Mindstrike, Part One

                                                    Chapter One-- Questions

I am a mind reader.

No, I cannot read your mind. I have to be able to see you in order to read your mind, you know. And you're not looking at me, but the words on your screen. 

Anyway, that's not what this is about. This story is about how one day I met someone different and how it changed everything.

  Everything started on a completely normal Saturday. I had gone to the store for milk and sandwich meat. As usual, I was idly listening to everyone else's thoughts. Which isn't as creepy as it sounds, by the way. Anyway, it's usually all normal stuff.

Is he ever going to text back??

I hope she gets home ok.

All I have left is to pick up that medicine.

I know you're reading my thoughts.

I stop in my tracks.

Hello, Rhea.

Glancing around in alarm, I see a woman staring at me from the other end of the aisle. She looks only a year or two older than I, with a soft black baseball cap pulled over a mass of red curls. She's taller than me and is dressed in a black tee and dark jeans. Whoever she is, she doesn't want too much attention. 

I've been looking for you.

Stifling the urge to run away, I walk quickly to the woman.

"Who are you?" I whisper.

"Someone who needs to talk to you," she replies quietly. 

"Why?" I narrow my eyes slightly. 

Meet me outside in the parking lot.

The woman walks away swiftly. I finish getting my items and pay for them as quickly as I can. But instead of going out to the parking lot, I head to the other end of the store, to the gardening center. Nobody's here, considering it's November, and I'm free to slip out through one of the employee doors and avoid the parking lot altogether. 

Walking briskly to my house, I feel the tension leaving my shoulders. Whoever that woman was, she can't possibly know where I live. Nobody knows that.

I spoke too soon.

The woman is standing on my front porch when I arrive, waiting for me. 

Thought you could lose me, right? I'm a bit smarter than that.

I march up the steps. "Who are you?" 

"My name is Cadence Bellmonger. I've been looking for you, Rhea Silva." 

I set my jaw and open the door. "Inside.'

She follows me into the living room and takes a seat on the couch while I set my bags down on the counter. 

"What else do you know about me?" I demand, returning to pace in front of her.

"Your name is Rhea Silva. You can read minds. You've just turned forty-two years old. You used to have a family. And you're hiding from something... or someone."

I scowl at the mention of my family. "Why have you been looking for me?"

She meets my eyes steadily. "I can't tell you yet." 

"Then why are you here?" I'm trying to read her thoughts, but she's blocking all of my attempts with an image of calm ocean waves. 

You can't do that, you know. I've been trained to avoid mind reading.

I frown. "Who are you?"

"You've already asked that. In fact, you keep asking a lot of the same questions."

"And you keep not answering them." 

"I'll explain everything if you'll only answer a few of my own questions."

I sit in the big chair across from the couch. "Why--"

Cadence holds up a finger. "I told you I'd explain. Just answer my questions and I'll answer yours."

"And if I don't?" I lean forward, resting my arms on my knees.

"I have my own ways of finding out," she replies coolly. 

I sit back and cross my arms. "I'm not telling you anything." I look away, scowling at the floor.

Cadence says nothing. Eventually, the silence begins to bother me and I look back at her. Then I'm unable to look away.

Cadence is staring straight at me. Her piercing blue eyes are slowly changing from blue to light lavender to an impossibly deep violet. The air around her seems to darken with the intensity of her gaze. I find that I'm paralyzed, unable to move anything but my eyes. After what seems like forever, but in actuality is only a few minutes, Cadence sits back and the strange state dissipates. 

"I have my information," she says quietly. 

"What... what did you just do?" 

"I mindsearched you. I enjoyed it much less than you did." 

I bite my lip. "What did you find?"

"The answers to my questions."

"Are you going to answer any of my questions?" 

"Our deal was that if you answer my questions, I'll answer yours. You did not answer my questions of your own accord."

I stand up quickly, clenching my fists. "You know what I'm capable of. Answer me."

Cadence smirks-- and disappears.

To be continued.....