Never Normal

L

Luna

Guest
Original poster
Karen looked around before putting her headphones on, it wasn't the best thing to be at school. Too many people, too many thoughts running around--it can cause someone to lose their mind constantly. Most people want a "power" like reading minds or being able to see ghosts, spirits of the dead. But in reality, it's not that great. Not having control over what goes in is maddening. It's like she's forced to listen to every conversation and then the conversation behind that conversation. It's words after words after words...it just drove her insane.

So to tune it out, she likes to turn on some loud music in her ears. Maybe a bit of Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, or some other rock band out there. She just needs the sound and the drums to muffle out all of the constant talking and shouting being hammered into her head. Walking down the hall, she bumped into people and that just made it worse, human contact just amplified the thoughts so that she was forced to listen to them.

Oh my God, he is so hot.
Shit, I forgot my homework.
Freak.
Loser.
What the hell? She's not supposed to have her headphones in!
HAHAHAHAHA that text was so funny.
I cannot believe Sandra is wearing that.


"Just stop it." Karen wanted to shout out, but she knew that no one would understand.

Taking a deep breath Karen closed her eyes, but continued walking, right when she reopened them, she ran smack into a boy about a good five inches taller than her and felt herself falling backwards.
 
Mark was just coming out of his English class. He had to turn in a late assignment which was questions about the book they were reading, The Scarlet Letter. He saw the school bullies all together in a group, surrounding some trashcans that they used to eat their food on. He shook his head slightly at them, not wanting anything to with them right now. He slung his messenger back over his shoulder and began walking down the hall. A song he heard this morning was playing through his head. His mother had been humming it when she was making his lunch that he told her she didn't need to make for him.

He shook his head again, only this time to get the song out of there, it was annoying now. He wasn't paying that much attention just then because he ran into a girl shorter than him by about five inches. He saw that she was falling backwards so he quickly grabbed her arm, pulling her close to him to help keep her balanced.

"Are you alright?" He asked her as he looked down to her face. At that moment he couldn't help thinking that she was cute.
 
Hey, she's kinda cute. Was the first thing that popped into Karen's head, and she knew for a fact that it wasn't her head talking. It was his. The guy had black hair and bright blue eyes, and she couldn't help but slightly pull her arm away. But when her ear bud fell out, the thoughts started to swarm in and she grabbed onto his arm for reassurance. Even though he was a complete stranger, at the moment, Karen needed someone stronger than her to keep her standing. The thoughts were overwhelming, her head felt heavy and she could feel her consciousness fading quickly.

This isn't good. she thought quickly. As she tried to get herself up, the floor started to spin beneath her as the thoughts kept flooding in. Even the corners of her vision was started to turn into a hazy fuzz.
 
"Wow! Hey, are you alright?" He asked her, feeling worried. He held onto her with a firm grip, keeping her standing as best he could. Mark could tell she wasn't doing all that good. Without any second thoughts, he picked her up like she was a princess, and made his way to the nurse's office. He immediately went to the beds and laid her down, explaining to the nurse why he brought her here.
 
Karen can feel herself being lifted, but she was so close to blacking out, she didn't know what was happening around her except for all of the thoughts and conversations. After she was set dowb on one of the nurse beds, she took a deep breath and exhaled, half from relief. The nurse hurried over and put her ear bud back into her ear and then touched her arm:

Are you okay? The nurse thought over to her.

Karen nodded and the nurse patted her arm with a worried look.

"I'm really sorry about the bad timing, Karen has a....condition you might say."
 
Mark thought it was strange for a nurse to put an ear bud back in the student's ear. He wasn't about to say anything though. She must have a good reason for doing it. It must have something to do with the ... condition the nurse just told him about. But what was it? It wasn't any of his buissness, so why butt in?

"I see..." Is all he said. Mark wanted to ask what it was, but he felt he would seem rude to ask. "Well I hope she feels better."
 
"I will be." Karen muttered. She opened one eye and then closed it. "It only takes me a few minutes. Also, it isn't rude, just a question. Nobody believes it anyway, soon you'll be part of that band wagon."

Taking a deep breath, Karen tried to clear her head of all of those thoughts. So many people talking and thinking at the same time. It was insane.

"I have telepathy, I guess. I hear thoughts. That's why i wear these," she pointed at her ear buds. "They do somewhat to cut out all of the thoughts running in the air.if I touch soneone, i can hear what they're thinking at the moment and then continue to till a minute later."
 
"That must be a pain...to hear everyone else's thoughts in your head, as well as your own." He said. He stayed quiet for a while. Before he was going to speak, he heard a high pitched scream come from out of the hallway, followed by laughter from some boys.

"Them again..." He muttered, knowing what was going on. Without saying anything to her, Mark walked out of the nurse's office. A crying girl ran past him, and he saw the group of bullies laughing their heads off from the direction the girl ran from. "Picking on girls again?" He asked them casually, with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
 
Karen looked up and saw a girl running passed Mark and took out her ear buds right when the girl thought: I can'te believe tehy did that, I want to kill myself.
Karen widened her eyes and walked outside, her headache suddenly gone. Facing the boys in front of her, Karen looked at them with pure disgust. "You really have nothing to do, do you?" One of the guys smirked.
"Oh look, the freak standing up for a freshman, of course. You know, why don't you join your loser mom and brother?"

A wave of anger washed over Karen and before she came to her senses, she punched him in the face.
Hard.
So hard that she felt the boy's nose under the skin of her knuckles crunch. When the two other boys came at her, she punched one in the stomach and flipped him over and wrapped her arm around the other boy's neck. "Tell your friends over there that if they EVER cross that line again they won't know what hit them got it? And don't try to tell anyone either." She threw him at his friends and they scrambled off down the hall.
 
