The Gift

On reflection, the Election could have been better, Sarah had canvassed so many people, they had been so enthusiastic about having a candidate with her unique abilities, but perhaps they were just a little scared, she wasn't sure. After all it's not every day you see someone who can do what she does; she was hoping that it would be a good thing, help people who feel they are different be part of something. Of course, when you almost have a dictatorship in power then what Sarah has appears to be an imperfection rather than an asset. They were after all controlling their lives and they had no say in how the country was run, it was an illusion that they did. However, Sarah was hoping that with the power of her mind she could break the hold that this government had over the people. There was a deep-seated fear in the people that was so strong they'd just vote for the same people every time. This was so that their families wouldn't be sent to work at the local factories and mines, where conditions were said to be horrendous. There was a definite split now; the rich had become richer whereas everyone else was living with daily abjection, poverty and despair. Sarah was hoping that if she could be elected by overwhelming the fear in each person's brain, she could make a change, but it backfired.

Sarah discovered when she was quite young that she could read other people's thoughts. It was just small things at first, the words her Mother was thinking about her, the pleasure in her Father's eyes, turned into words, spinning in her head. As she got older she realised that not only could she read what others were thinking, a really useful gift to have, but also that she was able to manipulate minds too. She found out accidentally when her Mum wouldn't let her go to a party and when Sarah pleaded with her, she felt something different happening in her head. Her Mum's eyes changed, glazed over, and then she seemed fine again. Sarah asked her again if she could go to the party and her Mum said 'of course you can' she didn't even seem to realise that she'd changed her mind; it happened so fast that Sarah wasn't even sure what had happened. It took Sarah a while to hone this skill and then to use it. This was the first time she was able to try it for something so important. Canvassing was exhausting, working on each person in the household eligible to vote meant that she suffered intolerable headaches, often getting to the end of the day, only to find herself in agonising pain and vomiting her way through the evening. It was, she had thought, worth it though, if only to get a toe in the door of this corrupt government.

On the day of the election, she went to the Council Rooms where the voting was to take place and she waited for people to arrive. As they did, she brushed their minds with hers, encouraging them to vote for her; however, something felt wrong and she couldn't figure it out at first, but at about the halfway point Greg, the Government candidate looked at her and his eyes changed, her head split open with pain, she screamed and collapsed. An ambulance was called and she was rushed to hospital but nothing was found to be wrong. Sarah knew though, it was the gift, her gift, he had it too, she realised that so must others in the government and that this meant there was no stopping them; the fight was already lost.