<< Hello! And welcome to the collection of hilarbees's stories from the wonderous place known as Romana Academy where you will be able to get to know my loverly lovelies, also known as my babies... also known as my original characters! ^u^v I hope you like them and feel free to message me about them at any time! I'd love your feedback. I also have pictures I've done of the characters along the way. Unfortunately, I am working on this from the WIFI at a hospital right now and this tablet will not get me the URLs I need to post the images now, but I will post them later. In the meantime, if you would like to look through the pictures, here is a link: Colors Live Piccies. Otherwise, on to the stories~!! >>

The late spring sky was a deep, cobalt blue and very few clouds slowly drifted by. A young Kunzite stared up as she sat in the field that lie just through the small wooded area behind her house. She had all of her hair tucked tightly inside a big, corduroy hat. Hugging her knees tightly to her chest, a glint of tears in her eyes, she thought about how hopeless she was for running away as she had. She felt stupid and ashamed.

"Hey!" She heard her childhood friend Lapis call, scoldingly, from the edge of the woods. She didn't respond. She didn't want to talk to him. She didn't want to talk to anyone. He attempted to call her once more before proceeding to approach her.

Lapis sat down beside her, grunting a bit. Kay, as was her nickname, was his very best friend, and he never expected that to change. At the time, he was thirteen and Kay was twelve. They were both going through a lot of changes, and Kay had become completely self-conscious, especially about her hair. Lapis knew what was wrong. He knew what had happened with the other girls at school.

"Hey," he said gently. At first he had been upset at her for taking those girls so seriously. "Those girls don't mean anything." He put his arm around her. "You shouldn't worry about what they say. Your hair is beautiful. More beautiful than their's will ever be. It's soft and fluffy, yet silky with gentle waves." Lapis grinned widely. "I love your hair the best. They're just jealous."

"You know that's not it!" Kay squeezed the tears out of corners of her eyes and wiped them away with her forefinger. "They think I'm some kind of freak because it's naturally like this. That's what bothers me..." Kay sniffled. Lapis chuckled a bit and pulled off his vizor, his light blue locks falling down to his cheeks.

"So what? So what if they think you're a freak? They're the ones who are missing out. They're the ones who will never get to know such an amazing person as yourself. They will never be able to experience what it's like to have you for a friend." He looked over to her and smiled brilliantly. "So please don't cry. They're not worth your tears."

"You don't get picked on anymore," Kay said to Lapis, admiringly, as he removed her hat, allowing her shoulder-length pink locks to fall into place. "How were you able to get them to stop?" She inquired. This wasn't the first time she had asked him. Lapis turned his face away, blushing a little. It wasn't something he was proud of and he knew she would scold him for his behavior. He had never intended to tell her that he had beat the living daylights out of those guys, but he was satisfied with the results. Unfortunately, that wasn't something he could do to the girls picking on Kay.

"I don't know," Lapis shrugged. "Apparently I'm scary, " he said, laughing.

"Scary? You?" Kay laughed with him and bumped him with her shoulder. He bumped her back.

"Try not to be so sensitive to their words," Lapis advised. "You look best with your smiling face." Kay beamed a smile up at him.

"I'll do my best!" She promised him with those words.

"Now, let's go home. You know our parents are wondering what's keeping us when the bus has already gone by. They'll think we were detained," Lapis raised his eyebrows and Kay laughed.

Lapis was actually Kay's next door neighbor and their parents were really good friends as well. Apparently, they had all worked together in their younger days, but they never really talked much about their jobs back then. It seemed to be a bit of a touchy subject, so Lapis and Kay avoided bringing it up, though they secretly speculated about what they had done back then together.

Lapis walked Kay to her door, "I want to make sure you're really okay before I go."

"I'm fine, Lapis, thank you! You've cheered me up, like always," Kay assured him. Then she went inside and left Lapis to go home on his own. Lapis frowned a bit, still worrying about her.