I can't believe my brother hangs out with those guys... He thought, feeling disappointment in his brother. "Nice job." Mark said to Karen. I bet your little power helped you. He thought. Mark looked in the direction the girl ran. I'm going after her... He thought before walking off in the girl's direction, speeding up along the way into a fast run. Being one of the top runners on his track team helped him out a bit. He had to stop running after her once he saw that she went into the girl's bathroom. Tsk...
 
Karen looked at him, clearly impressed. He actually believed her. Wow. When she saw the girl going into the girl's restroom, she followed her and walked passed Mark.

They are so mean, not caring about people's feelings...

"Look, I know what those guys did to you is wrong. But you have to stand up for yourself, you can't cower behind a door or a wall. You have to show the world what you are made of. Stand straight, head up, chin up, and get ready for what life throws at ya."

Karen left before the girl can ask who it was. If she ever found out, the girl would disregard her advice entirely. Being labeled the school freak doesn't exactly help with giving people advice...good or bad.
 
Mark was leaned up against the wall next to the entrance of the girl's bathroom, waiting for Karen to walk out. When she did, he stood up straight. Some people were looking at him a bit funny since he was right next to the girl's room. He didn't give a damn to be honest. He wasn't the type to care what others thought.

"You think you were successful?" He asked her.
 
Karen looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Hopefully." She said slowly. "Why are you still here? I don't mean any offense, but come on, usually people look at me and jump on the freak band wagon or they laugh and think I'm telling them a really good, but awkward, joke."

Crossing her arms, she tossed her dark brown hair back. She eyed him up and down, trying to size him up.

What was he playing at?
 
"I live with 'freaks'. My older brother is one of those bullies." He said, not caring if anyone else hears him. "You should see his room...it's way freakier than what you can do. That guy is a sadist." He said, looking at her with a sort of serious look.

My mom is a Wicca too... He thought. It makes it easier for me to believe in this kind of stuff.
 
Karen nodded.

"I see...." She said slowly again. "Well that helps...I guess."

Karen smiled somewhat and her light brown eyes seem to light up a little brighter. As the bell rang, she quickly put in her earbuds and walked back into the nurses office, suddenly becoming aware of how heavy her head felt. She sat down on one of the beds again and took a deep breath, slowly starting to fall asleep.
 
Mark had no choice but to go to class. He made his way through the mob that formed in the hall and to his next class, P.E. It was a simple day, just take attendance, get dressed down, do the warm ups, then the game of the day. Today happened to be dodge ball, and he was on the opposite team of his older brother. He decided to give him a bit of punishment for today during the game...if he was able to stay in the game long enough to hit him.
 
Karen was sleeping soundly, her head was clearing of thoughts and her anxiety level was smaller. Ever since the incident happened, Karen never liked having anyone too close. Anyone too close, at the wrong place at the wrong time, things can go bad fast. She was always afraid that she would hurt somebody.

The last bell shook her awake and she groggily looked around the office to see that it was empty except for her and her schoolbag. She slowly sat up and ran her hand through her hair.

"Um...Cathy?" She asked cautiously.

"Cathy left." Said a voice behind a curtain. One of the boys that harmed the girl stepped out.

"I told you--"

"I know what you told us."

"But see, we aren't fair players." said a voice from behind her.

Karen turned around, but not quick enough and one of the boys grabbed her arm and pulled it behind her. She struggled against the binds, but they were stronger than her.

I had to get emotional.

"Stop it!" she shouted. School was over and the hallways were growing clearer by the second...that meant less help. The boys laughed. He pulled harder and she gasped in pain. "Please, just stop it!" With all of the physical contact, she was getting thoughts. Disgusting thoughts, thoughts that wanted her to vomit. Her head was getting heavy again and she was losing consciousness. They might as well have drugged her with all of the physical contact.

"Just...stop...it." She stammered, fighting to stay conscious.

There's no one to help me. I'm fucked.

The boy from the curtain walked over and grabbed her face.

"You shouldn't have threatened us."
 
Mark decided to go check on Karen after P.E. was over. He quickly got dressed and gathered his things up before the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. He noticed his brother wasn't around right now. This made Mark uneasy, and he picked up the pace towards the nurse's office.

He heard male voices coming from the room, as well as Karen's, and immediately knew what was going on. Mark stormed into the room, seeing the bullies standing there, one had a hold on Karen's arm and another holding her face.

Without thinking, he grabbed the nearest one and slammed him against the wall before he noticed him there. Then grabbed the guy holding Karen's mouth by the back of the collar of his shirt, pulling him away from Karen and into the other boy just now getting up.

They guy that had a hold of Karen's arm let go of her, coming after Mark now. The two he knocked down were scrambling up to attack him. They got plenty of good hits in at Mark, but he was able to fend them off pretty well...only they weren't about to give up just yet.
 
Karen crumpled to the ground, nearly unconscious, as Mark stormed into the room. If she was more conscious, she would have been relieved, but at the moment she was trying to stay awake. Mark was fighting off all three guys and Karen didn't like feeling helpless or useless. Mark finally got them to leave the room with a couple of bruises. She couldn't believe that people would do something like this.
 
Mark found Karen's ear buds and put them in for her, turning on her music player and just letting the music play. He walked out of the room so she wouldn't have to listen to his thoughts. Mark was furious with his brother for even thinking about doing what him and his friends were about to do. Taking advantage of someone like that made him furious with his brother. He was going to give his brother so much hell for doing this.

Mark had to calm himself down. He was always disappointed in his brother for bullying basically everyone that came across them, but this pushed Mark over the edge. His thoughts soon cleared out the angry thoughts, and he began trying to think of a way to get them all to stop doing this once and for all.