It doesn't take long to join the two together. Now it is just a question of whether you or Caleb will be the first to access someone elses mind.
"Scared?"
"Nah."
You feign courage but deep down you're actually thinking about the strip with Lisa's thoughts and memories. How right is it to jump inside anothers mind and possibly know all the things they've hidden away from everyone else? Selective mind reading never sounded so bad, but this could possibly give you total access. Hell, you wouldn't want someone to know about your occasional sexual relief or the places you've been or things you've done or what you think about certain people. You've never really come out and told Lisa how you felt. You just hoped she'd somehow read you and that she also felt the same, but maybe you're wrong. Maybe she doesn't care anything for you and ...
"Dude? You OK? Come back to earth now."
You shake with a start as Caleb's voice interrupts your thoughts.
"Where were you, Will? You looked like Jeremy when the mask melted into his face."
"Thinking ... nothing." you slowly mutter before tearing your stare away from the mask and up at your friend. "Do we really want to do this? Know what's in Richards' head? Could be freaking weird?"
* * *
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?"
Richards' voice rattles the whole room with heated anger as he jumps up and pounces at Caleb grabbing his shirt and raising him to his tip toes.
"Where's your little boyfriend, Prescott? He not man enough to hang with you, or are you just the real pervert?"
"Will. WILL!"
"Yeah, call the little bastard? I'm gonna trash your ass then go rip his so if he sits and swallows it'll hurt."
"WILL, WHAT THE FUCK'S WRONG WITH YOU?"
"Why you calling me Will, Johansson? Are you so fucked ..."
Suddenly, you drop Caleb and stagger backwards trying to gain control over the flood of thoughts and emotions belonging to Jeremy Richards. Your whole being was overwhelmed after the mask went on. The last thing you remember before blacking out is being in your room with Prescott and Johansson acting like they cared about you. Now suddenly, you're in that foul basement room again. How had they dragged you there and why? You aren't going to take this from those fuckers.
Those two have recently become anchors on your new life when your were accepted by the basketball team and, therefore, the elite of the school. You still think of them as friends, but their actions and social status don't fit in with the new you. It is also hard to fit in with the new crowd, but you can't show it or they'll drop you. These guys' pestering you of late is very annoying. You have to separate yourself from the old no matter what your feelings are. You don't want to, especially with Will, but you know that he'll never return it.
"WILL! ARE YOU THERE? WILL!"
"What? Huh? Yeah. I think I'm back." you mutter as you realize what's happened and take control away from the Jeremy Richards personality in the mask. Once you know you can keep it in check, you slowly raise your eyes and stare at Caleb. "I'm gonna crack your head, Johansson."
As he gets that scared look again, you crack a smile.
"Just foolin', dude. I'm back and in control now."
"Don't fuck with me like that. I swear that you, er, Richards was actually going to kill me. It was too real."
"Yeah, well it's even more real from this side. His whole personality just washed over me, and I couldn't stop it. It was like everything about him poured into my mind so fast that I couldn't grasp it. It just pushed me aside and took over. But now I'm not only him." you say as you start air dribbling around the room then shoot a hoop. "I've got his skills, talent, memories, feelings about things and people, you, me ..."
Instantly you freeze. Your face turns to shock. Then you rip the mask from your face and toss it to the floor causing you to almost pass out.
"What the fuck, dude?"
You wave Caleb off keeping your head between your legs trying to get blood to your brain and oxygen through your lungs. He picks up the mask, and you yell, "Don't put it on." before gravity wins taking your blood and you onto the floor.
* * *
"Wake up. What's wrong with the mask?"
Caleb looks panicked and is shaking you violently which is just making it harder to focus.
"Stop. Let me breathe."
You push him aside as all your concerns about getting too much information from someone elses mind circle round your thoughts again. And again.
It is totally out-of-the-blue, but looking back you can see all the signs. It is something that Jeremy guarded so closely and covered so well that it would never be obvious. You wonder how anyone deals with those sort of things especially if your life takes a major change putting you more in the spotlight. If this gets out, it will kill any chances he has in basketball or being in the ruling tier, or maybe staying sane even, alive. No wonder he always seems to shrug off all the usual social scene activities.
"Well?"
Caleb isn't going to give up, so you have to come up with an answer. If you lie, he may sometime put on the mask and find out anyway. It's not like you can say no one can ever use a mask because it's too dangerous. That would mean going forward in the book would be useless.
"Something we shouldn't know. That's the problem with getting access to someone elses mind." You take the mask from him and stare at it. Then with a deep breathe, you look him straight in the eye. "It's Jeremy. He's ...
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