I almost spilled coffee on my home setup. The mug in my hand was textured in a way that had me running my fingers over the dimples. I was about to sit down and have a relaxing time when my vision blurred again. I was watching myself from the doorway.
The exact same mug was on my desk. The excitement of me playing games has left me unaware of the coffee mug placement. The feeling was as terrifying as it was on the day it happened. My hand flew forward to get the mug of coffee for a sip. I reached to far thinking it was just a few centimetres further than it was. It felt like slow motion as the mug spilled cheap instant coffee on my very nice keyboard.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I was on the verge of tears at my streak of bad luck. My sight blurred again as I returned to the real world, I had manly tear of happiness as I saw the mess was now on the floor and not on my keyboard. I had just replaced it.
“This sucks.” I was back to the kitchen for a new coffee and a towel. Psychometry was last on my list of powers I wanted, but at least I got something. Beggers can’t be choosers.
Of course I was going to abuse this. The only moral quandary I can see with this power is if I should or shouldn’t scam people with it. Of course not, the time it takes to scam a person would take way too long.
I was going to have fun with it, secure a future for myself. Maybe impress some men with it. I didn’t need to be a billionaire thief. Just a comfortable thousandaire for life.
With a new coffee in hand and an idea, I was at my desk looking for any nearby pawnshops and yard sales. There was bound to be some hidden diamond on streets no one was aware of.
“And maybe a little truth seering at work won’t hurt.” I needed to check the limit on this thing. Why was every vision distressing in some form? A test, a ruined night, a car crash, a keyboard loss. Is there any control over it?
I downed my coffee and held the mug up to my face. “A genie’s wish?” every time I had a vision my hands were on an object in the scenario. I scrunched my nose in thought and rubbed the mug like a genie’s lamp.
Nothing. I thought back again to what else I was doing at those times. Emotional investment was strong. Except the couch session. I was definitely chilled out of my mind.
I was picked up my mouse and thought long and hard about what I have done with it. And still nothing happened. My determination was solid, I was going to find the means eventually. “Might as well get something done.” I was on my feet and in the living room.
The house was tiny and not really a house. With my current income I was sharing a shitty granny flat with my brother. He was not the tidiest in the family. “Keith! The day I stop reminding you of leftovers is the day you eat them!” I grabbed all the takeout bags in sight and shoved them in the bin.
My brother -bless his heart- came out of his room with a takeaway bag and shamefully threw it away. “You know I would be more sympathetic if you weren’t a year and a half older than me.” I took it from his hands and shoved it in the bin with the rest.
“I’ll stick you for coffee.” He pointed finger guns at my and smiled like he knew I would go for it. I sighed and breathed deeply.
“Are you sure you don’t want to look for a bigger place? I can easily pay a little extra, there is this place that’s peanuts if we share. And it has a second bathroom.” I tied the bin bag in frustration again at my situation. Really my life has been too dull for my taste if I’m honest.
“I’m saving for a house. You are welcome to join me once I get one.” I pulled out the bin bag and held it up to him. “This bag feels like it has most of your money.” I wasn’t going to buy a house in this economy. I was throwing my own life away like the rest of this trash. I could not save but I had the capacity to not go bankrupt.
And yet at the same time, I had no regrets. I was as I am, content with mediocrity with a slight dash of fantasy. “I’m too boring for this.” I was getting existential. I was like that every now and then.
Writing projects with hope of being one of the greats. Art that is extremely amateurish. Origami surprisingly was an interest for a while. Handcrafts that gave me conniptions. Poetry once, never again. A lot of creative attempts to get something in my life to be happy with.
“I’ll be right back. And I wouldn’t mind another coffee.” I was out into the evening for a moment before I was back. I was avoiding the sun out of principle on how hot it was.
“Got some weird thing happening with me.” When I got back to talk about the thing happening to me, I was met with a shirtless brother making coffee. I sighed again as I usually do. “You ever wish you had something supernatural will make your life have a little more excitement?”
I crashed on the second-hand couch we received from a friend and kicked the leg rest to unjam its internal mechanism. The leg rest shot out to support my relaxation. “All the time bro.” He chucked the spoon in the sink with the rest of the dishes. He handed me the coffee and sat on his own broken-down recliner.
“Any success?” I knew he meant it jokingly. My hand gently held the coffee still, I didn’t want to have an episode in front of my brother. “Kinda, Psychometry. Or at least I think it is.” I was sure he knew the term. We both loved the same fiction.
“Bullshit, but also not too bad. At least it’s not mind reading.” Mind reading does sound exhausting. I couldn’t be fucked to care about other people’s thoughts. “Its does have some limitations. I don’t have a full grasp on it yet.” I tried to relax. I was trying really hard to relax. I gently felt the mug. Tried to feel the texture.
“Try not to rub yourself like that, rope burn sucks.” He snickered at his own joke, I couldn’t help but crack a small smile. “I think I’m trying too hard.” I put the mug down on the kitchen table next to me, it was uncomfortably above my head. The lounge was the kitchen, the dining table that was a bit too large separated the small space that was there.
“I think I have to be Zen. No thoughts but a goal.” I leaned my head back and looked at the off-white ceiling. Not dirty, definitely not clean. My hands took a nearby sumo pillow instead. A souvenir from Japan, I still found it highly unlikely that he has money for a house saved.
I closed my eyes again. I was tempted to sleep here. I was comfy. The pillow was a little textured like cotton, A little fidget toy with how my fingers played the tussles on the corners. My vision blurred.
I was next to my brother. The sumo wrestlers crashed into each other in the centre of the ring. Both trying desperately to ground the other. One wrestler took a stuttering step back, the other took it as his signal to push. I didn’t get the rest of it as my brother spilled his tea on the man in front of him in the excitement.
I was back on my rickety couch. My hands gripping the tussles almost tearing them at the seams. “I just did it. and you better have apologized to the man you spilled your tea on.” I was sure he did. Keith might have been a slob, and slothful, and a procrastinator, and a little angry sometimes. Mostly at games. He was kind and not greedy in the least.
“Did Nik put you up to this?” He was on his phone, reading online comics most likely. He was also not the most excitable, unless you really tried. “How about you give me your phone and if I guess your pin the first try, we get over the fact that it might not be real.”