Lapis was clearly protective of her, and Kay wasn't completely oblivious to his true feelings. He truly cared for her as more than just a friend, but Kay did not return those feelings. Kay loved him as a dear friend and an older brother, but she didn't have romantic feelings for him. So she feigned obliviousness and hoped he would never confess to her. She wanted things to stay the way they were.

The next few years seemed to go by in a flash and it wasn't long before Kay's parents received a letter mandating that she continue her education at an exclusive academy. It was obvious that her parents were not happy about this change, but Kay wondered why, since that was the case, they did not fight the decision at all. Apparently, the letter was from the government, but Kay didn't see how that should have made any difference. After, it wasn't like the government owned Kay, right?

Lapis had been there with her when her parent's delivered the news. Her mother was crying and her father had his strict facial expression, though she could see the sadness in his eyes. Lapis was also shaken by the situation. Kay's father kindly asked that he go on home so they could have a word with Kay alone. Lapis did as he was told.

On his way home, Lapis was freaking out inside his mind. He couldn't stand the thought of Kay going far away and him not being able to see her for who knew how long... Tears welled up in his eyes. His parents were awaiting him at their front door. He looked up at them, his usual collected self lost in this new-found vulnerability.

Lapis's father was not as well kempt as Kay's father was, but as he approached, Lapis could see the redness in his eyes, his shoulder length hair a tangled mess, his stubble a little more prominent than usual. Lapis could tell he'd given way to drinking that day. Lapis's mother pulled him into a tight hug, her very long hair falling around their arms, and held him for a good, long while right there in the threshold.

Lapis knew his parents adored Kay, but it seemed strange that they were this upset about her leaving. He had hoped to come home and find comfort in their reassuring guidance, but they were just as raw as he was about the situation. Lapis almost felt like they were the ones who needed comforting. His parents never really talked about what was going on. The just stood there, holding one another until Lapis stated that he wanted to go to his room.

He didn't get ready for school the next morning. His parents didn't seem to care at all. Lapis stayed in bed the majority of the day, playing on a hand-held gaming device to try to take his mind off matters. It didn't appear to be working. He knew that despite how Kay must have been feeling, she would have gone to school anyway. But he tried to shake the thought from his head. He didn't want to think about her.

Kay went through her day monotonously, she didn't really smile or say much to anyone. The popular girls bullied her from a distance, but Kay really didn't care at all. Soon, they would be the least of her worries. She wondered why Lapis refused to come out. She had stopped by his house before leaving for school, but his mom just told her that he wouldn't be leaving that day.

Kay wondered what this Romana Academy would be like. She had informed all of her teachers that this would be her final day and had turned in all her books and assignments before leaving for home that afternoon. Once there, she saw the long, black vehicle waiting out front of her house to take her away. Kay had asked many times where exactly the academy was, but no one ever really gave her a straight answer. She had already packed her things and her mother told her that the gentlemen had already loaded them into the car. They squeezed her tightly before she was to leave. Lapis never did come to say goodbye. Kay's heart was breaking.


~~ * ~~ * ~~ * ~~ * ~~

The car ride was long and silent. The driver said hardly a single word the entire time. Eventually, they arrived at a private airport where Kay boarded a small plane. She fell asleep on the ride, but after awaking, there was still quite a bit of traveling ahead of her. Kay felt completely alone.

They finally arrived at the front of the academy. Huge automatic, but elegant and stylish, metal gates opened up as the car drove toward the large estate's main building. It stopped in front of a big, beautiful fountain, featuring what appeared to be some sort of bird. Kay thought of it as a phoenix and laughed to herself at the thought of a phoenix spouting water like that.

A few people in white lab coats (two women and three men) rushed to retrieve Kay from the car and escorted her into the building's main front doors. She didn't understand the rush, but she knew something strange was going on. She was taken to a room which they said was to be her own dormitory. They told her to get situated as her luggage was brought in behind her. Kay was given a touch screen electronic device by one of the women and was told it was called a "D-Pad," with which she could view her schedule, set an alarm and quite a few other nifty things. She was also told that she would only be able to communicate with her parents through this device. Everything seemed so restrictive.

