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threedimensions
threedimensionsDimensions: [1-2-3]
Timeline: Summer – Winter 1995
Title: Clairvoyant
Summary: Mark starts to realize that how he can feel things—what he can do—is unusual.
~650
The first time he thinks about it, he's overhearing his mother and his grandmother in the kitchen just after they moved from Toronto to Chicago. Normally, he likes to listen to their conversations, to feel what they feel, which is usually good. He knows that he's a good kid and that they love him—even when things are Bad and all of the adults are anxious, he knows that they take pride in providing for him and keeping him healthy and happy. Even when his parents give each other looks over his head or whisper over letters in the mail (bills—sad or bad or mad money things), they both smile when they see him and are happy to hug him or play with him. He knows he gives them a good distraction and reminders that they are good parents and doing a good job with him. At five, that's all he can do to help until he's older. He knows a lot, but that's good—the world is big and there is a lot to know.
What he hasn't known is the feeling that comes through now, one that he doesn't have a word for yet: disquiet.
"I don't know how he just knows things," Mom says, almost whispers. "It's...strange."
"He's a special boy, Colette," Mamie says firmly. "Perceptive, intuitive..."
"Is that really all, though?"
Mom's heart is troubled. Mark frowns. He would have to try extra hard and be extra good to make that feeling go away, for all of them. Except...this time, the worry is about him...and the way he is.
.
The first time he has a word for it, he's watching TV with his dad; it's a show about a mind-reader, someone that can tell what other people are thinking and feeling. The others aren't happy about it when they find out—they try to hide their thoughts and feelings away. They try to get away from the psychic.
"Dad? Are psychics bad?" Mark asks.
"Maybe not all of them," his dad allows. "This one's being sneaky, getting into people's heads where their private thoughts are." He reaches over and lightly tousles his son's hair. "They're not real, though, so you don't need to worry. They're like vampires and werewolves and The Mummy. You're safe."
"...oh."
He watches the rest of the show in silence. Dad is at least partly right: this person is being sneaky as heck and trying to hurt the other people in their minds, something Mark would never do. At the end, the rest of the people capture and kill the psychic.
It's just a TV show, though, just a story. There are probably shows or stories where the psychic helps the others in the end, or where their powers or abilities are used for good and the other people aren't afraid of them.
Right?
.
Lauren, the prettiest girl in kindergarten, is going to be a psychic for Halloween. She's excited about her costume, rambling while they practice writing and the teacher walks around and helps a few others with their letter form. "It's deliciously creepy," Lauren says.
Everything is delicious lately. Mark feels out and knows that she got the word from her older sister, whom she idolizes. "Why are psychics creepy?" he asks.
"They know your thoughts." She points to her forehead. "They control your mind."
He knows at once that this is false. Not only can he not do it, he's never felt that anyone else could, either—he's pretty well determined that a lot of movies and stories about psychics are wrong. "No, they don't."
"Do so!"
"No way."
"Yes they do!"
"Then how would you even know?" he challenges. It's something he's thought of before but has almost been afraid to actually say it to anyone as he's pretty sure what the answer is, but Lauren is kind of being a snot. "What if you're always being controlled and you didn't know it?"
"I would know," she says indulgently.
Mark scowls. "What if they're a secret, then? Someone could be a psychic around you and if they're not doing anything to you, you'd never know. So they can't all be—"
"That's even creepier if they're sneaking around!" Lauren says, disgusted, and of course it's what he's been afraid of. "If there's ever one around me I'm not thinking anything!"
"I can tell," Mark mutters, but she doesn't hear him and looks smug after a moment, believing she's gotten the last word.
Her costume is creepy. Mark is Spider-Man; those powers are cool.
.
Mom says thanks, but gives him a funny look when he brings her flowers because he feels her overall sadness and frustration with their 'financial situation'.
"We're not wasting money on that garbage," Dad says, when he curiously points out a fortune teller at the carnival.
"Your grandfather was a strange man," Mamie says, one day out of the blue. "The way he looked at people sometimes...put them off. But he was...perceptive."
"What are you, psychic?" Josh, his best friend asks, as he brings them both cookies because Josh was hungry.
