"Stop!"

I would like to say I could I can resist strange voices in my heads, but I can't. I freeze, not even breathing. I don't know where this is coming from or how to stop it. I've had unwanted thoughts before, and this is completely different. I hate it, I don't need more unwanted thoughts that I can't do anything against.

"Where does all this keep coming from?"

Slowly I lift my head, carefully looking at everything. My friends all share worried faces, they still probably don't know what to do. Lukas no longer looks depressed, which would be good if it wasn't replaced by this frustrated scowl.

"Wait, Jesse? Is that Jesse? Oh gosh, what's happening now?"

"Lukas." My blurt surprises the others, but Lukas snaps his head to me. Eyes slowly widening.

"This isn't... How can this happen?" Lukas shakes his head. "Can you hear me Jesse?"

I nod, too stunned for anything else. Lukas can hear my thoughts and I can hear his. What did I do?

"Uh, well I figured out what I did guys..." I move my head to the others, but keep my eyes locked on Lukas. I've been through a lot, but this is just weird even for me. Totally mind boggling.

"What? Jesse, uhh, you did this?"

Petra huffs. "Tell us then."

"Me and Lukas are now telepathic." Did I really just say that? Did I really just cause that? Man, this is going to go downhill fast.

"Why would you say, think, that?"

I sigh and keep my thoughts silent as I sit down again. I rest my forehead on my head and sigh again. I start to shake my head, but then stop as a chuckle bubbles up. At first it's silent, until I'm actually laughing. Everything's just so wrong right now!

"Jesse...?"

"I think this is all getting to Jesse..." I ignore Axel and just continue to laugh. I want to stop, but I'm afraid if I'm not laughing then I'll just break down sobbing. It's just one wave after another.

"Uh oh, this is bad. Getting worse."

"Jesse," Olivia lightly squeezes my shoulder. "What's wrong?"

I just laugh harder at that, my whole body jerking back and forth in a crazed manner. "Do you... ee-ven.. ha ha have... to ask?"

"Okay, I need to get Jesse out of here."

At once my laughing just stops, but I don't stop jerking. Now the jerks are in time with my pants. I can see Lukas walking to me, the others trying to get my attention, and my trembling hands. But I just can't stop myself to actually do anything. I don't want to stop, I don't want to stop to think about this. I feel like I'll shatter if I actually try to wrap my head around everything.

Lukas shakes my shoulders. "Jesse? Come on, just calm down."

I blink as a faint crackle enters my mind. It happens again, and now I stop jerking. I have no idea what's happening or if I want it to stop. It goes off again, sending me into grogginess.

"Whoa, that's actually working?" 

Another crackle, even stronger and this one lifts me out of that grogginess. And now that I'm rational again, I'm going to wrap things up here and just do something peaceful.

"Good plan, I approve." 

"Okay, I'm going to rest guys. Olivia and Ivor, can you go please go to make sure everything is fine with Beacontown?"

"Wonder who Ivor will anger this time."

They nod and are about to speak, before I shush them. "Axel and Petra, since you two are still technically suppose to be on bed rest, you get to go to the library and do some research."

"That'll go well. Although it did work, Jesse's himself again."

"BOO! Come on Jesse! I want to do something, not read."

"Agreed, but your primary focus are the creatures that gave you the injury in the first place. Use that as motivation."

"Is that bitterness? Yeah it is, I wonder...oh wait. Hey Jesse, why are you bitter?"

I stand up and start the walk to my room, dragging Lukas with me. "Mr. Chatterbox here might come to help you, but I don't think I could handle his thoughts."

"HEY! Okay, that's valid. But can I at least walk?"

Some stress strained giggles follow me out the door, and I hope their worries will soon wash away. I let go of Lukas, and he huffs. Yet surprisingly no other thoughts. Maybe he figured out to keep his thoughts to himself.

"Tough luck Jesse, I just figured out that I can't hear your thoughts if I'm thinking over you."

"Oh joy. You know, how am I suppose to fall asleep now? Hearing other people's conversations usually keep me up. Back in the treehouse days, if Axel or Olivia starting chatting after a certain time I would make them sleep on the roof."