"You are to stay in your dormitory at all times," the lady said, "but you can use the communicator option on your D-pad to contact your Hall Director if there is anything you need or have forgotten to bring. Please hold your questions for now. Please remain in your room until your Director summons you for dinner." Then, all the lab coat clad people paraded out of the room leaving Kay to the silence.

She didn't unpack. She just laid on the bed for a while, staring at the ceiling. Kay felt like she was in a prison, not a school. Eventually, she got up and went to look out her window. There was a balcony and in a slight rush of excitement, she slid open the door and gazed out at the scenery. The academy's grounds were gorgeous. She could see a few gardeners out caring for the lawn and the plants. There was a lush forest not too far off. Kay began to wonder if the gate at the front really wrapped all the way around the estate and if so, how large the estate could have been.

Staring out over the lovely greenery, Kay could have sworn she'd been hearing something. Then, something distracted her and she looked all around, but before she could get her bearings on what was going on, someone came to her door.

It seemed to open up on its own. Kay actually didn't understand it very much. The building itself looked like an average building, but the doors seemed to be automated somehow. In came another woman in a lab coat, who wasn't from the earlier group that had shuffled her inside. Kay had figured by this point that they were scientists, giving Kay all-the-more a feeling of being captured like a lab specimen. A prisoner.

This lady was very nice and she politely asked Kay to slide her balcony door shut. Kay did as instructed and the lady took a seat in the desk chair, turning it toward the bed. "My name is Everlene Strive," she said. "You can call me Dr. S, if you'd like. It seems to be the popular thing to call me these days," she chuckled. Dr. Strive was a beautiful lady. She had silky black hair and a beautiful face shape. Kay could see she had Asian genetics, but she didn't know which derivation and the name didn't give her any clues. Dr. Strive's age wasn't easy to guess, either. She must have been at least in her mid-thirties, and that even was a guess at best. Kay just smiled up at her, still uneasy about this major transition. "I am one of the head scientists here, Kunzite," she explained. "I'm sure you know very little about the facility you're in at the moment, but unfortunately I'm short on time to explain right now. This is a scientific academy, a school focusing on science and math. As far as your courses go, they won't be much different from any other high school at first. The last two years will be when the major differences will come in. I'm here to take a small blood sample from you, Kunzite. It'll be just a finger prick."

Kay put out her hand and watched attentively as Dr. Strive pricked her finger and drew a bit of blood. She had used some kind of blood testing strip and sealed it in a small baggie that she put into her kit. The she pulled her own D-Pad from her kit and asked Kay to place her hand on it. It looked like a fingerprint scan, but Kay was only guessing. Afterward, Dr. Strive fiddled with a few things on the screen and asked Kay to clearly say her name. The machine recorded how Kay said it and Dr. Strive fiddled around with the thing a little more. She didn't bother explaining the meaning of those simple tasks she had just performed. She simply moved on to the next matter of business.

"Have you been experiencing any strange things lately, Kunzite?" She asked, gently. Kay had indeed been wondering about one thing in particular, but she doubted this was what Dr. Strive was referring to.

"I think I'm going crazy," Kay began, "but I feel like I've been hearing whispers all around me ever since I arrived here. At first I thought all the people who brought me in might have been talking, but I never saw any of them say a thing. I guess it could just be stress from this sudden move..." Kay speculated.

"Well," Dr. Strive sat back. "It very well could be. It may go away, but it may not. In either case, try to control it and we'll have another chat about this a little later. Alright?" She patted Kay's knee in a reassuring way. She began to gather her equipment. "Within the hour, you should be able to lock and unlock your door with the sound of your voice or by scanning your hand or finger on the pad that's on the wall beside the door. Dinner won't be too much later. I hope once you get used to this place that you really enjoy it." She smiled and headed out the door.

