Young Writers Society

The diner was uncharacteristically full for that time of the day. The twilight air was heavy with the smell of cheap food, the slow murmur of conversation and the anticipation of something momentous about to happen. Some of the eyes were fixed to the television screen, while the rest flickered to the clock impatiently every few minutes. It wasn't time yet.

The two girls occupying the corner booth had just arrived. One of them whispered to the other," It’s happening. This was all of the dinnertime conversations for the past week at my house.” The girl’s chestnut tresses partly covered up her face as she leaned forward to see her friend’s reaction. All the while, the said friend had been staring out the window, utterly oblivious to her attempt at conversation.

Perfect…. she’s ignoring me again. Heaven knows why I bother to hang out with her anymore.

“Vye, are you listening?” That drew the attention of the distracted girl. Her hair was cropped short with violet streaks here and there. Vye’s eyes involuntarily moved to the screen for a second. It’s going to be any moment now. Then she turned back to her irritated friend.

“Sorry, I haven’t been following. You said…..?”

“If you didn’t want to come with me, you could have just said so.” The chestnut girl’s voice was controlled, betraying nothing of what she felt inside.

And I could have gone with Stacey and her friends, my chance to get into the cool crowd at school. To think that I missed it. For this.

“No. That’s not it. Please don’t be mad. I had just been so focussed on this thing…” Vye paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. “Ray, what do you think the government would decide on?”

“My father says that if the government wants to be re-elected, it has no other option but to go with the majority. Also, we can’t co-exist with the Auditus.”

“But it’s the government’s fault that they exist in the first place. No one asked them to carry out those weird DNA altering experiments all those years ago.”

Ray rolled her eyes. Here goes miss goody-two-shoes preaching me on right and wrong again. “Don’t blame the government. How were they to know that this gene would pass on to future generations? They thought the experiment failed when they didn’t get any conclusive results.”

Vye sighed. I knew there was no point in talking about it to Ray. All she cares about lately is getting popular in school.

The group of four men in the booth next to theirs had put their heads together on the same issue.

“Auditus is Latin for hearing or something like that. My son told me so. He’s taking a course on it this semester.”

Ugh, such a braggart. One of the listening men signalled to the other two guys sitting opposite him, who snickered quietly in return. The first man continued with his opinions, unaware. “If you ask me, they should be put behind bars immediately. Listening in on our thoughts- what kind of witchcraft is that?!”

The man previously mocking him conceded to this, “ Existence of people who can read our thoughts is a direct breach of the privacy laws. The government should have kept tabs on the experiment participants; they should not have been allowed to mix in with the general population and start families. Now there are far too many of them.”

Another one chimed in, “ It’s strange how we only heard of this phenomenon last year. People like these must have been living among us for so long now. Imagine walking by an Auditus not knowing anything and them poking around inside your head.”

They stopped talking when the waitress came in with their drinks. She kept the tray on the table, and some of the liquid managed to spill out. She grimaced. The diner is too full today. I have been working nonstop for the past four hours and today was supposed to be my off day. That’s it. I’m asking for a raise.

With that conviction, she moved on to the next table with an elderly couple. The waitress was rewarded with a quick disapproving look by the old lady. Look at the length of her skirt. Girls these days are terrible. I would have never dressed like that. Then she announced in a haughty voice, “ Bring us some coffee. We’re only here for the broadcast.” The waitress wrote it down, before asking politely, “Anything else, sir?”

The old man shook his head with a smile. Such a sweet girl. She is just the age Laura was when I met her all those years ago in a diner not very unlike this. Hard-working and efficient. I wonder if she reminded Laura of her youth. He looked over to his wife, who was still scowling at the retreating form of the waitress and remarked, “ Sometimes I feel too old. Some people can read minds now, what else have the scientists got up their sleeves. Time travellers?”

Laura ignored his feeble attempt at a joke. She declared earnestly, “I don’t trust these Auditus. Human beings are already terrifying enough without the ability to pry open my darkest secrets.”

The owner of the diner kept a stern eye on all his customers while simultaneously counting the bills. The business had been slow lately, but it’s a crowd today because of the news. I need to tell Gina to hurry up. At this rate, she’ll manage to drive away all the customers with her sloth’s pace. If the other girl hadn’t taken this week off for a family emergency, I would have already fired Gina.

“Gina, customers are waiting. No one has all the time in the world.”

Just on cue to the owner’s words, everyone simultaneously looked up at the screen; the diner became encompassed in a strange silence, the kind right before a storm hits. The screen showed the president standing on the podium, his face set in a grave mask. It was finally time for his long-awaited announcement.

“Greetings, my fellow countrymen. I know this in all its surety that everyone had been impatiently waiting for the judgment that’s due to all of us. For whatever be the outcome of this trial, none of us will stay untouched by it. Right now, we stand in a historical moment, in silent contemplation and our hearts crossed for the change that’s yet to come. Before we step into this new era, I urge you to remember that we are the same in our hearts and minds.

There was a highly confidential experiment funded by the government for human benefaction and advancement; further details will stay obscure for security purposes. A few people from each country participated in this top security government program. According to the data collected, the scientists assumed that the tests have failed. Contrary to our knowledge, the drug did make changes to a particular gene of the participants, the effects were only apparent when passed on to the progeny of these people. This next-generation or as we so call them ‘Auditus’ have the ability to read other people’s minds. Or in more scientific terms, they can perceive the brain's electrical impulses because of their enhanced characteristics.

My next words are directed to all people who possess such power- turn yourself in. Let us fix our mistake together. We conducted one experiment that resulted in such grievous consequences, now we want to find a cure to this gene that has divided the human race. But it’s not possible without your help…..”

“What can I bring you, miss?” The waitress’ words distracted me from the President’s speech, but I’ve already heard everything that I needed to know.

“Nothing, thank you. I was just leaving.” Gina frowned at my words. Oh no… a customer leaving. He’ll not be happy with this. She swiftly glanced back at the owner with a worried look and then turned towards me, “ The president is still speaking. Are you sure you would not like to stay till the end of it?”

Hidden behind all those flowery phrases of support and unity was the ugly truth - the government wanted to get its hands on us for carrying out further tests. It was highly likely that they already had several Auditus imprisoned, hence the news of our existence was exposed in the first place. If I wasn’t careful, I'd be joining them in no time. It wasn't safe for me to stay in that diner anymore. We needed to group together and fight back against this tyranny, I was sure some humans like Vye would even sympathize with our cause. But we were in a tough race against time.

All these thoughts vaporized as I looked into the expectant eyes of the waitress. It reminded me of all the conversations I had eavesdropped on in that short span of time in the diner. Some meant to be heard, some not. I have pulled forth all their messed up thought patterns that were never intended to see the light of the day and untangled them one by one, and I understood those humans all for the better. Their stories were no less compelling than mine; I existed as much in my own head as much in theirs. But everyone was so engrossed in their fear of people like me, that they easily overlooked what Auditus was truly capable of.

Empathy.

So I told Gina with a slight nod of my head, “Perhaps you could get me a hamburger if it’s not too much trouble.”

She smiled at me gratefully, “I’ll be right back.”

It occurred to me at that moment that sometimes history is not created with big promises on TV screens, with an audience waiting on you; but in corner booths of shabby diners, when you learn to see the world through another pair of eyes and still find it as beautiful as before.