Private Finished The Things I Said

Delaney lay on her bed, drifting in the continuous, monotonous narration of the voices. As one fell off, another took its place. An animal didn't get its dinner, a woman is looking at tea brands, a space rock hits another space rock. Usually she ignored them, but every now and then, when boredom set in, she would listen. So when her phone buzzed it took her a moment to realize it had. When it buzzed a second time she tuned back into the world.

It was a message from Lizzy asking to meet up in town. Delaney listened to the text again, then used voice commands to open the maps app on her phone. Manta Carlos had it's own navigation app and it was pretty handy. The cafe was pretty deep in town, but Delaney knew how to get around and it was on a main street which simplified things. Delaney dressed simply, a plain black t and black pants. Then harnessed up Georgette and was off.

Delaney made it to the cafe with minimal help (thank all the tech gods for iphones) and headed into the cafe. She was immediately hit by the smell of coffee and cats. Georgette perked up, but otherwise made no other move. Delaney ruffled the dog's hair and hoped no would would make a fuss over Georgette. Yeah, she brought a dog into a cat cafe, but this was her service dog. They're allowed to be places.

The teen pulled out her phone and dictated a quick text to Lizzy saying she was in the cafe. Then she took a moment to get a feel for the room.

Delaney listened to the reply text and, with Lizzie's directions plus Georgette's guidance, found the table and took a seat across from her friend. Something light hit her in the chest, and Delaney figured it was the menu. The goth teen made a big show of opening the menu, reading over the options then declared in her most sarcastic drawl, "The lobster looks good." She promptly broke out in giggles.

"Nah, I will take a latte with like, at least five pumps of caramel." She googled the menu online beforehand, and used her text to speech reader to get an idea of what was available. Latte seemed like the least coffee option and all that sugar would trick her brain into thinking it wasn't coffee! She motioned with her fingers for Georgette to lay down under the table. "So like, are the cats in another room? Are they walking around? And is there cat themed decor all over the place?"

Delaney wasn't sure what Lizzie wanted to talk about, but figured some easy small talk would help things along.

"Heck yeah I wanna pet cats." Delaney giggled. She could easily imagine all the kitschy cat stuff spread around the cafe. Like paw print walkways and pictures of kittens tangled in yarn. Cups with cat puns or cute sayings like 'all you need is love and a cat'. It was cute, and she was not too goth to admit that.

Delaney heard Lizzy take a breath, and figured they were gonna jump into things. Her friend spoke of that night and now Delaney knew what this was about. "Oh. Yeah." She ran her fingers along the menu, thinking. She wasn't mad at Lizzy any more. After all, Lizzy was just trying to look after her and she can't really stay mad about that. Delaney nodded, and waited to hear what Lizzy had to say.

Lizzy meant well. She always did when it came to her friends and Delaney understood that well. She could imagine how Lizzy felt walking into the community center and seeing her distraught. For Delaney it was an unsettling experience, but mostly because it caught her off guard. She let Lizzy speak her mind, then did her best to look right at Lizzy's face.

"First of all. Apology accepted. Second." Delaney said, "They were trying to help me. It didn't look like it, but they were. Just because they didn't rush over to my side and hold my hand doesn't mean they weren't trying. That one person had an aura that amplifys powers. And it did just that for the voices in my head.

"Look, I wasn't hurt at all. I was scared because all of a sudden they went from background noise to like, shouting in my ear. It wasn't something I expected to happen and I didn't know why it happened and I didn't know how to deal with it." Delaney wanted to say more, but she refrained. Lizzy meant well, and railing on her friend wasn't the right thing to do.

"I was trying to explain to them what was wrong. It was just hard 'cuz like, when you got voices screaming in your head you can't like hear yourself? And like, it also sucks because I can't see people's aura warning bracelets."

Delaney laughed. "I guess I now know how Chi feels when her voices are yelling." Poor Chi couldn't tune out her voices the way Delaney could with hers. She returned Lizzy's squeeze and smiled. "I know you are. You're like my sister, ya know? And sisters look out for one another." Though Delaney didn't show it, she missed all her siblings back home. Her friends were her family on the island. She would do anything for them.

"Now, where's that latte I was promised? I'm dying here, Lizzy. Dying of thirst and lack of caffeine." Delaney mocked swooned back into her seat, a hand placed daintily across her forehead. Georgette got up to nuzzle her hand, and Dela had to forego her act to reassure the dog that she was okay.