Kay laid back on the bed. In the regained silence, the whispers started to stir within her head again. That had been what had distracted her out on the balcony. She tried to focus on them. What was she hearing? Was she really going crazy? And hearing voices in her head? Well, it didn't matter. She wouldn't allow such a thing to hold her back from anything. So she listened and tried to hone in on the voice.

"Why?" the quiet voice said. It was a boy's voice. "Why are we here?" She eventually gathered. "What have I done? This is all my fault! How could I have done what I did? I'm making so many people suffer!" Each though was so negative. She wondered if she was feeling so bad about leaving everyone behind that these thoughts were surfacing in her heart. She felt the need to do something about it. Negative thoughts only lead to negative outcomes, she told herself.

"No!" She thought as hard as she could to drown out the voice. "You can't keep blaming yourself! This series of events is indeed unfortunate, but the more you dwell on it, the worse you will feel and the more you will bring down those around you! Just make the best of this! Do your best to smile. Do what you can to make things better. Do everything you can to ease the pain. You can't change the past, but you can start molding a better future, so don't put yourself down! Erase those thoughts! Don't let them creep back into your head." She thought to herself loud and strong, firm and decisive, traits that she had always had to force out of herself in the past. It never came naturally. She had to overpower the negativity within her heart. There was a long mental silence afterward, but then something weird happened.

At first, she thought she was really just going completely insane. Maybe she was suffering from the sudden and unexpected change in her life. She thought her subconscious had invented the boy's voice because deep inside she was hurting about leaving home, which was only natural. But she was doing the best she could to keep those feelings at bay. All those initial thoughts were completely wrong.

"Who are you?" The voice came inside her head again. "How do you know what I'm thinking? How did you get inside my head?"

Thoughts? Kay was hearing the thoughts of someone else? And he was also hearing her thoughts as well? It was more than a little frightening to think about, but the realization seemed somehow right. This poor boy was torn up inside and Kay felt the need to help. So she pretended (something she and Lapis were very talented at doing) she had all the answers and became this anonymous voice to him.

"It's alright," She thought, gently and consolingly. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone. I only want to help you. You need not give me any specifics, but you can confide your feelings and frustrations in me and I will do my best to help you."

"You seem very kind," he replied, "but you must understand that it is difficult to trust you." She did understand, somewhat. They were talking to one another through their minds. They had never before met. They had no idea who the other person really was.

"You don't seem very surprised to be hearing my thoughts... Just that I can hear yours. Can you hear the thoughts of everyone?" Kay asked him.

"Obviously," he responded, sounding a little disgusted.

"You don't seem too happy about it..." Kay observed.

"I can invade the minds of others," he thought in a frightening tone. "But for some reason, I can only read the thoughts that you are sending out to me... as if you are wishing to say them. Perhaps it's because we are not physically near one another. So you see, from this distance I can't tell if you're lying or not. Therefore, I can't trust you."

"I see," Kay replied. She wasn't really sure what to say in response, but before long he continued.

"I'm still learning how to control my ability, but I will find a way to read your mind, inside and out," he thought, threatening. "Then we'll see how trustworthy you are." He was very wary. Kay wondered how old he was and really wanted to know more about him. Those thoughts seemed to make their way to him. She quickly went over it again.

"How old are you?" She did her very best to put as much heart into the thought as she could. She wanted him to know how sincere she was. He didn't respond. "Have you been able to read minds for long?" Still no response. "It's alright," She sighed to herself. "When you can trust me, you'll find I'm nothing to worry about. I'm an open book with few secrets and I'm not very good at lying, though I'm pretty okay at pretending. But please do try to communicate with me at that time. You only have to tell me what you want me to hear. Unlike you, I don't know anything about reading minds. Yours is the only voice I hear and it only started a short while ago... Listen to me going on, if you can even still hear me. I guess I'm just a little lonely. Ask me anything and I'll tell you." Kay hugged her pillow and rolled over on the bed.

