You Are Not a Psychic

A Story by Silvertide

A short second person short-story.

You are a psychic. You open the door to your bedroom and close it behind you soundlessly. You look to your left and see your old hutch, painted green ages ago but now starting to peel in places. On the top shelf sits a white candle, partially melted down and yellowed by use, and you grab it. You set it down on your paper bag colored carpet and sit cross-legged in front of it. You grab a small lighter from your back pocket and manage to get a flame going after a few attempts, and then light the blackened wick of the candle. A little yellow light dances in your eyes. You place each of your pointer fingers on each of your temples, take a deep breath, and hide your eyes from the light.

You can see the future. You are special. You’re not one to brag, but you know not just anyone sees the future. Sure, it took a lot of practice, but now you’re a natural. You see the future every day. Will this friend betray you later or not? They will. Will you like sushi or not? You won’t. Will that party be fun or not? It won’t. Should you join that club or not? You shouldn’t, you won’t like it. Does your friend hate you or not? They do, you should avoid them. If you confess will your crush go out with you or not? They won’t, forget about them. Will you pass that test or not? You won’t, don’t get your hopes up.

You got so good at seeing the future you don’t even need to use the candle anymore, except for special occasions, like today. Today, you will see something important. Even though you’re a skilled psychic, you still have your limits. But you have prepared for today. You are ready. Today, you are going to see what your future career is.

A doctor? A lawyer? A social worker? A mail carrier? You don’t care what you turn out to be, as long as you figure it out today. You’ve planned long and hard for this future-seeing-session. You washed the dishes, took out the trash and cleaned your room. Your parents promised not to bother you today as they left out the front door, laughing at how strange you are. Your little brother went to a friend’s house to play video games. You used your time productively and scrawled out your game plan on a piece of scratch paper during history class. You are ready to see your future, to find out possibly the most important thing in your life.

You activate your awe-inducing powers and sit in silence on the floor in the middle of your room. You hope no one walks in because you know you look like an idiot. Wait, no! Just think about the future... Now is the time! You embrace the silence. Your stomach growls. You are hungry. Stop! You extend the reach of your powers to their limit. You see blue…a nurse’s uniform- no, a mail carrier- no, a police officer. Which one is it!

You open your eyes. You see the flame flicker and wave hello. For the first time, your powers have failed you. You rub your eyes and flop backwards onto that ugly rug with a muffled thump. You stare up at your ceiling, stained yellow in one corner. What do you do now?

The next day, you go to school and your advisor asks you which college you want to go to, what you want to do after college.

The next week, you go to your family reunion and each of your aunts and uncles ask you which college you want to go to, what you want to do after college.

The next month, you stand in line at a fast food restaurant at eleven o’clock at night. Someone sees your school sweatshirt and you tell them you’re a senior. Idiot! They ask you which college you want to go to, what you want to do after college.

You are a psychic. You are special. Where are your powers now?

You sit on the swing at an empty park and eat your burger and fries. Your fries are way too salty and so are your tears. You kick the mulch beneath your feet and litter your greasy paper bag in the grass. The garbageman who picks it up the next day curses you under his breath. Maybe you will be a garbageman.

And then one day, you go to school and the friend who will betray you ends up being the only one who remembers your birthday. They hand you a present wrapped in green, your favorite color, and you barely get out a thank you. You notice today’s lunch special is sushi and you eat some and find out you love sushi. Later that day, you are invited to a party on the weekend and you go and can’t stop yourself from smiling the whole night. On the next school day you join a club and one hour goes by before you know it and you don’t want to leave. The next day you finally approach your friend who you haven’t spoken to in a year and you find out that you misunderstood everything and you both laugh at how stupid you are. Later that day you ask out your crush and they say yes! You passed that chemistry test too!

You are not a psychic. You cannot see the future. You are not special. What were you doing?

You realize you spent every day trying to see the future and you never checked to see if you were right or not. You realize you were afraid. You realize you can think ahead as much as you want, but no matter what you do or how smart you are you will never see the future. You may be no psychic, but you have the power to see the present and make it into your future.