Private Whispers of the Mind

Today was not quite on Michi's side. While school earlier that day went pretty smoothly, the afternoon was not. Michi had planned to catch up on some reading after classes but the voices in her head were not in a cooperative mood for critical thinking. So here she was, sitting on her bed, fingers to her temples with her eyes squeezed shut and looking like she was trying to do some sort of ritual right then and there. In reality, she was just trying to suppress the voices enough so she could concentrate. With all the sounds she was hearing, it was even a miracle she heard a knock through it. Michi opened her eyes instantly from hearing it, but she didn't move just yet, wondering if she was imagining the noise. After a second or two passed, she got off her bed and went to the door, hoping to find someone and luckily, there actually was someone. "Oh hey, Lizzy," she greeted as soon as she came into view. "What's up?"

Michi tilted her head, a slight bit confused by the girl. Lizzy looked... anxious? Or maybe she was just seeing that. Regardless, Michi opened her door a bit wider, welcoming Lizzy in her room. By the looks of it, she only had a single book on her bed that didn't even look like it was being used. "Yeah, I'm not really doing much. We can talk here so you're not standing in the hallway," she said, after which closing the door once Lizzy was inside and gestured for her to sit down on the bed. As if she knew why Lizzy was here, Michi asked: "Did you need help with anything?"

Michi followed after LIzzy, pulling a seat close to her bed so that the two were facing each other, letting her see how Lizzy was in fact in pain. "Lizzy!" she exclaimed, immediately rushing to her friend's side. Concern made her furrow her brows, but Michi knew she couldn't really do anything to physically ease that pain. It occured to her how much her friends struggled to stay normal because of how their bodies reacted to not using their abilities, and compared to her, she felt a little bad. Lizzy's voiced pulled her out of her thoughts before she got distracted and for a moment Michi only stared. Lizzy kept talking and talking but with full honestly, Michi thought she didn't need to hear anything. "Sure," Michi responded plainly, having already decided so soon. "Really, just don't do anything that would get us hurt, that's all I ask," she added, taking both Lizzy's hands into hers.

Michi closed her eyes once Lizzy began the countdown, trying to focus on the sound of her voice. Once the countdown had reached one, Michi had lost all feeling around her. She found herself looking at the same sight before she closed her eyes, only she felt like she wasn't actually there. She felt detached from her own body and all she could think was that it felt like she was seeing things through a window. And then she realized: it was oddly silent. As if for the first time in a while, there was nothing in her head. She heard Lizzy's voice, and just as she was about to respond, a chorus of confused whispers came to interrupt. There was no one around her -- or at least it felt that way, but the voices were there as if she was in the middle of that bustling crowd. All of a sudden, she was worried that Lizzy may be hearing them too. Michi heard herself sigh, "Still here. If you're hearing anything else, don't mind it -- just focus on my voice."

Michi sighed again, following the sound of her friend's voice. She'd thought the voices were only something she'd be troubled with -- she didn't think it would be attached to the body that it would affect Lizzy. Unfortunately, there wasn't any turning back right now. Lizzy would have to settle with the voices -- or rather, the voices would have to settle with Lizzy being in the front seat for now. "Don't fight them," Michi told her friend, hearing how rattled she was by the presence of the voices. She felt bad, knowing how disturbing it was to hear them for the first time. "I'm fine, don't worry. I didn't expect you'd be hearing them so I thought I didn't need to mention it but uh..." Michi tried to listen in around her. By that time the voices have hushed, fading into background noise. For Lizzy, it felt like like there were people around her. "Welcome to the party, I guess." she said, a bit sarcastically. "Let them talk, they're just noise. Are you okay, though?"