Chapter 1

"Two years passed from that eventful time. Hope had changed schools, and not much else eventful happened. Then one night while I was hanging out with friends I ran into her. Once again my life was about to change.

You see I started puberty earlier that year, and really started noticing girls. Hope was in every way MY dream girl. She was shorter then me (at the time, only by a couple of inches, but the difference in height became greater as we grew older). What hit me were her eyes, they were this shade of blue that cannot be explained except by the sky mixed with cobalt. She was, in every way, thoughtful, intelligent, and also seemingly shy.

On the other hand I was much the conversationalist. I spent the next 2 months trying to impress her and get the courage to ask her out. Once I finally did, she had said yes. She also asked me why it took me so long. I could never answer that, yet I changed a little that day.

I had noticed something, something I couldn't explain at the time. I still have trouble explaining it, because words lessen the meaning. Some would call this change 'magic', some would say 'telepathy', others empathy. All I knew was I could feel her thoughts and emotions. From that day on, I could finish her sentences, I knew when she was feeling hurt; I also knew when she was happy.

I hear you thinking 'Yeah yeah ... it couldn't have been that great', but I know it was something unusual. If every one could do this, why were there so much skepticism about it in the media, and any book I read?

I found when I was near Hope, I could also feel others thoughts and emotions, but not when she wasn't near me. When we held hands, this ... power ... I'm so reluctant to call it that ... intensified. I started to feel everything around me. I didn't understand what was happening, for a while, I lost my self. More like I lost my sense of self. My well being had been shattered by all the conflicting thoughts and emotions. My family started to believe I was loosening my mind. In a way I was, but not in the sense my psychologist would have people believe.

On my 12th birthday, my gift from my family was two weeks in a mental institution. I was there for screening and evaluation. I was given my first of many false diagnoses at that hospital. Attention Defecate Hyper Active Disorder, Schizophrenia, and Obsessive Defiance Disorder were now in my medical records."