"I'm fifteen," his voice finally returned.

"Really?!" Kay jumped up. She was excited that he had actually answered her.

"What?" He was surprised at her reaction. She must have been too loud and excited.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't expect you would talk to me anymore. I'm fifteen as well. I just arrived here today."

"I've been here for a while now. Before transferring to the academy here about two months ago, I was still with the science team that arranged this whole thing for at least a year. I assume you'll be a student at Romana, the same as me?"

"Yeah," Kay said. "By the way, you can call me Kay. I hope we can be friends. I guess we'll meet soon. Maybe at dinner tonight?"

"I don't think we can. I'm sure we'll be dining in specific groups. My name is Druzy." Introducing himself, he seemed a lot less certain, almost as if he was not used to it.

"It's nice talking to you, Druzy," Kay smiled. She hoped he could tell that she was smiling.

"It may be a long time before we can ever meet," Druzy said. Kay wondered what he meant by that. They didn't talk specifically about much after that, but somehow, Kay felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted. She didn't feel as alone. It wasn't long after that when she was called to dinner.

Kay's Hall Director was dressed perfectly, it seemed. She was young and a bit aloof in appearance. Kay wanted to ask her about Druzy, but it occurred to her that it might not be such a good idea to go spouting nonsense about other students who she was not supposed to have met.

"My name is Kunzite," She said. She was honestly expecting a short answer like, "I know who you are," but she was quite surprised.

"O-oh," a sheepish little voice came from the woman. She sounded so nervous and appeared much less intimidating then. She's just tense, Kay thought to herself. "You can call me Miss Yori," the woman smiled.

"And you can call me Kay," she said, cheerfully. "Is it your first day?"

"Well, no, I've been here for a week... but some things are so intense! Like the headmaster..." She mumbled. "I'm so afraid of making any mistakes!" Yori confessed.

"Well, Miss Yori," Kay smiled at her again. "From now on, you and I are in this together!" She pumped her fist and giggled a bit. Yori smiled, looking a little relieved.

We arrived at Dining Hall 1 shortly after we stopped conversing. "Here we are," Yori smiled. "A few more students will arrive soon and then dinner will begin. I will return afterward to take you back to our hall!"

"Thank you so much, Miss Yori," Kay said as she entered the Dining Hall. It wasn't huge, but it was still impressive. It was really bright, but very beautiful. The floor was carpeted and the booths that lined the walls looked luxurious and the long tables about the middle of the room were glorious, also. One wall was lined with windows peeking out on a lush green forest only feet away. Kay figured they were on the back side of the building, but of course she couldn't be certain.

There were a few other students inside, but not many. There was a girl with black hair who was also dressed in all black sitting in one corner booth by herself. Not far away at one of the long tables was a red-headed girl (really, really red-headed) sitting across from another girl who seemed to have a silvery-white hair color. They appeared to be bickering. A tall, blonde guy was staring out one of the windows and a boy with brown hair was talking to him as he sat in the booth nearby.

Kay felt a little shy upon walking in. Everyone stared at her and she suddenly wanted to go home again. Tears started welling in her eyes. Being outnumbered really made her weak and she was used to having Lapis by her side. Kay didn't know what to do. The brown-haired boy smiled at her, but that was the only comforting thing she could see from the situation.

Shortly after Kay had walked in and stood uselessly in the threshold, a well-dressed man led in another student. This guy had a deep purple hair color. Kay knew she wasn't seeing things at that point. Everyone's hair color was pure. A solid color. A bright color. In the corner, the black haired girl stood up, "Zi!" she called and waved the purple-haired guy over to her booth. This Zi was standing right next to her, slouching slightly with his hands in his pockets. His hair was about shoulder length and styled wildly. He wore baggy clothing, mostly dark colored. He smiled at the black haired girl and shrugged, but he didn't move.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

He was looking at Kay. She swallowed hard. "You lost, little bunny?" he asked, grinning. "Who are you?" He asked this question in a tone that seemed to convey a feeling of, 'It really doesn't matter, though.'