"No," Mark says.
Timeline: Summer – Winter 1995
Title: Clairvoyant
Summary: Mark starts to realize that how he can feel things—what he can do—is unusual.
~650
The first time he thinks about it, he's overhearing his mother and his grandmother in the kitchen just after they moved from Toronto to Chicago. Normally, he likes to listen to their conversations, to feel what they feel, which is usually good. He knows that he's a good kid and that they love him—even when things are Bad and all of the adults are anxious, he knows that they take pride in providing for him and keeping him healthy and happy. Even when his parents give each other looks over his head or whisper over letters in the mail (bills—sad or bad or mad money things), they both smile when they see him and are happy to hug him or play with him. He knows he gives them a good distraction and reminders that they are good parents and doing a good job with him. At five, that's all he can do to help until he's older. He knows a lot, but that's good—the world is big and there is a lot to know.
What he hasn't known is the feeling that comes through now, one that he doesn't have a word for yet: disquiet.
"I don't know how he just knows things," Mom says, almost whispers. "It's...strange."
"He's a special boy, Colette," Mamie says firmly. "Perceptive, intuitive..."
"Is that really all, though?"
Mom's heart is troubled. Mark frowns. He would have to try extra hard and be extra good to make that feeling go away, for all of them. Except...this time, the worry is about him...and the way he is.
.
The first time he has a word for it, he's watching TV with his dad; it's a show about a mind-reader, someone that can tell what other people are thinking and feeling. The others aren't happy about it when they find out—they try to hide their thoughts and feelings away. They try to get away from the psychic.
"Dad? Are psychics bad?" Mark asks.
"Maybe not all of them," his dad allows. "This one's being sneaky, getting into people's heads where their private thoughts are." He reaches over and lightly tousles his son's hair. "They're not real, though, so you don't need to worry. They're like vampires and werewolves and The Mummy. You're safe."
"...oh."
He watches the rest of the show in silence. Dad is at least partly right: this person is being sneaky as heck and trying to hurt the other people in their minds, something Mark would never do. At the end, the rest of the people capture and kill the psychic.
It's just a TV show, though, just a story. There are probably shows or stories where the psychic helps the others in the end, or where their powers or abilities are used for good and the other people aren't afraid of them.
Right?
.
Lauren, the prettiest girl in kindergarten, is going to be a psychic for Halloween. She's excited about her costume, rambling while they practice writing and the teacher walks around and helps a few others with their letter form. "It's deliciously creepy," Lauren says.
Everything is delicious lately. Mark feels out and knows that she got the word from her older sister, whom she idolizes. "Why are psychics creepy?" he asks.
"They know your thoughts." She points to her forehead. "They control your mind."
He knows at once that this is false. Not only can he not do it, he's never felt that anyone else could, either—he's pretty well determined that a lot of movies and stories about psychics are wrong. "No, they don't."
"Do so!"
"No way."
"Yes they do!"
"Then how would you even know?" he challenges. It's something he's thought of before but has almost been afraid to actually say it to anyone as he's pretty sure what the answer is, but Lauren is kind of being a snot. "What if you're always being controlled and you didn't know it?"
"I would know," she says indulgently.
Mark scowls. "What if they're a secret, then? Someone could be a psychic around you and if they're not doing anything to you, you'd never know. So they can't all be—"
"That's even creepier if they're sneaking around!" Lauren says, disgusted, and of course it's what he's been afraid of. "If there's ever one around me I'm not thinking anything!"
"I can tell," Mark mutters, but she doesn't hear him and looks smug after a moment, believing she's gotten the last word.
Her costume is creepy. Mark is Spider-Man; those powers are cool.
.
Mom says thanks, but gives him a funny look when he brings her flowers because he feels her overall sadness and frustration with their 'financial situation'.
"We're not wasting money on that garbage," Dad says, when he curiously points out a fortune teller at the carnival.
"Your grandfather was a strange man," Mamie says, one day out of the blue. "The way he looked at people sometimes...put them off. But he was...perceptive."
"What are you, psychic?" Josh, his best friend asks, as he brings them both cookies because Josh was hungry.
"No," Mark says.