Burdened (A Burdened Novel) by Peiri Ann

while, neither of us saying anything. It upsets me that he isn’t jumping right into whatever it is we need to talk about. My brain is racing over whys and whats, and maybe a couple of whos. I’m confused and slightly irritated because of all the secrets.
    “Thank you,” he says quietly.
    “For what?”
    “For choosing me.”
    “Choosing you? Why wouldn’t I?”
    He takes a while to answer me. I wait patiently. “Tracey, I’m not normal.”
    “Not normal.” I chuckle. I don’t take him seriously.
    “You should take me seriously,” he says, like he’s in my head. “Because I am.”
    I turn my head, slowly looking at him, shocked by what I just heard. “What are you saying?”
    “Saying a lot without saying anything at all.”
    I remember thinking that when he said those ‘piss me off’ words, “Don’t Tracey,” which I despised. “You’re in my head. Why?”
    “I’m not normal.”
    “And!” He is going to have to give me more than that.
    “What more are you looking for?”
    “All!”
    “How about you ask me your questions, and then I’ll answer them and possibly provide a little extra information along the way?”
    “Or, you could tell me everything and I can get my answers along the way.”
    “Okay Tracey, I’ll be honest with you.” He clears his throat and straightens his back slightly. “I don’t really know where to start or how to explain this.” He rubs his hand over his chin. “I’ve never had to before, so I don’t know what to say. I have asked a few others about how I should go about explaining this, but no person is the same, and everybody responds differently to information and situations.”
    “Okay, continue,” I say expectantly, after his pause takes longer than I can stand.
    “You are a down-to-earth person, and from what I’ve got from you already, you’re calm and willing to understand.”
    “Right.” I move my hand in a ‘keep going’ motion.
    “I just need you to make this a little easier on me.”
    “And that would be by me asking you the questions first? Giving you a runway?”
    “Yes.”
    I nod. “Okay, I can do that.” He grabs my hand. I let him, studying his hand as my fingers follow his veins through his hand to his wrist. “Why are you in my head? What can you hear?”
    He breathes. “It means we are meant to be together. When we first entered each other’s presence, you were marked on all of me—my heart, mind, body, and soul—and me on you. I wasn’t expecting it, but it happened. Because of the marking, and my need and desire to know you, I’m able to be inside your head. I can hear more than what you want me to, but you can also block me out, if you want, just by closing off your mind to me.” And I can be in your head like this as well. I look at him curiously, hearing his voice in my mind without him speaking.
    “How did you do that?”
    “It is a gift of my family. If you choose to stay with me and become a part of my family, you will get it as well.”
    “So you all can talk to each other in your minds?”
    “Yeah. It comes in handy in certain predicaments.”
    “Okay. I can’t stand to be away from you because all of me wants you.”
    “Yes.”
    “So why resist me before, if you knew the way you felt about me?”
    “And that’s the part I don’t know how to explain. See—” He takes his hand from me and scoots over. I don’t get why he is doing it again—moving away from me. “I’m only moving away from you because, by my touch, I can influence your feelings and thoughts. And when I tell you this, I want you to hear your own thoughts and have your own feelings. And not be influenced by the way I want you to feel.” He responds to my thought.
    I’m going to watch what I think, moving forward.
    “You can be yourself around me, you know.”
    “I do. But continue with the hard part as to why you resisted me, and if you can, throw in why it’s a risk.”
    He looks at me and nods as he gathers his thoughts.