"M-my name is Kunzite," Kay abruptly spat out. She felt that she sounded incredibly nervous and she blushed, a little embarrassed. The black haired girl was then approaching them.

"I'm so glad you're here, too, man." She said. "Yesterday it was just me an Ruby..." The girl shuddered and sounded disgusted, motioning toward the table with the other two girls.

"It's good to see you here, too, Onyx," Zi smiled. "I figured you might have come here when I found out I was getting transferred to. I mean, it explains why you were so suddenly transferred like I was." He looked at me. "She's Kunzite, she says. She didn't go to our high school, did she?"

"I don't recognize her," Onyx grinned at Kay. "I'm Onyx. It's nice to meet you. Did you go to Arcadia High with the rest of us?" The name of their high school did not sound familiar to Kay at all.

"N-no," She couldn't stop stuttering from the nervousness. "I went to Glenn High School. And you can call me Kay." She was so quiet and was blushing terribly. She was not very good at meeting new people.

"Well, that's strange," Onyx said as she led the two over to her booth, "so far everyone's been from Arcadia." They all sat down. Onyx pointed out the two guys near the window. "The blonde guy is Lio. He's pretty dense." Kay wondered about that since he seemed to be so lost in thought.

"Yeah, and his friend is Rutile. He was big into the whole 'popular' thing back home," Zi made quotations with his fingers. "Those two girls were, too." He gestured to the red-head and the silver-haired girl.

"The red-head is Ruby. She's incredibly snotty." Onyx looked angry as she described her.

"The other girl is Diamond," Zi added. "She and Ruby used to hate each other, but I guess they made a little truce since they're stuck her together. Probably thought one another was better than Onyx!" Zi laughed and Onyx punched his shoulder.

"Diamond, Ruby, Rutile, Onyx," Kay said piecing things together. She pointed at herself. "Kunzite. This is a crazy coincidence!" She said, realizing.

"There's no way it is," Onyx leaned back. "I mean, we have the hair colors to match the names. Zi here's real name is Zoisite and Lio over there is really Heliodor. Something strange is up. Like some kind of conspiracy." Onyx was way into the idea. For some reason, Kay thought of Druzy.

A guy with orange hair came in and immediately sat at the seat nearest the entrance. He didn't look at anyone, just folded his arms and stared at the table. It seemed very odd to Kay.

"Zinc," Onyx said. "He's a total nerd," she giggled, "but that's completely fine by me."

They got to know each other a little better for a few minutes and then a purple haired girl came in, which made Kay realize how much blue was in Zi's hair color. "That's Amethyst," Zi said. "Everyone really is from Arcadia. I wonder why that is...?"

"Who knows," Onyx shrugged. "I don't remember our school being so great." Kay started to feel lonely again. They had all gone to the same high school together. They at least knew some other students they would be going to school with from then on. Kay started to miss Lapis incredibly. She really wished he had been able to transfer with her.

Miss Yori entered again with another girl. She had beautiful, almost pastel colored, blue-green hair. "Jade," Onyx said. Jade quietly made her way to the long table next to where Ruby and Diamond were sitting. She didn't sit with them, but she was keenly intent on everything they were saying. Ruby and Diamond looked displeased.

"Attention students of Romana Academy," the well-dressed man who had escorted the guys in earlier stood straight in the entrance-way with Miss Yori. He announced this in an almost booming tone, which was a bit surprising for his lean physique. "In just a moment, your dinner will be served. Tomorrow, the remainder of your class will have arrived and we will have opening ceremonies at this same time. However, tomorrow, all ladies will be brought to dinner as a group by Miss Yori. You gentlemen will be brought in a group by myself. That is all. Enjoy your meal and we will retrieve you afterward." With that, the two directors left.

