Untitled ( Part 20 ) Could It Be Mindspeak?

'I can see what is going to happen in ten seconds before it happens.'


It was Bag. This was the first time I had heard her speak and she talked like the reaper with the infantile voice. I could hardly see her mouth move because her hair was in the way.


'It's not the most helpful gift in the world but it sometimes comes in handy if somebody is about to trip over or choke on a small piece of food.'


I wanted to tip her upside down like a salt seller and to scream at her to shut up.


'It's okay. Everything's stopped hasn't it? We can talk about it.'


I guessed that she was right and I was just about to tell her about the reapers when Rosh told us that she has been given the ability to travel without moving by using her mind instead of her legs.

That had us all thinking. It was a great one to have. Apparently she does travel along the colourdoors at night without leaving her bed.

'It's very comfortable,' she said.


I wanted to tell them about the reapers but it didn't feel right so instead I told them about my ability to hold my head under water for as long as I wanted to without drowning. But compared to mind travelling it sounded pathetic. And it only came in useful on Bath Day. And we were spending Bath Day walking around the colourless colourdors like headless porkines.


'Watch out,' said Bag. Ten seconds later a crackle came racing down the colourdor towards us but we all had time to duck out of the way. A crackle in broad daylight.


'This really can't be happening,' said Ink, whom we had all forgotten about. She was further along and hadn't been so lucky and had been knocked against the wall by the crackle.


'I did try to warn you,' said Bag.


'Watch out, ' I said, 'there may be others.'




We soon got completely lost. Without their colours the walls weren't very helpful. We didn't even know if we were walking in a straight line or going around in circles. Others were passing us and going in the opposite direction and looking as lost as us. Nobody was really talking to one another. We all seemed to be split up into our different groups. The reapers weren't helping either, they just clung onto their host's backs and half of them were asleep or pretending to be asleep. I thought about waking them up so that they could help us but then I would have to tell everybody about them, but it didn't feel like the right thing to do.

How exactly are you supposed to tell somebody that death is literally breathing down their back? For the moment I thought it was something that was best kept to myself. My not so amazing ability to breath under water would have to do. Besides Ink hadn't told us hers. What exactly could she do that she was not telling us. Could it be mindspeak? Surely not?