The Outlier

Anita had been staring at her radio for the past hour. She started after she unconsciously thought about how much she hated the song that was playing. She thought about changing the station when all of a sudden, the radio just turned off. The teen wasn’t sure if she had done it or if the batteries simply died, but that wasn’t going to stop her from trying to turn it back on with her mind.

“Come on,” she muttered. “Don’t be a such a bitch!”

Suddenly, the radio turned on, startling Anita.

“Jesus Christ!” she exclaimed, nearly falling out of her chair. After a few seconds of processing what just happened, she started laughing. “Jesus Christ! I can’t believe it! Holy shit!”

The redhead threw her fists in the air, feeling completely elated.

“Anita?” her father asked from behind the closed door. “Is everything okay? Can I come in?”

The teen froze, then slowly lowered her fists. “Yeah, come in, Dad.”

Caden walked into the room hesitantly, and closed the door behind him.

“Is everything going alright in here?” he asked.

Anita nodded, trying to hide her excitement of her new trick. “Mmhm, yeah. Everything’s great.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, cocking up one eyebrow. “I heard a lot of shouting from the kitchen.”

Anita shrugged. “Just doing some stuff. Nothing to worry about,” the teen replied with a smile.

“You know,” he started, leaning against the metal frame of her lofted bed. “When you say stuff like that, it makes me want to worry more.”

“Dad, I mean it. Everything’s great.”

He shrugged. “Okay, sweetpea. Whatever you say.”

Caden walked out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

****

“You did what?” Vincent exclaimed, arms crossed in front of his chest.

Anita held her hands up in self-defense while leaning back in office chair. “Whoa, dude, I didn’t know it was that big of a deal.”

“That is a huge deal, Anita! Do you know what this means?”

The teen shrugged her shoulders. “It means that I’m a superhero after all…?”

“It means that your brain is picking up on some type of electronic waves. Maybe that’s how you’re able to read minds.”

“Okay, that doesn’t make a lick of sense,” she replied, looking completely unamused. “How could ESP be explained by radio waves?”

Vincent waves his hands dismissively. “Not radio waves. Electrical waves.”

“Whatever, same difference.”

“No, they’re pretty different,” he insisted. He waved his hands again and leaned forward in his chair. “Okay, you know how messages get sent through the body via neurons and small electrical impulses?”

“Yes, I know that’s an actual thing.”

“Maybe you’re reading the messages that are passing through the brains of others. Who knows? Maybe you can control other electronic things, too.”

“But how can those possibly be the same?” she asked.

“That’s the weird thing, they aren’t. But I honestly can’t think of any other explanation.”

“Well,” the teen started. “At least you’re honest.”

“But I don’t know how that’s going to affect you,” he admitted. “Dealing with too much electricity is bad for you.”

“Look, switching on the radio a couple times isn’t gonna kill me.”

“We don’t know that,” the young doctor interjected. “Nobody else has displayed this ability. We don’t know how your body is going to handle it.”

“Jesus, Vince, you’re such a worry wort.”

“It’s my job. I’m a doctor. Specifically, your doctor.”

“What kind of doctor are you?”

“I’m a neurologist. Why does-”

“That’s not what I meant,” she interrupted. “I was wondering why you’re worrying so much when you were all about me exploring my potential.”

“Yes, please explore your potential, but not into dangerous territory like this.”

“Turning on a radio is dangerous territory?”

“Yes, Anita, it is. I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t do it again.”

Anita sighed as she nodded. “Okay. I won’t do it again.”