"Everything is so uptight!" Kay said, uncomfortably.

"Really," Onyx agreed. "They said we could go to the common room tonight, though, which has got to be a lot better than being trapped in the dorm like last night," she sighed. "I'm hoping it's better, anyway."

"So we just hang out with one another in the common room?" Kay asked, not really thinking about the question, just trying to make conversation.

Side Story - Druzy

Druzy was a strange child. He grew up with an unfeeling father who was too absorbed in his business to spend any time with him and a mother who would drown her worries and loneliness with alcohol. Druzy became self-sufficient very early in his childhood. And he was quick to figure out workarounds for more difficult problems he may have come across.

As he got older, he withdrew from people a lot more. He somehow became "friends" with the popular crowd, as they would follow him around. He knew it was because he had money and could manipulate others as he pleased. Somehow, it was very easy for him to figure how other people would think. But Druzy never really did actually associate with them. In fact, he really didn't care for them at all. He hated their superficiality and their idiotic ideas. Half the time he was rolling his eyes and grumbling at their comments.

Druzy did, however, really care for his mother. He tried every day to get her to stop drinking and to reconnect with who she really was deep down inside. He knew that his father had hurt her and that she felt abandoned, but he wanted her to realize that he was still there for her. He would still be able to take care of her. He could help her to see that they didn't need the man who had neglected them for so long. But he just couldn't manage to open her eyes. So Druzy went on and on, every day, seemingly repeating the same routine with her.

Frequently, Druzy would be visited by a family doctor at their mansion. He would prick Druzy's finger to take a blood sample. And every single time he would ask him if anything strange had been going on. For a while, Druzy thought that maybe the family doctor was concerned about his mental or emotional well-being, considering the state of the household, but eventually he caught on to the fact that this doctor was looking for something strange going on with Druzy himself, and Druzy alone.

For a long time, Druzy would play a game with the doctor to try and divulge information. He wanted a clue as to what they were looking for. Druzy felt like an experiment and he wanted to be in on it. He would pretend that something strange had happened to see if the doctor would buy his stories. It wasn't long before the doctor caught on to his schemes, though.

The summer Druzy turned fourteen, something strange did indeed happen. He was trying to analyze people at a banquet his father made him attend for the business. He sat at a lone table near the back of the room and looked from person to person and analyzed each of them to find out what kind of person they must have been. At first, it was a fun distraction. Then, it started getting too easy. It was like the answers were just flowing into his mind. Finally, he realized the answers WERE flowing right into his mind, in the form of voices. He could hear the voice of the thoughts of each person he focused on. He knew what they were thinking. He knew the good and bad intentions of every person in that room. His head started to spin as he felt enveloped by the massive invasion of thoughts from hundreds of different people. The next thing he knew, he was waking up in his bed and his family doctor was there running some tests.

"What happened to me?" he asked as he slowly sat up, his left hand to his forehead.

"I'm not sure, you tell me," his family doctor said. Druzy went over everything again in his mind. He remembered it all and how overwhelmingly powerful it was. He looked up at the doctor and focused. "Has it happened yet? I'm anxious about what to expect..." He heard his doctor's voice... but he wasn't talking. Druzy was sure he was an experiment then. He focused more. He knew he was reading surface thoughts, but he wanted to dig deeper. Flashes of thoughts and images and memories started pouring into Druzy's mind. Then, there was a painful realization that nearly shook Druzy to his core. He continued in astonishment for a moment.

Eventually, Druzy saw his doctor shake his head as if he was feeling the invasion of his mind. Druzy backed off, laid back on the bed and sighed.

"I don't know. I guess that room was just stuffy and I couldn't take it any more." Druzy said. He closed his eyes. "I want to sleep, now." He could tell his doctor was disappointed, but he left Druzy be.