Lukas's eyebrows shot up. "That's... kinda harsh. Now I'm slightly glad you've been so exhausted, that's not a problem then."

"What does Jesse want to do? Where..."

Lukas sighs. "I keep forgetting you can hear my thoughts."

"Definitely weird." My paperwork that has been piling up, which also happens to be a great excuse, pops in my head. "I want-"

"Seriously?" Lukas shakes his head, he must've heard that. "Oh yes I did. And now you get to  explain why you need an excuse in the first place."

"And why lying comes so easily to you."

And of course, my first impulse is to think about my nightmare, the truth. Then to make it worse, another excuse flies through my head. As if I could get out of this now. I keep making everything worse for myself.

"Wait a moment..."

Hey there's an idea. If I keep just think really fast then perhaps I can just overwhelm him. Will that work? I've tried worse. And have failed worse. Trusting Harper kinda backfired so this could too. Although Lukas did warn me so I should've seen that one coming. Just another- Whoops, no, that'll make things worse. Man, why do I feel like that happens often? Just ignore that one that Lukas. Speaking of which, do you think Crown Mesa has been finally rebuilt? I'm assuming so. But what's Harper doing now? Maybe she's helping Otto with the games, that would be fitting. And she would be with her friend again! Always good to reunite. I wonder if-

"STOP! Please stop!" Lukas takes a deep breath while we walk into my room.

"And he called me Chatterbox..."

"Jesse, please don't lie to me. It'll just makes things harder." Flashes of the string problem shuffle in my mind. I sit down in my chair and decide to just admit it, or Lukas will just slowly pick it off of me.

"That sounds cold, but yes. I will do that."

Taking a deep breath, I start. "I had a nightmare, and I refuse to think about it so don't push it.

"How bad does-"

I glare at him, with my eyes glowing with a fueled fire behind them. "Any-way, that's why I woke up pretty quickly. Now, please don't be mad, but I purposefully tried to muffle your string. Then I realized how much that was a bad idea when my fire acted up."

Lukas's head perks up. "Definitely have to learn more about that, I didn't know Jesse could affect the connection so much. And he can still hear my thoughts, ugh, so strange. But now can you tell me what was up with your fire?"

I sigh. "I suppose you couldn't tell, but it was that yellow fire trying to come back. And since... oh you don't know about that either. Well just know my fire has been harder to control since yesterday...?"

Shoot, what day is it? Was the failed explanation yesterday? No... earlier today? Ugh, I should know this!

"That incident happened this morning. If we're being technical, it's the second of the mouth."

A wave of dizziness crashes over me and I slump back into the chair. Two days, but so much has happened it feels so much longer than that. I would hate to leave Lukas hanging, but I feel really woozy and faint. Perhaps this chair can just swallow me up.

"Jesse?" Lukas sounds so far away, probably leaving so I can sleep or something.

A dull sensation comes from my shoulder and I ignore it. I am much more happier focusing on this extremely comfy chair instead. Like I've never noticed how much I can sink into this chair or how warm it is.

Although there's something missing, making me just a little off. It's messing me up, making it harder to rest. A constant little bug just refusing to stop irritating me. I didn't notice that earlier too, but now it has my full attention.

But then I feel it, just outside of me. It's sitting there, the flame shinning so bright it's almost white. I want it back, and it dims down a bit. So I call it, the flame curling up before flying back to me.

There, I'm whole again. I can go to sleep. But before I drift away, another nag comes up. If I fall asleep, I'll get a nightmare. Another terrible nightmare.

And that's my last thought before everything fades away.

****

1K reads! Holy cow how did that dream come true? Thank you all so much for reading this! It's seriously mind blowing, I never really considered how many reads this weird idea of mine would get when it first sparked up in my mind.

And I now I feel bad because of how short this chapter is. The second shortest chapter behind the first chapter. But I like this and I'm not changing it. So I'll update the next chapter sooner. The energy I have right now simply cannot accept waiting a week to publish the next chapter.

Especially when the more plot important stuff is coming soon! This one was kind of a mix of fluff/relationships/set up, it's important. But not so much plot wise and things will begin rolling! Kinda downhill for awhile for Jesse though...

Okay, thank you so much again and buh-bye!